The Golden Cane and the Wild Rose - Chapter 38

Chapter 38

“It’s not that I don’t want to go home, I just want to buy an English dictionary first.”

“Okay.”

Yun Ran and Jiang Musheng left hand in hand, as intimate and natural as an ordinary campus couple. The girls who had been taunting Yun Ran stood frozen in place, watching them walk away.

Only after they were out of sight did one of the girls slowly come back to her senses. “Yun Ran isn’t just with Mr. Jiang, she’s his official girlfriend! Those rumors are totally unreliable; they almost got us killed!”

“I know! If Yun Ran complains to Mr. Jiang, and he does something to our families, we’re done for!”

“What are we going to do?”

The three girls grew anxious and worried. One of them, still stubborn, said, “Mr. Jiang just said Yun Ran is his girlfriend. There are many kinds of girlfriends, you know. Maybe it’s just a title, like a pet—a kitten or a puppy.”

The other girls looked at her in horror.

“Caroline, shut up!”

“I don’t want to pretend to be tough and get into trouble because of you!”

“Cowards!”

“We don’t want to get into trouble either!”

Soon, the four girls split up, one going one way and three going another. Yun Ran had no idea what happened afterward, and she wasn’t interested.

Her mind was completely on her studies now. She was in the steadily moving car, pulling Jiang Musheng’s sleeve to ask for advice. “Mr. Jiang, I remember you said you grew up in North America and Western Europe. Since you’re so successful now, your English must be very good, right?”

Jiang Musheng looked at her with a smile. “Ah Ran, what are you plotting now?”

“It’s just… I just wanted to humbly ask you if you have any good methods for memorizing vocabulary. I’m finding it a bit difficult.”

Jiang Musheng said, “Trying so hard?”

“Of course.” Yun Ran was secretly buttering him up. “Now that I’m with Mr. Jiang, I naturally can’t be too shabby.”

“You’re lying.” Jiang Musheng gently flicked her nose with his finger. “Do you want to become a stronger person so you can live and thrive on your own even if you leave me one day, or is it just so you can be a better match for me?”

Ah, he found me out again. Her lie, coated in honey, still couldn’t fool Jiang Musheng.

Yun Ran pursed her lips and looked at Jiang Musheng with a pitiful expression. “Mr. Jiang, since you already know, why are you asking? Do you not want to teach me at all?”

Jiang Musheng looked at her helplessly. His broad shoulders slumped, and he let out a slow sigh through his nose.

“I’ll teach you.”

Yun Ran immediately smiled again. “Mr. Jiang, you’re the best!”

“Do you mean that this time?”

Yun Ran raised her hand to swear an oath. “One hundred percent!”

“First, we’ll buy the dictionary. I’ll teach you later.”

“Okay,” Yun Ran said, nodding with a grin.

They went to the largest local bookstore. Jiang Musheng personally chose two dictionaries for her an English-to-Chinese one and an all-English one—one for basic learning and one for advanced. Yun Ran sincerely praised him. “Mr. Jiang, you’re so knowledgeable!”

“Xueyu was born after I returned to China, so she didn’t have an all-English environment. I put in a little effort for her English.”

“So that’s it. I’m just benefiting from Xueyu’s good fortune.”

Jiang Musheng said, “Even without her, I would find a way to teach you. I’m willing to go out of my way for you.”

Yun Ran’s smile froze on her face and lips. She wasn’t sure if she had just heard him correctly. “What did you say, Mr. Jiang?”

“Even without Xueyu’s good fortune to benefit from, I would find a way to teach you. I’m willing to go out of my way for you.”

Jiang Musheng was willing to go out of his way for her? An indescribable feeling welled up in Yun Ran’s heart.

What did it mean when a man was willing to go out of his way for a woman? If it was before they were together, she knew it was to speed up the process. But she was already with Jiang Musheng. What was he getting out of it? All this time, Jiang Musheng hadn’t made any clear demands of her.

The dictionaries were chosen, and they went to the cash register to pay. As Jiang Musheng took out money from his wallet, Yun Ran was still lost in thought. She finally had an answer once they were back in the car.

Jiang Musheng told the driver, “Go to the Grand Hyatt Hotel.”

Yun Ran was in shock. She immediately lost her composure.

Many women in the new era were open and bold about love, especially her Western classmates. She had heard a lot of stories in high school. This one sentence from Jiang Musheng was like a stone thrown into a pond, causing a huge ripple of shock in her heart.

Were the rumors that Jiang Musheng was impotent false? Was he just very restrained and conservative in his actions? What should she do when the time came?

Yun Ran was lost in a whirlwind of thoughts. Finally, she couldn’t help but tug on Jiang Musheng’s suit sleeve and ask, “Mr. Jiang, are we not going home tonight?”

“Yes. You were worried about being late for class tomorrow, so we’ll just stay in a hotel.”

“Oh, so that’s what you meant,” Yun Ran said, her face red and her eyes bright.

“What did you think I meant, Ah Ran?”

Yun Ran laughed and shook her head. “I didn’t think anything.”

Just as Yun Ran was starting to relax, Jiang Musheng suddenly said, “It’s not that there couldn’t be another meaning.”

The tight string in Yun Ran’s mind immediately went taut again.

The Grand Hyatt Hotel wasn’t far from her private university, but because she was so flustered and scared, she felt as if they had taken a fast-flying plane and arrived with a ‘whoosh.’

“We’re here, Ah Ran. Let’s get out.” Jiang Musheng spoke.

They got out of the car and walked into the hotel hand in hand. The lobby manager immediately came forward to greet them. He seemed to know Jiang Musheng well. “Mr. Jiang, will you be staying in the top suite again today? Do you need me to prepare dinner immediately?”

“The top suite. No need to prepare dinner. We’re going out to eat.”

“Very good. Please contact me anytime if you need anything. I am at your service.”

This was Yun Ran’s first time in a place like this. While she was flustered and scared, she was also incredibly curious. The retro lobby, marble floors, a spiral staircase, and floral arrangements everywhere that didn’t look messy at all gave it a sense of exquisite living aesthetic.

The amazement in her eyes was hard to hide. She didn’t need to do anything; she just followed Jiang Musheng. He took her hand to the front desk, where the staff quickly checked them in. The lobby manager personally led them upstairs. The top suite was on the top floor, the best place to get a bird’s-eye view of Hong Kong’s beautiful nightscape.

This was also the first time Yun Ran had ever been in an elevator with a personal manager serving them and showing them the way. Her limited experience meant she couldn’t have even imagined such a scenario before she experienced it. She and Jiang Musheng were so far apart.

They reached the top floor. The manager opened the door for them and smiled as he said, “I wish Mr. Jiang and Miss Yun a wonderful night here.”

Yun Ran had been distracted, but when she heard this, her face turned red. She wanted to say they… they weren’t here to do that kind of thing, but it would have sounded even stranger to explain. Before Yun Ran could decide what to do, the manager said, “I won’t disturb you,” and left.

“Ah Ran, your face is very red.” Jiang Musheng pulled her into the luxurious top suite.

Yun Ran was in no mood to observe what the top suite looked like. She just wanted to get rid of the feeling of shame she was experiencing. “The manager seems very familiar with you, Mr. Jiang. Do you come here often?” she asked, speaking as fast as she could to fill the silence.

Jiang Musheng looked at her with a smile, calm and collected. “Not often. I’ve been here a few times, but this is the first time I’ve brought my girlfriend.”

Yun Ran’s mouth hung open. She couldn’t make a sound. Jiang Musheng found her speechless look incredibly cute, but he considerately didn’t make her feel any more awkward. He changed the subject. “A Ran, are you hungry?”

“…I’m starving!”

Jiang Musheng put down the dictionaries and took the backpack off Yun Ran’s shoulders. “Let’s go. I’ll take you to the Repulse Bay Terrace Restaurant for dinner.”

Going downstairs, they were also served by an elevator attendant. This overly dense service made Yun Ran feel a bit awkward, but at least it wasn’t the same manager from before. The elevator attendant was very quiet and didn’t speak. He just had a standard smile on his face. Yun Ran could only finally breathe once they were out of the elevator. But soon, the manager reappeared, bowing slightly to ask Jiang Musheng if he needed the hotel to arrange transportation. Jiang Musheng simply refused.

Once they were out of the hotel, Yun Ran could finally breathe freely. In the car, after telling the driver the destination, Jiang Musheng focused his attention and mind on Yun Ran again.

“Ah Ran, don’t you like the Grand Hyatt Hotel?”

“It’s not that I don’t like it. I just feel a little uncomfortable.”

“We can change hotels after dinner, then.”

“No!” Yun Ran almost instinctively shook her head. A night’s stay here was so expensive. It would be a huge waste not to stay, and it would keep her up all night.

“Alright, whatever you say,” Jiang Musheng said.

By the time they arrived at the Repulse Bay Terrace Restaurant, the sun had already set, but the sky was filled with an unbelievably beautiful mix of orange and pink twilight clouds. The restaurant terrace had no roof, allowing them to take in the rare and beautiful scenery completely.

Perhaps the view was too beautiful, but Yun Ran suddenly had the illusion that she was on a date with Jiang Musheng. It wasn’t really an illusion, either. Jiang Musheng was also planning to stay at a hotel with her. It made perfect sense to call this a date. Thinking about the hotel, Yun Ran’s breathing became a little heavier.

She didn’t remember what she ate for dinner, but vaguely, her taste buds had a clear memory: the dinner was delicious. By the time Jiang Musheng led her away, it was completely dark. The golden lights around them gave off a contradictory feeling of brightness and gloom.

Jiang Musheng led her across a lawn. She smelled the faint scent of fresh grass. Suddenly, something gushed out beside them. It was a fountain. Yun Ran, who was unaware of everything, was startled. She instinctively hid in Jiang Musheng’s arms, resting her head on his shoulder.

Jiang Musheng hugged her. “Don’t be afraid, Ah Ran. It’s a fountain. Look.”

Yun Ran turned her head to look. It really was a fountain, gushing out from the lawn. The water wasn’t a pure color, not the brown of dirt or the green of grass, but a gloomy yet dazzling blue. It was as if the grass was connected to the sea. Yun Ran was captivated. “It’s so beautiful.”

She wanted to walk closer to see it, but Jiang Musheng stopped her. “Don’t move, Ah Ran.” Just as Jiang Musheng finished speaking, blue fountains gushed out one after another all around them. They were surrounded and couldn’t move. The fine spray from the nearby fountains sprinkled onto them.

Yun Ran felt her face gradually getting wet. Her hair, blue skirt, white socks, and black leather shoes were all getting wet. She was a little worried. She looked up at Jiang Musheng, and he was smiling. Yun Ran balled her hand into a fist and gently punched his left shoulder. “Mr. Jiang, you did this on purpose.”

“Yes.”

“Hmph.” At least he has the guts to admit it.

“How long will it be until they stop?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know, and you brought me in here?”

“We’re the only ones here.”

“What?”

“Ah Ran, it’s just us here,” Jiang Musheng repeated.

Yun Ran quickly understood. They were surrounded by fountains, isolated from the outside world. Here, it was only them. But she still didn’t quite understand what Jiang Musheng was thinking. But since he was happy, she decided to just stay with him.

After some time, the fountains began to weaken. Yun Ran suddenly thought of a question. “Mr. Jiang said he couldn’t swim before. I thought you were afraid of water.”

“I am afraid of water.”

“Oh. Then… then we’ll wait until the fountains stop…” she said.

Before she could finish, Jiang Musheng suddenly cupped her face in his hands and kissed her lips. Jiang Musheng’s nose was very straight. As he kissed her, it pressed slightly against her cheek, as if his nose was also kissing her face. She closed her eyes and told herself, He’s afraid of water, so just let him kiss you.

When the kiss ended, the fountains stopped as well. If she hadn’t been dazed by the kiss, she probably would have questioned the truth of what Jiang Musheng had said earlier, for example, that he didn’t know when the fountains would stop. He obviously knew, and it was to the exact minute.

However, by the time Yun Ran realized this, she was already back at the Grand Hyatt Hotel with Jiang Musheng. She wanted to complain, but she couldn’t say it. To say it would mean she was so deeply immersed in the kiss that she was only now thinking about it.

Forget it, a kiss is a kiss. She was Jiang Musheng’s girlfriend, and he was her boyfriend. Kissing was a perfectly normal thing between a couple. Yun Ran finally managed to convince herself.

Jiang Musheng took out two pairs of slippers from the closet by the entrance, placing one pair by her feet. While changing his shoes, he asked, “A Ran, do you want to shower first, or should I?”

Yun Ran: “…How did we get to the showering part?!”

“Mr. Jiang hasn’t taught me how to memorize vocabulary yet.”

“Shower first.”

“Oh, okay.”

Yun Ran went into the bathroom first, slowly washed herself, and dried her hair before coming out for Jiang Musheng to go in. When she came out, she saw Jiang Musheng looking at her textbook. At first, she didn’t think much of it. She was nervous inside but naturally urged him to go shower.

“Alright.” Jiang Musheng smiled and closed the book. Out of curiosity, Yun Ran made a mental note of the page number. Page 52. She hadn’t gotten that far yet. Does Jiang Musheng read that fast?

When Jiang Musheng went into the bathroom, she flipped to the page and looked at it curiously, her eyes landing on a small line of text. She was struck as if by lightning. It was a sentence she had written with a pencil when her mind wandered in class.

“Ahhh, studying is too difficult. I might as well just follow Jiang Musheng for a lifetime and be a beautiful waste XXX” The whole sentence was crossed out.

Yun Ran was speechless with herself. She remembered to write it in pencil, but why didn’t she remember to use an eraser? What would Jiang Musheng think of her? And what did that smile just now mean?

Yun Ran grabbed her head in anxiety, pulling at her own hair. She felt like she didn’t want to live anymore, but she didn’t want to die either. She’d just muddle through for now. She found her eraser in her backpack and completely erased the sentence. She told herself that if she needed Jiang Musheng’s help again in the future, she couldn’t write things in her textbook so casually, especially things she was thinking about.

In the bathroom, Jiang Musheng couldn’t stop the smile in his eyes and on his brows. The sentence Yun Ran wrote in her textbook was playing on a loop in his mind, and with Yun Ran’s frustrated and defeated voice, it was exceptionally cute. He was thinking about her throughout the entire process, so much so that when he turned off the water, he realized the crisis he was facing. This time, he hadn’t brought his chest-binding cloth to stay with Yun Ran. In the end, he could only use a clean white towel. It wasn’t as tight as his usual binder, which made him feel insecure. The hotel’s bathrobe was a deep V-neck, which would reveal the towel.

After fiddling with it for a long time in the bathroom, he finally managed to pull the neckline of the bathrobe up enough to cover the towel he was using to bind his chest. Taking a deep breath, Jiang Musheng left the bathroom and walked straight to the wooden cabinet with the rotary telephone. He called the front desk and asked for a private service to prepare clothes for both him and Ah Ran for tomorrow.

Yun Ran, holding a book, listened from the bed. One of her worries was now gone. Jiang Musheng had already taken care of it himself before she had to ask. Seeing him hang up the phone, Yun Ran buried her head in the book again.

“Ah Ran, should we start now?”

Yun Ran looked up, nervous and bewildered. “Start… what?” She genuinely didn’t know if Jiang Musheng meant to start her studies or do something else.

Jiang Musheng smiled as he sat down beside her. “What did you think I wanted to do, Ah Ran?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t think anything,” Yun Ran said with a red face, trying to hide what was already obvious.

Jiang Musheng took the dictionary she had placed on the side. “Don’t you want to know how to memorize vocabulary?”

“Yes, yes!” Yun Ran nodded, her heart pounding with a mix of anxiety and relief.

Finally, Jiang Musheng began to explain how to memorize vocabulary. He gave her methods based on categories, including root words, context, and making her own sentences. Yun Ran listened very attentively at first. But later, her attention was drawn to Jiang Musheng’s hand. She noticed that he was only holding the dictionary with one hand, while the other was tightly gripping the collar of his bathrobe, as if he was afraid it would slip down and she would see something.

In contrast, she had also been worried in the bathroom, but after she came out, she slowly forgot about it. She never expected that Jiang Musheng would be more concerned about it than she was. Could this mean there was some truth to the rumors? That Jiang Musheng was impotent, and the most intimate thing he could do was kiss her. If that was the case, it seemed pretty good.

Yun Ran had always felt that intimacy stopping at kissing was best. Any further and it felt a bit savage, a little brutal and cruel, turning people into beasts rather than humans. Her understanding of that area was quite limited, stemming from the heart-wrenching cries of those in the brothel towers of Kowloon Walled City and some descriptions she had read in novels. She found it terrifying. So, if Jiang Musheng really was “impotent,” she didn’t mind. Holding hands, hugging, and kissing were enough to comfort her heart.

Jiang Musheng was so engrossed in his explanation that when he stopped to ask her a question, he found Ah Ran was distracted and looking at him. His thick eyebrows knitted together. “Ah Ran, why aren’t you paying attention?”

Yun Ran quickly explained. “I suddenly thought of something.”

Jiang Musheng said, “Summarize what you were just thinking about in one English word.”

Yun Ran thought carefully, then said with some uncertainty, “Fairy tale?”

“A fairy tale?”

Yun Ran saw Jiang Musheng’s eyebrows soften again and felt even more certain. She nodded.

“What kind of fairy tale?” Jiang Musheng was a little curious. He had thought that A Ran would never believe in or long for fairytales.

Yun Ran considered her words carefully. “Mr. Jiang, do you think the fact that we’ve come this far together can be considered a fairy tale for me?”

Jiang Musheng was taken aback. Not just for Ah Ran, but for me too. Especially for me.

“I always feel like everything I have now came too easily, too effortlessly. It’s as if the author of the fairy tale decided that my character would be loved by a prince, and Mr. Jiang, you are that prince.”

Jiang Musheng laughed again, this time with a hint of self-deprecation. “Ah Ran, have you ever considered that even if our story is a fairy tale, it might be an absurd one, mixed with sadness and farce?”

Yun Ran was confused. “I don’t quite understand, Mr. Jiang. Can you explain it more clearly?”

“Ah Ran, I have a secret you don’t know.”

“I know.” Yun Ran said earnestly. “Mr. Jiang, you already understand me so well. A lot of the time, you can guess what I’m thinking. But I know very little about you. I only get to learn about you when you’re willing to tell me something, like the story about your childhood last time.”

“Anyway, for me, every unknown thing about Mr. Jiang is a secret.”

“Ah Ran, there are some things I can tell you, but there are some things I might never be able to tell you.”

“Then don’t tell me,” Yun Ran said, glancing away as if she didn’t care.

“I’m sorry, Ah Ran.”

Yun Ran smiled. “It’s okay. I can just be the ideal girlfriend you want.”

“Ah Ran.”

“Let’s continue, Mr. Jiang.” Yun Ran tapped the dictionary with her finger. “How do you memorize a word that has multiple meanings that are all very different?”

Jiang Musheng composed himself and refocused on the dictionary, explaining the methods to Ah Ran, as if he were just an unfamiliar teacher. After he finished explaining the problem, Yun Ran had a better understanding of several basic memorization methods.

“Mr. Jiang, let’s stop for tonight.”

“Okay.”

Yun Ran took the dictionary from Jiang Musheng’s hand, put it and her other books back in her backpack. Then, she lay down on the soft, pure white hotel bed, closed her eyes, and asked, “So, is there anything else Mr. Jiang wants to do to me now?”

Her eyelids were probably a bit thin. They couldn’t block the bright indoor lights, which she still found very glaring. After a long silence with no movement from Jiang Musheng, Yun Ran opened her eyes and asked a bold question.

“Are the rumors true that Mr. Jiang is impotent?”

Jiang Musheng had stood up at some point and was now standing by the bed, looking down at her. “Ah Ran, do you hope that I am or that I’m not?”

Yun Ran smiled. “Either is fine.”

She slowly pushed herself up from the soft bed and moved to the edge. Perhaps afraid that she would fall, Jiang Musheng wrapped his arms around her waist. Standing on the bed, she was finally taller than Jiang Musheng. He looked up at her, and his eyes held a seemingly endless sorrow, as if he was pleading with her for something.

She leaned down and pecked him on the lips. “This is a reward for teaching me how to study English. Is it enough?”

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