After saying this, Fang Ran realized…
His own stupidity.
Right now, he was dying to give himself two tight slaps!
'What the f*ck, is this what a gentleman should say?!'
'Even if you have not picked a girl up before, haven't you seen others pick up girls before?'
The atmosphere in the shop immediately turned extremely awkward, and the saleslady genuinely despised him this time around.
The girl was also stunned. She had not expected Fang Ran to say something like that, but she recovered quickly from it. Grabbing the hem of Fang Ran's shirt, her large eyes under her black-rimmed glasses sparkled with glazed brilliance, fearing that Fang Ran would take off from her sight.
"Ah that, it's fine, there's a restaurant that I'm very familiar with."
"Ah, oh, okay,"
Completely not expecting such a situation to occur, Fang Ran, who was somewhat at a loss, bemusedly replied to her using these three simple yet powerful words to express the result of his mind turning blank at the moment.
"In that case, shall we go?"
While still holding onto Fang Ran, the girl was already standing near the exit. She looked at Fang Ran expectantly as she said this, for fear that he would reject her.
Fang Ran responded, "Oh, um, alright."
'Congratulations, you have successfully captured the heart of a single man who has never been in love before, and has lost the ability to resist.'
"Hey, your phone!"
The saleslady hurriedly called out as she looked at the two of them who did not know each other just a moment ago but had somehow 'successfully gotten together'.
"Oh, just leave it here for repair. I will come and pick it up later,"
The girl turned around and said, before pulling a dazed Fang Ran out of the store.
Looking at the mobile phone, which was worth more than two months of her salary, the saleslady let out a wry laugh.
'Seriously… How rich of a lady must she be, to be at ease leaving such an expensive mobile phone without a receipt after taking off…
…
…
Someone was holding onto his sleeve.
'This is the first time since I was born that a girl is holding my sleeve.'
Fang Ran's mind was currently filled with this hopeless and shameless thought.
The slightly warm air outside struck him, and Fang Ran instantly stopped giggling like a fool in his heart. He then glanced at the girl who was leading the way in front of him.
With his rationality and vigilance coming back to him, Fang Ran could not help but sigh.
'What a formidable lady! She easily caused me to let my guard down and coerced me to unwittingly follow her.'
'An expert!'
'She succeeded in getting me to follow her pace. If this goes on, I will be led by her to that so-called restaurant. No way!'
'I have to save myself!'
Fang Ran sighed helplessly in his heart. 'If I still don't save myself, it'll probably either be five burly guys who will jump out from around a corner and yell 'How dare you seduce our sister!' before beating me to a pulp, or some rich and powerful 'fiance' springing out and furiously taking his fury out on the innocent me.'
'Both scenario are sh*tty.'
'Trying to trick me?'
'Dream on!'
By now, Fang Ran had already regained his composure, wisdom and vigilance. He did not believe in the least bit that such a beautiful, fashionable girl with a lovable personality would suddenly grab him and invite him for a meal as if she had fallen in love with him at first sight.
As someone who had read countless novel plots, and about all kinds of scam cases which in today's terms are schemes that use sex to seduce victims, Fang Ran thought,
'Hah, why are those protagonists so stupid?'
'Why can't they see through such a simple scheme? Things like having something fall onto your lap from the sky or a beautiful woman throwing themselves into your arms, is unrealistic.'
Fang Ran sighed, feeling somewhat troubled about opening his mouth to get away from her.
This was Fang Ran's habit. He, who already did not have a lot of possessions, was like a little peasant, meticulously planning and carefully accounting for the crops in his field and protecting them with his life, was on his guard against all external contact.
However, just like every boy who longed to meet beautiful women, Fang Ran also has a longing voice in his heart that screamed softly,
'Perhaps she might really… Really want to…'
"How is that possible…"
Fang Ran rolled his eyes in self-mockery and vetoed his own daydream. Then, looking at the beautiful side profile of the girl, he finally made a decision!
To reject her!
'Fang Ran!'
'You must firmly refuse her!'
'If you show even a tiny bit of mercy, you'll lose!'
'You'll just offend either five burly men or a random fiance without any rhyme or reason!'
'So…. I must…!'
In the data space, Ling, who vaguely noticed Fang Ran's train of thoughts, smirked and said nothing, waiting in anticipation to see how the situation would unfold.
Taking a deep, Fang Ran glanced around. Seeing that there were not many people around, he planned to seize the opportunity to speak up!
"Hey!"
However, before Fang Ran could muster up his courage to open his mouth, the girl seized the opportunity first!
"Gah…"
Fang Ran made a sound as if his neck was being choked and he forcibly swallowed back his excuse of "I'm having a stomachache all of a sudden so I'm going back home".
"I know it was very rash and impolite of me to look for you out of the blue like this, but…"
Summoning all her courage as her face flushed slightly under her mask, she raised her head up to look at Fang Ran and said,
"I really have something to say to you."
'What?!'
'Look for me out of the blue?'
'In other words, we didn't meet by chance?'
'You have something to tell me? What do you want to say?'
Fang Ran looked serious and dumbfounded, completely not knowing how to respond to her.
'Oh my God, sure enough, she's an expert!'
'She actually guessed that I had the thought to leave halfway through, and actually made a move before I could get away!'
'Oh no, now, there will definitely be someone spying on me in secret, perhaps it would be her male friend who secretly likes her. If that happens, this lady is definitely going to offload all that guy's hatred and hostility onto me.'
"About that…"
The girl took a step forward and stared at Fang Ran's face while Fang Ran's entire head was filled with the f*cking thought, 'She was the one who persistently pursued and attacked me'.
The girl blinked and smiled gently as she said in a tone filled with gratitude and ambiguous emotions,
"Thank you."
The sun was shining brightly, but the blistering hot air seemed to be dispelled by the girl's laughter. It was just like a chapter in shoujo mangas with flower petals floating in the air with black silhouettes in the background.
Feeling the girl's smile and words, Fang Ran spoke gently, like a male protagonist in mangas,
"Um… do we know each other? Did you recognise the wrong person?"
"…"
"…"
The girl was utterly stunned. After which, she bit down on her lip.
'He… Doesn't remember me?'
A small wave of disappointment welled up in her heart, but she quickly mustered up her courage and thought of a plan.
'In that case, I'll have him know me again, and make him remember who I am!'
After that, the young lady looked at Fang Ran and took off her mask.
An exquisitely gorgeous oval-shaped face came into view. Her thin lips were slightly pursed, and her cheeks were blushing slightly. Her eyes were twinkling with a gorgeous brilliance under her black-rimmed glasses.
'What a beautiful girl!'
Fang Ran exclaimed inwardly.
Shui Lianxin continued staring at Fang Ran.
Then, both of them stared at each other blankly for several seconds.
In the end, Fang Ran was more skillful, and thus succeeded in winning this staring contest.
"About that…"
The girl's voice was quavering, unable to believe what was happening right before her eyes.
"Uh, what's wrong?"
Fang Ran asked in bewilderment, which made Shui Lianxin press her lips together even more tightly. This was completely different from what she had imagined.
'He doesn't know who I am.'
'This is different from when he could not remember who I am. Right now, he doesn't even know who I am.'
However, she did not give up. She raised her head up and looked straight at Fang Ran. When Fang Ran was a little embarrassed about staring incessantly at the face of this beautiful girl, she removed her black-rimmed glasses.
Fang Ran still looked lost.
'Eh? Why is she taking off her mask and glasses while keeping some intense eye-constant with me?'
'Young lady, although you are certainly extremely beautiful, but are you… trying to seduce me with your beauty?'
Fang Ran's mind was racing with wild thoughts as he looked into Shui Lianxin's eyes that were under curly flax-coloured hair tucked under a white fedora.
'He genuinely doesn't know!'
Shui Lianxin lightly bit down on her lip, feeling slightly indignant, slightly incredulous, slightly surprised and shocked, as she thought,
'It shouldn't be like this!'
In her imagination, after asking her grandmother to make a prediction using divination, she would be able to find him easily. After which, she would get to know him without a hitch.
Even if he did not remember the girl whom he had helped that night, he should know who the current her was.
At that time, it was to be expected that they would then exchange their contact details…
Yet…
Shui Lianxin lightly bit down on her lip and carefully stared into Fang Ran's eyes. The next moment, she lowered her head in disappointment.
There was no shock or surprise at all.
Sure enough, he did not know who she was. She had originally thought there was already enough MVs and advertisements about her.
'Looks like I still have to work hard!'
She clenched her fists and pulled herself together again.
'Shui Lianxin, you can do it!'
She cheered herself on. The next moment, she pointed at the girl in a music video that was displayed on a huge advertising screen on a building behind Fang Ran.
'Now, you should know who I am, right?'
Fang Ran turned his head around in puzzlement and looked towards the huge screen that this strange girl was pointing at. On the big screen…
"We are now going to insert a piece of news," a male and female anchor suddenly appeared on the screen, tidying up their documents as they said in all seriousness.
"An unidentified member of the public has successfully cracked down on a group of drug traffickers alone, and has anonymously handed over the drugs together with half a million dollars as well as the location of the drug traffickers to the police… Just a moment ago, the police arrived at the crime scene."
"They have verified the facts, and the police hereby sincerely thank that unidentified hero for bravely stepping forward and defending the stability of our motherland."
"It is in hope that this individual will come forward and reveal his identity. The relevant department will definitely issue a fair reward to the individual."
"Besides that, according to the relevant department, they have successfully tracked down clues about the cultural relic thief from a few days ago."
Fang Ran was speechless.
Shui Lianxin was speechless.
Both of them yelled in their hearts, 'Why is this piece of news suddenly being inserted!'