Lin Ran turned his head to see a pretty girl wearing the school's summer uniform and a knee-length skirt walking cheerfully toward him, accompanied by another girl.
The former had delicate and charming looks, belonging to the sweet type, with meticulously styled shoulder-length hair and a small pink bow hairpin as a decoration.
While her looks could not compare to the breathtaking beauty of Lin Ran's campus belle deskmate, Su Qingyan, she was at least of class-belle caliber.
Moreover, this kind of cute and sweet type naturally had immense appeal among high school boys of this age group.
"No wonder she could treat my buddy like a dog and play him around in circles in my past life—"
Looking at the sweet girl walking toward him, Lin Ran sighed with mixed emotions in his heart.
This was Shen Lingshan, whom Zhao Ke had mentioned.
The creator of the dark history in Lin Ran's high school romance during his past life.
In his past life, the reason he had sat next to a stunning campus belle deskmate without having any ideas was, on the one hand, because Lin Ran's personality was introverted and he lacked the courage to face Su Qingyan.On the other hand, it was because his heart was already taken; he had fallen for Shen Lingshan from Class 7 of the same grade.
At the very beginning, it was actually Shen Lingshan who thought Lin Ran looked somewhat handsome and caught her fancy, so she had made the first move.
With a smooth combo of striking up a conversation, acting spoiled, and playing cute, she completely infatuated Lin Ran—who hadn't had much interaction with girls back then—making him fall head over heels for her and completely devoted.
Who could have known that this Shen Lingshan, sweet and adorable on the outside, was actually a total player.After successfully transferring Lin Ran to her side, she quickly trained him into her personal doormat and utility tool, a mere crook of her finger making him willingly do anything for her.
Poor, naive Lin Ran back then genuinely believed he was sacrificing for love. Out of his weekly allowance of 150 yuan, most of it was spent on Shen Lingshan. He gnawed on plain bread and ate instant noodles without a single word of complaint.
Yet, despite pouring so much into it—The most intimate physical contact he had ever shared with Shen Lingshan was holding hands twice, only because she allowed it.
Whenever he wanted to confess his feelings and make their relationship official, she would always skillfully change the subject, keeping him on the hook without ever giving a clear answer.
"Isn't our relationship right now already really good? Why do we strictly need the labels of boyfriend and girlfriend?"
"But don't get discouraged either—I really love the way you like me so much!"
"How about this? My birthday is coming up soon, so prepare ten gifts for me. If I'm satisfied, I might seriously consider it, oh!"
As a result.
When the college entrance exams ended, Lin Ran truly racked his brains, spending a full two weeks folding a basket of paper cranes, a large bottle of baby's breath, and pinching pennies to save up three hundred yuan to buy a genuine Mickey Mouse plush toy—
gathering a total of ten gifts.
Filled with joy, he braved the heavy rain on Shen Lingshan's birthday to deliver them to her.
Only to see Shen Lingshan at the downstairs entrance of her apartment building, passionately and boldly making out with a wealthy second-generation classmate, whose hand had even slipped inside her top...
What that guy gave her was a set of Swarovski jewelry, worth several thousand, if not tens of thousands of yuan.
Crack.
The pure-love warrior's heart shattered right then and there, and he collapsed on the spot.
...
The past is too painful to look back on.But since he had been reborn, Linran naturally couldn't possibly play the role of a simp ever again.
At this moment, Shen Lingshan, who was walking over from downstairs by Class 7 hand-in-hand with her best friend Cui Qianqian, still had no idea that the fish in her pond had already swum away.
Stopping in front of Lin Ran, Shen Lingshan said cheerfully:
"Lin Ran, Qianqian and I want some ice cream. Go to the tuck shop and buy us some."
Her tone was completely matter-of-fact.
Beside her, Cui Qianqian also urged him on with an impatient look:"Hurry up, there are only seven minutes left of the break. If we don't go now, we won't make it!"
Before Lin Ran could speak, his best friend Zhao Ke chimed in indignantly:
"You know there are only seven minutes left? The canteen is so far away, how could anyone make it running over there right now?!"
Yunan High School only gave students ten minutes for a short break. Running from the teaching building to the canteen and back took at least eight or nine minutes even at a full sprint, exhausting anyone who tried it.
Normally, even if students wanted to buy snacks, they would wait for the twenty-minute long break to go to the canteen.
Right now, Shen Lingshan and Cui Qianqian were simply craving treats themselves. They didn't want to wait for the long break, nor did they want to exert any effort, so they had sought out their reliable simp, Lin Ran. That way, not only would they save their own energy, but they wouldn't even have to spend a dime.
Hearing Zhao Ke's accusation, Shen Lingshan pouted cutely:
"You can't do it."
"That doesn't mean our Lin Ran can't."
"Am I right, Lin Ran?"
Just listen to that.
"Our Lin Ran."
It was precisely these kinds of subtle, ambiguous linguistic hints that could hook a guy and completely bewitch him.
*(Classic, so painfully classic.)*
In his past life, Lin Ran probably would have been overjoyed and eagerly run off to do their bidding.
But the present-day Lin Ran saw right through Shen Lingshan's little tricks at a glance. Even though she was pouting cutely, it only filled him with even greater disdain and disgust.
However.
As a mature man with the mental age of over thirty, he wasn't about to lower himself to petty arguments or screaming matches with a teenage girl.
After a moment's thought, Lin Ran decided to issue a polite, tactful refusal:
"Are you out of your mind?"
Huh?
Shen Lingshan and Cui Qianqian froze simultaneously, almost wondering if they had misheard.
Then Lin Ran added:
"If you're not crazy, why don't you go buy it yourselves?"
Recovering her wits, Shen Lingshan quickly put on an aggrieved, pitiful expression: "But I can't run that far..."
Cui Qianqian also chimed in indignantly to defend her: "Exactly! Lingshan is a girl, and the canteen is so far away. With her slender arms and legs, how can you bear to make her go?"
Lin Ran instinctively glanced down at Shen Lingshan's legs.
Beneath her knee-length school uniform skirt, a pair of calves were fair and well-proportioned, clad in white ankle socks and red canvas shoes.
Lin Ran nodded: "Nice legs."
A trace of smug triumph appeared on Shen Lingshan's face, as she figured Lin Ran had ultimately surrendered obediently to her charms. Feigning shyness, she pulled her legs back slightly, crossed them, and stood, deliberately showing them off even more prominently:
"So... does that mean you agree?"
To her surprise, the guy casually delivered his next comment a second later:
"With legs that good, you must run really fast."
"Trust yourself, you can do it."
Huh?
Shen Lingshan was dumbfounded.
What kind of bizarre plot twist was this? Was that supposed to be a professional track-and-field review of my legs?!
Cui Qianqian was getting anxious: "Lin Ran, can you stop rambling? Are you going or not? There are only five minutes left!"
Shen Lingshan also gritted her teeth, speaking as if she were making a grave determination:
"Fine! If you go buy us some ice cream, at worst... I promise you—"
"I'll eat lunch with you today!"
As she finished speaking, a look of victory flashed across Shen Lingshan's face.
Whenever she deployed this ultimate move in the past and promised to share a meal with Lin Ran, he would always get wildly excited and overjoyed, instantly agreeing to whatever condition she named.
Naturally, this time wouldn't be any exception—
Yet unexpectedly.
The guy looked at Shen Lingshan as if she were a con artist, wearing an expression of utter disbelief:
"Y-You still want to sponge off my lunch money?!"