It seemed that it was Luo Chuan’s laughter that made Li An Ran a little bit ashamed and angry. The two of them frolicked and played around in the not-so-big living room. Soon, Li An Ran, panting from exhaustion, leaned against Luo Chuan.
“Your stamina is bad,” Luo Chuan teased.
Li An Ran rolled her eyes at Luo Chuan and said in a bad mood,
“You think everyone is like you.”
After resting for a while, Luo Chuan glanced at the time. It was already past twelve o’clock. He then asked,
“What do you want to eat for lunch?”
“Just make something casual, I don’t have any requirements for food,” Li An Ran said casually. As long as it wasn’t too bad, she could accept it.
Luo Chuan scratched his head. The most difficult thing to make was something “casual.” However, luckily he had a lot of recipes in his mind. No matter what kind of food, he could make it.
“Can you eat spicy food?”
“Moderately spicy is fine.”
Luo Chuan rummaged through the refrigerator and found that there wasn’t much food left. He then decided to go for a walk to the market.
Li An Ran heard this and decided to go with him. It wasn’t because she had any special preference for the market; she simply wanted to be with Luo Chuan.
Naturally, Luo Chuan would not refuse. The two of them walked to the street together.
In the market, Luo Chuan’s eyes were like fire-eyes. He could always find which vegetables were good, which had worms, which were fresh, and which had been left out for several days from amongst a pile of vegetables.
This made Li An Ran marvel. In her eyes, all these vegetables looked the same. She didn’t know how Luo Chuan could tell the difference.
The vegetables her family usually ate were bought directly from the supermarket. There wasn’t such a chaotic place like this market.
After taking a tour of the market, Luo Chuan had several bags in his hand. Then, the two of them went to the butcher’s shop.
“Tu Shu, two pounds of pork belly,” Luo Chuan called out.
The butcher, who was napping behind the meat stall, suddenly woke up. Seeing that it was Luo Chuan, his originally fierce face immediately softened, with a few more smiles added in.
“It’s you, kid.”
While speaking, he skillfully cut a large piece of meat and placed it on the scale. When he glanced at Li An Ran behind Luo Chuan, his hand paused for a moment. He gave Luo Chuan a wink.
“You got yourself a girlfriend, kid?”
Luo Chuan chuckled.
“She’s my friend. She’s coming to my house today for a visit.”
He didn’t say girlfriend, mainly to protect Li An Ran. He trusted Tu Shu’s character, but he was afraid of gossip. Besides, he didn’t want to make people think less of Li An Ran.
Tu Jun glanced at Luo Chuan and didn’t say anything. He just put the pork into a bag and said,
“Twenty-five.”
After paying, Luo Chuan left the meat stall with Li An Ran and went home.
Looking at the two of them leaving, Tu Jun muttered to himself,
“Such a beautiful girl. This will make things difficult for old Zhu!!”
On the way back, Li An Ran, who had been silent, spoke up.
“That uncle looked really fierce!”
Luo Chuan chuckled lightly. “Don’t look at Tu Shu’s fierce face. He’s a really good person. He’s also very respected in our Daxing village. You’ll know more about him once you get to know him better.”
“By the way, he’s also Tu Jun’s dad.”
“Is he the noisy guy?”
Luo Chuan almost laughed out loud. He didn’t expect Li An Ran’s assessment of Tu Jun to be “noisy.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, nothing.”
Li An Ran was puzzled, but when she saw the big and small bags in Luo Chuan’s hand, she seemed to have thought of something. She suddenly asked,
“By the way, how do you manage your living expenses now? Buying so many things, will it affect your future life?”
Hearing Li An Ran’s question, Luo Chuan stopped and smiled ambiguously.
“What, are you going to support me?”
Li An Ran thought for a moment and said,
“If you really need it, I still have some money. You can use it first. If you save carefully, your living expenses and tuition for high school and university should be no problem. I’m serious!”
Seeing Li An Ran’s serious look, if his hands hadn’t been full, he really wanted to pinch her cheeks.
“Don’t worry. I don’t have plans to live off of women.”
Li An Ran quickly took a few small steps forward, then turned back to Luo Chuan and said,
“How can you call that living off of women? I’m just lending it to you. You can pay me back later.”
“Don’t worry. I have an income now.”
“You’re only seventeen. What can a high school student do?” Li An Ran looked skeptical.
Luo Chuan pointed to the back.
“Do you see that ‘Screaming Braised Meat’ back there?”
Li An Ran looked back. It was a small shop, but there were always people coming in and out, which seemed very lively.
“What? It’s just a braised meat shop.”
“I have a part of that shop. I get a sum of money every month.”
Li An Ran became interested. When she got home, she kept pestering Luo Chuan to explain the shop’s situation.
Luo Chuan was pestered to the point where he had no choice but to explain about the secret braised sauce and his business dealings with Jiaojiao’s parents. He also explained why Jiaojiao ate at his place, so as to avoid feeling uncomfortable about it.
“So, that’s how it is,” Li An Ran realized.
“Can I finally be allowed to cook now? It’s almost two o’clock,” Luo Chuan said helplessly.
“Oh… okay, do you want me to help? I can help you pass things.”
However, after accidentally knocking over the seasoning box, Li An Ran was kicked out of the kitchen by Luo Chuan. She sat in the living room feeling gloomy.
It wasn’t like she did it on purpose! Everyone has their first time!
After sitting for a while, Li An Ran found it really boring. When she saw Luo Chuan’s room, her eyes lit up. She then saw that Luo Chuan was still busy in the kitchen, so she quietly twisted the door open.
She walked into the room and saw that it was just a normal bedroom, with nothing unusual. Besides the wardrobe and the bed, there was only a desk near the window. There were open documents on the desk, with densely packed formulas that made her eyes dizzy.
There didn’t seem to be anything weird about it, like what Qiao Yingzi said. There were no magazines, no strange smells. It was just a normal bedroom.
“What! Yingzi is such a liar,” Li An Ran muttered to herself before she was about to go out.
But as soon as she turned her head, she saw a blank face standing at the bedroom door.
Li An Ran, who was already feeling guilty, was directly frightened when she saw this face. She instinctively screamed,
“Ah!”
Luo Chuan rushed out of the kitchen quickly. Then, he saw Jiaojiao blocking the door to his bedroom, while Li An Ran, who was screaming, was in his room.
“What happened? What happened?”
“Xiao Chuanzi, I came in and saw this girl in your room,” Jiaojiao said directly, with her attack power at full strength. Clearly, she didn’t like Luo Chuan’s official girlfriend.
Li An Ran also reacted. She opened her mouth, wanting to retort, but she had no way to retort. She could only blush.
Luo Chuan quickly smoothed things over.
“It’s okay. It’s okay. I asked An Ran to look around in the room.”
Before they could react, he continued,
“Jiaojiao, are you coming over to eat lunch with us today?”
Zhu Wei snorted. “How dare I eat here? Wouldn’t that be interrupting your little lovebirds’ world?”
Although she said she wouldn’t eat, she stared at Luo Chuan intently. The canine teeth in her mouth were rubbing together. It was clear that she was saying, “If you dare let me leave, I’ll bite you to death.”
Before Luo Chuan could speak, Li An Ran, who finally had a chance, spoke up.
“You’re Luo Chuan’s friend, of course you can eat here.”
Her voice was soft, but the meaning behind it was anything but soft.
Whether intentional or not, Li An Ran emphasized the word “friend,” and her posture and tone were as if she were the mistress of the house.
Hearing this, Zhu Wei Jiao finally focused her gaze on Li An Ran. Li An Ran didn’t back down either. She stared back at Zhu Wei Jiao.
For a moment, Luo Chuan felt as if he saw lightning and thunder, a volcanic eruption.
Chapter Say: Thank you to all the readers for your support with monthly tickets, flowers, and comments. Thank you for your support!