There's Something Wrong With My Little White Flower - Chapter 49

Chapter 49: Elder Sister of a Brother-Obsessed Family X University Professor

As someone with high standards for quality of life, Jiang Peifeng’s shopping location was naturally not the school’s supermarket. She took Ruan Jiyun to the city center’s shopping complex.

Their first destination was a Japanese hot pot restaurant. Jiang Peifeng explained with a smile: “I particularly like the Botan shrimp here. I figured your taste is similar to mine, so you should like it too.”

Ruan Jiyun nodded. In truth, she didn’t have much concept of her own taste. Growing up, Cheng Nuoe never asked her what she liked or disliked; she ate whatever dish was made. Since meeting Jiang Peifeng, the older woman had taken her to try various delicacies she had never eaten before, each one a novel experience.

As long as she was with Jiang Peifeng, everything tasted especially good.

Now, they were sitting across from each other in a small private room. In front of them, a small hot pot was bubbling merrily, and large platters of assorted sashimi, arranged like flowers, looked colorful and cheerful.

Jiang Peifeng peeled a shrimp for her, poured Ramune soda into a glass, and raised her cup with a smile: “We must toast today to celebrate the start of your university life.”

The glass cups made a crisp clinking sound, like the joyful, irrepressible feeling of effervescence caused by tiny bubbles.

After dinner, Jiang Peifeng took Ruan Jiyun directly to the gourmet supermarket located in the basement of the mall. Besides the quilt and bedding, she figured they should also buy some other daily necessities, and some snacks and fruits were essential.

There weren’t many people in the supermarket. Jiang Peifeng volunteered to push the cart, saying with a sense of ceremony: “Alright, Xiao Yun’s mission today is to—fill this shopping cart.”

Ruan Jiyun chuckled softly.

She recalled a similar remark Jiang Peifeng made about half a year ago. They were still in her hometown then, and that was the first time she felt the cherished emotion of being protected.

Now, she had finally taken a step closer to this person.

“This brand of body wash is what you usually use. It’s good to stock up. A City’s climate is much drier than our hometown, so we must prepare body lotion… Shall we choose… peach scent?” Shopping was always enjoyable for Jiang Peifeng, especially when dressing up the little white flower; she was full of enthusiasm.

No matter what she asked, Ruan Jiyun obediently nodded. She liked whatever Jiang Peifeng liked. She helped push the steadily filling shopping cart, her gaze following Jiang Peifeng everywhere, and her lips curving upwards.

She never knew that grocery shopping could be so… satisfying? In the past, she occasionally went to the supermarket with her parents, but they were always rushing to pick out items, or impatiently shouting at her for failing to get a full discount. This led Ruan Jiyun to feel that the supermarket was like an examination room where she had to calculate the best possible discount combination in the shortest amount of time.

But shopping with Jiang Peifeng felt like filling up life’s possibilities. Jiang Peifeng would lean down, gently asking for her preferences regarding flavors and colors, and then accurately select the item Ruan Jiyun truly wanted.

Ruan Jiyun walked along happily, but suddenly saw Jiang Peifeng toss a pair of slippers into the cart. She couldn’t help but remind her: “Didn’t I bring slippers? The ones you bought me before.”

“They’re useful.”

Jiang Peifeng smiled mysteriously at her: “We need a pair of your slippers in another place too.”

Instead of driving Ruan Jiyun back to the university, she drove to a residential complex not far from the campus.

The complex was well-landscaped, and the white-walled, red-roofed buildings were mostly only six or seven stories high. On a cool early autumn afternoon, elderly people, in twos and threes, walked leisurely with children or dogs in the yard. Jiang Peifeng carried the shopping bags with one hand and held Ruan Jiyun’s hand with the other, walking straight toward one of the buildings.

“I bought this house in A City. You can come and stay anytime during weekends or holidays,” she said, opening the door and ushering Ruan Jiyun inside.

The apartment wasn’t too large, a two-bedroom, one-living room layout. As usual, there was the large bookshelf Ruan Jiyun was familiar with. The guest room was already prepared with a white wooden bed, meticulously covered with pink, very feminine bed linens.

Jiang Peifeng cut the tags off the slippers, crouched down to place the shoes beside Ruan Jiyun, and smiled: “We need a pair of your slippers here, right?”

Ruan Jiyun didn’t answer for a long time. She stared blankly at the room, clearly not expecting this arrangement from Jiang Peifeng.

The first image that flashed into her mind was the day she first went to Jiang Peifeng’s house in Z City.

That day, she initially felt a little ashamed because of her mother’s tendency to take advantage of others. After anxiously knocking on the door, she saw Jiang Peifeng’s smiling face.

It turned out some people just possessed a kind of magic, a magic that could make life completely different. They showed her that a home could be so clean, could have endless books, and could be molded into the ideal image according to one’s own desires.

The young Ruan Jiyun developed a craving: she wanted to stay a little longer in this peaceful room, even if it meant her mother would scold her more later.

Now, this brand-new room in front of her was also granted with the right to visit anytime. The beautiful bedding and decorations, the furniture arranged to her liking, immediately seemed covered in a shiny filter.

That tiny bit of happiness in her heart instantly magnified, filling her entire chest.

Jiang Peifeng watched Ruan Jiyun’s smile from the side, and her heart also quietly sighed in relief. In truth, her original idea was to have the little white flower live here instead of staying in the dorm, but considering Ruan Jiyun needed to socialize more with classmates and gain some social experience, she had to suppress the thought and settle for the compromise of weekend stays.

It would be even better when they became more familiar, and… a little closer.

Ruan Jiyun’s freshman year of university passed by in such a busy, fulfilling happiness.

Her roommates were easy to get along with. Coupled with Ruan Jiyun’s natural scholar temperament, the girls tacitly treated her like a kind of lucky charm. They occasionally went to the library to study or shopped in the city center, getting along very harmoniously.

To better care for the little white flower, Jiang Peifeng also resigned from her university position and switched to working at a research institute under her family’s group. She would take time out every few days to deliver fruits and snacks to the dorm, quickly winning everyone’s favor.

She even helped Ruan Jiyun find a tutoring job. The family lived in Jiang Peifeng’s complex. It was a boy who had just started the third grade. His parents were busy with work and didn’t feel comfortable leaving the child at a custodial institution, so they sought a tutor. This job required Ruan Jiyun to go three times a week, and the salary was enough to satisfy Ruan’s mother.

When Ruan Jiyun returned home for the winter break, faced with her daughter’s excellent report card and the extra cash gift, Cheng Nuoe surprisingly showed a long-lost smile and didn’t treat Ruan Jiyun too harshly.

“If you can be half as worry-free as your sister when you grow up, I’ll burn incense every day!” She didn’t forget to lecture Ruan Jiabao. “She’s only a freshman, and your sister can already earn money!”

Ruan Jiyun quietly sighed in relief. The cash gift was actually forced on her by Jiang Peifeng right before she left, saying it was for her safe journey home, as a way to ward off bad luck.

“Keep the money you earn for yourself to spend. Consider this my protection fee for you,” she teased Ruan Jiyun, knowing she wasn’t too keen on going home. “Good girl, hurry up and grow up.”

The winter break passed without incident. The second semester began, and Ruan Jiyun’s first-place ranking earned her the favor of a professor, who recommended her to join his competition team. If she performed well, she would have the opportunity to enter the College’s Computer Intelligence Technology and System Laboratory.

Everything was moving in a good direction. The only thing that remained stagnant was her relationship with Jiang Peifeng.

The thought of this filled Ruan Jiyun with frustration. She had thought that after starting university, she would have more time to spend with Jiang Peifeng. However, the workload was far more intense than she imagined. Their planned weekend visits were often canceled, either because Jiang Peifeng was busy or Ruan Jiyun was tied up with something else. It took a long time for them to meet.

Ruan Jiyun distractedly flipped through a book when her phone suddenly rang. She glanced at the caller ID, almost dropped the phone, and scrambled to answer it.

“Do you have plans for tomorrow, Saturday?” Jiang Peifeng’s slightly smiling voice came through the receiver.

Ruan Jiyun instinctively wanted to shake her head. Realizing the other person couldn’t see, she immediately said crisply: “No!”

A soft laugh came from the other end of the phone. Then Jiang Peifeng said: “Then shall I come pick you up to go home?”

After hanging up, Ruan Jiyun was stunned for a few seconds. She first packed the books she planned to read over the weekend. Before leaving the room, she turned and looked at herself in the mirror. She thought for a moment and then asked her roommate, Su Xinyue, the one with the round face, “Should I change into that white dress?”

The bewildered Su Xinyue: “…”

She thought she had misheard. Ruan Jiyun’s eyes now sparkled as if her whole being had come alive.

Ruan Jiyun paid no attention to her roommate’s confused expression, meticulously tidied her hair, and hummed a tune as she walked out. In the evening, small couples occasionally passed by on campus. The air was filled with sweet pink bubbles. As she walked, she planned: Since they both finally had time this weekend, why not cook a meal for Jiang Peifeng?

Deep in thought, she soon reached the school gate. She spotted Jiang Peifeng’s black Land Rover in the distance. Just as she was about to wave, she saw Jiang Peifeng with her back to her, seemingly talking to someone.

Ruan Jiyun’s steps slowed.

She saw a young woman in a red dress standing next to Jiang Peifeng. The girl had long, cascading hair and was laughing heartily at Jiang Peifeng. She seemed to raise her hand and patted Jiang Peifeng’s arm with a hint of familiarity.

This action immediately made Ruan Jiyun frown.

CST was Jiang Peifeng’s alma mater, and she occasionally ran into former classmates there. Today, she had just parked her car when she heard someone call her name.

“I heard you’re always running around CST lately, so I figured I might run into you,” said the person, Xie Yingran, her former undergraduate classmate who was now teaching at CST. She smiled and greeted her: “I have license plate restrictions today. Can I hitch a ride with you?”

Xie Yingran and her had always gotten along well, and this request wasn’t unreasonable. Jiang Peifeng thought for a moment and said: “Sure, but are you in a hurry? I need to pick up a little kid.”

“It’s the weekend. No rush. I have no objections to a free ride.”

Jiang Peifeng nodded, habitually pulling out her phone to ask Ruan Jiyun if she had left the dorm yet. Before she could type, an arm hooked into hers.

She heard the little white flower’s slightly whining, teasing tone: “You’re here! I was looking for you at the entrance for so long.”

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