Chapter 13 Wen Ling, have fun!

The most exciting day before the winter break is probably New Year's Eve, which is comparable to Chinese New Year for college students.

Some will go out with friends in groups, while others will confess their feelings to the person they've liked for a long time under the midnight fireworks. Wen Ling, on the other hand, plans to spend New Year's Eve alone in her dormitory.

That was the plan at least the night before.

My roommates all had plans, so they left early.

These past few days, Wen Ling has been reviewing for her final exams. Her brain is about to explode, and she's been sleeping for a long time, so much so that she wakes up a little late in the morning, around 10 a.m. Her phone is flooded with new messages.

The vast majority of these were mass-sent New Year's greetings.

Wen Ling didn't reply. Instead, she clicked on Wen He's pinned chat box, where he sent several messages.

Wen He: [Sister, sister, sister, are you awake? Are you awake? Are you awake?!]

Wen He: [There's a fireworks show in the next county, and you can even watch the sunrise if you climb to the top of the mountain. How about we go there for New Year's Eve? It's only a two or three-hour drive away!]

Wen He: [Reply quickly when you're awake, I'm going to the supermarket to buy some food!]

About ten minutes later, he sent a few more messages.

Wen He: [My older brother just called me, saying he sent you a WeChat message but you didn't reply, so he guessed you were still sleeping.]

Wen He: [He invited us to celebrate the festival with them. He booked several rooms at a hot spring resort. I haven't decided yet, sis, do you want to watch the sunrise or soak in the hot springs?]

I just woke up and I'm still a little groggy.

Wen Ling typed on her phone: "I don't know, where do you want to go?"

Wen He: [Anything's fine with me, it's up to you.]

Wen He: [I'm still at the supermarket. Is there anything you'd like to eat? I'll bring it to you later.]

Wen Ling: [Just buy some small bread rolls.]

The choice was back in her hands.

Wen Ling was a little conflicted. She felt that she could go anywhere, but she was very tired from studying these past few days and just wanted to rest. Watching the sunrise would probably require climbing a mountain, which seemed like a lot of trouble.

Wen Ling: [How about... we go to a hot spring, and then watch the fireworks next time?]

Wen He: [Okay, then you can just tell your older brother. I'll go pay the bill first.]

Wen Ling exited the chat window with him and scrolled down to find her older brother's nickname. She caught a glimpse of a familiar name that had sent her a message half an hour earlier.

Perhaps somewhat unexpectedly, Wen Ling lost her grip on the phone, and with a 'smack,' the phone hit her face, bringing tears to her eyes from the pain. Rubbing her innocently injured nose, she turned to the side, propped the phone up on the bed, and opened Shang Chen's chat window.

Shang Chen: [Any plans for New Year's Eve?]

Since their last meeting, the two have not communicated at all on their phones.

In reality, they rarely meet. They only bump into each other occasionally when changing classrooms in the teaching building, nodding and smiling as a greeting. So she was still a little surprised when Shang Chen suddenly sent her a message.

I thought the two of them would never cross paths again.

Wen Ling: [Yeah, I'm going out to play with my older brother and the others.]

Shang Chen: [Okay.]

Shang Chen: [Wen Ling, have fun.]

Wen Ling replied with a thank you emoji, ending the chat. About 20 seconds later, Shang Chen sent another message.

Shang Chen: [If I come back tomorrow, can we meet?]

Wen Ling: [What's wrong?]

Shang Chen: [There are some things I want to tell you in person.]

Wen Ling couldn't guess what he was going to say, but she still agreed.

Wen Ling felt like a customer service representative. She had been awake for half an hour and was still replying to messages. There was no way she could finish replying to them all. She had forgotten to tell her older brother about going to the hot springs. When she saw that there were 99+ messages in the dormitory group, she clicked on them and started chatting with them.

When she came to her senses, Wen He had messaged her saying he was almost at her dorm building. Wen Ling quickly got up, washed up, and changed her clothes.

I wrapped a scarf around my face and went downstairs. The cold wind was biting. From a distance, I could see Wen He standing at the iron gate with two large bags of snacks, his neck tucked in from the cold.

This idiot isn't even wearing a turtleneck sweater; his neck is all red from the cold. Wen Ling took off her scarf and wrapped it around his head: "Put it on yourself."

She glanced at the snacks in his hand again: "What, you bought so many?"

"I bought a little bit of everything I saw." Actually, he thought he would be going to see fireworks today, and he got a little excited and couldn't stop buying. "Did you tell your older brother? Let's go after lunch."

"Oh..." Wen Ling looked a little embarrassed. "I forgot. Well, I... I'll tell you now."

It was too cold outside, so Wen He told Wen Ling to come inside and talk.

Since boys weren't allowed into the girls' dormitory, Wen Ling had to carry the snacks up herself. She took a bag, weighed it in her hand, and realized it was too heavy. The dormitory was on the fourth floor, and she couldn't carry it up. She then added some milk, which added to the weight, before she could barely manage to lift it.

"After you put out the snacks, we'll go to the cafeteria for lunch." Wen He asked her, "What do you want to eat? I'll go order it first."

"Mini hot pot".

…

Wen He returned to his dormitory, only to find it empty.

He untied his scarf, pulled a turtleneck sweater out of the closet and put it on. His phone, which was on the table, rang several times. He thought it was Wen Ling urging him, since the boys' dormitory was a bit far from the cafeteria he was going to.

As Wen He hurriedly grabbed his scarf and headed out the door, he was jogging down the corridor when he saw the note his new friend had sent him, and he unconsciously stopped.

【Wenhe, I'm back. Can we meet?】

It was his ex-girlfriend who had gone abroad.

Wen He's breath hitched, and he gripped the edge of his phone tightly, ignoring everything else.

At the same time, Yan Qingli also sent him a message, just a simple sentence: "Happy New Year, hope you're happy."

Wen He had declined Yan Qingli's New Year's Eve invitation long ago.

Unusually, she didn't pester him like before. But after sending this message today, Wen He hesitated for a long time before finally replying with a "happy together" emoji.

The other party did not reply.

There weren't many people eating in the cafeteria.

Looking around, almost all the seats were empty. Wen Ling remained seated in a corner, waiting for the food to arrive. Wen Zan then sent a message: "Lingling, something urgent came up at my company. Your sister-in-law is here; just call her when you and Xiao He arrive."

Wen Ling was stunned. Before she could tell Wen He, Wen Zan transferred 50,000 yuan to her with the note: "Lingling, be happy."

The teacher is still looking, but most of them aren't quite suitable. Is Lingling worried?

Wen Ling told Wen Zan about being scammed as soon as she got back that day. He acted quickly, and the money was recovered the next day. The person named Qianqian was actually a man. He was the one who called Wen Ling to do the tests. There was no such organization. He was the one who played multiple roles to deceive people from beginning to end.

This wasn't the first time he'd done this, but this time he'd been completely caught. The evidence was conclusive, and he'd be locked up for several years.

After Wen Zan learned that she had the idea of ​​making changes, she was happy and then spared no effort to help her find a professional teacher to help her correct her condition. However, after interviewing many people, Wen Zan still had not found a satisfactory candidate.

I'm still afraid that the situation will repeat itself like it did in junior high.

When his elders found out, they even called him to tell him not to go looking for her anymore. They felt that Wen Ling was in a good state right now, and if the current balance was disrupted, who knew what kind of changes would occur.

Wen Ling's stutter has always been a taboo subject in the Wen family.

Wen Zan was in a dilemma, trying to avoid mentioning the topic if possible. She didn't know whether to continue searching or not, and since she hadn't found anyone satisfactory yet, she thought she could put it off for as long as possible.

Wen Ling: [No rush, bro. If we can't find it, it's okay.]

Having a teacher doesn't guarantee a cure. Even if a teacher has many successful cases, the next successful student might not be her.

Wen Zan: [Don't think like that, I'll do my best.]

Wen Ling: [Okay.]

After telling Wen He that his older brother couldn't go, Wen Ling frowned when she saw his indifferent reaction, as if he had lost his soul. She raised her hand and waved it in front of his eyes: "What's wrong?"

Wen He snapped out of his daze, his eyes blank: "Um, is the food ready? I'll go bring it up."

"No." Wen Ling gestured for him to sit down. "Did you hear what I just said?"

Wen He paused for a moment, then rubbed his face: "No, sis, what did you say? I was just thinking about something."

Wen Ling had no choice but to repeat herself, and Wen He responded with two "ohs": "So, do you still want to go?"

"..."

When did she say she wasn't going?

Wen Ling sensed something was off about his demeanor and tentatively asked, "You...don't want to go to the hot springs?"

Wen He's gaze went blank again. After a couple of seconds, he nodded as if he had come back to his senses: "Anything is fine. Let's go soak in the hot springs then."

Wen Ling frowned even more: "Wen He, what exactly happened?"

"It's really nothing, sis, don't overthink it." Wen He scratched her hair, turned her head to look at the food window, and changed the subject, "I'll go see if our food is ready."

Wen Ling sighed softly.

They didn't get to go to the hot springs for the time being. After finishing their meal in silence, Wen Ling wouldn't let Wen He leave and forced him to reveal his worries.

Wen Ling hadn't expected that he was troubled by love, which was somewhat outside her knowledge. She didn't know much about the details of their breakup.

She seemed a little flustered: "So... what are you thinking now?"

Wen He replied without hesitation, "I will not meet with her."

But a hint of struggle flashed in his eyes, and Wen Ling felt a pang of heartache for no reason: "Can you tell me why you broke up back then?"

Wen He looked up and glanced at her.

When she met that gaze, Wen Ling's heart skipped a beat. Could it be because of her breakup?

No way. Wen Ling's only interaction with his ex-girlfriend was when he ran away from home; they haven't seen each other since.

"It's just that we have different values. She wanted to study abroad, but I don't like long-distance relationships. She initiated the breakup, and I didn't try to stop her."

Wen Ling scratched her head, looking unusually troubled: "So now... does that mean she wants to get back together with you?"

Wen He shrugged: "I don't know what she means, and I don't expect anything to happen between us."

Wen Ling was speechless again. She knew too little about this matter and couldn't figure out what his ex-girlfriend's purpose was in requesting to add him as a friend again, even though she knew that she would have to go abroad to study again after the winter break.

Just as I was feeling down, I caught a glimpse of two familiar figures.

They were carrying food and approaching them, but they seemed to be talking about something very serious. Neither of them looked well, and they didn't even see them.

A note from the author:

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The last part of the previous chapter has been revised, and the plot has been slightly modified. Those who read it a while ago can go back and take a look. [Let me see!]