Chapter 61
In the evening, the two went to a dessert shop and then strolled back home.
A cool breeze caressed the sky, and darkness gradually fell as the evening wind blew.
Chen Zhoujing escorted her to the apartment building and urged her to go upstairs.
Jian shook his head and stubbornly stood still.
During the stalemate, Chen Zhou was suddenly defeated: "Fine, I'll listen to you. I'll go first then?"
Her expression finally softened: "Mmm."
He sighed helplessly, but the curve of his lips revealed that he was in a good mood.
"You really left?" Chen Zhou took a few steps and then turned back, raising his right eyebrow slightly with a smile.
Jian Sheng pretended to be fierce: "Hurry up!"
He pursed his lips, glanced at her again, and took a small step back: "Oh."
Jian Sheng pursed her lips, watching him back away, dawdling for a long time. She took a few steps forward, went down the steps of the apartment building, and urged again, "Hurry up."
Chen Zhou laughed so hard he couldn't stop: "Good...good."
"I'm really leaving now," he said.
"Okay." Jian Sheng waved his hand. "You can go now."
He moved slowly, raised his hand to her, then turned around, took a few steps, and turned back: "You go on up, I'm really going back."
Jian nodded in a simple voice: "Understood."
Seeing that she had no intention of going up, he had no choice but to turn around and continue walking, this time without looking back.
After turning the corner, through the gaps in the leaves, Chen Zhoujing saw her standing there with her head down for a long time before turning around and going upstairs.
He could tell that she had been trying to please him all day, and her tone of voice was unconsciously biased towards him.
Chen Zhou felt no joy, only a sour feeling in his heart.
.........
After entering through the glass door, Jian Sheng quickened his pace, eager to get upstairs as soon as possible.
At the corner, I ran into Jian Qingyao.
He had a cigarette dangling from his mouth. As she approached, he casually extinguished it and tossed it into the trash can next to the elevator.
Standing next to him was the person she had argued with when she first moved in and had her first conflict with Jian Qingyao.
Jian Qingyao saw her standing there without speaking, the pale light falling on her flushed cheeks. Her face was no longer as lifeless as when she first arrived.
His complexion had improved considerably. He turned his head and exhaled the last puff of smoke, then said to Yang Shao, "You go first?"
Yang Shao glanced at him, then bent down to greet Jian Sheng: "Hello, little sister, I'm your brother's friend."
"My name is Yang Shao. We met before. I accidentally bumped into you. I apologize."
Jian Sheng was startled and waved her hands in front of her chest: "It's alright."
“Hello…” she smiled, “Jiansheng.”
"That sounds nice, all of your family's names sound nice," Yang Shao replied with a smile.
Jian Qingyao's face darkened, and his expression turned ugly: "You can get lost now."
Yang Shao rolled his eyes at him: "Aren't you going to see me off?"
Jian Qingyao gritted his teeth: "What if you say something shocking again?"
His home is 28 kilometers away; if I really deliver it, I won't need to come back at night.
Yang Shao didn't mind and straightened up: "Sister, I'm leaving now."
After saying that, he waited for Jian Sheng to look up and nod before he lifted his leg and walked out of the corner without looking back.
Jian Qingyao reached out and scratched his hair in frustration.
No one spoke. He crossed his arms, leaned against the wall, and gazed at her face.
Jian Sheng got annoyed by his stare: "What are you doing?"
"Just say what you have to say!"
Jian Qingyao froze for a few seconds, then laughed in exasperation: "I said, did you have some kind of program implanted in your brain that automatically switches to irritable mode the moment you see me?"
"Why do you explode the moment you see me...?"
"Or are you just impolite to everyone?"
"I noticed your attitude towards Chen Zhoujing is different..."
The chattering was so loud that Jian Sheng found it annoying. She took a step back and glared at him coldly: "You're just standing here without saying anything, and you won't let me go upstairs."
Jian Qingyao frowned: "I'm really impressed with you now."
"?" Jian Sheng remained silent, waiting for him to continue.
The atmosphere remained tense until midnight. Jian Qingyao sighed inwardly, her expression softening: "I do not agree to your relationship with Chen Zhoujing."
Jian Sheng's pupils widened: "What are you saying?"
Jian Qingyao ignored her ignited emotions, his gaze complex: "Whether you two are together or not..."
"Or rather, he's pursuing you." He paused, then remained silent for half a minute. "There won't be any definite outcome between you two."
Jian Sheng increasingly felt that he was crazy and that his speech was inexplicable.
But this strange feeling was slowly tugging at her heart, and she pretended not to understand and turned her head away.
Jian Qingyao noticed her unusual expression and continued, "Things that have no future can be avoided from the start."
"What exactly are you trying to say?" Jian Sheng's throat was dry, and his words were hoarse.
He lowered his head, chuckled softly, a bitter smile playing on his lips: "You two aren't a good match."
The voice was very soft, like a feather, yet it sounded as heavy as iron.
Jian Sheng didn't want to argue with him anymore and headed towards the elevator door.
He had only taken a few steps when Jian Qingyao pulled him back with a palm strike.
His movements were forceful, and he seemed to be getting angry, his eyes icy: "When can you stop being so stubborn?"
When will you stop being so stubborn?
Jian Sheng's anger surged: "Jian Qingyao."
She called his name, pulled her arm away, looked up, and met his gaze.
After looking at each other for a long time, she slowly said, "You suddenly stopped me and said some strange things to me."
"I'm waiting for you to say it, but you won't."
"Now you're saying I'm being willful?"
"It's your arrogance that makes you unable to tolerate anyone."
"If anything doesn't go your way, you're eager to slander it." Every word was spoken with conviction.
Jian Sheng's eyes no longer showed the slightest fear, only determination.
She scanned his features with her usual haughty gaze.
Only when wrinkles appeared on his forehead did he chuckle and ask, "Was it nice?"
He didn't speak, and his face turned pale.
Jian Sheng clicked his tongue softly: "Not going to say anything? Your expression is telling me you're not happy."
Her voice trailed off for a long time, and just when she thought he wouldn't say anything more and was about to walk away, he spoke.
“Jian Sheng.” Jian Qingyao tilted his head back; the overhead light was blinding. He closed his eyes. “Do you know how terrible his family background is?”
Indifferent, devoid of emotion, like an outsider observing.
It was precisely this calm tone that caused a violent ripple in Jian Sheng's heart.
Her feet seemed to be held by several hands, unable to move.
Seeing her stop, Jian Qingyao gritted his teeth and said, "During the marriage, his father had an affair with a rich man, and his parents divorced when he was eight... Both families quickly remarried..."
"He spent some time with his father while he was declining, but then his father cheated on him and found someone else. In the end, he was just passed around like a football to his mother."
“His mother has three children, and he is the second. He stayed at his mother’s house for a while, but moved out on his own due to conflicts between the two families.”
"In the end, he moved into the building you frequented, along with the son of the rich man whose affair his father had first had.
"Has he never told you any of this?"
Did he not tell you that he doesn't live alone?
"He didn't even know that while he was on leave, there was a fool loitering downstairs every day."
Jian Qingyao's voice was deep: "One is frivolous by nature, a hands-off manager, neglecting his family, and cheating is commonplace for him. The other is strong-willed, often suppressing, selfish and indifferent."
"In such a family, only a pathological person will be raised who will be trapped in a dark swamp and a prison of their own emotions for the rest of their life!"
"The influence of family on a person is enormous; you simply can't block it!"
"He's not as simple as you think. Just because he smiles at you or teaches you a math problem doesn't mean he's pursuing you or treating you well!"
"Many things have been piling up, and all that's left is a fuse to ignite them, ready to explode at any moment."
Jian Sheng lowered her head and listened quietly to him speak, without giving a response for a long time.
Behind him, Jian Qingyao, who was in agitation, calmed down, stood up straight, and stared at her bent back.
The silence created a desolate atmosphere.
Jian Sheng's mind went blank. She held her phone in her pocket, which vibrated repeatedly until it stopped responding.
She looked up, her pupils flooded with light. Even though she was standing in the light, she had to look up to avoid the shadows, but the light was blinding.
She blinked her sore eyes, and her eyelashes trembled.
Without turning around, he looked out the window in front of him.
Her gaze fell on Jian Qingyao's reflection in the window.
His shadow was blurry, but it couldn't conceal his proud spirit.
After a long silence, she looked away and asked, "Does a bad family background make someone a bad person?"
Should children bear the consequences and responsibilities for the mistakes their parents make?
Jian Sheng turned sideways and pressed the elevator up button. As the elevator doors opened, she said calmly, "If a bad family background makes someone a bad person..."
"Then I'm beyond redemption too."
After saying that, she slowly stepped into the sedan chair, and the door closed by itself. Before Jian Qingyao could open the door, she pressed the button for the eighth floor.
Outside the elevator, Jian Qingyao stood frozen in place, unable to react for a long time.
He has a bad temper and often says things he regrets later when he gets angry, and he rarely thinks things through.
I just said that Chen Zhoujing only saw one side of him and forgot about Jian Sheng.
He actually talked about his family of origin in front of her.
He actually dared to say some ridiculous and absurd things.
Even if the intention was not bad, it would later become like a thorn stuck in her heart.
Jian Qingyao raised his hand and slapped his cheeks hard several times.
He stood there for a long time, the motion-activated light at the stairwell flickering on and off intermittently for about twenty minutes.
He then walked out of the apartment building.
For more than half a month, Jian Sheng did not see Jian Qingyao again.
But she took his words to heart.
She became more attentive to Chen Zhoujing's emotions, even though she knew it would be futile.
She also understood the anxious emotions Chen Zhou had shown her earlier when she treated him with such caution.
It's like a fire burning in my chest; I'm afraid it will burn too brightly and turn to ashes, or too weakly and go out.
However, Chen Zhoujing didn't care and continued as usual.
He didn't take a single day off for the entire month.
Jian Sheng gradually got used to it, and his cautious attitude was no longer obvious.
They will tend to favor him more in their actions.
As spring arrives and the weather warms up, the entire school campus is filled with students wearing spring uniforms.
During the long break, the continuous drizzle caused the running to be canceled. Jian Sheng returned from the opposite corridor with her test papers in her arms and responded to the greetings of several students who were in the same PE class.
She hadn't said a few words when she felt a tap on her left shoulder. She turned around but didn't see anyone.
While I was still in a daze, my right shoulder was gently patted again, but when I turned around, I still couldn't see anyone.
She looked up and stared at the two people in front of her.
The two girls suppressed a laugh, raised their chins, and gestured behind her.
Jian Sheng frowned, turned around, and saw Chen Zhoujing bending over.
"Isn't it childish?" she asked blankly.
"Not childish." Chen Zhoujing held up his thermos and waved it in front of her, his tone pleading for praise, "Ahem, ahem, this."
Jian pursed her lips and said, "Thanks... I'll pour it for you next time."
"Sure, sure." He smiled, his eyes relaxing.
A loud voice rang out from behind.
"Breaking news! Breaking news!!"
Breaking news! Another transfer student has arrived at No. 7 Middle School!
A figure walked through the opposite corridor, ran back and forth a few times, and a commotion arose.
Several windows were pried open, and many heads peeked out.
When the figure ran over again, Jian Sheng finally recognized who it was.
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