Abnormal Girl

Chapter 178

The next day, as the morning light broke dawn.

Gu Ran pushed open the balcony door and stretched, his joints popping crisply.

Feeling refreshed, he walked through the back door to the adjacent guest bedroom and raised his hand to knock.

"Ye Zhenzhen, time to get up and get to work. We have Subject Three road training today."

The room was dead silent, without the slightest sound.

Gu Ran raised an eyebrow and simply turned the doorknob.

On the large pink bed, the quilt was bunched up into a little mound, wrapped incredibly tight.

Clearly, someone was still embarrassed by last night's wild remark about it being "convenient in the car," and was currently adopting an ostrich mentality: "As long as I can't see you, last night never happened."

He wasn't in a hurry. Leaning against the desk, he drawled, "If you don't get up, I'm pulling the covers off. If I end up seeing some drooly sight I shouldn't see..."

Before he could finish, the "little mound" exploded.

Ye Zhenzhen, sporting a messy bedhead with strands of hair sticking up, suddenly threw off the covers and sat up. Her face was as red as a ripe tomato as she gritted her teeth. "Gu 'Dog' Ran! Can't you keep some healthy, clean thoughts in that head of yours!"

"How am I not clean?"

Gu Ran spread his hands with an innocent look. "I meant seeing you drooling in your sleep. Where did your mind go? Tsk tsk, such dirty thoughts."

"You—!"

The girl choked on her anger, grabbing a pillow and launching it at him like a projectile.

With quick reflexes, Gu Ran caught it with one hand and accurately tossed it right back into her arms.

"Alright, hurry up and wash up. If you practice well today, I'll treat you to ice cream tonight."

With that, he whistled and turned to leave, leaving the girl on the bed hugging her pillow and throwing a flurry of wild punches at the air.

...

For the next half month, the days seemed to pass on fast-forward.

The August sun was as vicious as a wicked stepmother's hand; the driving school's training ground was practically an open-air sauna.

Fortunately, they had Gu Ran, the "cheat code."

Whenever the instructor wasn't around, Gu Ran would take over the passenger seat and activate "private tutor mode."

From clutch-throttle control to anticipating road conditions, he explained things even more thoroughly than the instructor, even slipping in his own private tips and teaching her several exclusive tricks of veteran drivers.

"Keep the clutch steady, don't shake like you have Parkinson's."

"Anticipate! Do you know how to anticipate? That dog ahead is about to cross the road and you're still stepping on the gas. Are you trying to have dog meat hotpot for dinner?"

"Damn it, can't they see the car? Ye Zhenzhen, step on the gas and send him flying!"

"Gu 'Dog' Ran, shut your mouth!!!"

Under Gu Ran's "overpowered teaching style," Ye Zhenzhen's driving skills advanced by leaps and bounds.

She evolved from a "road menace" who couldn't even hold the clutch steady into a capable learner driver who could shift gears smoothly.

But beneath this seemingly peaceful daily routine, Gu Ran sniffed out something amiss.

Ye Zhenzhen had been acting very out of character lately.

Every day after dinner, she acted like a brainwashed pyramid scheme lecturer.

She desperately instilled the concept of "loving father and filial son" into his dad, Gu Xiangcheng, and then forced Gu Ran to go to the living room to watch TV with Old Gu.

"Gu Ran, don't just stay cooped up in your room all the time, go chat with Uncle Gu more."

"Uncle Gu is under so much pressure at work. As his son, you should show some filial piety."

"Go on, go on. Make Uncle Gu a cup of tea and listen to his teachings. That's what makes a good youth in this new era."

Her reasons were so high-sounding that no one could find a single flaw in them.

Gu Xiangcheng, for his part, quite enjoyed this.

Seeing his son "taking the initiative" to watch the evening news and discuss current affairs with him, he was deeply comforted. He pulled Gu Ran into conversations ranging from County A's public security to international geopolitics, spit flying as he spoke with high enthusiasm.

While humoring his old man's lengthy monologues, Gu Ran glanced toward the hallway out of the corner of his eye.

He saw Ye Zhenzhen taking advantage of his intense chat with Old Gu to sneak into his bedroom on tiptoe like a thieving little kitten, shutting the door behind her.

She would stay in there for over an hour.

The first day, Gu Ran tolerated it.

The second day, Gu Ran noticed the girl's eyes darting around shiftily.

By the third day, watching Ye Zhenzhen push him into the living room and then slip into his bedroom to lock the door like a cat that had stolen fish, Gu Ran would have lived his two lives in vain if he still didn't realize something fishy was going on.

Filial piety, my foot!

It was clearly a ploy to lure the tiger from its mountain!

...

In the living room, the TV was playing the evening news.

Ye Shulian walked over carrying a fruit platter. She glanced at the closed bedroom door and asked in confusion, "Why is that child Zhenzhen always running into your room lately?"

"Thanks, Aunt Ye. She's probably using the computer to look up some information," Gu Ran replied calmly, taking a piece of cantaloupe and brushing it off casually.

Ye Shulian muttered something but didn't press the matter, turning to head into the kitchen to clean up.

Chewing on the cantaloupe, Gu Ran stared at his bedroom, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Looking up information?

Not even a dog would believe that!

Every time he finished chatting with Old Gu and returned to his room, that girl would always frantically close browser tabs and switch to the desktop.

Her guilty, thieving demeanor practically had the words "I HAVE A SECRET" carved onto her forehead.

There was a problem.

Definitely a problem.

...

On the day of the Subject Three exam.

Outside the testing center, it was a scene of utter despair. A few students with poor psychological fortitude had legs shaking so badly it looked like they were dancing at a disco.

Gu Ran waited with a bored expression. Ye Zhenzhen was originally nervous too, but was then angered into laughing by his remark, "If you fail, just consider it a charitable donation to the driving school," which actually relaxed her quite a bit.

After getting into the car, Gu Ran's moving off, gear shifting, lane changing, and pulling over were as silky smooth as eating Dove chocolate.

The safety officer even yawned halfway through.

Without any suspense, he passed with a perfect score.

When it was the girl's turn, although her small face was tense, thanks to Gu Ran's devilish training, she also passed smoothly and steadily.

The next day was the Subject Four theory exam. For two top students, it was practically an insult to their intelligence.

They handed in their papers in twenty minutes and left in style.

At 3:00 PM in the lobby of the County A Vehicle Management Office.

When they received the two brand-new little black booklets, Ye Zhenzhen held her driver's license, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Gu Ran, Gu Ran! Look! The photo turned out pretty nice!"

She held the license up to Gu Ran's face as if presenting a treasure.

The girl in the photo had her hair in a ponytail, revealing a smooth, full forehead. Her eyes curved into crescents as she smiled, radiating a breath of youth.

"Yeah, it's alright. Mostly because the photographer is good at Photoshop. It must have been hard work for them," Gu Ran glanced at it and offered a cheeky critique.

"You're asking for a beating!"

The girl rolled her eyes at him and happily tucked the license into her bag. "Now I'm a person with status too! From now on, please call me Driver Ye!"

Gu Ran played with his own license in his hand. Looking at the girl's excited profile, his heart suddenly gave a little stir.

In this year of 2011, when smartphones were just beginning to become popular, the ways people could share their joy were still quite scarce.

It was either sending a text message or posting on QQ Space.

He looked at the license in his hand and instinctively wanted to take out his phone, snap a picture, add a caption, and post it to his Moments.

However, when his fingers touched the physical buttons of his Nokia, he suddenly snapped back to reality.

WeChat didn't exist yet. (For plot purposes, Tencent hadn't developed WeChat yet.)

And Moments certainly didn't exist either.

That social ecosystem of sharing life anytime and anywhere, liking and interacting, was still a barren wasteland.

An intense business impulse instantly surged in his heart, much like a shark catching the scent of blood.

Since Temple Run and Fruit Ninja had already accumulated the first pot of gold and a massive user base for the company, could the instant messaging software... be accelerated?

Create an instant messaging app that truly belongs to the mobile internet era.

Not just for chatting, but a way of life.

Whoever controls the social relationship chain controls the lifeblood of the mobile internet.

The project progress for MicroChat needed Li Sinan to step on the gas.

Even if they blew the engine, they had to dig out their moat before that certain penguin could react!

"Hey! What are you zoning out for? Let's go! Let's go home and celebrate!"

A small, fair hand waved in front of his eyes.

Gu Ran snapped back to reality, grabbed the waving hand, and naturally led her outside. "Let's go, let's go home. To celebrate Driver Ye getting her license, shouldn't we have a good 'chat' tonight about your recent secret operations?"

Hearing this, the young girl's smile stiffened, and her eyes instantly darted around evasively. "C-confess what? I don't know what you're talking about."

With that, she broke free from Gu Ran's grasp and walked briskly toward the bus stop, her back radiating a strong sense of guilt.

...

That evening, at Riverside Gardens.

After dinner, the familiar script played out once again.

Gu Ran had barely put down his chopsticks when Ye Zhenzhen leaned in quietly like a dedicated salesperson, her big eyes blinking with utmost sincerity.

"Gu Ran, there's a special episode of Legal Report tonight! I think it's about that serial fraud case. Uncle Gu will definitely love it. Why don't you go analyze the case with him? This kind of high-IQ crime is perfect for you two!"

Gu Xiangcheng was sitting on the sofa holding a teacup. Hearing this, he immediately nodded in agreement. "Yes, yes, yes, that case tonight is quite interesting. Gu Ran, come here, I'll analyze the criminal investigation logic for you."

Gu Ran glanced at his old man, then at the expectant young girl.

"Alright."

He nodded without any objections and got up to head to the living room.

Ye Zhenzhen visibly breathed a sigh of relief. Watching Gu Ran sit down on the sofa, she immediately turned around and slipped into his bedroom with practiced ease.

Click.

The sound of the door closing echoed.

Gu Ran sat on the sofa, listening to his old man endlessly analyzing the case, but his mind had long since wandered off.

Ten minutes.

That was the amount of time he was giving Ye Zhenzhen to commit her crime.

"Dad, I'm going to the bathroom. My stomach doesn't feel too good."

He suddenly interrupted Gu Xiangcheng's lengthy speech, clutching his stomach and standing up with equally superb acting skills.

"Go, go, lazy donkeys always need the toilet when it's time to work. The best part is coming up." Gu Xiangcheng waved his hand, his eyes glued to the TV screen.

Gu Ran turned and walked toward the bathroom.

However, as he passed the corner of the hallway, he stopped in his tracks and silently doubled back to his own bedroom door.

He gently grasped the doorknob, moving as carefully as if he were defusing a bomb.

The door lock made a nearly imperceptible click, and then it was pushed open just a crack.

The main light in the room wasn't on; only the faint white glow from the computer screen illuminated the young girl's focused face.

Ye Zhenzhen was sitting at the desk, leaning forward slightly as if she wanted to dive straight into the monitor.

Her left hand was on the mouse, and her right hand held a pen, scribbling furiously in a small pink notebook.

Her expression was as serious as if she were attending a political education lecture.

Gu Ran narrowed his eyes. Through the crack in the door, his gaze went over the girl's shoulder and landed on the computer screen.

In the browser's webpage recommendations, a line of bold text glaringly caught his eye.

Although the distance was a bit far, he could still vaguely make out a few keywords.

[What boyfriends like...]

[First time...]

Gu Ran: "???"

Holy crap?

This girl sent him away every night to hide in his room just to research this?!

What kind of wild and indecent words were these?!

Are female college students these days all this wild?!

Just as he was so shocked he almost lost control of his breathing, the girl inside the room seemed to notice something.

Or perhaps her woman's sixth sense flared up.

She whipped her head around.

Their eyes met.

The air seemed to freeze in that moment.

Ye Zhenzhen looked at the pair of eyes peering through the crack of the door, eyes filled with teasing, shock, and a hint of something indescribable, and her brain crashed for a second.

The next second, her face turned as red as a tomato at a visible speed, even looking like it was about to start steaming.

A scream caught in her throat, turning into a panicked, muffled gasp.

"Gu 'Dog' Ran!!!"

Smack!

She quickly closed the webpage, then slammed the laptop shut, springing up from the chair like a coiled spring and rushing over to shut the door.

"Hey, hey, hey! Let me see! What notes are you taking? Working so hard?"

How could Gu Ran let this opportunity slip by? He reached out to push the door open, a wicked smirk on his face. "What first time? Ye Zhenzhen, are you preparing for a lesson?"

"Shut up! You saw it wrong! That was... that was an anatomical atlas!"

Ye Zhenzhen was dying of embarrassment and used all her strength to press against the door, trying to push Gu Ran out.

"Anatomy? Learning anatomy for the first time? You're way too studious!"

"Get lost!!! You're not allowed in!!!"

Click.

The door was ruthlessly locked from the inside.

Gu Ran stood outside the door, rubbing his nose that had almost been pinched.

Hearing the rustling sounds of things being hidden coming from inside, he couldn't suppress the smile on his lips no matter how hard he tried.

This girl...

So sneaky!