Inside the business hall, Liu Ranran stared at Hu Yifan as he handed her the phone he had hung up.
Hu Yifan had bought the latest phone, which cost a large sum of money. She reluctantly asked him, "Can I pay for it in installments?"
Just when she was renewing her card at the business hall, Hu Yifan had volunteered to buy her a phone.
She hadn't expected the young man to buy her the latest model, the most popular, and quite expensive.
Her pocket money had been squandered on it, and she couldn't even afford a phone costing seven or eight thousand yuan.
But Hu Yifan had been so kind as to buy her a phone, so she had no reason to be picky.
Liu Ranran's face was now wrinkled like a bun. She looked at Hu Yifan in anguish, then looked down at her phone. It was the latest model, pink, her favorite color. It looked stunning, worthy of the price he paid for it, though it was a bit pricey.
Hu Yifan slipped his arm around Liu Ranran's neck, resting half his body on the girl's shoulders.
"Installment?"
"I bought something for you, and you still have to pay it back?"
He looked like a wealthy landlord.
Liu Ranran had long been accustomed to the young master's spineless appearance. Besides, Hu Yifan didn't really put all his weight on her. Apart from feeling awkward and uncomfortable at the beginning, she didn't feel anything after he doing it so many times.
That time, when they were eating ice cream, he'd insisted on scooping two spoonfuls of it from her pink ice cream, claiming he'd paid for it, so why not try every flavor?
Liu Ranran wanted to slap him to death, but that wouldn't be enough. He even said hers wasn't tasty.
When she tried to eat his one with a spoon, he'd even shrugged her off!
This generosity made Liu Ranran extremely suspicious of Hu Yifan's motives. She narrowed her eyes and pulled away his arm from her shoulder.
"It's so expensive, don't I have to pay it back? Hu Yifan, when did you become so generous?"
"Tell me, you weasel paying New Year's greetings to a chicken, you have no good intentions. What's the matter?"
Hu Yifan stared at the little face, which still had a little bit of baby fat, and reached out to pinch it.
"Didn't I just scoop two scoops of ice cream from you? And in your eyes, I'm a weasel?"
Liu Ranran felt a little pain in her face from Hu Yifan's pinch. Disgruntled, she tiptoed to try and pinch him back.
But Hu Yifan was clearly a head taller than Liu Ranran, and no matter how Liu Ranran thrashed about, she couldn't reach him.
Instead, she felt like a little kid being pinned down by Hu Yifan.
"Hu Yifan, let me go, you idiot!"
Hu Yifan watched her grimacing, exasperated expression, grinning from ear to ear. The usually carefree young man let go of Liu Ranran.
Unexpectedly, Liu Ranran swung her fist wildly, landing a punch on Hu Yifan's stomach.
Hu Yifan frowned for a moment, then a look of pain spread across his face.
Liu Ranran was stunned for a moment. She hadn't expected Hu Yifan to let go, let alone her punch that actually landed on the boy's stomach. She hadn't expected Hu Yifan to be so vulnerable.
She probably wasn't very strong.
"Hu Yifan, are you okay?... You're hurting somewhere. Let's go to the hospital."
Liu Ranran's eyes were anxious, her whole body in a state of panic. She saw the boy hunched over, his back half bent. He'd clearly been hit hard.
Liu Ranran was terrified.
Hu Yifan remained silent.
Tears fell on the ground.
"Hu Yifan, are you okay? Let's go to the hospital now."
Liu Ranran wiped her tears while anxiously grabbing Hu Yifan's arm, trying to hail a taxi on the street.
"I'm fine..."
Hu Yifan had originally wanted to tease Liu Ranran, but he didn't expect the girl to burst into tears, tears streaming down her face.
He was completely panicked, and there was no time for pretense.
But the startled Liu Ranran didn't believe it. Her eyes were filled with tears.
"I'm fine, really..." Hu Yifan said, extending his hand, and Bang Bang punched him twice, pretending to be nothing.
If Liu Ranran didn't realize by now that she'd been tricked, she'd be a fool.
Seeing Hu Yifan was fine, Liu Ranran cried even harder.
She wasn't a very courageous person to begin with; she hadn't cried when she lost her phone.
She had been terrified by Hu Yifan, sobbing breathlessly.
"Hu Yifan, you're so annoying! Do you know you're scaring me to death? Wuwuwu...!"
Liu Ranran didn't care anymore and sat down on the side of the road, crying her heart out.
"You big bad bastard! You lied to me! I thought you were not okay. How can you lie about something like that?"
Liu Ranran was timid. Because of all the stress she'd felt recently, and Su's mother's passed away, she suddenly realized the fragility of life. Especially after what happened to Su Qing, she realized how close people are to evil, and even death.
She instantly thought something had happened to Hu Yifan and was terrified.
Hu Yifan squatted in front of Liu Ranran, bewildered.
"I was wrong. You hit me, you scolded me. Can you please stop crying?"
Every tear from Liu Ranran felt like it fell upon Hu Yifan's heart, corroding him like sulfuric acid. He felt a pang of pain, an indescribable pain.
Hu Yifan had seen Liu Ranran secretly wiping away tears, but she never cried in front of others, only in private.
When she was worried about Su Qing, when Su Qing's mother passed away, when she didn't do well in the exam, when he twisted his ankle.
She was timid and worried to death, yet she pretended to be strong, as if nothing had happened. In reality, she was terribly timid.
Hu Yifan knew this, but at that moment, he didn't know what had happened to him. He suddenly wanted to test her and see if he was important to her.
Hu Yifan grabbed Liu Ranran's wrist and slapped his face and body randomly.
Liu Ranran bit her lip and struggled.
But the blow wasn't as strong as Hu Yifan's, so the boy slapped himself downside the jaw.
Liu Ranran was stunned.
"Hu Yifan, are you sick? Why are you hitting yourself? And using my hand? You wicked man! You want to make me feel guilty? No way!"
She sobbed, her tears running out. Gradually, she ran out of tears and felt exhausted.
She stared blankly at Hu Yifan, his jaw visibly red from the scratches she'd made on him.
Liu Ranran retracted her fingertips. Her nails were quite long. She hadn't been allowed to get manicures in school, but now that she'd graduated, she wanted to get them, so she hadn't trimmed them in quite a while.
Looking at the bloody cut on Hu Yifan's chin, she turned away.