Parallel lines and intersecting lines

Sun Huai was carrying his bag as he walked out of the school gate when someone suddenly rushed forward and punched him.

Sun Huai was seeing stars from the beating. He stared at Xie Zhijin in disbelief. "If you're not Big Brother, who are you?"

Xie Zhijin sneered, "He's your father."

The voice was cold and devoid of warmth.

After he finished speaking, he punched Sun Huai on the other side of the face.

"Dude, I didn't do anything to you, did I?" Sun Huai's face quickly turned pale. He felt his whole face burning and didn't understand why the person in front of him had rushed out to hit him without asking any questions.

But as a man with a strong sense of self-respect, how could he allow himself to be beaten for no reason at the school gate?

And in front of so many classmates, how could he possibly save face?

So Sun Huai also threw a punch at Xie Zhijin, and the two began to fight.

At that moment, Jiang Jingshu was having dinner in the cafeteria when she noticed that many people were looking in her direction.

Jiang Jingshu was a little puzzled. She quietly took out her phone, opened the camera, glanced at herself, and after confirming that there was nothing on her face, she hid the phone again.

"Holy crap, that's amazing."

When these words reached Jiang Jingshu's ears, she hadn't intended to dwell on it anymore, but it seemed like she heard her own name. So she quietly approached the group of people, wanting to hear what they were saying.

"You mean Sun Huai from Class 1 of the second year of high school got beaten up?"

"Yes, it seems to be because of Jiang Jingshu."

Jiang Jingshu: ?

Is anyone speaking up for her?

It's her fault that this ordinary man got beaten up, isn't it?

Jiang Jingshu was internally ranting, but she kept a straight face and secretly eavesdropped.

"What does this have to do with Jiang Jingshu?"

Jiang Jingshu nodded frantically in her mind. What did this have to do with her?

"Don't you know? It seems like it was Jiang Jingshu's ex-boyfriend who beat up Sun Huai."

"What? Jiang Jingshu really likes Sun Huai, and she even stood outside in the scorching sun all morning just to wait for him to compete?"

"Exactly, on such a hot day, spending the whole morning outside is something I really love."

Jiang Jingshu felt that this rumor could never be cleared up in her lifetime. What exactly was Sun Huai spreading about her?

She's never been in a relationship, so where did this ex-boyfriend come from?

wrong.

Jiang Jingshu's brain suddenly went blank for a moment, and then she recalled the time when Sun Huai and the bespectacled man went to get Xie Zhijin's contact information.

Jiang Jingshu couldn't help but wonder if this ex-boyfriend was referring to Xie Zhijin.

Then I remembered what Su Xiaoyue said hesitantly when we talked on the phone.

So, Xie Zhijin came to City A!

With these thoughts in mind, Jiang Jingshu immediately got up and ran to the school gate.

Jiang Jingshu thought that Xie Zhijin and Sun Huai were about the same height and build, so Xie Zhijin might not be able to beat Sun Huai.

Sun Huai is a very cunning person. What if he injures Xie Zhijin?

Suddenly, Jiang Jingshu remembered the image of Xie Zhijin squatting in the corner after being domestically abused by Xie Wendong.

She quickened her pace.

Unfortunately, when Jiang Jingshu arrived at the school gate, Xie Zhijin and Sun Huai were no longer there.

Jiang Jingshu immediately called Su Xiaoyue, "Xiaoyue, is Xie Zhijin in City A?"

"Oh, you saw him?" Su Xiaoyue asked, somewhat surprised.

Jiang Jingshu gave a few perfunctory words and hung up the phone, then immediately called Xie Zhijin.

Jiang Jingshu did not get through on her first call.

The second call also failed to get through.

Jiang Jingshu sent Xie Zhijin a message: "I know you're in City A. Reply to my message right away."

The message had barely been sent when Xie Zhijin called.

Jiang Jingshu answered the call and was about to speak when she heard Xie Zhijin's voice first.

He said, "I'm sorry."

"Where are you? I'll come find you." Jiang Jingshu paused for a second, then asked.

"Come out, I'm at your school gate."

To Jiang Jingshu's surprise, Xie Zhijin was right at her school gate, but she couldn't find him even after searching for a long time. "I'm right at the school gate, but I don't see you."

"Turn around."

As Xie Zhijin finished speaking, Jiang Jingshu turned around. What she saw was Xie Zhijin with his back to her.

"Xie Zhijin." Jiang Jingshu called his name softly, "Why did you suddenly come to City A and get into a fight with someone?"

"I'm sorry," Xie Zhijin apologized again.

"You know I don't want to hear this." Jiang Jingshu walked up to Xie Zhijin, whose lips were slightly purplish. Jiang Jingshu looked up at Xie Zhijin and said, "Because Sun Huai added your contact information, you were worried that he would harass me, so you came to City A to see me, right?"

Her tone was slow as she inquired, "Why didn't you tell me you were coming to see me? And how did you end up fighting with him at the school gate?"

"Yes." Xie Zhijin said like a child who had made a mistake, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have hit him, but he was a really bad person, and I couldn't stand it, so I hit him."

"And then you beat yourself up until your face was black and blue?" Jiang Jingshu pointed to Xie Zhijin's wounds and pulled Xie Zhijin to the pharmacy to buy medicine.

On the way, Jiang Jingshu said to Xie Zhijin, "I don't want to apply medicine to you anymore."

Xie Zhijin lowered his head in silence, then heard Jiang Jingshu say, "Try to get hurt less in the future, okay?"

After hearing this, Xie Zhijin nodded.

"What if he calls the police after you hit him today?" Jiang Jingshu asked him.

“He won’t,” Xie Zhijin answered decisively, which made Jiang Jingshu incredibly curious. “Why?”

"Jiang Jingshu, I got hit too, it hurts a bit." Xie Zhijin didn't answer Jiang Jingshu's question, but instead, unusually, he started to act coquettishly towards her.

Jiang Jingshu could only gently apply the medicine to Xie Zhijin. Having not seen Xie Zhijin for nearly a month, seeing him again still made Jiang Jingshu's heart unable to calm down.

Even a simple task like applying medicine couldn't get Jiang Jingshu to concentrate.

She gently touched Xie Zhijin's lips with a cotton swab. The boy sat on the bench, and Jiang Jingshu squatted down slightly, her hands trembling slightly.

"Jiang Jingshu, are you nervous?" Xie Zhijin gently held Jiang Jingshu's hand. Jiang Jingshu reflexively looked up and met Xie Zhijin's gaze.

Jiang Jingshu froze for a second, then forced herself to remain calm and distance herself. "Xie Zhijin, are you nervous?"

Before receiving a response from Xie Zhijin, Jiang Jingshu, seemingly trying to ease her own nervousness, spoke again, "Because you're so nervous, you assume I'm nervous too."

It was as if saying these words meant that Jiang Jingshu wasn't nervous at all.

"right."

Seemingly not having heard Xie Zhijin's words clearly, Jiang Jingshu looked at Xie Zhijin again, only to hear him say, "I was judging others by my own standards."

Jiang Jingshu clenched her fist over the cotton swab.

What does he mean by that...?

"I told you, I wasn't nervous at all." Jiang Jingshu forced herself to remain calm and continued applying the medicine to Xie Zhijin.

After applying the medicine, Jiang Jingshu sat down next to Xie Zhijin and said to him, "Xie Zhijin, would you like to talk?"

Xie Zhijin nodded. "What are you talking about?"

Jiang Jingshu took a deep breath and asked the question that had been on her mind the most, "I've treated you like this, hot and cold, distant and close, all for no reason, so why do you still like me and are still willing to come to City A for this?"

This matter needs to come to a conclusion. She can't keep treating Xie Zhijin like this; it's very unfair to him.

She thought she would hear Xie Zhijin say a lot, telling her how good a person he was, and that he couldn't bear to see his friends being bullied.

All she heard were four words.

"Because I like it."

Because I like it.

The wind blew through Jiang Jingshu's hair, and her heart began to pound wildly again.

"Why?" Jiang Jingshu asked him. "Although I've asked you this more than once, I still want to ask."

“You can keep asking me, and I will keep answering you.” Xie Zhijin said solemnly, “This answer will not change.”

"Xie Zhijin, what do you think of me? I'm talking about the very beginning, when we first met, back in our first year of high school."

Jiang Jingshu hadn't transmigrated yet at that time.

"I haven't been paying attention to you," Xie Zhijin said frankly. "I'm a very indifferent person when it comes to relationships. To be honest, before I sent you the homework, I didn't know you at all, and I didn't even pay attention to you."

Jiang Jingshu looked up and met Xie Zhijin's gaze. "Xie Zhijin, thank you for your liking."

Xie Zhijin's eyes dimmed slightly. "Jiang Jingshu, can you please stop avoiding me from now on?"

"Even if you don't like me, please don't hate me, okay? Please continue to treat me as a friend, okay?" The boy lowered his head and listened quietly to Jiang Jingshu's answer.

"Xie Zhijin, I don't dislike you," Jiang Jingshu said.

Xie Zhijin's mood didn't improve because of Jiang Jingshu's words. "Jiang Jingshu, I want to hear your true feelings?"

“This is not a lie.” Jiang Jingshu repeated, “Xie Zhijin, I was not mentally prepared, I have not completely convinced myself, but I am sure that I do not hate you.”

Jiang Jingshu didn't dare tell Xie Zhijin what she wanted to say: she didn't dislike him, and even had feelings for him and liked him.

Jiang Jingshu considers herself a timid and cowardly person.

From her unexpected birth and neglected childhood to now, she is experiencing for the first time the feeling of being cared for so much.

Her father and her biological mother did not love each other. The concubines in the palace were jealous of her father and fought over him. Jiang Jingshu felt that her father did not have anyone he truly loved.

Even though she was well-read, many of the love stories she read about ended in tragedy.

Since the outcome is going to be tragic anyway, why even begin?

Moreover, she and Xie Zhijin had absolutely no chance of happiness. They were from two different worlds and two different eras. If it weren't for this time travel, their lives would never have intersected.

Without the time travel, their life trajectories would have remained parallel, forever parallel, and would never have intersected.

Even if Jiang Jingshu were to travel through time, they would be like intersecting lines, meeting briefly before drifting further and further apart, never to meet again.

Sober as she was, with the outcome laid out before Jiang Jingshu, how could she choose to begin?

Having made up her mind, Jiang Jingshu looked at Xie Zhijin and said, word by word, "I don't hate you, but I won't like you either."

Xie Zhijin smiled, his tone very gentle, as if responding to something trivial. He said, "Okay, I understand."

The two of them seemed to understand everything.

There were only two people, and neither of them said anything.

The two of them tacitly changed the subject.

Jiang Jingshu asked him, "When are you going back to Z City? Time is so tight in the second year of high school, will your homeroom teacher still give you a vacation?"

"I'll go back tomorrow," Xie Zhijin replied. "Jiang Jingshu, will you still consider me a friend?"

Jiang Jingshu smiled and stood up from her chair. "Xie Zhijin, I want to eat candied hawthorns."