Chapter 13: Cousin Wanru
After the meal, the relationship between Xu Jie, Jiang Bai and Ma Changyang had improved considerably. Xu Jie's respect for Jiang Bai had further increased as well. As for Ma Changyang and Jiang Bai, they had an amiable interaction with each other during the meal and were already calling each other brothers. It was unknown how much of that was true. But as a whole, their relationship appeared to have improved. All three of them were satisfied with the outcome.
After they had their fill of liquor and food, they rejected Ma Changyang's offer to go "have some fun" and left the restaurant. Right after Jiang Bai stepped out the restaurant, he saw a youthful and beautiful woman dressed in a white T-shirt, a pair of blue jeans, and a pair of spotlessly white sneakers standing not far away. The young woman's hair was tied up into a ponytail. She was glowering at Jiang Bai angrily from far away, and shouted the moment she saw him, "Jiang Bai!"
"Huh..." Jiang Bai blanked out.
This youthful and incredibly beautiful young lady was his cousin, also the campus belle where she was studying. However, this "cousin" was actually an extremely distant relative. In fact, their maternal grandmothers were the actual maternal cousins of their respective maternal cousins. So strictly speaking, they were not cousins and were extremely distant relatives. But since their families stayed nearby and their mothers shared a good relationship, the two started calling each other cousins as well.
When young, the two were rather close, with the little girl always following behind Jiang Bai all the time. But that was a long time ago. Ever since the girl entered junior high school, she started drifting apart from him. And when he came to Tiandu after graduating senior high school, the two drifted even further apart and spent several years not seeing each other at all.
It was only last year when she came to Tiandu after she got into Tiandu University did they started seeing each other occasionally again, but most of those meetings were also on behalf of their mothers. And whenever they met, they would only be exchanging some simple pleasantries instead of having any proper chat.
The girl had become increasingly pretty as she grew older, yet it also seemed like she was getting more and more prideful at the same time. They were no longer as close as they once were, and she would even reprimand him every now and then, greatly hurting his ego. Those were the only kind of interactions they had nowadays.
In truth, when Jiang Bai first met her again after the few years they stopped meeting each other, his heartbeat accelerated seeing how beautiful she had turned. But this girl was a top student with good results and good looks, a perfect example of a person with a bright future ahead of her.
When Jiang Bai found out about that, he completely gave up any thoughts he had about her. Because of that, their relationship stayed cool. Why was she here today? And why was she looking so angry?
"Hah, big brother, we'll leave first. I'll get Xiaotian to wait for you outside. Just call out to him if you need anything." Xu Jie approached Jiang Bai and said with a grin on his face. After glancing at Lin Wanru, he turned around and left with Ma Changyang and the others. Before he left, he did not forget to throw Jiang Bai a perverted gaze, causing Jiang Bai to roll his eyes.
"Yes? Why are you here?" After the others left, Jiang Bai approached Lin Wanru and asked. But right after he asked the question, he realized that the girl was definitely not here for him as he saw a rather pretty girl not far away stealing glances at them with an extremely curious gaze.
"It doesn't matter why I'm here. What were you doing? Hanging out with Xu Jie? Why did you quit that proper job you had? You weren’t even at your home when I went there looking for you. And I heard you even beat someone up? And quit your job? Now you're even hanging out with those thugs? You disappoint me...no, you disappoint your mother! Do you think it has been easy for her to raise you up? If you are not good in studies, you should be working hard instead. Not hanging around with some shady people like them!" Before Jiang Bai could say anything, Lin Wanru started reprimanding him without stop.
"Uhm...I..." Jiang Bai wanted to explain himself, but he did not know what to say. Of the group he was with earlier, Ma Xiaotian and the other two drivers were quite far behind him, so they did not look like they were together. As for Ma Changyang...
This guy was indeed worthy of being a big brother as he had a natural gangster look. Furthermore, he wasn't dressed up formally today. He was only wearing a T-shirt and a pair of jeans, and that coupled with his natural gangster look, nobody would think of him as a decent law abiding citizen.
And then there's Xu Jie. He had a bald head, with a massive gold chain hanging on his neck, a flowery checkered shirt, a pair of baggy pants and a pair of boots on. The top two buttons of his shirt were left unbuttoned, revealing the massive dragon tattoo he had on his body. It was like he had the word “gangster” written on his face. No matter what, that fellow was a highly accomplished martial artist. But his taste in fashion was truly...
It was no wonder Xu Jie’s master was so unhappy with him. If Jiang Bai was his master, he would also be too embarrassed to admit that he had such a disciple. Thus, it was understandable why Lin Wanru was so furious when she saw Jiang Bai with those people.
"Stop trying to find excuses. You are already an adult but why won't you do anything proper ever? Why did you beat someone up? Your neighbor said that you smashed the other guy's head? Did you learn that from those thugs? Jiang Bai, don't you know that nothing good will come out of this? Do you want to end up in the prison? Or even worse, dying on the streets? I have truly misjudged you. In the past, although you aren't exactly an accomplished person, you are at least an honest person. But now, you have turned into a complete scum of the society!"
Lin Wanru stood there, angrily reprimanding Jiang Bai without a care for anything else, attracting the attention of the pedestrians around them. As for her roommates, they were all dumbstruck looking at how she was behaving. The Lin Wanru they knew was a gentle and refined person who wouldn't even raise her voice when speaking to someone. They had never seen her acting this agitated.
"Girls, who's this guy? Why is Wanru so angry?"
"Is he her boyfriend caught cheating with someone?"
"Bullshit. We all know that Wanru has no boyfriend. This guy probably has some other relationship with her. But it's really weird. I have never seen her that angry."
"There must be a problem somewhere."
The girls whispered to each other, their desire for gossips burning intensely.
"Oh...actually...they aren't that bad, and I didn't..." Jiang Bai wanted to explain himself, but he was immediately interrupted by Lin Wanru.
"And you have even been drinking? I thought you don't drink in the past? Wow, you sure have grown up huh? Aren't that bad? If people like them aren't bad, tell me, how exactly does a bad person looks like? Jiang Bai, you are getting more and more useless!" Lin Wanru furrowed her brows tightly as she continued berating Jiang Bai.
That was somewhat excessive. Jiang Bai was just about to erupt in anger, but before he could do anything, he heard her following words, words that completely extinguished his anger, leaving him speechless instead.
"Forget it. Just be sure to stop mixing with those thugs in the future. I have been looking for you for two weeks. I heard that the trouble you're in is a very tricky one. I have already asked some classmates of mine who are locals for help. According to them, that person is still in the hospital even now. And I have also heard that the guy doesn't exactly have a clean family background. So you have to be careful. I will think of a way to deal with this for you. I reckon you don't have much money on you now that you're jobless. My mom gave me some money a while ago. It's not much, about 2,000 Yuan. Take it for now. And if you are interested, you can come work at our library. I have already talked to the head of department about it. They are lacking a librarian currently. It's an easy job, and pays about 1,800 per month. It's not a high salary, but food and lodging is provided."
As Lin Wanru spoke, her voice slowly grew softer as her anger slowly dissipated. Although she was still behaving coldly, the concern she had over Jiang Bai could be clearly felt. The past Jiang Bai might not be able to sense this, but the current Jiang Bai could. That gave him a warm feeling. This girl had probably been working very hard to help him for the past few days.
Chapter 13: Cousin Wanru
After the meal, the relationship between Xu Jie, Jiang Bai and Ma Changyang had improved considerably. Xu Jie's respect for Jiang Bai had further increased as well. As for Ma Changyang and Jiang Bai, they had an amiable interaction with each other during the meal and were already calling each other brothers. It was unknown how much of that was true. But as a whole, their relationship appeared to have improved. All three of them were satisfied with the outcome.
After they had their fill of liquor and food, they rejected Ma Changyang's offer to go "have some fun" and left the restaurant. Right after Jiang Bai stepped out the restaurant, he saw a youthful and beautiful woman dressed in a white T-shirt, a pair of blue jeans, and a pair of spotlessly white sneakers standing not far away. The young woman's hair was tied up into a ponytail. She was glowering at Jiang Bai angrily from far away, and shouted the moment she saw him, "Jiang Bai!"
"Huh..." Jiang Bai blanked out.
This youthful and incredibly beautiful young lady was his cousin, also the campus belle where she was studying. However, this "cousin" was actually an extremely distant relative. In fact, their maternal grandmothers were the actual maternal cousins of their respective maternal cousins. So strictly speaking, they were not cousins and were extremely distant relatives. But since their families stayed nearby and their mothers shared a good relationship, the two started calling each other cousins as well.
When young, the two were rather close, with the little girl always following behind Jiang Bai all the time. But that was a long time ago. Ever since the girl entered junior high school, she started drifting apart from him. And when he came to Tiandu after graduating senior high school, the two drifted even further apart and spent several years not seeing each other at all.
It was only last year when she came to Tiandu after she got into Tiandu University did they started seeing each other occasionally again, but most of those meetings were also on behalf of their mothers. And whenever they met, they would only be exchanging some simple pleasantries instead of having any proper chat.
The girl had become increasingly pretty as she grew older, yet it also seemed like she was getting more and more prideful at the same time. They were no longer as close as they once were, and she would even reprimand him every now and then, greatly hurting his ego. Those were the only kind of interactions they had nowadays.
In truth, when Jiang Bai first met her again after the few years they stopped meeting each other, his heartbeat accelerated seeing how beautiful she had turned. But this girl was a top student with good results and good looks, a perfect example of a person with a bright future ahead of her.
When Jiang Bai found out about that, he completely gave up any thoughts he had about her. Because of that, their relationship stayed cool. Why was she here today? And why was she looking so angry?
"Hah, big brother, we'll leave first. I'll get Xiaotian to wait for you outside. Just call out to him if you need anything." Xu Jie approached Jiang Bai and said with a grin on his face. After glancing at Lin Wanru, he turned around and left with Ma Changyang and the others. Before he left, he did not forget to throw Jiang Bai a perverted gaze, causing Jiang Bai to roll his eyes.
"Yes? Why are you here?" After the others left, Jiang Bai approached Lin Wanru and asked. But right after he asked the question, he realized that the girl was definitely not here for him as he saw a rather pretty girl not far away stealing glances at them with an extremely curious gaze.
"It doesn't matter why I'm here. What were you doing? Hanging out with Xu Jie? Why did you quit that proper job you had? You weren’t even at your home when I went there looking for you. And I heard you even beat someone up? And quit your job? Now you're even hanging out with those thugs? You disappoint me...no, you disappoint your mother! Do you think it has been easy for her to raise you up? If you are not good in studies, you should be working hard instead. Not hanging around with some shady people like them!" Before Jiang Bai could say anything, Lin Wanru started reprimanding him without stop.
"Uhm...I..." Jiang Bai wanted to explain himself, but he did not know what to say. Of the group he was with earlier, Ma Xiaotian and the other two drivers were quite far behind him, so they did not look like they were together. As for Ma Changyang...
This guy was indeed worthy of being a big brother as he had a natural gangster look. Furthermore, he wasn't dressed up formally today. He was only wearing a T-shirt and a pair of jeans, and that coupled with his natural gangster look, nobody would think of him as a decent law abiding citizen.
And then there's Xu Jie. He had a bald head, with a massive gold chain hanging on his neck, a flowery checkered shirt, a pair of baggy pants and a pair of boots on. The top two buttons of his shirt were left unbuttoned, revealing the massive dragon tattoo he had on his body. It was like he had the word “gangster” written on his face. No matter what, that fellow was a highly accomplished martial artist. But his taste in fashion was truly...
It was no wonder Xu Jie’s master was so unhappy with him. If Jiang Bai was his master, he would also be too embarrassed to admit that he had such a disciple. Thus, it was understandable why Lin Wanru was so furious when she saw Jiang Bai with those people.
"Stop trying to find excuses. You are already an adult but why won't you do anything proper ever? Why did you beat someone up? Your neighbor said that you smashed the other guy's head? Did you learn that from those thugs? Jiang Bai, don't you know that nothing good will come out of this? Do you want to end up in the prison? Or even worse, dying on the streets? I have truly misjudged you. In the past, although you aren't exactly an accomplished person, you are at least an honest person. But now, you have turned into a complete scum of the society!"
Lin Wanru stood there, angrily reprimanding Jiang Bai without a care for anything else, attracting the attention of the pedestrians around them. As for her roommates, they were all dumbstruck looking at how she was behaving. The Lin Wanru they knew was a gentle and refined person who wouldn't even raise her voice when speaking to someone. They had never seen her acting this agitated.
"Girls, who's this guy? Why is Wanru so angry?"
"Is he her boyfriend caught cheating with someone?"
"Bullshit. We all know that Wanru has no boyfriend. This guy probably has some other relationship with her. But it's really weird. I have never seen her that angry."
"There must be a problem somewhere."
The girls whispered to each other, their desire for gossips burning intensely.
"Oh...actually...they aren't that bad, and I didn't..." Jiang Bai wanted to explain himself, but he was immediately interrupted by Lin Wanru.
"And you have even been drinking? I thought you don't drink in the past? Wow, you sure have grown up huh? Aren't that bad? If people like them aren't bad, tell me, how exactly does a bad person looks like? Jiang Bai, you are getting more and more useless!" Lin Wanru furrowed her brows tightly as she continued berating Jiang Bai.
That was somewhat excessive. Jiang Bai was just about to erupt in anger, but before he could do anything, he heard her following words, words that completely extinguished his anger, leaving him speechless instead.
"Forget it. Just be sure to stop mixing with those thugs in the future. I have been looking for you for two weeks. I heard that the trouble you're in is a very tricky one. I have already asked some classmates of mine who are locals for help. According to them, that person is still in the hospital even now. And I have also heard that the guy doesn't exactly have a clean family background. So you have to be careful. I will think of a way to deal with this for you. I reckon you don't have much money on you now that you're jobless. My mom gave me some money a while ago. It's not much, about 2,000 Yuan. Take it for now. And if you are interested, you can come work at our library. I have already talked to the head of department about it. They are lacking a librarian currently. It's an easy job, and pays about 1,800 per month. It's not a high salary, but food and lodging is provided."
As Lin Wanru spoke, her voice slowly grew softer as her anger slowly dissipated. Although she was still behaving coldly, the concern she had over Jiang Bai could be clearly felt. The past Jiang Bai might not be able to sense this, but the current Jiang Bai could. That gave him a warm feeling. This girl had probably been working very hard to help him for the past few days.
