Chapter 30 Thirty Fire

Yan Duo was frantic. “Teacher Ji, you can’t do this.”

Ji Ran took both her hands. “Can’t how?”

“I… I’ll actually get pregnant!”

Ji Ran thought of something and couldn’t help smiling at the corner of his mouth. “Then I’ll buy the pregnancy test for you this time.”

Having her past mistakes brought up by Ji Ran left Yan Duo choked and speechless. Could the early misunderstanding never be forgotten? Bringing it up now was simply too cruel!

Even though Ji Ran spoke with conviction, he pulled away early as things were winding down, which made Yan Duo breathe a huge sigh of relief.

That night, utterly exhausted, Yan Duo dreamt again—she dreamed of the old days.

“I’ve been your fan, I’ve liked you for six years. Of course, this is just my personal affair — you don’t have to feel pressured, and you certainly don’t have to say yes. You…”

A month after joining the crew, after their third scene together in Ji Ran’s makeup room, Yan Duo mustered the courage to confess to Ji Ran. Her intention was the same as any ordinary fan’s: she only wanted the idol she liked to know, not necessarily to be accepted. But Ji Ran’s reaction surprised Yan Duo — he lowered his head and kissed her.

Yan Duo didn’t understand what that kiss meant; she didn’t dare ask, nor let herself overthink it. After that, she found more excuses to slip close to him during scenes and stayed by him longer and longer. Ji Ran said nothing about it, as if tacitly accepting her presence. A month passed like that, and with Yan Duo’s scenes finished, she was about to return to T City.

The night before she left, Yan Duo knocked on Ji Ran’s door carrying the scarf she’d stayed up two nights to knit for him and said goodbye. “Mr. Ji, I’m leaving tomorrow. Thank you for taking care of me while I’ve been here.”

Later, the scarf in Yan Duo’s hand was taken by Ji Ran, and he pulled her onto the bed.

What followed, Yan Duo did not refuse.

The next day, Yan Duo returned to T City as planned. Ji Ran did not contact her; she treated it as a beautiful dream and tried to adapt to life without him, until she noticed her usually punctual period was five days late. She grew anxious but didn’t dare tell her family. She snuck far away and bought different test strips from three separate pharmacies, then went to her little apartment to test—only to be stunned by the results.

Of the three test strips she bought, two showed one line, and one showed two lines.

She couldn’t be sure whether she was pregnant or not. Yan Duo didn’t dare to be certain whether Ji Ran had taken any precautions that night; she had kept her eyes closed the whole time and couldn’t be sure. The only thing she could be certain of was that he was her only man. If she really was pregnant, the child’s father could only be him. So, in a state of panic, Yan Duo called Ji Ran. He took the afternoon off and returned to T City that day, saying he would take her to the hospital.

“No need, I’ll go by myself tomorrow.”

Yan Duo refused to let him accompany her to the hospital; if the paparazzi found out, who knew what they’d write. Yan Duo didn’t want any bad news about Ji Ran because of her, and at this moment she even regretted calling him that morning.

“I’m partly to blame for this happening; you can’t bear it all by yourself.”

Ji Ran didn’t say much, but his presence slowly lowered Yan Duo’s defenses, and she eventually followed him to the hospital.

It was a newly opened hospital; the director and Ji Ran were on good terms. While they drew blood and waited for the results, he even set aside a private room for Yan Duo to rest. After being anxious for most of the day, Yan Duo was utterly exhausted and fell asleep on the bed, half-asleep and drifting—she had no idea how long she slept—until low voices woke her.

“Mom, what are you doing here?”

“If I didn’t come, how would I have known you got a girlfriend, and that you might have gotten someone else pregnant!”

“……”

“What’s your next move?”

“Let’s wait for the results before saying anything.”

“Scumbag! You messed around with a young girl and you don’t plan to take responsibility? This time it’s fine because she didn’t get pregnant, but what if she had—would she have to sneak in for prenatal checkups every time? Are you being fair to that fresh, innocent girl? And what’s more, next time you lose control again and leave her to worry and fear alone, her eyes swollen from crying—do you really think that’s okay?”

“What do you think we should do, then?”

“Getting our marriage certificate!”

When Yan Duo heard this, she felt that if she stayed silent any longer, things would take a strange turn. So she opened her eyes, sat up, and said to An Yixin, “Auntie, you misunderstand Teacher Ji. He hasn’t done anything wrong to me; I went willingly…”

Words still hanging, Ji Ran suddenly cut her off, “Do you think my mother’s suggestion What do you think?”

Yan Duo looked baffled: “Huh?”

“Will you marry me?”

……

“Will you marry me?”

“Will you marry me?”

“Will you marry me?”

Of course I will.

How could I refuse such sweet words? Yet as I basked in joy, I forgot to ask—are you willing to marry me too?

At three in the morning, Ji Ran was awakened by Yan Duo’s sobbing. He turned on the bedside lamp and saw Yan Duo with her eyes closed and face streaked with tears, as if trapped in the sorrow of a dream.

Ji Ran wiped the tears from Yan Duo’s face, pulled her into his arms, and kept his eyes open until dawn.

The next morning Yan Duo woke up remembering nothing. When she went to the bathroom to use the toilet, she realized her period had started. Looking at the bright red, the last bit of breath left from last night completely eased, and she felt relieved. yuedudi.com

Coming downstairs, Yan Duo found, to her surprise, that Ji Ran had cooked breakfast—rare for him. She studied his face closely and noticed it looked a bit pale, with obvious bluish-purple shadows under his eyes.

“What’s wrong with you? Didn’t sleep well last night?”

Ji Ran glanced at her. “Mm, didn’t sleep well.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Maybe you didn’t get tired enough last night.”

Yan Duo heard a hint of color in his tone and whispered, “My period started. How about you run an extra hour at the gym tonight?”

Three times, she was exhausted, but he complained he wasn’t even tired—Yan Duo instantly felt that her soon-to-be-unemployed Mrs. Ji life was just too hard.

Ji Ran looked at her aggrieved expression and couldn’t help but pinch her rosy cheek, “How can a solo workout compare to working out with two people?”

Yanduo’s eyes rolled twice. “Or, why don’t you find another partner?”

No sooner had she spoken than not just her cheek, but even the tip of her dainty nose was pinched.

“Say another word like that and I’ll smother you.”

……

After leaving the house, Yanduo’s flushed face never cooled; even sitting in the car, thinking of Ji Ran’s rare affectionate gesture, she couldn’t help laughing.

Waiting at the crew entrance, Fang Fang couldn’t help but ask when she saw her: “Duo-jie, your face is so red, what’s wrong? Do you have a fever?”

Yan Duo waved her hand. “It’s nothing, it’s just too hot.”

Fang Fang glanced at the sky and nodded in agreement. “It really has been scorching lately. Luckily your show wraps today; once you go to M City in a few days it won’t be this hot.”

The series “Every Year Waiting for You” that Ji Ran is working on is being filmed in M City, where it’s like spring year-round—winters aren’t too cold, summers aren’t too hot, and the scenery is beautiful, perfect for shooting.

Yan Duo nodded in agreement and kept walking forward with Fang Fang.

At lunch, Yan Duo happened to overhear the crew members discussing Ji Ran. It was only then that she remembered what Ji Ran had said on the variety show last night, and she quickly opened Weibo to see how netizens were reacting.

I, Ran, am already 27. Although I don’t want to accept it, if he really is dating, it’s actually pretty normal. ps: this is the only way I can comfort myself. (17,895 likes)

I feel like I’ve been dumped. (15,665 likes)

[I, Yan, who never disclose my private life, unusually said a few words about my “life plan”—why do I have a bad feeling about this? Don’t tell me I’m getting married, ahhh!? (11,258 likes)]

[Want to know who the person that Boss Ji likes is? I promise I won’t make her a villain to stab her in the back, hmph! (9,986 likes)]

As long as Ran hasn’t made an official announcement, I won’t believe he has a girlfriend or wife. (8,546 likes)

[Trust Ji Ran’s judgment; if he admits it, there’s no arguing about his girlfriend—what matters is that he’s happy! (5741 likes)]

……

Yan Duo skimmed it once, breathed easier—most of the netizens were actually still rational.

Fang Fang saw her scrolling through Weibo and thought she was reading yesterday’s variety show comments, so she discussed with her, “Around midnight last night, the topic ‘your idol is Ji Ran’ trended on the hot search, but it was soon pushed down by topics about Ji Ran himself.”

It must be said that Ji Ran’s popularity is truly high. After yesterday’s variety show aired, five of the top ten trending topics were taken up by news about Ji Ran, and most topics, including Yan Duo’s, were pushed off the list.

Yan Duo really hadn’t heard of this matter. She was too lazy to look at netizens’ comments now, and asked Fang Fang, “Did the netizens say anything about me?”

Fang Fang: “Overall it’s fine—nobody’s insulting you. Of course, there are a few who accuse you of riding the publicity, but most of those comments were handled by Sister Qi.”

Yan Duo’s performance on the show wasn’t contrived; she was usually well-behaved and didn’t act out, so she had a decent public image. Besides, Ji Ran was a national idol, so it wasn’t surprising that Yan Duo liked him. As a result, her actions weren’t overanalyzed by netizens. In addition, Qi Sixian had been arranging for people to control the comments, and the negative remarks were quickly suppressed. The overall reviews remaining online now weren’t bad.

After hearing this, Yan Duo said nothing. She had known this would happen after misspeaking; fortunately, Sister Qi had minimized the damage as much as possible.

Fang Fang saw that Yan Duo wasn’t interested in her affairs, so she turned to discuss Ji Ran with her. “Do you think Ji Ran is going to make an official announcement?”

Yan Duo lowered her head to eat. “I don’t know.”

“I think there’s a high chance he’ll make it official; it should be soon.”

Yan Duo’s eyes flickered slightly, and she asked again, “Have you heard any news about him recently?”

Fang Fang shrugged. “No, Ji Ran is always very good at keeping things confidential. If it’s something he doesn’t want people to know, it’s hard for others to find out, and besides, he has good relations with the media.”

Even if there’s material, people won’t just release it casually.

Yan Duo nodded, it was indeed Ji Ran’s consistent style.

When all of Yan Duo’s scenes were finished that day, it was already seven o’clock in the evening. After greeting the director and other actors, Yan Duo left the set with Fang Fang.

At the entrance, Fang Fang pointed to a car not far away and said to Yan Duo with a smile, “Your ride-hailing car is here.”

Yan Duo followed her hand and looked over. The car that was picking her up was parked across the road, and she also smiled, “Yeah, the driver is quite punctual every day.”

Fang Fang smiled, said goodbye to Yan Duo, and walked to the right.

After watching her leave, Yan Duo crossed the road with her bag, walked to the car, opened the back door, and got in.

Just as she settled in, a small piece of cake was handed over from the driver’s seat in front, “Hungry? Have this to tide you over.”

Yan Duo froze when she heard that voice, “Teacher Ji, why are you here?”

Ji Ran didn’t answer, but instead said, “Come sit up front, it’s not convenient to talk to you from back there.”

Yan Duo murmured “oh, oh” twice, grabbed her bag, and got out of the back seat to get into the passenger seat.

Once she was seated, Ji Ran drove off directly.

At this moment, Yan Duo was actually quite hungry. She opened the cake packaging and started eating. The cake was only the size of a child’s palm to begin with, and after finishing it in just a few bites, Yan Duo felt unsatisfied. She asked Ji Ran, “What are we eating for dinner?”

Ji Ran: “I’ll take you to eat hotpot.”

Yan Duo held up two paws and silently clapped twice to show her approval. In summer, nothing makes people happier than eating hotpot!

Seeing her happy over such a trivial matter, Ji Ran couldn’t help but smile. He still loved watching her laugh; she was much more beautiful than when she cried.

Twenty minutes later, Ji Ran parked the car in a quiet parking lot. Yan Duo unbuckled her seatbelt, ready to get out, but Ji Ran stopped her. “Wait a moment.”

Yan Duo turned to look at him curiously. Before she could ask her question, that handsome face she could never tire of looking at leaned closer. Then, Yan Duo felt a warm, wet sensation on the corner of her mouth, as if she had been licked. Her face instantly flushed bright red.

“What are you doing?”

Ji Ran seemed to be eating something, and replied to her: “Helping you finish the cake you didn’t eat, so it doesn’t go to waste.”

After saying that, he got out of the car directly.

Yan Duo looked at his back and suddenly felt her teeth ache. Clearly, this was something that could be solved with just a piece of paper, why did he have to make it so erotic?