Meng Ting struggled to contain her laughter.

She quickly asked him, “You still haven’t answered what I should buy?”

Jiang Ren couldn’t stay in B City for long. Gao Yi was urgently calling for him. He glanced at his watch; it was already 21:35. Her school was over forty minutes away by car.

He said, “Milk, towels, toothbrushes, and food. I can’t think of anything else. Use your judgment.”

Meng Ting nodded.

Knowing men dislike shopping, she thought Jiang Ren needed her help. So she bought dark-colored towels and toothbrushes. Jiang Ren gave them a cursory glance without comment.

Aware they’d be watching a movie later, Meng Ting bought popcorn and potato chips.

She was cooperative, but inwardly calculating the costs. Jiang Ren worked hard, so she wanted to spend as little of his money as possible. Yet she didn’t want to displease him, so she bought quality items, just not in large quantities.

Jiang Ren reached out and tossed a pack of women’s disposable underwear into the shopping cart.

Meng Ting leaned against the goldfish tank’s glass wall, watching the fish. The shimmering water illuminated her small face as she said happily, “Jiang Ren, my two goldfish have grown a lot. They’re even more lively than these.”

His heart softened at her words.

He had won those for her on her birthday. She couldn’t win the game, but he casually tossed and won the fish tank and goldfish. He hadn’t expected her to care for them so well.

As they finished shopping and were about to check out, Jiang Ren said, “Wait for me outside.”

While paying, he took out the pack of women’s disposable underwear, and the supermarket staff smiled kindly.

After checking out, Jiang Ren saw her standing on the street of B City.

Meng Ting wore a simple white t-shirt and jeans, her long hair loose, with wisps of bangs dancing lightly in the breeze. The city was on the cusp of autumn, and she looked beautiful just standing there under the street trees.

The night was a bit cold. Unlike the area near their school, this street was populated by older residents. The nearest cinema was a twenty-minute walk away.

“Jiang Ren, let me help you carry that.”

He picked out a bag of chips from the shopping bag and handed it to her.

She hugged the bag of chips and looked up at him.

His eyes twinkled with amusement. “Is it okay if you carry this?”

Her cheeks flushed, but she didn’t argue with him.

As they walked, Jiang Ren explained, “The apartment I lived in during middle school is nearby. There’s a big TV for watching movies.”

From childhood, Grandmother had always doted on him the most. When Jiang Xiaohan sent Jiang Ren to the military compound, Grandmother even shed tears, worried her precious grandson might suffer. She had everything prepared for him. This apartment was also under Grandmother’s name, comfortably furnished with three bedrooms and a living room, fully equipped.

With a boyish whim, he had converted one room into a gaming room with a large-screen TV.

It was also convenient for watching movies.

Jiang Ren entered first. As he took off his shoes, the man’s movements were swift and casual, inadvertently exposing his ankles. Meng Ting lowered her gaze and saw the scars on his ankles.

Once deep enough to see bone, from ankle to leg, there had been bone fractures. That’s why he now walked with a slight limp.

Jiang Ren didn’t mind it himself. He walked on the floor in his black socks, looking for slippers for Meng Ting.

The man’s feet were large and long. He took out a pair of slippers and crouched down to untie her shoelaces.

Meng Ting was distracted by his scars and didn’t stand steady, absently steadying herself on his shoulder.

Jiang Ren smiled, “Good girl.”

The young woman wore pink and white striped socks with a cartoon tiger on the instep. He remembered it was from Winnie the Pooh, but couldn’t recall the character’s name.

Her foot wasn’t even as long as his palm, looking delicate.

“The shoes I bought you are too big, aren’t they?”

Meng Ting’s cheeks flushed red as she stepped back and kicked off her canvas shoes. Why would he help her take off her shoes? Someone like Jiang Ren, proud and aloof, yet this was the second time.

She hurriedly put on the slippers herself and answered, “Um, a little long.”

Seeing her shy demeanor, Jiang Ren smiled. Not wanting to embarrass her further, he went to put the milk in the refrigerator.

The apartment hadn’t been lived in for several years, but he had cleaned it that morning, so it looked relatively tidy now.

However, the clothes were too small to wear, being from his middle school days, so he was wearing cheap clothes he’d bought outside.

Jiang Ren put away the groceries and noticed her watching him, not looking around or wandering.

His heart softened, “Not curious this time?”

Remembering the consequences of her previous “curiosity,” Meng Ting said softly, “Not curious.”

Jiang Ren said, “Then shall we watch the movie first?” He turned on the lights in the gaming room. The lights were rather pretty, reflecting his middle school aesthetic. There was also a colorful lamp that flashed on and off, originally meant to create an intense gaming atmosphere.

He paused, then turned on two more bright lights. The lighting became much softer and less intense.

In front of the large TV was a gray sofa that looked quite luxurious, with a pile of game controllers in front.

Jiang Ren put away the game controllers and went to find the black box of movie discs.

He said, “They’re all old movies, hope you don’t mind.”

“It’s fine, I’ll take a look,” she replied.

As he went to turn on the TV, he suddenly remembered something. Turning back, he saw Meng Ting’s face had turned bright red, staring blankly at the box.

Jiang Ren walked over and handed her the remote.

He glanced down.

Damn! He’d forgotten there were adult films his old friends had brought over.

Adult films, you know, with quite explicit covers.

Back then, this game room of his was coveted by all the kids in the military compound, and they had even watched one here once. Jiang Ren, being younger than them at the time, had taken one look at the door and lost interest, going out to play basketball with He Junming instead.

Jiang Ren took out those two discs, and his eyes met a pair of moist eyes.

He curved his lips, “What, want to watch these? Not allowed!”

Meng Ting was both embarrassed and angry, “Who wants to watch that? You’re talking nonsense!” She wanted to hit him!

He laughed, “Mm, not good to watch.”

He casually tossed them into the trash can.

Meng Ting asked him, “Have you watched them?”

He was quite frank, “Watched a bit, out of youthful curiosity. But I didn’t particularly like it. These aren’t mine. What? Do you think I’m such a beast?”

She didn’t speak, her eyes reflecting his image, seeming to say, how can you be so bad? You did watch them.

Jiang Ren wanted to explain it wasn’t like that. Even the bookworm boys in their class wouldn’t dare say they hadn’t seen these things. Men usually had their first time with their own hands. Physiologically speaking, males tend to become aware of these things earlier than females. He hadn’t done anything like that with anyone.

However, looking at her innocent, clear eyes, his heart melted completely.

He lost. Growing up in a single-parent family with her mother passing away early, her understanding of these matters was indeed lacking.

Never mind, it’s fine if she doesn’t understand. There’s nothing she needs to understand anyway. He self-reproached, “It’s all my fault, I promise it won’t happen again. Ting Ting, don’t be angry, okay?”

She bit her lip and said softly, “I’m not angry.”

She remembered Zhao Nuancheng had even shown her some risqué manga. If Jiang Ren knew, he’d probably be furious. She felt quite guilty.

Jiang Ren helped her choose a movie.

Most of them were action films, with some Hong Kong movies. Although Meng Ting wasn’t particularly picky about movie genres, most girls don’t like action films.

In the end, they were left with suspense and horror movies.

Jiang Ren asked her, “Which one?”

Meng Ting was afraid of horror movies, so she chose the one with the least scary cover.

The title sounded quite normal and artistic, called “After Today.”

Jiang Ren was silent for a moment, then picked it up to play.

He had seen this one before; it was probably the scariest horror movie in the box. He Junming had brought it back then, and a group of teenage boys from the military compound had screamed in terror in this room.

Jiang Ren had stood with his arms crossed, smirking, and then dragged He Junming out for a beating.

He Junming had been so aggrieved; that he had originally brought it to scare Jiang Ren but ended up terrifying himself. Jiang Ren hadn’t been affected at all.

Jiang Ren remembered how pitiful Meng Ting had looked on her eighteenth birthday in the haunted house, tears falling as she was scared by several staff members. His hand paused. He was a man, not a saint.

Then he decisively pushed the disc in.

She was right, he was a beast.

Jiang Ren went to turn off the lights.

The entire room, with its flashing colored lights, suddenly went dark.

He sat with his legs crossed, watching for her reaction.

The floor-to-ceiling window was open, letting in the night breeze. She was watching the plot development intently.

At first, it was a romantic scene of a college couple walking on campus. She delicately opened the popcorn and shared it with him.

Jiang Ren graciously ate one piece.

She turned her head again.

Then the woman in the movie died!

Hit by a car with a bang, her brains splattered.

Jiang Ren chewed on the popcorn, his tongue pressing against the malt candy. He held back his laughter.

Meng Ting felt something was off. She softly analyzed, “Is there some conspiracy behind that car accident? Will the police investigate and find the real culprit?”

Jiang Ren didn’t even blink, “Don’t know, haven’t seen it before.”

Meng Ting started to feel a bit uneasy.

Two minutes later, she was completely unsettled!

After the girl died, she became a ghost, returning every night to find the boy. The boy was trapped in that day, with his ghost girlfriend repeating a different death each day, then coming to find him at night… That’s why the movie was called “After Today.”

When the blood-covered female ghost appeared on the screen.

It was too realistic. The TV screen was high-definition, and she sat in the center of the sofa. That ashen, eerie ghost face seemed to teleport right in front of her eyes.

She couldn’t hold onto the popcorn, frozen in place.

Too scared to move, she didn’t say she was afraid, nor did she throw herself into his arms. She didn’t even cry.

However terrified the male lead in the movie was, that’s how scared she was.

Jiang Ren felt both sympathetic and amused.

He regretted it a bit. Was she this scared?

He turned off the TV and pulled her head to his chest, “It’s okay, don’t be afraid, it’s all fake.”

Only when she felt the man’s scorching body temperature did she burst into loud sobs, burrowing into his embrace.

“Her eye fell out, wuwuwuwu!”

He kissed the top of her head, “It didn’t fall out, it’s special effects, fake.”

“It came out from behind.” Her spine chilled.

The man’s hot, large palm embraced her frail back as he softly comforted her, “Baby, you saw wrong, it’s the director’s trick, just camera angles.”

She clutched his shirt, crying miserably and pitifully. Her tears soaked his chest, and he panicked a bit.

Jiang Ren picked her up and turned on the lights.

She was so frightened that she wouldn’t lift her head, as if closing her eyes would prevent her from seeing scary things.

He felt incredibly sorry for her.

Holding her, he paced back and forth in the room, softly comforting, “It’s all fake, don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid.”

She hugged his neck, whimpering softly.

Jiang Ren wasn’t afraid of ghosts and didn’t know what being afraid of ghosts felt like. Back then, those teenage boys from the military compound had run around the room in terror, though there were two who weren’t afraid.

No matter how scared they were, he never felt anything.

But her fear felt like someone had punched him hard in the heart.

After a long while, as the night breeze brushed her hair, she began to console herself in a daze, “There are no ghosts, it’s all fake.”

When scared by horror movies, no amount of comfort from others helps; one can only come to terms with it themselves. Once she had processed it, she finally looked up, the corners of her eyes tinged with peach blossom color, tears glistening in her eyes under the brilliant lights.

She looked pitiful from every angle.

So beautiful it made one want to ravish her.

Jiang Ren turned his head away, not daring to look at her.

“All right, let go?”

She sniffled, “I-I feel like maybe…”  She still felt that if she let go, something might suddenly pop out behind her.

Jiang Ren found her adorably irresistible.

He carried her to the living room where the crystal chandelier emitted a bright white light. Jiang Ren sat on the sofa, looking at her at eye level.

Then he gently pushed her away a little.

The young woman’s body was graceful and shapely as she knelt on his legs.

Meng Ting looked back at him with tear-filled eyes.

After a while, she reached out, her hand touching his cheek.

Jiang Ren’s nerves were taut, his muscles tense: “What are you doing!”

Meng Ting touched the area above his upper lip, then showed him her fingertip with blood on it.

Jiang Ren was incredibly flustered. Damn it.

He shouldn’t have played that movie.

Of course, he knew his nose was bleeding. He wasn’t made of stone.

With those two soft mounds pressing against him, he was reacting normally.

He had been coveting her for far too long.

He glared at her fiercely, “It’s hot, I’m getting internal heat. Don’t buy so many potato chips and popcorn!”