The two of them locked eyes, sparks flying.

Le Ning didn’t avoid Zhou Ran’s gaze, allowing him to scrutinize her.

Le Ning was beautiful, with her eyes slightly upturned at the corners. Even when glaring at someone, her almond-shaped eyes remained captivating.

Suddenly, she put on a fake, polite smile and asked, “Officer, don’t you think that statement is a bit unjust?”

Zhou Ran stared at her with deep eyes, then smiled after a moment.

He tilted his head slightly, casually asking, “Do you know me?”

Le Ning: “…”

The smile on her face stiffened for a moment, and she really wanted to ask him, What are you pretending for? Don’t you recognize me?

Her internal thoughts were dramatic, but her face remained calm.

Le Ning raised her head and smiled insincerely. “Of course, the famous Officer Zhou. I just saw you this morning, how could I not recognize you?”

After saying that, she deliberately changed the subject. “Officer Zhou, did you come specifically to find me?”

Zhou Ran lowered his eyelids, his gaze lingering on her.

“No.”

Le Ning nodded. “That’s good. I thought I had done something wrong.”

She gave a professional fake smile. “Since there’s nothing, I’ll take my leave now. I wish Officer Zhou a pleasant time checking the bar.”

Zhou Ran: “…”

Le Ning started walking at a normal pace, but as she continued, her steps quickened as if someone was chasing her from behind.

Zhou Ran stared at her for a while, and only after her figure disappeared did he look away.

“Zhou Ran.”

Zhou Ran glanced sideways at the person who spoke.

Lu Jiaxiu furrowed his brows, instinctively looking in the direction Zhou Ran had been staring at. “What are you looking at?”

Zhou Ran replied coldly, “Nothing.”

Lu Jiaxiu paused, pointing at his face in disbelief, and asked, “Nothing? What do you mean ‘nothing’?”

“Mm.”

Zhou Ran straightened up, hands in his pockets, and淡淡ly said, “Let’s go.”

As they walked toward the VIP room upstairs, Lu Jiaxiu couldn’t help but mutter.

“I feel like your expression was a bit off just now?”

Zhou Ran didn’t respond.

Lu Jiaxiu muttered for a while, found it uninteresting, and stopped talking.

When they returned to the VIP room, Hu Yi was absent, and only the vacationing Shen Nan sat with his eyes closed inside.

Tonight, the four brothers had gathered for a meal. Zhou Ran had just left the police station and hadn’t slept for nearly two days and one night. He had planned to go home and rest, but couldn’t resist when he found out Shen Nan was also coming.

Shen Nan and Zhou Ran worked in different fields—one in the police and the other in the military—so they didn’t meet often.

“Where’s Hu Yi?”

Lu Jiaxiu entered the room and noticed Hu Yi was missing.

Shen Nan lifted his eyelids and glanced at him,淡淡ly saying, “Ran into some classmates, went downstairs.”

“What?”

Lu Jiaxiu was incredibly surprised. “What classmates?”

Shen Nan, being slightly older than the others, didn’t know Hu Yi or Lu Jiaxiu’s classmates. “I don’t know them.”

Lu Jiaxiu: “…”

He was about to ask more when Zhou Ran, who was sitting off to the side, finally spoke.

“Ask him.”

Lu Jiaxiu didn’t think anything was strange, so he pulled out his phone and sent a message to Hu Yi.

Lu Jiaxiu: [Where are you?]

Hu Yi: [Ran into Ruan Qiu and the others downstairs, remember her? Want to come down and sit with us?]

Lu Jiaxiu: [Who’s Ruan Qiu?]

Hu Yi: [A junior from high school, don’t you remember?]

Lu Jiaxiu: […When did you start tricking high school juniors?]

Hu Yi: [You know her too, plus there’s a surprise. Come down and see?]

Seeing Hu Yi’s message, Lu Jiaxiu got a bit interested.

He glanced at the two “mountains” in the VIP room—one cold, the other stiff. Being the only one trying to liven up the atmosphere was tiring.

“Hu Yi said it’s a high school junior, I’m going down to check it out,” he said before politely asking, “Are you two coming?”

Based on his usual understanding of the two, one should be going home to accompany his wife, and the other to sleep.

Sure enough, Shen Nan stood up. “No, my wife is at home.”

He turned to look at Zhou Ran.

Zhou Ran: “Whatever.”

Lu Jiaxiu: “…?”

*

In the lobby downstairs, Le Ning didn’t expect that after returning from the restroom, she would run into familiar faces with Ruan Qiu and Ji Chuchu.

But after a second thought, she realized it was normal.

“Ning Ning, over here.”

Le Ning walked over and exchanged glances with Hu Yi.

Hu Yi’s eyes lit up as he sized her up. “Junior?”

Le Ning smiled. “Hello, Senior.”

Hu Yi grinned. “It’s really you three, huh.”

He joked, “Long time no see.”

Le Ning nodded.

Ruan Qiu and Hu Yi were more familiar with each other. Back in high school, it was because Ruan Qiu first got to know Hu Yi that Le Ning ended up meeting Zhou Ran.

She chatted with Hu Yi for a bit before moving to the side to drink.

Ji Chuchu had just arrived. Seeing her expression, she reached out and poked her cheek, smiling. “What’s wrong, you don’t seem too excited to see Senior Hu?”

Le Ning glared at her. “Why would I be excited?”

Ji Chuchu raised an eyebrow. “What do you think?”

She continued, “I was busy the other day, but I did check the group.”

Le Ning: “…”

She paused, took a sip of the drink on the table, and said, “Oh? And then?”

Ji Chuchu smiled slyly, giving her a look. “I noticed that Zhou Ran really is… getting more and more handsome.”

Le Ning hadn’t swallowed the alcohol in her mouth yet, and when she heard that, the spicy taste made her choke a bit. It took a while for her to recover.

Ji Chuchu laughed beside her. “Is it really that serious? You’re so worked up?”

Le Ning was about to retort when a male voice with a smile came from nearby.

Lu Jiaxiu and Zhou Ran were standing side by side. Both were tall and striking, with unique and distinguished looks.

Even in the noisy environment of the bar, many people couldn’t help but notice them.

As they approached, a lot of men and women in the area unconsciously turned their attention to them.

“Hu Yi.”

Hu Yi quickly responded and looked at them. “You’re here.”

He pointed to Le Ning and the others. “Do you remember them?”

Lu Jiaxiu didn’t have much impression of Ruan Qiu, but when he saw Le Ning’s face, he recognized her.

He froze for a moment and quickly said, “I remember, the brilliant senior who skipped grades.”

Upon hearing this, Ruan Qiu couldn’t help but laugh. “Senior Lu has a good memory, but only Le Ning skipped grades.”

Lu Jiaxiu smiled faintly. “I remember.”

He looked at Le Ning and said, “She skipped two grades to go into high school, and it caused quite a stir at the time.”

Mentioning this made Le Ning feel a little embarrassed.

She quickly shook her head. “It wasn’t that dramatic.”

Ji Chuchu, who was enjoying the spectacle, teased, “Not that dramatic? You were on the honor roll at school.”

Le Ning: “…”

In fact, it wasn’t that dramatic.

Le Ning had skipped one grade in elementary school and one in middle school, but somehow, it got exaggerated into her being a genius who skipped two grades in middle school.

Lu Jiaxiu nodded repeatedly, half-teasing, half-sighing. “At that time, you were the youngest in the whole school.”

Le Ning: “…”

Ji Chuchu and Ruan Qiu were stunned for a moment, unable to hold back their laughter.

The word “little” was Le Ning’s weak spot.

She was embarrassed for a few seconds and helplessly looked at Lu Jiaxiu. “Senior Lu.”

Lu Jiaxiu chuckled softly, about to laugh some more, when a hand reached over from his side and pressed on his laughing spot.

Instantly, Lu Jiaxiu begged for mercy.

“Damn, Zhou Ran, what are you doing?”

The others looked over.

Le Ning, when she looked, only vaguely saw Zhou Ran’s hand retracting from Lu Jiaxiu’s shoulder.

She paused for a moment, and before she could pull her gaze away, Zhou Ran lifted his eyes and looked at her. “Sorry.”

Le Ning paused, unsure of what exactly he was apologizing for.

She simply said, “Oh,” her face turning bright red, “It’s fine.”

Afterward, the conversation shifted and became lively.

Lu Jiaxiu and Hu Yi were both good talkers, Ruan Qiu was the same, and although Ji Chuchu didn’t say much, she could still join in.

In no time, only Le Ning and Zhou Ran were left as the two uninterested in the conversation.

Le Ning, feeling bored, glanced over at the group chatting happily. She was about to get up and leave when someone sat down next to her.

She froze and looked at the man who had sat next to her.

“What are you doing?”

For some inexplicable reason, Zhou Ran had changed seats.

The others didn’t seem to notice the change and continued their conversation.

Zhou Ran sat next to Le Ning, his expression calm. “Nothing.”

Le Ning looked at him in confusion.

Zhou Ran淡淡 said, “Lu Jiaxiu is a bit loud.”

Le Ning: “…”

So you decided to squeeze next to me instead?!

She instinctively pressed her lips together and sat up straight. Just as she was about to move, her outer leg accidentally brushed against the man’s leg.

Compared to Le Ning’s slightly cool skin, Zhou Ran felt like a furnace.

He was hard and hot.

Her body tensed for a few seconds. Just as she was about to retract her leg, the man’s low voice came. “What are you trying to do?”

Le Ning froze for a moment, then said with frustration, “You’re sitting too close to me.”

Zhou Ran paused for a moment, lifted his eyes to look at her, and said, “Are you sure?”

Le Ning put on a stern face. “What do you think?”

Zhou Ran’s eyes curved up slightly, and in a low voice, he said, “You could move over a bit.”

Le Ning: “…”

After moving a tiny bit, Le Ning used anger to mask her emotions.

“Why should I move?”

Zhou Ran remained silent for a few seconds, then looked at her. “You could refuse.”

“I—”

Very well, Le Ning, who was usually quick-witted, now met her match.

She felt that Zhou Ran was her natural nemesis. Even though they hadn’t seen each other in years… the moment they met, it wasn’t pleasant, and she found herself speechless.

Le Ning bit her lip. The lipstick she was wearing today was YSL round tube in shade 80, a tomato maple color, perfect for fall and for her makeup today.

The color wasn’t too strong, and she had applied several layers, making it look a bit like the syrup that an old woman in an alley would freshly make. It made people want to go over and lick it to taste it.

Zhou Ran’s gaze lingered on her lips for a moment before he slowly moved his eyes away.

Casually, he took a sip of the drink in front of him.

Le Ning’s heart raced as he looked at her, but she also thought she was being quite pathetic.

She was about to ignore him when Zhou Ran’s next move stunned her.

“Zhou Ran!”

This was the first time she had called him by his full name since they met.

He was a little surprised. Before he could react, Le Ning gritted her teeth and said, “You’re drinking my drink!”

Zhou Ran: “…”

The others, who were secretly watching the scene, were speechless: “…”

*

By the time they left the bar, Le Ning’s face was still burning.

No, it felt like her entire body was on fire.

She didn’t even know whether it was from anger or something else.

Ruan Qiu and Ji Chuchu wanted to laugh, but seeing Le Ning this angry, they couldn’t.

“Don’t be mad.”

Ji Chuchu patted her head to comfort her. “Zhou Ran said it wasn’t intentional, right?”

Ruan Qiu nodded. “Yeah, and he even bought you a drink to make up for it.”

Hearing this, Le Ning got even angrier.

She glared at the two of them. “Who asked him to buy me a drink?!”

Just thinking about how the spot where Zhou Ran’s mouth touched the drink was the same spot she had touched earlier—

It made her feel uneasy all over.

Damn it.

Her long-preserved first kiss—just thrown away like that!?

Author’s note: Zhou Ran: The drink really tastes good. 🙂

Le Ning: Let’s be clear, is the drink good, or is it the drink I’ve drunk that’s good? 😀

Zhou Ran: The one you’ve drunk.

Author: I seriously suspect—Zhou Ran, you did this on purpose.