They all want to control me!

Chapter 25 Qiaoqiao's Temptation

"Child, your name is Jiang Qiaoqiao, right?"

Li Xiaohong pushed away Lin Ran, who kept crowding towards her, and sat on the sofa, looking at her phone screen with a gentle expression.

"Yes, Auntie." A girl's nervous voice came from the dark screen.

How old are you this year?

Nineteen years old.

"Still in school, right?"

"Jiangning University of Science and Technology, sophomore, majoring in finance."

"Oh dear, what a coincidence! Our schools are only a short distance apart, so we probably see each other quite often..."

Li Xiaohong's eyes lit up immediately. These days, nine out of ten couples in long-distance relationships break up. It's better to be closer.

Jiang Qiaoqiao whispered, "I'm sick. I've been staying home lately, and I don't look well. I can't let Auntie see me; it would be too embarrassing."

"Are you feeling any better?"

"Recovering..."

Jiang Qiaoqiao, who was huddled under the covers, felt a warm glow in her heart when she heard Lin Ran's mother immediately express concern for her health.

She rolled around in the blanket, hugging the pillow to her chest. The pressure against her chest calmed her down a little.

"As long as you're healthy, that's all that matters. As the saying goes, health is the foundation of everything, so you need to take good care of yourself. By the way, how did you and Xiaoran meet?"

Lin Ran finally had a chance to speak: "We met in the game."

"Yes." Jiang Qiaoqiao continued, "Lin Ran and I are fans of the original, agricultural, egg-shaped, Naruto, and Minecraft games. We've played a lot of games together."

Qiaozi, your poison resistance is maxed out.

If you only mention one game, you're a dutiful son, but if you mention so many games, I can only say you're the King of Red Stone.

Lin Ran quickly chimed in, "She's terrible at games, a total noob."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Qiaoqiao immediately objected: "You're the newbie!"

"The newbie is getting anxious!"

"you……!"

As soon as the two started talking, even through the internet, the tension in the air grew stronger.

"Get out of my way!"

Li Xiaohong elbowed her own son to the other side, glared at him, and then said to Jiang Qiaoqiao:

"Xiao Ran talks nonsense, Qiao Qiao, please don't mind him. This is just how he is when he's with his friends. I've told him several times, but he won't change. But luckily, he's cheerful and has a lot of friends at school. His teachers also like him very much."

Comrade Li Xiaohong subtly belittled her son while simultaneously praising him, showing a lot of cunning.

"Mom, that elbow strike hurts so much."

Lin Ran grinned and rubbed his chest.

An elbow strike from your own mother can hurt a ton of pain.

He wanted to eavesdrop on their conversation to prevent Jiang Qiaoqiao, that little devil, from unilaterally smearing him.

"Go wash the dishes with your dad!"

"Mom, I..."

"Are you going or not?"

"...Yes, Your Majesty the Empress Dowager."

When Li Xiaohong got serious, her teacher-like demeanor shone through, and Lin Ran could only obediently listen to his mother and go to the kitchen to help his father wash the dishes.

"Son, you're here?" Comrade Lin Jianhua said with a smug look and a gloating tone.

"Can't you be a little tougher and pin my mom down?" Lin Ran said, exasperated.

"You're still young, you don't understand. I'm not afraid of your mother, I love her. It's a love that has stood the test of time, that's why I listen to her."

"If you're afraid of your wife, just say so. There's no need to make excuses for yourself."

"Hey, how dare you talk to your own father like that?"

Lin Jianhua rinsed the dish soap foam off his hands under the tap, beckoned Lin Ran over, and then took out a mysterious box and stuffed it into Lin Ran's pocket.

"Before we came, your mom and I discussed bringing a gift. We didn't know what to give you. You've always been a strong-willed child and don't want anything. After thinking about it, we could only give you this—Durex, ultra-thin, 80 yuan a box, super expensive, so use it sparingly."

"..."

At that moment, Lin Ran really wanted to jump out of the window and leave this inexplicable world.

A mother elbows her own son, and is extremely enthusiastic towards her son's female best friend;

A father gave his son a contraceptive peach, telling him it was too expensive and to use it sparingly.

Although everything seems fine, something just feels off.

There's a reason I love abstract art; it's something I've inherited!

…………

Lin Ran didn't know what Jiang Qiaoqiao and Li Xiaohong talked about, but the two of them were sighing when they left.

"Qiaoqiao is a good girl. Even though she's not well, she still insists on helping you carry things, cook, and do housework... Jianhua, I'm so useless. I didn't give birth to a good son."

"Alright, honey, let's get out of here. If we keep talking, Xiao Ran will get angry."

Comrades Li Xiaohong and Lin Jianhua, with lofty ideals, went south to Shanghai.

Lin Ran's face darkened as she watched her parents get into a taxi. She quickly made a video call to Jiang Qiaoqiao and questioned her:

"What did you talk about with my mom? She said she didn't give birth to a good son?!"

"Hahaha~" Jiang Qiaoqiao laughed happily, "I...I didn't mean to. Auntie asked me what I usually do when I'm with you, and I couldn't exactly say I'm just playing games, so I told her about buying you things and washing vegetables for you today. Everything I said was true!"

"..."

Lin Ran pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.

He walked back to his rented room, closed the door, took out a small box from his pocket, and placed it under the phone camera.

"What is this?" Jiang Qiaoqiao asked.

"My dad gave it to me; you can look it up online."

"oh."

A few seconds passed.

Jiang Qiaoqiao took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and sighed:

"I've finished investigating... I finally understand why you're so abstract; it turns out your whole family are geniuses."

"Hehe." Lin Ran was speechless at her own father. "My dad even told me that the ultra-thin version costs 80 yuan a box, so I should use it sparingly."

"Pfft~"

"You fart in bed, don't you find it smelly!"

"Get lost, I just couldn't hold it in anymore, hahaha~"

"Oh……"

Lin Ran was now laughing in anger.

My parents usually seem normal, but today they're acting unusually. Maybe it's because Jiang Qiaoqiao came into the picture and created a subtle chemical reaction.

"It's five o'clock, are you free now?"

The phone screen was no longer completely dark; a beige bed sheet and a slender little hand were visible.

"Yes, what's wrong?" Lin Ran asked.

"It's time to learn music theory. We covered half of it yesterday, and we'll finish the other half today. The welcome party is on Thursday night, so four more days to practice your voice should be enough."

"You have a lot of confidence in me."

Lin Ran sat at her desk, opened her notebook, which was filled with musical notes—notes she had taken yesterday.

【Talent - Photographic Memory】is very useful, like upgrading a 10-series graphics card to the latest 50-series, increasing storage and processing power several times over.

Sometimes Lin Ran would think, if he could go back to his senior year of high school with this talent, he wouldn't have to study so hard.

Unfortunately not.

Lin Ran looked at her phone screen, which showed the same desk and two hands as yesterday.

He waited quietly for Jiang Qiaoqiao to explain music theory.

After waiting for two minutes, the screen remained frozen.

"Takako, I'm ready, let's go."

"Are...are we really going to do it?"

"Yes, they tortured me severely, kept me up all night, and made me so tired that I had dark circles under my eyes."

"Well... I'm coming."

"I will wait steadfastly!"

Lin Ran thought to himself, "The conversation tonight was weird. If it were on Qidian.com, it would definitely get censored."

The two hands on the phone screen disappeared, replaced by pink curtains. After a one-second pause, a delicate little face appeared.

Her long hair cascaded down her shoulders, her face was slightly flushed, and her eyes trembled slightly, filled with tears.

The girl noticed Lin Ran's dazed gaze, turned her head away shyly, revealing a wisp of soft hair by her ear, and muttered softly:

"I've had enough of showing you my face, so now listen to my lecture and stop daydreaming."