Chapter 10 False Romance and Happiness

Yan Binghua initially disapproved of Yan Songyu and Jiang Chengli being together, not because he was materialistic, but because he wanted to matchmake Feng Yu and Yan Songyu. Feng Yu was also a poor student sponsored by Ruixin and was an orphan.

However, Yan Songyu was completely obsessed with Jiang Chengli, which was the only time she had rebelled in the past twenty years. In the end, Yan Binghua compromised.

Parents can never win against their children. Yan Binghua thought that no matter what, with him and Ruixin around, Jiang Chengli would never be able to bully Yan Songyu. But he still couldn't understand where he had gone wrong in educating his daughter, which led to her becoming blind.

Yan Songyu thought that there had been a false romance and happiness between them, although it was just a carefully designed scheme by him. She was in love and her imagination ran wild.

Yan Songyu fell in love at first sight, but the next day when she went to take care of her savior with great enthusiasm, she was turned away at the door.

"Stop knocking, the neighbor went out before dawn," the older brother, who was washing up at the sink, spat out a mouthful of toothpaste foam before reminding her.

"You went out?" Yan Songyu was surprised. Didn't she ask him to wait for her yesterday?

"Yeah, this room isn't soundproof at all. He's been making so much noise that I haven't been able to sleep well, and I have to go to work soon," he complained irritably.

Yan Songyu casually handed him the thermos, saying, "Here, you haven't had breakfast, have you? Consider this my apology on his behalf."

"Hey, are you two having a little tiff?" The neighbor wiped his hands on his clothes, took the thermos, opened it, and popped a crystal shrimp dumpling into his mouth. "Delicious! Don't worry, I'll talk to them for you when I get back tonight. A grown man shouldn't let a girl coax him."

"Not yet." Yan Songyu waved and left.

Yan Songyu came again that evening, but Jiang Chengli never returned. Having learned from her previous experience, she dared not go home too late and left a note before leaving.

On the third day, she arrived a little early, only to be met with a tightly closed door.

When the sound of the door opening next door reached Yan Songyu, she was about to go forward to ask what was going on when the yawning neighbor stepped back, his gentle tone from yesterday gone. "No, no, no, stay away from me. I don't want to get involved in your business."

Yan Songyu asked, puzzled, "W-what's wrong?"

"What happened?" The neighbor pointed to his face. "Look at this injury. The kid next door beat me up."

"ah?"

"I just wanted to give him the thermos and try to persuade him a little. I had barely opened my mouth to say that he'd be lucky to have it and I'd be the one to benefit from it, when that kid punched me, grabbed my collar and told me not to mess with him, and then snatched the thermos back." The neighbor became more and more angry as he spoke. "How did I mess with you? I just ate your breakfast because I was greedy for a little benefit. You had one arm in a sling, but you hit me pretty hard. You almost knocked out my teeth."

Human joys and sorrows are not shared. As Yan Songyu listened, the corners of her mouth unconsciously turned up. She stuffed the thermos container she had been using today back into his hands. “Big brother, I’m giving you the thermos container as a gift. You don’t need to return it. It’s to apologize to you.”

"Really? That costs several tens of yuan."

Yan Songyu nodded. "If you feel bad about it, then let me know when he gets back tonight."

That evening, Yan Songyu finally caught up with Jiang Chengli. The first thing Jiang Chengli said to Yan Songyu was, "Why are you here again?"

Yan Songyu pouted, dissatisfied, "Why are you avoiding me?"

Jiang Chengli didn't answer, but used his good left hand to pull her away. "I'll see you out. Has the driver arrived yet?"

Yan Songyu struggled, "No, let go, let go now, you haven't answered me yet."

"I'm not avoiding you, I just have something to do." Jiang Chengli practically dragged her out, his actions anything but as gentle as he appeared. "This isn't a place for you, go home."

Yan Songyu, acting like a rogue, squatted down on the ground and looked up to protest, "Why shouldn't I have come? I said I would take care of you until you recover."

“I don’t need you to take care of me,” Jiang Chengli coldly refused. “If you really feel bad about it, just pay my medical bills. I’m very poor.”

"That's not enough! You saved me!"

Jiang Chengli suddenly approached Yan Songyu, feigning fierceness, "Miss Yan, do you take me for some kind of good-natured person? If I hadn't received four years of funding from the Yan Songyu Foundation, I wouldn't have stepped forward, much less blocked that blow."

"You saved me because you recognized me?"

“Of course, so you don’t need to feel indebted to me. I didn’t turn a blind eye; I just wanted to ease my conscience.” He raised his injured right hand. “From now on, I’ll pretend I don’t owe you anything, so can you leave now?”

Miss Yan, who had always had a smooth life, was repeatedly rejected and began to rebel. Moreover, Jiang Chengli's open and honest demeanor only deepened her affection for him.

"You yourself said I'm Miss Yan, do you think I'm only worth that much money?"

From that day on, Yan Songyu openly pursued Jiang Chengli. Jiang Chengli never gave her a kind look, but she became more determined with each setback because she had discovered his secret.

That day, she forgot the bracelet her father had given her at Jiang Chengli's house. When she went back to get it, she saw him looking dejectedly at a box. The deep despair and heartbreak in his eyes stunned her. And everything in that box was related to her:

There was that thermos he had snatched back from his neighbor;

There was a half-used hand cream she had left at his house;

There were clothes and shoes she gave me, and an ugly scarf she knitted herself;

When she played with his paintbrushes and paints, he criticized her for wasting paint and rice paper by scribbling.

There was a four-leaf clover she found in the patch of clover at the alley entrance when she was waiting for him to return. She excitedly shared her joy with him, but his indifferent "boring" dampened her spirits completely...

So he wasn't indifferent to her; in fact, he liked her a lot. He just felt that the gap between them was too big and there was no future for them, which is why he kept pushing her away from him. Yan Songyu came to this conclusion and left happily.

Lost in romantic fantasies, Yan Songyu didn't see this as a problem. She felt that "even mountains and seas can be leveled if the one you love is separated by them," which strengthened her resolve to get closer to him.

So she decided to confront them.

"Oh no, I forgot to bring hand cream!" Yan Songyu complained, pouting, after washing her hands. "They're so dry in winter, they'll peel soon." She held out her fair hands to Jiang Chengli. "What should I do?"

Jiang Chengli paused, rummaged under the bed for a while, and took out the half-empty tube of hand cream.

"Isn't this my hand cream?" Yan Songyu looked surprised. "I thought I lost it. How did it end up with you?"

"Don't you know how forgetful you are?" Jiang Chengli said impatiently. "Hurry up and leave. Stop bothering me. Miss, I don't have your good fortune. I need to go out and work to earn money for food."

"Jiang Chengli, are you really annoyed with me?"

"Am I not making it obvious enough?"

Yan Songyu pulled out the box he had hidden under the bed. "Then what are these?" She threw the clothes into Jiang Chengli's arms. "Didn't you throw these clothes away? Why did you pick them up again? Didn't you think the scarf was ugly?"

"If you don't like me, why keep these things?"

Jiang Chengli stared intently at her, his eyes slowly reddening, a thousand words condensing into a soft, mocking "Heh~"

Why did you expose me?