Chapter 18

Cheng Ya had long felt that Jin Chuwan was like a kite.

She was flying in the sky, but in reality, she was always being tethered by a thread named Jiang Chen.

Perhaps because the line was too thin and long enough, in Cheng Ya's observation, Jin Chuwan has not yet discovered this matter.

Of course, it could also be because she is so focused on studying that she is slow to react to the outside world.

Thinking of this, Cheng Ya looked at the text message dialog box on her phone with affection.

Just then, Kim Cho-wan's text message arrived.

"I'm home now--"

Not long after, another MMS message arrived on my phone.

It's a selfie. Kim Cho-wan, wearing puppy pajamas, is about to eat cake, but due to the photographer's poor technique, the already blurry image quality becomes even more fuzzy.

Cheng Ya clutched her chest and then collapsed into her older brother's arms.

"Damn it, I didn't even know Wanwan bought these pajamas!!"

Cheng Xiucheng glanced over and accidentally saw his precious younger sister frantically clicking to save photos. Several photos, seemingly taken secretly, were also faintly visible at the bottom of the not-so-large screen.

Cheng Xiucheng stared blankly at his empty wine glass, seemingly lost in thought.

After the adults in the family left, the originally conservative and restrained banquet suddenly became noisy.

Several girls suddenly rushed over and pulled Cheng Ya away, seemingly to plan their next activity.

After confirming that all the faces were familiar, Cheng Xiucheng walked to the side.

He opened his phone, found Jin Chuwan's number, and dialed it directly.

A moment later, the call connected, and Cheng Xiucheng said directly into the phone, "I think we need to meet again."

His voice was somewhat low. The story had clearly deviated from its original trajectory. Although he was pleased with this development, he still felt he should explain it to Jin Chuwan.

And Cheng Ya...

He always felt that his sensible and cute younger sister might have been a little too fond of Kim Cho-wan.

After Ke Chengxiu finished speaking, there was no sound from the other end. He glanced at his phone and then asked again.

"Can you hear me, Jin Chuwan...?"

This time, the other party hung up immediately.

Jiang Chen looked at the nickname 'Brother Xiucheng' on his phone, and then glanced at Jin Chuwan, who was drying her hair.

She had already turned off the hairdryer and walked over. Seeing that the phone had been answered, Jin Chuwan frowned slightly.

"I pressed the wrong button."

Hearing Jiang Chen's explanation, Jin Chuwan didn't say anything more. After all, it was just a phone call, and if the other party really had something to do, they would definitely call back.

She tossed her phone aside and was about to go get a new towel when she heard Jiang Chen ask a question.

Aren't you going back?

Jin Chuwan glanced at her phone, which was still on the sofa. "I'm not replying."

Sung Soo-seung's appearance didn't suggest he was doing anything serious, and generally speaking, people with a sister complex tend to be overly concerned.

I should have kept his number.

With the college entrance examination approaching, Jin Chuwan didn't want to be distracted by other things.

Just as Jin Chuwan was contemplating whether to go to the bookstore the next day, her phone suddenly rang again.

Jiang Chen looked at Jin Chuwan's slightly disgusted gaze, lowered his eyes and chuckled softly.

"Hello?"

The call finally went through smoothly, and Cheng Xiucheng breathed a sigh of relief. He then told Jin Chuwan about his discovery.

"We've all made a mistake—"

"This world isn't following the familiar plot at all. I just asked Cheng Ya, and she not only has no connection with your Jiang Chen, but she's also just an acquaintance of Yin Zhihua—"

"That means the story, which should have reached its conclusion at this point, hasn't even begun!"

As Jin Chuwan listened to the conversation on the other end of the phone, her gaze unconsciously drifted to Jiang Chen, who was sitting not far away.

"knew."

Upon hearing the other party's calm, almost indifferent reply, Cheng Xiucheng pushed up his glasses again.

"knew?"

Don't you think this is a very important matter?

Jin Chuwan sighed, opened the door, and went out.

Outside the villa is a garden where you can relax and take a walk. Butler Jiang takes good care of the flowers and plants here, making them as vibrant as his own children.

Jin Chuwan found a step to sit down and then spoke into the phone.

"In fact, I deviated from the original storyline a long time ago, but I am still alive and well now."

"But……"

Hearing Cheng Xiucheng's concerns, Jin Chuwan idly plucked a weed.

"In short, the original story was just a melodramatic love fairy tale, but as carbon-based life forms, what we need are carbohydrates, breathing, photosynthesis, and glycogenolysis, breaking down sugars and fats to provide energy and synthesize proteins, not the love described in the book."

"It's fine if they deviate from the plan. If you're really bothered by it, we can try to bring them together again after the exams."

Cheng Xiucheng blushed inexplicably as he listened to the other party's long string of replies.

"Even though I'm older, why do I feel like I'm the one who's childish..."

Jin Chuwan neatly arranged the poor weeds one by one.

"Weren't you a painter before? It's normal to be simple-minded when you're a freelancer."

"...Is this supposed to be comforting?"

Cheng Xiucheng loosened his tie to cover up his earlier lapse in composure.

The man stood in the corner listening to the phone. The flickering lights of the lobby occasionally fell on him, and a smile played on his face, which combined gentleness and handsomeness; he seemed to be in a good mood.

“It’s not a consolation.” Jin Chuwan looked up at the moonlight.

"I'm just envious."

When she was dying, her biggest regret was that she had spent all her holidays working. If she could do it all over again, she would definitely sleep soundly for two days and two nights.

“If you call me Xiucheng brother, I might be able to teach you.”

Kim Cho-wan chuckled when she heard this.

Her smile was just faint.

"If I want to learn, there are teachers everywhere. Why should I specifically look for you?"

"because……"

At this moment, for some reason, Sung Soo-seung suddenly thought of the puppy pajamas on Sung-ah's phone. He glanced somewhat uncomfortably at Sung-ah, who was excitedly playing Monopoly with her friends.

"Because I can do it for free."

--

After Jin Chuwan left, the villa immediately fell silent.

Jiang Chen stared silently at the door. This was the first time Jin Chuwan had ever made a phone call to someone else behind his back.

That's normal. Yin Zhihua often says that girls start to have their own secrets when they grow up, but he always felt that Jin Chuwan had more secrets than other girls her age.

For example, there was that friend named Lily whom he had never heard of before, and Cheng Ya, whom he had become acquainted with at some point.

There are also deceptive confessions that only appear when she's in a bad mood.

The young man leaned back on the sofa, his cool and handsome face facing the chandelier on the ceiling, but his eyes couldn't help but move in another direction.

--

At this moment, Jin Chuwan, who was outside the door, decided to put aside her many prejudices against Cheng Ya when she heard the word "free".

"Brother Xiucheng".

Kim Chu-wan gave a forced, insincere smile.

"You'd better remember what you said..."