Chapter 23: Twenty-Three Fires

Ji Ran’s loss of control didn’t last long. When Yan Duo bit his shoulder and whispered, “Teacher Ji, it hurts,” Ji Ran suddenly snapped back to awareness. He looked down at Yan Duo, her eyes brimming with tears, and slowed his movements, his gaze growing inscrutable. 16xiaoshuo.com

If not for Ji Ran’s completely uncharacteristic lack of composure in bed, Yan Duo wouldn’t have noticed his emotional fluctuations. These past two days, Ji Ran had been acting so unusually—he’d never been like this before. Though he now seemed much more himself, Yan Duo didn’t dare ask what had caused the change.

After it was over, Ji Ran got up and went to the bathroom. Blushing furiously, Yan Duo turned over and stared blankly at the heavy curtains. After a long while, she covered her face and let out a muffled whimper of self-reproach.

The woman who just wrapped her legs around Ji Ran’s waist to stop him from leaving definitely wasn’t her!

Definitely not!

She must have been possessed by someone else’s soul!

Yes, that’s it!

Even after mentally preparing herself, Yan Duo still couldn’t bring herself to face the version of herself who was so engrossed in “marital duties” or the overly gentle Ji Ran, who seemed almost unbelievable. Seizing the opportunity while Ji Ran was showering, Yan Duo grabbed her change of clothes and went downstairs to take a bath.

After dawdling in the shower for an hour, when Yan Duo returned to the bedroom, Ji Ran had already closed his eyes and fallen asleep. She patted her chest, let out a sigh of relief, and cautiously walked to the other side of the bed. Lifting the blanket, she slipped in, but just as she settled down, a warm body pressed against her from behind. Yan Duo froze completely, not daring to move a muscle. However, exhaustion eventually overpowered her, and she succumbed to sleep’s embrace, dozing off soundly in the arms of the person behind her.

The next morning, the two met at the dining table.

Yan Duo smiled and took the initiative to greet Ji Ran, “Good morning, Teacher Ji.”

The tone made it seem like she was truly Ji Ran’s model student.

“Morning.”

Ji Ran lifted his eyelids to glance at her, his expression so indifferent it revealed no emotion, yet the familiar feeling made Yan Duo breathe a sigh of relief.

After finishing the meal, the ride-hailing car Yan Duo had called had arrived. After saying goodbye to Ji Ran, Yan Duo boarded the car with her materials and headed to school.

The defense classroom was in Room 302 of the T-shaped building. When Yan Duo arrived, many classmates were already seated inside. They greeted each other, and Yan Duo found an empty seat to sit down.

The order of the defense had been determined by a prior draw. Yan Duo was tenth, a decent middle-to-early position. Her luck held out—the defense went smoothly, and the panel didn’t give her a hard time. After asking a few routine questions, they nodded and let her leave.

After packing up her things and leaving the defense classroom, Yan Duo went to find Professor Li. As soon as Professor Li saw her, she smiled and asked, “How did the defense go?”

“Not bad.”

Teacher Li: “I’ve submitted your thesis to the principal’s office for consideration as an outstanding graduation paper. Judging by the principal’s reaction, there’s a ninety percent chance it’ll be approved.”

If we were to evaluate Yan Duo’s thesis purely on its academic merit, while it is indeed top-tier, what truly secured the principal’s immediate approval wasn’t just the paper itself. It’s fair to say Yan Duo had a stroke of luck—her recent minor fame before graduation gave her an edge that left other students far behind.

Yan Duo was taken aback—this was the first time she’d heard about outstanding graduation theses. Being selected would naturally be wonderful, but then another question occurred to her.

“Professor Li, will awards be presented at the graduation ceremony this afternoon?”

Teacher Li nodded, “Yes, I heard the principal even invited someone special to present the awards to you.”

Yan Duo’s lips twitched. There would be quite a few award winners—surely it wouldn’t be such a coincidence… right?

After spending some time in Teacher Li’s office, Yan Duo was about to head to the cafeteria for lunch when she ran into Ji Sizhe again just outside the teaching building.

“Long time no see, senior.” Ji Sizhe walked up to Yan Duo with familiar ease, falling into step beside her as they moved forward.

Since their last meeting downstairs at Yan Duo’s agency, Ji Sizhe hadn’t gone to the company again, worried that Qiao Xi’er might cause another scene. Yan Duo hadn’t answered any of his calls either, so the two hadn’t seen each other for several days.

At this moment, Ji Size carefully observed Yan Duo. Whether it was an illusion or not, he noticed that Yan Duo looked even more beautiful today—a kind of beauty exuding femininity that was simply captivating.

Yan Duo glanced at Ji Size and deliberately looked around before saying, “You’d better stay away from me. I’m worried someone might take another photo and accuse me of being the other woman.”

Ranking second on the hot search for the first time—and all because of being labeled a “homewrecker”—how could Yan Duo not be furious? Now, whenever she sees Ji Sizhe, she can only find him an eyesore, annoyed by men who attract too much unwanted attention.

The trending topic incident also took Ji Sizhe by surprise. He hadn’t expected someone to secretly photograph them, and what shocked him even more was Qiao Xi’er selling out both him and Yan Duo just to gain fame. In this matter, Yan Duo was truly the most innocent one.

“That day was indeed my fault. How about I treat you to dinner as an apology?”

Yan Duo: “No need, I’m afraid of being photographed again.”

“Then tomorrow, I’ll find a place with good privacy to treat you.”

“I might not be hungry tomorrow.”

Ji Sizhe: ……

Having been repeatedly rejected by Yan Duo, Ji Sizhe, who had never suffered continuous defeats in matters of love, grew irritated. He walked up to Yan Duo and blocked her path.

“Can’t you tell I’m pursuing you?”

Yan Duo laughed. “Can’t you tell I’m rejecting you?”

Ji Sizhe raised an eyebrow: “You rejected me. What’s your reason?”

In Ji Sizhe’s eyes, Yan Duo wasn’t completely indifferent to him—otherwise, she wouldn’t have helped him avoid writing a self-criticism in the first place. What she was doing now was more about playing hard to get.

“Probably because it’s too ugly?” After saying that, Yan Duo pointed at a large billboard not far away and added, “If you looked like that, I wouldn’t hesitate—I’d just lie down flat!”

Ji Sizhe followed Yan Duo’s finger to look into the distance. When he finally saw the man on the billboard, the corner of his mouth twitched. In all his years, no one had ever called him ugly—even compared to the man on the billboard, he wasn’t any worse!

“What’s so great about him compared to me!”

Yan Duo looked at him and replied calmly, “Nowhere compares.”

Without another word, he turned and walked away.

Ji Sizhe was furious and shouted behind Yan Duo, “At least I’m younger than him!”

Yan Du continued walking, not bothering to pay him any attention.

After shouting, he thought for a long while and realized that, apart from his age, he didn’t seem to have any advantage in other aspects. Ji Sizhe felt somewhat disheartened and turned to go back to the dorm to eat something that might make him more handsome. But before he could take a single step, he froze.

“Li… Uncle.”

He had no idea how long his uncle had been standing there or how much he had overheard. Facing him in person, Ji Sizhe completely lost the courage he’d had when pointing at the billboard and talking tough, instantly shrinking into a ball of fear.

Ji Ran looked at his nephew in front of him and didn’t mention what had just happened. Instead, he said, “Didn’t you want to meet your aunt? Come to my place tomorrow, and I’ll introduce you.”

Ji Sizhe stared at Ji Ran with his mouth slightly open, puzzled by the sudden invitation to his home and the specific mention of meeting his aunt. Before he could voice his questions, Ji Ran had already walked away.

After having lunch in the cafeteria, Yan Duo went to the school gate to pick up her parents, her brother, and Ji Ran’s parents. Initially, when both sets of parents said they wanted to attend the graduation ceremony, Yan Duo didn’t want to trouble them with the trip. But since they insisted, she didn’t say anything more.

After showing them around the campus, Yan Duo noticed it was almost time, so she led everyone to the school auditorium.

An Yixin scanned the auditorium and asked Yan Duo, “Duoduo, hasn’t Ranran arrived yet?”

An Yixin had long heard the news that Ji Ran would attend the graduation ceremony as an award presenter. Over the years, in An Yixin’s memory, universities had invited Ji Ran before, but he had never accepted. This time, his unprecedented agreement to attend made An Yixin certain that Duoduo was the only reason.

It must be said, her youngest son is quite the tsundere, coming up with such a perfectly justifiable excuse to come watch Yanduo’s graduation—truly a thoughtful gesture.

Yan Duo shook her head, “He might be in the principal’s office?”

Last year, when Ji Ran came to the school to give a speech, Yan Duo noticed that he had a good relationship with the principal. This time, being invited as a guest presenter was likely also the principal’s idea.

An Yixin glanced around the auditorium once more—the crowd was simply too large, making it nearly impossible to spot anyone. She gave up and settled into her seat, waiting patiently for Ji Ran to find them.

Before long, the graduation ceremony officially began. While the principal was delivering a speech on stage, Yan Yi, sitting to the side, quietly asked her younger sister, “Ji Ran is coming, but he didn’t contact you?”

Yan Duo glanced at her brother and asked, “What do you want to say?”

Yan Yi: “I’m just worried about you!”

Although the trending topic incident had passed, Yan Yi’s impression of Ji Ran still hadn’t improved. In Yan Yi’s mind, Ji Ran was still not a good man, especially recently—his disapproval grew stronger because he clearly sensed that although his sister smiled every day, she wasn’t happy, and the reason for her unhappiness was Ji Ran.

Yan Duo didn’t want to discuss this topic and deliberately changed the subject, “You’d better worry about yourself first. At your age, you still haven’t had a girlfriend. Mom asked me last time which guy you’ve been hanging out with.”

Upon hearing this, Yan Yi was immediately sidetracked by her sister. “When did that happen? How come I didn’t know! And also, who have I been getting close to? You’re not making things up, are you?”

In Yan Yi’s view, having a girlfriend wasn’t the issue—what mattered was not letting his family misunderstand his orientation. This was a matter of reputation; he absolutely couldn’t let anyone falsely accuse him of swinging that way!

Yan Duo shook her head, “Don’t worry, I didn’t say anything. But you should be more careful in the future. When you have time, find a girlfriend to put your mom’s mind at ease.”

Yan Yi scratched his head and sighed. Although his younger sister made a valid point, he was currently focused on making money to support her in the future. Who had time for romance? Relationships were nothing but trouble—a waste of time. Even if he did get into one, there was no guarantee it would last. It simply wasn’t worth it.

After quietly finishing their conversation, both siblings sank into deep thought when Yan Duo was suddenly nudged by Xu Yarou from the other side

“Doe, the principal is calling your name. Go quickly.”

Yan Doe finally noticed that her name was listed last under the words “Outstanding Thesis Award Winners” displayed on the stage backdrop. Without overthinking, she stood up and walked onto the stage, joining the line of award recipients.

“Next, let us invite Vice Principal Wang, Vice Principal Li, and Teacher Ji to present the awards to the winners!”

Standing on stage, Yan Doe clearly saw the excited expressions on the graduates’ faces when they heard “Teacher Ji.” It seemed everyone had guessed that Teacher Ji was Ji Ran. Since his speech last year, Ji Ran had taken on an additional role—a specially appointed teacher at the Film Academy, which was why Yan Doe addressed him as “Teacher.”

By this point, Yan Duo had lost her last shred of wishful thinking. The graduation ceremony would award five honors, and the very first one had her, as a recipient, coincidentally paired with him as the presenter—both their names happened to be last on the list. So, when Ji Ran walked over with the certificate in hand, Yan Duo calmly accepted it, bowed slightly, and said, “Thank you.”

During the photo session, Ji Ran, standing beside Yan Duo, seemed particularly irked by her composed demeanor and deliberately struck up a conversation.

“I arrived at the school by noon.”

Yan Duo didn’t react.

“I heard your conversation with Ji Sizhe.”

Yan Duo’s hand holding the certificate trembled slightly.

“So in your heart, I’m that perfect?”

Yan Duo felt a bit unsteady on her feet.

Ji Ran took a small step closer to Yan Duo, gently supporting her shoulder with his right hand as he smiled at the camera.

“So, lying flat and all… you’re actually quite happy about it, aren’t you?”

Yan Duo’s entire body stiffened, her face flushing rapidly. Ji Ran’s words were clearly teasing her about last night when she refused to let him leave! But why did he have to bring it up now?!

He was definitely doing it on purpose!