Chapter 18
Zhou Zifang stayed at Lu Jiyu's house and didn't go back.
Lu Jiyu had originally wanted to chase him away, but Zhou Zifang pulled out a photo and threatened him to post it on WeChat Moments. It was taken when Lu Jiyu and Jiang Wan were caught in the rain. The faces were blurred, but the combination of a man and a woman on a rainy night created a unique atmosphere.
Zhou Zifang was always particularly considerate at times like this. In order not to ruin his brother's rare good atmosphere, he went into the tofu shop downstairs and chatted with the hard-of-hearing old lady for a long time.
"Please pay for the tofu on the table." Zhou Zifang came out of the bedroom and changed into Lu Jiyu's black jersey. He touched the chest area and was worried that it might be too small before putting it on, but it turned out to be a perfect fit.
Lu Jiyu was indeed a natural clothes hanger, someone who looked thin when dressed but had muscular torso when undressed. He remembered that when they were in their first year of high school, they went shopping for clothes together, and he was spotted by a talent scout and invited to be a model.
Lu Jiyu was a talkative person at that time, so he went home and told Lu Lin about this matter. However, Lu Lin misunderstood that he was not studying hard and wanted to be a gigolo, so he scolded him severely.
At this moment, Lu Jiyu, who had lost the opportunity to be a "gigolo", was leaning on the kitchen counter, his hands on his shoulders, supporting one long leg, his eyes fixed on the running microwave, not even bothering to turn his head: "I don't eat tofu, you can take it back yourself."
"Do you think I want to eat?" The kitchen of the one-bedroom apartment was small to begin with, but Zhou Zifang still squeezed in with a shameless face and took a bottle of ice cola from the refrigerator.
"I told the old lady I don't eat tofu."
"She ended up being hard of hearing and thought I was trying to take advantage of her, so she immediately gave me two kilograms of it."
"You mean I can just throw it back if I don't buy it?"
Lu Jiyu smiled, and the microwave dinged, stopping. Lu Jiyu stood up, raised a hand, and waved to Zhou Zifang like a puppy. "Brother, I'll teach you a lesson. Next time you encounter this situation, just shout at the ground, 'There's money on the ground.' I guarantee that old lady will run away faster than a flying foot."
Zhou Zifang paused as he tilted his head back to drink his Coke. "You mean, she's pretending?"
He suddenly felt like his IQ was being rubbed to the ground.
"How did you know?" Zhou Zifang asked as he chased after him, holding a Coke.
It was past midnight. The city's night lights exuded a dazed clarity, akin to the utter exhaustion of a lifetime. The sticky ink slowly faded as the hour hand scraped against it, forcing the palest underlying color to reveal itself. Outside, the silence was so intense that even the dogs had stopped barking. The intermittent rain, which had fallen all day, had quietly ended. Only a few fine raindrops clung to the windowpanes.
Lu Jiyu sank into the sofa, sinking completely into it. His hair, freshly washed, was a shiny black. Drops of water hung from his jawline, sliding down his slender neck to reveal his collarbone, which was a clear, white glow from a fresh shower.
On the coffee table was the crispy pork he had just heated up, still bubbling with steam.
"Jiang Wan mentioned it to me." Lu Jiyu picked up the phone on the coffee table and checked the time. He then looked up and asked Zhou Zifang, "Do you want to eat?"
Lu Jiyu is actually not very keen on late-night snacks, but he basically doesn't eat food left overnight, as it might be wasted if left until the next morning.
"She told you everything, but I don't know if she told you about her and Chen Wulin." Zhou Zifang dragged a chair from the corner and was about to sit down uncomfortably, but he met Lu Jiyu's frowning eyes.
"I told you the soundproofing is bad, can you please be a civilized person?"
"Okay, okay." Zhou Zifang gently lifted the entire chair, and then gently placed it on his hips, looking like he was in a very serious mood.
Lu Jiyu now found that he could hardly hear the three words "Chen Wulin".
He was always a little worried that he would get more confused the more he listened, and who knows when he would end up dancing in front of Lu Lin: Mr. Lu, you are so magnanimous, why don’t you go and apologize to Chen Wulin’s mother? Just for your nephew’s happiness.
The result was definitely a bloody scolding from Lu Lin. Besides, this idea was too crazy.
Zhou Zifang saw him standing there in silence for a long time, his face changing from gloomy to bright, and he seemed to be gloating a little: "Why, is there nothing you can do?"
Not really.
Lu Jiyu felt that the current situation was not beyond his control. After all, if he held back on things like goodwill, maybe it would not go away.
But when you really like someone, it's different. Liking someone can kill you. And loving someone is even more powerful. It can completely change you and tear you into pieces.
Lu Jiyu lowered his head and scrolled through his phone for a long time before pulling up a photo from his Moments to show Zhou Zifang: "It's from a golfing buddy I added, and he happens to have Chen Wulin's WeChat."
At that time, the golfer casually told Lu Jiyu that he had a friend whose girlfriend was like a fairy.
Lu Jiyu, who had never been curious about other people's girlfriends, was inexplicably possessed at that moment, and like many experienced and curious adolescent boys, he replied: Oh, really? Let's take a look.
Zhou Zifang took the phone and glanced at the time of the post. It was from March of this year. The photo showed Jiang Wan, wearing a birthday hat, holding her fists in front of her, eyes closed and making a wish. Her long eyelashes drooped, her face gentle, like a goddess bowing her head in pity.
If he had never met Jiang Wan and Chen Wulin, Zhou Zifang would have sincerely commented below: Damn, brother, where did you get this fairy girlfriend?
But he couldn't say that now.
"Jiang Wan's vision is not that bad, right?"
"Honestly, is Chen Wulin really that bad?" Lu Jiyu thought. Chen Wulin had no problem consistently ranking in the top 30 in his grade at No. 3 Middle School, and getting into a 985211 university on the college entrance exam was a sure thing. Regarding his appearance, Chen Wulin had quite a few admirers at No. 3 Middle School. Despite his aloof demeanor, he was much more easygoing than Lu Jiyu. At least they could easily add him on WeChat, and he'd be happy to occasionally help with a problem or even a duty.
Lu Jiyu felt that Zhou Zifang was somewhat prejudiced against Chen Wulin because of him, but if one evaluated him objectively from a secular perspective, Chen Wulin was still a good person.
Zhou Zifang couldn't believe that these words that would boost others' morale but destroy his own prestige actually came from Lu Jiyu's mouth. He stretched out his hand to feel his forehead to see if he had a fever, but Lu Jiyu disliked his greasy hands and turned his head away.
"Are you crazy?"
"Can he compare with you?"
"You can win a gold medal and be admitted to F University, can he?"
Usually, Zhou Zifang also liked to deliberately take advantage of the opportunity to step on Lu Jiyu and destroy this kid's arrogance, but when he really saw him looking so self-deprecating, Zhou Zifang could no longer sit still.
"Have you watched too many romance dramas again? You're telling me that love starts with low self-esteem?"
Lu Jiyu rolled his eyes at him, picked up the bowl of crispy pork, and left the sofa: "I'm not inferior, I only feel inferior when I see you, my idol."
He just felt a little bit irritated.
Even Old Lady Cheng could notice this bit of irritability.
Jiang Wan was awakened the next day by a WeChat message from Jiang Huainan. She and Chen Meiyun had drunk a lot the night before, but after a nap, her mind was a blur, akin to when she was in fifth grade and taking the Mathematical Olympiad exam.
"Xiao Wan is still sleeping?" There was an indescribable caution in Jiang Huainan's tone.
"Thanks to you, I'm awake now." Chen Meiyu was still sleeping next to him. Jiang Wan glanced at the time and saw that it was only eight o'clock in the morning. She was afraid of waking her up, so she got up and sat on the edge of the bed, and replied to him in a low voice.
Jiang Huainan didn't beat around the bush and got straight to the point: "I heard from your aunt that you haven't been to her place recently?"
"You also know that Lin Jun is about to take the high school entrance exam, but his grades are always unstable. As his sister, you should help him."
"I--." Jiang Wan rubbed his eyes and was about to speak.
Jiang Huainan interrupted her and started playing the family card: "Besides, Lin Jun was very close to you when he was a child. I remember that one time when you went to the countryside to fish for lobsters, you accidentally fell into a ditch, and he was the one who rescued you, right?"
Now that this has been mentioned, Jiang Wan simply laid it out and said, "It's true that he rescued me, but you have to know that he was the one who pushed me down."
For a while, Jiang Wan had been wondering if his cousin was a hyperactive child. He had a bad temper and would throw things at the slightest provocation. Yet, despite this, he was always the most favored child every time he visited his grandparents. Even when he threw things, he was praised for his strength.
But fortunately, he has a super strong mother. When Jiang Ying was a child, she was particularly spoiled to him and let him do whatever he wanted. But since Jiang Wan's mother got divorced and became successful in her career, Jiang Ying suddenly turned into a strict mother and beat her son three times a day.
As the saying goes, a good son is born under the stick. Lin Jun's bandit spirit was really beaten away by half, but he was still not satisfied. He wanted to achieve success overnight and directly make his son a top student.
Jiang Wan could only wish her success.
"Well, let's not talk about that. During the winter break of your freshman year in high school, you had a broken bone at home and no one was taking care of you. Wasn't it Xiaojun who came to take care of you for a few days?"
"The daily salary is four hundred. He has earned a total of two thousand in five days." Jiang Wan was originally curious about why the heartless Lin Jun suddenly found his conscience and came to her house on his own initiative, but the first thing he said was: Sister, good things should be kept within the family. If you want to hire a caregiver, you have to spend money, so you might as well find me. I am one of you and very reliable.
It turned out to be quite reliable. I came for five days, played games for four and a half days, and left early for the last half day.
Jiang Wan listened to Jiang Huainan recounting the past events one by one, and she felt tired for him.
"Well, you can travel abroad with peace of mind."
"As for Lin Jun, after I finish my college entrance exam, I'll give him ten days of intensive review. Is that okay with you?"
"Of course, don't let my mother know about this. If she finds out, everything will be invalid."
After all, the biggest "contributor" to Jiang Huainan and Li Wan's divorce was none other than her aunt Jiang Ying.
After Jiang Wan finished his phone call, Chen Meiyun, who had been pretending to sleep for a long time, finally couldn't help but turn over. Jiang Wan leaned over and lifted her eyelids: "Still pretending to sleep? You're so straight and square that you're almost like a corpse."
"Have you finished the call?" Chen Meiyu looked at her with eyes wide open, completely sleepy.
Jiang Wan placed his phone on the bedside table, lay back on the bed, and sighed silently, "Why is Old Jiang so annoying?"
Chen Meiyun knew Jiang Wan had always had a problem with her aunt, and it was hard to comfort her. Suddenly, she thought of something and opened WeChat on her phone to show Jiang Wan, "I saw online that writer Cheng Xiang is going to hold a symposium at Experimental No. 3 Middle School. I heard there will be 100 off-campus tickets available. Do you want to go?"
"Cheng Xiang?" Jiang Wan was a little confused for once: "Which Cheng Xiang?"
"It's the writer you like, Cheng Xiang, who wrote 'The Rise of Women'."
"She's going to hold a symposium at No. 3 Middle School?" Jiang Wan confirmed with Chen Meiyu again and then grabbed his cell phone.
Chen Meiyun asked, "What's up? Is your father looking for you again?"
"No, I'll ask Chen Wulin to get me a ticket."
Chen Meiyu: Who said that the relationship seems to have faded?
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