Chapter 31 Thirty-One Fire

After getting out of the car, Yan Duo realized that Ji Ran had brought her to a popular hot pot restaurant. Although it was already past seven in the evening, the restaurant was still crowded, with even more people waiting in line outside. The two entered through the back door and went directly to a private room on the second floor.

After sitting down, Yan Duo looked at Ji Ran across from her and asked in a low voice, “Is this place safe? Could we be photographed?”

Ji Ran glanced at him and handed the menu to her, “Isn’t it a bit late to be asking that? If there were really paparazzi, you would have been photographed when you came upstairs just now.”

Yan Duo choked up, feeling that this was indeed the case, so worrying now was useless. It was better to focus on enjoying the hotpot. She lowered her head and studied the menu intently, making marks and notes on it.

After a little while, the waiter came to take their order and asked what kind of hot pot base they wanted. Yan Duo didn’t even think before saying, “We’ll have an extra spicy base.”

Ji Ran on the side shook his head, “No, a split pot, extra spicy on one side.”

Yan Duo then remembered that Ji Ran didn’t eat spicy food, so she stuck out her tongue and told the waiter to go with Ji Ran’s order.

The waiter nodded and went out.

Yan Duo looked at the door that had closed again and said, “The waiters here are quite good. They actually didn’t ask for your autograph or a photo when they saw you. Very professional.”

Just like herself, a nobody who gets asked for autographs when recognized at a beef noodle shop, the waiter just now clearly recognized Ji Ran but didn’t make a scene, nor did they make any requests, which made Yan Dun’s fondness for this restaurant grow even more.

Ji Ran replied nonchalantly, “It’s alright.”

When the pot was served and placed between them, the clear broth side was a pure white soup base with a few tomatoes and shiitake mushrooms floating on top, while the spicy side was bright red with a rich, intense heat. The aroma made Yan Doo’s mouth water, and she immediately took some beef tripe and put it into the spicy side of the pot.

Before she could finish, Ji Ran took the plate from her hand, put the remaining tripe into the clear soup pot, then rotated the entire pot ninety degrees, positioning the bright red spicy pot toward himself and the clear soup pot toward Yan Duo.

Yan Duo: ……

“Can’t you eat spicy food?”

Ji Ran didn’t answer but asked instead, “You’re on your period, can you eat spicy food?”

Yan Duo watched Ji Ran put all her favorite foods into the clear soup pot, feeling somewhat helpless. What’s the point of eating hot pot if you don’t eat it spicy!

But to avoid getting a stomachache from eating spicy food like before, Yan Duo had to endure it. In the end, as she ate her bland tripe while watching Ji燃 eat profusely, sweating heavily but refusing to stop, she strongly suspected that Ji Ran was doing it on purpose.

After eating, the two went downstairs and returned to the car. When Yan Duo saw that he hadn’t paid the bill at all, she asked him curiously, “Are you a member here?”

Yan Duo had been here several times. Although she had never seen a member who didn’t even need to provide a membership number when checking out, she thought that Ji Ran paid with his face, considering how valuable his looks were.

Ji Ran shook his head when he heard this, “No.”

Yan Duo: “You paid in advance?”

Ji Ran shook his head again.

Yan Duo was startled, “Then we’re dining and dashing?”

Ji Ran actually took her to dine and dash? Yan Duo couldn’t imagine Ji Ran would do such a thing.

Ji Ran turned to look at her, “Do you need to pay when eating at your own restaurant?”

Yan Duo was startled again, “Your own restaurant? You own this place?”

No wonder payment wasn’t required, no wonder they could use the best private room—so that’s how it was.

Ji Ran nodded, wanting to let her know about his business ventures, so while slowly driving the car, he pointed to shops along the road and said to her, “I have shares in that club, the entire 22nd floor of that office building is mine, and also…”

After mentioning a few things, Ji Ran turned to see Yan Duo’s reaction, only to find her eyes sparkling as she extended a hand to him, “Can you give me a super VIP card for the hotpot restaurant? I want to treat my friends to a meal here.”

The super VIP card offered a 25% discount. Yan Duo had asked about it before and was told she needed to accumulate 20,000 yuan in spending to qualify. She hadn’t visited enough times or spent enough to reach that amount, so she had never gotten one. But things were different now—Ji Ran was the owner. Surely he could pull some strings for her, right?

Ji Ran looked at her fair palm, gave it a firm slap, and flatly refused, “No!”

Yan Duo pulled back her hand, rubbing the palm with her other one, feeling a bit annoyed that Ji Ran wouldn’t even help with such a small favor. She muttered, “Stingy!”

Ji Ran was feeling rather uncomfortable at the moment. He had happily brought her here to let the staff recognize her face, while also showing her that he had her back, wanting her to understand that the man she married wasn’t just someone who knew how to act, but a man whose side business was equally impressive. But she, on the other hand, hadn’t listened to a word he said, her mind completely fixated on some super VIP card!

The owner’s wife is here for a meal, and she still wants some card!

Yan Duo’s anger came and went quickly, and she soon comforted herself, thinking that she would bring more friends over in the future, and the super VIP status would come soon enough.

Ji Ran glanced at her through the rearview mirror, only to see her acting as if nothing had happened, calmly scrolling through her phone with no intention of asking further questions. His heart grew even heavier. Finally, thinking that she had never considered him her boyfriend or even her husband, and was probably still wondering when to get a divorce, Ji Ran immediately perked up again and continued planning his path to win his wife back. paopaozww.com

After the film wrapped up, Yan Duo was completely free. Since they would be leaving for M City in just a few days and would be gone for over two months, the two discussed visiting their elders on both sides before departing.

This morning, after breakfast, the two returned to the Ji family home. To Yan Duo’s surprise, she saw Chu Tian again, and this time Chu Tian was wearing a slip dress.

Given their first not-so-friendly meeting, Yan Duo wasn’t particularly enthusiastic this time either. She simply smiled and nodded at her as a greeting. Chu Ting seemed somewhat dissatisfied with Yan Duo’s attitude, looked her up and down, snorted lightly, and then went to sit on the sofa to watch TV.

Yan Duo didn’t understand why, so she shrugged and spread her hands at Ji Ran, indicating her innocence and that she hadn’t done anything.

Ji Ran patted her head, telling her not to overthink it.

Hearing the commotion, An Yixin came out from the kitchen. Upon seeing Yan Duo, she happily took her hand and looked her up and down, “I haven’t seen you for a few days, why have you lost weight? Has Ji Ran been bullying you and not making you good food?”

Yan Duo said with a smile, “No, it’s just too hot, and I’ve lost my appetite.”

An Yixin quickly asked Ji Ran, “Have you made her any soup to whet her appetite? If you don’t know how, I’ll make some this afternoon, and you can take it back tonight…”

Before she could finish speaking, the sound from the television suddenly increased, completely drowning out An Yixin’s voice. Her face stiffened, and she looked somewhat unhappy.

Ji Ran glanced toward the sofa, leaned close to Yan Duo’s ear, and said, “Why don’t you take Mom to the sunroom? I’ll go check on the kitchen.”

Yan Duo nodded and pulled An Yixin into the sunroom.

As soon as An Yixin entered the sunroom, she sighed, “What daughter-in-law? She’s clearly an ancestor. I’d be thanking the heavens if she were half as well-behaved as you.”

Ever since Chu Tian moved in last week, An Yixin had experienced her willfulness and savageness firsthand. As a young lady from a wealthy family, it was one thing that she didn’t work, but she went out every night and only returned in the middle of the night, making a lot of noise when she came back and disturbing An Yixin’s sleep. Moreover, she was never satisfied with the meals, either taking Ji Lang out to eat before dinner like the first time or suddenly ordering takeout from a five-star hotel. An Yixin considered herself a considerate mother-in-law, but even she felt exhausted dealing with someone like this.

Regarding Chu Tian, Yan Duo couldn’t say anything, so she could only give a dry laugh and instead started talking to An Yixin about the two parrots. She placed a few bird seeds in her palm and teased the parrot that could shout “Duo.”

“Say ‘Duo’.”

The parrot ate a birdseed and cooperatively called out: “Duo! Duo! Duo!”

Just as it finished calling out, the always aloof parrot beside it suddenly started squawking, “Ran! Ran! Ran!”

In less than a month, the talkative parrot could say her name correctly, while the other one actually started calling out “Ran.” Yan Duo looked at the two parrots in surprise and asked An Yixin, “Mom, did you teach them this?”

An Yixin smiled and shook her head, “It wasn’t me.”

She had been in a bad mood lately, so she didn’t have time to teach the parrot to talk.

Yan Duo happily fed the remaining birdseed in her hand to the aloof parrot, praising it, “Wow, you’re self-taught! Amazing!”

The other parrot, who had no food, saw that it had instantly fallen out of favor and quickly shouted again, “Duo! Duo! Duo!”

The aloof parrot, upon hearing these words, seemed as if a switch had been flipped, instantly forgetting even its bird food as it chimed in enthusiastically, “Burn! Burn! Burn!”

The talkative parrot quickly shouted again: “Duo! Duo! Duo!”

“Burn! Burn! Burn!”

“Duo! Duo! Duo!”

“Burn! Burn! Burn!”

The alternating “Duo” and “Ran” in the sunroom made Yan Duo and An Yixin burst into laughter.

At lunch, Yan Duo couldn’t help but quietly share with Ji Ran that the parrot could call their names. Before she could finish speaking, Ji Lang, who had just come downstairs before the meal, suddenly announced while holding Chu Tian’s hand: “Tian Tian and I have decided to get married this October.”

Yan Duo paused for a moment, turned to look at Ji Ran and his parents, and seeing no surprise on their faces, she figured they had already guessed. Smiling, she said, “Congratulations.”

Ji Lang smiled, “Thank you.”

And Chu Tian was holding Ji Lang’s arm, looking very sweet.

Ji Changhai said to Ji Lang, “Since you’ve decided to get married, you should furnish the marital home and move in as soon as possible.”

For various reasons, although Ji Lang owned properties, unlike Ji Ran who had lived alone since college, he had continued to live with Ji Changhai and An Yixin. However, the elderly couple had recently had enough of Chu Tian, and Ji Changhai only hoped they would move out as soon as possible.

Ji Lang didn’t say much, just nodded in agreement, while Chu Tian pouted and said, “Mom and Dad, am I being too noisy?”

You’re the ones who drove us away?

An Yixin smiled insincerely as she replied, “How could that be? You and Duoduo are both my good daughters-in-law, why would I dislike you? Don’t overthink things.”

Chu Tian beamed sweetly when she heard this: “I thought so too. If you don’t even dislike those noisy parrots, how could you dislike me? By the way, Mom, I quite like those two animals. How about you give them to me?”

Hearing the word “animals,” Yan Duoduo felt uncomfortable and worried that An Yixin might actually give the parrots to her.

An Yixin’s smile remained unchanged as she glanced at Yan Duo’s worried face and said, “I promised to give these to Duo Duo the other day. If you like them, I’ll buy another pair for you.”

Chu Tian looked at An Yixin, then at the delighted Yan Duo, her expression indifferent: “I only like these two, I don’t like any others.”

An Yixin seemed not to catch the meaning in Chu Tian’s words, smiling as she invited everyone to eat.

Chu Tian was in a bad mood, immediately throwing down her chopsticks and holding Ji Lang’s arm without saying a word.

Ji Lang whispered a few words of comfort to her, and soon after, the two stood up and said they were going out for dinner.

An Yixin wasn’t surprised either. She just said “be careful on the road” and let them go.

Seeing that Ji Changhai and An Yixin were both expressionless and the atmosphere at the dinner table was extremely tense, Yan Duo lowered her head to make herself less noticeable, almost burying her entire face in her bowl.

Ji Ran put a piece of fish in her bowl and said, “Since Mom gave you the parrot, how about we take it with us to the film set to raise?”

Yan Duo’s mouth immediately stretched from ear to ear when she heard this, “Really?”

She wasn’t unfamiliar with artists bringing pets to film sets, but as a nobody, she never dared to do so herself. Maybe Ji Ran had special privileges?

Ji Ran patted her head, “Yes, you can keep it in my room.”

Yan Duo let out a small “yes.”

An Yixin couldn’t help but smile at Yan Duo’s adorable face, “Ranran, you two must take good care of Duo Duo when you’re out.”

Ji Ran nodded in agreement.

Hearing this, Yan Duo responded like an eager elementary student raising her hand, “Mom, I’ll take good care of Teacher Ji too, don’t worry.”

At this, not only An Yixin, but even Ji Changhai burst out laughing.

The two planned to stay at the Ji family’s home for the day, so after eating, Yan Duo went to Ji Ran’s room for a nap.

Yan Duo looked at Ji Ran who had followed her in and asked, “What’s wrong with Chu Tian? Who offended her?”

Not having seen her for a while, Chu Tian seemed even more like a young lady than the first time they met. And wasn’t she treating her husband’s family too much like her own home? Wearing such low-cut and short pajamas in front of her father-in-law and brother-in-law, was that really appropriate?

Cough, Yan Duo didn’t dare to say this out loud, afraid that others would think she was too conservative.

Ji Ran: “Just leave her alone, let her do what she wants.”

Chu Tian would become increasingly reckless, which was undoubtedly due to Ji Lang’s indulgence. Ji Ran had his suspicions but didn’t mention them to Yan Duo.

Yan Duo gave him a white look, “She’s not my daughter, why would I bother with her?” Of course, if she had a daughter like that, she would have given her a good beating long ago.

Ji Ran looked at Yan Du’s eye roll and found her particularly cute at that moment. He wanted to have a serious discussion with her about how to have a daughter, but thinking of her period that hadn’t ended yet, he could only feel deflated.

“Just ignore her then. You’ll rarely see her in the future anyway.”

Yan Duo shrugged in agreement, lifted the covers, and slipped inside.

Ji Ran changed into pajamas and got into bed, lying on the other side. Half-asleep, the familiar body automatically rolled into his arms. Ji Ran closed his eyes and lowered his head to kiss her forehead. The two fell asleep holding each other.