Jiang Ling was stunned for a moment when she heard this.
She stopped her pointless overthinking and, with a probing tone, asked in return, “Me?”
“Yes.”
Lin Xiaoyu gave a definite answer.
She wrapped her own palm around Jiang Ling’s fingers, warming up the other’s slightly cold hand inch by inch.
“She promised Nan Nan she wouldn’t ask about this, but you didn’t.”
Reminded by this, Jiang Ling’s eyes lit up.
Come to think of it, that’s right!
But does this count as exploiting a loophole?
And most importantly, would Mo Ran really tell her the truth?
With these worries on her mind, Jiang Ling pressed her lips together and didn’t reply immediately.
It was as if Lin Xiaoyu could guess what Jiang Ling was thinking.
She continued in a calm tone, “Sister Bai Xue can’t speak up, Nan Nan’s temper will probably lead to a fight after just a few words, I’m not good at comforting people, and Xu Nuo is a scaredy-cat.
So right now, only you can help Nan Nan.”
Jiang Ling noticed she used the word “help.”
“I don’t think she really wants to leave NOVA,” Lin Xiaoyu recalled.
“Her smile always seems like there’s something between us, but it’s not fake, and her care for us couldn’t be just an act.”
She was a good judge of character.
Mo Ran’s situation was less her own will and more like a forced compromise.
Hearing this, Jiang Ling echoed in agreement, “Yeah!”
This lifted Jiang Ling’s originally gloomy and frustrated mood a bit.
She picked up her charging phone and found that it wasn’t too late yet.
After thinking for a while, she hesitantly asked, “Do you think she’s asleep now?”
After all, their time was limited.
Jiang Ling wanted to resolve this as soon as possible.
“Go check. If she’s asleep, you can wait until tomorrow.”
Lin Xiaoyu didn’t say anything discouraging.
Instead, she encouraged her.
This gave Jiang Ling a sense of reassurance.
She groped her way up in the dark and tiptoed to Mo Ran’s room.
The door was ajar, with a bright light leaking out from the gap.
Jiang Ling peeked carefully inside, barely able to confirm that Mo Ran wasn’t asleep.
After hesitating for a moment, she raised her hand and knocked on the door.
“Knock, knock, knock —“
The sound of knocking was especially clear in the night.
Jiang Ling could hear her own heart racing out of control, her eyes fixed intently ahead, uneasy and nervous.
But for a long while, there was no response from inside.
Not even the slightest sound.
This made a few bad thoughts flash instantly through Jiang Ling’s mind.
Don’t tell me…
Did she run away from home?
Jiang Ling’s imagination raced at full speed, and in a split second, she pictured Mo Ran in her thin pajamas, shivering pitifully in the cold wind.
Her face tense with worry, she knocked a few more times in succession, but still, there was no movement at all.
This made Jiang Ling instantly lose her composure.
Standing in front of the door, she pressed her palms together and muttered, “There’s a reason for this, Xiao Ran, please don’t blame me for entering your room without permission!”
With that, Jiang Ling resolutely pushed open the door.
What came into view was a slender girl standing by the window, her back to Jiang Ling.
Mo Ran stood with her back to the door, wearing only a thin set of pajamas, motionless, as if staring intently at the neon lights outside the window.
The window was wide open, her whole figure radiating a silent and desolate air.
Jiang Ling called out anxiously, “Xiao… Xiao Ran?”
She didn’t turn around.
As if she hadn’t heard Jiang Ling at all.
This made Jiang Ling even more worried.
She hurried forward in quick steps, carefully leaning in to look at Mo Ran’s face.
The face that always brimmed with a bright smile was now calm as still water.
Under the dazzling night lights, her complexion was pale as paper, her signature pink hair—once like a little sun—now a messy tangle, the ends dry and stiff like straw.
This sight made Jiang Ling lose her composure in an instant.
She stared in disbelief at the Mo Ran in front of her, who could only be described as “listless,” her voice filled with worry and panic.
“What’s wrong?”
It was only then that Mo Ran seemed to hear Jiang Ling’s voice.
The dazed look in her eyes gradually focused, and she finally looked at her in silence.
The moment their eyes met, Jiang Ling couldn’t help but take half a step back—not from fear, but from an indescribable feeling, as if the next second she might burst into tears, her heart throbbing painfully.
“Why aren’t you asleep yet?”
Yet this worrying Mo Ran, the first thing she said was still a concern for Jiang Ling, as if that care was etched into her very bones.
Jiang Ling’s nose instantly tingled.
Her hands trembling, she reached out to pull Mo Ran’s loose clothes up, covering the other girl’s pale skin that had been chilled by the night wind.
Then, with some effort, Jiang Ling slammed the window shut and pushed her by the shoulder toward the bed.
“Let’s not talk about that for now, just get under the covers and warm up, I’ll turn on the heater—”
“If you have something to say, just say it.”
Mo Ran gently brushed away her hand.
Jiang Ling froze at once, looking dazedly at her own arm stuck in midair, unable to react for a moment.
After a long pause, she forced out a gentle smile. “It’s really nothing much, I just wanted to talk, so I came to see if you were asleep.”
But Mo Ran only stared at her, her eyes showing not a hint of extra emotion, nor did she respond.
This made Jiang Ling feel even more pressured, and she could only keep talking to herself.
“Everyone’s worried about you, but you and Sister Bai Xue seem to have made some agreement, so I… I thought maybe I could talk with you about leaving the group.”
“……There’s no point.”
Mo Ran was silent for two seconds, then shook her head.
Her expression made it clear she wasn’t to be persuaded.
But Jiang Ling knew she had already backed down once.
If she let herself be overwhelmed by the other’s aura again here, then things would truly be beyond help.
So even though her voice was trembling, Jiang Ling forced herself to continue, staring determinedly at the little patch of floor before Mo Ran’s feet.
Her tone was resolute. “I’m not good with words, but you’re an irreplaceable part of NOVA, both in daily life and on stage.”
Jiang Ling chose every word carefully, trying her best to use plain but utterly sincere language to bare her heart.
“None of us want you to leave. So if there’s something you can’t resolve, can you talk to us about it? We can all figure it out together. Even if… even if none of us have a solution, I will do everything I can to find a way to help you…”
Before she could finish, Jiang Ling noticed a pair of pale toes entering her line of sight, followed by slender ankles that could be encircled with one hand.
She realized Mo Ran was walking toward her and looked up with mixed feelings—
Only to meet Mo Ran’s eyes, filled with a hint of mockery.
She stared down at Jiang Ling almost disdainfully.
“Jiang Ling.”
“Just how determined are you to say those words?”