Chapter 37
In front of the clock tower, there is an artificial lake, neither too big nor too small.
I don't know what the property management was thinking. There are only shrubs and banyan trees on both sides, and a few benches along the road. Looking around, besides wontons and pea noodles, there is only one grocery store within a ten-mile radius.
Jiang Li's gaze shifted from afar to landing on her. "You really want to eat?"
"Mm." Guan Nan held the cardboard box and nodded slowly.
A gentle evening breeze blows, and leaves flutter down in a flurry.
Jiang Li stood up and gently placed the cute helmet on her head. "Let's go."
"Where to?" Guan Nan raised her face and looked up at him.
He said, "I'll buy you an ice cream cone."
"I—" Seeing that he didn't seem to be joking, Guan Nan grabbed his hem, feeling flustered that she could still get a response from him despite being one of the few times she had acted so capriciously, "I was just joking."
Jiang Li shook his keys and said slowly, "I'm serious."
In the end, Guan Nan got into Jiang Li's car. After leaving Hecangyuan and going through several transfers, she bought an ice cream cone at KFC.
The two sat in KFC. Jiang Li ordered a Coke and placed it on the table, but he didn't drink it. He just sat there lazily, leaning back in his chair, looking at Guan Nan across from him with interest.
She nibbled on the ice cream cone like a little rabbit eating, looking adorable and cute.
At the same time, she received a call from her uncle, who lived far away and whom she had only met twice in her childhood.
The uncle introduced himself: "Guan Guan, I'm your uncle. You went to see your mother a while ago, right?"
Guan Nan pursed her lips and hummed in agreement.
Without much small talk, my uncle went straight to the point and asked, "Where are you now?"
"At..." The ice cream cone slowly melted, and Guan Nan stared at the white milk that slid down her fingertips, her voice soft and hollow, "At Mom's house."
The candybar phone was very loud, so Jiang Li silently put on his headphones.
"Your dad said you ran away from home, right?"
"No, I've gone home and returned to Cangyuan."
“Okay,” Uncle breathed a sigh of relief on the other end of the line, and said earnestly, “Your dad said that you got angry with him because he asked if your student grant had come through, and you even wanted to do a paternity test. Guan Nan, you’re not a child anymore, you’re an adult, don’t do anything foolish. Ah, legally speaking, you were awarded to your mother, but don’t hurt your father’s feelings.”
Putting the cart before the horse and turning black into white.
These things turned out to be her problems.
The uncle didn't seem to have any doubts about these words.
Guan Nan glanced at Jiang Li, who had already carefully put on his headphones and was fiddling with the music library with his head down.
She tugged at her lips, a hint of sarcasm in her smile, and asked softly, "Uncle, did he say all of these things to you?"
Suddenly, Jiang Li seemed to have chosen the music and put down his phone.
He picked up a tissue from the tray, then took the melted ice cream cone and used it to wipe the milk off her fingertips.
When the heat sources touched, she instinctively curled her hands up.
That hand was held in hers.
Guan Nan lowered her eyes and saw clearly the cold white hand, slender and long with prominent veins.
On the other end of the line, her uncle's voice came through again, his tone serious: "Yes, he's very worried about you. Guan Nan, don't be willful. There's only a year and a half left until the college entrance exam. I don't care if you're angry or resentful now, we'll talk about everything after the exam."
"......"
The world seemed to suddenly fall silent.
She also realized that there was no need to say anything more, and the other party didn't need to know the truth.
All the words stuck in one's throat, once one has fallen into preconceived notions based on a one-sided account, seem pale and powerless no matter how much explanation is given.
“Your mother is dead, but your uncle is the one who will take your place. You must listen to your uncle. He is too far away from you, and your mother’s situation is too complicated right now. Even if that man has a thousand faults, he is still your father and will not mistreat you.”
“Uncle,” Guan Nan said instinctively, letting go of his hand as she came to her senses. Her head was lowered and her expression was indistinct in the shadows. Only her hollow voice could be heard as she said, “I think if Mom were here, she would support me in making my own choice.”
Over the years, he had never made a phone call to show any concern for his uncle. After a few words from Guan Weimin, he wanted to persuade her to surrender and continue to live a subservient and cautious life under someone else's roof.
He and his maternal grandfather, who were his mother's elder brother and father, took care of Ran Mingju in every little way.
But for her, only that one sentence, carved open her forehead and embedded deep into her soul, remained.
"Her surname is Guan, not Ran. Even if no one cares about her, it's none of our business."
Since I don't like her that much, and I don't really want her to exist.
Then please let her go and don't interfere with her.
Let her make her own choices and all decisions.
After the words were spoken, the other party remained silent for a moment before uttering, "Do whatever you want, whether you live or die is none of our business."
A while after the call ended, Guan Nan kept holding the phone to her ear, her expression and eyes resembling those of a sullen, lop-eared rabbit.
After a while, Jiang Li took off his headphones, reached out to her, and pointed to his ear.
Guan Nan blinked, slowly took her phone down, and stared at the melting ice cream cone on the tray napkin.
"Have another one," Jiang Li said, getting another one from the counter and holding a ticket in his hand as he handed the ice cream cone to her. "Logically speaking, I shouldn't be giving it to you."
Guan Nan took the ice cream cone. "Thank you."
Before long, the display screen showed the number indicating that the meal had been prepared, and Jiang Li got up and went over there again.
He was carrying a large plate piled high with drinks, snacks, and hamburgers.
As if striking first, Jiang Li said, "You didn't eat dinner tonight, why don't you have something to eat with me?"
Guan Nan took a small bite of her ice cream cone, stared at the large table of food, and couldn't help but ask, "Isn't this too much?"
"Buy one get one free." Jiang Li smiled, raising the corners of his mouth, and pretended to throw it into the trash can. "If you're not going to eat it, just throw it away."
Seeing this, Guan Nan quickly pulled out a corner of the tray, completely unaware of the hint of mockery that flashed in his eyes, "It's not that I don't want to eat, it's just that I think there's too much, it's a bit wasteful."
She had worked part-time at KFC, so how could she not know the prices there? This plate of food almost cost her a day's wages.
Secondly, even if KFC has a promotion, it won't be during this time period.
“There is no such thing as waste in this world, because waste itself is a false proposition,” Jiang Li put down the tray and placed the items in front of her. “Soy milk, hot, drink it while it’s hot.”
He inserted the straw and said slowly, "What is waste? Who defines waste? What categories constitute waste? Is eating your favorite food, buying your favorite shoes, or going to your favorite concert considered waste?"
Guan Nan hesitated for a moment, then said slowly, "But, in my opinion, all these things are a waste."
"So you think this is a waste?" Jiang Li looked at her.
"..." Guan Nan shook his head, but this was a wastefulness ingrained in his bones, something he had been taught since childhood.
“This is not waste,” Jiang Li said. “What I’m telling you can all be used as a reward to motivate or to make yourself happy. People can’t be consumed by waste. Your happiness is the most important thing among these things and should be the top priority.”
“But,” Guan Nan wiped her hands clean and asked him in return, “haven’t we been taught since childhood to be thrifty and not wasteful? Have you seen that advertisement? Save water, use electricity rationally, start from small things and do small things①.”
“How reasonable is this advertisement? Water is a renewable resource of the Earth, and electricity is a secondary energy source obtained through external means. You know geography better than I do,” Jiang Li said seriously, her expression and tone serious as she pointed out that the issue of waste had been led astray. “If these are all considered waste, then what isn’t? Buying a house or a car? These are also consumables, shouldn’t they be classified as waste?”
Guan Nan felt that what he said seemed to make some sense, but there was a hint of cheating in his logic.
They are being unreasonable, spouting fallacies, and forcibly classifying things.
"The word 'waste' itself comes from those who insist on satisfying their own needs even though they are not capable of fulfilling certain requirements. For example, someone with an annual salary of 140,000 plans to save money for 5 years to buy a Porsche as a down payment. After saving money for a few more years, there are limits to what can be satisfied, and waste also has its limits."
“These things should not be defined by others, but by ourselves, rather than being restricted by external factors.”
"Any need that is based on human needs must have value if it exists. And since it exists precisely because of our 'waste,' it cannot be called waste."
"Where do you get all these grand theories from?" Guan Nan muttered, unwilling to admit that she had been convinced by him.
Jiang Li leaned back in his chair, tilting his head slightly with a roguish grin, and said lazily, "Just tell me if I'm right or not."
He was very confident, especially when he told himself that he was truly destined to be a great artist.
Guan Nan, somewhat convinced by his gaze, replied, "Yes."
"Really?" Upon hearing this, Jiang Li immediately sat up straight and leaned over as if trying to discern the truth in her expression.
"Yes." Guan Nan nodded. "Really."
Suddenly, Guan Nan realized what it meant to be a truly spirited and energetic young man.
In an instant, Jiang Li's lips curled into a smug grin, and he raised his eyebrows in a triumphant smile.
The next second, he popped a French fry into his mouth and said slowly, "No wonder I've been able to talk my way out of my grandpa all these years."
"Huh?" Guan Nan was shocked; his high spirits actually came from this.
“My grandfather is probably similar to one of your elders in some ways. He always talks about waste,” Jiang Li paused and said with a smile. “If he doesn’t finish the food today, he’ll eat it tomorrow. If he can’t finish it, he’ll eat it the day after. Once he had food poisoning, and the doctor said it was from eating leftovers. He didn’t believe it and insisted that he had been eating it for many years without any problems. He even called the doctor a quack.”
Guan Nan imagined that scene.
"The old man didn't believe in superstitions and ate it a few more times, which led to him being hospitalized."
Hearing this, Guan Nan finally couldn't help but laugh.
Seeing that she was no longer pursing her lips and looked preoccupied, he finally smiled.
Jiang Li curled her lips and continued, "None of us in the family could handle this old man. Later, Jiang Siyao pulled me aside, and as soon as she mentioned waste, she started arguing and going on and on about how much was wasted."
Guan Nan smiled and said, "Then you guys came up with a set of experiences."
"Mmm." Jiang Li smiled as well.
As they ate and chatted, she told many jokes about Jiang Siyao. Throughout the evening, she heard jokes about everyone in their family, but not one about him.
The atmosphere gradually improved, and Guan Nan relaxed at this moment.
"And what about you?" Guan Nan asked vaguely, biting into her hamburger.
Her eyes were wide open, blinking rapidly, and they were so clear and bright that they were even more beautiful than the black diamond her mother had bought at a high price.
It seems they felt that staring at someone for too long was impolite.
He put his hand to his lips, coughed lightly, picked up his glass and took a sip. "I'm pretty perfect, I have nothing to hide."
"......oh."
Jiang Li raised an eyebrow: "What, is there any need to doubt this?"
Guan Nan suppressed a laugh, "Has anyone ever told you that you're really narcissistic?"
"Isn't this common knowledge?"
"One should be humble."
"Isn't being too humble even more hypocritical?"
"How could that be?" Guan Nan frowned.
Jiang Li pointed to her face: "Is it pretty?"
After hesitating for two seconds, Guan Nan nodded.
“That’s it,” Jiang Li said seriously. “If someone comes up to me and says, ‘You’re so handsome,’ how am I supposed to answer? Am I supposed to say, ‘No, no, I’m so ugly, how am I handsome?’ Wouldn’t that be fooling an idiot? People would just think you’re insulting their intelligence.”
...He has a lot of fallacies, one after another.
Guan Nan looked at him, utterly speechless.
A few seconds later, Guan Nan said with a straight face, "You're talking a lot today."
Jiang Li was still smiling, and said smugly, "Isn't it because you don't talk much?"
Guan Nan remained expressionless: "..."
How can he always do this?!
He kept holding back, and Guan Nan was so full after finishing his burger that he was really impressed.
To wrap things up, Guan Nan didn't want to cause trouble for herself, so she decided to speak as little as possible on the way back.
“I used to be quiet, and Jiang Siyao always said I was too aloof. If I continue like this, when I meet a girl I like, I won’t be able to say a word even if I hit her three times. I’ll just wait for her to run off with someone else and watch me cry.”
He continued, "I was too young back then to know what liking someone meant, so this trick didn't work."
"Later, she was so mean. She would open my door in the middle of the night, holding a bottle of Coke, and sit on the edge of my bed, staring at me like a ghost, ringing a bell and calling my name, like she was summoning a spirit."
The scene was so funny that Guan Nan burst out laughing.
Jiang Li heard this too, and continued speaking into the wind: "That's how it happened. She tricked me into smashing my piggy bank, saying she'd send the King of Hell to take my life if I didn't give it back."
Upon hearing this, Guan Nan laughed even harder.
“She took the money but didn’t leave. She just sat on the ground, staring at me.” At that time, Xiao Jiangli was shivering in her blankets, with only her eyes showing. Jiangli thought about it and wanted to laugh. “She kept calling my name and wanted me to respond. I kept talking to her. The next day, she pretended to be sick and refused to go to school. I kept dozing off in class.”
Guan Nan asked, "When did all of this happen?"
"Third or fourth grade, I guess."
Just then, the phone rang.
The evening breeze was blowing, making people feel comfortable and drowsy.
As the car pulled into Hecangyuan, Jiang Li stopped and answered the phone: "Hello, Jiang Siyao."
Jiang Siyao: "When you come back, if you pass by that barbecue restaurant from last time, bring us some barbecue back. That's what President Jiang said."
After a two-second silence, Jiang Li immediately said, "It's not on my way."
“No,” Jiang Siyao firmly denied him, “You’re going the same way.”
"......"
"Pick up some pig's trotters on your way too." The other person ordered without any politeness, clearly not intending to hear his answer. He then hung up the phone, utterly heartless: "That's it, goodbye."
"......"
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