The Silent Sister and a Lingering Scent

Chen Ran left the hotel well past five in the evening.

Habitually, he sought out a cake shop, intending to bring back some pastries as gifts for the sisters Jiang Zilin and Jiang Lengleng.

However, Ginza, situated in the heart of Xijing City, was notoriously expensive.

Chen Ran gazed at a small chocolate cake in the display window, priced at a staggering 288—it was truly tiny, barely enough for two bites.

Ultimately, he abandoned the idea of buying pastries there.

‘Hmm.’

‘I’ll just buy them after I return to Linzhou City.’

Chen Ran currently possessed some money, but not an abundance; the Jiang family’s convenience store typically had a monthly turnover of around twenty thousand, and after deducting costs and his three thousand yuan salary, only a little over ten thousand yuan remained.

While he wasn’t exactly poor, he certainly couldn’t be described as wealthy.

Boarding the subway, Chen Ran returned to Linzhou City about an hour later, alighting at the old street station where the Jiang family resided.

He then hurried to the nearest cake shop, still determined to buy pastries for the Jiang sisters.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, it was already past six o’clock.

Summer’s stars and moon always seemed to arrive late.

The sky remained a dusky blue, and in the distance, a small, almost extinguished orange sunset could be seen, receding between the tall buildings.

Before long.

Outside the cake shop, Chen Ran spotted a familiar figure.

A girl, clad in a light blue shirt, a dark pleated skirt, white socks, and black leather shoes, stood quietly by the cake shop’s display window, a patent leather brown backpack slung over her shoulders, her gaze fixed on a particular cream cake inside.

The girl’s figure was remarkably slender and fair, almost to the point of appearing delicate.

Her pale yellow hair cascaded to her waist, and she wore virtually no adornments, save for a pair of black-rimmed glasses.

She stood in tranquil silence, her deep blue eyes betraying no emotion, cool and seemingly as fathomless as a deep lake.

“Lengleng-jie, what are you doing here? Did school just let out?”

“Mm.”

The girl turned her head, offering a slight nod in his direction.

She was Jiang Lengleng, Jiang Zilin’s younger sister, though technically, she was also his elder sister—by a single day, if one counted their birth dates.

“Do you want this one?”

Chen Ran pointed to the cream cake Jiang Lengleng had been observing, speaking softly.

“Mm.”

The girl nodded gently once more.

“Let’s get it then. I also need to get a portion for Xiao Lin-jie. What should I buy for her?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then let’s just buy the same.”

‘Lest the two sisters start bickering again.’

Chen Ran mused, not out of concern that Jiang Lengleng would be bullied by Jiang Zilin, but rather for the elder sister being thrashed by her own sibling.

After all, Jiang Zilin often enjoyed teasing her younger sister and was quite gluttonous, having frequently been chased around the house by Jiang Lengleng in the past.

Despite the slender, fair, and seemingly delicate appearance of the girl before him.

Jiang Lengleng was their school’s long-distance running champion, and she had even won the prefectural grand prize (TL Note: A regional championship, similar to a provincial title) in an archery competition.

Upon entering high school, both the long-distance running and archery clubs had vied fiercely to recruit her.

Her teachers had even remarked on her significant professional talent, suggesting that with proper training, she might even become a national champion.

****

“Please come again.”

“Thank you for your trouble.”

Chen Ran accepted the cake box from the young female clerk.

Chen Ran spent less than fifty yuan to buy a cream cake for each of the sisters; contrasting this with the prices in Ginza, he could only marvel at the allure of metropolitan downtown prices.

After leaving the cake shop.

Chen Ran walked alongside Jiang Lengleng.

The girl walked slightly ahead of him, maintaining a distance of about one or two paces, which allowed him to just catch sight of her profile, the strands of hair tucked behind her ear, and her small, rounded ear.

Jiang Lengleng walked quickly, as was her usual habit, to save time traveling to school or returning home to study.

However, the two of them were not currently heading home.

Noticing this, Chen Ran softly asked Jiang Lengleng.

“Are we going to the convenience store?”

“Mm!”

Jiang Lengleng nodded again, apparently also disinclined to return home and eat instant noodles.

Only Jiang Zilin knew how to cook at home—after all, their mother had already gone off traveling to relax.

Therefore, during this period, whenever Jiang Zilin was on duty at the store on weekends, Chen Ran and Jiang Lengleng would go to the convenience store in the evening to pick her up from work, then buy groceries together and return home to cook.

The long street once again fell silent.

Occasionally, the cry of seabirds echoed from the sky, and the chatter of neighbors coming and going on the old street could be heard; some would occasionally greet Chen Ran and Jiang Lengleng.

Chen Ran responded to each greeting, while the girl continued forward, her expression unchanged.

She was the complete opposite of her sister.

Jiang Zilin was outwardly socially anxious, utterly incapable of speaking with strangers, yet a chatterbox with those she knew well.

But Jiang Lengleng was…

She had no trouble handling social situations, academics, or even various interpersonal relationships and tasks within school clubs, but she simply disliked speaking.

The girl could stand on stage and deliver a speech as a freshman representative before the entire student body and faculty.

Yet, in her daily life, she was terrifyingly taciturn.

After more than two months.

Chen Ran had indeed grown accustomed to the personalities of these two sisters.

Jiang Lengleng, in particular, appeared unapproachable, but in reality, she was an incredibly well-behaved girl.

She lived frugally, with almost no pocket money, which explained why she had only looked at the cakes in the shop earlier without buying any.

Her clothes and shoes were all hand-me-downs from her sister; she rarely bought new ones.

Her life revolved around studying, or else she was at the library reading, with virtually no other hobbies.

She would even proactively help out at the store, working tirelessly and without complaint.

It was almost heartbreaking.

In truth, the Jiang family didn’t need to be quite so frugal; the main reason was that Jiang Lengleng attended a prestigious private school—Saint Hwa Angel Academy.

And Jiang Lengleng was the “ugly duckling” among the ninety-nine percent of wealthy young ladies.

Studying at a private aristocratic school was exceedingly expensive, even though Jiang Lengleng had managed to offset a significant portion of her tuition fees with scholarships.

However, the remaining amount was still considerable.

Moreover, it wasn’t just tuition; there were various other expenses.

For instance.

Previously, the girl’s class had organized a so-called study trip to a renowned century-old establishment, where they were to partake in kaiseki cuisine and attend a history and culture lesson related to it.

Each student had to pay five thousand yuan for this study trip.

Consequently, supporting Jiang Lengleng’s education at Saint Hwa Angel Academy alone placed considerable pressure on the Jiang family.

Yet, not attending wasn’t an option.

Public schools were too substandard; to gain admission to a top-tier national university, attending a private school was a necessity.

Chen Ran observed the silent girl beside him.

‘Lengleng-jie must be under immense academic pressure every day. It truly seems that no matter the world, gaining admission to and graduating from a top university is an incredibly arduous endeavor.’

Chen Ran’s thoughts gradually drifted, and his gaze upon Jiang Lengleng slowly transformed into one of admiration.

However, what Jiang Lengleng was thinking at that very moment was…

‘[Why does Xiao Ran have such a strong scent of women’s perfume on him?]’