Chapter 4-2
2
Although it was night, the parking lot was fairly well lit. He Yajun and Hong Yantao walked to a spot a little further away, looked at each other, and shook their heads and sighed.
"Why did you provoke her for no reason?" Hong Yantao said bluntly.
He Yajun found it amusing: "How did I provoke her? Did I scold her or hit her?"
Hong Yantao wasn't going to be fooled. He said bluntly, "You clearly know she likes you, yet you deliberately emphasized in front of her that you're Qiao Ruo's boyfriend, and you deliberately kissed and coaxed Qiao Ruo. Isn't that just provoking her?"
"Qiao Ruo and I are boyfriend and girlfriend now, am I right? I can't just not talk to my girlfriend when I see her, I haven't done anything restricted."
"Do you think I haven't seen what you were like when you were in a relationship before? When you were in a good relationship with someone, I never saw you showing such affection to your girlfriend in front of us. At most, you would carry her bag, pull out her chair when you ate, or pour her water. Not to mention, you would kiss her hand in public to show your love."
He Yajun raised an eyebrow, remained silent for a moment, and was about to speak when Hong Yantao spoke again: "Forget it, I can more or less guess your purpose in doing this. You just want to make my sister give up completely."
He Yajun twitched the corner of her mouth: "I told you before you came not to bring Mengqi along, but you insisted on bringing her."
“If I come to America, and you’re in America, it’s no wonder she’s coming.” Hong Yantao shivered from the cold, stamped his feet, and rubbed his hands together. “I told her that Qiao Ruo would also be coming, and I thought she would say she wasn’t coming. I didn’t expect her to be even more determined, and she immediately guessed that you two were already together. She had a big fight with me, saying that I was hiding everything from her. Sigh, my silly sister, so stubborn, there’s nothing I can do. But I really didn’t expect her to be so heartbroken. It seems she really likes you.”
He Yajun hadn't expected things to develop this way. The other party was his friend's sister, so he naturally couldn't completely ignore it. He explained, "I'm very sorry, but I've already made it clear to her that I only see her as a sister and have no other feelings for her. I don't know what to say or do anymore. You're her brother, so I'll have to trouble you to guide her."
Hong Yantao waved his hand: "No need to apologize to me or anything like that. I know you've always been very considerate of her. It's just that she didn't know her place." He looked at He Yajun's car with a worried expression. "I don't know what Qiao Ruo is going to say to her. I'm really afraid she'll lose control and start crying and making a scene later."
He Yajun wasn't too worried about that: "Qiao Ruo isn't stupid. Since she's proposed talking to her at this critical juncture, she must be confident that she can persuade her to calm down."
Hong Yantao sighed again: "I hope so."
The two of them looked at He Yajun's car together. After a moment, He Yajun turned her head and said, "Yantao, thank you."
Hong Yantao was taken aback, then shook his head: "We're brothers, saying thank you would be too formal. I didn't come here just because of you. I also have friends in New York, and we haven't seen each other in a long time, so this is a good opportunity to get together. However, I have to go back before the Chinese New Year, and Qiao Ruo will have to go back to China alone after that."
"Having come all this way, I have a general idea of what's going on. Going back shouldn't be a big problem."
Hong Yantao suddenly smiled as if he had just remembered something: "You know what, you're actually quite capable. You just got together with Qiao Ruo and you called me to confess, you're not afraid of me turning against you at all."
"If I don't take the initiative to be honest with you, do you expect me to keep it from you and wait for you to find out? Wouldn't that make you even angrier?"
“So I didn’t make a mistake in befriending you,” Hong Yantao teased. “If I remember correctly, when I asked you if you would be with Qiao Ruo, you said no without hesitation. But a few days later you became her boyfriend. Luckily, I’m easygoing and have let go of that thought early on, otherwise, Meng Qi wouldn’t be the only one crying today.”
He Yajun glanced at him and said, "Even if you still have that thought, I'm not afraid."
Hong Yantao clicked his tongue: "Look at your shameless attitude, you're completely spoiled by women. Actually, I'm sometimes puzzled. You clearly said a long time ago that you didn't plan to get married, so why are you still so popular with women? Those girls all say they don't mind and insist on dating you."
"You make it sound like I'm promiscuous. Before Qiao Ruo, I only had two girlfriends. Although we broke up, it wasn't for any weird reasons. I believe I was serious about both relationships."
“I didn’t say you weren’t serious about relationships, you just… lacked enthusiasm and kept too much distance from others.” Hong Yantao sighed and rubbed his hands together. “You were different with Qiao Ruo just now. The tone and expression you used when you talked to her gave the impression that you were deeply in love and that you cherished her. That’s a more normal state of being in a relationship. When you were with your ex-girlfriend, I didn’t feel that you cared about her much.”
He Yajun smiled but remained silent.
Hong Yantao smiled too, and seeing his gentle expression, he was surprised, then suddenly realized something: "Ya Jun, you weren't just putting on an act for Meng Qi, were you?"
He Yajun shrugged and did not answer.
Hong Yantao's eyes widened in surprise: "So this is what it means to be genuinely in love: so...greasy."
"..."
"You didn't like Qiao Ruo back in school, did you?"
"...You really have a vivid imagination. If I liked her back in school, would we have waited until now to get together?"
“That’s true.” Hong Yantao raised an eyebrow, admiring He Yajun’s affectionate gaze, and said with great satisfaction, “Actually, seeing how much you care, I’m quite happy for you. I always felt that your life was good, but it was always lacking something. I’m also happy for Qiao Ruo. To be honest, I was a little worried that you would hurt her in the future. In any case, it’s rare for me to meet a woman who makes my heart flutter, and I still hope that her love life will be smooth sailing.”
"Um."
“You and Qiao Ruo have settled down, so I don’t need to keep it a secret anymore, right? When I see Nie Chuan and Zhi Ming in a few days, they’ll definitely ask about you.” Hong Yantao joked, “Don’t worry, I will definitely describe to them the affectionate way you were just now, so they can see for themselves.”
"Those two... just tell me. Actually, it doesn't matter even if you both know, since you're unlikely to run into my parents in this lifetime anyway."
"?"
He Yajun looked at her friend and said calmly, "Her older sister and my father used to be husband and wife."
Hong Yantao was taken aback: "What do you mean?"
"What I mean is that Qiao Ruo is my father's former sister-in-law and my sister's aunt."
Hong Yantao was stunned for several seconds before he reacted: "So, if you and Qiao Ruo get married, you and your father will have to call her parents 'Mom and Dad,' or your father, who was originally her father's son-in-law, will become her father's in-law?"
He Yajun was confused: "That's not the case. My father and her sister are already divorced."
Is there a difference?
“…” He Yajun patted his forehead. “There is a little bit.”
"Your dad didn't get divorced because you got together with Qiao Ruo, did he?"
"That's a different matter. He doesn't know that. If he did, he'd probably go crazy."
"That's not a good solution, unless you're just playing around and will break up after a while, but judging from your current state, you're both clearly invested."
He Yajun suddenly had a strong urge to smoke, but after emptying her pockets, she couldn't find a single cigarette and had to give up. "Originally, I wasn't worried about this at all. When I first got together with Qiao Ruo, I thought we would break up soon. She was in China, and I was abroad, which seemed unrealistic. But in the past month, even though she wasn't by my side, I've been thinking about her more and more often... Now, if you asked me to break up, I'd actually be reluctant. I'm thinking that if we stay together, even if we don't get married, just dating, our families will find out sooner or later."
"And what about Qiao Ruo? What's she thinking?"
“She said she wouldn’t force me to marry her, and she wouldn’t tell anyone else about us.” He Yajun smiled, but his eyes were anything but relaxed. “She’s different from me; she’s always had expectations for marriage.”
Hong Yantao was speechless: "Aren't you just taking advantage of her liking you to hurt her?"
He Yajun could not refute her friend's conclusion.
“Wait a minute,” Hong Yantao frowned, staring at He Yajun, “Qiao Ruo… this name… I feel like I’ve seen it before, a long time ago?”
At this moment, Qiao Ruo got out of the car, waved and smiled at He Yajun, and He Yajun waved back. He patted Hong Yantao's arm, who was still frowning and deep in thought, and said, "Stop thinking about it, get in the car, your sister should have calmed down by now."
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