Chapter 28

Xiao Ming raised his hand to smooth his furrowed brow and smiled, "He'll be gone soon."

While Jiang Lan was still in the bathroom, Xiao Ming quickly dried himself off and dialed the voice call for "Yi Shui Jiangnan Xiao Li".

"When can we meet? That customer has asked my girlfriends about it several times already; he can't wait to meet up with us."

Xiao Ming thought for a moment and set a time: "Let's do it tonight. If it takes too long, it will interfere with your business."

"Okay, just prepare the money for the rest and wait for my message."

A disillusioned middle-aged man has an online romance with a beautiful woman. When they get into close contact, he gets reported for engaging in a money-for-sex transaction and ends up in jail for a few days. That's pretty normal, isn't it?

After hanging up the phone and spacing out for a while, Xiaoming got dressed, went to the living room, and turned on the TV.

Jiang Lan looked at the person who was lying on the sofa with his head propped up, his eyes fixed on the TV, but whose mind seemed to have wandered off somewhere, and coughed heavily.

Xiao Ming shuddered, grabbed a cushion, and threw it at Jiang Lan: "I told you not to scare me."

Jiang Lan caught the pillow, strode over, picked the person up by the knees, and sat down.

"What are you thinking about, so engrossed?"

"I wasn't thinking about anything, just planning what to buy when I go out of town, and also buying clothes for the changing season."

Jiang Lan opened her phone: "Tell me, I'll write it down, so I don't forget to buy it tomorrow."

The shopping list for the next day was ready, and Jiang Lan immediately sent it to Xiao Ming. But before Xiao Ming could even look at it, Jiang Lan withdrew the message.

"I forgot something."

"I'll pick out your underwear tomorrow, and you pick out mine. If either of us gets the wrong size, we'll grant the other's request."

When Xiaoming heard Jiang Lan's suggestion, his eyes lit up, and he turned to kiss Jiang Lan on the cheek: "Great idea, let's do it this way."

After the two of them cuddled together for a while, Jiang Lan asked her, "What do you want to eat tonight?"

"Let's go out for barbecue."

The two went out excitedly, the early summer evening breeze brushing against their faces and billowing their large T-shirts.

Under the tall roadside trees, there were young couples pushing strollers, students chatting and laughing as they walked, and elderly people with white hair holding palm-leaf fans. Vendors sitting on low stools by the roadside were scrolling through their phones, occasionally grinning and laughing as they looked at the content on the screen.

Xiao Ming rode his motorcycle, humming, "Riding my beloved little motorcycle, there will never be a traffic jam..."

Jiang Lan couldn't help but take out her phone to record this heartwarming moment. Xiao Ming's hair, which he had been growing for several months, brushed against his chin, and his emotions seemed to be overflowing. He leaned close to her ear and whispered, "I love you."

A passing car stirred up a gust of wind, scattering his voice. Xiao Ming turned his head and asked, "What did you say?"

Jiang Lan lowered her eyes, tapped the red circle on her phone, and replied, "It's nothing."

After going around in circles, we finally found a popular food stall with a lot of customers.

They said they were going for barbecue, but neither of them had a light palate, so they only ordered a small amount of barbecue. Instead, they ordered a large pot of seafood porridge.

We ate and discussed our May Day itinerary, and the meal lasted for more than an hour.

At the next table was a group of middle-aged men. Xiaoming listened to their loud conversation about the stock market, housing prices, and international affairs, and teased Jiang Lan: "Is this how all you men are when you get together?"

Jiang Lan nodded: "They also talk about women."

Xiao Ming laughed out loud, then turned and tapped the plastic chair of the man at the next table: "Hey bro, got a cigarette?"

The man turned and glanced at Xiaoming. "Yes." He then raised his hand and slapped the cigarette and lighter onto Xiaoming's desk.

Xiao Ming took out two cigarettes, lit them, took one for himself, and handed one to Jiang Lan.

Jiang Lan took the cigarette, put it in her mouth, and inhaled twice. She then fanned the smoke she exhaled. This brand of cigarette had a rather pungent and overpowering taste, so both of them simply held it between their hands and didn't inhale any more.

Sitting quietly in the plastic chair, watching the cigarette burn out, Xiaoming returned it to the man next door.

Jiang Lan got up to pay the bill, ordered a dozen oysters and sent them to the next table. Seeing Xiao Ming waiting in front of her, she quickly walked over, got on the back seat, and the two left the food stall.

The food stall owner brought the grilled oysters to the table, and the guy next to him asked, "We didn't order these."

"It was given to you by the young couple next to you."

"Hey, young people these days are pretty particular."

I rode along the road until I stopped at the riverside scenic belt.

The two strolled hand in hand along the shore, reminiscing about their school days. Xiaoming asked Jiang Lan, "You must have had a lot of girls pursuing you, so why didn't you have a campus romance?"

"Back then I was very straightforward. I thought girls were pretentious and had too many hidden agendas, so I didn't want to get involved with them."

"You must have a lot of guys pursuing you, so why are you still single?"

"I always feel like I'm super busy every day. Dating someone takes up a lot of time. You have to spend time together, take care of the other person's feelings, and you have to consider the other person when you do something. Just thinking about being controlled by a relationship makes me feel uncomfortable, so I don't want to date. But then again, very few people have pursued me. There were a couple, but they were just casual flings. As soon as I shook my head, they immediately moved on to someone else."

As they walked, they could faintly hear singing. Xiaoming pulled Jiang Lan toward the sound and found that someone was performing on the street, and many people were watching.

As the familiar song ended, everyone applauded. Xiao Ming turned to Jiang Lan and asked, "I saw a piano in your study. Did you learn to play it in an extracurricular class when you were little?"

Jiang Lan nodded: "I've been studying for many years, and my piano level is quite high."

Xiao Ming nodded: "Then you're pretty amazing, you're quite talented."

Seeing that she turned her head back to watch others perform, Jiang Lan grabbed Xiao Ming's wrist and ran to a secluded corner where few people came and went. They stood face to face, and Xiao Ming looked at her with a puzzled expression.

Why do you always leave everything unsaid?

"You should have naturally asked me to play a piece for you, so why didn't you make that request?"

"Can't you tell me what talents you have, or what talents you don't have?"

Why don't you ask my ex-girlfriend?

Why don't you ask me why I pursued you? Why I like you?

What do you think about when you're spacing out?

"Why do you never complain about your job, your colleagues, or your boss in front of me? Are they all perfect?"

"I cook and you wash the dishes, I mop the floor and you hang the clothes to dry. Whenever I pay for something, you find a chance to pay me back every few days. Do you keep a record of these things?"

Am I not qualified to be a part of your life?

I don't dare ask you if you love me, but I want to know if you like me?

Jiang Lan poured out her long-standing unease in one breath, turned her back to Xiao Ming, took a few deep breaths, rubbed her face, and leaned on the stone railing to look at the river below.

Xiao Ming was in a daze, then doubted himself, went through the time they had spent together in his mind, and muttered, "Am I such a bad girlfriend? I always thought I was the perfect girlfriend."

Jiang Lan, who was already regretting her impulsiveness, felt a strange sense of guilt upon hearing this. She realized that she had been too emotional and had frightened her.

However, their emotional connection remained superficial, and without resolving this issue, he didn't know how to move forward.

He was obsessed with intimate communication with her. One reason was that he loved her, and another reason was that he needed to vent his fear of never being able to access her inner world.

The two remained silent for a while, then Xiaoming tugged at Jiang Lan's clothes.

They weren't even holding hands anymore. Jiang Lan realized this and panicked. She immediately turned around, pulled the other woman into a tight embrace, and whispered urgently in her ear, "I won't break up!"

Xiao Ming was completely confused. How did things get to the point of breaking up?

Seeing that he was upset, Xiaoming hugged his waist, gently stroked his back, and comforted him: "Don't break up, I like you, let's be together, why do we have to break up?"

She then addressed his accusations one by one: "I think everyone has their own privacy. There are many things I don't know if it's appropriate to ask, so I don't ask. If you want to know, you'll tell me on your own, right? If you want to know about me, just ask me directly. I'll tell you everything I can. When I'm spacing out, my mind is blank. If you ask me what I'm thinking, I don't know either. Complaining about the company is wasting my own time and emotions, which I don't think is worth it. After all, work is work, and leaving get off work is leaving get off work. However, I'm happy to share the gossip I hear with others, I just don't know if you'd like to hear it."

"As for housework and money, I think that when two people are together, one shouldn't just take advantage of the other. There should be give and take, and the two should be equal. Only in this way can the relationship last."

"You said you didn't dare ask me if I love you. I don't know if liking someone counts as love. If it does, then I should love you."

When Jiang Lan heard her say "I love you," he felt as if fireworks were exploding in his heart, making him dizzy.

She looked up, cupped Xiaoming's face in her hands, and kissed him fiercely.

A passerby on a bicycle whistled a long whistle before he reluctantly let go of the person.

Just then, the phone rang abruptly. Jiang Lan took out her phone and saw an unfamiliar number.

Jiang Lan thought for a moment, then answered the phone: "Hello? Who is this?"

An unfamiliar female voice came from the other end: "Jiang Lan, it's me, Yao Xue."

"Oh, it's you. What can I do for you?"

"A few of us classmates are planning to visit the city during the May Day holiday. Would you be available to be our guide?"

Jiang Lan frowned. Many of her high school classmates worked in the city. Why would she think of him, with whom she had only a casual relationship, as her guide?

Or rather, why did Yao Xue think that she could get closer to him by relying on the friendship she had with him in high school?

He repeatedly said that he had a girlfriend, but it seems she didn't take it to heart at all.

This is why he's annoyed by girls pursuing him; they always think they're so important and interfere with other people's lives.

"Sorry, I'm busy. I'm going on a trip with my girlfriend during the May Day holiday."

He hung up the phone without waiting for a response.

"That female classmate you told me about?"

Yes, perseverance.

"She should be shameless. If she contacts you again, she should call me. I want to ask her how she can be so shameless, always eyeing other people's boyfriends."

Jiang Lan looked at Xiao Ming, who seemed to have finally understood, and was pleasantly surprised: "Okay! Next time you answer the phone, you can yell at her."