They all want to control me!

Chapter 37 I Only Have Him

Lin Ran: I bumped into it by accident.

Su Lingle: Oh.

Su Lingle: How have you been lately?

Lin Ran: It's alright, nothing special. How about you?

Su Lingle: I've retired from the entertainment industry and plan to travel all over the country.

Lin Ran: Welcome to Jiangning. I can be your guide.

Su Lingle: Mm.

Those who are in a relationship should know that if one person sends interjections like "oh," "um," or "ah," it means the other person isn't interested in chatting.

Lin Ran wasn't one to make a fool of herself, so the conversation ended there.

Just as he expected, Su Lingle stopped sending messages.

Lin Ran plugged in her phone, poured herself a glass of warm water, drank it, and then lay down on the bed to sleep.

Even if two people had a good relationship in the past, it doesn't mean they can restore it now, and lost friendships cannot be recovered through a single chat.

Perhaps we'll never see each other again in this lifetime.

…………

Wednesday morning.

The counselor gave a passionate lecture on college student psychology, explaining how to relieve stress under immense academic pressure and how to avoid arguing in the classroom when dating.

Jiang Qiaoqiao sat alone in the front row, while Tao Zhiyao was pulled to the back by her roommate.

The two of them tacitly avoided discussing the matter of "meeting with Grandma," because even if they did, they wouldn't get to the bottom of it.

When Jiang Qiaoqiao heard about his "family reunion" plan, she immediately didn't want him to come. But now that Lin Ran wanted to come on his own initiative, life and death are predestined, and wealth and honor are determined by fate.

Jiang Qiaoqiao looked down and peeked at the video.

This is a rough edit that Lin Ran did on her own last night. The overall tone is dark, and the lighting and shadows are used to cover Lin Ran and Tao Zhiyao's faces to protect their privacy.

Lin Ran didn't want her and Tao Zhiyao's faces to be exposed online. Even though modern people's privacy is as easily compromised as a sieve, she would still try to avoid it if possible.

She rewound the video; the background was at night, and two figures, one tall and one short, were embracing in an open space on the playground.

accurate.

I'm very unhappy.

Tao Zhiyao got involved in the song we wrote together.

Jiang Qiaoqiao said sourly, "It's got that youthful angst vibe, like you really broke up with Tao Zhiyao."

"Shut your jinxed mouth. Saying 'break up' is bad luck." Lin Ran was worried that her words would come true.

It ended before it even started; that's so tragic.

"The video is fixed, but I'm wondering, will a video with a new song really get a lot of viewers?"

"So what are your thoughts?"

"Let's find some topics," Lin Ran said. "Let's find trending topics for the videos and new songs to trigger the platform's push mechanism and get traffic and discussion. I have a few ideas. Write them down on a piece of paper, combine our ideas, and maybe we can come up with a good solution."

For the rest of the class, the two of them kept looking for inspiration, and their notebooks were soon filled with dense writing.

Domestic students have a little habit of slacking off in class and drawing. Jiang Qiaoqiao was no exception. She drew a sitting kitten, a small fish, a five-pointed star, a heart... No, no, she shouldn't draw that.

Jiang Qiaoqiao used a black pen to erase the heart she had only drawn halfway. She had just had a moment of madness and had drawn it without thinking.

Girls like patterns with romantic meanings, and she was no exception. When she was little, she liked to take a piece of paper and doodle when she was alone at home.

"What else could be trending topics..." Lin Ran murmured.

Jiang Qiaoqiao breathed a sigh of relief. Lin Ran was focused on finding ideas and didn't notice his own strange behavior.

Then she became a little unhappy—why aren't you looking at me? Aren't you afraid I'll use your body to do bad things?

I don't think I would do that.

Jiang Qiaoqiao was somewhat frustrated.

When they first met, he was able to threaten Lin Ran, but he can't do that now.

After spending some time together, Lin Ran trusted her, and she would not do anything to betray Lin Ran's trust.

Lin Ran was unaware of Jiang Qiaoqiao's fickle thoughts. He was thinking of interesting ideas and glanced at the system panel out of the corner of his eye.

[Teamwork Value: 41]

The number seems to be stuck; it hasn't changed in the last two days.

Once the level of understanding and cooperation reaches a certain point, there's no way to climb any higher.

Oh well, let nature take its course.

During the ten-minute break between classes, the next class will still be taught by the counselor, focusing on emergency response knowledge.

You could say the counselor is incredibly versatile; they can talk about anything, and sometimes they even gossip about the previous year's students.

For example, I once taught a class of students. The two of them were in a lecture hall when they suddenly started arguing. The girl threw the ring that the boy had bought with his part-time job into the trash can, and the boy went to the trash can to look for the ring.

The argument started because the girl was very close to a male friend from high school. When the boy found out, he said, "We're just good friends, what's wrong with chatting?" and then they started arguing.

In short, it was very abstract. After the counselor finished speaking, there was a murmur of dismay in the lecture hall.

Even Lin Ran and Jiang Qiaoqiao, who were slacking off, couldn't help but look up and listen. Jiang Qiaoqiao complained, "This woman is really outrageous."

Ten minutes after class.

Tao Zhiyao sat down next to her.

Jiang Qiaoqiao asked curiously, "You're not going to class with your roommates anymore?"

"I belong to you, Lin Ran!" Tao Zhiyao said with a stern face.

"Come on, pinch my cheek."

Jiang Qiaoqiao is vengeful.

No matter what, she and Lin Ran were singing together, and an outsider was cast as the female lead. It was no different from stepping on her head and peeing on her. She had to get revenge, otherwise she would feel uncomfortable.

He could definitely not do it right now, but he could take some small revenge.

She pinched Tao Zhiyao's chubby little face into various cute shapes, and the girl stared at her with wide eyes, looking pitiful. She was very obedient and didn't resist at all.

Jiang Qiaoqiao vented her anger and then let go.

"Speak up, you look troubled. What do you want to see me about?"

"Well... yesterday, Wang Hui saw the video of you singing 'Coral Sea,' and the student council president happened to be sitting in the back. She thought you sang very well and wanted to arrange for you to perform at tomorrow's welcome party."

Tao Zhiyao clasped her hands together and bowed her head to Jiang Qiaoqiao:

"I'm sorry, Lin Ran. I shouldn't have shown the video to others so casually. I promise that no one else saw it except Wang Hui, Gao Yan, and the president!"

Jiang Qiaoqiao pinched her chin with her left hand, and an idea suddenly popped into her mind.

"Qiaozi, I guess you had a flash of inspiration."

"you also?"

"Yeah," Lin Ran laughed. "It's like a pillow being delivered when you're sleepy. Who on the internet has the time and energy to vent their desires? Definitely college students. That's a hot topic."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Qiaoqiao instantly understood, grabbed Tao Zhiyao's small hand, and, seeing her confused and flustered gaze, said:

"Okay, let's sing together."

"Great...wait, what?" Tao Zhiyao's face lit up with joy, then she realized something was wrong, pointed at herself, and widened her eyes, "Me?"

Although reluctant, Jiang Qiaoqiao nodded: "Yes, you."

She didn't want other girls to sing "Coral Sea" with Lin Ran. Tao Zhiyao had already filmed a video, so letting her sing shouldn't be a problem... right?

Jiang Qiaoqiao couldn't understand her own feelings.

School ends at noon.

Lin Ran instructed Jiang Qiaoqiao to control her body and go find the student council president to discuss the program.

After some communication, the whole story became clear.

The Lotte Band originally had two shows: one was a traditional Chinese style song performed in collaboration with a Hanfu (traditional Han clothing) club, and the other was a solo live performance. Now that the band has disbanded, one show is available.

The president was worried about what to do, but then he saw a video of Lin Ran singing today and had a sudden inspiration. He sent Tao Zhiyao to ask if it would work.

Lin Ran and Jiang Qiaoqiao jointly came up with two conditions:

1. Allow photography studios to record videos.

Second, you must wear a mask to cover your face when singing on stage.

The president didn't care about the first condition; since it would be recorded anyway, it didn't matter if it were a personal club. She also didn't have a problem with the second condition, but she was very curious:

"You're really different from other guys. Most boys your age like to show off and be in the spotlight, but you're doing the opposite."

"I'm a low-key person," Lin Ran said.

The president nodded: "Okay, I can agree to either of them." After saying that, he looked at Tao Zhiyao, who was staring at Lin Ran's profile next to him, and laughed, "Yaoyao, watch your expression, you're about to drool."

"Ugh!!!"

When she was called out in public, Tao Zhiyao blushed instantly, which made everyone laugh.

Jiang Qiaoqiao smiled too.

Sometimes I envy Lin Ran. He has such a wonderful girl by his side. I even want to take her home and make her my bed warmer.

Amidst the laughter, she suddenly seemed to detach herself from the situation from a third-person perspective, her mind becoming unusually calm.

Looking around, Tao Zhiyao, Wang Hui, Gao Yan, and the president—none of them knew her; all her relationships were based on Lin Ran.

In other words, their joy and laughter had nothing to do with a girl named "Jiang Qiaoqiao".

Realizing this, Jiang Qiaoqiao could no longer laugh; she felt so lonely that she seemed to have gained golden eyes.

So it turns out that from beginning to end, I only had Lin Ran.