Chapter 78
Jiang Wan met Song Huaian on the way to the library in the morning. The other party was very enthusiastic when he saw her. Although Jiang Wan was not in the mood to deal with him, after all, the two were in the same club and would occasionally meet, so they chatted a little.
"Our club is planning to organize an event soon. The time is tentatively scheduled for after National Day. Would you like to join us?"
As they talked, they entered the library. Jiang Wan immediately spotted Lu Jiyu sitting in a row against the wall. Seeing Lu Jiyu wasn't surprising, but what was surprising was why Zhou Zifang was also there.
Song Huaian's question received no response, so he asked again: "What do you think?"
The two turned and went upstairs. Jiang Wan was a little distracted and casually replied "OK".
Song Huaian didn't realize that Jiang Wan was distracted for a moment. When he heard Jiang Wan agreed to come, his eyes lit up: "Then it's a deal. I'll wait for you."
At the beginning of the school year, several of Jiang Wan's roommates interviewed for a position in the student union, but only Zhang Yang was chosen. Jiang Wan had never shown much interest in the field. In high school, she was elected as the arts committee member. After three years, although her homeroom teacher didn't say anything, she felt she wasn't up to the task. So, upon entering university, she decided she wouldn't hold any positions, but to keep herself occupied and appear more sociable, she joined a club.
She just picked the club randomly, the racing club.
On the recruitment day, a senior student happened to put a flyer in her hand. Jiang Wan stared at the F1 car on the flyer and was distracted for a moment. She did not deny that she was thinking of Lu Jiyu.
Then Jiang Wan joined this club which she had never been involved in.
She was also a little surprised to find that Song Huaian was also in the club and served as vice president. Jiang Wan herself didn't feel anything, but when she returned to the dormitory that night, there was something distinct in the look Zhang Yang gave her.
After chatting with Song Huaian for a few more words, the two parted at the computer room door. Jiang Wan had been working on a PPT in the computer room all morning. During this time, her phone vibrated twice, but she ignored it.
She knew who was looking for her.
After finishing her homework and pressing save, Jiang Wan walked out of the library and headed towards the cafeteria. While walking, she called Chen Wulin who had sent her a message.
The call was connected quickly.
"What's up?"
"Teacher Jiang will take a flight back to Nanyuan this afternoon."
"Okay, I understand." Jiang Wan asked calmly.
Chen Wulin was silent for a moment and then asked, "Jiang Wan, are you free to come over tomorrow?"
Jiang Wan carefully avoided a bicycle parked across the sidewalk and said nonchalantly, "What's the matter? Your mother is here too, so there shouldn't be any need for me."
Chen Wulin was not unfamiliar with the strangeness in Jiang Wan's tone. The relationship he had slowly and painstakingly repaired collapsed into ruins in the blink of an eye.
His voice was hoarse: "Why?"
Jiang Wan, however, found Chen Wulin's question somewhat baffling: "Chen Wulin, hasn't our relationship always been like this?"
Neither cold nor hot, neither close nor approachable.
But that’s not the case in Chen Wulin’s eyes.
"If I said—" His voice was tinged with urgency: "If I hadn't been with Yao Manjia—"
Jiang Wan interrupted him rudely, "Whatever relationship you have with anyone has nothing to do with me. We've never been anything more than friends, so, Chen Wulin." Her voice suddenly became more earnest, "I beg you not to make things difficult for Lu Jiyu. Even though his aunt hurt you before, she's not wrong. She's not wrong. She's also atoned for her aunt's sins in her own way."
"What if—I don't agree?"
Jiang Wan stood on the sidewalk waiting for the red light: "Then you just need to know that I will always stand on his side."
Chen Wulin hung up without saying anything. He had known Jiang Wan for so many years, but he never dared to claim to know her well. Jiang Wan always became different people in different situations. One second she could stay up all night in the hospital to take care of him, and the next second, she could say something cold and chilling.
Chen Wulin smiled self-deprecatingly. He suddenly realized that she had always drawn a safety line for him. Outside that line, Jiang Wan did treat him differently, but once he was ignorant and tried to cross that dividing line, he would see Jiang Wan's most ruthless side.
She could share her joy and pride with him, but her fragility and sadness would never be left to him.
Chen Hong stood beside the bed, silently looking at her son who was holding the phone without saying a word: "Wulin——"
"Maybe it's all my imagination."
"She really never liked me."
"She was so nice to me when I was little, just because she felt sorry for me. She would have done the same to anyone else."
"But I'm not willing to accept it. I really am not willing to accept it."
Admitting that he was never an option was too difficult for the proud Chen Wulin. He thought there was only a misunderstanding and missed opportunity between them, and he thought time would heal it all as long as he was willing to work hard.
That's why he kept thinking, if he hadn't deliberately distanced himself from Jiang Wan because of the rumors about her in junior high school, and hadn't listened to Chen Hong and looked down on her, he would have liked her but also looked down on her, and in the end these conflicting emotions would have torn him apart and twisted him.
But today, no matter how much he doesn't want to see it, he has to face the fact that Jiang Wan has never had feelings for him beyond those of friends.
Jiang Wan stayed in the library until eight o'clock before returning to the dormitory.
After reading all day, her head felt a little dizzy. Jiang Guan bought a can of beer at the supermarket in front of the school and drank it on her way home.
Perhaps because he had never seen drunk college students drinking on the street, Jiang Wan received a lot of attention on his way back to the dormitory.
The girls' dormitory was brightly lit, and downstairs, a few couples could be seen kissing each other. Sweet words drifted to Jiang Wan's ears amidst the gentle sounds of kissing. She walked downstairs, slid sideways from her bag, pulled out her card, and walked in. But after a few steps, she suddenly turned back and walked out.
Seeing this, the dormitory manager asked, "Did you forget something?"
"Well, I forgot someone."
After Jiang Wan came out of the dormitory building, he walked forward about ten steps. There was a bamboo and wooden corridor with unknown climbing plants climbing on it, swaying in the night breeze.
This is a place where street lights cannot reach. Passersby can only see pitch black when they take a glance. Maybe if they look more carefully, they can see a vague human figure and hear a few intermittent cat meows.
Jiang Wan walked in and saw a man sitting on a bench in the corridor facing the dormitory building. Even in the dim night, it was not difficult to see that the man had long arms and legs and a refreshing and sharp temperament.
Jiang Wan sat down on the chair opposite him.
Lu Jiyu lowered his head and touched the kitten lying beside him. He was silent for a moment before looking up at her: "Long time no see."
Jiang Wan directly exposed him: "You almost fed this wild cat into a domestic cat. How long have you not seen it?"
See, she just knows it all.
Lu Jiyu stopped quibbling and suddenly raised his hand to hand something over: "She is very affectionate, do you want to feed her?"
It turned out to be cat strips.
"don't want."
"Anyway, if you feed them well, they will run away."
Jiang Wan's indirect criticism was obvious, and Lu Jiyu understood it and accepted it all, nodding: "That's true."
"but."
"What if he runs away and comes back?"
The darkness hid the lonely and uncertain look in his eyes as he said this, and from the sound of his voice he still sounded as nonchalant as usual, as if he was discussing the weather.
"If you ran away, why did you come back?"
"What if I say so." The kitten beside him meowed, as if blaming him for forgetting to feed her cat food while talking. Lu Jiyu put the cat food to her mouth, paused, and then spoke again: "What if I say he has his reasons?"
“To be understood is to have a hard time, to not be understood is to be betrayed and deceived.”
These two words are too strong.
Lu Jiyu was rarely speechless.
"What did my father tell you then?"
Lu Jiyu reacted in a fraction of a second and understood: "Teacher Jiang—this is just for your own good."
"It's for my own good. It means I have to break up with the person I like. Lu Jiyu, you are really something." Jiang Wan smiled, stood up and walked in front of him, looking down at him.
"You shouldn't make choices for me."
"How do you know what I'll choose?"
Jiang Wan was about to leave when she finished speaking. Lu Jiyu instinctively reached out to hold her back. He looked up at her, his voice adding a touch of unfathomable brokenness and grievance: "So, what will you choose?"
But Jiang Wan didn't reply and just left.
Jiang Wan did not return to Nanyuan during the National Day holiday.
She and Chen Meiyun had arranged a trip to Shanxi. They landed in Linfen, planning to stop by Pingyao and continue on to Datong. Chen Meiyun had worried that Jiang Wan might be feeling down after the recent events, but she'd almost forgotten that she was Jiang Wan. While watching "Meet Pingyao Again" in Pingyao, Jiang Wan's shutter speed was more than twice hers.
The two stayed in a guesthouse in Pingyao Ancient City. After watching the performance that evening, they bought some wine and snacks along the way. After returning to their room and washing up quickly, they took their food and drinks and chatted about life in the courtyard of the guesthouse.
"I've recently figured it out. Wei Lin and I are really not suitable for each other." Chen Hua Meiyun raised her head and took a big sip of ice beer, then sighed deeply. "But I think you and Lu Jiyu are a perfect match."
Jiang Wan was speechless: "You worry more than the matchmaker." She handed a string of squid to Chen Meiyun: "Have you seen my dad recently?"
Chen Meiyu was attending university in Nanyuan. In the past, she would occasionally go to see Jiang Huainan with some things as her mother asked.
"No. But I heard from my mom that Lao Jiang has lost some weight recently." Chen Meiyu said hesitantly.
Jiang Wan gave a nonchalant smile: "It's better to be thinner. I feel better knowing that he is not feeling well either."
Chen Meiyun took another sip of wine, and she looked at Jiang Wan's profile in a trance. Jiang Wan tilted his head to look at her: "Do you also think I did something wrong?"
"Of course not." Chen Meiyu immediately expressed her loyalty.
"Actually, if it weren't for Lu Jiyu, I wouldn't have compromised with my dad. He's a very good moral blackmailer. If I didn't resist this time, I would definitely resist at some point in the future."
Chen Meiyu understood and admired Jiang Wan's energy, but she was also a little worried: "Should I ask my mom to be your lobbyist and talk to your dad? You know my mom has been a lawyer for so many years, and she can kill people with just her words. Of course, I will ask her to show some mercy and not to go too far."
"Forget it, it's just Auntie's mouth." Jiang Wan shook his head: "Jiang Huainan is not guilty of this."
Chen Meiyun smiled and said, "You still can't bear to leave your dad."
Lu Jiyu did not return to Nanyuan during the National Day holiday. Zhou Zifang knew that he did not go back and flew to see him.
Lu Jiyu wasn't really feeling sad. Lu Lin had recently gone abroad, and he was going back alone. Plus, he was planning to participate in a programming competition after National Day, so staying in school would make it easier for him to prepare with his teammates.
But Zhou Zifang didn't think so. He felt that Lu Jiyu was too deeply hurt by love and had given up on himself.
Zhou Zifang's flight arrived that evening, and after getting off the plane, he took a taxi straight to Lu Jiyu's school. Lu Jiyu had been hanging out in the library lately, and when he came out, he was wearing only a white T-shirt and black trousers. His hair had grown a lot longer recently, and he hadn't had time to take care of it, so he covered it with a baseball cap before going out.
The two of them went to the food street near the north gate of the university. Normally, this street was frequented by university students, but during the holidays, there were many more tourists.
Lu Jiyu took Zhou Zifang to a barbecue restaurant he and his roommates often visited. The restaurant was half full, so they chose an outdoor table. It was mid-October, and the daytime heat was still unbearable, but the evenings were much cooler.
In addition to seeing if Lu Jiyu was still alive, Zhou Zifang's other purpose in coming this time was to ask him how he planned to celebrate his birthday.
After all, this was their first time meeting in a different place since they met. Lu Jiyu's birthday was on the 17th, and in previous years he had always arranged a small party for everyone. But now his friends were scattered all over the country, and getting together was difficult.
“What are your thoughts for this year?”
Lu Jiyu was slowly picking at the conch meat with a toothpick, a faint vein of blue veins etched across the back of his cold, white hand. He lowered his head and said indifferently, "If you really want to come over, treat your roommates to dinner." He wasn't really thinking about it right now, but Fang Cheng had mentioned it in front of everyone a few days ago, and he'd seem petty if he tried to cover it up.
Zhou Zifang was clearly dissatisfied: "That's it? What's the point of having a meal? Listen to me, I promise to make it a lively occasion for you."
Lu Jiyu glanced at him, not hiding his distrust, "Why? Did you major in the Department of Specialization?"
Zhou Zifang shamelessly boasted: "I'm a nightclub celebrity. I've seen a lot and had a lot of fun."
Is this something to be proud of?
Speaking of this, Lu Jiyu finally couldn't help laughing. Previously, Li Mu and Zhou Zifang had gone to Korea and visited a famous pub in Gangnam. Li Mu said that Zhou Zifang was completely frightened and had nightmares for three days after returning.
"How long are you going to blow it just once?"
"Tsk, at least I've been there. Have you been there?"
Lu Jiyu stopped talking and continued to concentrate on picking the snail meat with his head down.
Zhou Zifang reacted after a moment: "Have you been there?"
"Yeah." Lu Jiyu pushed the dish of snail meat he had picked out in front of him and wiped his hands with two pieces of paper. "When I went to the United States two years ago."
Zhou Zifang was neither surprised nor unhappy. He knew that Lu Jiyu looked like a cool and aloof academic, but he had seen a lot of the bright lights and nightlife of this glamorous world.
But Lu Jiyu has never been addicted to this kind of thing. He is just a little curious occasionally, and at most has a little thirst for knowledge.
Zhou Zifang had already come up with a preliminary plan before he arrived: "How about we have a cosplay party?"
Lu Jiyu wiped his hands and picked up his phone to check his Moments. Jiang Wan had just posted a travel blog, so he clicked on it, glanced at it, and then liked it. Thinking about the message he sent her that morning, and how she hadn't replied, Lu Jiyu thought for a moment and decided to leave a comment in the comments section.
gazer: Looks like fun.
The two actually have many mutual friends because of their acquaintance with Song Huaian and Zhang Yang. Lu Jiyu's likes and comments quickly aroused people's curiosity.
Zhou Zifang also saw Lu Jiyu's like and asked curiously: "Did Jiang Wan add you back again?"
Isn't this obvious?
"Is there a chance?" Zhou Zifang's eyes lit up. "I'm telling you, take advantage of this birthday to iron out your differences. Don't thank me too much then!"
Lu Jiyu sighed: "That depends on her willingness to come."
Although Jiang Wan added him back on WeChat, he basically didn't reply to his messages. Replying to one or two messages a day was considered a favor.
He knew she was deliberately trying to hook him, but at least she was still willing to hook him.
"Hasn't she been coaxed yet?" Zhou Zifang could sense that Jiang Wan was a difficult person to coax. "Jiang Wan looks cool, but I think she's actually quite insecure about relationships. She must be hard to coax after what you did."
Of course Lu Jiyu knew.
Ever since he knew that Jiang Wan was a bit of a sexual freak, he realized that Jiang Wan's repeated attempts to test him were largely due to her insecurity. Only when she was sure that she could be tolerated without any reason under any circumstances would she be willing to take that step.
So Lu Jiyu was not in a hurry. He knew that he had to be patient with Jiang Wan in order to regain her trust.
Someone had sat down at the empty table behind them at some point, and one of the people's voices sounded familiar. Lu Jiyu couldn't help but look back, and it was indeed Song Huaian.
Seeing this, Zhou Zifang came over and asked, "Do you know him?"
Lu Jiyu was about to reply "I'm not familiar with her" when Song Huaian suddenly mentioned Jiang Wan's name. Then he added:
"I plan to confess my feelings to her during this club activity. There are too many people pursuing her, and I can't wait any longer."
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