Chapter 68 The environment in which she grew up was simple, friendly, and...

Children who grow up in a simple and friendly environment and receive a good education are able to distinguish right from wrong and naturally believe that they are on the side of good. When the dark side of human nature inevitably awakens, they will subconsciously first find excuses to argue and then use reason to restrain their behavior and thoughts.

There are good and bad aspects to it all, but Fang Minzhou only dares to confront her own "hypocrisy" afterward.

In high school, she refused to admit that she was jealous of Sun Tong because she felt that jealousy was too ugly. She used Sun Tong as a competitor in her studies to weaken her inner resentment.

When she was in love, she was unwilling to admit that she was rigid, serious, and unrealistic. She always felt that she was the more mature and far-sighted one between her and Wang Kan.

Among peers, girls are generally considered more sensible than boys, and besides, she was a little older than Wang Kan.

For a while after the breakup, Fang Minzhou refused to admit that she resented Wang Kan, so she reflected on herself. But later, she couldn't help but hate him. Someone who had once showered her with sweet words could break up with her so easily. Even if she had done wrong things, it was understandable that she would curse Wang Kan a few times in her heart.

Her period of heartbreak arrived late, slowly and protracted.

On her birthday while studying abroad, she had a cold at home. Through the window, she saw a dark-haired boy holding a bouquet of flowers in the snow below her apartment building. Her heart pounded, but soon a girl with similarly dark hair flew into the boy's arms like a little bird.

Fang Minzhou watched the couple walk away, her mind reeling from the fantasy that sent waves of hot and cold through her. After recovering from her cold, she decided she would never think about Wang Kan again.

Over the years, he indeed never contacted her, and Fang Minzhou was glad that she had realized it early.

Fang Minzhou didn't speak to Wang Kan again until she checked out and left. He stopped making things difficult for her, but it wasn't necessarily a deliberate attempt to ignore her; he simply acted as a quiet customer, and she dutifully conducted her business. It was a peaceful arrangement, in a way.

Fang Minzhou didn't know the deeper meaning behind Wang Kan's apology that night, but knowing that he also felt guilty towards her made her feel much better.

Although they couldn't be said to have completely reconciled, it was good that they were no longer at odds. Since she wanted to let go of the past, she also didn't want Wang Kan to hold a grudge.

From this perspective, Wang Kan wasn't wrong. She was indeed greedy enough to leave a good impression on everyone, thinking she could be friends with anyone. It wasn't that she was naturally friendly; it was just a facade.

A few days later, Wang Kan and Lao Wei came to Shuangxi Town again. This time, they came to finalize the plan, which was to hold a small market in line with the town's cultural handicraft experience classes launched during the summer vacation.

Grandpa ran into the two of them while strolling around the village committee. They chatted for a while, and when he returned, he recounted their conversation at the dinner table, praising the capabilities of today's young people. Fang Minzhou let it go in one ear and out the other. Only when Grandpa turned the conversation to her, saying, "Our Minzhou is also very capable," did Fang Minzhou reply with a few words.

Grandpa's injuries have almost healed, but he still needs to rest and avoid heavy work. Fang Minzhou plans to stay until next month.

She usually stayed in the guesthouse, so she and Wang Kan shouldn't have any direct interaction. But one time during a meal, her grandfather mentioned that the fish they had caught that day was caught by Wang Kan, "It was rather small, but quite fresh."

Caught off guard, Fang Minzhou barely managed to swallow a mouthful of fish before asking when it happened.

Grandpa said that during the day, Xiao Wang was coming to Shuangxi, and he asked him to come over and help him see how to renovate the barn. Xiao Wang happened to have caught some fish, so he brought a few over. "He was very thoughtful."

"Xiao Wang" is a strange nickname.

Fang Minzhou calculated the time and concluded that she should have been in her room at that time, so she was unaware of the situation.

His grandparents said Wang Kan was too polite and asked him to stay for dinner, but he said he had to leave first.

Fang Minzhou didn't get a fishbone stuck in her throat, but the meal still felt like a fishbone was stuck in her throat.

The fish wasn't finished, and Grandpa ended up drinking with it. Grandma said something strange, "I didn't see Yangyang eat much. Was there too many bones?"

Guan Yang nodded with a stern face.

He was there when Wang Kan came, wanting to help but unable to. Grandpa even told him that children shouldn't concern themselves with such things. Wang Kan glanced at him and laughed as if she had heard a joke, which made him feel looked down upon. However, he had no way to complain and could only sulk. He was then criticized by Granny Zhang for always looking unhappy at such a young age and not eating properly. He felt really frustrated.

That evening, Fang Minzhou was cleaning with her grandmother when she suddenly heard her grandmother calling her from the living room. Fang Minzhou rushed over and saw her grandmother nervously handing her a black bag containing a DSLR camera. "Look at this, whose is this? How could you be so careless? Did Xiao Wang leave it behind?"

It looks very similar, it must be.

On the day they went to Shuangxi Reservoir, Fang Minzhou saw that Wang Kan had used the same camera.

Just in case, Fang Minzhou asked the current guests at the shop. No one had lost anything. She went downstairs again, and her grandmother asked her, "Is it Xiao Wang's?"

"Is that so?" Fang Minzhou said calmly.

"We have to get it to him right away! This camera must be expensive. He's such a grown man, and he's still so forgetful," Grandma said anxiously. "Do you have his phone number, or any of his friends' numbers? Maybe we should ask the village chief..."

“I have it, I’ll call him,” Fang Minzhou reassured her grandmother.

Actually, she didn't.

That evening, the front desk landline rang.

Fang Minzhou answered the phone, and there was an odd silence on the other end. She guessed it was probably Wang Kan. Sure enough, a few seconds later, she heard Wang Kan say, "It's me."

Fang Minzhou found it a bit difficult to respond to this opening remark, but since she had already recognized Wang Kan's voice, she simply said, "You left your camera with us."

Wang Kan paused, "Yes, I just found out."

"Will you pick it up next time, or will it be mailed to you?"

"Mail it to me."

"address."

Add me on WeChat.

"……good."

Wang Kan gave her his mobile phone number, which was the same as before.

He said that after the breakup, Fang Minzhou deleted all of his contact information on her way back to Beicheng. At that time, she thought that if Wang Kan wanted to contact her, it would be easy for him to add her back.

"I have accepted your friend request. We can start chatting now."

When she switched from QQ to WeChat, Wang Kan's online name remained KAN. Her profile picture changed several times, from anime characters to geometric lines, and her online name also changed from "Square" to her English name "Jo".

The first message sent by this geometric avatar was a neatly formatted communication address.

Fang Minzhou replied: Okay.

She glanced at Wang Kan's WeChat Moments and saw that, like her, he only showed content from the last six months, with a much lower update frequency than when he was in college: one post for the Chinese New Year, two work-related posts, and that was it. Perhaps he would post another one when the Shuangxi Town event entered its promotional period.

Fortunately, there was a courier station in the village. Fang Minzhou booked the earliest pickup for the next day. After picking up the package, she left a message for Wang Kan and asked how much the postage would be. She said she would choose cash on delivery. Wang Kan replied to her in the same way: Okay.

Packages sent from Zhangcheng to Jiangcheng usually arrive the next day. Fang Minzhou received a notification that the package had been signed for, but she didn't receive any news from Wang Kan. She didn't ask any further questions, but she didn't expect Wang Kan to come again this Saturday.

Fang Minzhou didn't understand whether their industry required such frequent communication with clients, although it could be considered a responsible approach. She also thought that if Wang Kan was already coming this weekend and didn't need the camera urgently, why spend extra money on shipping?

Lately, she's been very sensitive about money because she and Jin Ying have been researching office rental prices everywhere. This is a huge expense for them in the early stages of their business. There's no upper limit to where to rent an office and what kind of office to rent. The more they calculate costs, the more frugal they become.

Fang Minzhou and Jin Ying originally wanted to work remotely as much as possible, but over the past few months, firstly, the studio has been running more smoothly than they had imagined, to the point that they needed to recruit interns; secondly, since they provide a one-stop service for software development and design, mainly targeting B-end clients, face-to-face communication is unavoidable. After discussing it, the two decided that they still needed to rent an office space.

When Wang Kan arrived, Fang Minzhou was watering the flowers in the yard. It had been about ten days to two weeks since they last saw each other, and Fang Minzhou felt a strange unease, but they still greeted each other politely. Fang Minzhou went to wash her hands, while Wang Kan went to the backyard to find her grandfather.

Grandpa hired workers to temporarily empty the barn and renovate the plumbing and electrical systems, then decide what to do with it later. Wang Kan came to visit, also bringing things for Grandpa; they inexplicably developed a close friendship that seemed to transcend their age difference.

The sunset was in full bloom, and it was already quite late in the summer. Wang Kan put down his things and was about to leave when his grandmother urged him to stay, saying, "If you're not going anywhere, why don't you stay the night? It's so late."

"No need, Grandma..."

"Let's eat first. I've troubled you with so much. We can talk after we finish eating. I'm starving after a long day."

Fang Minzhou realized that Wang Kan was unable to refuse his hospitality.

At dinner, he sat opposite her. His colleagues from work were absent, and the meal was mostly done by his grandparents. Fang Minzhou and Wang Kan would occasionally exchange a few words, each talking to themselves, while Guan Yang remained silent. When Wang Kan asked for more rice, Fang Minzhou, who was closer to the rice cooker, took the bowl and ladled a bowl for him at his grandmother's prompting. Wang Kan said thank you, then noticed Guan Yang biting his chopsticks and staring intently at him.

He smiled slightly, but Guan Yang's face darkened, and he lowered his head to angrily shovel rice into his mouth.

After dinner, Grandpa asked Guan Yang to go to the field to pick some seasonal fruits and vegetables for Wang Kan to take back. Guan Yang reluctantly agreed.

He disliked this guy surnamed Wang because he felt that Wang always acted mysterious and inscrutable. After several attempts to curry favor, even Sister Minzhou seemed to have forgotten how impolite he was at the beginning.

When Guan Yang saw Wang Kan's car, a black SUV that he really liked, he felt even more resentful. His family wasn't poor, but his parents thought he had accomplished nothing and that they wouldn't buy him a car for at least the next few years. If he wanted to buy one himself, he didn't know when that would be. And the difference between him and Wang Kan wasn't just a car.

Wang Kan wanted to lend a hand, but her phone rang, so she walked aside to answer it.

Guan Yang observed that Wang Kan simply stood with one hand in his pocket, occasionally responding with a word, appearing incredibly composed and steady, yet Guan Yang found it utterly pretentious. Wang Kan had only stayed at the guesthouse for a few days, yet he frequently asserted his presence, which made Guan Yang feel a sense of being challenged. Although this wasn't his territory, it certainly wasn't Wang Kan's either.

"All done?" Wang Kan quickly finished the call and came back. "Thank you for your help."

Seeing Guan Yang staring at him with an unfriendly expression, Wang Kan raised an eyebrow.

"Why do you keep coming here?" Guan Yang couldn't take it anymore.

"Work."

Who would believe that? Guan Yang was a little angry: "Are you pursuing my sister?"

"Who is your sister?" Wang Kan asked.

Guan Yang didn't answer. He was half a head lower than him, but he stubbornly tilted his head back, showing obvious disdain for Guan Yang's obvious question.

Wang Kan wanted to laugh.

He thought Fang Minzhou was a good older sister to many people. The first time he heard someone call her "older sister," meaning his niece, he felt awkward.

Later, one day in high school, he accidentally saw Fang Minzhou's exact birth date and realized that he was several months younger than Fang Minzhou. He remembers being greatly shocked at the time.

Fang Minzhou had already noticed this, and instead said to him, "What's wrong? Just because you're older than me doesn't mean you're a tenth of the way ahead of me."

He told her to stop being so sarcastic, "Isn't it because you always say I'm childish? Now don't I seem even more like a child to you?"

Then Fang Minzhou replied to him speechlessly, "You've completely reversed cause and effect, okay?"

Perhaps it was his chauvinistic mentality that made him deliberately ignore the age difference between them. Fortunately, Fang Minzhou never referred to herself as "older sister" in front of him, but now she had to hear a complete stranger call her "older sister".

Does this mean he's pursuing Fang Minzhou? He's really young and inexperienced.

He could say no, or he could pretend to say yes, but Guan Yang's hostility towards him was so obvious that Wang Kan had no interest in joking with him. He said, "What's it to you?"

"How can it have nothing to do with me?" Guan Yang shouted, angered by Wang Kan's seemingly casual but actually provocative attitude. "You even lied to Grandpa Zhao that you were here to see him, but in reality... you're just using this as a pretext to harass people. You dare to do it but don't dare to admit it."

"Who's the one who's doing it but not taking responsibility? You should still be studying, right? Instead of going home and studying, you're just dawdling around here. Who's really bothering whom?"

Guan Yang was furious: "What nonsense are you spouting?"

"Am I talking nonsense, or is someone feeling guilty? What, are you going to hit me?" Wang Kan glanced down at Guan Yang's clenched fist and couldn't help but twitch his lips. This kind of straightforward impulsiveness seemed familiar. He raised his eyelids and looked Guan Yang up and down. "Let me make this clear to you, give up. Your sister doesn't like people like you."