The male receptionist’s expression turned strange for a moment, recognizing Young Master Jiang’s voice this time. He then said to Meng Ting, “Student, the elevator is having some issues. Please take the stairs up.”
Meng Ting nodded, thinking it was good enough to be able to go up. She thanked them and walked in the direction the male receptionist had pointed.
After Meng Ting’s figure disappeared, the female receptionist said with a strange expression, “The elevator isn’t broken though.”
“Young Master Jiang’s orders.”
“What does he want to do?”
“How would I know? Anyway, don’t ask about his business. Do you want to shorten your life? I heard that Young Master Jiang…” The male receptionist pointed to his heart, “has a mental illness, can’t control his emotions. Who knows why he was kicked out of the Jiang family.”
The female receptionist thought of the beautiful young girl from earlier: “She’s really pretty, even more beautiful than my idol. She’ll be even more gorgeous in a few years.”
The male receptionist also felt a bit worried for her.
Of all the people to get involved with, she got involved with Jiang Ren.
The stairs at Anhai Pavilion were an emergency facility, usually unused. Therefore, the stairwell was very quiet.
The green “Emergency Exit” sign with an arrow guided the way, and the lighting in the stairwell was dim.
Meng Ting could only hear her footsteps as she walked up, still carrying her backpack and following the handrail.
At the third-floor landing, she unexpectedly bumped into a solid chest.
Meng Ting was startled: “Ah!”
Anyone would be scared if they suddenly saw something in a dark environment with a green glow. She covered her forehead and stepped back several steps.
Looking up, she saw the outline of Jiang Ren’s face.
In the half-dark light, he looked somewhat surprised, placing his hand where she had bumped into him.
The young man’s muscles were firm, but it was her forehead that was left dizzy from the collision.
Her voice was sweet, that trembling “Ah!” with its rising tone was like a broken murmur. That bump just now, who knows what had crashed into his chest.
Meng Ting’s face was pale, her hands and feet still weak.
She couldn’t see Jiang Ren’s expression clearly, but she knew she had just bumped into him. Jiang Ren was already domineering and unreasonable, so she quickly apologized: “I’m sorry, did I hurt you?”
Jiang Ren curved his lips: “Mm.”
Meng Ting didn’t know what to do. This was like a disaster falling from the sky for her. Who would have known that Jiang Ren wasn’t at the gathering, but in this dark stairwell?
Outside the transparent windows of Anhai Pavilion, the sea breeze was blowing gently.
Meng Ting’s back was against the cold wall, feeling somewhat at a loss.
“I didn’t mean to,” she said. Though naive, she wasn’t stupid. How could such a bump cause any real harm? Her vision was still a bit blurry, and knowing he was giving her a hard time, she couldn’t help but say softly, “You scared me too.”
Jiang Ren almost laughed out loud.
He was in the backlight, able to see her appearance. She was still wearing the regulated uniform of No. 7 Middle School, with the school badge pinned to the right side of her chest. Her air bangs gave her a soft beauty in the light and shadow, and even those black glasses that invited peeping seemed to have softened a bit.
Though afraid of him, she was trying her best to stay calm.
“What, you bump into someone and don’t want to take responsibility, good student? Is this how No. 7 Middle School teaches people?”
Meng Ting looked up at him, her tone soft as she retorted: “No. 7 Middle School says we should apologize. And to forgive others when we can.”
This time Jiang Ren couldn’t hold back and laughed: “I’m illiterate, I don’t go for that kind of stuff, understand?”
Meng Ting knew he was unreasonable.
The night was quiet, with bright lights in the distance over the sea. Looking down through Anhai Pavilion, there were spots of faint light. She suddenly remembered that the young man before her would kill someone in a few years.
His method of killing was extremely cruel.
Meng Ting knew he was very dangerous, that she couldn’t get close to him, and even more so, couldn’t offend him.
She bowed, sincerely giving him a deep bow: “I’m sorry.”
The smile at the corner of his lips faded.
In the dim light, she couldn’t see the look in his eyes, and for some reason, she thought of how Jiang Ren had silently chased a bus for three miles like a madman that year.
Like a life-or-death, overbearing wolf cub.
She had always been afraid of his near-psychotic frenzy.
Meng Ting said: “I didn’t mean to. How about… you hit me back?”
She hesitantly extended a jade-white little hand.
Slender, beautiful fingers, with a hint of light cherry pink at the tips. Even though it wasn’t clear in the dim light, she was in the brightest part of the entire stairwell, her personality soft to a fault.
Something surged straight through his heart as he stared at that little hand for a long time, then clicked his tongue: “Alright, but you’re not allowed to cry out in pain.”
She nodded seriously.
Jiang Ren’s hand in his pocket trembled slightly.
The hand before him was beautiful and soft, with long, white fingers. He had never seen anyone with such delicate and beautiful hands. Even his mother, who was particular about everything, didn’t have such exquisite and pretty hands.
Just before he was about to touch her hand, he suddenly came to his senses.
Jiang Ren withdrew his hand with an irritated expression and felt the lighter in his pocket. He tossed the lighter into her palm: “Come here and light a cigarette for me, and we’ll call it even.”
Meng Ting stared blankly at the black lighter in her palm.
“Come on, do I need to invite you?”
His temper was still very bad.
Meng Ting guessed that Jiang Ren might have come out to smoke and get some air. Mindful of her skirt, she took a few steps closer.
The young man was twenty-seven centimeters taller than her.
This year she was 1.6 meters tall, not considered short, but Jiang Ren was very tall. He spoke crudely and had dyed silver hair that made him look a bit roguish, so people outside often mistook him for a hooligan. He was not easy to deal with, had a bad temper, and a flawed personality.
Jiang Ren couldn’t suppress his irritation, so he took a cigarette from the pack and bit it between his lips.
The window frame on the third floor was open, letting in a few wisps of cool night breeze.
Her bangs swayed gently.
She raised her hand, standing on tiptoe to get closer to him.
In the moment the flame lit up, he smelled the fragrance carried by the wind from the young girl. That unique, soft, and sweet scent.
Her movements were inexperienced, even a bit clumsy.
It was obvious she had never done such a thing for anyone before, yet she was unbelievably obedient.
He lowered his gaze, that hand trembling slightly, and after a while, finally lit the cigarette.
Meng Ting breathed a sigh of relief after lighting it, placed the lighter in his palm, and then ran past him up the stairs.
After a long while, he suddenly pinched the cigarette between his fingers and extinguished it, breathing heavily.
The cigarette had already burned halfway, but he had forgotten to even breathe, not taking a single puff.
Don’t let him see her again.
Don’t see her again.
Otherwise…
Meng Ting went upstairs and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The fifth floor of Anhai Pavilion was in chaos. Through the crowd, Meng Ting immediately spotted Shu Lan.
The bad thing was, that Shu Lan was about to show off her dancing skills.
She was wearing Meng Ting’s dress.
The dress didn’t fit her body well; she wasn’t well-developed, and her chest couldn’t fill it out. However, it didn’t diminish its inherent beauty. That year, no other dress worn by girls was as beautiful and unique as this one, with the beauty of post-rain indigo from the Republican era. As she moved, the colorful feathers fluttered. The hem was very long, catching the eyes of several girls.
Shu Lan couldn’t help feeling proud.
Because even those usually arrogant girls from Licai Vocational High School couldn’t help but ask where she bought the dress.
Shu Lan said with an upward inflection: “You can’t buy this anywhere. It’s a custom-made dress, one of a kind in the whole world.”
Even though those girls liked it, hearing this, they couldn’t maintain their composure: “Hmph, who cares.” One or two boys also cast glances at Shu Lan.
Shu Lan was elated. These people were all rich. Usually, they wouldn’t even look at her on the street, but tonight, wearing this dress, she finally felt like she could hold her head high.
Those girls who had asked about her dress came back shortly after, holding glasses of red wine, their tone mocking: “I heard you can dance. Why don’t you show us? After all, we’re having such a good time today.”
Shu Lan didn’t know how to dance at all.
Her earliest understanding of dance was limited to the painful feeling of the dance teacher pressing hard on her legs to practice flexibility.
However, He Junming heard this, put down the microphone, and looked over, seeming very interested: “Yeah, your name is… Shu, Shu Lan, right? Beautiful, would you mind dancing for us?”
A group of boys immediately chimed in, whistling and clapping: “Come on, do it!”
Shu Lan was in a difficult position.
He Junming, being a bit dense, even found some elegant music for her: “Go ahead and dance.”
Shu Lan’s eyelid twitched, her heart racing uncontrollably.
He Han, pressing the remote control, said: “Is the music not right? Do you want something more upbeat?”
For the whole evening, the attention she had been dreaming of was finally on her, but only because they wanted to see her dance.
Shu Lan definitely couldn’t dance. She thought to herself, that she wasn’t like Meng Ting who could do everything. She couldn’t do these things, and if she danced, she would be exposed immediately.
She glanced at the person-high luxurious cake beside her.
If… her clothes got dirty, then no one would ask her to dance anymore, right?
Although she felt it was a pity for the dress, she couldn’t go back on her word. Besides, the dress could still be worn after washing.
Shu Lan pulled at the hem of the dress and curtsied.
Taking a few steps back, she was about to touch that big cake.
Even though Meng Ting had a good temper, seeing her about to touch the cake made her angry.
That was something her mother had left her!
Meng Ting’s clear voice rang out: “Shu Lan!”
Shu Lan was startled and turned to see Meng Ting standing at the door in her school uniform. For a moment, she was shocked beyond belief. She had originally thought Meng Ting was just scaring her when she said she would take back her things, but she didn’t expect Meng Ting to come.
How did she get up here?
Wasn’t Anhai Pavilion supposed to not let people in casually?
Meng Ting didn’t look at all the eyes turned towards her.
She also didn’t feel any inferiority in her dull gray uniform among the crowd of glamorous people.
She walked up to Shu Lan as if she had turned back into the fourteen-year-old Meng Ting.
Incredibly soft, yet proud and bright: “Change out of the dress and give it to me, right now.”
She didn’t look at Shu Lan’s expression but turned to look at He Junming.
“Classmate He, I’m sorry. That gold medal from yesterday, can you return it to me?”