News of Jiang Yan and his friends fighting quickly spread throughout the second year. By the time evening self-study began, the class was still discussing the incident.
“I heard Jiang Yan knocked someone out this time; the other party’s parents even came to school to complain, and now they’re in the principal’s office.”
“So what? Jiang Yan's family is rich; in the end, he might just pay some money to settle it.”
“...Maybe. I just heard from someone in another class that the other party’s parents are law students, so it probably won’t be that easy this time.”
The classroom buzzed with chatter, and Lin Tiao sat at her desk, absorbing the gossip about Jiang Yan.
Some said he was a second-generation official, with power and influence in Xicheng, while others claimed he was the illegitimate son of a wealthy tycoon from the same city, with mountains of money at home.
Lin Tiao simply listened, treating it like entertainment.
After the first period of evening self-study ended, the class started discussing it again. Lin Tiao lay on her desk, playing with her phone.
Before long, the voices in the classroom began to fade, and the whole room quieted down. By the time Lin Tiao felt something was off, Jiang Yan was already standing in front of her.
She looked up to meet his gaze, and as her eyes shifted, she noticed a faint handprint on his right cheek.
Neither of them spoke, and no one in the class said anything either.
Lin Tiao watched as he bent down to pull out his black backpack and school uniform jacket from under the desk, then walked out of the classroom through the back door.
Turning around, she saw Song Yuan and Hu Hang Hang sitting in the back row, unmoving, though their eyes were red.
Once Jiang Yan left, the students in the class gradually snapped back to reality. Someone involuntarily said, “Wasn't Jiang Yan expelled?”
Xu Yichuan, who sat in the back row, suddenly stood up, kicked over the trash can behind him with a loud bang, and shouted angrily, “You’re the one who should be expelled! Didn’t your mom teach you not to talk nonsense?!”
The boy who was called out was infuriated but didn’t dare to retort directly, rolling his eyes and muttering a few curses under his breath.
At that moment, Old Yu walked into the classroom with a serious expression. “What’s all this noise?! Don’t you think the situation is big enough? If you don’t want to study, get out of my class!”
Lin Tiao was somewhat surprised; it was the first time she had seen Old Yu so furious. After all, she had always thought he was the type of person who wouldn’t change his expression even if the sky fell.
Old Yu didn’t stay in the class long and left after a few minutes. Xu Yichuan, Hu Hang Hang, and Song Yuan followed him out.
Lin Tiao glanced at the empty seat next to her, deep in thought.
---
The second-year students weren’t assigned extra classes, so they still had a normal break over the weekend.
Lin Tiao stayed at home for a day and a half, and on Sunday afternoon, she went to the hospital. She left late, and by the time she came out, it was already past five o’clock.
The sky was beginning to take on the look of evening, with the sunset spreading across half of the western clouds, and the sun was gradually softening, becoming milder.
Lin Tiao walked along the small path beside her.
At the end of the road was a modern shopping mall with dozens of floors, but surrounding the mall were the tangled branches of old alleyways.
At this time, many small stalls had already set up at the alley entrance, mostly selling local snacks from the southern city and various little trinkets.
Lin Tiao passed through the stalls and entered the mall, heading straight for the arcade on the fifth floor.
It was the weekend, and the mall was in a bustling area, so there were a lot of people in the arcade. Lin Tiao walked confidently to the counter to exchange two hundred yuan for game tokens.
When Lin Tiao was a child, her parents often traveled for business and would leave her with the teacher at the daycare. The teacher’s daughter often took her to play at the arcade downstairs.
As she grew older, she started going out to play alone, often spending entire afternoons there.
Lin Tiao particularly liked the claw machines; she could play them for a long time by herself.
At that moment, she approached a claw machine in the corner, inserted a coin, moved the joystick, pressed the button, but missed. She continued to insert coins.
Again and again, Lin Tiao slowly found her rhythm, and the pile of toys at her feet grew larger, with more and more people gathering around to watch.
After a while, Lin Tiao cleared two-thirds of the toys from the machine. When she stopped, she noticed a crowd had formed around her.
She didn’t react much; she asked a worker for a bag to put the toys in, then picked up the bag to go buy a drink.
The arcade had vending machines that sold drinks, and while they were a bit more expensive than outside, she didn’t mind.
Lin Tiao dropped in five coins, and a can of ice-cold cola dropped out of the machine.
She bent down to retrieve the cola from the bottom and set it on a nearby table, hooking her finger around the tab. “Ding—!” She pulled it open, and a layer of cool air wafted from the can.
Lin Tiao stood there leaning against the table, occasionally sipping the cola, her gaze casually wandering around the arcade.
Nearby, people were competing at the basketball machine, with cheers and shouts rising and falling. Lin Tiao glanced through the crowd and saw basketballs flying in arcs.
She didn’t pay much attention, and after finishing most of her cola, she got up to go to the restroom. When she came out, she just happened to hear cheers from the crowd by the basketball machine.
“Awesome, bro! You broke the record!”
Lin Tiao paused and turned to look at the crowd. Just then, the spectators slowly began to disperse, and she saw the person standing in front of the basketball machine.
The boy was wearing a white t-shirt and black sports pants, the cuffs rolled up slightly, revealing his slim ankles.
He leaned against the basketball machine, looking down at his phone, and the colorful lights above fell on his shoulders, softening his edges and adding a touch of warmth.
As Lin Tiao hesitated whether to go over and say hello, the person in front suddenly looked up and saw her.
They locked eyes across the crowd for five seconds.
Lin Tiao saw him squint, as if trying to recognize something.
A few seconds later, the boy walked over to her, stopping about a meter away. “What are you doing here?”
The boy was tall and thin, blocking most of the light in front of her, his dark eyes fixed intently on her.
Lin Tiao couldn’t help but lick her lips. “Just out for fun.”
Jiang Yan looked at her and then at the bag she was holding, raising an eyebrow slightly. “All by yourself?”
“Am I supposed to be half a person?” As soon as Lin Tiao said this, she regretted it, wanting to say something to make up for it, but after opening her mouth, she didn’t know what to say.
Jiang Yan stared at her hesitating expression, suddenly reminded of that Friday afternoon when she stood upstairs looking down.
A mix of shock and a bit of fortunate relief.
He raised his eyelids, his long fingers poking at Lin Tiao’s cast, feigning a threat. “Classmate, you’re a bit bold, huh?”
“…” Lin Tiao silently stepped back a bit, her gaze landing on his left arm, finding a way to change the subject. “Hey, what happened to your cast?”
“Took it off.”
With no more topics to discuss, Lin Tiao fell into a dilemma of “What should I say, what can I ask, what shouldn't I ask?”
Fortunately, Jiang Yan broke the stalemate just in time. “It’s getting late. Have you eaten?”
Lin Tiao was just thinking about how to politely tell him that they weren’t that familiar and hadn’t reached the point of eating together when Jiang Yan spoke again. “Let’s go eat dinner together.”
“… Oh.”
Jiang Yan seemed quite familiar with the area. After leading her out of the mall, he directly headed toward the old alleyway they had passed earlier.
They walked in silence, and when they arrived at the restaurant, Jiang Yan finally spoke. “Take a look and see what you want to eat.”
Lin Tiao took the homemade menu from the shop and casually marked two dishes before returning the menu to Jiang Yan. “I’ve ordered.”
Jiang Yan glanced at what she had chosen, raising an eyebrow. “Just these?”
Lin Tiao nodded. “Just these.”
Jiang Yan didn’t say much, lowering his head to jot down five or six dishes quickly on the menu before handing it to the waiter.
They sat across from each other, momentarily at a loss for words, surrounded by the sounds of eating, drinking, and laughter. Compared to the lively atmosphere around them, they looked less like diners and more like they were about to have a fight.
Fortunately, this restaurant served food quickly. In no time, the small table was piled high with plates. Noticing her hands were inconvenient, Jiang Yan cleaned a set of chopsticks and bowls before placing them in front of her.
Lin Tiao felt flattered. “Thank you.”
Jiang Yan glanced at her, placing the two dishes of spicy stir-fried greens and garlic hollow hearted vegetables she ordered in front of her, then shifted his own dishes closer to himself.
Lin Tiao: “…”
She looked up at him, dumbfounded. “Do you have some sort of disease?”
Jiang Yan looked at her with a half-smile, took a sip of beer, and said, “Isn’t it whoever orders eats?”
“…”
Lin Tiao nearly jumped up. “Jiang Yan, I think I need to reiterate that it was you! You! Who invited me! To eat together!”
Seeing her getting worked up, Jiang Yan couldn’t help but laugh, placing a plate of small lobsters in front of her. “Eat up.”
Lin Tiao looked at the vibrant, meaty lobsters in front of her, then glanced at her cast-covered arm. Taking a deep breath, she looked at Jiang Yan with a straight face. “I feel like you’re trying to make things difficult for me.”
The night market’s lights were dazzling, illuminating the girl’s delicate features, making her look pale under the lights. Her lashes were long, and her dark eyes glistened brightly.
“Jiang Yan.”
Only after she called his name did Lin Tiao realize that this was the first time she had addressed him so seriously after getting to know him for so long.
For a moment, she didn’t know how to continue the conversation.
Clearly, Jiang Yan had the same reaction; they looked at each other under the lights, both wearing equally bewildered expressions.
After about ten seconds, Jiang Yan shifted his gaze, reaching over to take the lobster back to his side, putting on a disposable glove, and skillfully peeling one lobster.
Then he placed the peeled lobster meat into Lin Tiao’s bowl.
“…”
Lin Tiao was taken aback by his gesture, speechless as she swallowed hard, her left hand gripping the chopsticks without moving.
At that moment of her struggle and hesitation, Jiang Yan peeled another lobster and placed it in her bowl. Seeing she hadn’t eaten, he asked in confusion, “Aren’t you eating?”
“Eating!”
Lin Tiao quickly put a piece of lobster meat into her mouth with her not-so-skilled left hand.
The spicy small lobsters were specially prepared with devilishly spicy seasoning, and as soon as Lin Tiao took a bite, the intense numbing and spicy flavor exploded on her tongue, wildly stimulating her taste buds.
She nearly cried from the spiciness but still forced herself to eat.
A lobster peeled by a big shot, she had to eat it, even if it made her tears flow.
Fortunately, after Jiang Yan peeled a few for her, he stopped. Lin Tiao was so overwhelmed by the spiciness that her lips tingled. She picked up the cold drink from the table and gulped down most of the can in one go.
To prevent him from peeling more lobsters for her for no reason, Lin Tiao took the initiative to change the subject. “What happened that day?”
“Hmm? Which day?” Jiang Yan seemed surprised that she would speak up. He took a moment to process her question and a few seconds later realized what she was referring to. However, he didn’t say much, casually offering an excuse, “Differences in opinion.”
Seeing that he didn’t want to elaborate, Lin Tiao didn’t press further. She reminded him, “Li Kun is quite concerned about this matter, and Old Yu is also pretty angry.”
“I know.” After saying that, he reached over and placed another peeled shrimp into her bowl.
“……”
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