After seeing the amusement in Zhou Ran’s eyes, Le Ning held back her temper and said through gritted teeth: “No need.”
“I can go back on my own.”
Zhou Ran frowned at her, about to say something more, but Le Ning had already bowed slightly in thanks and turned to leave.
“Le Ning.”
Le Ning looked back at him coldly: “Captain Zhou, is there something else?”
Zhou Ran paused, then asked softly: “Are you angry?”
“What do you mean angry?”
She gave a small smile and said: “Captain Zhou is my lifesaver. How could I possibly be angry at you?”
Her expression was calm, but the emotion in her eyes was clearly off.
The two stared at each other in silence. Le Ning’s pupils were very light — right now, the anger in them was obvious.
Zhou Ran stared for a moment, then immediately said: “Sorry. If it’s because of what I just said—”
“No.”
Before he could finish, Le Ning cut him off.
Her eyes flickered. She hadn’t expected him to apologize so straightforwardly.
But even so, she still felt very annoyed.
This annoyance wasn’t because of Zhou Ran’s earlier teasing remark — she wasn’t that petty. The real source was herself.
Le Ning realized… she was still letting this man pull at her emotions.
After all these years, how was she still so hopeless?
She pressed her lips together and gave a breezy, indifferent smile. “No need to apologize. I just feel like I’ve been too much trouble for Captain Zhou.”
She looked at Zhou Ran. The man stood directly in front of her, his deep eyes fixed on hers like a still pool of spring water, drawing her in.
She instinctively looked away. Zhou Ran kept staring straight at her. Just as he was about to speak, his phone rang again from his pocket.
Le Ning seized the chance and quickly threw out: “I’m leaving first.”
Watching Le Ning’s figure rush toward a taxi, Zhou Ran felt a rare sense of helplessness for the first time.
He took a deep breath and answered the call: “I’ll be there soon.”
After that day, Le Ning never contacted Zhou Ran again.
She also paused her live streams for a few days. Ruan Qiu had been busy, but when she finally had time to come over, she spent another half hour in the apartment furiously cursing out the creep.
Le Ning listened and couldn’t help laughing.
“Why are you so worked up?”
“You’re not angry?”
“I am angry.”
Le Ning half-lay on the sofa, playing with her phone: “But being angry doesn’t help. The guy’s already been caught.”
“Seriously though.”
Ruan Qiu squeezed in beside her and stared at her intently: “Don’t you think Zhou Ran… is actually pretty good to you?”
Le Ning pretended not to understand and lazily raised an eyebrow: “Ah? Serving the people — it’s his job.”
Ruan Qiu let out two sarcastic “heh”s: “Then why isn’t a Criminal Investigation captain ‘serving’ anyone else?”
Le Ning shot her a glance, still acting casual: “How would I know?”
Ruan Qiu choked, then suspiciously studied her for a moment: “What’s going on with you? Did you fight with Zhou Ran?”
Hearing that, Le Ning rolled her eyes at her: “Fight about what? We’re just two strangers. Where does ‘fighting’ even come into it — that’s way too intimate a word for us.”
Ruan Qiu was now certain.
She leaned in close to Le Ning’s face and stared into her eyes for two seconds: “Zhou Ran offended you again?”
After they looked at each other for a while, Le Ning suddenly got mad.
She recounted the entire day’s events from start to finish. When she finished, Ruan Qiu was clutching her stomach laughing nonstop.
“No way — Zhou Ran is this much of a straight man?”
Le Ning sneered.
Ruan Qiu laughed even harder: “Zhou Ran… this kind of straight-man energy is actually kinda cute.”
Le Ning leaned back against the sofa and grumbled: “I used to be blind. I cared too much about looks.”
Ruan Qiu teased: “You don’t care about looks anymore?”
She continued: “Zhou Ran clearly looks like the type who’s never really dated a girl. Whether it was police academy or now in the brigade — it’s all rough guys around him. What sweet nothings do you expect him to say?”
Le Ning paused, hugged a pillow, and said: “Who wants his sweet nothings?”
She didn’t need them.
Ruan Qiu was about to defend Zhou Ran a little more, but one glare from Le Ning shut her up.
Fine, fine — let Captain Zhou suffer a bit.
While the two were lying on the sofa chatting, Ruan Qiu’s phone started vibrating like crazy.
She picked it up, glanced at it, and poked Le Ning’s arm: “Quick, check the group chat.”
“Huh?”
Le Ning looked over — it was the high school class group.
Tomorrow was the school reunion. Everyone was chatting excitedly in the group right now, and some people had even @-ed Le Ning specifically.
She looked — they were talking about how long it had been since they last met, and planning to have dinner together after the reunion tomorrow.
Ruan Qiu poked her arm again: “You going?”
Le Ning looked at her, not answering yet. Then Yang Qingqing @-ed her.
Yang Qingqing: [@Le Ning Doesn’t Like Lemons Le Ning, you’re coming tomorrow right? Everyone wants to see you~ After the reunion, let’s all grab dinner together?]
Le Ning turned to Ruan Qiu, confused: “Why does she always call me out like I’m making an entrance? Did she pay me an appearance fee?”
Ruan Qiu couldn’t hold back her laughter: “Maybe… she likes you?”
Le Ning gave her a look.
Ruan Qiu laughed to herself for a moment, then looked at Le Ning: “You going?”
“Don’t want to.”
As soon as she said it, another message popped up in the group — from the former class monitor. The gist was: if you’re coming, let’s all get together. It’s been so long. He even specifically mentioned Le Ning’s name.
Le Ning was speechless.
Ruan Qiu smiled: “Just go.”
“Mm.”
Back when they were younger, the class monitor had taken good care of her. She should give him some face.
The next day was No.1 Middle School’s reunion. As a prestigious century-old school with an excellent reputation in every aspect, it drew quite a crowd.
Le Ning hadn’t streamed in several days. Her fans had been clamoring nonstop about missing her beautiful face.
After thinking it over, she decided to go live.
The moment she started, fans flooded in.
【Wuwuwu it’s been days since we saw Lemon’s peerless beauty!!!】
【awsl!】
【Lemon’s face is seriously addictive, never gets old.】
【Lemon look over here! Look over here!】
Le Ning smiled, her lips curving up: “Today I’m meeting up with old classmates for dinner, so I’m doing a makeup live stream.”
She glanced at the barrage: “What style do you guys want to see?”
【Lemon we want the queen vibe!】
【Wuwuwu no matter what Lemon does she looks stunning.】
【Aaaaah is it university classmates or high school ones? Love rivals or crushes…】
【For meeting classmates you HAVE to look young!】
Le Ning stared at that last comment for a moment, then suddenly had an idea.
Her lips hooked into a small smile: “Then today let’s do something a little scheming.”
Le Ning applied makeup quickly, occasionally adding explanations.
She looked at the camera and unabashedly patted product onto her face while saying: “The key to this look is making it look like I’m barely wearing any makeup.”
After finishing skincare, Le Ning smiled: “The base has to be super light and thin. The brows should look as natural as possible…”
Her final steps were eyeliner and eyeshadow. The eyeliner was very faint — almost invisible under her thick lashes — but it enlarged her eyes and made her gaze much brighter and more alive.
When she finished, she looked at the camera: “Quick highlight for everyone: the eyeshadow I’m using today is Bobbi Brown’s Haute Nudes, layered with Stila liquid shadow at the end. It makes the eyes look sparkly and super bright.”
While talking, she had already reached the last steps.
She finished the eyeshadow, blinked at the camera: “Can you guys tell I’m wearing makeup?”
Barrage: 【YES!! Wuwuwu there are stars in her eyes!】
【This is too beautiful! Innocent Lemon today.】
Le Ning laughed: “Lastly, highlighter — this is super important. There’s an old saying: do your highlighter right and the guys will chase you down the street.”
She held back a laugh, glanced at her desk, and pulled out the Too Faced fairy version.
“I’ll use this one. And for blush, I’m going with this A’pieu liquid in milky tea apricot — it’ll blend really naturally.”
After everything was done, she deliberately applied a scheming lipstick: Armani black tube 501, known as the soul color for soft pink少女.
Once fully made up, the barrage exploded into a wall of screaming text.
【I can breathe again!!】
【Lemon looks like she’s underage with this makeup!】
【Mommy I’m jealous of whoever gets to see Lemon today — why am I not her classmate?!】
【Aaaah who could resist this?!】
Le Ning looked at the comments and laughed, her mood lifting: “It’s not that exaggerated.”
She gave a playful blink: “Today’s look is a scheming one — did everyone learn it?”
Everyone unanimously said no and begged for a redo.
Le Ning laughed helplessly: “Alright, that’s it for today. I’m heading out — see you next time.”
After changing clothes and heading downstairs, Le Ning’s phone buzzed with a message.
Ruan Qiu: [Lemon I got held up by something. I asked a friend to pick you up instead. Here’s the license plate.]
Le Ning raised an eyebrow but didn’t think much of it.
When she reached the neighborhood gate, she saw a black Range Rover with exactly the plate number Ruan Qiu had sent.
She walked straight over. Before she reached the car, the door opened and a man stepped out.
Black shirt, black pants, tall and straight posture, body proportions better than a male model — broad shoulders, narrow waist, cold and sharp features.
Their eyes met. Le Ning froze.
“Why are you here?”
Zhou Ran looked down at her, his gaze lingering for a second on her soft, pouty lips before moving away. His voice was low and deep: “Picking you up.”
Le Ning lifted her eyes to him.
Zhou Ran explained: “Ran into Ruan Qiu on the way. She said she’d be late.”
Le Ning actually wanted to act a little tsundere, but after thinking about it, she decided it wasn’t worth it.
Once inside the car, the atmosphere turned eerily quiet.
Le Ning sent Ruan Qiu several knife emojis. No reply.
After a moment of silence, her gaze drifted to the side.
Zhou Ran drove in complete quiet. His side profile was handsome — back then she had been a total face-con and jumped headfirst into this pit.
Thinking about it, Le Ning pursed her lips.
Youthful ignorance.
Suddenly, Zhou Ran spoke: “There’s water in the car.”
Le Ning: “…Oh. Thanks.”
Hearing her lukewarm tone, Zhou Ran asked softly: “You haven’t gone out these past few days?”
Le Ning gave a soft “Mm”: “No. Why?”
Zhou Ran stayed silent for a moment: “Nothing. Just — when you go out, try to have someone with you. And don’t walk around alone at night.”
Le Ning paused and instinctively turned to look at him: “Did something happen again?”
“No.”
Zhou Ran’s eyes were intense as he looked at her, his Adam’s apple moving slightly: “Just in case.”
Le Ning let out a soft “Oh.” For once, she suddenly understood the worry in his eyes.
Rarely, she didn’t argue back.
“Got it.”
The rest of the ride was quiet. When they got close to the school, traffic started backing up.
After asking Le Ning’s opinion, Zhou Ran found a parking spot and they got out to walk the rest of the way.
Their school combined junior and senior high — it was huge, and the main gate had a very imposing presence.
A long street stretched from the entrance, lined on both sides with restaurants and food stalls. Le Ning used to love eating out here.
Looking at it now, her eyes sparkled. Her mood was noticeably better.
Zhou Ran walked quietly beside her — sometimes on her left, sometimes on her right. Le Ning noticed but kept her eyes down and said nothing.
Suddenly, a voice called from not far away: “Le Ning?”
Le Ning looked up. What a coincidence… it was Yang Qingqing, and right beside her were several other classmates — boys and girls.
Le Ning nodded: “It’s me.”
Yang Qingqing smiled: “How come you’re alone?”
Le Ning paused, thought for a second… oh, Zhou Ran had just said he was going to buy water.
She gave a small smile: “Mm.”
Yang Qingqing let out a light laugh, a flicker of jealousy in her eyes: “I thought you’d come with Ruan Qiu.”
Le Ning didn’t reply.
“By the way.”
Yang Qingqing’s tone carried a hint of smugness: “Did you know? Senior Zhou is coming today too.”
She stared straight at Le Ning and deliberately added: “He never used to come to any events before. Last time I saw him, I specially asked — he said he was too busy.”
Le Ning kept smiling.
“Really?”
“Of course.”
Yang Qingqing looked like she knew everything: “You’ll see when you meet Senior Zhou later — he’s gotten even more charming.”
“…Oh.”
Le Ning smiled at her: “Has he?”
Yang Qingqing was about to speak when Le Ning continued: “I haven’t noticed.”
She dramatically flipped her hair and looked toward the man walking up beside Yang Qingqing: “How come I haven’t seen Senior Zhou getting more and more charming?”
Yang Qingqing got a little angry hearing that: “That’s because you haven’t seen him yet.”
Le Ning turned her head toward the man on the side: “Yo, Senior Zhou. What a coincidence.”
Zhou Ran looked at the sly glint in her eyes, paused for a moment, then handed her the milk tea in his hand: “Not a coincidence.”
Le Ning: “…”
Yang Qingqing stared at the milk tea Zhou Ran handed her, eyes wide: “…Senior… Senior Zhou?”
Zhou Ran gave a faint nod, expression indifferent.
Yang Qingqing looked at the two of them standing side by side and asked in disbelief: “…Senior Zhou, did you just run into Le Ning?”
Zhou Ran tilted his head slightly toward the person beside him and said concisely: “No. We came together.”
Author’s note:
Captain Zhou: Listen clearly — it’s “we.”
Lemon: Smiling.jpg
Yang Qingqing: …So angry!!!
Our Lemon still has a little bit of scheming in her~ Captain Zhou can keep chasing slowly, hehe 🙂
Next chapter we’re slapping faces of old classmates!! And one of the scenes everyone’s been waiting for is coming up soon!!
Products:
Babies doing makeup, remember — do your highlighter right and the guys will chase you down the street hahahaha. When you take photos, you’re the brightest star!