Chapter 1770: Youngster Side Story (33): Choosing Clothes, Teaching, Ruǎnruǎn Crashed_2

"Help me."

"..."

Under the eager gazes of the salesgirls, Jiang Ruan helped him pick out a set of clothes. After Yan Chi reported his size, the salesperson handed over the clothes that suited him, and he went into the fitting room while Jiang Ruan sat on the sofa to rest for a bit.

"Have some water." The salesgirl poured her a cup of warm water.

"Thanks."

"Your boyfriend is really handsome."

Jiang Ruan’s face warmed slightly. "He’s not my boyfriend, he’s just my senior."

The two of them had already done plenty of intimate things, but strictly speaking, they’d never seriously confirmed their relationship. Jiang Ruan had no guts to just come right out and admit it.

"Who goes out early in the morning to shop for clothes with a senior?" A few of the salesgirls laughed teasingly.

Their expressions clearly said:

We’ve been around. We know how it is.

When Yan Chi came out, all Jiang Ruan could do was sigh that a tall, good-looking guy really was born to be a clothes hanger.

"I think it looks pretty good. And this coat, try it on." Autumn had set in, the wind was cool and the water cold, so Jiang Ruan picked out a trench coat for him as well.

Yan Chi nodded. After he put on the clothes, the salesperson walked over.

"Sir, this outfit fits you really well, and since it’s National Day right now, we have a discount event. This trench coat you’re wearing also has a markdown..." Naturally, the salesperson was going all out to get him to pay and buy.

"And this young lady has great taste too. This matching set really suits you."

"And you know, your outfit matches your girlfriend’s quite well. It’s like a couple set..."

In fact, today Jiang Ruan was just wearing a light white sweater and black long pants, classic black-and-white. That kind of color combo almost never goes wrong.

So when Jiang Ruan picked clothes for Yan Chi, she went conservative too: white top, black pants. She hadn’t thought about matching any kind of couple outfit at all.

But after the salesperson said that, it made it sound like she’d done it on purpose, and her face burned red.

"Actually, we..." Jiang Ruan wanted to explain.

Yan Chi just said directly, "I’ll take this set."

Jiang Ruan: "..."

...

They finished picking clothes quickly. When they came out of the men’s store, the mall was still pretty empty. As they walked past the arcade, Jiang Ruan pressed her lips together. "Normally this place is so packed you can’t squeeze through. It’s my first time seeing it this empty."

"Want to go in and take a look?" It was only around ten in the morning. Even if they went back, they basically wouldn’t have anything to do.

Jiang Ruan nodded in agreement. As soon as they walked in, she saw a few motorcycle game machines not far away.

Under her family’s eyes at home, she hardly dared go out and ride all the time. Once in a while she’d come to the arcade to get her fix, but usually it was so crowded that you had to line up to play the motorcycles. It was rare that no one was on them.

Her heart moved, but with Yan Chi there, she hesitated. She couldn’t just let him stand there watching her play, right?

She had just turned, ready to leave, when Yan Chi had already helped her start up one of the machines.

"Didn’t you want to play?"

"What about you?"

"I’ll watch you." Yan Chi really had never touched this kind of thing.

One person playing with one person standing on the side watching—however you looked at it, it felt off.

Jiang Ruan’s brain heated up and she blurted, "How about you try it, and I’ll teach you. It’s not a real motorcycle anyway. Even if you crash, nothing’s going to happen—you can just experience it."

Yan Chi actually chuckled. "And how exactly are you planning to teach me?"

"You sit on it first, I’ll teach you."

If Yan Chi’s parents, his sister, and brother-in-law saw him hanging around in an arcade, their jaws would probably drop to the floor, because his usual idea of leisure was basically soaking in the swimming pool.

Yan Chi straddled the bike, and Jiang Ruan told him where the throttle was, the brake was, and what to do when he hit a curve.

This kind of simulation machine was still very different from a real motorcycle. The operation wasn’t that complicated, but it was Yan Chi’s first time, and he didn’t know what he’d encounter while "driving," so he crashed right at the start...

If this were real life, the car would’ve been wrecked and he’d be dead by now.

"It’s actually pretty simple. I’ll play once so you can see." Compared to him, Jiang Ruan was naturally much more professional.

"It’s like a kind of feeling. Once you find it, you’ll feel like it’s easy to play."

But for a newbie with zero racing experience, that kind of feeling was pretty hard to find.

For something that’s very hands-on, just watching isn’t enough to find any feeling. When Yan Chi was riding the motorcycle, Jiang Ruan stood beside him watching him crash again and again, getting quite anxious, constantly wanting to step in.

But this racing feeling, you can’t get it just from talking about it—you have to actually get on and do it. By the end, Jiang Ruan was feeling kind of helpless.

"Maybe you need someone to take you through it before you can find the feeling. Forget it, let’s stop playing. It’s almost eleven, we should get going."

Jiang Ruan was already starting to think about lunch.

"We can actually do the experience right now too." Yan Chi said bluntly.

"Hm?"

Just as Jiang Ruan was about to get up and leave the motorcycle machine, Yan Chi walked over, lifted his leg, and sat down behind her. The machines in this arcade could seat two, so it wasn’t crowded, but Jiang Ruan felt like the air around her was suddenly compressed.

In an instant, the air thinned, her chest felt tight, like everything was sealed up and airless.

"Just take me through it once." His voice came from diagonally behind her.

This time was completely different from last time when she’d given him a ride. There were no helmets, and his voice was so close it was like it was pressed right up against her ear.

Rubbing, tangling, hooking at and stirring up the heart that was already restless and on edge.

"It’s counting down." Yan Chi said in a low voice.

Jiang Ruan gripped the motorcycle’s handlebars with both hands. On the screen in front of her, the countdown to the game start was ticking down: 5, 4...

3!

Yan Chi had only been sitting behind her at first, but the next second he leaned forward, closing the distance. He was tall, with long arms. His body only lightly touched hers, but his arms brushed gently against hers, and he followed along her hands to wrap his around the handlebars.

Jiang Ruan’s breathing grew heavy. She still had a mask on, her breath trapped inside, hot and searing.

The screen was still counting down. Jiang Ruan’s whole body was taut, her heart pounding so fast it was about to leap out of her throat.

Even though the season was cool and they weren’t wearing that many layers, and even though they weren’t that close physically, she still felt the body heat of the person behind her slowly seeping into all her limbs and bones.

His fingers enveloped hers, the warmth of his palms almost burning into the back of her hand.

"It started."

Yan Chi’s voice came again from behind, each word landing like a blow on her heart.

Tingly and numb.

Breath heavy, cheeks flushing in waves, heartbeat speeding up, and the game itself was pretty thrilling...

With multiple kinds of stimulation layered together, Jiang Ruan drove faster than usual.

It was like she wanted to end this game quickly.

Her whole mind felt foggy. Why had she said she’d teach him to ride a motorcycle, anyway? She’d said she was just going to teach him some riding tricks, but if this kept up, she was really going to lose herself completely.

"Ruan Ruan..." With them this close, Yan Chi could naturally feel how tense her body was. And the way she was driving, weaving all over the place in an S-shape. "Are you really that nervous?"

"No." Jiang Ruan’s voice came out through the mask, muffled.

She was anything but calm—she was so nervous she could pass out.

Especially once the game started, with the tense, exciting sound effects—her body, her vision, all her senses overloaded with stimulation, there was no way to slow her heart back down.

And then, behind her, Yan Chi let out a low laugh, his breath tinged with humid heat...

"But... your ears are red."

His voice dropped, hitting right where she was most vulnerable.

The next second—

"Bang—" A sharp sound.

They crashed!

Jiang Ruan was stunned. She almost never wiped out on these machines, and she handled real motorcycles with ease, so game motorcycles were nothing to her. And yet, in the moment she was supposed to show off her real skills, she...

Wiped out!

Yan Chi only laughed. "It’s fine. We can take it slow."

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