Chapter 4-9
9
"Ya Jun, I didn't expect to run into you here." Zhu Yi smiled. "Before coming to America, your father told me that you've been very busy with work lately, and I thought I wouldn't be able to see you this time."
Her words piqued the curiosity of everyone present, and the man who brought her there seemed particularly surprised: "What a coincidence, I didn't expect we were all acquaintances."
“Yes,” Zhu Yi smoothed her long hair and explained to the man, “Cousin, Ya Jun and my father are good friends and business partners. I originally wanted to meet him during this trip to America, but he was too busy. I didn’t expect to run into him here today.”
"Oh, I see." The man looked at He Yajun and Qiao Ruo beside him meaningfully, then smiled at He Yajun and said, "Hello, my name is Liang Yong, and I am Xiaoyi's cousin."
He Yajun nodded slightly: "My name is He Yajun, nice to meet you."
Qiu Zhiming's gaze quickly swept across Zhu Yi and He Yajun's faces. He skipped over He Yajun and didn't mention her relationship with Qiao Ruo. He introduced the other people present to Liang Yong and Zhu Yi one by one. Finally, he said to Liang Yong, "Liang Yong, how come I've never heard of you having such a beautiful cousin? You've been keeping it a secret for too long."
Liang Yong said with a smile, "My mother and her father are siblings. My mother married and moved to Guangzhou, while her family lives in Mashi City. The two families live quite far apart, so we don't see each other often and have little contact."
Qiu Zhiming then asked Zhu Yi, "The New Year is coming soon, are you here to celebrate it with your cousin?"
Zhu Yi nodded: "I'll also ask him for advice. I want to apply for graduate school at a university in New York, but I'm not very familiar with New York."
"Then you don't need to worry. Besides your cousin, Nie Chuan and I have also been in New York. You can ask us any questions you have."
The conversation then naturally turned to several universities in New York and everyone's impressions and comments about them.
Qiao Ruo was the only one among them without experience studying in the United States, so naturally she couldn't join the conversation. She had already guessed who Zhu Yi was, and encountering a "love rival" in this setting, she could only try her best to maintain a smile. She quietly drank and ate, not participating in the discussion, while reminding herself to stay calm, as panicking wouldn't solve anything.
However, no matter how much Qiao Ruo tried to ignore Zhu Yi's presence, she could still sense that Zhu Yi was observing her from time to time.
"Ya Jun," Zhu Yi finally seized an opportunity to steer the conversation toward Qiao Ruo, "Is the lady next to you your girlfriend?"
He Yajun turned her head and gave Qiao Ruo a "it's okay" look, put her arm around her shoulder, and then nodded to Zhu Yi: "Yes."
"What's your name? Sorry, I didn't hear you clearly just now."
He paused for a moment, then smiled slightly and answered calmly, "Qiao Ruo."
Qiao Ruo was taken aback by his frankness and couldn't help but feel miserable. She thought to herself, "Now Zhu Yi not only knows that he and He Yajun are in a romantic relationship, but he has even confirmed my name. I'm afraid He Yajun's father, who is a friend of her father, won't be long before he finds out."
Qiao Ruo knew perfectly well that under these circumstances, He Yajun had no choice but to tell her her name truthfully. But the thought of the possible consequences of this confession filled her with unease, yet she couldn't say anything and could only continue to force herself to smile.
Having found the answer, Zhu Yi then asked Qiao Ruo, "Qiao Ruo, hello, are you and Ya Jun colleagues?"
She took the initiative to ask, and her attitude was polite. Even though Qiao Ruo didn't want to have anything to do with her, she had to pull herself together and reply, "No, we are classmates."
"A college classmate? You're really impressive. After all, those who can get into Penn are all top students."
"No, we were high school classmates."
"Oh!" Zhu Yi exclaimed in surprise, "Then you're from the same hometown as me! It's nice to meet you."
Zhu Yi stood up and reached out her hand to Qiao Ruo. Qiao Ruo was a little taken aback by her enthusiasm and couldn't quite tell whether her surprise was genuine. She couldn't help but wonder if this girl no longer cared about He Yajun and if she was just overthinking things by considering her a 'love rival'.
"Hello, Zhu Yi, it's a pleasure to meet you too." Qiao Ruo decided to adopt the strategy of "if the enemy doesn't move, I won't move," temporarily setting aside her suspicions, and extended her hand to quickly shake hands with her.
"Would you mind if I added you on WeChat?" Zhu Yi said, already holding her phone in her hand.
"Of course." Knowing yourself and your enemy is the key to victory. Qiao Ruo understood this principle. Since she wanted to add her on WeChat, she would most likely contact her later. No matter what she wanted to talk about in the future, facing her directly was better than guessing her possible behavior without any clue.
Aside from a slight look of surprise when he first saw Zhu Yi, He Yajun showed no other unusual behavior. He took care of Qiao Ruo as before, getting her food and looking at her with gentle eyes.
After sitting for another half hour, Qiao Ruo had eaten and drunk her fill and wanted to leave early, but couldn't find a suitable reason. At this moment, Nie Chuan, who had been the quietest, finished the last bit of wine in his glass and smiled apologetically: "Sorry, I made an appointment with my girlfriend to video call in half an hour, so I have to go first."
He stood up, picked up his coat and put it on: "The day after tomorrow is Lunar New Year's Eve, so I wish everyone a happy Lunar New Year in advance. Yantao and Mengqi, I won't be going to the airport to see you off tomorrow. I wish you a safe journey."
Not long after Nie Chuan left, Hong Yantao also pulled Hong Mengqi up to say goodbye: "Our flight back to China is tomorrow, it's getting late, we need to go back to the hotel to pack our things, let's get together again next time."
Qiu Zhiming covered his mouth and yawned: "It is indeed late. I'm getting old, and I can't stay up past midnight anymore. I get sleepy at this time. Let's go back. Liang Yong, you should take your cousin back to rest early too. She just got off the plane today and must be exhausted."
Qiao Ruo felt as if she had been granted a pardon, thinking that the game was finally over.
The group filed out and said goodbye at the tavern entrance. Before leaving, Hong Yantao hugged He Yajun and made a promise to meet him again after returning to China.
Hong Mengqi moved to Qiao Ruo's side and whispered to her, "This Zhu Yi seems to have designs on He Yajun, be careful."
Qiao Ruo was very grateful for her concern: "It's okay, I believe Ya Jun can handle it."
Hong Mengqi gave her a thumbs up: "Yes, as long as you don't care, you'll find that the whole world will give way to you."
Qiao Ruo was both amused and exasperated by his nonchalant words: "That makes a lot of sense, I'll remember it. Get a good rest tonight, and may everything go smoothly tomorrow."
Watching the Hong siblings drive away in their taxi, Qiao Ruo felt a slight pang of reluctance. Recalling the conversation she had with Hong Mengqi in He Yajun's car on the day she first arrived in New York, her heart was filled with a mix of emotions.
She hadn't spent much time truly interacting with Hong Yantao and Hong Mengqi, but in that brief time, she had already decided they were friends worth having. She didn't know if she would ever have the chance to see them again, or if she and He Yajun would still be together the next time they met. This uncertainty made her smile bitterly, attributing her melancholy to the effects of alcohol.
"What's wrong?" He Yajun, who was holding her as they stood by the roadside waiting for a car, noticed that she was absent-minded and assumed that she was unhappy because of Zhu Yi's appearance. She sighed and said, "Qiao Ruo, you should have realized that Zhu Yi is the girl my father wanted me to accept, the one I mentioned to you. I didn't know she would come tonight."
Qiao Ruo raised her eyes and stared at him blankly: "What did you say?"
He was speechless, pinched her cheek, and said with a laugh, "You're not drunk again, are you?"
She touched her face, which was indeed unusually hot: "There's nothing I can do, I can't hold my liquor. It's already quite good that I didn't pass out after just one sip."
"Looks like I can't let you drink anymore."
"Yes, I really should drink less alcohol."
The car they called arrived quickly. Once inside, they stopped talking and simply held hands, silently watching the night view flash by outside the window.
Back at the apartment, He Yajun turned on the lights, led Qiao Ruo to sit on the sofa, and explained to her again, "The Zhu Yi you met tonight is the girl I mentioned to you before."
“I know,” she said, playing with his fingers, “Do you think… there’s a chance she might tell your father about us?”
"That's a possibility."
She paused, still looking down: "What should we do?"
“Qiao Ruo, listen,” he got up from the sofa, squatted down in front of her, cupped her face, and made her face him. “What we didn’t want to happen is actually happening. Now we have two choices: one is to let things take their course, no matter what Zhu Yi does, and if my father finds out, I will explain to him; the other option is for me to contact Zhu Yi and ask her to keep our affairs a secret. She is an adult and should know her limits and won’t talk nonsense.”
“Your father will definitely not agree to you being with me.” That sense of uncertainty about the future surged up again, and her voice was bitter. “But I don’t want to break up with you.”
“I don’t want to break up either. I probably can’t convince my father, but I don’t care whether he agrees or not. He can’t control me.”
“Your mother won’t agree either. If she finds out, she will be very disappointed and sad.”
He shook his head: "She won't, she understands."
Perhaps it was the alcohol, but her face was even redder than when she left the bar, and her eyes were also tinged with red: "Ya Jun, I really want to tell you that I believe all difficulties will be overcome, but I just can't be that optimistic. And my parents, if they find out, they'll definitely tell me to break up with you too."
"Let's deal with my problem first. When the time comes for you to be honest with your parents, I'll be there for you." His tone was gentle yet firm.
"Yajun, I'm so scared. I know you don't want promises, and you don't want anyone to ask you for promises. But I really want to be with you for the rest of my life. When I first confessed to you, I knew it was impossible for us, but I never expected that we would accidentally sleep together, and that you had to be with me to take responsibility for me. I used to think that I could control my feelings for you, that even if one day you didn't want me anymore, I could let go without clinging on, just as you wanted. But now, I love you more and more, and I can't let go anymore, I..."
She couldn't say anything more, tears streaming down her face. Through her blurry vision, she saw He Yajun's smiling face turn into a deep frown. She immediately regretted it and wanted to bite off her own tongue. So she reminded herself again that drinking would lead to trouble and that there must be no next time.
She turned her body to the side, her back to him, and wiped away her tears with a tissue. After a while, she turned back around and said, "I'm sorry, Ya Jun, I drank too much, that's why I said those things."
"How could I not want you?" After a long silence, he finally responded.
She looked at him with red eyes, and he stroked her face, saying in a deep voice, "If I didn't want you, I wouldn't have thought of being honest with my father, let alone facing your parents with you. If I didn't want you, I wouldn't have asked you to come to America to live with me. If I didn't want you, I should have broken up with you tonight, and all the trouble would have been avoided."
Another tear rolled down her cheek. He wiped it away with his fingertip and smiled slowly: "Qiao Ruo, you're not the only one getting deeper and deeper into this mess."
She froze, her heart pounding instantly. A question almost slipped out, but the words were forced back down her throat.
His smile grew even gentler: "I'll call Zhu Yi later and ask her to keep it a secret. Relax, don't overthink it. We'll tell our parents when you're mentally prepared."
She nodded, calming down under his gaze. She threw herself into his arms, hugged his waist, and said softly but clearly, "Ya Jun, thank you."
He didn't say anything more, but pulled her close and hugged her tightly. This strong and secure embrace was like a safe harbor amidst the raging storm, giving her heart, which had been adrift for many years, a place to rest.
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