Chapter 57

Want to Give Her a Good Life.

—Zhang Lu Rang

—

On the night of the third day of the Lunar New Year, Lin Mao returned from B City.

He entered the house with quite a commotion, the noise crackling through the quiet, instantly waking Su Su from her sleep. She jumped up and ran to the door, whimpering as she scratched at it.

Zhang Lu Rang was sitting at his desk, looking at his computer. He quickly got up and walked over to open the door.

As soon as the door opened, Su Su’s hind legs kicked back, and with a burst of speed, she dashed downstairs.

The floor was slippery, and she looked like she was about to take a tumble.

Zhang Lu Rang chuckled lightly and followed her at a leisurely pace.

When he reached downstairs, he immediately noticed two boxes of specialty products from B City stacked by the entrance. Beside them, a 24-inch black suitcase lay on the floor, as if it had been casually tossed aside.

Lin Mao was lounging on the sofa, lazily playing on his phone.

Su Su ran up and placed her front paws on his legs, tapping them coquettishly a few times.

Zhang Lu Rang’s temple twitched. Without a word, he walked over, picked up the suitcase, and carried it to Lin Mao’s room.

Then, he came back downstairs.

Lin Mao barely lifted his eyelids and said softly, “Unpack the stuff in the suitcase and put it in the fridge.”

Zhang Lu Rang glanced at him. “……”

“I’m a bit tired.” Lin Mao patted the sofa, signaling Su Su to jump up, then hugged her and closed his eyes. “I was on a plane for three hours. Exhausting.”

Zhang Lu Rang said nothing and simply nodded.

Then, he walked to the entrance, picked up the two boxes in one go, and carried them into the kitchen.

By the time he finished tidying up and came out, Lin Mao had already sat up and was watching TV.

Zhang Lu Rang: “……”

Lin Mao grabbed some peanuts from the coffee table, peeled a few, and popped them into his mouth.

Zhang Lu Rang sat beside him and poured two glasses of water, placing one in front of Lin Mao.

Flipping through channels, Lin Mao suddenly remembered something and said softly, “Your grandparents’ red envelopes for you are in my suitcase, along with the ones from your parents.”

Zhang Lu Rang said nothing, lifting his glass of water and taking a slow sip.

“Your younger brother didn’t come home for New Year’s either this year,” Lin Mao yawned and turned off the TV. “Ugh, I need to get some sleep. Stayed up all night playing mahjong with friends yesterday…”

“……”

Soon, the living room was left with only Zhang Lu Rang.

He sat on the sofa, zoning out for a while, then got up and returned to his room.

Looking at his phone, he sighed and was just about to call home when the phone rang first.

Without much hesitation, he answered.

There was no immediate response from the other side, and the voice that followed was different from its usual commanding tone.

“Ah Rang.”

Zhang Lu Rang lowered his gaze, looking at the book on his desk, smoothing out its slightly creased edges.

When he didn’t respond, his mother didn’t mind and continued talking on her own.

“Your younger brother said he still has classes over there. It was too rushed, so he didn’t come back.”

“Mm.”

The call fell into a brief silence.

Then, unexpectedly, his mother’s voice caught slightly, as if choking up.

“Why do you and Ah Li never think to call me? Your uncle was only here for three days, and I heard him take several calls from you.”

Zhang Lu Rang paused mid-motion with his pen, his fingertips slowly pulling back.

He had long lost his temper and had even forgotten what kind of emotions he should have.

Besides, he didn’t know what to say.

After thinking for a moment, he spoke, his voice a little stiff.

“Nothing bad has happened on my end, so there’s nothing to worry about. Happy New Year.”

He waited for a response, but there was none.

Just as he was about to say goodbye and hang up, his father’s deep voice came through.

“I heard from your uncle that you got a scholarship in your first year?”

Zhang Lu Rang instinctively responded, “Mm.”

Another pause.

His attention drifted back to the strings of code on his computer screen.

He put down his pen, switched the call to speaker mode, and started typing on his keyboard.

After a long silence, the voice of the middle-aged man finally sounded again.

“That’s good.”

Zhang Lu Rang’s fingers stopped. His expression remained unchanged.

Furrowing his brows slightly, he seemed to consider how to respond. In the end, he only said, “Mm. You should get some rest early.”

Then, he ended the call.

After that, he glanced at the time and habitually dialed Su Zai Zai’s number.

She picked up almost instantly, her crisp voice ringing in his ears.

“Rang Rang!”

“Are you home?”

“Just got back. No more visiting relatives tomorrow. Let’s go out and have fun!”

Zhang Lu Rang thought for a moment and asked, “Where do you want to go?”

Hearing this, Su Zai Zai immediately said, “To the movies! Also, all the shops on the commercial street are open. We can go eat something delicious!”

“Okay.”

“I got nearly ten thousand yuan in red envelopes over the past three days!” Su Zai Zai rolled on her bed excitedly. “Can you believe it? At nineteen, my daily income has exceeded three thousand!”

Zhang Lu Rang: “……”

Su Zai Zai giggled mischievously. “Rang Rang, you’ve hitched yourself to a rich woman.”

Hearing the amusement in her tone, Zhang Lu Rang’s lips twitched.

“How much are you short of ten thousand?”

Su Zai Zai dug out her red envelopes and counted slowly. “Right now… I have around nine thousand five hundred.”

After finishing, she wasn’t quite sure and hesitated before deciding to count again.

Just as she was about to start, her phone suddenly pinged with a notification.

She glanced at it, causing one of her earbuds to fall out onto the bed.

A low chuckle came from the other end of the call, as if someone was in a particularly good mood.

“I’ll help you out.”

Su Zai Zai opened Alipay and saw that he had transferred 520 yuan.

She was just about to say something when Zhang Lu Rang earnestly added—

“Now, technically, you still owe me 20 yuan.”

Su Zai Zai widened her eyes in disbelief. “You’re really counting every penny with me?”

Seeing how heartless he was, she started bringing up old debts. “Do you remember that time when I was in a good mood and gave you a tip?”

“…What tip?”

“That one night when you served me really well. Didn’t I send you a red envelope afterward? You should return it to me now.”

Zhang Lu Rang thought for a moment, recalling the incident. His expression turned speechless.

Su Zai Zai’s words were too suggestive. When he finally responded, he hesitated. “You mean that time I accompanied you to your evening class?”

“Yeah!”

Zhang Lu Rang pressed his lips together. Now he remembered.

Then, word by word, he replied coldly, “Su Zai Zai, that was one cent.”

“But at the time, I only had one cent left in my WeChat balance. I gave you my everything.” Su Zai Zai remained shamelessly confident. “And now, you’ve just won a full scholarship, yet you’re fussing over twenty yuan with me?”

“…” Her words made Zhang Lu Rang question whether he had just given her five hundred yuan or loaned her twenty.

After a moment, Su Zai Zai came to a conclusion. “Rang Rang, you’re probably the type of man who, after making it big, abandons his wife and child.”

Although Zhang Lu Rang was used to her unserious nature, when he heard this, he couldn’t hold back anymore.

Just as he was about to frown and refute, Su Zai Zai grinned and added, “But don’t worry, I’ll do my best to always be a rich woman.”

The words Zhang Lu Rang had prepared to say were swallowed back down. His lips curled slightly.

The next second, he leaned back in his chair and lazily called out, “Zai Zai.”

“Huh?”

Zhang Lu Rang recalled something she had said before and slightly reworded it.

“Tomorrow, we go out at 1 PM. If you leave one minute early, you don’t have to pay me back the twenty yuan. If you leave two minutes early, I’ll give you twenty yuan. And so on.”

Su Zai Zai fell silent for a moment.

Then, a lighthearted voice came through the phone.

“Rang Rang, if I’m ruthless enough and leave right now, you’re going to declare bankruptcy.”

Zhang Lu Rang: “…”

—

After the second semester of sophomore year started, their lives got busier.

Aside from attending classes, Zhang Lu Rang was preparing for the Mobile Internet Innovation Competition.

He had to design and develop an app related to medical communication.

He teamed up with his three dormmates and had to prepare for the final presentation as well.

On top of that, he participated in several workshops in collaboration with his department, even skipping a few classes for them.

Every day was a whirlwind of work.

On the other hand, Su Zai Zai’s coursework was also increasing.

Because of her involvement in student organizations during her freshman year, she had met many people. This led her to join a team of seniors from her department to compete in a campus-wide advertising competition.

Time flew by.

Once the busy period was over, sophomore year was coming to an end.

Su Zai Zai’s last exam was two days earlier than Zhang Lu Rang’s.

After finishing her test, she didn’t rush home but stayed with Zhang Lu Rang in the library while he reviewed.

She yawned, put on her headphones, and started watching an advertisement video.

Noticing her drowsy expression, Zhang Lu Rang thought for a moment. Then, he grabbed a notebook from the stack of books and wrote something down.

— The Mobile Internet Innovation Competition. The team I was in won the Grand Prize.

Su Zai Zai glanced at the words and froze.

The next second, she suddenly clung to his arm, shaking it excitedly, laughing silently.

Her joy was infectious, making Zhang Lu Rang feel lighter too.

He let her shake his arm, then used his free hand to write another sentence.

— But I skipped class, so I won’t be able to get my scholarship.

Seeing this, Su Zai Zai looked smug. Her peach blossom eyes curved downward.

She let go of his arm, took the pen from his hand, and carefully wrote a reply.

— I got mine. I’ll give it to you.