Chapter 78
With the upcoming holiday approaching, shopping mall shops have prepared their venues in advance.
"Whoosh~" He Jiafen ran to the big plush toy, fixed her hair, put on sunglasses, and made a gesture, "I want to take a picture of this!"
Jiang Li caught up with her, clutching the keys, and gently patted the back of her head with one hand, a seemingly rough but actually affectionate gesture: "What are you filming? Are you a three-year-old?"
“I’m only three years old! You take the picture!” He Jiafen pushed his hand away and ordered him with a righteous air.
Seeing that she wasn't leaving, Jiang Li ignored her and walked forward on his own, saying, "I won't take pictures."
Seeing this, He Jiafen grabbed his arm in front of everyone, acting like a spoiled child, pushing off the ground with her feet and tilting her head back to argue with him.
On the other side, the young woman ordered her milk tea and laughed as she took pictures of the scene before her.
The lively scene attracted a lot of attention.
Zhang Hong also looked over, and upon closer inspection, the person looked familiar, so he could say he knew him: "Hmm, isn't that so-and-so, the one who had dinner with us that night?"
Guan Nan, who had just withdrawn her gaze, glanced at him dismissively, following his words: "It does look somewhat similar."
“It’s not just that it looks like him, it should be him, right?” Zhang Hong took another look.
Guan Nan smiled and said, "Really? I can't quite tell."
The man was wearing a hat and sunglasses, so if you didn't know him well, you might not recognize him easily.
I dressed very casually today.
Nowadays, Jiang Li no longer favors American street style as much as before.
Unless it's a necessary occasion, he still wears bright colors on stage, which are just as striking. In his private life, he is cool, arrogant, and aloof, exuding an aura of "I am too noble for you to reach."
If this kind of temperament is applied to someone else, it can easily be interpreted or misunderstood as "arrogant" or "disdainful of others" if not handled properly.
But he was born with it, a natural talent.
He stood tall, wearing a loose green T-shirt and light-wash jeans.
If you were to remove the necklace that you always wear around your neck and never show to anyone, you wouldn't find another piece of jewelry. If you had to find one more, it would definitely be the same one you wore during your student days.
A wired earphone, folded in half with both ears folded together, is simply hung around the neck and worn as a set.
He seems to have a particular preference for wired headphones.
Guan Nan stared at the earphone, recalling the times in high school when the two of them shared a pair of earphones during breaks. Back then, he did the same, earphones hanging around his neck, easily pulled out and appearing in his nimble hand in a second.
Suddenly, Guan Nan's eyes sharpened, and she had an idea.
Perhaps her gaze was too intense, for Jiang Li followed her gaze, his eyes cold and his face expressionless. He looked away after only two seconds and walked straight to the woman's side.
He was doing as Guan Nan had suggested that night.
But Guan Nan felt an inexplicable sense of irritability and depression.
"Huh?" Zhang Hong opened his WeChat Moments and exclaimed in surprise, "He even liked my post."
Guan Nan belatedly looked away, completely unaware of what Zhang Hong had just said, and replied perfunctorily, "Yeah, that's good."
As she said this, she couldn't help but glance over there again, only to see Jiang Li take the paper number from the woman's hand. The woman said something to him, and seeing that he didn't react, she patted his arm and walked towards He Jiafen.
He went inside to get the milk tea, while the woman patiently took photos of He Jiafen.
"With such a blazing sun, how much longer are we going to film?" Jiang Li asked impatiently as he carried out his milk tea and sipped his lemon tea through a straw.
He Jiafen seemed a little afraid of him. After hearing this, she quickly pulled the woman over, her face showing an expression of knowing she had made a mistake and not daring to be presumptuous.
It's only natural for He Jiafen to act submissively in front of her boyfriend's mother.
Guan Nan thought, but Jiang Li's attitude was really inappropriate.
"Oh dear," the woman said with a smile as she took the milk tea, "just let her take a couple more pictures."
He Jiafen, holding a cup of milk tea, parroted, "Yeah, just let me take a couple more pictures."
Jiang Li glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, "You're such a troublemaker."
"What?" He Jiafen pouted, clearly dissatisfied, and said through gritted teeth, "It's all because you suddenly said you wanted to come here. We hadn't even planned on—"
The woman stopped the two from bickering and shoved her cup into Jiang Li's hand: "Alright, I told you this milk tea is good. If it is, then drink more. You promised to go shopping with us today, so watch your tone."
Jiang Li was speechless, and nodded resignedly.
The three of them walked into the mall chatting and laughing. To be precise, only He Jiafen was talking and laughing with the woman, arm in arm, while Jiang Li lazily followed behind them.
It wasn't until they had completely disappeared from sight that Guan Nan gradually came to her senses; they really did look like a family.
"No wonder," Zhang Hong said, scrolling through an article on his phone.
Guan Nan: "What?"
“It turns out the brand was spending a lot of money to attract traffic,” Zhang Hong showed her the screen, which was a promotional video by several high-traffic bloggers. Then he switched the screen over and said, “I knew he was wondering why he suddenly liked my video.”
The number of likes on my personal WeChat account is not high; out of seven or eight people, only one person did not leave a note.
Guan Nan was still a little stunned after reading the nickname.
"Who...who is this?" Guan Nan stared blankly and helplessly at Zhang Hong across from her.
Zhang Hong didn't notice anything unusual: "Jiang Li."
Across from me, Zhang Hong was still talking about how they added each other on WeChat during the last barbecue. During the few minutes Guan Nan left the table, someone egged them on to add each other on WeChat.
She was the only one missing; she was absent.
Guan Nan picked up her phone, opened WeChat, and searched for keywords in the search bar.
The search bar accurately displayed a specific nickname.
— It's hard to reason with.
Guan Nan gripped her phone tightly, swallowed hard, and opened the chat window.
The other party was the first commercial advertisement they landed when they first entered the internet industry. It was a shot in the arm for them on their trial and error journey, which helped them complete their entrepreneurial journey.
The advertisement came from Yena, who said she got it through connections, so the job was pushed onto her.
I saw the familiar name "Fuling" on the homepage.
She had also fantasized that the person on the other side of the screen might be him.
Hesitant and uncertain.
I finally mustered up the courage.
Guan Guan: [Hello, what's your name? / Joyful]
It's hard to explain logically: [Jiang.]
At that moment, she couldn't hide her disappointment but also felt much relieved, and the two communicated quite well. The other party's trust in them was extraordinary, and Guan Nan assumed it was because of Ye Na, so she didn't think much of it.
So, naturally, they maintained a brief and polite exchange of greetings each year.
The other party's nickname and profile picture have remained unchanged for years. She also simply noted the keywords "Mr. Jiang" and "Fuling specialty" in the description and let the other party remain in the list.
Scrolling through screens filled with holiday greetings.
Further down the line, their most recent conversation took place when she was being targeted and subjected to a barrage of online harassment by a former colleague. It was quite late that day, and he seemed to have just learned of the situation, not even considering whether it was presumptuous of him.
01:53
It's hard to explain logically: [Are you okay?]
Guan Guan: [Pretty good/Happy]
I thought it was just a simple greeting, but I didn't expect to receive another message from the other party just over ten minutes later.
It's hard to explain logically: [I've heard about what happened recently. Feel free to contact me anytime if needed.]
Because of what happened at the beginning, Guan Nan felt grateful to the other party. At that time, she felt that the other party had already helped by not making things worse, and she didn't dare to think too much about it.
Guan Guan: [Okay, thank you, you're welcome /heart]
Despite saying he wouldn't be polite, after all his information was exposed online, he hid at home every day listening to knocking and cursing, enduring each day.
For a time, she didn't even dare to go home. If it weren't for the constant complaints received by the landlady, she might still be staying at Green Camp.
Staring at these things, Guan Nan suddenly panicked for a moment.
Even now, she still can't believe that the person on the other end of this WeChat message is Jiang Li.
She tried transferring money to the other party. The transfer was done under a real-name system, concealing the surname; the last character after the asterisk (*) was "理" (li). Even so, Guan Nan still clung to a sliver of hope, entering the recipient's name in the designated field.
Her hands trembled as she struggled several times before finally managing to type out a complete name.
Jiang Li.
The next second, a message popped up on the screen saying "Payment successful," but it's hard to say whether the payment has been received.
Guan Nan felt a tightness in her chest.
It's hard to argue logically: [The other party has already received the payment]
It's hard to explain: [What happened? / Cat peeking out]
Guan Nan hesitated for a while, then finally found a reasonable excuse and replied to the other party in a standard way: 【Happy Holidays】
After sending the message, I felt that my tone was a bit harsh, so I retracted the message and tried to imitate it in the past.
Add a modal particle.
Guan Guan: [Happy Holidays! Here's some candy for you/Happy]
It's hard to explain logically: [?]
It's hard to explain logically: [How does one find happiness?]
Guan Nan stared at the screen, unable to believe that the other person would turn "Happy Holidays" into such a question. She typed and typed, finally managing to squeeze out a reasonable reply: "[Of course, with my girlfriend!]"
It's hard to reason with: […Thank you for your kind words.]
Finally, Guan Nan sent an emoji, ending the brief chat.
Even now, Guan Nan still finds it hard to accept this fact.
She tried opening her WeChat Moments again and looked at the promotional posts related to Fuling. They were full of old-fashioned and simple style, completely different from her own.
But when she clicked on that strange profile picture again, she subconsciously saved it.
Next, relying on muscle memory, I adjusted the exposure, noise, and sharpness in the photo album.
After several rounds, the shape in the avatar gradually took shape. Guan Nan stared at the screen, her heart pounding uncontrollably, as if it wanted to burst out of her ribs.
Her movements slowed down, and the photos became clearer.
The moment the photo was displayed.
Zhang Hong said, "He sent me a message."
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