(three hundred and ninety)

Ye Wenyu blushed. Actually, she had enough savings to buy the clothes she wanted, but she rarely bought anything because of her minimalist principles. Her roommate's gift of clothes was well-intentioned, but it could easily hurt her self-esteem, especially since it was in front of all her roommates. Ye Wenyu instinctively didn't want to accept it. She believed that no girl would want to accept such old clothes. However, thinking of her roommate's good intentions, she smiled slightly, took the clothes, and politely said, "Thank you, they're very beautiful, I like them very much."

My roommate was also very happy with the gift.

A gossipy roommate asked, "Xiaoyu, I heard you know Professor Cai. Didn't you two have a teacher-student romance scandal on campus before? Why are you acting so distant now?"

Upon hearing this, Ye Wenyu's previously steady heartbeat began to accelerate again, and all the blood in her body uncontrollably rushed to her face. However, she quickly lowered her head to let the rush of blood on her face subside before raising her head again.

She smiled slightly, quickly regained her composure, and said calmly to them, "It's all rumors, fake news! Don't believe it. We used to be neighbors, but they moved away and we haven't been in touch since." She tried to sound calm, but her heart was still pounding wildly.

Everyone immediately burst into laughter, finally relieved. Ye Wenyu's explanation completely dispelled their hostility and curiosity.

Therefore, while her roommate dressed up to attend Cai Wenchuan's elective course, Ye Wenyu went to work outside.

She thought that she and Cai Wenchuan would be parallel lines from now on, never to intersect again.

But she never expected that someone would force her to go find Cai Wenchuan!

On this day, Ye Wenyu was working at the bookstore. With nothing much to do, she sat at the counter, reading books while tending to the store.

Golden sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, filling the room with brightness. Rows of neatly arranged paper books on the orange-yellow solid wood bookshelves exuded the fragrance of ink. In a corner of the study stood a huge bird of paradise plant, tall, robust, and lush. At this moment, it seemed to be enjoying itself, stretching out its enormous leaves and dancing gently in the sunlight.

Ye Wenyu was very satisfied with her peaceful, leisurely, and carefree life, which allowed her to gain knowledge through reading and make progress every day. Just then, her phone rang. She picked it up and saw it was a call from her mother, Zhang Susu.

She was somewhat surprised. Her mother rarely called her unless something was wrong. Had something happened? Thinking that she hadn't spoken to her mother on the phone for almost a week, she answered the phone, intending to inquire about her mother's health. But Zhang Susu's voice came through the phone in a harsh tone: "Your brother Wen is back. Have you seen him?!" Her tone was extremely angry.

Brother Wen? Ye Wenyu frowned. It took her a minute or two to remember that this was what she used to call Cai Wenchuan. When they were little, she would follow him around like a tail, calling him "Brother Wen" in a crisp, sweet voice, like the fruit candy she loved as a child. When they were dating, she would also gently, affectionately, and tenderly call him "Brother Wen" in private.

But now, hearing this title, she felt only nausea and awkwardness. Looking back on the past, it all seemed like a distant memory.

Overwhelmed with mixed feelings, my chest felt like boiling porridge, and I remained silent.

Seeing that her daughter didn't answer, Zhang Susu urged her on the other end of the phone, "Hey, hey, I'm asking you, Cai Wenchuan is back in China, have you seen him?!" Her tone was still angry, her voice like a sharp whip.

Ye Wenyu finally came to her senses and composed herself. Considering that it takes a lot of extra energy, time, and intelligence to cover up a lie, Ye Wenyu would not lie unless absolutely necessary. Therefore, she stammered, "No, no."

However, in a flash, she suddenly remembered that she had visited the Cai family with her mother. Uncle Cai and Aunt Cai liked her very much and wanted her to be their daughter-in-law. Her mother was very satisfied with the Cai family's choice and kept urging her to keep in touch with Cai Wenchuan via WeChat and phone even if he did not return to China.

But she forgot about it and didn't do it. Since breaking up with Cai Wenchuan, she had never contacted him again, and he disappeared without a trace. She only heard from her roommate that he had returned to China, become a professor, and was teaching again.

Now that her mother was calling angrily, things were bound to get more and more complicated. Ye Wenyu gently pulled the phone away from her ear, afraid of her mother's outburst. She stared blankly at the bird of paradise plant. The sky darkened, the sunlight disappeared, and there was not a single customer in the study. The surroundings were as silent as a mountain valley.

Sure enough, her mother's voice turned stern, "Why don't you go see him!" It struck Ye Wenyu like a thunderbolt.

Ye Wenyu was startled and pulled the phone even further away from her ear, as if her mother would reach out from the receiver and slap her.

After a long pause, she slowly said, "School just started, and I... I'm very busy with my studies." At this moment, she felt a headache coming on. Judging from her mother's angry tone, the old woman must be very disappointed in her performance. In addition, she also knew that the old woman still held great hope for her to marry into the Cai family.

Life is such a hassle. Right now, life is like the building blocks she played with as a child, completely broken and messy, no longer able to be pieced together into a complete picture. They are scattered haphazardly on the floor, as if mocking her incompetence.

"Are you stupid! A girl goes to a good university and gets a high degree so that she can marry into a good family in the future! The Cai family is so good, and Wen Chuan himself is so outstanding! Is he more important or studying? Go see him right now!" The old lady roared on the other end of the phone, repeatedly advocating the central idea that "marrying is the most important thing for a woman" like a lioness from the east of the river.

Ye Wenyu strongly suspected that if the old man stood in front of her, he would probably slap her across the face.

Ye Wenyu had no choice but to hold the phone a little further away from her face for the third time, and said to her mother on the other end of the line, "Mom, can you please stop being so wishful? He's the youngest professor at Q University now, he's very busy. Even if I wanted to see him, he wouldn't have time to see me."

Zhang Susu suddenly hung up the phone.

Ye Wenyu froze, as surprised as if she had suddenly tripped and fallen while walking on flat ground. She checked her phone, feeling bewildered, and figured it was probably because of a bad signal, which was why her mother had hung up. Thankfully, the signal was bad; at least the old woman wouldn't call to nag about her marriage prospects. She shook her head and continued working at the bookstore.