Chapter 71 - 59: Aina’s Rations
The farmhouse inn was in Yubei District. A taxi would have been quick and easy, but they opted to take the subway and transfer.
As for why... Su Ran nearly died from exasperation right then and there.
Su Ran had pointed out that the five of them couldn’t fit into one taxi, so they should split up into two cars.
Split up?
Aina insisted they wouldn’t. The four of them had to stick together; they did everything together.
’Fine,’ Su Ran had said. ’You four are inseparable. You take one cab, and I’ll take another one by myself.’
Alone?
Aina scoffed. "We agreed the five of us would go together! What kind of man are you, ditching us like that?"
Su Ran was completely at a loss.
Yada yada, blah blah blah... And so began another endless discussion about what form of transportation to take.
’Ugh, why all the drama?’
’I swear, I just want to skin these four little rabbits alive.’
"Alright, alright, alright! Ladies, please, stop arguing. We won’t split you up. We’ll all just take the subway, okay?"
"That’s more like it."
"Let’s go. One, two, three, four, line up. Follow me across the street."
"Mmm-hmm."
’Why is there such a strange thrill in being doted on by a man?’
’It’s so weird.’
They arrived at the subway station, bought tickets, and went through the gates. After a short wait—during which Su Ran, unsurprisingly, was once again relegated to the role of official photographer—he reflected that at least two gigabytes of his phone’s photo album were dedicated to them.
DING~
The subway pulled into the station.
The four of them sat down on the long bench seat, all uniformly crossing their right legs over their left. They pulled out their phones, chatting and laughing.
"Su R..."
Liu Jinyu saw something amusing on her phone and, out of habit, turned to show Su Ran, only to find the seat beside her empty. He was sitting across from them.
Liu Jinyu patted the empty seat and mouthed the words, "Come over here."
Su Ran pretended not to see.
’Come sit over here next to me,’ Liu Jinyu willed him silently. ’I’ll reward you with a kiss later... for as long as you want.’
Su Ran glanced down for a moment, then lifted his head to look at Liu Jinyu directly across from him. She was leaning against the window with her arms crossed. Her denim shorts revealed long, fair legs, which she first crossed left over right, then right over left, rubbing them together slightly.
’This girl...’
’Ranran, don’t you like my thighs? Come on over. They’re all yours if you do.’
The other three girls clicked their tongues and sighed to themselves. ’When that little vixen starts acting up, she really is asking for a spanking.’
Su Ran finally walked over and sat down, only to have his arm promptly pinched by Liu Jinyu. "Don’t you do that again, you hear? Mwah!" She planted a kiss on his cheek, then sweetly hugged his arm and leaned her head on his shoulder, much to the envy of the onlookers.
At the next stop, a crowd of passengers surged in, including several elderly people. Su Ran and the girls instinctively gave up their seats.
"Over there."
Su Ran took the four girls by the hand and maneuvered them into a corner. The four of them leaned against the wall, their legs crossed and held close together. Their tall, curvy figures and exceptional auras stood out.
It was already hot, and the crowd made it worse. Su Ran thoughtfully pulled a sun shirt out of his bag and handed it to Xie Yiren. Then he braced his hands on either side of them, creating a protective space for the four girls with himself as a barrier against the jostling passengers behind him.
"Thank you."
Xie Yiren was touched by his thoughtfulness. She put on the sun shirt, which conveniently covered the "Bathing Fire Phoenix" tattoo on her neck and prevented it from drawing curious stares.
The four girls only ever goofed around like this in private, when they were with Su Ran.
The moment they stepped outside, they were very aware of how to behave. They knew what roles to play and were sharp enough to take a hint.
Xiao Wanqing asked curiously, "Su Ran, let me ask you something. You’re about to meet Jinyu’s parents. Are you nervous?"
"What’s there to be nervous about? Jinyu told me her dad is a professor of animal husbandry. I actually have a few questions I’d like to ask him."
To be honest, the students who got into the Demon Dance Academy generally came from well-off families. The cost of training a child in dance from a young age was simply not something an average family could afford.
Xiao Wanqing was a Shanghai native whose family had benefited from urban redevelopment—they had been compensated for relocation, received new properties, and generally cashed in on the boom. She was well-off by any measure.
Liu Jinyu was the "Dam Flower" of Chongqing Shapingba. Her father was a professor of animal husbandry, and her mother had contracted a large plot of mountain land to raise free-range chickens. Her mother’s business had even been featured on a TV program about getting rich through enterprise.
They weren’t exactly rich heiresses, but they never lacked for spending money. It was just that, being girls, the moment their monthly allowance came in, they couldn’t help but splurge. As a result, they were always broke by the end of the month and too embarrassed to ask their parents for more.
Uh...
As for his other two friends, who were from ethnic minorities...
Su Ran only knew that Xie Yiren’s family was poor—genuinely poor. Hailing from a small tribe in Miaojiang, how could she be wealthy? She loved to dance, and when she was accepted into the Demon Dance Academy, her entire tribe had pooled their money to cover her tuition and living expenses.
For an entire tribe to be willing to sacrifice so much for her meant that Xie Yiren was no ordinary girl. Besides, she bore the mark of the "Bathing Fire Phoenix." Su Ran had never dared to ask about her specific background. He was afraid that if he knew too much, she might use a Gu Technique on him.
And it was this very woman whom Aina shamelessly called her "husband." What’s more, every time Aina ran out of money at the end of the month, she would just leech off Yiren. Truly "heartless."
This "heartless" eccentric from the Western Regions, Aina, was even more of a mystery.
She was always broke, constantly freeloading for food, drinks, and a place to sleep.
As for what her family did, frankly, it wasn’t just Su Ran who was in the dark; even Liu Jinyu and the others had no idea.
Every time they asked what her family did for a living, Aina would just say they made raisins. But if they asked her how raisins were made, she couldn’t explain.
She was just asking for a smack.
In any case, nobody knew what her family did.
However...
He didn’t dare question Xie Yiren too much for fear of a Gu Technique, but the Western Regions had no such thing. Su Ran wasn’t afraid of Aina.
"Aina, we’re at the point where you know everything about us, but we know nothing about you. Just be honest, what exactly does your fam—"
"Here."
Before he could finish his sentence, Aina shoved one of her favorite snacks from the Western Regions into his mouth: a "sour yogurt curd."
Su Ran had tried the things several times but could never stomach them. Every bite made him want to gag.
"Don’t you spit it out."
Aina covered his mouth with her fair hand, preventing him from spitting it out.
Hehe~
Liu Jinyu and the other girls chuckled. Aina often force-fed them the same snack, and they couldn’t stand it either. The only time any of them had ever managed to finish one was back when they first started college and became roommates. Aina had proudly brought out her precious "sour yogurt curds" to share with her new friends: Xie Yiren, Liu Jinyu, and Xiao Wanqing.
Back then, since they had just met, they were too polite to say the snack was awful, so the three of them had forced themselves to choke it down.
GULP.
Su Ran chewed a few times and swallowed. *Phew...* The look on his face was one of complete and utter despair.
"I thought there were only two things in this world I, Su Ran, could never eat. The first is cilantro, and the second is river snail noodles. Now I have to add sour yogurt curds to the list!"
"Tch. You have no taste. It’s delicious, and you say it’s awful."
Aina popped a yogurt curd into her own mouth, chewing with obvious enjoyment. "Next time, we’re taking you to eat river snail noodles."
"No, no, no! You could beat me to death and I still wouldn’t eat that stuff! I’d rather we stop being friends!"
"Is it really that serious?"
"Don’t you guys think it stinks?"
The four girls shook their heads. "It’s fragrant."
"I give up on you all. Yiren, what about you? You’re from Miaojiang. What kind of delicacies do you like?"
Xie Yiren scratched her head. "Do centipedes count as a delicacy?"
PFFT—
Su Ran died on the spot.
These four women, each with her own one-of-a-kind Style. Su Ran couldn’t handle them anymore.