The Golden Cane and the Wild Rose - Chapter 28.1

Chapter 28

“Ah Ran, are you still mad at me?”

Gu Hongfei finally caught the meaning in those words. He stopped trying to find money to buy the kite and looked closely at Jiang Musheng.

He had seen Jiang Musheng before, twice. Once, when Ah Ran went to the hospital to see him, Jiang Musheng was there too.

Another time was in the newspaper. A photo showed Jiang Musheng and Ah Ran kissing. Only his profile was visible, but on the black-and-white paper, Jiang Musheng’s skin still looked fairer than others.

In the night, Jiang Musheng was also exceptionally pale. The dim, uncertain light on his face made him look even whiter, white like a ghost—but a noble vampire from a Western fantasy story.

The face was indeed Jiang Musheng’s. The confusing part was that he didn’t have his golden cane with him on these occasions, and he rarely appeared in public, so ordinary people wouldn’t expect to run into him.

After confirming the person was Jiang Musheng, Gu Hongfei tried to steady himself and shield Ah Ran. But Yunran was too close to Jiang Musheng; he couldn’t get in front of her unless he pulled her behind him.

He wouldn’t do that.

He decided to reason with Jiang Musheng, appealing to his sense of understanding.

“Mr. Jiang, thank you for saving me and Ah Ran last time. Now Ah Ran has left you, please respect her free will. If she owes you anything financially during this time, I can pay you back on her behalf.”

“Can you afford it?” Ah Biao, who was dutifully following, rolled his eyes and asked.

Mr. Jiang had asked him to protect Miss Yun. He didn’t understand why Mr. Jiang would go to such lengths to protect a woman who chose to leave him, but he followed orders. Tonight, when Yun Ran and Gu Hongfei were drawn over by Mr. Jiang’s kite, he naturally followed.

Over the past few days, Miss Yun had already noticed his presence, so there was no need for him to hide.

Mr. Jiang had been kind to him once, and he felt he had to speak up for him.

Gu Hongfei stood his ground. “I am willing to pay back Ah Ran’s debt. Please, Mr. Jiang, just name a price.”

“What do you take Ah Ran for?”

Jiang Musheng’s eyes narrowed slightly, his gaze suddenly sharp, like a lion on the savannah about to hunt.

Gu Hongfei was stunned and speechless, intimidated by Jiang Musheng’s presence.

When he realized what Jiang Musheng meant, he looked at Yun Ran, wanting to explain.

Yun Ran’s heart was pounding. She didn’t dare to look at Jiang Musheng, and quickly said to her senior, “I know what you mean, I won’t misunderstand. Let’s just leave quickly.”

With that, Yun Ran turned and walked away. The plaza had roads in every direction. Jiang Musheng had blocked the way ahead, but he couldn’t block the roads behind, to the left, or to the right.

Gu Hongfei stood there, surprised and delighted.

This was great! Ah Ran knew his true feelings and hadn’t been swayed by Jiang Musheng’s words!

He took one last look at Jiang Musheng, then turned to follow Ah Ran.

Jiang Musheng stood still, watching Yunran’s retreating back and Gu Hongfei catching up to her.

Ah Ran was still running away.

Choosing to leave him, again.

Ah Biao instinctively took a couple of steps forward to follow, then stopped and returned.

“Mr. Jiang, should I continue protecting Miss Yun?” His face showed more anxiety and frustration than Jiang Musheng’s.

“Continue.”

“Why?” Ah Biao couldn’t understand it for the life of him.

Jiang Musheng said, “From Ah Ran’s perspective, she must hate me. She’s also afraid of me, which is why she wants to escape so badly.”

“It’s her loss to leave you, Mr. Jiang.”

Jiang Musheng said, “It’s my loss.”

“Go now. I don’t want anything bad to happen to Ah Ran after she leaves me.”

As much as he didn’t want to, Ah Biao left immediately, his heart filled with indignation for his boss: what could possibly happen to Miss Yun? She was happily wrapped up with that man named Gu Hongfei. Mr. Jiang should find a prettier, more obedient woman to make Miss Yun regret her decision!

Yun Ran jogged all the way out of the plaza before she dared to look back.

Behind her, only one person’s footsteps followed closely. She could tell it was her senior’s.

Jiang Musheng hadn’t followed.

He had a leg injury, so he couldn’t possibly chase her.

Nor had he sent his subordinates after her.

Wasn’t this exactly what she had hoped for?

If Jiang Musheng didn’t let her go, she would never be able to leave.

If Jiang Musheng had ordered his men to chase her, she wouldn’t be able to escape.

It turned out Jiang Musheng was more decent than those men in high society who turned bad with money.

No, she shouldn’t compare Jiang Musheng to them.

“Ah Ran.” Gu Hongfei caught up to her, breathless. “You’re a surprisingly fast runner.”

Yun Ran forced a smile. “I learned it when I was a kid.”

“You liked running as a child? Why didn’t you ever join the school sports meets?”

Yun Ran’s smile became bitter. She didn’t want to answer anymore.

She truly hated thinking about her painful past as a child.

Before she was adopted by the Old Man, she lived a life of bullying. Children’s malice was pure and unthinking. They didn’t consider their actions to be evil, nor did they care about the harm they inflicted on other children.

They would taunt her: “You don’t have a mom or a dad, you must be a bastard, a bastard child of a prostitute and a john. The john didn’t want you, and the prostitute didn’t want you. No one wants you. Maybe when you grow up, you’ll be as pretty as your prostitute mom and become a prostitute too.”

The taunts weren’t enough. They’d chase her with rocks.

She ran frantically every day through the winding, maze-like alleys of Kowloon Walled City. Her legs gradually learned to fly, and her flying legs, combined with the maze, often saved her from a beating.

Sometimes, she wasn’t so lucky. When she couldn’t run anymore, she might run into a kind person who would scold the bullies, but it was a one-time thing. No one was willing to adopt a rootless orphan like her.

Yun Ran got used to it. Having someone offer her a bite to eat was a big deal. She often scavenged for people’s leftovers and, if she was lucky, found fruit that had only a few black spots and hadn’t rotted yet.

When she turned eight, those kids turned eight too. A few of the boys were older, twelve or thirteen. Their malice took a new form. They no longer beat her, but their humiliation grew even more vicious.

“You’ve actually gotten a little pretty. You must have a talent for being a prostitute.”

A few of the boys grabbed her and took her to a small storage room.

They taped her mouth shut so she couldn’t scream. All she could do was cry silently.

Just as those bad boys were about to pull down her tattered pants, the Old Man appeared.

He was chasing someone and had accidentally stumbled in. After a few seconds of hesitation, he rescued her.

“No parents, poor little girl. You’ll live with me from now on.”

She followed the Old Man home. The house was small but a safe haven. She wouldn’t have to worry about finding a place to hide from the rain anymore, or being chased away if she did.

The Old Man asked her name, and she shook her head.

“No name?”

She nodded.

That night, the Old Man, who wasn’t very educated, went out and came back with a new Xinhua dictionary. He flipped through it all night under the kerosene lamp.

“Yun Ran. ‘Yun’ (cloud) and ‘ran’ (dyed). These two characters are good. From now on, you’ll be called Yun Ran.”

“Even if you were born poorly, you must be like a cloud in the sky. Don’t be like what those brats said. I want you to promise never to give up on yourself. You must be pure and clean, like a cloud floating above their heads, making them look up at you. That will be the best repayment for me saving you.”

She happily accepted the name “Yun Ran,” only to realize later that what the Old Man had said that day was the most educated thing he had ever said in his life.

With the Old Man’s protection, no one in Kowloon Walled City dared to bother her again. She thought the Old Man was so powerful.

But the Old Man said, “My boss is the powerful one. We just benefit from him.”

Yun Ran cheered, “Long live the boss!”

The Old Man told her to put her hands down. “The boss is powerful, but he’s also terrifying.”

Then, the Old Man told her several scary stories about his boss, Jiang Musheng. She was so scared she couldn’t sleep all night.

Thinking back to that, she actually laughed.

Gu Hongfei was confused. “Ah Ran, why are you crying and laughing at the same time?”

Yun Ran was startled. She touched her face and it was covered in tears, but her lips were smiling.

“Were you scared by Jiang Musheng’s sudden appearance?” Gu Hongfei asked with concern.

Yun Ran shook her head. “I’m fine.”

She had realized that Jiang Musheng wasn’t as terrifying as the Old Man had made him out to be.

“Are you really okay?” Gu Hongfei was still worried.

“I’m fine.” Yun Ran glanced at the moon in the sky. It was very round, with only a small part missing.

Round, yet incomplete.

She looked away. “It’s getting late, senior. Let’s go back. We have to work tomorrow morning.”

“Okay.”

Gu Hongfei saw that she was in a bad mood and unwilling to talk, so he didn’t ask any more questions.

Back at the little villa, Yun Ran still couldn’t sleep after her shower. She got up and went to the balcony to look at the moon.

On the second-floor balcony, there were roses planted. They weren’t growing well. She didn’t take care of them; the Filipina maid did, and they were already looking better than when she first arrived.

The little flowers had grown a bit, and new, fingernail-sized buds had sprouted on the branches.

Looking at the roses, she thought of her own roses. No one was taking care of them now.

Would they die?

Yun Ran suddenly felt worried about them.

Those roses were also part of the Old Man’s legacy to her. Her senior had said she could transplant them here if she wanted.

If she couldn’t let go of them, she’d move them.

She made up her mind to talk to her senior about it tomorrow.

Leaning on the railing, she looked at the moonlight again. When her gaze inadvertently swept to the street below, she saw Ah Biao standing under a streetlight.

She was startled.

Was Jiang Musheng having Ah Biao watch her so closely?

Was standing outside the goose shop not enough?

Did he need to keep a close eye on her current residence too?

Yun Ran felt a chill run down her spine. She retreated to her room and lay in bed, even though she couldn’t sleep.

Jiang Musheng had let her go, but not completely.

The next day, Yun Ran went to work. Her senior saw the dark circles under her eyes and asked, “Ah Ran, did you not sleep well last night?”

Yun Ran nodded. “I had a little insomnia.”

“Then you should go back and rest. You don’t have to work today.”

Yun Ran joked, “Is it really that easy to be an employee here, senior? Can people just slack off whenever they want?”

“It’s not that being an employee here is easy,” Gu Hongfei lowered his head, his face a little red. “It’s that I want to give you special treatment.”

Yun Ran stopped laughing and said seriously, “I don’t need it. At least not today.”

“Okay.” Gu Hongfei couldn’t do anything about her. “If you ever get tired, just tell me. Your health is what’s most important.”

“I know, senior.”

While clearing plates, Yun Ran glanced through the glass wall and saw Ah Biao standing in the scorching sun outside.

He really wasn’t afraid of the sun. But did he also watch her at night? Did he never sleep?

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