2 Chapter 2
◎Do you regret it?◎
The door slammed shut, and a subtle silence descended upon the private room. Sang Xinqi noticed everyone's gazes briefly meeting her before quickly dispersing. Tao Wen lowered her head, fiddling with her napkin. Chen Yanyan suddenly took a keen interest in the menu, while Meng Qixiang cleared her throat. "Sangsang, I heard from Jiang Xun that you opened a clothing studio?"
This deliberately created naturalness made the air so suffocating that everyone seemed to be hiding something from her.
But she had already guessed about 70% of it.
"Yes, it's just been renovated," she heard her own voice sound briskly, and the corners of her mouth even raised just the right arc.
Over the past eight years, she has learned to hide all her surging emotions with a perfect mask.
At this moment, the door of the private room was suddenly pushed open, and the door hinges made a long creaking sound. Everyone turned their heads to look at the door.
Sang Xinqi subconsciously followed everyone's gaze, but panicked the moment she raised her eyes.
The figure that had appeared in countless midnight dreams was now standing before her. Time had polished the youthful sharpness between his brows into steady edges. His dark suit outlined his broad shoulders and narrow waist. The cold light on the tie clip made her eyes sore.
The air was frozen for a moment, and Jiang Xun immediately tried to smooth things over. He exaggeratedly opened his arms and put his arm around Liao Yishen's shoulders. They were about the same height, both around 1.8 meters, and it was effortless for him to put his arm around his shoulders. "Yishen, we've been waiting for you! We didn't even dare to order any food, for fear of missing out on such a distinguished guest like you."
The ending tone he deliberately prolonged was like a needle, gently piercing the solemn atmosphere.
Liao Yishen unbuttoned his suit and sat down, revealing a silver watch from his cuff. "Sorry, there was a traffic jam on the way here."
His voice was much deeper than he remembered, like the sound of a string polished by time.
"It's okay, it's okay," everyone said in unison, their voices rising a few notches.
Jiang Xun clutched his chest and said, "How could I possibly deserve this? I've made a big boss who just got off the plane come straight to my little shabby birthday party."
He deliberately emphasized the word "big boss", which made Tao Wen burst out laughing.
"That's right," Tao Wen spun her teacup and winked mischievously. "In the past, it was good enough for Brother Liao to come to one of the ten gatherings, and every time it was on your birthday."
"Of course," Jiang Xun raised his chin proudly and pushed two menus in front of Tao Wen and Sang Xinqi respectively. "Who made me the group's favorite? Come on, ladies, order first."
Sang Xinqi reached out to take the menu. Her thick eyelashes cast a shadow under her eyes. She could feel a familiar gaze falling on the top of her head. The gaze was as if it had substance, so hot that she almost couldn't hold the menu in her hand.
Time seemed to be stretched for a moment, and Liao Yishen's eyes swept across her figure silently. Eight years had sculpted her into an increasingly delicate and beautiful figure. The black coat made her skin look as white as snow, and the blue and black plaid long skirt swayed slightly as she flipped through the menu, outlining her slender waistline.
The girl in my memory who always loved to wear a ponytail has lost her youthfulness, and every move she makes reveals a calm elegance.
He picked up the teacup and took a sip, his Adam's apple rolling silently.
I'm angry, but it seems that I no longer have the anger I had when I was young.
Time is so good, it seems to have diluted the anger and resentment in his heart, and it quietly settled down without knowing when, leaving only good memories. But these good memories will only stay in the half winter of his senior year of high school with falling snow, the entire spring with warm weather and blooming flowers, and the half summer with cicadas chirping.
After the food was ordered, the private room gradually became lively again. Time had changed the tone of the conversation. The wild fantasies that people used to talk about when they were young had now been replaced by the reality of buying a car and a house, starting a family and making a living, as well as nostalgia.
The topic jumps back and forth between reality and nostalgia.
Liao Yishen leaned back in his chair, his fingers unconsciously stroking the rim of the cup. He didn't say much and just listened to their lively conversation quietly.
Under the halo of light, he saw Sang Xinqi sipping the juice in the cup with her head down, her eyelashes trembling slightly. At this moment, he suddenly realized that over the years, he had deliberately forgotten those people and those things.
As time goes by, we have indeed forgotten them, but now it seems that those people or things that have long been forgotten have actually always been in a corner of our heart.
Sometimes, he hated himself for being spineless.
Everything has been abandoned, what are you still clinging to?
Jiang Xun sat next to Sang Xinqi. Seeing that she was silent, her eyes were wandering, and she was sipping juice mechanically, he nudged her lightly with his elbow and asked, "Do you regret it?"
The juice in the glass shook violently, creating tiny ripples on the wall of the glass.
She was obviously startled by his bump and looked at him blankly, "What?"
Jiang Xun repeated again in a sly tone, "Do you regret it?"
Sang Xinqi subconsciously clenched the cup, her fingertips turning slightly white. "What could I possibly regret?"
Before she finished speaking, her eyes unconsciously fell on the tall figure opposite her.
Liao Yishen was leaning slightly sideways to listen to Meng Qixiang's words. He sat there calmly, his tough features were cold and his eyes were distant and indifferent.
My heart suddenly skipped a beat.
Jiang Xun leaned close to her ear, his warm breath brushing past her ear, "Liao Xueshen is now successful in his career, mature and stable, and worth over 100 million."
Sang Xinqi lowered her eyes, and the corners of her lips raised in a perfect arc, "It's fine."
Jiang Xun snorted, clearly unconvinced, and said with a curled lip, "You're just being stubborn."
Sang Xinqi: “…”
This guy insisted that she admit it and regret it before she would be satisfied, right? He really owed her so much, just like when he was young, he was addicted to arguing with her.
As the night deepened, the lights from the restaurant cast a warm glow on the glass windows. A waiter arrived with a cake cart. Amidst the flickering candlelight, everyone sang a birthday song for Jiang Xun.
He smiled like a child, took the beautifully wrapped gifts one by one, and cheered exaggeratedly every time he opened one.
When the show was over, the night breeze, carrying the coolness of early autumn, brushed against her cheeks. Tao Wen affectionately took Sang Xinqi's arm and asked, "Sangsang, what brought you here?"
"Take a taxi," Sang Xinqi adjusted her coat, her eyes casually sweeping over the tall figure standing under the street light.
"We live together and we also took a taxi here," Chen Yanyan shook her phone, and the taxi-hailing app was spinning in circles.
Jiang Xun suddenly interrupted, "I drove here, let me take you back."
Seeing the two girls cheering, he pretended to be distressed and added, "But Sangsang is going in the opposite direction..."
Just as Meng Qixiang was about to speak, Sang Xinqi quickly waved her hand, "Don't bother, I'll just call a taxi."
"Where are you staying?" A deep voice suddenly broke in, like a stone dropped into a calm lake. Everyone was stunned, their eyes flickering back and forth between the two of them.
Sang Xinqi felt the tips of her ears burning. "Near Times Square."
Before he finished speaking, Jiang Xun clapped his hands and laughed, "What a coincidence! It's just on our way!"
She glared at Jiang Xun fiercely, but the latter pretended not to notice, whistling and looking up at the sky. After taking a deep breath, Sang Xinqi turned to the man who had always looked indifferent and said, "Thank you for your help."
"You're welcome," Liao Yishen adjusted his cufflinks, the metal cufflinks gleaming coldly under the light, "We're all old friends."
The deliberately emphasized ending of his tone made Sang Xinqi's heart tremble, as if a small electric current ran up her spine.
The night wind blew over her, carrying memories with it. Sang Xinqi vaguely saw her seventeen-year-old self standing under the streetlight at the school gate. She shook her head stubbornly, "No need, I can just walk back."
The boy at that time was carrying a schoolbag and wearing a white T-shirt. He stood in front of her stubbornly, the streetlight stretching his shadow very long. "You're welcome."
His voice was very soft, but it was filled with a firmness that could not be rejected. "Aren't we friends?"
Memories and reality overlapped, and Sang Xinqi unconsciously clenched the phone in her hand. Back then, the word "friend" was a cautious test from the young boy, but now these two words are like an invisible barrier, solidifying eight years of time into a polite and distant distance.
She looked up at Liao Yishen now. The man's deep eyebrows and eyes looked even colder in the night. He slightly turned sideways to open the car door for her.
Sang Xinqi thanked him softly. Just as she sat down, she heard the muffled sound of the car door closing, followed by Liao Yishen's steady and regular footsteps as he walked around to the driver's seat, as if he was deliberately keeping a certain distance.
The car window slowly rolled down, and the night wind carried the voices of my friends in:
"Send a message when you get home."
Tao Wen waved her hands, and her hair flew in the wind.
"Let's have afternoon tea some other day!" Chen Yanyan smiled and made a phone call gesture.
Jiang Xun leaned on Meng Qixiang's shoulder and deliberately dragged out his tone, "Be careful."
Sang Xinqi smiled and waved, but met Liao Yishen's gaze in the rearview mirror. He was lowering his head to adjust his seat, and the light from the street lamp was reflected in his lens, so his expression could not be seen clearly.
Soon, the vibration of the engine starting came through the seat, and the scent of car perfume mixed with leather suddenly became distinct.
Sang Xinqi looked at the neon lights flowing outside the window. The car was going neither fast nor slow, just right, except that it was a little hot inside.
She raised her hand, put it down, and raised it again.
Little did she know that her movements were clearly seen by the man out of the corner of his eye. He said in a cold and low voice, "Open it if you want."
Sang Xinqi's heart skipped a beat, she hummed softly, and then opened the car window.
The night wind blew in through the half-open car window, bringing with it the hustle and bustle of the city. Sang Xinqi faced the evening breeze and breathed a sigh of relief.
The car fell into silence, with the occasional sound of the navigation machine, which was particularly loud and harsh, easing the awkward atmosphere between the two.
"These past few years..." Liao Yishen suddenly spoke, his slender fingers tightening and loosening on the steering wheel, "How have you been?"
Sang Xinqi was stunned and looked sideways at the man. The man had clear features and a jaw as sharp as a knife.
"I'm fine," she replied softly, her voice almost melting into the wind. "How about you?"
Liao Yishen did not answer immediately. After a while, she heard his voice.
"That's all," he said in a calm tone without any emotion.
Sang Xinqi lowered her eyes and looked at her clasped hands.
Outside the car window, the city lights were still bright. Although they were only less than an arm's length apart, it seemed as if their entire youth was spanning them.
Just like when they first met, Liao Yishen was like this, and there seemed to be a wall between him and her, as well as the five of them.
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