Chapter 54 Fifty-four Fires

Whether the two had come together earlier out of obligation or later through mutual feelings, Ji Ran had never treated Yan Duo like this before.

At first Yan Duo was still worrying about whether it was dirty or not, but the sensation was so different from before that she quickly forgot her refusals; of course, she was also following the truest impulses of her body.

When Yan Duo finished, her face flushed as she leaned back, Ji Ran propped himself above her and asked, “Did you like it?”

Ji Ran couldn’t help the corner of his mouth lifting; throughout the whole thing, how could he not know how good it felt for her? Asking was just to tease her.

Yan Duo covered her face, embarrassed, and said, “Can you please stop asking!”

Ji Ran: “No. Your feelings and opinions help me keep improving. For the sake of our harmonious life together, I think it’s necessary for me to keep getting better, so you must tell me!”

Yan Duo could never tell him how she felt, so she choked and kept insisting, “No, I won’t say it!”

“If you don’t say it, I feel like maybe I didn’t do it well. How about I practice again?”

When Yan Duo heard he wanted to try again, she immediately pressed her legs together, “No, no, that’s dirty. Go brush your teeth.”

Ji Ran leaned down and took a bite of her red fruit, “No, you’re very sweet.”

Sweet???

Yanduo’s face flushed even more; she didn’t believe Ji Ran at all, thinking he must have lost his sense of taste right now.

Ji Ran, seeing she didn’t believe him, leaned in as if to kiss her. “Why don’t you try it?”

Yanduo recoiled in horror. “No no no, I don’t want to.”

Ji Ran kept teasing her, “Wanna try?”

Yan Duo was so startled she fell off the bed, “I’m not into stuff like that!”

As she spoke, a pair of strong hands at her waist lifted her back onto the bed. kenyuedu.com

By the time they finished playing it was already two in the afternoon. After Yan Duo forced Ji Ran to brush his teeth, he went downstairs to cook while Yan Duo went to the bathroom to shower.

She was about to wait for her to come out when her phone kept ringing. She picked it up and saw it was Qi Sixian.

“Qi Jie.” Yan Duo proactively greeted. She remembered announcing her relationship with Ji Ran that morning, and Qi Sixian calling now—Yan Duo, who hadn’t been online, felt uncertain if something bad had happened. “Is something wrong?”

Qi Sixian heard the worry in Yan Duo’s voice and smiled, saying, “Don’t worry, no one’s insulting you online. Not only that, you’ve gained quite a few followers, several directors have proactively asked to work with you, and you’ve picked up a few endorsements.”

There was no denying Yan Duo had been lucky. The accidental, unplanned reveal had won the support and blessings of most people, and had brought her extra attention—she was simply on a winning streak.

When Yan Duo heard Qi Sixian say nobody had been insulting her, she patted her chest. “You scared me to death. Luckily it’s fine.”

Heavens know how nervous she had been in front of the cameras, terrified that if something went wrong she would take the fall and drag Ji Ran into it. If her career tanked, so be it, but she refused to let Ji Ran be implicated. Fortunately, it was a false alarm in the end.

Qi Sixian: “But you and Ji Ran remember to post a Weibo, make an official announcement.”

Admitting the relationship on a variety show wasn’t enough; the most important thing was to use official accounts to acknowledge each other publicly.

Yan Duo nodded at the words. “Sister Qi, don’t worry. I’ve already spoken with Ji Ran—we’ll post it later.”

Qi Sixian agreed, paused for a few seconds, then said to Yan Duo, “Tomorrow Boss Fan’s mother will be buried. Let’s go together to see her off.”

Fan Xian’s mother had died a few days earlier, but the news hadn’t been made public until today when the obituary was released. Qi Sixian felt that, both emotionally and morally, Yan Duo should go take a look.

Yan Duo was stunned. Fan Xian hadn’t even told her about the wedding—she only learned about it three days after the fact from Qi Sixian, and he had never told her about his mother’s death.

“Alright, I’ll come to the company to see you tomorrow.”

Qi Sixian: “Mm, come by after 2 PM tomorrow.”

Yan Duo agreed, said a few more things, then hung up the phone.

At that moment, downstairs Ji Ran was also answering An Yixin’s call.

“Ránrán, when do you plan to hold the wedding ceremony you’ve been meaning to make up for?”

Today she learned online that the two of them had admitted to being married, and An Yixin was delighted all morning. She felt a pride of “finally I can tell everyone Yan Duo is my little daughter-in-law,” and immediately did two things she’d long wanted to do but hadn’t. First, she posted a bunch of Yan Duo’s beautiful stills to her Moments, writing, “My daughter-in-law is perfect in every way; the only flaw is she’s too pretty and her acting is too good,” which provoked all of Yan Duo’s fans and fellow admirers to burst with envy, jealousy, and resentment.

The second was to make a grand show of bringing gifts to T University to chat with Xu Yarou. The gossip that An Yixin liked girls from scholarly families was not false. In fact, having nearly become a teacher herself when young, she not only liked Yan Duo, the daughter of a teacher, but also greatly admired Xu Yarou and Yan Xuenián as educators. If not for the unclear relationship between Ji Ran and Yan Duo earlier, and the Yan family’s lukewarm attitude toward them, An Yixin would long ago have sought to befriend Xu Yarou. Now that the two youngsters had made their relationship public, she couldn’t wait to go.

At that moment Ji Ran was still cooking; hearing this, he answered, “Next year.”

This year is far too rushed; Yan Duo probably can’t find time to get married, and besides, next year not only is it a leap year but it even has a leap month—especially well-suited for weddings.

When An Yixin heard Ji Ran speak so definitively, she laughed. Ji Ran never spoke without purpose; since he had said they would marry next year, he must have already had a plan in mind.

“Fine, I’ll take care of the dresses you two will wear at the wedding. I promise you’ll both like them.”

Speaking of which, before Ji Lang and Chu Tian got married, An Yixin had volunteered to help pick out dresses. She spent a week running around, gathering every kind—Chinese gowns, Western wedding dresses, reception outfits—and after finding them all, she discovered that although Chu Tian had said the dresses were nice, she didn’t wear a single one on the wedding day. An Yixin felt thoroughly chilled to the bone and didn’t even bother with the subsequent banquet, leaving them to handle all the trivialities themselves.

Ji Ran understood how upset she felt after the setback, and thought Yan Duo wouldn’t care about such a small matter, so he readily agreed, “Alright, then I’ll leave it to you.”

An Yixin immediately brightened. Now that the younger son had agreed, the daughter-in-law surely wouldn’t object. “Mm, don’t worry—I’ll definitely find the best-made dresses for you, I promise you’ll like them!”

“Okay.”

At lunch the next day, while the two of them ate facing each other, Yan Duo told Ji Ran about going to pay respects tomorrow afternoon.

“I’ll go with you,” Ji Ran said.

Yan Duo shook her head while gnawing on a chicken foot, “No need, I’ll go with Sister Qi.”

Fan Xian hadn’t told her about this; she had followed Qi Sixian If we go, it wouldn’t be good to bring Ji Ran along.

Ji Ran heard that Qi Sixian was going too, so he didn’t insist. Although Qi Sixian looked difficult to get along with, he was genuinely good to Yan Duo and would definitely take care of her.

After agreeing on tomorrow afternoon, Yan Duo asked about the Weibo post for tonight.

“What should we write for the Weibo caption?”

Yan Duo had seen quite a few Weibo posts officially announcing marriages; she didn’t know which style Ji Ran would prefer.

Ji Ran had no particular preference. “Whatever makes you happy,” he said.

Yan Duo asked happily, “Really? I can post whatever I want?”

Ji Ran nodded.

Yan Duo put down her chopsticks, picked up her phone, and opened Weibo. Before long, the post had been sent.

“Done.”

Ji Ran glanced at the phone, then looked back at Yan Duo’s face, a hint of amusement in his eyes.

Yan Duo felt a little embarrassed under his gaze and defended herself: “That photo was one I specially asked the civil affairs office lady to send me, and that line—I liked it back in high school. Even though a lot of people have used it, I still like it.”

They still hadn’t taken wedding photos, not even many couple shots, so Yanduo chose the registration photo taken when they first got their license—she especially loved Ji Ran’s smile in that picture.

Ji Ran lowered his head to post a Weibo, his lips still carrying the words he’d just said, “As long as you like it.”

In less than a minute, his phone notified him that someone he followed closely had reposted. Yanduo immediately opened the Weibo and saw that Ji Ran had reposted and commented on the post she’d just made. Seeing exactly what he’d written, she couldn’t help but stand, take a few steps, and straddle Ji Ran’s lap.

Yanduo: [Please take care of the rest of my life. @JiRan]

Ji Ran: [No need to instruct me, I’ll follow you. @Yan Duo]

“Are the things you said on Weibo true? Will you really listen to me from now on?” Yan Duo asked him, her arms around Ji Ran’s neck.

Ji Ran: “Of course.”

Yan Duo rolled her eyes. “Anything I say?”

Ji Ran raised an eyebrow. “Except for divorce.”

Before, Yan Duo’s decisive request for a divorce had become, in Ji Ran’s mind, a sort of barrier; even when the two truly understood each other, he would still sometimes wake from dreams in the early morning, startled.

Yan Duo let out a snort of laughter, hugged Ji Ran and bit him playfully, saying, “My husband is so great, that’s why I can’t bear to divorce him!”

Although she had once righteously insisted on divorce, she had been making excuses to stay all along; even when she knew some of Ji Ran’s reasons were strange, she persuaded herself to believe them. Only God knew how much it would hurt her heart to go with Ji Ran and exchange for a divorce certificate.

Yan Duo’s words completely delighted Ji Ran. He cupped her face and kissed her honey-sweet lips, never seeming to get enough.

At the same time, on the internet, the two of their official announcement Weibo post trended on the hot search list ten minutes later.

What is this called? Sitting at home and suddenly getting a mouthful of dog food from the sky?

[Watched the livestream this morning and heard Yan Duo say she felt unworthy of Ji Ran. I felt quite sorry for her and hope Ji Ran will always treat the girl who has liked him for so many years kindly.]

[Judging by the look of it, Ji Ran is a husband-worshipping maniac; there’s bound to be a lot more PDA (and dog food) coming our way. Tsk tsk, should I eat it or not? [dog head dog head dog head]]

“Ahhh, a fan actually married the idol she liked—so happy for her!”

[The two of them fit together so perfectly; it was the first time I realized Ji Ran could smile so beautifully—haha!]

Of course, aside from those supportive comments, a few discordant voices also appeared online; the most common said the two were collaborating to market the image of a loving couple and were merely acting. That made Yan Duo decide then and there that she would post far fewer Weibo updates related to Ji Ran from now on.

After finishing Weibo, Yan Duo glanced once at Ji Ran, then leaned against the headboard, deliberately putting some distance between herself and Ji Ran, and began searching on Baidu.

Ten minutes later, Jiran, who was reading, glanced at Yan Duo. Seeing her cheeks flushed, he asked, “What’s wrong with you?”

When Yan Duo heard Ji Ran’s voice, she seemed startled, hurriedly deleted her search history, shut off her phone, and lay down.

“No, it’s nothing, I’m going to sleep.”

Ji Ran had no doubts and took the phone as well. After lying down, he hugged Yan Duo from behind and fell asleep with her.

A few minutes later, Yan Duo seemed to muster up her courage and quietly said to Ji Ran, “Um, you’ve been so good to me—so good that I feel I should reciprocate.”

Ji Ran didn’t understand. “Hm?”

Yan Duo said nothing, and of course this wasn’t something to be spoken of outright. She pulled the quilt over her head and, like a little insect, slowly burrowed into it, then curled up atop Ji Ran.

Kissing Ji Ran in the darkness, Yan Duo couldn’t help thinking, well, not only does Ji Ran have extreme tastes, now she does too—truly, they are a pair made in heaven.