Chapter 40: Familiar

She kinda looks like my Wolfie…

Ji Yingran was still on the phone outside when the white-haired woman stepped out of the bakery.

She had only been inside for a minute, and her hands were empty, so she clearly hadn’t gone in to buy anything.

Then what had she done in there? Just browsed around?

The instant their eyes met, the white-haired woman rolled her eyes at her, as expected.

Ji Yingran frowned. Why was this woman so quick to roll her eyes? Or maybe it wasn’t a habit—maybe she just plain didn’t like the look of her.

Smack!

Smack smack!

Noisy commotion erupted from inside the shop, accompanied by strange slapping sounds that grew louder and louder.

Ji Yingran quickly told the person on the other end of the line, “Something’s come up here. I’ll have to hang up.”

She ended the call without another glance at the white-haired woman and hurried straight into the shop.

The scene that greeted her left Ji Yingran stunned.

Smack smack smack!

Liu Siyuan seemed utterly possessed. She was slapping her own cheeks wildly with both hands, alternating left and right.

Her face visibly swelled up like a pig’s head, but she refused to stop.

It was as if some force had taken control of her…

The other employees rushed forward to restrain her. Astonishingly, even with two of them holding on tight, they couldn’t budge her. She flung them both to the ground.

Once she’d shaken them off, she went right back to slapping herself furiously.

Only after the final smack did Liu Siyuan finally collapse, knocked out cold by her own hand.

Chaos reigned in the shop.

Even that wasn’t the end of it. The moment Siyuan stirred and woke, she tried to start slapping herself again.

They called an ambulance in a panic and rushed her to the hospital. It took a sedative to finally halt her mad frenzy.

When Ji Yingran finally stepped out of the hospital, she let out a long sigh of relief. What a heart-pounding day—first that lunatic blocking her path on the way out, and now Siyuan going berserk for no reason…

Ji Yingran spotted a bench and sank onto it in exhaustion. Suddenly, a strange intuition prickled at her. She lifted her gaze across the street.

There, beneath the traffic lights, stood a white figure. Her head was tilted slightly, her waist-length white hair billowing in the breeze.

Ji Yingran’s fine brows knitted together. Her again? Running into her back at the complex could be written off as neighborly coincidence. It wasn’t odd.

Seeing her at the bakery door? A fluke, maybe—even if it stretched belief a little.

But here, across from the hospital?

Ji Yingran didn’t buy coincidences piling up like that. Three times in one day? No way.

If it wasn’t coincidence, then there was only one explanation: the white-haired woman was tailing her.

From the neighborhood to the bakery… and now from the bakery to the hospital.

A memory flashed through Ji Yingran’s mind. Right when Siyuan had lost it and started slapping herself, the white-haired woman had slipped inside the shop for that brief moment.

She’d been the bakery’s only customer at the time.

Could Siyuan’s breakdown have something to do with her?

The white-haired woman didn’t cross the street. Without warning, she whipped around and strode away.

For reasons Ji Yingran couldn’t quite explain, she shot to her feet, dashed across the zebra crossing, and gave chase in the direction the white-haired woman had vanished.

She pursued for a few blocks, crossed a street… and lost her. The white-haired woman was gone.

Ji Yingran turned in a slow circle, eyes scanning every direction for any sign of her. Then it hit her—why was she even chasing? Why bother looking?

To catch up and demand if she had anything to do with Siyuan’s slapping fit? Or to confront her about the stalking?

Ji Yingran shook her head. The woman was obviously off her rocker. Even a straight-faced interrogation would probably get nothing coherent out of her.

In Ji Yingran’s mind, she was just a crazy lunatic, plain and simple.

She turned to go, but then a sweet, tempting aroma drifted through the air.

She followed the scent with her eyes. There was a street stall run by a white-haired old lady, its sign proudly proclaiming “Sweetheart Roasted Sweet Potatoes.”

Even more attention-grabbing than the potatoes, though, was the white-haired woman loitering right beside it.

That mane of white hair was impossible to miss. Amid any crowd, your gaze locked onto her silvery cascade first.

The white-haired woman stood sniffing the air, her eyes glued to the stall without blinking.

Did she want a roasted sweet potato?

The thought had barely formed when the white-haired woman whipped her head around. Her stare lanced straight over—sharp, predatory.

Ji Yingran felt a primal chill, like prey pinned by a beast’s gaze.

“You,” the white-haired woman said.

“Me?” Ji Yingran pointed at herself hesitantly.

“Yeah, you. Get over here and buy me a roasted sweet potato.” The demand came with utter confidence, completely natural.

Ji Yingran nodded on instinct. Then she caught herself. “Hold on—why should I buy you one?”

The white-haired woman fell silent. She just stared, unblinking.

Ji Yingran squirmed under the intensity and caved. “Fine, quit staring. I’ll buy it.”

It was just a sweet potato, after all. That morning, the white-haired woman had given her some medicated powder that fixed her sprained ankle. Sure, the sprain might’ve happened while dodging her… but she’d helped anyway. A potato was fair thanks.

Ji Yingran approached the stall. “Grandma, the biggest one you’ve got.”

The old lady beamed. “Coming right up—the largest! Red-fleshed or white?”

Ji Yingran glanced back at the white-haired woman. “Red or white?”

No answer.

Ji Yingran rubbed her nose awkwardly. “Two red and one white, then.”

They looked good, and her stomach was rumbling. She could use one herself.

The old lady bagged them swiftly. Ji Yingran scanned to pay and took the bag.

Whoosh!

It was snatched away.

Two potatoes weren’t enough for the white-haired woman. Her eyes fixed on the remaining red-fleshed one still in Ji Yingran’s hand.

“That one too,” she commanded coldly.

Ji Yingran: “…”

Two wasn’t enough? She needed three?

Before Ji Yingran could respond, the white-haired woman lunged and grabbed it.

She even shot a fierce glare for good measure.

Ji Yingran’s mouth twitched. Buying her the things and no thank-you? Fine. But snatching and glaring?

What kind of person was she…

Whatever. She was nuts. Normal rules didn’t apply.

The white-haired woman clutched her three prizes eagerly. She didn’t even peel one before chomping down.

Fresh off the fire, it was scorching. She hopped in place from the heat but didn’t spit out a single bite.

Ji Yingran couldn’t watch. “Hey, slow down. No one’s gonna steal it. Don’t burn yourself.”

The white-haired woman ignored her. She gulped down the blistering mouthful and bit into the next. Shake, wince—repeat.

Ji Yingran watched the spectacle, that odd sense of familiarity bubbling up again.

This scene… it felt so déjà vu. Like she’d witnessed it somewhere before. But where?

While Ji Yingran pondered, the three piping-hot sweet potatoes vanished into the white-haired woman’s belly.

Ji Yingran snapped back, eyes wide in disbelief. Not even half a minute? Three huge ones gone?

Her stomach could handle that? Straight from scalding?

Had she just doomed herself to another hospital run?

“You okay?” Ji Yingran asked, worried.

No response. Instead, the white-haired woman thrust out her hand, palm up.

In it lay three bites—one from each potato. The best parts, right from the sweetest centers.

Ji Yingran: “?”

With exaggerated arrogance, the white-haired woman declared, “A reward for you. Eat.”

Ji Yingran: “??”

When she didn’t move, impatience flickered across the white-haired woman’s face. She shoved the remnants straight into Ji Yingran’s palm.

Now what? Toss them? Keep them? Ji Yingran dearly wanted to refuse, but the white-haired woman left no room for it. One wrong word, and she’d blow up.

A lunatic’s temper was no joke…

Rather than refuse outright, Ji Yingran pointed ahead. “Look at that!”

The white-haired woman turned to check.

Seizing the moment, Ji Yingran stuffed the bites into her pocket.

She’d have chucked them, but getting caught wasn’t worth the risk.

“What? There’s nothing there,” the white-haired woman growled suspiciously.

“Just thought that tree was pretty,” Ji Yingran fibbed.

The white-haired woman’s eyes raked over her, puzzled about where the potato bits had gone.

Ji Yingran held out her empty palm. “Ate ’em. Pretty good, yeah.”

The white-haired woman pouted but bought it. Her attention swiftly snagged on a nearby milk tea shop.

She casually raised a hand and pointed. “Go on, buy me a cup of milk tea.”

Ji Yingran nearly choked. It felt just like being bossed around by a lady’s maid.

She had no intention of buying one. As Ji Yingran turned to leave, the White-Haired Woman nimbly took a long stride and blocked her path.

From the looks of things, there was no escaping it now.

Ji Yingran gave an awkward laugh. “Fine, fine, fine. I’ll buy you one.”

With no other choice, Ji Yingran hurried off to get her a milk tea. She didn’t bother asking what kind—somehow, she doubted she’d get an answer, just like with the roasted sweet potato.

In the end, she simply bought the largest bubble tea available and handed it over.

That done, Ji Yingran turned to slip away. If she didn’t leave now, the woman would probably latch onto her again. Better to make a quick exit.

The White-Haired Woman clamped her mouth around the straw and gulped it down noisily. In plain sight, the enormous cup drained to the bottom in three seconds flat.

Ji Yingran, who had been on the verge of sneaking off, stared in wide-eyed shock once more.

She had already thought devouring a whole roasted sweet potato in one bite was outrageous enough. She hadn’t expected her to chug an entire vat of bubble tea on top of that.

Just like with the sweet potato, she left a bit of dregs at the bottom.

“Here—a reward for you.” The White-Haired Woman shoved the leftovers into Ji Yingran’s hand.

Ji Yingran’s eye twitched. She was on the verge of laughing from sheer exasperation. Who wanted her scraps? Leftover sweet potato was one thing, but the dregs from a milk tea…

She made no move to drink it. The White-Haired Woman’s stare grew more intense, until the hairs on Ji Yingran’s neck stood straight up.

However…

There was something familiar about that piercing gaze.

Ji Yingran glanced down at the dregs in her hand, then back up at the intently staring White-Haired Woman. Abruptly, a figure flashed through her mind.

The eye-rolling. The habit of leaving one bite of food for others. The long white hair. The golden pupils. That inhuman, eerie presence…

“Wolfie?”

Ji Yingran ventured uncertainly.