Chapter 15: Horseshoe Explosive Beads

After finally coaxing her, Jiang Wenting even took Xiao Ru to their usual spot for a pig’s feet and chicken claw hot pot to make it up to her.

After eating, it was just about lunchtime, so she also got takeout for Beiye and Yi Lan.

Xiao Ru was truly biased against Yi Lan.

When Jiang Wenting mentioned getting takeout, she quickly thought of Beiye’s preferences and actively chose food for her.

As for Yi Lan, she just said casually to get her whatever, as if a freeloader had any choice in what to eat.

Jiang Wenting felt quite awkward hearing this, but thinking that she had just coaxed her, she didn’t say much.

After getting the food, they drove another 6.8 kilometers to the YOGBOX near the mall to buy Beiye’s Hawthorn Love milkshake.

After all the fuss, it was already past lunchtime when they arrived at the hospital.

Thinking that the two in the ward might be hungry, Jiang Wenting even quickened her pace.

But when she reached the door, it was wide open.

Jiang Wenting looked inside and was completely stunned.

Xiao Ru followed her gaze and was also too shocked to speak for a long time.

At this moment, Beiye and Yi Lan were sitting cross-legged on a hospital bed, a cake box between their legs.

The cake was cut into several pieces.

Then, facing each other, they each held a cake plate and dug in with a spoon, their faces covered in cream and crumbs.

“Hey, there’s still one more there, give it to me!” Beiye shouted when she saw the remaining water chestnut boba on Yi Lan’s cake.

The person who was about to dig into the cake stopped and obediently handed over her plate.

Beiye successfully dug out the pearl, stuffed it into her own mouth, and explained, “This thing is processed. You’re sick right now, so it’s not good for you to eat it. I’ll take care of it for you!”

Yi Lan had no reason to doubt her and took a small spoonful from the spot where the pearl had been dug out, putting it into her mouth.

Jiang Wenting: …

Xiao Ru: …

“Ahem~”

A light cough disrupted the harmony in the ward.

Yi Lan, who was halfway through her cake, stopped and looked over, the corners of her lips still stained with white cream.

Beiye also turned her head when she heard the sound.

She was in a worse state than Yi Lan.

Not only were the corners of her lips covered in cream, but her nose, forehead, and even her hair were lightly or heavily stained with the milky color.

Seeing Jiang Wenting and Xiao Ru, she excitedly raised the cake spoon in her hand.

“Hi, you’re back?”

Jiang Wenting remembered the scene just now when she had tricked Yi Lan and dug out her water chestnut boba.

Her voice immediately became faint.

“Mmm, the water chestnut boba is processed, so it’s not good for your health to eat it.”

Beiye smiled sheepishly, her starry eyes sparkling as she looked at Jiang Wenting.

Jiang Wenting’s tone was calm, her voice low.

“How come I never knew?”

Xiao Ru couldn’t help but curl her lips under her baseball cap, a rare expression of schadenfreude on her face.

“Also,” Jiang Wenting took off her sunglasses, calmly glanced at the cratered cake, and then at Beiye holding the cake.

“Isn’t this birthday cake for my birthday celebration? The birthday girl isn’t even here yet? How come you started eating it yourself?”

“I…” Beiye was at a loss for words.

With a flash of inspiration, she pointed to Yi Lan beside her.

“She, the patient, the patient was hungry. There wasn’t much to eat at the hospital, so I opened the cake, cut a small piece, and thought I’d let her have some to tide her over.”

Yi Lan: ???

Didn’t she say she was in a hurry and had ordered the wrong cake by mistake, and that Jiang Wenting didn’t like it, so she would buy a new one later?

How did it now become about tiding her over?

Yi Lan pondered for a few seconds, looked at Jiang Wenting, and explained the reason in a serious tone, “She said the cake had water chestnuts in it, which you don’t like to eat. So we ate it first and will give you a new one later.”

She rarely spoke, and to say so much in one go, with every word and sentence trying to explain for the other person.

Jiang Wenting was surprised for a moment, then looked at Beiye again.

Her peach blossom eyes lifted slightly, and a faint, unreadable smile appeared on her lips.

Then she handed the food in her hand to Xiao Ru, put her hands behind her back, and walked over gently.

“Jiang… Jiang Jiang, that…”

Beiye sensed the vengeful feeling hidden beneath Jiang Wenting’s gentleness.

She stammered and softened her tone while also preparing to find an opportunity.

When Jiang Wenting got really close, she suddenly lunged forward, raised the half-eaten cake in her hand, and smashed the entire plate and cake onto Jiang Wenting’s face.

Jiang Wenting was stunned, and Yi Lan’s eyes widened in surprise.

The next second, the girl’s silvery voice was heard.

“Happy birthday, my girl!”

Jiang Wenting wiped away the cake covering her eyes.

Her entire face was covered in white cream, leaving only her two blinking eyes, like a mud doll.

And the culprit had already dodged to the corner of the next bed, baring her two sharp little canine teeth and smiling at Jiang Wenting.

“Bei! Ye! Xing! Chen!” Jiang Wenting squeezed out her full name from between her teeth.

Ignoring her film empress image, she rolled up her sleeves and prepared to fight.

Xiao Ru reacted and closed the room door.

A short while later, Beiye’s pig-like squeals were heard from the ward.

Although Jiang Wenting was only 168 cm tall, she still had an advantage over the small, less than 160 cm tall Beiye.

The two of them tore and fought, and the bed sheets and covers were all kicked to the ground.

Jiang Wenting pressed down on her, wiping the cream from her own face onto hers, and repeated incoherently, “The water chestnut boba isn’t good, huh? If it’s not good, how come you ate it all? Bullying our Yi Lan for being silly and not having seen the world, right? And celebrating my birthday, say ‘Happy birthday’ to me again and let me hear it…”

Yi Lan watched silently from the hospital bed, a small smile playing on her lips.

“That’s enough, you two!”

Xiao Ru watched for a while and then stopped them.

Neither of them had any intention of admitting defeat.

She took out her phone, opened the camera, and recorded a short video of their awkward fighting posture, sending it to Shen Jinglan.

A short while later, Beiye’s phone rang.

The great battle was over, and the room was filled with a sweet, creamy smell.

Beiye took her phone and went into the bathroom, her expression as if she had eaten a dead fly.

Jiang Wenting turned her head and exchanged a look with Xiao Ru, her mood lifting.

Then, with her hair looking like a chicken coop, she came to the bedside and smiled at Yi Lan with her eyes curved.

“Silly girl, you were tricked by her. The water chestnut boba is delicious. She’s been fighting with me for it since we were kids!”

Yi Lan pressed her lips together, returning to her usual cold demeanor.

Jiang Wenting pouted, “Hmph, ignoring me. You were quite happy eating the cake just now!”

Xiao Ru rolled her eyes at her and said unhappily, “Jiang Wenting, look at your servile appearance. This ungrateful block of wood, I bet even if you gave your heart to her, she wouldn’t remember your kindness!”

But she was right.

Yi Lan was indeed very wooden.

Especially when she knew that the person attacking her was someone Jiang Wenting cared about.

Given last night’s lesson, Jiang Wenting didn’t dare to argue with Xiao Ru easily at this moment.

She just reached out and gently pinched Yi Lan’s cheek.

“A block of wood? Let me try?”

The springy, tender skin was soft in her fingertips.

Yi Lan, for the first time ever, didn’t push her face away, her phoenix eyes looking at her.

“It’s so silky smooth!” Jiang Wenting smiled, reached out her other hand to continue pinching her other cheek, and forcefully pulled the corners of her mouth into a slight curve.

“Smile, let me see you smile.”

The person whose face was being pinched was still wooden, her voice flat as she called out, “Jiang Wenting.”

After a few seconds, she added, “Let go.”

Jiang Wenting let go just in time.

Yi Lan’s cheeks had symmetrical cream marks from her pinching, and with the bread crumbs left on the corners of her mouth, she looked a bit like a little kitten who had been caught stealing food, dazed and cute.

“Pfft~”

Jiang Wenting couldn’t help but laugh.

Her peach blossom eyes curved slightly, and the mole at the corner of her eye became even more charming and moving due to her genuine happiness.

Yi Lan looked at her and was in a daze for a moment.

In her mind, that passionate and pure voice flashed again, “Jiejie, don’t be so serious. Relax a little, smile, let me see you smile?”

At that time, they probably hadn’t known each other for long.

She was troubled by the war, and that woman had walked into her military tent, pinched her face with both hands, called her “jiejie” one after another, and told her not to be so serious, to relax a little, and to smile for her.

She looked at her charming eyes and couldn’t help but laugh.

Yes, the Jiang Wenting of that time was so passionate and open.

Her every move was bold, like the sun in the scorching summer, burning in one’s heart.

But what about the Jiang Wenting before her now?

She seemed to be gentle and kind to everyone, but her gentleness and kindness always carried a strange sense of distance, making her hard to figure out.

“Alright, I won’t bully you anymore, Yi Lan!”

Seeing Yi Lan’s listless appearance, Jiang Wenting took the initiative to put away her playful mood and took out a wet wipe to wipe her face.

Xiao Ru couldn’t stand her subservient appearance, so she walked around to the other side of the bed and started tidying up the bed sheets and covers that had fallen on the floor by herself.

After wiping the stains from Yi Lan’s face, Jiang Wenting glanced at the cake cut into several pieces on the hospital bed and asked softly, “Do you still want to eat? If you do, I’ll get you another piece?”

Yi Lan pursed her lips and didn’t answer.

She put the cake away and said, “Then if Yi Lan wants to eat later, just let me know, okay?”

The other person was equally silent.

Jiang Wenting found it strange.

She and Beiye were not that different, but Yi Lan was willing to sit cross-legged and eat cake with Beiye after only half a day.

She took care of her meticulously every day, buying her gifts and food in various ways, but she was unwilling to say a word to her.

Was it just because she had played the spy in “Grass and Trees Deep”?

This was too unfair!

Jiang Wenting thought indignantly.

“Jiang Wenting!” Xiao Ru saw her hovering around that fool, and the sourness in her heart surged up again.

“Why are you standing there like a spear shaft? Aren’t you going to come over and help tidy up!”

“Hey, alright!”

Jiang Wenting answered and trotted over.