Chapter 51
On the other side, someone who had been beaten to a pulp was also having a hard time.
A few days ago, he went back to Lu Lin's house again, and she was still talking about the same old things, going around and around, all about him marrying into the Jin family. Lu Jiyu was too lazy to talk to her about this, but he was also human and had his emotions sometimes, so he simply explained his career plan to Lu Lin.
Lu Lin was so angry that he kept muttering to himself, "Lu Jiyu, you really just want to go back to the capital, right? My small temple can't accommodate a big Buddha like you, right?"
"Have I treated you unfairly over the years?"
"Honestly, have you ever thought about me for a moment? I have no children, and even you flew away. What will I do in the future?"
In her excitement, she accidentally dropped a bowl and broke it, sending the fragments flying and slicing right across Lu Jiyu's chin. Fine drops of blood soon oozed out.
Lu Lin didn't expect to hurt Lu Jiyu. She looked at him while calming her breath.
Lu Jiyu wiped his chin with a few pieces of paper from the dining table: "Aunt." He called her, with many words coming to his lips and wanting to say them.
For example, why haven't I ever thought about you? I even did something stupid like messing up the high school entrance exam.
Also, it’s not me who wants to take this path. My dad chose it for me. If you’re really not satisfied, go find my dad.
Why do you have to keep him by your side?
But in the end, Lu Jiyu didn't say any of this.
Before leaving, he only said one sentence: "I will take care of you in your old age."
Lu Lin sneered at him and said, "Who cares?"
＊
Jiayuan’s graduation ceremony is usually held a few days before the college entrance examination results are released.
The classroom of Class 1, Grade 3, was bustling with activity early in the morning. Some students were giving each other gifts, filling in their yearbooks, and some were going to the office to take pictures with the teacher.
As time went by, the sparsely populated classroom gradually filled up with people.
The only seat by the window was empty from beginning to end.
While Chen Meiyu was chatting with her deskmate about her new manicure, she would take out her phone from time to time to see if Jiang Wan had replied to her WeChat messages.
Last night, Jiang Wan suddenly sent her a WeChat message telling her that she would be going to school late and asked Chen Meiyu not to wait for her.
Chen Meiyun assumed Jiang Wan was still upset about losing her spokesperson position, so she didn't ask any further questions. But the more she thought about it, the more strange it seemed to her. Jiang Wan wasn't someone who cared much about fame. She often said, "Enjoy life while you can."
As she thought this, the front door suddenly opened. Several students looked up and saw Pan Linlin, the girl who had taken over Jiang Wan's spokesperson position. After more than two weeks of not seeing her, her face was still as cold as ever, and almost no students around greeted her.
She sat back in her seat with an indifferent look on her face, which was the row in front of Jiang Wan.
Everyone knew a little about her and Jiang Wan's affair, and while they weren't shy about avoiding her, they began whispering about her behind her back. The one who spoke most passionately was Lin Ruo. She and Pan Linlin had always been at odds. Lin Ruo came from a wealthy family, wasn't a strong student, and was a bit pretty, so she was more relaxed. She disliked Pan Linlin because she had repeatedly reported her behind her back for trivial matters, like wearing nail polish during class.
As soon as Pan Linlin sat down, Lin Ruo sneered rudely: "Hey, the graduating representative of our class is here."
As soon as this sentence came out, the whole class fell silent.
Chen Meiyun frowned and looked at Lin Ruo. She certainly didn't like Pan Linlin's pretentious nature, but she hated Lin Ruo's selfishness even more. It wasn't just the pungent smell of nail polish in class, but last year, when the class was buying uniforms for the art festival, Lin Ruo found hers had a thread coming apart while trying them on. She immediately went and got a brand new one, and the thread-raveled uniform ended up falling on a petite girl in the class. It was only after Pan Linlin complained to the teacher, who mediated and finally resolved the matter.
There is still an hour until the graduation ceremony begins.
The student union officers were making the final scene arrangements in the small theater, so no one noticed that a girl was pulling a boy in black clothes and a baseball cap into the control room backstage of the theater through the side door.
The first thing Jiang Wan did when he entered the house was to lock the door.
The control room wasn't large, only about three or four square meters. Along one wall stood a row of computers and control keyboards, along with two chairs. The man in the black baseball cap took a half step back, stretched out his long legs, and leaned back in his chair, head half lowered. He twirled a small, bright red card between his fingers. The three words "Invitation" etched in gold in the center shone brightly.
The boy raised his chin and looked at the girl who had just locked the door with a teasing look.
"So you're also afraid of being seen."
Jiang Wan clapped his hands and leaned against the door. The two of them each occupied two corners of the small control room, looking like they were competing against each other.
"Isn't this because someone has sensitive skin?"
Lu Jiyu curled the corners of his mouth slightly and shook the invitation letter in his hand.
"So your brother has sensitive skin?"
Just as they entered the school gate and the guard stopped them, Jiang Wan took out the invitation letter he had prepared long ago from his bag and pointed at Lu Jiyu shamelessly and introduced him, "This is my younger brother. He's here to watch my graduation ceremony."
Jiang Wan took a step closer to the boy in front of her. His expression was hidden under his black baseball cap. From her angle, she could only see his chin with a Band-Aid on it, and below that was his neck and Adam's apple that rose and fell slightly with his breathing.
She spoke in a lazy tone, "What's the difference between being a brother and a younger brother? I also want to change my identity, but someone is not happy about it."
The soundproofing of the small theater is not very good. The sounds of laughter and chattering in the audience are heard through layers of barriers and gently fall into this small control room. The movement is like an invisible hand grasping people's hearts, which rise and fall.
Lu Jiyu glanced sideways at the few rays of sunlight streaming in through the high window on the left, then retracted his legs and looked up at her: "Why don't you just say that it's someone who's a loser and always loses when he gambles."
The two people's eyes met in mid-air, and then it happened again. The slight numbing feeling like ants biting spread from the heart to every limb as their eyes remained fixed.
Lu Jiyu turned his head away first, and Jiang Wan looked at him seriously, saying deliberately: "Sometimes I think it might be God's will. Lu Jiyu, maybe we really are not destined to be together."
Lu Jiyu then turned his head to look at her, his eyes showing subtle emotions: "What exactly do you want to say when you called me here?"
To be honest, ever since Jiang Wan sent a WeChat message to Lu Jiyu three days ago asking him if he was good at computer games, Lu Jiyu still wasn't sure what Jiang Wan's plans were.
"I read the link you sent me last time."
After completing the game of Draw and Guess, an emoticon of a dog holding a rose popped up on the screen, with three big words "Sorry" next to it.
To be honest, Jiang Wan was really unsophisticated.
"Your tastes fluctuate quite a bit, don't they?"
Lu Jiyu tapped the table with his fingers. “Strictly speaking, I set it up according to your taste.”
Jiang Wan smiled insincerely: "Thank you so much. If you can help me with one more thing today, we can write off everything, okay?"
Is this how you use "write off"?
"What do you mean?" Lu Jiyu's expression faded.
"What do you mean? It means literally."
"I went back and thought about it. We have different positions and needs. It's not good for me to force you like this."
"How about we just be ordinary friends again?"
Ordinary friends, these four words linger again.
After Jiang Wan delivered a series of high-minded speeches, he stood with his hands folded, watching Lu Jiyu's reaction.
It's just that this guy is so good at pretending, he always has a cold face and no expression at all.
Never mind. Jiang Wan thought silently, since chasing after it didn't work, he could only try the desperate move. If he really couldn't bear to give up, the worst that could happen was to go back and try again. What's the big deal?
"Whatever you want." Lu Jiyu was silent for a while before throwing out three words.
Well, it seems that she won’t be able to get anything she wants to hear from him today.
It is more important to do the business first.
Jiang Wan glanced at the time and said, "We don't have much time. How long will it take you to unlock the password?"
"What are you going to do?"
"I'll explain it to you slowly later. Chu Wei will probably be back soon."
Lu Jiyu looked into her eyes and asked, "What if I can't solve it?"
"Then we can only implement plan B. Chu Wei likes handsome guys the most. You should say a few nice words to her and beg her to see if she can tell you the password."
Lu Jiyu ignored her, giving her a look to think about it herself before standing up and pulling out a chair to sit down. The computer was already turned on, frozen on the screen that required him to enter the password. He expertly pressed a few keys, and a screen of code popped up on the screen.
Jiang Wan stood beside him and talked to him while looking at the message Chen Meiyu sent her on her phone.
"I was originally the student representative for this class, but it was later replaced by another girl in our class. This girl has a sworn enemy in our class, and that sworn enemy suddenly sent me a WeChat message a few days ago."
Lu Jiyu kept typing away at the keyboard, his eyes fixed on the screen, and he hummed nonchalantly. Jiang Wan didn't care whether he listened or not, and continued, "She said she wanted to treat me to a good show."
"After much thought, I could only think of one possibility: she tampered with the background video of Pan Linlin's speech."
Lu Jiyu swiftly pressed the Enter key, and the computer was successfully unlocked and returned to the main display. The computer background was a Korean Oppa with white teeth showing and smiling.
Jiang Wan leaned in closer to take a closer look: "Doesn't he look somewhat similar to you?"
Lu Jiyu ignored her and said, "Why don't you report it directly to the teacher?"
Jiang Wan didn't expect that he was also the type who loved to ask the teacher for help when he had a problem: "It's not set in stone. Everything is just my guess."
"Besides, if this gets out of hand, it's not good for our class's reputation."
There was a row of video icons on the desktop. Jiang Wan was almost dizzy, and he looked around before he found the video labeled Pan Linlin.
"this."
Lu Jiyu opened it as he was told.
The video started out quite normal, with Pan Linlin's inner monologue played against the backdrop of the campus scenery. Jiang Wan watched patiently, and sure enough, at one and a half minutes, when the video was almost over, the audio volume suddenly rose, and a mosaic video popped up on the screen, still showing a man and a woman doing something unspeakable.
Lu Jiyu watched the end with a cold face: "Jiang Wan, your classmates played really wildly."
Playing this kind of thing at a graduation ceremony is meant to destroy people.
Jiang Wan said calmly: "Can you delete this video?"
"Can."
Lu Jiyu's operation was very skillful, and he finished editing the video in less than three minutes. Seeing that he had finished the work, Jiang Wan was about to say, "Why don't we leave quickly?" She was about to start the test when she heard the sound of the doorknob turning from the other side.
Jiang Wan and Lu Jiyu looked at each other at the same time.
Chu Wei is back.
"What should we do now?" Lu Jiyu stood up and looked calmly at Jiang Wan, who was even calmer.
Jiang Wan had thought that Chu Wei would block this matter.
"Lu Jiyu, I have an idea." Jiang Wan waved at him. Lu Jiyu felt that she was definitely not up to any good and stood there without moving.
Chu Wei outside the door couldn't open it and started knocking on it, each knock becoming more urgent.
"Who's in there?"
"I didn't lock the door when I left."
"Hey, hey!"
The knocking sound on the door penetrates the human brain nerves more directly each time.
But the two people standing inside the door were too calm, and the sound of birds singing outside the window came and went.
When Jiang Wan's hand reached out, Lu Jiyu subconsciously turned his head to avoid it, but failed to dodge it.
Jiang Wan touched Lu Jiyu's chin covered with a Band-Aid and rubbed it gently. She looked at him quietly, her eyes gentle, calm, yet so powerful that she made people see a sense of grievance for no reason.
"Lu Jiyu." She spoke in a whisper, a bit like she was acting coquettishly.
"If you really don't agree to my request, can you return the painting to me? I spent a long time on it."
"What painting?" Lu Jiyu looked at her with his eyelids drooping.
When he was pretending to be so obviously stupid, he also looked cold and powerful. All his flaws were exposed, but no one could do anything to him.
But it doesn't matter.
Since you can't bear to part with her paintings, you can't bear to part with her either.
Chu Wei's knocking on the door became much louder.
Lu Jiyu frowned slightly: "Why don't you just open the door and explain everything to them?"
Lu Jiyu's voice was buzzing, with the sticky hum of a puppy. In fact, when Jiang Wan saw him at the school gate today, she wanted to say that Lu Jiyu really looked like a Border Collie abandoned by its owner.
"Now that things have come to a head, I can only speak frankly." Jiang Wan lowered his voice and spoke quickly, "The art materials used in our studio were provided to us at a low price by Aunt Lin Ruo. If I really offended her, I'm afraid our family would suffer a considerable loss."
so——
"I don't want to have a bad relationship with Lin Ruo."
A reasonable and rational reason.
Chu Wei knocked on the door for a while and heard someone talking inside. Then she realized that someone was inside. Could they be stealing the computer motherboard?
"Whoever is in there, come out now, or I'll ask someone to unlock it!" Just as she was debating whether to go find the teacher first or go directly to the school security guard, the door suddenly opened from the inside.
"Jiang Wan, why are you here?"
"And this one - handsome, the handsome guy is -." Chu Wei's gaze was quickly attracted by the boy standing diagonally behind Jiang Wan. The man was tall and slender, covering Jiang Wan tightly. He was wrapped in a harsh and cold black from head to toe, but it could not cover up the looming desire in him at all.
A handsome man lazily leaned against the doorframe, his inky black eyes beneath the brim of his hat casually observing the profile of the girl next to him. An unspoken aura hung between them. The man's drooping shoulders, beneath the collar of his black T-shirt, exposed most of his collarbone. Chu Wei's gaze inevitably fell on the pink, rubbed mark. Chu Wei, a man who had seen a lot, immediately guessed their relationship.
"Sorry to bother you." Lu Jiyu saw that she had finished reading, and then he lifted the collar of his T-shirt as if he had realized it belatedly. He stood up straight, looking like a good boy again.
"Then I'll wait for you outside?" He asked Jiang Wan in a low voice. It wasn't a sweet talk, but it was more like a whisper.
Jiang Wan once again confirmed that Lu Jiyu was a natural-born movie star.
"Okay." Although it was her idea, it was also her whose heart was pounding at this moment.
Chu Wei watched the handsome guy's back gradually disappearing backstage, and looked at Jiang Wan in disbelief.
"Jiang Wan, you?"
Chu Wei now couldn't wait to report to the Shock Department immediately.
shock!
Jiang Wan, the legendary pure-hearted and cold-hearted goddess of Jiayuan, actually did such a thing with her boyfriend backstage at the school's small theater?
Is it the decline of morality or the liberation of human nature?
Jiang Wan smiled apologetically: "Originally, I brought him to attend my graduation ceremony, but he was a bit clingy, so——"
So the two of them couldn't help but lock the control room and kiss passionately inside?
Finally, as if feeling guilty, Jiang Wan added, "Please keep it a secret for me."
Chu Wei patted his chest and vowed: "Don't worry, Jiang Wan, I'm very tight-lipped. I won't tell anyone about this."
But, I'm sorry, her best friend is not someone else.
As soon as Jiang Wan left, Chu Wei took out his cell phone and sent the battle report from the front to his friends.
!!! Urgent, urgent, extremely urgent!
Jiang Wan knew Chu Wei a little bit, so naturally he had no expectations for her mouth.
The graduation ceremony will begin soon.
The process is still the same. The host opens the meeting, the school leaders come on stage to speak, the parent representatives come on stage to speak, and then the student representatives come on stage.
When Pan Linlin came on stage, there was a sound similar to "booing" from the audience. Jiang Wan looked towards the lower left corner of the stage, where Lin Ruo was sitting.
Chen Meiyun sighed at the side: "Pan Linlin's mental strength is too strong."
Jiang Wan looked back, but still couldn't find the person he was looking for. Could he really have gone back? He was so anxious, who was waiting for him at home?
"Don't you think she's more suitable to be a student representative than me?"
If someone else said this, Chen Meiyu would think that the other person was mad, but if it was Jiang Wan, she would definitely mean it sincerely.
Chen Meiyun looked at the girl on the stage with a sour look on her face: "You are the only one who thinks so."
"If I was the only one who felt that way she wouldn't be standing there."
Pan Linlin spoke eloquently, and her prepared video was impeccable. But toward the end of her speech, she suddenly paused.
"I feel very honored that the school suddenly chose me to speak as a student representative."
"After all, I'm definitely not one of the best students in this school."
"But I was able to go from being at the bottom of the class at the beginning of the semester to being in the top 30 in the last mock exam of my senior year. Maybe I am one of the most talked-about students."
“The sky is high for birds to fly, the sea is wide for fish to leap.”
"The world outside of school is vast and full of dangers, but that's okay. I'd like to use a phrase a classmate once told me: the most important thing in life is to be present."
Even when she was saying such emotional words, Pan Linlin's expression remained cold.
“At any time, we should never throw away our own initiative and expect to rely on others for survival. Only when we are present can we change everything.”
"I would also like to paraphrase Camus's words: We work hard not to defeat fate, but to have the ability to fight fate."
“I would like to share all of this with my classmates, especially the female students. Thank you.”
"Oh my god, this girl is quite amazing. Why didn't I see it before!" Chen Meiyu clapped until her hands were sore, completely forgetting her previous disdain for her.
Jiang Wan's phone suddenly vibrated.
gazer: Did you say this to her?
Jiang Wan was a little surprised. It turned out that the man didn’t leave: Where are you?
gazer: Where is the safe passage on the left?
Jiang Wan turned around immediately. Sure enough, the door over there was half open. Behind it leaned a young man dressed in black. His cap was pulled down low, but it couldn't hide the pair of distinct black and white eyes underneath. He caught her gaze and raised his hand to wave at her nonchalantly.
Jiang Wan's actions caught Chen Meiyu's attention, and she quickly turned around and replied to him: You were the one who said this to me.
gazer: I heard that too.
Jiang Ziya: Oh.
gazer: What do you mean by "oh"? Why not ask who said it?
Jiang Ziya: Oh, who said that?
gazer: I won’t tell you.
…
gazer: I'm leaving first.
Why are you leaving?
Jiang Ziya: Please consider what I say.
gazer: If you were on stage today, would you say the same thing?
Jiang Ziya: No, I would say Lu Jiyu from No. 3 Middle School. Do you want to try it with me secretly?
gazer: How come I didn't notice you were so—
Lu Jiyu was halfway through typing when he couldn't think of any suitable words.
Jiang Wan threw him a laughing emoticon and added another sentence.
Jiang Ziya: Actually, what's the difference between her and me? She and I are one. There are some things she can say that are better and more appropriate than me, don't you think?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
