This is not Jiang Yumo’s first time riding on Duan Ye’s motorcycle.
Recently, he suddenly came to find her on a motorcycle. Even to an outsider like Jiang Yumo, it was clear that this motorcycle was not ordinary. The style was very cool, with only two colors all over, black and silver… She heard from others that this motorcycle was worth tens of thousands of yuan.
It was also from the time when Duan Ye started riding this motorcycle that rumors spread that he was a second-generation wealthy person.
Duan Ye is a local in Ningcheng, and so is Jiang Yumo.
The two were also classmates in junior high school, and Jiang Yumo knew a little about Duan Ye’s family background. They were not poor but not rich, from an ordinary family. He came from a single-parent family and lived with his mother, who owned a clothing store on the pedestrian street. Jiang Yumo had seen his mother before, and Duan Ye looked a lot like her. His mother had dyed blonde curly hair and always carried a black leather wallet when she went out to play cards. Jiang Yumo had gone to the gambling house to get the keys from her mother.
At the time, Duan Ye’s mother was playing cards at another table, and Jiang Yumo noticed her because there was a cigarette between her fingers.
Ningcheng is a small place, and basically only men smoke. Although there are women who smoke, young women don’t care, but the older middle-aged women are afraid of being judged and rarely smoke outside.
She met Duan Ye when she came out with the keys.
Duan Ye had come to find his mother.
At that time, he was still a little surprised and asked her why she was there.
She said, “I’m here to get the keys from my Mom, how about you?”
He laughed, revealing his white teeth and no longer looking so fierce, “I’m here to see my Mom too.”
Both of them laughed. It was a custom in Ningcheng that the locals loved to eat, drink, and gamble, and the place with the best business was always the gambling house.
She turned her head back and asked, “Which one is your mom?”
He replied, “The one smoking.”
Mother Duan was addicted to smoking, almost never without a cigarette in her hand. It was unknown if that was the reason why Duan Ye was involved in things that had nothing to do with being a good student, but the one thing he didn’t do was smoking.
……
Jiang Yumo asked Duan Ye where he got the motorcycle from.
Duan Ye said he won it from someone who lost a bet to him.
On a summer afternoon at five o’clock, although it was hot, it was surprisingly cool sitting on the back of the motorcycle with the wind blowing. She could smell his scent, not like the cologne smell described in the novel, but it wasn’t unpleasant either. Jiang Yumo had thought more than once that if Duan Ye smoked, they would definitely have no future.
She didn’t like smokers.
The smell of smoke wasn’t as enchanting as described in novels. Instead, it was very stinky and unpleasant. An uncle who is her neighbor was a heavy smoker, and when he spoke, it was almost unbearable.
Sometimes Jiang Yumo knows in her heart that her life is so rich and colorful because of Duan Ye.
She feels that no one can resist him.
Without Duan Ye, her life wouldn’t be boring, because she has parents, school, and friends. But during vacations, she could only stay at home or go shopping and eating with friends.
When they arrived at the restaurant, Yan Qing and Sun Mengting hadn’t arrived yet.
Jiang Yumo returned the helmet to Duan Ye.
Duan Ye has two helmets, one black and one pink.
Naturally, the pink one belongs to Jiang Yumo, it’s exclusive for her.
After locking the bike, Duan Ye looked at Jiang Yumo, who was using a small mirror to fix her hair. His focused gaze stayed only on her. Jiang Yumo noticed and, locking eyes with him, he was the first to look away and whispered, “How late can we play today?”
Father and Mother Jiang also have strict rules for her. On school days, from Monday to Friday, she has to attend evening self-study. In her freshman and sophomore years, evening self-study ends after 9 pm, and her parents take turns picking her up from school. On weekends, she doesn’t have to attend evening self-study, but she has a curfew and must be home by 8 pm at the latest.
However, in some aspects, Father and Mother Jiang were also lenient. Duan Ye was so high-profile, and the city was small. They knew that a boy was pursuing their daughter. After secretly inquiring and tracking them a few times, they found that Duan Ye and their daughter didn’t have overly intimate contact, and their daughter’s grades didn’t decline, so they let it go. They didn’t dare to be too strict with their 16 or 17-year-old child in this regard, for fear of backfiring.
Jiang Yumo’s Uncle was a junior high school homeroom teacher with many years of teaching experience. Her parents were also told by her Uncle. Her Uncle only said that junior high school students could still be controlled, but for half-adult high school students, as long as they didn’t do anything outrageous, teachers and parents couldn’t do much. Some children, during their rebellious period, liked to oppose their parents. Originally, the relationship was three points, but after being blocked by parents and teachers, it became ten points… Of course, the reason they didn’t manage Jiang Yumo too much was also because they understood and trusted her.
Their own child was really clear-minded.
Jiang Yumo said straightforwardly, “I don’t know, but I think it can’t be later than ten o’clock. If it’s past ten o’clock, my parents will definitely go out to find me.”
She couldn’t be too reckless on her birthday either.
They knew that she was celebrating her birthday with her friends today, and the curfew wouldn’t be at eight o’clock. It would be extended by two hours… She estimated that it was her parents’ limit.
Duan Ye’s expression couldn’t tell whether he was disappointed or not. “Alright, I’ll take you back before ten.”
“Are we going to karaoke after dinner?” Jiang Yumo asked casually.
The are only a few activities to celebrate birthdays.
Eating, watching movies, and singing karaoke.
Recently, there haven’t been any good movies and the relationship Jiang Yumo and Duan Ye aren’t at the point where they would watch a movie with just the two of them.
Duan Ye made a sound, “Don’t you want to go?”
Jiang Yumo shook her head, “No.”
While they were talking, Yan Qing and Sun Mengting arrived. Yan Qing immediately complained, “There was actually traffic jam in Ningcheng, we were stuck for a few minutes at North Street…my goodness, the driver is so stingy, he wouldn’t turn on the air conditioning, just opened the windows, I was so hot.”
Jiang Yumo walked over and linked arms with Yan Qing on her left and Sun Mengting on her right, following Duan Ye into the restaurant.
This restaurant was quite famous and belonged to a friend of Duan Ye’s.
When they entered the private room, there were already about ten people seated.
“Brother Duan!”
“Brother Duan! Come on, order the dishes!”
“Guo Shichao, are you brain-dead? Of course, it’s Eldest Sister-in-law who orders the food when she’s here…”
Jiang Yumo has been given several different titles, each one making her cringe.
Fortunately, as she continued to awkwardly interact, she became less and less bothered by it, and didn’t break out in goosebumps.
Her current titles, according to her own count, included: “Brother Duan’s woman”, “Sister-in-law Duan”, “Eldest Sister-in-law”, and “Elder Sister Mo”.
Talk about being unrefined!
Even those who called her “Elder Sister Mo” were usually older than her!
Duan Ye glanced at her and seemed to sense her hesitation about ordering, so he took the menu from Guo Shichao’s hand and whispered, “I’ll order.”
Everyone spontaneously left the seat next to Duan Ye for Jiang Yumo.
Jiang Yumo had no choice but to sit down.
As Duan Ye looked at the menu, he said without looking up, “Zhao Zheng, adjust the air conditioning so it’s not blowing directly at us.”
To be precise, not facing Jiang Yumo.
Those who understand, understand.
Guo Shichao smirked, “Brother Duan is so thoughtful, Sister-in-law is not disappointed, haha.”
Duan Ye didn’t say anything, but said to Jiang Yumo, “Do you eat bullfrog?”
Jiang Yumo : “It’s all right, I can eat anything.”
Duan Ye put a tick behind the Spicy Stir-fried Bullfrog.
As he continued to tick order, Jiang Yumo leaned over, perhaps tempted by the dishes he was reading out.
Who asked him to read out dishes like “Spicy Stir-fried Bullfrog”
After Duan Ye came in, he went to the restroom to wash his face, and there was still a smell of hand sanitizer on his hands.
His looks couldn’t be described as handsome, nor could they be described as just handsome.
He has… a kind of aura or charm that boys his age don’t have.
She couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Yan Qing’s cousin had met Duan Ye once and said that he had a villainous face, and if he were an actor, he would never be able to play a righteous male lead.
Duan Ye is not the kind of person who is upright, kind-hearted and bright.
However, this natural villain is now saying things like “Do you want to try the osmanthus cake?” and “The pan-fried dumplings here are pretty good”…
Jiang Yumo’s wallet held 500 yuan given to her by her parents.
It was fund for her birthday celebration. It was meant to be used to treat her friends.
Aside from the 500 yuan, she also opened her own little bank and took out another 500 yuan, totaling 1000 yuan.
However, she knew that Duan Ye wouldn’t let her pay.
She hesitated, whether to order osmanthus cake or brown sugar glutinous rice cake.
Duan Ye simply waved his hand and ticked both.
Today, more than ten people celebrated her birthday for her.
Some were her classmates, some were Duan Ye’s friends… all were people she knew.
As the two were discussing what dishes to order, they suddenly heard Guo Shichao say, “Brother Duan, Sister Mo, look over here! Look at me!”
Duan Ye and Jiang Yumo looked over at the same time.
Guo Shichao was holding a digital camera borrowed from a relative and took a picture of them. It was not an old model, and he could see the photos he took on the screen and choose whether to delete or keep them. Guo Shichao pressed the shutter button several times, and Zhao Zheng came over to look at the photos with him. In the photo, Duan Ye and Jiang Yumo were quite close to each other, and Jiang Yumo’s smile had not faded, with her charming dimples.
Duan Ye, who usually had no expression on his face, did not smile, but for some reason, his expression seemed gentle.
This was their first photo together.
Guo Shichao couldn’t help humming, “You’re on the left, I’m on the right, first photo, I don’t dare to be too intimate1…”
Everyone gathered around to look at the photo.
Zhao Zheng, who had always been a fan of Duan Ye, said, “Brother Duan and Sister-in-law are so well-matched, it’ll be really hard to end things if you don’t get married! Brother Duan, when you guys get married, I’ll give you ten thousand yuan as a gift!”
Duan Ye’s friends also joined in the teasing when they saw the good atmosphere and they all laughed.
Duan Ye glanced at Jiang Yumo, wondering if she was offended, and gave a warning look to his friends.
But deep down, he was indeed touched by the words “when you guys get married”.
His brothers didn’t dare to be reckless, after all, they all knew in their hearts that Brother Duan was the second, and Sister Mo was the leader.
Brother Duan was cool, handsome and aloof, but he was always careful in front of Jiang Yumo, afraid of speaking too loudly and disturbing her.
What marriage, if the matter is buried in the ground, can they still see it2?
- lyrics of 我们俩 (Wǒ men liǎ / Two of Us) by Guo Ding released in 2009 ↩︎
- I’m also not sure about this, the raw says “何以振夫纲，他们埋进土里之前能看到吗？” I guess it means that if he disturbed and offended Jiang Yumo, their relationship would not continue, let alone getting married. ↩︎