The Rite of Congee

Chapter 271

Six o'clock in the evening.

In the dim guest bedroom, the bed let out a faint rustle.

Ye Zhenzhen rolled over, rubbed her sleepy eyes, and shuffled in her slippers to push the door open.

A rich, savory aroma drifted through the living room.

Gu Ran was walking out of the kitchen, carrying two steaming bowls of century egg and lean pork congee.

He looked up, saw the girl, and motioned toward the dining table with his chin.

"You're awake? Come have some congee."

Ye Zhenzhen pulled out a chair, sat down, and rubbed her eyes again. "Where are my mom and Uncle Gu?"

"They went out for a walk. Eat it while it's hot. We'll go for a stroll too after we finish," Gu Ran said, handing a spoon to the girl in front of him.

"Oh."

The girl took the spoon. Just as she was about to start eating, she felt someone step on her small foot.

She looked up in confusion, only to see the boy across from her say, "Please step on me before eating the congee."

"???"

Gu Ran offered an explanation: "This is called proper congee etiquette!"

Still half-asleep, the girl hesitantly stepped on his foot.

"I'm good now, go ahead and eat."

Ye Zhenzhen: "????"

What kind of weird nonsense was this guy spouting?

Ye Zhenzhen puffed her cheeks, lowered her head, and ignored him, focusing entirely on devouring the bowl of hot, thick congee in front of her.

The two sat across from each other. In the quiet dining room, only the crisp sound of spoons clinking against porcelain bowls could be heard.

The warm congee slid down her throat, bringing a comforting heat to her stomach.

After the meal, Gu Ran got up to clear the dishes, while Ye Zhenzhen went to the bathroom to wash her face and change out of her wrinkled pajamas.

As they walked to the entryway to change shoes, Gu Ran grabbed a cream-colored windbreaker from the coat rack and draped it over Ye Zhenzhen's shoulders.

"The wind is strong by the river at night."

They pushed the door open and went downstairs.

The two walked along the riverside road toward the brightly lit night market.

The late autumn evening breeze carried a hint of chill.

Avoiding the bright spots under the streetlights and walking in the shadows of the swaying trees, the back of Gu Ran's hand brushed against the girl's, seemingly by accident.

Their skin touched.

The next second, Gu Ran turned his palm and naturally slipped his fingers between hers, interlocking them tightly.

Ye Zhenzhen's footsteps paused for a moment, but she didn't pull away, simply letting him hold her hand as they continued forward.

The deep night concealed the blush rising on her cheeks.

The night market was bustling with voices and enveloped in the lively smoke of street food.

Gu Ran led Ye Zhenzhen to a beverage stall at the corner of the street, pulled a twenty-yuan bill from his pocket, and handed it over.

"One cup of fresh-squeezed orange juice, room temperature."

The boss took the money, gave him change, and then handed over a plastic cup.

Gu Ran inserted the straw and brought the cup directly to the girl's lips.

Ye Zhenzhen glanced at him, lowered her head, delicately bit the straw, and took a big sip.

Gu Ran pulled his hand back, didn't bother getting a new straw, and took a sip himself from the exact spot the girl had just bitten.

His Adam's apple bobbed, and he couldn't help but sigh with emotion, "Imported juice really does taste better!"

Ye Zhenzhen stared intently at his actions, the tips of her ears instantly flushing crimson.

"Pervert," she muttered softly.

Gu Ran raised an eyebrow but didn't retort, leading her by the hand deeper into the night market.

The two walked side by side past a busy barbecue stall.

Around a folding table in front of the stall sat a few young boys in vocational high school uniforms, holding their phones and talking loudly.

"Add me on WeiLiao!" one boy waved his phone. "Who even looks at Penguin numbers anymore. With WeiLiao's 'Shake' feature, you can add people nearby. Yesterday I added a girl from the nursing school next door, her headlights are amazing!"

"For real? Can my crappy phone download it?" another chubby boy quickly leaned in.

"Yeah, it can. Hurry up and register. That 'Moments' feature on it is also super fun."

Ye Zhenzhen stopped in her tracks.

Her gaze fell on the young men's phone screens. The green bubble interface was particularly eye-catching in the night.

She turned her head, her eyes widening slightly, and looked straight at Gu Ran.

She had originally thought that WeiLiao was just an app circulating within the university circles in the capital.

When Gu Ran said it had defeated Penguin, she just felt it was a distant business concept.

But at this moment, this app had truly appeared at a roadside stall in a small county town, right in the hands of students.

The impact of this concrete reality was far more intense than any piece of paper detailing a funding report.

Gu Ran squeezed her palm.

"Let's go."

He naturally led Ye Zhenzhen to a relatively quiet spot by the railing along the river.

The river water lapped against the bank. Gu Ran turned around and pointed at the stall owners and customers in the night market behind them, who were pulling out wallets and counting loose bills for change.

"See that?" he said, lowering his voice. "Right now, they are still using paper money."

Ye Zhenzhen followed his finger. An auntie selling grilled cold noodles was using her grease-stained hands to pull a handful of change from her apron pocket, counting out a few bills to hand to a customer.

"Once WeiLiao's daily active users cover the whole country, my next step will be to stuff their wallets into their phones."

"In the future, buying grilled cold noodles won't require change. The stall owner will just stick a QR code up, and the customer will scan it with their phone to pay directly."

Ye Zhenzhen stood frozen in place.

She looked at those grease-stained ten-yuan bills, and her mind began to simulate the scene Gu Ran had described.

No need to carry cash.

No need to make change.

Traveling across the country with just a phone.

She stared blankly at Gu Ran, somewhat unable to imagine such an era-defining picture.

Seeing the girl's dazed expression, Gu Ran chuckled softly.

He took out his own phone and opened WeiLiao.

"Stop spacing out." He pulled the girl under a dim yellow streetlight. "Come on, let's post a Moment."

He aimed his phone camera at the ground.

On the bluestone pavement, their shadows were stretched out long.

Shoulders pressed closely together, hands clasped, their silhouettes sharply defined.

"Click."

Gu Ran pressed the shutter and took this shadow photo together.

Then, he tapped the "Discover" tab at the bottom of WeiLiao.

He typed a line of text into the input box.

The river breeze, the night market, and you.

He tapped send.

In less than ten seconds, a red notification badge instantly popped up at the bottom of the screen.

Gu Ran tapped it open.

Pei Susu had liked it instantly and followed up with a comment: "??? Is there no justice in this world, handing out dog food late at night! I'm still suffering here writing reports!"

A moment later, Ye Jinliang also liked it and posted three thumbs-up emojis below: "Brother Ran is awesome."

Looking at the lively comment section on the screen, Ye Zhenzhen was amused and covered her mouth, giggling softly.

She looked down and fiddled with her own phone, opened WeiLiao, found Gu Ran's Moment, liked it, and then replied to Pei Susu below: "Be a good girl and write your reports."

Pei Susu replied immediately: "Ye Zhenzhen, you've gone bad! You've been corrupted by Gu Ran!"

Ye Zhenzhen watched the replies come in one after another, thoroughly enjoying herself.

Gu Ran smiled, put away his phone, and took her hand again.

"Let's go eat some grilled squid."

The two walked side by side, disappearing into the bustling crowd of the night market.

By a snack stall over thirty meters away from them.

Ye Shulian, carrying two bags of freshly bought fruit, narrowed her eyes.

She looked at the two figures holding hands tightly in the distance, the corners of her mouth curling up wildly as she instinctively glanced at Gu Xiangcheng beside her.

"What are you looking at?" Noticing her gaze, Gu Xiangcheng started to turn his head to look in the same direction.

Seeing this, Ye Shulian immediately pivoted and grabbed his arm in a vice-like grip.

"Nothing. I just suddenly decided I want to go check out the clothes over there."

She pointed in the exact opposite direction of Gu Ran and the others, her tone leaving no room for argument.

Gu Xiangcheng looked completely baffled. "Didn't we already look at clothes? What about the grilled squid?"

"Just walk when I tell you to walk, enough with the nonsense." Terrified he would ruin everything, Ye Shulian dragged Gu Xiangcheng away.

Utterly bewildered, he let himself be pulled along, muttering under his breath, "Women really are so fickle..."