After the last lesson for the day ended, the students dispersed for lunch, with some staying behind for cleaning duties.
Yi Ran was gathering cleaning supplies at the back of the classroom when suddenly, she heard a shout from Song Yu Meng: “Hey, Crazy Yi.”
Yi Ran turned around and reflexively caught a broom that was thrown at her. Glancing at the broom in her hands, Yi Ran felt a flash of deja vu.
“Hey, what sort of expression is that? Do you think this lady would be as shameless as you to trick someone into doing her cleaning duties?” Song Yu Meng felt annoyed at the recollection of that day.
“Then why did you throw the broom to me?”
“Can’t you help me hold it?”
“……” Yi Ran looked at Song Yu Meng for a moment before smiling helplessly and complying.
Holding onto a bunch of cleaning materials, Yi Ran followed after Song Yu Meng who would turn around from time to time, laughing at Yi Ran as if she had gotten the upper hand in the situation.
Yi Ran shook her head and smiled, thinking to herself: How childish can she be!
Aside from the two of them, Liu Luo Yang, Xu Yuan and a few other classmates were also assigned to cleaning duty today.
Song Yu Meng saw Xu Yuan standing by Liu Luo Yang’s side the moment she arrived at the area. The two of them were chatting animatedly and laughing together while sweeping the floor, giving off the impression they were incredibly close.
Song Yu Meng was hit by a pang of jealousy and her temper rose again as she stomped over. Yi Ran had her hands full with the cleaning supplies and couldn’t pull her back in time.
The two of them had their backs turned to Song Yu Meng, so they had no idea she had arrived.
Song Yu Meng grabbed Xu Yuan’s arm and pulled her away, shouting unhappily: “I just told you this morning to stay away from Liu Luo Yang gege, you white lotus, are you deaf?!”
The other students who were cleaning up around the area started to pay attention to the two of them, anticipating some drama.
Biting on her lower lip and shaking her head, Xu Yuan said in a pained voice: “It’s not what you think it is, we’re just cleaning together.”
Song Yu Meng lifted her chin in the air and sneered: “Heh! As if I’ll believe that? Who doesn’t know that you’re the most capable actress in the whole school? What are you acting all innocent for!”
“How could you say that about me……” Xu Yuan sobbed, looking pitifully at Liu Luo Yang, “if you don’t believe me, you can ask Luo Yang. We really were just cleaning up.”
Liu Luo Yang immediately shifted his body protectively in front of Xu Yuan and frowned, “It’s as Xu Yuan said, we were really just doing our cleaning duties together.” Liu Luo Yang couldn’t hide his disdain any longer, “Why do you always want to tell other people what they can or can’t do?”
Liu Luo Yang’s frustration was building; why is this girl always hovering around him, he can’t even flirt with girls because of this!
To Song Yu Meng, Liu Luo Yang’s words hit her like a bolt out of the blue and she felt incredibly maligned.
Pointing at Xu Yuan, she said to Liu Luo Yang: “Liu Luo Yang gege, this Xu Yuan is not a good person. She must have ulterior motives in trying to get close to you! Don’t be fooled by her!”
Liu Luo Yang’s face turned black and Song Yu Meng’s heart raced, worrying that he wouldn’t believe what she said.
“Song Yu Meng, can you stop being so unreasonable? You can’t tell me how to act just because you like me, and you have even less right to tell others how to act. We’re just friends.” Liu Luo Yang’s face was terrible to behold.
Lectured in front of so many people, Song Yu Men could only hold it in because she had liked him for five years. If it was anybody else, she would have already ripped their mouths off.
Smirking secretly off to the side, Xu Yuan celebrated her victory and thought: How could someone like you presume to fight with me?
More and more people started watching the showdown secretly and Song Yu Meng kept her head lowered, feeling like an outcast.
At this moment, Yi Ran ran forward and blocked Song Yu Meng from view. Quickly throwing out a “sorry”, she pulled Song Yu Meng towards a thicket of trees with nobody nearby.
Song Yu Meng moved like a marionette, letting Yi Ran pull her along. Normally, she would be cursing at her, but she had no mood to do anything right now.
Rays of sunlight peeped through the foliage and the floor stones of the small tree grove sparkled, reflecting the sunlight.
Yi Ran had just gone up to return the cleaning equipment and the moment she came downstairs, she saw Song Yu Meng with her head lowered as if she had suffered a major grievance.
From the whispers she heard, Yi Ran could guess what had happened and she couldn’t stand seeing this scaredy-cat in such a pitiful state anymore, so she stepped forward to take her away.
“What happened? Why did you quarrel with Xu Yuan again? Can’t you just let things be?”
Yi Ran’s tone was a little harsh and Song Yu Meng mistook it as a reprimand. Feeling more upset, the tears welled up in her eyes.
“Are you blaming me as well?!”
Her tears fell from her red, puffy eyes and splashed onto the floor as she sobbed like a child, chest heaving up and down.
Yi Ran felt like she was punched in the gut and softened her tone: “I don’t think you did anything wrong, and I’m not blaming you.”
Seeing Song Yu Meng using her arm to wipe away her tears, Yi Ran hastily took out a tissue to pass to her.
Wiping away her face with the tissue and holding back tears, Song Yu Meng asked: “Then what did you mean?”
“It’s… Just…” Yi Ran gesticulated wildly with her hands, unsure how to answer the girl who was staring at her with wet eyes.
“Just what?”
Yi Ran sighed, “I just think you’re silly. You already lost to her once this morning, why didn’t you learn from it? If you want to fight, at least wait till I’m around, or who will help you get out of a sticky situation if you can’t beat her? Isn’t it embarrassing…”
The arrogant lady was back.
“Hmph, this lady isn’t silly! You’re the silly one, you’re the silliest!” Folding her arms in defiance, Song Yu Meng didn’t look like she had just cried at all.
Yi Ran laughed, thinking to herself: This scaredy-cat really has selective hearing.
Song Yu Meng saw Yi Ran looking at her and snapped: “What are you looking at me for? Hurry up and finish the cleaning duties, this lady is hungry, I haven’t eaten!”
She played with the tips of her hair with a finger, stealing a glance at Yi Ran. Since she was still looking at her and stifling her smile, Song Yu Meng felt inexplicably embarrassed and decided to just meet her gaze straight on.
“Hey, Crazy Yi! This lady is talking to you, did you hear me?”
Yi Ran grinned, showing eight straight and white teeth in a dazzling smile.
“It’s already this late, what cleaning is there left to be done? I’m sure the others have already helped us finish it. Let’s just go and eat.”
Song Yu Meng raised her chin: “Who said I want to eat with you!”
Yi Ran smiled and waved a meal card in front of her, “Then if it’s my treat, are you coming with me?”
“Yes!” There wasn’t a single bit of hesitation in Song Yu Meng’s answer, “Why not? If you’re paying, won’t I be missing out!” She snatched the meal card from Yi Ran’s hand and rejoiced, “Crazy Yi, just wait to become bankrupt[1]!” before running to the canteen.
Yi Ran smiled and shook her head at the rapidly disappearing shadow, how many times had she thought this girl was immature?
She couldn’t keep track anymore[2].
Because the two of them went to the canteen at such a late hour, there wasn’t any food left, so Song Yu Meng decided to clean out the commissary’s stock.
“Aunty, I want one of everything here.”
The lady running the commissary had never heard a request like this before and clarified in surprise, “meimei[3], are you sure? Without even considering that you can’t carry all this stuff, it’s going to cost a bomb.”
Song Yu Meng tapped the card against the card reader, showing the balance was over a thousand dollars[4].
“I have enough money, aunty.” Song Yu Meng then turned around to point at Yi Ran, “and I have free labour to help me carry it, so don’t worry.”
“Um… Alright then.”
Swiping her card and even calling her free labour, Yi Ran was speechless, not even bothering to roll her eyes.
In the end, the commissary lady stuffed two huge plastic bags with all the items, totalling up to a total of 278 dollars[5].
When Yi Ran heard the machine calling out the total amount, she felt her heart dripping blood in pain. Dear God, why was she dumb enough to let the scaredy-cat swipe her card however she wanted!!!
While Yi Ran covered her face with her hands, mourning, Song Yu Meng pointed at an item on a shelf and whispered to the lady: “Aunty, give me one of that too.”
After paying, Song Yu Meng placed the item in her pocket and walked over to Yi Ran with her chest puffed out. “What are you doing? Hurry up and help this lady carry the stuff.”
Yi Ran looked at the two huge plastic bags despondently. Seeing her expression, Song Yu Meng felt incredibly happy, forgetting all about her terrible mood and laughing at Yi Ran mercilessly.
“Hahaha……” Song Yu Meng patted Yi Ran’s shoulder. “Hurry up, don’t drag your feet and cause other people to knock off work late.”
Putting on a “happy” expression, Yi Ran asked: “Where do you want me to carry these two bags to? The classroom? Unless you want to be instructed by Tang Seng to buy one for everyone in the class.”
“How could it be to the classroom!” Song Yu Meng snapped. “Aiya, mind your own business, I have a place in mind, just follow me.”
She gave Yi Ran’s shoulder a push, “Crazy Yi, hurry up, it’s almost time for class! Do you want to be late for Tang Seng’s evening self-study period?”
Yi Ran unwillingly picked up the bags, one in each hand, and followed Song Yu Meng.
The students they passed by stared at them in amazement. It was the first time they had ever seen someone buying two huge bags of snacks. She was definitely living up to her reputation as a rich kid!
Song Yu Meng led Yi Ran into the dormitory and Yi Ran asked: “The dormitory? But you don’t live here.”
Looking at Yi Ran struggling to carry the two bags up the stairs and sweating buckets, Song Yu Meng finally felt a twinge of compassion. She stopped halfway and Yi Ran also put the bags down on the floor to rest.
Yi Ran’s palms were red where the handles of the bags had cut into her hands, and she shook her hands around before wiping off the perspiration on her forehead. She heard Song Yu Meng say: “This lady is merciful and will help you carry a bag.”
Yi Ran glanced at her in shock, unwilling to believe she was that kind.
Song Yu Meng was holding her head high arrogantly at first, but asked angrily upon seeing Yi Ran’s expression: “Hey, Crazy Yi! What sort of look is that? You’re still not satisfied even with this lady being merciful?”
Yi Ran purposefully acted like she was horrified: “Don’t, don’t, don’t! I’m not unsatisfied, I just don’t want your precious jade hands[6] to be cut by the bags, otherwise, I’m going to be asked to pay for your medical fees! How bad would that be, right?”
Stomping her feet on the ground, Song Yu Meng shouted angrily: “Stop insinuating things! Hmph! Forget it if you don’t want to, this lady curses you to be the one with the cut hands!”
After the outburst, Song Yu Meng swung her hands and continued climbing the steps. When she reached the third floor, she realised Yi Ran wasn’t following her. Looking over the rail, she saw that Yi Ran was still waiting there with her head raised, smiling at her!
Crazy!
Song Yu Meng whined: “Crazy Yi, hurry up!”
Carrying the bags up the stairs, Yi Ran’s smile never left her face.
[1] 破产 – bankrupt, but in this sense, meaning she’ll eat until Yi Ran is broke.
[2] 记不清了 – Literally can’t remember anymore.
[3] 妹妹 – Little sister.
[4] I’d assume it’s a thousand yuan, so approximately 150 USD.
[5] Approximately 44 USD.
[6] 玉手 – Literally jade hands. Usually, it’s 玉体 or jade body, meaning someone’s body is as precious as jade and shouldn’t be hurt or harmed. Here, it’s more of Yi Ran teasing her that she’s weak and not used to carrying heavy things.