Chapter 53. [First Update] "He's a very nice person."...
Summer rain is unpredictable. Just a minute ago, it was drizzling, but as Wen Xue opened her umbrella and walked to He Yan's side, the two of them stood under the large umbrella when the rain suddenly started to fall, and the surrounding pedestrians ran to find shelter.
In just a short while, Wen Xue's skirt, which reached her calves, was also soaked by the rain.
The faint smile in He Yan's eyes froze as if it had been frozen after a brief moment of bewilderment and surprise.
“Look,” Wen Xue stretched out a hand, feeling the increasingly torrential rain, a smile on her lips, “the rain is getting heavier, we still need to use an umbrella.”
He Yan remained silent.
He raised his hand and hesitated for a moment in the air, then grasped the umbrella handle and took it from her hand, holding it higher and more steadily. "Let's go."
Wen Xue then had a chance to lift her skirt and walk with him in the rain.
The car was parked not far away. She got in and turned on the air conditioning, and couldn't help but shiver. She quickly grabbed the tissue box next to her, grabbed a few tissues haphazardly, and gave them to him first, saying, "Wipe your hands."
He Yan mechanically took the umbrella, without wiping the water droplets from his face and shoulders. He unconsciously tightened his grip, saying, "This umbrella isn't yours."
"Of course not."
While bending over to wipe her ankles and calves, Wen Xue casually replied, "It was such a coincidence that I ran into Brother Weiwei. He probably misunderstood that I was taking shelter from the rain in the coffee shop, so he asked the staff to give me his umbrella..."
At this point, she smiled, as if remarking or talking to herself, "He's a very good person."
He Yan turned his head and looked at her calmly, and the smile on her face seemed to become dazzling.
"What's wrong?" Wen Xue sat up straight, meeting his gaze. "Did things go smoothly?"
To her, Lin Bozhou's umbrella was just a minor incident.
What she cared about more was whether He Yan's matter had been handled smoothly.
"It's alright." He Yan said casually, "I had some things to discuss with someone today, but he rear-ended someone on his way here, so it took a lot of time."
Are you alright?
"fine."
Wen Xue breathed a sigh of relief, "That's good."
He Yan smiled slowly. Rainwater trickled down the windshield, blurring and distorting the world.
…
When Wu Yuejiang returned from the dinner party, it was already 11 p.m. He went upstairs wearily, intending to go back to his room to get a towel and take a shower. He was surprised to find that He Yan's room light was still on. On a whim, he pounded on the door and shouted, "Open the door!"
When the door opened, he was almost startled.
He Yan's face was somber, as dark as the pitch-black night sky outside.
“Would you believe me if I said I was drunk and went to the wrong room?” Wu Yuejiang said.
"Come in." He Yan glanced at him indifferently and walked inside.
Wu Yuejiang could tell from his expression that He Yan was in trouble and caught in a dilemma. He didn't want to know what had stumped He Yan at all—generally speaking, it wouldn't be of any use for him to know such things. He couldn't help, and it would only make things worse for him, turning one person into two.
"Why……"
He sighed softly, scratched his head, and resignedly followed them inside.
He Yan sat down at the table and continued copying the scriptures. This was supposed to be a good thing for self-cultivation, but Wu Yuejiang watched quietly for a while, his feelings becoming more complicated. Even he could tell that He Yan was suppressing some emotion.
"The character is written incorrectly," Wu Yuejiang pointed out.
He Yan paused, tore off the page, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it into the trash can.
“I think you’ve been working too hard lately.” Wu Yuejiang stared intently at the scriptures he was copying. “Aren’t you going to America in November? Take this time to rest and relax, put things aside for a while, what do you say?”
He Yan raised his eyes. "Like what?"
Wu Yuejiang shrugged. "As for picking up and dropping off your sister, or renting an office building, your sister can drive herself. As for the office building, you could ask Wang Yuan or Nana. Nana, she's very meticulous."
"I'm worried," He Yan said slowly after a moment of silence.
How can I not feel at ease?
The sense of urgency, the uncertainty of when something unexpected might suddenly happen, made him want to keep a close eye on her at all times.
"I'm convinced. What's there to worry about?"
Wu Yuejiang stretched out his arm, patted his shoulder, and smiled, "In three or four months, my sister will be twenty-one. Speaking of which, she's a few months older than Xinyue. She'll be a junior this semester. Time flies. Maybe in the blink of an eye she'll graduate and start looking for a job..." He paused and sighed, "Looking for a boyfriend, well, a girlfriend will do too."
He Yan laughed when he heard the last sentence, a laugh of anger. He tore off a page, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it at him, yelling, "Get out! What's wrong with you, you drunkard?"
Wu Yuejiang smiled through her tears: "You've forgotten, before, when Xiao Heng received love letters, Xin Yue was so jealous her eyes turned red. One day, she finally received one, but it turned out to be from her deskmate."
He Yan was clearly also lost in memories, his furrowed brows relaxing.
Suddenly, a rustling sound came from behind him. He turned his head and saw Wu Yuejiang take out a cigarette case and a lighter from his pocket, preparing to light a cigarette. He suppressed his smile and said, "Go back to your room to smoke."
Wu Yuejiang, with a cigarette butt in his mouth, chuckled, "Haha, you're really craving it."
"If you know that, then get lost."
Wu Yuejiang laughed gleefully and swaggered out. He stopped at the door, turned around, and said seriously, "Don't overwork yourself. Get some rest."
He Yan couldn't help but chuckle. After laughing, he nodded seriously, "Okay."
He was reluctant to use the word "fate" to describe the situation he couldn't control at the moment, such as Lin Baizhou's appearance and her gradual growing closer to him.
But he couldn't deny that even if it wasn't fate, it was still a kind of destiny.
This was a destiny that should have belonged to her.
He shouldn't interfere.
-
After the rain, the sky cleared, and the sweltering weather cooled down a bit.
Wen Xue sat happily on the sofa, sorting out the tutoring fees she had received over the past few days into a thick stack. She took out a rubber band from the storage box to tie it up, planning to leave early today and take some time to go to the bank to deposit the money.
If the money hadn't been so dirty, she would have loved to kiss it a few times.
There's just a slight regret. If He Yan's birthday were this month or next month, wouldn't she have been able to buy him an even more expensive and better gift?
It's okay, I celebrate my birthday every year. She contentedly leaned back, reached for her phone on the small coffee table, and texted him: "Leaving twenty minutes early today [spinning around]"
A few minutes later she received his reply: [The office building deal is finalized. You don't need to go to the city center today. Drive carefully.]
Wen Xue read through the phone word by word, her thumb unconsciously curling up and picking at the edge of the phone.
The joy of going to deposit money seemed to fade in an instant. She lowered her eyes, thought for a moment, then smiled again, trying to reply with as much cheerfulness as possible: 【Really? That's great! [spinning around]】
His message arrived belatedly, after she had gone downstairs and gotten into her car: "Hmm."
Wen Xue guessed he was busy, so she didn't bother him and placed her phone on the armrest. Although today wasn't quite what she had imagined, she still didn't want to change her plans. Her first stop was a nearby bank branch, and a smile played on her lips as she received the receipt from the ATM.
The second stop was the Fang family's house. When she got off the bus, she didn't forget the umbrella Lin Baizhou had given her. After the water on the umbrella dried completely, she carefully folded it and put it in her bag. No matter whether he was there or not, she was going to leave the umbrella at the Fang family's house.
She felt a little embarrassed. Yesterday at the coffee shop, she wanted to call or text Lin Baizhou to thank him, but for some reason, she couldn't find the business card he gave her even after turning her bag upside down. She must have accidentally dropped it while looking for something outside.
Aunt Zhang didn't even notice that an umbrella had appeared on the shoe cabinet.
Wen Xue came out of the Fang family's house and stood in the elevator lobby, glancing outside. It was already dark. With a ding, the elevator doors opened. As she was about to enter, she was surprised to meet Lin Baizhou's gaze. He walked out, looking as if he had run a distance, and was panting slightly. "Teacher Wen."
She pressed the down button on the elevator, smiled and nodded, and said softly, "Oh, by the way, I put your umbrella in the shoe cabinet. Thank you for yesterday."
The words Lin Baizhou had been preparing all the way were stuck in his throat.
After listening to his friend's words last night, he realized that Wenxue's relationship with that man might really be unusual. But when the sun rose this morning, he couldn't help but wonder, what if? Is it also a kind of prejudice to casually misunderstand the relationship between a girl and another man?
He at least asked her directly, even though he had no right to do so.
"You're welcome," he forced a smile.
Wen Xue stepped into the sedan chair, pressed the number 1, and the door slowly closed. The last thing Lin Baizhou saw was a few strands of black hair falling beside her face as she lowered her head.
One second or two seconds later, he took a deep breath and eagerly pressed the down button for another elevator. He rarely had such moments of almost losing his mind; such a feeling of being moved was so rare that it might only happen once in a lifetime.
When the elevator reached the first floor, Wen Xue walked out of the building, put her phone in her bag, and then reached for her car keys.
After two hours of class, her head was buzzing.
"Teacher Wen."
The gentle male voice was followed by increasingly hurried footsteps, stopping Wen Xue in her tracks. She turned around, her eyes flashing with surprise and confusion, "You—"
Is there something wrong with him?
“Teacher Wen,” Lin Baizhou stepped forward, seemingly hesitant and conflicted, “I may be being a bit abrupt, but there’s something I’d like to ask you.”
At this moment, he didn't want to ask her about her relationship with that man; it wasn't appropriate, and it had nothing to do with him.
He just wanted to ask her if she had a boyfriend.
Wen Xue was slightly taken aback. "What is it?"
Lin Baizhou calmed himself down, mentally rehearsing the maneuver beforehand. He opened his mouth to speak, but another, deeper and more forceful male voice interrupted him—
"come over."
The two of them looked in the direction of the sound.
In the twilight, half-hidden by the light, a tall man strode over and stopped just a few steps away from Wen Xue. His gaze did not linger on Lin Baizhou, but was fixed on her. "It's time to go home."
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