Chapter 76
Chen Qinglin temporarily accepted a job at a jewelry counter, rented a house nearby, and moved out of Yin Mu's house.
Yin Mu had been behaving well recently, and after her repeated requests, she was allowed to move back to her own house after her mother's vacation ended.
Everything gradually got back on track, and Yin Mu started to work again. After work, she would take time every afternoon to visit Zhong Mengyuan's house to check on the situation, clean up, sit by her bed and talk to her. This became a regular schedule.
Zhong Mengyuan slept soundly, showing no signs of waking up. Yin Mu touched her face, feeling the warmth, and felt a little relieved. He sat down beside her bed and muttered to himself, "When are you going to wake up? There should be a limit to how much you love to sleep. If you don't wake up soon, I'm going to lose my patience." He paused, smiled, and said, "I'm kidding. I'm very patient. But you don't have to sleep all the time. Being so quiet is not your style."
The phone he had casually placed on the bed while mopping the floor vibrated. Yin Mu stretched out his arm to touch the phone, saw who was calling, and answered with a bit of surprise: "Hello?"
Li Yan's cheerful voice came from the other end of the phone: "It's me. Tomorrow is Saturday. Are you free tonight?"
"Tonight? If you're free...what's going on?"
"I forgot so quickly." Li Yan said, "Didn't we meet for dinner last time? Unfortunately, the company has been putting me on 996 lately. Tomorrow I can finally relax and have a good rest, so I thought we'd get together."
"Sure, who else did you call?"
"Not yet."
“…”
Li Yan listened to her silence and laughed heartily: "I want to confirm your time first. Weren't you absent last time because of work? I can't let you be absent this time too."
Yin Mu shook his head helplessly: "Okay, I will definitely be there."
"Great, I'll go date someone else then."
"OK."
"I'll send you the address later," Li Yan said, but then added, "Don't stand me up at the last minute."
"I know."
After ending the call, Yin Mu put down his phone and turned his head to look at Zhong Mengyuan: "When can I have dinner with you again? I promise you, as long as you can wake up soon, I will treat you to dinner every time in the future. That should be fine, right?"
Zhong Mengyuan naturally would not respond.
Yin Mu put away the disappointment in his heart and stood up: "Then I will go home first and come to see you tomorrow."
The next day, Yin Mu brought forward the time she would visit Zhong Mengyuan because she had a dinner party that evening. Although she knew the result would not change, she still held on to a faint hope and wanted to check every day.
What if? These three words are so torturous that people can't even bear to relax.
It was still early when Yin Mu left Zhong Mengyuan's house. He calculated the distance and suddenly had an idea - why not stop by Chen Qinglin's workplace? He was working as a shopping guide... It didn't seem easy to imagine.
The more Yin Mu thought about it, the more curious he became. He quickly made up his mind and changed his steps.
When they arrived at the mall, Yin Mu didn't approach immediately, but stood not far away and quietly observed Chen Qinglin. He was talking to a short-haired girl, but strangely, there were no accessories on the counter between them, which didn't seem like a simple sales relationship.
Yin Mu narrowed his eyes in confusion, looked for a few minutes but couldn't figure out what was going on. He shrugged his shoulders and walked straight to the counter.
The salesgirl said with a standard professional smile, "Hello, what would you like to buy? If there's anything you like, I'll show it to you."
Yin Mu smiled back: "Don't worry about me, I want to take a look myself first."
She didn't lower her voice deliberately, and Chen Qinglin also heard her voice. He immediately turned around and looked over. Seeing that it was indeed her, an expression of surprise appeared on his face.
Yin Mu didn't say anything to him. He just smiled as a greeting and then continued to look down at the various accessories.
Chen Qinglin and the short-haired girl were talking in low voices, so Yin Mu couldn't get close enough to listen and had no idea what they were talking about.
After a long while, the short-haired girl was finally ready to leave. She stopped talking loudly, and Yin Mu heard her say, "Please think about it carefully. I really fell in love with you at first sight, and I want to fight for you no matter what. Since I spent two days preparing myself mentally to get the courage to come to you, please give me a chance."
Chen Qinglin said politely: "Thank you, I will consider it."
The short-haired girl didn't give up and asked again: "Can you give me an answer before tomorrow night?"
"I'll try my best."
"It's not 'try your best', it's 'definitely'." The short-haired girl said persistently, "I'll wait for you, don't let me down."
Chen Qinglin still maintained a reserved attitude: "It's better not to have too much hope in me."
The girl with short hair ignored him, put on her bag, and waved to him: "That's it for now, I'm leaving, bye." She passed by Yin Mu, and perhaps noticed Yin Mu's gaze on her, so she smiled at her for no apparent reason, and then left in a hurry.
Yin Mu pretended not to know Chen Qinglin, walked casually in front of him, and pointed at a bold and thick gold bracelet below him: "This, can you let me see it?"
Chen Qinglin didn't understand, but he did as he was told. He took out the gold bracelet and asked in a businesslike manner, "Would you like to try it on?"
Yin Mu took the gold bracelet, looked down at it pretentiously, and asked, "Do you think this suits me?"
Chen Qinglin said seriously, "I think it suits you very well. It should make you look calm and composed when you wear it."
Why are you talking about calm and steady? Why don’t you just say old-fashioned? Yin Mu complained in his heart. He looked up and saw Chen Qinglin with a smile in his eyes. It was obvious that he was playing with him.
“…”
Yin Mu coughed twice and didn't want to play along anymore. He put down the gold bracelet angrily and said, "Put it away."
Chen Qinglin asked, "Don't you want to try it on?"
Yin Mu said dryly, "I can't afford it."
Chen Qinglin smiled slightly, put away the gold bracelet, and asked, "Why are you here?"
"I just happened to be going out, so I came to check on you to see if you were working hard."
"Oh? Then am I qualified?"
"I didn't see you working, but I saw you chatting with a little girl." Yin Mu said coldly, "I fell in love with you at first sight. What did I fall in love with you?"
"Did you hear that?"
"I'm not deaf, why can't I hear it?"
Chen Qinglin smiled and said, "I wanted to tell you that too. I'm almost off work. Let's have dinner together tonight."
"Tonight? No, I have an appointment with someone else."
"With whom?"
"It's Li Yan, the man we met last time. Do you remember him? He contacted me yesterday and said he wanted to get together tonight, and I agreed."
When Chen Qinglin heard it was Li Yan, his expression suddenly became nervous and he asked, "Are you two the only ones here?"
"No, there are other students."
"Is that so?" Chen Qinglin seemed relieved, but still looked a little lonely. "Well, then, we'll have to do it another day. - What time are you going over?"
Yin Mu looked at the time: "The appointment is at seven o'clock, it's still early."
Chen Qinglin nodded and replied calmly, "Oh."
Yin Mu was still thinking about the short-haired girl. He also wanted to know what she had said to Chen Qinglin and what Chen Qinglin had replied to her. However, he couldn't ask here and interrupt Chen Qinglin's work. After a few seconds of hesitation, he asked, "Do you want to go with me?"
Chen Qinglin raised his eyes: "Is it okay?"
Yin Mu turned his head away: "If you are too tired from work and don't want to go, forget it."
Chen Qinglin immediately said, "I want to go."
"Well, I'll wait for you then." Yin Mu said, "I'll go for a stroll first and come back to see you when you get off work. I'll also call Li Yan to tell him."
"good."
Yin Mu went to the milk tea shop next door, bought a cup of milk tea, sat down and called Li Yan.
Li Yan received her call, feeling as if he were facing a formidable enemy, and was the first to ask, "Are you going to say you can't come again?"
Yin Mu didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "No."
"What is that?"
Yin Mu held the cup and said hesitantly, "I was wondering if I could bring a friend with me."
"Hmm? Who are you bringing?"
"Chen Qinglin." Yin Mu said, "You have seen him before. Do you remember him?"
Li Yan thought for a moment and said, "Oh! I remember, the one about Qixi Festival?"
“…Yes, that’s him.”
Li Yan readily agreed: "Sure, it's just one more person, no problem, as long as you can make it."
"Okay, we'll be there on time."
Yin Mu hung up the phone and spent some time in the milk tea shop. Seeing that it was almost time, he and Chen Qinglin went to the restaurant booked by Li Yan.
On the way, Chen Qinglin confirmed again: "Can you really take me there?"
"No problem, I've already told Li Yan, so stop nagging me."
"That--"
Yin Mu interrupted him: "Stop talking, let's talk about your business first. What did that girl say to you? What will you reply before tomorrow night?"
"It's nothing, actually." Chen Qinglin said, "That girl is a planner for a short play company. They're planning a short play recently and they think my image is suitable for the second male lead role in the play, so they want me to try it out."
Yin Mu suddenly realized: "I see, this is a good thing, you can give it a try."
"You think so?"
"Yeah." Yin Mu nodded. "You're an actor by profession. Now that you have this opportunity, why not go for it? The short drama market is developing very well now. Maybe you can restart your acting career."
Chen Qinglin hesitated: "But I haven't thought about it yet."
Yin Mu knew that he might still be haunted by the past and didn't want to get involved in this mess, so he encouraged him: "What are you afraid of? You are a brand new person now. You can live your life freely. Do whatever you want to do boldly. It never hurts to try more."
"A brand new person..." Chen Qinglin murmured.
"However, if you really resist, don't force yourself." Yin Mu was afraid that his wishes would affect him, so he quickly added, "Of course, this is just my personal opinion. You should still listen to your inner thoughts first and then make a careful decision."
Chen Qinglin lowered his eyelids: "I will think about it carefully."
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