Chapter 16 Marlboro
Zong Chi regretted the moment he asked.
However, He Dongli answered frankly, "A girl. She was in the same class with me after the division. She knows you, but you don't know her."
"Well, now I know."
Then, there was silence in both places.
He Dongli hesitated. Now was the best time to show off her social skills. Zong Chi was a man who cared a lot about his reputation. Now that she had said this, regardless of anything else, she believed that as long as she asked, he would at least give her some favor.
However, his arrogance, his constant need to judge the gender of those around her, made her unwilling to speak to him or even bow to him. There was no reason, she had argued before, "Not letting you feel happy is my greatest joy."
Zong Chi stroked the pig-mouth cup in his hand, the taste of oolong tea still in his mouth. He took another sip, put the cup down, and looked at the person opposite him. The room was spacious, but the downlight had a limited range. She sat in front of her laptop, concentrating and working hard.
He once told her that the fundamental reason why she didn't gain weight was that she loved to suffer.
At that time, when she was explaining the problem to him, He Dongli used her ideas to deduce it for him, but he didn't understand. He Dongli's eyebrows were raised, so she started to curse: Zong Chi, what are you doing in class? You don't take notes, you are not familiar with the formulas, and your derivation is vague.
Just when Zong Chi thought he had escaped, everyone went back to their homes.
The next day, after morning exercises, He Dongli brought her special one-on-one tutoring secrets and called him at the door of his class, openly and honestly.
Lin Jiaoyu had seen the tone of He Dongli when she was managing Zong Chi, and said that she was simply a nosy person. One moment they were joking around, He Dongli would think of a simpler way to solve a problem, and then she would shout to her classmate in the stands of the basketball hall: Zong Chi, are you okay? I figured it out.
His calm, eloquent statement was more effective than any threats or inducements from his parents.
After explaining the problem to him, He Dongli didn't want to stay for even a minute longer and wanted to go home.
Once, she dropped her half-drunk Frappuccino and came back to get it. She happened to hear Lin Jiaoyu and others scolding Zong Chi: What leverage do you have in her hands? You listen to her like a little wife. You just do what she says. She is almost as good as your mother. I don’t believe it. She speaks better than those gold medal lecturers.
Zong Chi was working on a problem in the stands. He threw aside He Dongli's draft of his thinking and reworked it himself. This was considered incredibly hypocritical by Lin Jiaoyu and the others, a kind of vapid, naive attempt at self-reform. So, Master Zong had no choice but to pin the blame on his beloved.
"Get lost! Zong Chi curses, and she's just saying it well. How does that bother you? She can help me with my exams, can you? I can't get the score that Lao Zong wants, and then I'll go to school with all those idiots in the Zong family. Will you accompany me? Or will I die of anger and you guys have to collect my body?"
Lin Jiaoyu interrupted, "Okay, you just fell in love with her. The prince is going to marry a concubine."
He Dongli walked like a cat, silently walking up the aisle of the stands.
She almost walked to Zong Chi's side amidst the booing laughter and songs. He asked her why she came back again. He Dongli took back her drink. Zong Chi taught her that people are treacherous and that you should not drink anything that is out of your sight.
He Dongli didn't listen, and said regretfully, I haven't even had a few sips yet.
Zong Chi continued to be dissatisfied, He Dongli, if you drink too much sweets, you will become stupid.
She looked at the problem-solving steps on his homework book and looked down at him in the most arrogant way possible. "Well, I'm more than capable of teaching you."
Before leaving, she reminded Zong that after the results of her four subjects came out, she should remember to cash the tuition fees she had promised her. She didn't want to put it on her student card.
Zong Chi scolded her, saying that you are almost obsessed with money.
He Dongli did not argue.
Lin Jiaoyu asked her not to leave, Zong Chi treated them, and they went to eat hotpot.
He Dongli refused without even turning his head, saying that the smell of growth and fermentation was too strong for a group of basketball players to get together.
Lin Jiaoyu didn't react for a long time and asked Zong Chi what she meant.
Zongchi: Get lost.
-
The butterfly cake wrappers were ripped off and thrown on the bar. After Zong Chi finished his tea, he belatedly figured out the flavor. He Dongli wasn't a social person. Back then, she'd taken her cousin and Shen Mingchong to visit No. 1 Middle School and bumped into Zong Chi, who was training with the school swimming team. Zong Chi asked who they were, and He Dongli just vaguely said they were relatives.
Only then did Zong Chi mistakenly think that Shen Mingchong was also her relative's brother.
Tonight, she took the initiative to introduce someone to him. "Are you good friends with her?"
He Dongli glanced up at him, confused. Zong Chi continued, "Jiang what?"
"Xingyuan. Xing as in stars, Yuan as in wilderness."
"You're introducing yourself so seriously, do you have something to ask of me?"
The mechanical sound of He Dongli's keyboard tapping paused, then continued. Zong Chi had keenly sensed it, and he'd guessed right. Although a little disappointed, he knew that anyone who could make her open her mouth was definitely not a simple person.
Not for others, but for her ex-boyfriend's reputation, it would be inappropriate for her to respond to him empty-handed.
Zong Chi reached out his hand to her, and He Dongli asked him warily and dryly, "What for?"
"cell phone."
“…”
"While I'm still in Jiangnan, your friend should tell me if you have any problems. I will do what I can for you. As for what I can't do," Zong Chi said, and then changed his words firmly, "Okay, those who can be friends with you will not write checks that violate public order and good morals." He asked her for her cell phone, and He Dongli had no choice but to hand it to him.
Zong Chi entered his phone number into her WeChat search bar and requested to be added as a friend. His phone was away. "I'll send you my secretary's business card when I get back and approve it. Ask your friend to contact her then."
"No need to bother. She's in the media business, and she wants to give you an exclusive on this daily chemical acquisition."
"Isn't that troublesome? You probably haven't bothered to pay attention to me in the past few years. When have I ever been interviewed by any self-media?"
Yes, if he wanted to, he could deal with any private photos that were exposed without his consent. His father worked hard, and the main family always accepted interviews in a fair and honest manner.
"Forget it then." He Dongli wanted to return his phone, "I'll talk to her."
"Let's send them the official number first to check their qualifications." Zong Chi's words seemed to be quite standard, but it was better to leave it for discussion than to veto it.
"Thank you."
"Nothing has been accomplished yet, what are you thanking me for?" Zong Chi responded, and then took the cup he had drunk from to her sink. When he turned around, he saw her computer screen full of documents.
He thought he should leave, whether she really had something to do or was just staying here for him.
"You go ahead and do your work. I'm leaving first."
He Dongli watched him walk over, and Zong Chi didn't wait for her to speak, "Chen Xiangyang's driver doesn't have to work tomorrow."
"Let me call a designated driver for you."
"No."
"I'll call a car for you, and someone will pick it up tomorrow."
"No."
"I'll give you money..."
"He Dongli, what are you afraid of?"
He Dongli's mind was exposed, and she simply admitted, "I can't bear the responsibility for anything happening to you."
Zong Chi was stunned for a moment, then continued with the same tone as before, "I don't even take responsibility for myself, so why should you take the blame for me? Don't worry, if anything happens to me, no one will blame you. The law and my will can clear your name."
He Dongli felt dizzy when she heard this, and those two terrifying words made her blood pressure soar.
Zong Chi saw how difficult she was and felt an indescribable sense of relief in his heart, almost like a perverted catharsis.
At least she had never lost her composure like this in front of that Zou. Zong Chi preferred He Dongli, who loved toy bunnies, to a perfect, impervious container.
During the summer vacation after graduating from the affiliated high school, he dragged her hand and ran all the way to the ancient temple next to the school. Under the centuries-old tree, she supported herself on her knees. Finally, her nose bled due to the intense exercise. She pinched her nose while crying and cursing all of them, including Zong Chi.
There's nothing good about meeting you.
You're laughing at me, Zong Chi. You have plenty of reason to laugh at me, right? Don't you want to know? I'm telling you, my mother returned to her hometown in Jiangnan to marry a man. Xu Xilin was right. Without her father, I wouldn't even be able to get to the door of the affiliated high school.
I want to go back, but I don't have the ability. I don't know what to do. Before my mother came back, she sold our house. How should I tell her? I don't want her to marry another man at all. I thought she would love my father forever...
When a person dies, it’s like a light goes out, and there’s nothing left. It turns out that love can only be for living people.
Fourteen-year-old He Dongli cried until her face turned red and then pale. Zong Chi was afraid she would die from blood loss, so he went home that day and announced to his parents that he would continue to stay in No. 1 Middle School and not go to England. He went out that night to find He Dongli again and gave her a bottle of milk and a box of chocolates.
She had finished crying and was still alive. This was good news for him, which he realized belatedly.
Fifteen years later, Zong Chi still had the same idiotic attitude. The fact that he could piss her off and that she was still alive and well in front of him was the best news.
The car keys were on the coffee table. When he stood up earlier, his book knocked over a storage box. Zong Chi picked up the car keys and helped her put the storage box back in its place.
The book was placed aside, and the storage box contained a variety of things: ibuprofen sustained-release tablets, burn ointment, a sewing box, carbon batteries, AirPods, a glass bottle of long green matches for lighting aromatherapy...
Under the matches was a box of eye-catching Marlboro cigarettes.
Zong Chi's hand that was tidying up suddenly stopped. Seeing this, He Dongli also stood up from the chair in time.
As she approached, Zong Chi picked up the pack of cigarettes. On the box was the classic phrase "Smoking is harmful to your health," and beneath it was a black pen mark, a date. Zong Chi didn't know what day it was, but the handwriting was clearly He Dongli's.
When she wrote the number 7, she habitually strengthened the stroke on the left brim of the hat to distinguish it from 1.
"Whose is this?" Zong Chi almost blurted out when He Dongli stretched out his hand.
He Dongli said nothing, but just wanted to take the box of cigarettes back from him.
Unexpectedly, someone squeezed it and flattened it. "Whose is it?" I asked.
He Dongli was frightened by Zong Chi's sudden outburst of emotion, but then she came to her senses and realized that he hadn't changed at all, but she had changed so much that she could hardly admit it.
The questioner watched her intermittent silences, his heart akin to the ghostly lights rising from a grave, each one dim and bluish-black. Zong Chi immediately tossed the crumpled cigarette away, his voice resounding with displeasure and even sarcasm, "He Dongli, it turns out your principles only apply to me."
"I can't stand smoking in everything. I didn't keep my promise to you because that's just my nature. Smoking is like breaking a law."
"I'm in a bad mood and smoke one, and I get really stressed out. Yeah, what could possibly be bothering me? What kind of troubles can't I get rid of? You don't let me smoke, you treat me like a grandson, and you used to just order me around," Zong Chi stepped in front of He Dongli, his face cold and his body pressed against her, questioning her again with a threatening look that said, "He Dongli, I'm asking you who you belong to, that Zou guy, right? You two have gotten to this point where he can come and go freely in the middle of the night, he's smoking here, and this day, October 17th, is such a good day, such a memorable day, that you're afraid to forget it and wrote it on his cigarette box. Huh?"
He Dongli was furious as he listened to his unprovoked, impending attack. The calmness he'd built up all night, the discerning manner he'd cultivated, vanished in an instant. Yes, don't forget how you and him parted ways. Don't be fooled by illusions and impulsive passion. A broken mirror is a broken mirror, and putting it back together will only lead to the same mistakes.
"He Dongli, I'm talking to you."
"What? Zong Chi, I need to correct you. I have the right and freedom to invite anyone into and out of my territory in the middle of the night."
free.
Zong Chi couldn't help but smile after hearing this. Yes, it was he who took the initiative to give her her freedom.
"Really? So, the reason I'm still standing here is because you gave me this privilege out of consideration for our past relationship."
He Dongli did not answer.
Zong Chi was relentless. "I want you to tell me in person what your relationship with Zou Yan is. His cigarettes are already with you, so why are you going on a blind date with him? He's such a coward, is he cuckolded?"
"Zongchi!"
"Speak, I want you to say it yourself, otherwise I will never let him go."
"Zongchi, say it again! You are seriously ill. We have already broken up. It's none of your business who I associate with. What right do you have to…"
"Just because his cigarettes are here!" Zong Chi interrupted He Dongli, "Why is he so worthy of you making an exception for him? Why the hell have I been controlled by you for so many years!"
He Dongli was so angry at the man in front of him that he was speechless.
As they looked at each other, Zong Chi suddenly reached out his hand. He Dongli's heart was like an oil lamp. She held her heart carefully, not letting it tilt or splash.
A little splash might start a fire.
She dodged it for the second time tonight.
This time, Zong Chi did not hide his feelings and just stopped his hand in the air.
Then I heard He Dongli say, "I'm sorry."
"If you feel like I controlled you all those years, then I apologize. Yes, I shouldn't have pushed you so hard just because of my dad's illness. Smoking is harmful to your health, and even that's paradoxically printed on cigarette boxes, so I shouldn't have been so unfounded as to prohibit you."
"So, you admitted the mistake you made in reflecting on me, and ended up helping someone else."
“…”
"He Dongli, I have become a martyr for your new love."
“…”
Zong Chi withdrew his hand and put it back into his pocket.
He Dongli stared at him without blinking, and in the silence between them, she allowed him to misinterpret her as a completely different person who could cater to other men for marriage or career after a fleeting love affair.
He turned and left. In the large and deserted building, the only sounds left were the sounds of him moving and closing the door as he left.
He Dongli squatted down and picked up the crumpled cigarette box. The date on it was written by her own hand.
She also bought the cigarettes at the store across the street on October 17th, feeling extremely depressed.
He Dongli sat on the sofa, struck a fire with a long match, which almost burned his eyebrows and eyes, and lit a half-smoked cigarette.
Put it to your lips to help fuel the fire...
Zong Chi, feeling cold and damp, got into the car and slammed the door shut.
When he was furious, he was hit by something in the back pocket of his trousers, which was like adding fuel to the fire for Zong Chi.
It was an almost humiliating reminder to him of how unscrupulous and shameless you had been for her.
The next second, he took out the black pearl cufflink from his trouser pocket and threw it hard at the windshield.
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