Chapter 33 ０五 See u :(

Jiang Song is checking the chat history.

Was it because he hadn't spoken to her on the first day back home?

Or because his saying he was busy sounded like an excuse?

Or does she actually not like the cat just now?

Otherwise, why didn't she reply to him?

He waited from the sofa to the bed, then from the bed to the floor, only to receive a few messages on LINE. It wasn't until the housekeeper came to urge him to try on the suit that he composed another message: "Sad, time to go try on the suit. Bye."

Then I deleted it, thought about it, and re-edited it: "It's time to go try on dresses again, see you :( "

Hopefully she can see that his ":(" isn't about trying on dresses but about her.

However, after he tried on the dresses and found his phone, he still hadn't received a reply from the girl.

This is so excessive. So sad. So disgusting.

He was distracted by this, and even at lunch, in front of Grandpa Jiang and Mr. Jiang, he was staring at his phone, completely distracted. But no one was angry with him, or even accused him. Finally, Mr. Jiang glanced at Ms. Tanaka, who coughed lightly at the table, and Jiang Song finally woke up and moved his cutlery.

More than a month ago, when Ms. Tanaka had almost finished her affairs in Japan, she flew directly to H City and decided to spend the summer here.

She and Jiang Cheng were not divorced, but just separated. However, in the past, Jiang Cheng would usually fly to Tokyo in his spare time to stay with her and Jiang Song in their old house in Chiyoda Ward.

This year, Jiang Song returned to China for six months. His grandmother suffered a heart attack after the Lunar New Year holiday and was critically ill. She wanted her grandson to return home to spend more time with her, so Tanaka sent him back. After school started, Jiang Song stayed in China to study until his grandmother passed away in late March. After that, for some reason, Jiang Song moved into an apartment on his own.

Jiang Song's return to China was a piece of influential news in the wealthy circles of H City.

Although the fact that Jiang Cheng and his wife were separated in a foreign country was not made public, given the Jiang family's wealth and status, any slight movement would attract attention, and even the most secretive matters would be widely spread. The fact that Jiang Song was taken to the Tanaka family became a hot topic of conversation.

Everyone thought that the former couple had parted ways, and that Jiang Cheng would quickly divorce his wife and remarry after the only heir of the Jiang family was taken away by his mother. However, more than ten years later, Jiang Cheng still showed no such tendency. Instead, he flew to Japan from time to time.

Instead of waiting for the news of Jiang Cheng's divorce or remarriage, they waited for the news of Jiang Song's return to China. So the rumor became that Jiang Song would stay in China to develop in the future, but later facts gave them a reversal.

Now no one knows what the Jiang family and the Tanaka family are trying to do, but at least as far as the current situation is concerned, both families have only one heir. If nothing unexpected happens, this young master can successfully become the heir of both families.

This year, Jiang Song's birthday was the first in H City in years. Although it wasn't a coming-of-age ceremony, Jiang Cheng and Old Man Jiang intended to make it a grand occasion for Jiang Song, treating it as a coming-of-age ceremony and his official entry into H City's celebrity circles. Therefore, after returning from the island, Jiang Song began accompanying Jiang Cheng and his grandfather to necessary social events.

So he is really busy, not pretending.

"Bansheng's class leader will come to visit our home at 3:30. My grandfather and I are busy, so I'll let Assistant Zhao accompany you. You can handle it yourself." Jiang Cheng said this at the end of lunch, as if he was talking about something very unimportant.

Jiang Song also deserved to be nonchalant: "はい."

Perhaps because he was feeling extremely dejected, Jiang Cheng added casually, "If the talks go well, you don't have to attend the Zhuo family's banquet tonight."

Jiang Song was then moved and looked at him.

He had no reason not to agree.

After Ban Sheng's visit, it was almost dinner time. Jiang Song had dinner with Ms. Tanaka, and then asked the driver to take him to the address he got from Mr. Mizuno.

He walked through the old streets at dusk and stopped in front of a residential building. He took out his phone and wanted to say something. But he couldn't think of what to say after thinking for a long time. Then, a woman walking by with a dog suddenly stepped back to his side and stared at him intently.

He looked at the strange lady and took a step back.

The lady pushed up her glasses and uttered a short exclamation: "Ah, it's me."

He was just wondering when he heard her smiling and saying, "Hello, classmate Jiang Song."

Just like that, the two met unexpectedly.

Jiang Song suddenly heard his name from the mouth of this strange lady, and it was addressed like this. Almost instantly he realized that she was the aunt Xia Cun was talking about.

Why does her aunt look so young?

The voice appeared at the same time as this thought, and he called out: "Aunt."

Xia Lan burst out laughing: "Why did you call me aunt? Let me introduce myself, my name is Xia Lan, Lan means blue."

Jiang Song suddenly felt embarrassed, not at all like the carefree and relaxed young man he usually was. He stammered and changed his words, "Xia, Xia Lan."

Huh? He's a very cute male classmate.

His face seems to be a little red. He is indeed the type of beautiful boy that Xia Zuncheng would like. Suddenly, I have an inspiration.

"Are you here to look for Xia Zheng?"

So you can call her Xia Cunxing. Does that mean Xia Tian exists? Jiang Song's mind went blank as he replied, "Yeah."

"Wait a moment, she's looking for something and will be down soon."

As Xia Lan said this, Holmes suddenly rubbed against Jiang Song. Jiang Song didn't know what to do, so he simply squatted down to touch the dog, and then saw Xia Lan squatting down as well.

"..." Jiang Song's mind went blank because this sister seemed to be staring at him all the time. She looked like Xia Cun, but he didn't dare to stare at her like he did Xia Cun.

"Is this your dog?" he asked at last.

"No, he's a friend who's temporarily fostering him at home. His name is Holmes."

What else can I say?

But it seemed that he didn't need to find a topic, because Xia Lan continued: "I don't dare to keep a dog."

"Why?"

"Because Xia Zun is very jealous."

"Jealous?"

"Huh? You don't even know what 'jealous' means?"

“My Chinese is not very good.”

"That fits Xia Zuncheng perfectly," she sighed casually, then asked, "Do you also not understand 'da ga'?"

Jiang Song nodded, his expression serious and confused.

Xia Lan couldn't help laughing.

It’s really cute, no wonder Xia Zun likes it.

She stopped talking and continued to explain what she had said before: "Jealousy is...jealous, feeling left out. Do you understand now?"

Jiang Song nodded.

"How do you say that in Japanese?"

Xia Lan asked casually, but Jiang Song's cheeks turned slightly red.

He found that her words were a bit nonsense, but he still answered her obediently: "やきもちを焼く."

Xia Lan didn't understand at all, but nodded seriously: "Yoshi."

"..." After a moment of silence, he asked with some concern, "Why would she be jealous of having a dog?"

"Because she's almost a puppy, right?" Xia Lan said, then suddenly changed the subject, "Well, what are you looking for our Xia Cun?"

"I..." Jiang Song didn't finish, because he didn't know either. He just wanted to see her very much.

Without waiting for an answer, Xia Lan couldn't help but raise her eyebrows, then put one hand under her chin and observed him without any hesitation.

…

It was like an apple hitting Xia Cun on the head, and she felt the pull of gravity like Newton.

Gravity is a real feeling, a feeling of existence.

Jiang Song and Xiao Lan squatted together. This incredible fact and scene gave Xia Cun a strong sense of shock, as if the area under this old tree was the intersection of fantasy and reality.

Xia Cun stopped outside the stairwell for a long time. The boy who was touching Holmes suddenly turned around and looked at her. After staring at each other for a few breaths, she finally slowly moved her feet and walked under the tree.

Jiang Song also stood up. The two stood face to face for a while before he said, “…久しぶり.” (Long time no see.)

Xia Cun's gaze drifted behind him. Xia Lan was standing behind Jiang Song, making all kinds of strange faces with an energetic look, pointing and gesturing at Jiang Song.

Xiaolan is so weird.

As Xia Cun thought about this, he inexplicably felt the sunset was a little hot. He then turned his gaze back to the boy and asked him, "Why did you come?"

She had a blank expression on her face, as if she didn't welcome him at all. Jiang Song was unhappy and wanted to complain to her, "That's too much," but her aunt was also there, so he held it in for a long time before saying, "Because I'm so bored at home."

Jiang Song is always bored.

"Is it more boring than when you were on the island?"

"That's about right. Because..."

Why? He didn't finish his words, and Xia Cun didn't ask any more questions. They both seemed to be somewhat familiar with each other under the setting sun. Then the girl passed by her and handed the phone to Xia Lan. Xia Lan cleared her throat and said, "Holmes seems very anxious. Let's go to the park and find other dogs to play with for a while today."

She walked in front with the dog, and a few meters behind her, Xia Cun and Jiang Song walked together.

They are in step.

So is the reason why they don’t talk to each other the same?

Xia Cun's gaze wandered, noticing many things that seemed to have appeared only today. When had the sycamore tree by the road been planted here? The old awning outside the noodle shop was originally blue and white striped. When had the barber shop put up the job advertisement?

"Can I hold your hand?"

The sudden question, each word was light and airy.

Jiang Song's footsteps felt like he had suddenly stepped into a swamp or wet cement, sinking deep in it, feeling heavy and unable to extricate himself. He stared at the girl who had already walked in front of him, his ears and cheeks flushed red. The girl turned around to look at him, blinking brightly, as if she hadn't realized what he had just said.

なん、なんで?

He wanted to ask, but before he could utter a word, his left hand had already landed on the back of her hand like a butterfly, lightly, like the flutter of a butterfly's wings, before slowly gaining weight and warmth. His fingers curled around her palm, holding her. Then, as if rescued by an elf, he pulled his legs out of the swamp and walked forward.

It seems like the heart is growing on the hand, otherwise why does it seem like the palm is beating too.

Xia Cun looked at his hand, then raised her head to look at Jiang Song who had already walked past her, and finally adjusted the position of her hand and held his hand back.

If it rained now, the first part of the body to feel the raindrops would be the hands, as even the slightest sensation seemed to be amplified there. Xia Cun subconsciously squeezed the boy's palm, then noticed that Jiang Song's ears, hidden beneath his hair, were red.

"Nana?"

He finally asked the magic words after taking a few steps. Xia Cun thought for a moment and said, "I want to confirm it."

The same thing happened when she saw Xia Lan a few days ago. She hugged her then to confirm whether the Xia Lan with short hair was still Xia Lan. But now...

"Confirm what?"

"Confirm whether Jiang Song is real."

Jiang Song finally turned his head to look at her. They stared at each other and he asked her, "How do you confirm this?"

Because he seemed to need confirmation as well.

Xia Cun thought about it and said, "It would be nice to feel it more."

Because Xiaolan said that if you can't tell the difference, just feel it more.

Jiang Song was silent, as if he was feeling it. They all stopped talking...

Holmes was politely socializing with a Shiba Inu coming towards him. Xia Lan stopped to wait for it, and looked back. Not surprisingly, she found that the two children were gone.