The Next Day

The next day.

Chen Ran woke up and found no one was home, including the recluse Jiang Zilin. Both sisters had already left the house.

Then, he remembered that today was Saturday.

Jiang Lengleng had already gone to school early. No matter which world’s high school students, as long as they want to get into a good university, they have no rest time.

Jiang Zilin was helping herself look after the store.

According to their initial agreement, she would look after the store for five days from Monday to Friday, and Jiang Zilin, who has social anxiety, would look after it for the weekend.

For Chen Ran, it wouldn’t matter if he went to look after the store the whole week; it was a trivial matter.

But the sisters’ “mom,” Jiang Ruohua, insisted on giving him a day off. Well, today he actually had something to do.

Checking his phone, he confirmed that today was September 17th.

After washing up, Chen Ran found the breakfast Jiang Zilin had prepared for him, kept warm in the kitchen pot—eight corn and pork dumplings, two soft-boiled eggs, and a glass of milk.

In addition, there was a sticky note on the living room table, written in a messy hand.

[“Little Ran, sister’s gone to work. There’s breakfast for you in the kitchen. One of the dumplings has been “licked” by sister. Will Little Ran win the jackpot? ~(#^.^#)”]

In Chen Ran’s mind, he envisioned Jiang Zilin taking a dumpling from his bowl, putting it in her mouth for a moment, and then spitting it out.

“…”

Then, Chen Ran casually picked up his chopsticks and ate everything in no time.

Given his understanding of Jiang Zilin, she was probably just trying to scare him.

Hmph.

Thinking this, Chen Ran quickly cleaned up the dishes, washed them, and put them back in the cupboard. He then changed into a T-shirt and shorts for going out, wore slippers, and casually left the house.

It was around 8:40 in the morning.

The summer sun shimmered with golden rays in the blue sky, with a few sparse white clouds, making it a lazy, comfortable day that made one want to go back to sleep.

When Chen Ran left the house, he happened to meet the neighboring single woman.

“Little Ran, good morning. Are you going to look after the store today?”

“Ah… Ms. Rinzi, good morning.”

Chen Ran politely greeted her.

“I have some things to do today, not going to look after the store.”

“Is that so…”

For some reason, a look of disappointment flashed in the woman’s light blue eyes.

She was probably in her thirties, Chen Ran wasn’t sure.

Because Rinzi had the mature beauty of a married woman, similar to the sisters’ mom, Chen Ran thought she probably wasn’t young.

The beautiful woman had a head of silver-white long hair, tied back in a gentle, married-style hairstyle.

Her light blue eyes always sparkled slightly, like stars in the sky or shimmering snowflakes.

Her skin was unbelievably fair, like snow.

According to the Jiang sisters, Ms. Rinzi was possibly a “foreigner,” though Chen Ran had no idea about the geography of this world.

The woman’s small, delicate face always looked pitiful, and her slightly pale lips gave her an unhealthy beauty.

Even in the summer morning, she wore a thin blue sweater, a long skirt, and thick black tights, seeming unusually cold.

But this modest attire only made her curvy, mature figure more alluring.

It was a unique charm different from that of a girl.

“Little Ran, the TV at my place broke again. If you have time, could you come and fix it?”

“Sure.”

Chen Ran nodded.

Although he didn’t know why, ever since meeting Rinzi a month ago, her appliances kept breaking—this week the rice cooker, next week the air conditioner, the week after that the computer…

But neighbors should help each other.

“I’ll come by when I have time.”

“Okay, I’m always at home. Just knock when you come.”

“Mmm.”

With a wave, Chen Ran said goodbye to Rinzi and left, heading towards the long street.

Unnoticed, the beautiful woman, who had seemed about to leave, watched his departing back with a look of wistful longing and closed her door again, returning home…

****

Chen Ran walked to the nearest subway station from home.

Even though it was Saturday, it was already past nine in the morning.

Yet the subway was still crowded, mostly with men and women in suits carrying briefcases, and occasionally a student in a school uniform. It seemed that no matter which world, workers still had to work overtime on weekends.

Fortunately, today wasn’t a normal workday, so the car wasn’t packed to the gills.

Chen Ran didn’t find a seat, so he stood in a corner by the subway door, holding onto the steel bar.

Using his phone, he checked his destination, which would take about half an hour to reach.

Chen Ran needed to go from Lingzhou City to the neighboring Xijing City.

Though called a neighboring city, Lingzhou was more like a suburb or “satellite city” of Xijing, a metropolitan area.

It was even considered one of Xijing’s districts.

These details Chen Ran had heard from Jiang Zilin, who mentioned that because of this, Lingzhou’s housing prices were very high.

Since Xijing was the national capital, home to over three million people, making up about a quarter of the country’s population, it was a world-renowned megacity.

Chen Ran had been to Xijing a few times before, and it was indeed a bustling metropolis, with people everywhere, just a sea of heads.

It was quite terrifying.

If not necessary, Chen Ran would never go to Xijing.

Though not socially anxious enough to dislike crowded places, too many people could be overwhelming.

Thus, he idly pondered as the subway headed towards Xijing, the car gradually filling up with people.

Chen Ran remained in his corner, taking out his phone to idly browse recent news and respond to messages from Jiang Zilin, who liked to send them when she was bored at the store.

But there wasn’t much to say; she would just send a sticker, wanting him to reply.

Chen Ran understood, so whenever Jiang Zilin sent a sticker, he would copy and paste it back.

Soon, she got angry.

[“Jiang Zilin: Wait for it, Little Ran. Sister will deal with you when I get home!!!”

“Chen Ran: Wait for it, Little Ran. Sister will deal with you when I get home!!!”

]

Chen Ran continued copying and pasting, which seemed to make her even more upset.

So Chen Ran decided to mute Jiang Zilin’s message notifications.

The world went quiet.

There were a few more stops until his destination, and Chen Ran stretched his limbs, thinking about what he had to do next, feeling a bit troubled.

And just then, a familiar girl’s perfume and a clingy voice came from behind.

“Oh, it’s Uncle again! Fancy meeting you~”

“Did you miss me after a night?”

“Mmm~”