I dared not look at Guanyin from then on.

"From that day forward, I dared not look at Guanyin."

16.

Chongming and Zheng Xuerou broke up shortly after the Mid-Autumn Festival, on the night of the lab dinner to bid farewell to Chongming and Xuexiang's trip to Northern Europe.

Xue Xiang got Chongming drunk. Since the two of them were going to take a red-eye flight together the next day, Ma Yuehe drove Xue Xiang's car and took them to Chongming's house.

Chongming's family was wealthy, and their house was so big it didn't seem like it belonged to one person. When Xue Xiang occasionally acted out of line and got kicked out of the house by his wife, ending up homeless, he would come to stay. He opened the refrigerator with practiced ease, and as usual, it only contained large bottles of Evian water.

Xue Xiang couldn't help but complain, "How come your refrigerator is still empty even after you have a girlfriend?"

"Huh?" Chongming, drunk, couldn't keep anything to himself. "We don't live together. Apart from lab gatherings, she rarely comes to my place."

"Brother, why are you still living the life of an ascetic?"

“What’s so hard about her?! She’s suffering in America now.” Chongming let out a drunken hiccup. “I can’t help her, I can’t help her with anything. I promised to go with her, but I broke my promise.”

"This isn't your fault." Xue Xiang patted Chongming on the shoulder. "Once things settle down a bit, I'll give you time off to go see her, how about that?"

“Great! After I come back from Europe, Lan Jian will still be interning at the Nuclear Research Institute. I'll have some free time, so I can go to the United States.”

"Wow, I didn't realize that you, senior, take such good care of your junior sister!" Xue Xiang felt very gratified. He believed that the spirit of unity and friendship in the laboratory could be passed down from generation to generation, and he felt that he had made a great contribution to it.

"Pfft!" Chongming suddenly laughed, thinking of something else. "Lanjian is too naive. I have to keep an eye on her and not let our junior sister be bullied."

"What? Is something wrong in Lanjian?!"

"She got together with a guy in Professor Huang's lab."

After Chongming finished speaking, he passed out drunk.

Xue Xiang looked at him sleeping with his lips tightly pursed. Even though he was slow to notice, he suddenly sensed something strange.

At 2 a.m., Xue Xiang got up to go to the toilet.

When he came out of the bathroom, he found Chongming, whom he had placed on the sofa bed, holding a mobile phone and staring blankly at the unlit TV screen.

Xue Xiang jumped in fright, "What are you doing?"

Chongming didn't speak, still staring at the television screen.

"It's okay, I'm going back to sleep."

"Hmm," Chongming finally replied, "I'm fine."

After Xue Xiang returned to his room, Chongming turned on his phone screen, where a message from across the ocean was displayed in the message bar.

[Zheng Xuerou: Let's break up.]

Without any background or elaboration, the relationship between the two was summed up in a single sentence.

Chongming didn't ask why, nor could he bring himself to ask.

When Chongming had to give up sending Zheng Xuerou to America because of his grandmother's passing and the imminent arrival of his trip to Europe, he had already foreseen this outcome. He had no right to complain or refuse.

Chongming replied: "Okay."

When I exited the chat window, I saw unread messages in the lab group. Lan Jian had created a group photo album and saved a lot of photos in it. Ma Yuehe also added some. There were group photos, candid shots, a silly photo of Xue Xiang patting her belly like she was four months pregnant after eating, a photo of Ma Yuehe misalignedly snatching ice cream from Hui Shijie's mouth, and a photo of Lan Jian asking for a drink with an empty glass while Chongming was drinking, and Chongming covering the rim of the glass and frowning.

When Chongming saw Lanjian in the photo, he squinted his eyes and curled his lips in a fawning manner, like a puppy that sees others eating chocolate and is eager to have a bite, completely unaware of the danger the chocolate poses to it.

Lan Jian really doesn't know how dangerous alcohol is.

Chongming exited the chat window, intending to drift off to sleep thanks to his drunkenness, when suddenly he remembered something and opened the group chat again.

Before Lan Jian created the album, his words, "If I get drunk and die, Xiao Ma, remember to safely escort Sister Hui and Lan Jian home," have already been counted as 5.

There are six people in the group. Senior Sister Hui is an administrative staff member of the entire 12th floor and does not belong solely to Xue Xiang's lab, so she is not in this lab's group. The group consists of six people, including Xue Xiang's five previous students. Apart from Niga, who was busy with classes at the beginning of the semester and rarely came to the lab and did not speak the language, and Zheng Xuerou, who went abroad, everyone else is active in the group every day.

Therefore, Chongming often finds that messages are only marked as read 4 or even 3.

But tonight, everyone has read his message, including Zheng Xuerou.

Chongming flipped through the photo album but found nothing amiss. After much thought, he decided to let it go.

By letting him go this time, he not only let go of all the secrets hidden in the photos, but also shattered all of Zheng Xuerou's thoughts about him.

Not long after, the two met in the United States and talked about the matter calmly. Only then did Chongming realize that Zheng Xuerou was just angry about the way Chongming had prevented Lanjian from drinking that night.

It's like the older brother is stopping Meimei.

But it's more like a domineering lover who rejects a lover's pleas for mercy.

No one could tell that Lan Jian's pleading was a form of coquetry, but Zheng Xuerou easily and inexplicably saw through her feelings.

But Lan Jian wasn't the only one harboring those inappropriate feelings.

And then there's Chongming, with his brows furrowed, his lips pursed, yet his eyes gleaming.

Even now, when the chaos of war during the Mid-Autumn Festival is mentioned again, Chongming's heart is thrown into disarray by Lanjian's gaze.

Lan Jian stared at him intently.

It's an underground parking garage again.

The last time ambiguity arose and spread was because of a slip of the tongue by Meng Lanjian.

The person who made this slip of the tongue was Chongming.

He shouldn't have brought it up.

What's worse is that after unintentionally bringing it up, instead of casually letting it pass, they created a blank space where everyone had their own ulterior motives, allowing the silence to fester.

He saw that Lan Jian's exceptionally beautiful red lips parted slightly because she had eaten hotpot. Her voice was always clear and crisp, but for some reason, the sound she uttered now was somewhat hoarse, with a sticky, tentative quality. She asked, "When did you find out?"

"I have no idea."

Chongming turned his head to look out the window, not daring to look at Lanjian.

He finally understood the mindset of Liang Shanbo in the play when he said, "I dare not look at Guanyin from now on."

No, you know.

Meng Lanjian is an extremely stubborn person.

Once she decides to confront him, no one can stop her.

But how could she possibly bring herself to say such a thing?

She prided herself on having extremely high moral standards; she would never covet what wasn't hers. Besides, she had always had a smooth life and had never experienced the hardships of going against the current.

Only when facing Chongming did she struggle twice, but ultimately lost control.

He told her to learn to please herself, and she ended up falling in love with Han Li, who liked her. He flew to the United States to find Zheng Xuerou, and she thought with despair that when he came back, he would probably bring her the news of their reconciliation.

On their wedding day, he wore a dark outfit, but she took out a red dress from her trunk and went to see him with great joy.

She knew this marriage was unfair to both of them.

But she was secretly delighted.

She was secretly pleased that she no longer had to watch him helplessly as he loudly announced that he had a girlfriend; she was secretly pleased that she no longer had to force herself to stay with Han Li for the sake of a nominal "pleasure" relationship; she was secretly pleased that he had finally compromised on the marriage and married her; she was secretly pleased that the war seemed to have truly stopped because of their marriage.

But what pleased her most was that she had always kept her feelings hidden very, very deep, so that he couldn't find any clues.

In this way, she did not violate her moral values ​​by falling in love with someone who was in love with someone else.

"The blue tissue box on the table is all used up today."

Chongming heard Lanjian's voice approaching as if shrouded in a thick fog.

He felt a dampness swirling around inside the carriage. He turned to look at Lan Jian, only to find her also looking out the window.

But there was nothing outside the window.

Only in the underground parking lot are the walls snow-white.

In the vast expanse of white, Lan Jian asked Chong Ming, "Shall we do it? Tonight?"

If the last time was a provocation and a joke, this time, Meng Lanjian was really asking him, she was asking her husband, what kind of couple they should be.

Chongming could no longer escape. At this moment, he had been stripped of all his external glory and had lost all the privileges of being a senior brother.

He wanted to go slower, even slower.

So that the two can live peacefully as a respectful and harmonious couple.

Clearly, Meng Lanjian did not want to do as he wished.

He countered by asking her, "Do you want to do it?"

After a long while, the silent carriage finally echoed.

"Oh."

Meng Lanjian had anticipated Chongming's reaction long ago.

"I don't want to do it, not at all. You can just live a life of widowhood for the rest of your life!"

After saying that, she didn't even glance at Chongming before opening the car door and getting out.

@Chongming: The gender changed, and the comments exceeded 10,000.