Chapter 10 Unrequited Love

The tart yet sweet fragrance of orange peel, mixed with the salty taste of tears, fills the air around my nose.

Yu Bai wanted to stop crying, but she couldn't. It seemed that she had been crying all the time since she met Jiang Jizhou, and she had almost cried all the tears she had shed in the past ten years.

Perhaps it was because she could have endured the long darkness, but suddenly there was a glimmer of light, like a blind person suddenly regaining their sight. Her longing for that light stirred her emotions.

"Why are you crying?" Jiang Jizhou showed no impatience and patiently pulled out a tissue and handed it to Yu Bai.

Yu Bai took it and hastily wiped the tears from his face.

After a long pause, she suppressed her sobs, gripped the tissue tightly, and asked in a muffled voice, "Jiang Jizhou, why are you so good to me?"

The car was quiet, so quiet that only the faint sound of breathing and Yu Bai's pounding heartbeat could be heard.

"I would have done the same if it were anyone else."

Jiang Jizhou gave a slight smile.

Yu Bai's heart sank to the ground.

Jiang Jizhou paused for a moment, then said, "You said it."

He turned his head to look at Yu Bai. The streetlights flashing past the window cast flickering light on his face. His voice was calm as he said, "Most importantly, you are my sister, and I will definitely protect you."

After he finished speaking, he leaned back in his chair, his high-bridged nose and almond-shaped eyes looking listless, as if he were sleepy.

Yu Bai's hand, which was gripping the tissue, loosened weakly, and his mood gradually calmed down.

"Hmm, thank you." Yu Bai smelled the sourness of the orange peel and suddenly felt her heart turn into an orange, unbearably sour. She glanced at Jiang Jizhou, whose long eyelashes were drooping and who was almost asleep, and whispered, "Brother."

It was a relationship closer than with others, but also one that couldn't be overstepped, like a thin thread tugging at Yu Bai's heart.

Being close to him is painful, but staying away from him is excruciating.

The thread tightened and loosened at times, but Yu Bai willingly allowed himself to be pulled along.

Yu Bai didn't mention Ruo An. She leaned back in her chair, tilting her head to quietly watch Jiang Jizhou's peaceful sleeping face. His raven-like eyelashes drooped over his eye sockets, gentle and calm. Yu Bai closed her eyes as well, listening to his steady breathing, and gradually fell asleep.

When Yu Bai woke up groggily again, she felt herself sinking into something soft. She subconsciously reached out and rubbed her forehead. When she opened her eyes, she found herself lying in her own bed without even realizing it.

Did Jiang Jizhou carry her in? She looked down at her clothes; she had changed into pajamas.

Yu Bai glanced out the window. The sky was turning a pale white, a faint light was breaking in, and magpies were chirping merrily.

She rubbed her head again, her consciousness returning, and got up and left the bedroom.

When I went downstairs, I saw Aunt Chen watering the flowers in the yard, especially those few rose bushes.

"Aunt Chen, you're back." Yu Bai also went outside, breathing in the fresh morning air, feeling relaxed and open-minded.

"Yes, he came back last night." Chen Ma put down her work and said to Yu Bai, "It was just in time. I saw Ji Zhou carrying you into the house, so I went to help you change your clothes."

Sure enough, it was him who carried her back. Yu Bai's heart stirred, but then she became a little unhappy. How could she have been sleeping so soundly back then that she didn't feel anything at all?

She listlessly went to wash up and eat breakfast.

When Jiang Jizhou came downstairs, he saw Yu Bai eating. He walked to the refrigerator, took out a bottle of ice water, pulled the tab, threw the tab into the trash can, and then raised an eyebrow and smiled at Yu Bai, "That's rare."

Jiang Jizhou usually gets up earlier than Yu Bai. Upon hearing this, Yu Bai turned around, glared at him, and continued to eat.

After Jiang Jizhou finished washing up, he walked to the dining table and noticed that Yu Bai had tied her hair up today.

Her low ponytail revealed her fair and slender neck, like a swan with its head bowed.

The hearing aid in her left ear, like a swan's wound, evokes pity.

He sat down on the other side of the table. "Why did you change your hairstyle?"

Yu Bai paused, then whispered, "Mm."

Jiang Jizhou smiled slightly and said, "It looks very good."

After lunch, we went to school together.

Yu Bai and Jiang Jizhou entered the classroom one after the other. There were only a dozen or so people scattered inside.

Mingjing noticed the hearing aid on Yu Bai's ear and hesitated, but didn't dare to say or ask anything. She pretended not to see it and asked Yu Bai to borrow her math homework. "Yu Bai, can I see the last challenging problem? I've been thinking about it for a long time and I still can't figure it out."

Yu Bai pulled a test paper out of his math book and gave it to her.

Her test paper was clean and tidy, with neat and beautiful handwriting, making it very pleasing to the eye.

"Wow, so that's how it's solved! I never thought of that." Mingjing suddenly realized. "Yu Bai, you're amazing! You shouldn't have gotten any questions wrong on this test, right?"

"I don't know, let's wait for the teacher to check the answers."

Mingjing laughed: "You're definitely right. You got the last question right. You'll probably still be in the top few in the midterm exams after National Day."

Before the midterm exams, Yu Bai took a monthly exam and ranked seventh in the grade.

Jiang Jizhou is in the top three.

"You can definitely pick any seat you want when the time comes," Mingjing asked. "Do you want to sit at the same table as your brother?"

Yu Bai was taken aback. Their class assigned seats based on exam rankings, and she herself didn't know that.

After hesitating for a moment, Yu Bai didn't know how to answer.

Mingjing grabbed her hand. "Hehe, if you don't sit with your brother, we can be deskmates."

"Okay." Yu Bai smiled, pursing his lips.

After Mingjing returned to her seat, Yu Bai thought about the midterm exams.

She doesn't need to worry about math, physics, chemistry, or biology; her only weakness is Chinese, which dragged down her score in the last exam.

She pulled out the materials from the Chinese reading section and started doing reading comprehension questions. She categorized some reading comprehension questions, such as those about the central idea, the author's emotions in underlined sentences, and other less common question formats, and summarized the answering directions and standardized general answering techniques.

At lunchtime, Yu Bai used the spare time between classes to do two readings and complete a summary and reflection.

She put away her books and looked up to see Jiang Jizhou waiting for her at the classroom door.

She walked over with light steps, her ponytail swaying gently over her shoulder.

Yu Bai left the classroom and saw that Chen Ye was also there today.

"Hello, little sister." Chen winked at her and gave her a friendly smile.

Yu Bai smiled and nodded, a little reserved, "Hi."

Jiang Jizhou explained to her, "Chen Ye is coming to our house for dinner today, and we're going to play games together."

"Um."

Yu Bai was a little reserved because of Chen Ye's presence. After finishing his meal, he immediately slipped back to his bedroom, leaving Jiang Jizhou and Chen Ye in the dining room.

After seeing Yu Bai go upstairs, Chen Ye grinned mischievously at Jiang Jizhou and said, "Your sister is so cute and pretty."

Jiang Jizhou also glanced at him.

"Can I pursue your sister?" Chen Ye asked, surprising everyone.

Jiang Jizhou's eyes cooled, and he glanced at Chen Ye with a blank expression, uttering two words, "You dare."

Chen chickened out and muttered, "I didn't realize you were a siscon."

Jiang Jizhou ignored him.

-

After school in the evening, Uncle Jiang came to pick up Yu Bai and Jiang Jizhou.

Uncle Jiang and Jiang Jizhou were still like opposite poles, each disliking the other. Yu Bai felt like he was in a frozen wasteland while sitting in the car, and huddled in a corner, not daring to speak.

It wasn't until Uncle Jiang spoke up, "Bai Bai, how's the new school? Are you settling in well?"

Yu Bai smiled sweetly, "Yes, I can adapt."

"I heard from your teacher that you ranked in the top ten in your grade in your first monthly exam after transferring schools." Uncle Jiang smiled with satisfaction and pride. "You didn't let your Uncle Jiang down. Tell me what reward you want."

Jiang Jizhou even ranked first in the grade, but Uncle Jiang didn't mention it at all. Yu Bai felt a little lost about this special treatment. She turned her head to look at Jiang Jizhou's expression, which was expressionless.

She lowered her head. "Can we go out for dinner together tonight? That's the reward I want."

"That's it?" Uncle Jiang was surprised. "Don't be so polite with Uncle Jiang, your mother and I have been old friends for many years."

Yu Bai glanced at Jiang Jizhou again; he was propping his head up, leaning against the window, looking detached from the situation.

She said firmly, "Yes, that's it."

Uncle Jiang shook his head and smiled, "Alright, you little rascal."

"Where should we eat?" Uncle Jiang asked.

Upon hearing this, Yu Bai tugged at Jiang Jizhou's sleeve, "Brother, where do you want to eat?"

Jiang Jizhou looked at her with a half-smile, and Yu Bai suddenly felt a little scared.

"Moon River, please."

Hearing the restaurant's name, Yu Bai felt a little unfamiliar with it, so she took out her phone to search for it.

It's the rooftop restaurant of the tallest building in the southern part of the city, a restaurant that costs around ten thousand yuan per person. Yu Bai smacked his lips, thinking, "He really knows how to choose."

“Okay.” Uncle Jiang drove them to Yuehe.

Led by a waiter, they took the elevator to the top floor.

Stepping out of the elevator, there are huge floor-to-ceiling windows, and in front of you is a viewing platform with several telescopes.

"It looks so good!" Yu Bai exclaimed.

Through the window, I saw countless stars twinkling brilliantly in the dark night sky.

“Indeed.” Jiang Jizhou stood beside Yu Bai, also looking at the stars. Yu Bai turned his head to look at him and suddenly felt that he was more handsome.

The restaurant was nearby, and a waiter opened the door and invited them in.

A crystal chandelier, more dazzling than a star, came into Yu Bai's view, followed by the elegant and melodious sound of a piano, which added a touch of nobility to the already exquisitely decorated restaurant.

Yu Bai saw that the piano music was coming from a corner of the restaurant, and a woman in a white dress was playing the black piano.

Yu Bai suddenly felt as if he were in a fairyland.

While she was lost in thought, Jiang Jizhou grabbed her hand and followed Uncle Jiang to their dining table.

When ordering, Yu Bai only ordered two dishes.

Jiang Jizhou ordered the most expensive items on the menu, and Yu Bai whispered, "What are we going to do if we can't finish all this?"

Jiang Jizhou raised an eyebrow. "Then I won't eat it."

"Wouldn't that be a waste?"

Jiang Jizhou scoffed, "Then you... pack it up."

After ordering, the waiters quickly began serving dishes one after another. The first dish was langoustines. On a clean white plate that resembled a vast ocean, a prawn was dismembered and lay in the center, garnished with some green leaves. I wondered if it was edible.

Actually, Yu Bai's initial intention in suggesting that they have dinner together was to ease the tension between the two of them.

But when I looked up, I saw that the two of them were eating separately, not saying a word, like strangers sharing a table.

Yu Bai hesitated for a while, wondering whether he should say something or start a conversation.

Just then, Uncle Jiang received a phone call, apologized to Yu Bai, and left in a hurry, leaving Yu Bai bewildered in the wind.

Then, Yu Bai heard Jiang Jizhou snort coldly.

She tried to make amends for Uncle Jiang, saying, "He must be busy at work."

"Is that so?" Jiang Jizhou's eyes flashed with overwhelming hatred as he gritted his teeth and said.

This made Yu Bai tremble all over.

She sensed that beneath Jiang Jizhou's carefree and unrestrained nature lay a gentle and delicate essence, and that he, like her, harbored unspeakable wounds.

But Yu Bai had no way to ask at this point, let alone help him.

Yu Bai lowered his head and cut his steak, deep in thought.

Just as Yu Bai had predicted, dishes were served one after another, and in the end, they only ate a little over half of them. If Uncle Jiang had been there, there might have been less waste.

Yu Bai had initially considered packing the leftovers to go, but seeing the gleaming restaurant, she changed her mind.

Uncle Jiang had already paid the bill in advance; the total cost was fifty to sixty thousand yuan.

Yu Bai was stunned when he heard the number.

On the way back, she was still a little dazed. It was the first time in her life that she had spent so much money on a meal; it was an astronomical figure for her.

What struck her even more was the estrangement between Jiang Jizhou and Uncle Jiang.

Even when she lay in bed, she couldn't fall asleep, tossing and turning.

While looking down at my phone, I saw three WeChat messages from Jiang Jizhou.

This was the first time Jiang Jizhou had sent her a message since they added each other on WeChat.

Don't be sad, the old man has money.

[We've only run into him a few times now, so we should treat him to a meal. Besides, you've never eaten here before, so why not give it a try?]

Finally, I sent a mischievous grin emoji.

Yu Bai bit her lower lip, chuckled inwardly, and typed a message to send it.

Okay, I know.

He thought that was why she was upset.

Yu Bai took a breath and, through the screen, mustered the courage to ask him. After typing and deleting several times, she finally sent it to him.

What exactly happened between you and Uncle Jiang?

A note from the author:

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