Chapter 320 - 161: Are You Craving Me?

Chapter 320: Chapter 161: Are You Craving Me?

"Ah... Ouch! Aina, I’m going to kill you! What are you grabbing at?! Sss..."

Xie Yiren rubbed her chest in pain and shot Aina a glare. Aina just tutted. "So stingy. You’re no fun."

"*I’m* no fun? I suppose you are, then? Get over here! Come on! Where do you think you’re going? Get back here, I’ll grope you silly!"

Xie Yiren charged forward and pinned Aina down, launching her counterattack. Aina’s miserable shrieks filled the dorm room, making Liu Jinyu and Xiao Wanqing suck in a sharp breath. ’So vicious,’ they thought. ’She’s going to get wrecked.’

The new semester had begun, and the four goofy roommates were reunited. Their dynamic was the same as always; they would still descend into crazy roughhousing at the slightest disagreement. Once they finally tired themselves out, the four girls sat together and began to unpack the New Year’s goods they had each brought from home. Xie Yiren could only watch. Last year, after the Spring Festival, she too had brought back many things her Ah Weng had prepared for her. He had told her to take them to school and share them with her classmates. Even though her clan was poor and had no expensive delicacies to offer, everything her Ah Weng had prepared was simple, unpretentious, and the most authentic specialty of the Miao Clan.

In the blink of an eye, everything was different.

"Er..." Liu Jinyu noticed Xie Yiren’s eyes turning red. She knew it must be painful for Yiren to see her roommates unpacking their local specialties from home when she had none of her own to share. She wrapped an arm around Xie Yiren’s slender shoulders. "Yiren, don’t be sad. I’m sure Su Ran will help you find your family."

If only she hadn’t mentioned Su Ran. The moment his name came up, Xie Yiren could no longer hold back. She hugged Liu Jinyu and burst into tears. "That jerk Su Ran! He’s just sightseeing and having fun all day, posting food pictures... He’s completely forgotten about me." SOB SOB SOB.

Uh...

The other three girls fell silent. ’Su Ran really deserves a good scolding,’ they thought. After all, Xie Yiren waited for his call every single day, and whenever he did call, he’d just say, ’I’m looking. Don’t worry, you can count on me.’ But then, one look at his social media feed revealed nothing but pictures of food and his travels. With a girl’s fragile heart, it was only natural for her to think, ’You’ve completely forgotten about me... Waaah...’

However, Su Ran was the one who had paid Xie Yiren’s tuition for the semester, and he was covering her living expenses as well. He had originally wanted to give her a lump sum of several hundred thousand yuan, but Xie Yiren had refused. She would only accept 1,000 yuan a month for living expenses, keeping track of the total in a little notebook. She was determined to pay him back.

"That little brat deserves a spanking. The next time he shows up, I’ll give him a piece of my mind. There, there, don’t cry anymore. Finding someone takes time, you can’t rush it."

Liu Jinyu wiped away Xie Yiren’s tears, her heart aching for her. The truth was, they all knew Su Ran was genuinely trying. It was just that he had no leads, and it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Of course, it was understandable that Xie Yiren was anxious. She just wanted to find her family, to know who she really was. ’I’m not an orphan... Do I have a family or not?’

"Don’t cry, don’t cry. I’ll call Su Ran right now and tell him to get on with it." Liu Jinyu cooed, consoling Xie Yiren like a child. She shot a meaningful look at Xiao Wanqing, who immediately tried to video call Su Ran. He rejected it. She tried again. He rejected it again. ’The nerve of him!’ she thought. She switched to a regular voice call, and this time, he picked up.

"Sister Jinyu, why do you keep trying to video call? I’m in the middle of looking up information."

Xiao Wanqing shot Xie Yiren a look, as if to say, ’See? He’s looking for information on your family.’ Xie Yiren’s sobs quieted slightly.

"Are there any leads in those documents?"

"Leads? Uh... yeah, yeah! The information says you first have to caramelize some sugar, then add the skin-on pork belly, then pour in some cherry juice, and finally, you’ll have delicious cherry-braised pork."

Well then...

Xie Yiren let out a wail and started crying again. "See? I told you he doesn’t care! He’s just looking up recipes! WAAAHHH..."

"??? What’s going on? Did I just hear Yiren crying?"

"You are so dead! I’m hanging up!" Xiao Wanqing snapped and ended the call. She quickly sent him a text: [Yiren is upset because we all brought back specialties from home and she couldn’t. You need to find a way to find her family, not just cook all day!] Then she put her phone down and joined the others in comforting Xie Yiren.

...

「Chuyuan.」

Su Ran was in the middle of cooking his cherry-braised pork. To be honest, he felt a little ashamed. Some time ago, he had confidently thumped his chest and promised Xie Yiren he would find her family. But lately, he’d been busy traveling and sightseeing. It wasn’t that he had forgotten about her. It was just that the only identifying information he had was: ’She is female, and her surname is not Xie.’ That was it. With a population of 1.4 billion, that was basically nothing to go on.

He hadn’t made any progress with Xie Yiren, nor with the other person he was helping, Uncle Qin.

In truth, Su Ran was trying very hard. It was just that the "clues" he had were as good as no clues at all. In their hearts, he and the three roommates had all silently come to terms with the likelihood that her family would never be found.

But Yiren was desperate. As long as there was even a sliver of hope, Su Ran refused to give up. That left only one final option—a DNA database.

The next morning, Yasuo came to the university to collect a strand of Xie Yiren’s hair. He explained to her, "Mr. Su asked me to take this to a professional lab for DNA analysis. We’ll run it against the DNA database. If anyone in your family has ever submitted their DNA information, we’ll definitely find a match. Consider it our last hope."

The chances, however, were slim. The rumor from years ago was that the previous Saintess and her daughter had both died in a fire. If that were true, there would be no reason for Xie Yiren’s family to have submitted their DNA. Still, a slim hope was better than no hope at all.

To this end, Su Ran even made a special trip to Wind Bell Temple in Jiangning to offer incense. He prayed for the Bodhisattva to bless his dear Yiren and help her find her relatives; it was heartbreaking to see her looking so haggard. He promised that if her family was found, he would pay to have the Guanyin’s statue gilded. He muttered his prayers for a long, long time before finally rising, his legs a little numb.

"Careful there, patron," an old monk said, helping Su Ran to his feet. "You are so devout. The Child-Giving Guanyin will surely bless you with octuplets in a single birth. Amitabha Buddha."