Chapter 82

He shook his head: "I will come back. We agreed to take the entrance exam for Huaiyin University, and I will take it. I didn't come here to say goodbye."

The words of affirmation relaxed Jian Sheng's tense body, but they did not restore her sore eyes to normal.

Jian Sheng hummed in agreement.

I really hope nothing bad happens to him.

He accompanied her until nine o'clock, then urged her to go upstairs, told her to rest well, and said a lot of things to her, all to make sure she was well.

As he left, Jian Sheng watched his retreating figure, hesitated for a moment, and then called out his name: "Chen Zhoujing."

Chen Zhou stopped in surprise, but he didn't turn around.

Jian Sheng couldn't wait any longer. She ran a few steps forward, put her hands around his waist, and whispered, "Don't lie to me!"

Chen Zhou lowered his head, raised his right hand slightly, then lowered it again, tears falling from the corners of his eyes.

Jian Sheng paused for a moment, then said, "Take care of yourself too."

After saying that, she let go of his hand, turned around, and ran upstairs.

I'm afraid that if I say another word, tears will well up in my eyes.

After she left, Chen Zhou stood there in shock, touching the small area on his back that still held her warmth.

A tingling and aching sensation ran through my heart, and a torrent of emotions surged in my eyes.

When his phone, which had been vibrating countless times in his pocket, vibrated again, this shocking yet silent surge of emotion felt like a bucket of cold water had been poured over him, chilling him to the bone.

Jian Sheng went upstairs very quickly, and the moment he opened the door, he rushed to the balcony.

She watched as the dark figure hesitated for a few moments in the dim light, then circled around the base of the building before heading towards the entrance of the residential complex.

Only after he disappeared did she leisurely return to the living room.

She sat on the sofa, closed her eyes, and felt an emptiness in her heart.

Suddenly, her vision brightened, and she opened her eyes to find the overhead light had been turned on.

In the direction of the light, Jian Qingyao stood there silently, his face expressionless, for an unknown amount of time.

"When did you get back?" she asked in a hoarse voice.

He walked over to her and sat down: "If you don't want the phone, just donate it."

"It was a waste of the noodles I cooked, and I ended up eating two bowls."

His voice was calm, without anger or regret.

Jian Sheng didn't reply to him immediately. She put her hands on her cheeks, took a deep breath, and suddenly looked at him: "I don't bring my phone to school."

"Oh, so you're number one!" Jian Qingyao's lips twitched.

"What kind of poison have you taken this time? What did I do wrong?" Jian Sheng put down his hand and said through gritted teeth.

"No, go to sleep early." Jian Qingyao shook his head, stood up mysteriously, patted his clothes, and was about to leave.

The overhead light shone on him, brushing against his hair and falling on his shoulders. He hung his head, his back to her, the contrast between light and shadow conveying a sense of loneliness.

The atmosphere was strangely awkward.

Jian Sheng stood up and nudged his arm: "What's wrong? Did you break up with someone again?"

Jian Qingyao was taken aback, then tilted her head: "Heartbroken my foot."

He tapped her head with his index finger: "If you talk nonsense again, I'll mess with you."

"Then what are you doing back here?" She slapped his finger away, touched her forehead where he had touched her, and said in a flat tone, "You couldn't possibly have come back just to see if I'm dead or not, could you?"

She spoke casually, but Jian Qingyao's voice stopped. Jian Sheng raised her eyes and met his dark pupils.

After a long silence, he chuckled softly, "What are you thinking about? What's with all this talk about dying? Don't say things like that... I just came back to check on the wheat fields."

"Go wash up and go to bed, stop messing around with Chen Zhoujing..."

“How did you know he was back?” she asked.

Jian Qingyao hissed, "I'm just guessing, I'm just guessing, you better go, go, go, go, go!"

He walked behind her and pushed her towards the small study: "Oh dear, go to bed early!"

As the door closed, Jian Sheng heard him muttering to himself, saying he was going to move her things out and move her to a bigger room.

She watched the door close gently, picked up her phone from the bedside table drawer, and saw Jian Qingyao's twenty messages lying quietly on the dim screen with only ten bars of battery left.

When I clicked on the link, the first message was: When do you get out of school?

Five minutes later.

-: I'll pick you up from school?

Have you had dinner yet?

Half an hour later.

Why aren't you replying to my messages?

-: I'm here to find you. Remember to reply when you see this message!

An hour later.

-: Holy crap, there are people everywhere at the school gate, where are you?

Jian Sheng swiped his phone across the screen several times, reading his message repeatedly, before putting it away and sitting down at his small desk to start doing his homework.

The grudge between her and Jian Qingyao seemed to be slowly dissipating.

I don't know when it started, maybe it started with that hot pot meal.

Or perhaps it was when he stubbornly took her to get a haircut.

After a brief period of turmoil, it gradually subsided during the busy final two weeks of senior year.

Everything returned to normal, but there was good news: Zhou Xiang had been saved.

During this time, Zhao Chengyang took Xu Yanghe to visit him. Although he could not take the college entrance examination this year, his parents had already prepared to enroll him in a repeat class in the second half of the year.

The National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao) arrived as scheduled thanks to the hard work of all the students.

The exam location was not at her original school. Before the exam, Jian Qingyao took a few days off to come back and take her to see the exam venue, accompanying her during the college entrance examination.

Seeing that he was even more nervous than she was, Jian Sheng couldn't help but comfort him.

But Jian Qingyao didn't say anything, only telling her not to be nervous.

Three days passed quickly. On the afternoon of the day the exam ended, she came out of the gate of the Experimental High School, where the gate was packed with people.

Just as he was about to look for Jian Qingyao, he suddenly saw a familiar figure.

She walked through the reporters' interviews and the parents at the door, just about to call Lin You's name.

Someone beat her to it. A tall, thin boy, wearing a white shirt and light-colored jeans, walked towards Lin You in a clean and refreshing manner, carrying a bouquet of flowers.

The boy's cheeks were slightly flushed, and he seemed a little flustered.

Lin You didn't mind and stepped forward to take the flowers.

Jian turned around and was about to walk away when a shadow fell over her head.

Jian Qingyao smirked, hands in his pockets, and said in a gloomy tone, "You want to go find Chen Zhoujing again."

Jian Sheng raised his eyes. If it weren't for him saying it, she wouldn't have expected it: "You're acting a bit strangely, Jian Qingyao."

"Oh, so you're envious of other people having flowers?" He glanced sideways at the two people still talking. "They look familiar."

"I'm going back." Jian Sheng didn't want to disturb them and turned to leave.

"Tsk!" Jian Qingyao frowned, grabbed her shoulders with both hands, and spun her around. "You've gone against your own nature!"

Jian Sheng glared at him, then followed his figure, slowly walking out of the crowd and getting into his car parked under the shade of a tree.

As soon as I opened the door, a beautiful bouquet of flowers was handed over through the back door, followed by a clear voice saying, "Congratulations on finishing the college entrance exam!"

Jian Sheng opened her eyes wide, took the flowers, and was slightly surprised when she saw Yang Shao's face: "Why are you here too?"

"Is it a surprise or a shock?" He smiled and placed the flowers in the middle of the chair. "Come up and tell me."

As Jian Sheng got into the car, he laughed and said, "That's definitely a surprise!"

Yang Shao took a milk tea out of the bag and handed it to her: "That's good. I heard your brother was coming back, so I thought I'd come and see him too, haha."

Jian Qingyao fastened his seatbelt, shifted his gaze from the passenger seat, and said indifferently, "You two are just close."

The two ignored him and started chatting happily.

Jian Qingyao had no idea that the two of them, who clearly had no connection whatsoever, could hit it off so well and chat so happily, while he was forced to drive them all the way back to the neighborhood.

Jian Sheng sat in the living room watching the two argue about what to eat for dinner. She held her phone, glancing at WeChat every now and then.

Her phone vibrated, and she checked it.

Jian Qingyao and Yang Shao argued until 6:30. Her phone vibrated again, this time not for news.

Chen Zhoujing's message was sent at 6:31.

-: I'm downstairs, are you coming down now?

Jian Sheng jumped up with a start, slamming her phone onto the coffee table with a clatter. She quickly picked it up.

The two stopped. Jian Qingyao looked at her flushed face, pursed his lips, and said with a gloomy expression, "Alright, no need to argue anymore. Someone seems to have more important things to do!"

Jian Sheng forced a sheepish smile amidst his clenched teeth.

"What? Boyfriend?" Yang Shao raised an eyebrow.

Jian Sheng neither admitted nor denied it, only said sorry and left first, leaving the two of them behind.

Yang Shao sat down on the sofa and pondered, "I still think we can go eat Thai food. I want to eat the pineapple fried rice."

"Is it okay?" He winked at Jian Qingyao and said, "I know that place. Their milk tea is really good. When I come back later, I'll bring a bag for Xiaosheng."

"?" Jian Qingyao frowned, his tone light and cheerful, "Calling each other so intimately?"

"?" Yang Shao crossed his arms, looked at him, and after a long moment of staring at each other, he laughed, "Are you jealous?"

downstairs.

Jian rushed out of the elevator, but saw no one by the gray wall. Disappointed, he opened the glass door, and the next second, a dark figure darted out.

"Ah!" Chen Zhou stretched out two paws and made a face at her. Seeing that Jian Sheng was stunned, he withdrew his movements, looking uninterested. "Didn't scare you?"

Jian Sheng blinked and exclaimed, "Ah!"

He was taken aback for a moment, then burst into laughter: "How can you be so dense?"

Jian Sheng pursed her lips, watched him laugh while clutching his stomach, said nothing, and brushed past him as she walked down the steps.

Chen Zhou stepped forward in surprise: "Hey."

Just as he was about to pull her away, Jian Sheng turned around and suddenly bumped into his arms.

Chen Zhou froze, his heart pounding for a moment before it began to race. He breathed heavily and murmured woodenly, "I'm sorry."

Jian Sheng looked up and rubbed his face: "It's nothing."

"Shall we go eat?" he asked.

"Um."

The two walked to the old street. On this stretch of road, Jian Sheng seemed to have rediscovered the feeling from before, only now there seemed to be something different.

Those inexplicable thoughts once lingered in her mind.

So much so that when she looked at him, the coldness and aloofness on her face had unconsciously turned into a slight warmth.

"I don't care, anyway, the results are out, I want to fill out the college application with you..." Chen Zhou noticed her gaze and stopped speaking.

He looked at her gentle eyes and brows, the warm wind blowing through her long hair and lifting the strands at her temples, and suddenly felt a sense of peace and tranquility.

The warm breeze blew into his half-closed heart as the corners of her lips curved into a smile.

He didn't look away, his gaze fixed intently.

Jian Sheng's cheeks flushed, and she blinked her beautiful eyes a few times: "Why are you looking at me?"

"Beautiful." Chen Zhou blurted out unconsciously, then realized the atmosphere was off, looked away, and pinched the back of his neck a few times.

The pounding in his chest made it almost impossible for him to calm down, and his hands began to move in a complicated manner.

Jian Sheng nodded and casually remarked, "You look good too."

"Really?" he asked. "Is...is it a compliment?"

“Yes, really, definitely.” Jian Sheng also looked away.

As darkness fell, the two strolled to the center of the old street and bumped into Liang Shuyuan, who warmly invited them to have a free dinner at his shop.

Finally, he insisted on giving them the store's newly developed ice cream before the two left.

Chen Zhoujing took a bite: "Your teacher is pretty good."

“Yes, he and my mom were classmates.” Jian Sheng stared at the ice cream for a while, and finally took a bite of the pink one.

"I've never heard you mention your past." The cool, sweet taste melted in his mouth. He said, "Yes..."

Jian Sheng didn't say anything, and took a few more bites of ice cream. Just when he thought she wouldn't speak and was about to change the subject, she said, "I was my mother's premature baby. She wasn't in good health. Originally, they said... they were going to miscarry, but my grandmother insisted that I stay."