Chapter 6 "Is it too late to break off the engagement now?"
Jiang Yao couldn't remember when Duan Zhuxian's cold and sarcastic mouth became so humorous.
He lowered his eyebrows and stared at Duan Zhuxian's face fiercely, trying to find some flaws.
But in those deep eyes, there was only the usual calmness, as if he was not involved in the matter.
He is truly worthy of being his sworn enemy who has been at loggerheads with him for so many years. Even to do something as outrageous as sharing the same household registration book with him, he still refuses to join forces with him!
Before He Lu said that, he had naively hoped that Duan Zhuxian could reach a consensus with him and work together to find a way to cancel the marriage.
Whenever Jiang Yao gets upset, he likes to touch his cigarette box. He reaches into his pocket and searches for it, but can't find it for a long time.
He lowered his head, patted his trouser pocket, and said, "What bad luck." Suddenly, he heard the sound of knocking on a cardboard box.
The next second, a cigarette was pressed against his lips.
It turned out to be the custom-made one he often smoked. It was not like ordinary cigarettes that were pungent and smelly and were difficult to buy in China.
The subtle smell of tobacco made him itch, but in the end he didn't reject it. He opened his lips slightly and put the cigarette into his mouth.
Duan Zhuxian raised his hand to Jiang Yao's lips to block the wind, and with his other hand he pushed open the lid of the lighter. His thumb flicked the grinding wheel, and with a click, a faint blue spark popped out.
In the few minutes after the cigarette was lit, Duan Zhuxian did not leave, but stood silently by, as if waiting for an answer.
There's an inexplicable sense of terrible calmness that "everything is under control".
Jiang Yao was unhappy, but too lazy to chase people away. He took deep and light puffs of his cigarette, and the orange light between his fingers flickered without any rhythm.
As he walked to the trash can to knock off the cigarette ash, Jiang Yao vaguely saw through the gap in the bamboo curtain not far away that his father was offering tea to Duan Song, and Duan Song was patting his father on the shoulder. The two looked like good brothers...
He agreed to this marriage himself. Not only did his parents not force him, they also advised him to think twice.
It's a blind date, it's not that he can't go back on his word, but if he just walks away now, he will feel good, but he will offend the Duan family. For Jiang Li, it will be like adding insult to injury. Besides, it will be difficult to find a backer who can stabilize the other shareholders in a short period of time.
He should be more mature. He is twenty-six years old, not sixteen. At least he cannot be outdone by Mr. Duan.
On the distant horizon, the melting sunset gradually cooled and sank.
Jiang Yao slowly exhaled a cloud of smoke, and suddenly there was a strange tranquility in his heart, as if after a storm. Although he left behind a mess that was impossible to clean up, he no longer had the desire to fight.
"Have you calmed down?" Duan Zhuxian asked him.
Jiang Yao put out his cigarette and spoke awkwardly, "Let's make it clear first, this is just a cooperation in this area. As for anything beyond that, don't even think about it."
"Something more than that?" Duan Zhuxian's tone slowed down slightly, as if he was playing with these five words. "What could be more than that between us?"
Jiang Yao meant to write off all the grudges they had before.
He knew that Duan Zhuxian understood what he meant and was deliberately using his words to bully him.
He rolled his eyes and didn't want to pay attention to Duan Zhuxian.
"Since we're going to collaborate in the future, I can't possibly not even know the WeChat of my partner, right?"
Duan Zhuxian took out his cell phone and waved it in front of Jiang Yao.
Jiang Yao paused for a moment, said "Oh", took out his cell phone and went straight to the blacklist.
Duan Zhuxian lowered his head slightly, his gaze following Jiang Yao's cold and slender fingertips to the screen.
He was the only one on Jiang Yao's blacklist.
Duan Zhuxian raised his eyebrows slightly: "You only blocked me?"
Jiang Yao stared down at his phone and snorted, "Yeah, I arranged a luxurious single cell for Mr. Duan. Don't thank me, you deserve it."
A laugh hit my eardrum without warning, with a magnetic texture.
Jiang Yao paused with his thumb on the screen: "What are you laughing at?"
Duan Zhuxian said: "I didn't expect that I am so special to you."
Jiang Yao raised his eyelids and snarled at him, "If you say one more word, I won't let you out."
Duan Zhuxian raised his chin, motioning Jiang Yao to continue, and his expression returned to its mysterious state.
Jiang Yao unhappily clicked on Duan Zhuxian's profile picture with a snowy crystal ball that hadn't changed in years, and turned off the "Add to blacklist" button.
Duan Zhuxian’s WeChat was finally released after serving his sentence.
The sentence was seven years and nine months.
*
In fact, on that terrible snowy night in his senior year of high school, after they parted ways in front of the small grocery store outside the school, Jiang Yao did not immediately block Duan Zhuxian on WeChat.
After all, we have been together for so long as both enemies and friends, and have created countless memories together. After calming down, it is inevitable that we will feel reluctant to part.
Such complicated emotions continued until the first Christmas after the college entrance examination, when he went to Q University to find Chen Tang.
That day, he sat in the school restaurant where they had agreed to meet, waiting for Chen Tang to finish class.
When the time came, the wind chimes on the glass door rang, and he looked towards the door with anticipation.
The person who walked into the restaurant covered in snow was a tall and long-legged young man.
The man was wearing a dark grey coat with no buttons fastened, and the snow on his shoulders looked like he was in a hurry.
The black turtleneck sweater underneath made the man's face look pale and lonely, but it did not shake his cold expression at all.
"Why are you here?"
The moment their eyes met, Jiang Yao suddenly leaned forward and raised his voice unconsciously.
"It seems more reasonable for students from Q University to appear in this restaurant than students from B University."
The voice that hadn't been heard for half a year came closer and sounded more mature.
Duan Zhuxian walked slowly into the restaurant, his face with superior bone structure gradually fading from the daylight outside the door into darkness.
Jiang Yao knew he was in the wrong and snorted disapprovingly. Just as he was about to lower his head to send a message to Chen Tang, he suddenly felt the light in front of him dim.
Looking up, Duan Zhuxian sat on the chair opposite him and asked the waiter for a cup of hot American coffee.
Jiang Yao looked around and saw that there were only a few customers in the store, so there was no empty table.
Duan Zhuxian just drank his coffee as soon as he sat down, and it didn't seem like he wanted to talk to him about the past.
Besides, Duan Zhuxian didn't consider him a friend, and they had no past history together. If they insisted on building a relationship, they would at most be rivals in love.
Jiang Yao narrowed his eyes slightly, with obvious doubt in his eyes. Just as he was about to ask, the glass door was pushed open again from the outside.
Shen Tang is here.
A girl with long hair also came in. They both wore the same red scarf and held hands.
Jiang Yao's brain short-circuited a bit, and he sat in the chair in a daze for a long time. It was not until they came over talking and laughing that he took his eyes off their clasped hands.
"who is she?"
Jiang Yao raised his eyes and asked.
The girl's face flushed slightly. She was sensitive and noticed the subtle fluctuations in Jiang Yao's emotions.
"This is my girlfriend." Chen Tang placed his palm on the back of the girl's hand, gently helping her out. "It was Zhuxian who heard you were coming and suggested that I take this opportunity to bring Xiaowei over so you can meet her."
When Jiang Yao heard this, his frozen thoughts suddenly exploded in his mind like a startled pigeon.
His first reaction was not to respond to Chen Tang's explanation, but to look at Duan Zhuxian beside him.
At that time, Duan Zhuxian was stirring the steaming coffee with unhurried movements and a calm expression, as if he was in a bright and elegant high-end restaurant.
The girl took a tentative step forward and whispered to Jiang Yao, "Hello, you are Jiang Yao, right? My name is Xu Yuewei. I heard from Chen Tang that you used to take special care of him."
Xu Yuewei, Chen Tang's later wife.
After the initial turmoil, Jiang Yao regained that lazy smile on his face. He stood up and personally invited Xu Yuewei to sit down.
"Of course, of course. We are buddies. I didn't expect that a simple kid like Chen Tang would have a girlfriend right after entering college." After saying that, he punched Chen Tang on the shoulder, "You are really good, kid. You didn't make it public earlier when you were dating such a beautiful girlfriend."
"We just confirmed our relationship not long ago." Chen Tang glanced at his girlfriend, sat down next to her, and said to Jiang Yao with a smile, "Among our old friends, you and Zhuxian were the first to know."
During this meal, the atmosphere between the three people was the same as usual, and seemed peaceful on the surface.
Duan Zhuxian was still very frugal with words, and Jiang Yao was still like before, occasionally teasing Chen Tang with words.
But Chen Tang no longer reacted in a lukewarm and shy manner to Jiang Yao. Instead, he focused more on taking care of the girl around him, and his every move had a sense of maturity.
Jiang Yao saw it all, and although he felt jealous, he also felt a miraculous, indescribable sense of relief.
In his memory, the boy who always had a shy smile on his face changed little by little as the meal progressed, and was no longer what he liked.
Jiang Yao certainly knew that he was not that affectionate.
The reason he was able to persist from high school to college was simply because he was unwilling to give up and didn't want to lose to Duan Zhuxian easily.
At this moment, he and Duan Zhuxian were defeated together, so there was no need to force it anymore.
But he was still very unhappy. After thinking about it, he realized that it had little to do with Shen Tang and was mostly caused by someone else.
After dinner, Chen Tang sent Xu Yuewei to the place where she worked and studied.
Jiang Yao and Duan Zhuxian did not follow to act as a light bulb, but continued to sit face to face at the messy dining table.
The moment Chen Tang disappeared outside the door, Jiang Yao stretched his legs under the table, and with his right foot, which had been held back for a long time, stepped hard on the horizontal bar of the chair between Duan Zhuxian's legs, a gloomy smile appearing on his face.
"Why, seeing me break up, you finally feel more balanced?"
Duan Zhuxian's eyes flickered slightly, and without saying anything, he threw something into his arms.
Jiang Yao looked down and saw that it was the Christmas gift he prepared for Chen Tang, a watch, which was placed in a small box in the pocket of his down jacket. It fell out at some point and landed in Duan Zhuxian's hand, perhaps when he went to the bathroom just now, but it didn't matter anymore.
Jiang Yao stood up suddenly, causing the chair to scrape against the ground with a harsh sound, and strode out of the restaurant.
The watch worth tens of thousands of yuan was thrown into the trash can on the roadside without any hesitation. The black satin box was instantly covered with a thin layer of snow, as if it was frozen.
After a while, the sound of footsteps on snow came from behind.
Jiang Yao turned around and saw Duan Zhuxian following him out.
Although Duan Zhuxian did not answer his question just now, based on his understanding of Duan Zhuxian and the fact that Duan Zhuxian deliberately let him see Xu Yuewei, he concluded that Duan Zhuxian was in a good mood at this moment.
He was actually not surprised at all that Duan Zhuxian would do such a thing.
Duan Zhuxian has never been an upright person. His heart, which has been unable to obtain what he wants, has long been twisted into something unknown.
It was snowing heavily and neither of them had an umbrella.
A few snowflakes hung under Jiang Yao's furrowed brows, firmly held by the temperature of his skin. As he blinked, they gradually turned into tiny water bubbles, adorn his trembling eyelashes, making his entire eyes seem wet.
As he passed by Duan Zhuxian, he heard Duan Zhuxian calling him.
"Jiang Yao."
He looked up, and a warm hand suddenly brushed over his eyes and gently across his cheekbone.
"Don't be too sad."
The roadside was noisy and the north wind was howling. He couldn't hear Duan Zhuxian's tone, but he could feel the warmth from his fingertips.
Very hot.
Without warning, a heartbeat stole from him.
So gentle, so gentle that it seemed like a tease.
He stood there in a daze, his gaze suddenly looking into those black eyes, but was blocked by calmness and depth.
Just like in my memory, that ruthless rejection.
Jiang Yao suddenly felt a surge of anger in his heart.
"Which eye of yours saw that I was sad? If you want to make fun of me with this kind of thing, forget it."
He angrily said something and left without looking back.
In fact, he could no longer remember whether he was sad that day or not. He only remembered that Duan Zhuxian came to laugh at him and pretended to care about him, trying to mock how hateful his face was.
He had originally planned to spend the entire Christmas with Shen Tang, but he left that afternoon and declined Shen Tang's offer to send him off.
After leaving Q University, he blocked Duan Zhuxian.
*
"Yaoyao, we're all alone right now. Tell me the truth, is there any conflict between you and Duan Zhuxian?"
On the way home from the restaurant, Yuan Li sat in the car and asked Jiang Yao with a worried look.
After all, she was a woman and naturally perceptive. Even though the entire dinner was about investment, she still noticed something was amiss.
Dragged out of distant memories, Jiang Yao said calmly, "We were in the same school before, and we met before, but we weren't familiar with each other."
Jiang Qingtian turned around from the passenger seat after hearing this, with a cheerful expression on his face: "Look, let me tell you, if there really was a conflict between the two children, Duan Zhuxian wouldn't have taken the initiative to arrange this marriage."
Jiang Yao also said, "Mom, don't worry about me. There are still a lot of things waiting for you to deal with in the company."
Yuan Li was coaxed by the father and son and nodded: "Then Mom will be relieved."
Jiang Yao gave his mother a comforting smile, but his mind still involuntarily recalled the past.
He was also puzzled by this marriage, even though Duan Zhuxian gave him a very official explanation.
He slumped in the car seat, opened WeChat, and asked Duan Zhuxian, "Are you trying to disgust me on purpose by offering to marry me?"
A few minutes later, Duan Zhuxian replied: "Whatever you think."
Jiang Yao could even imagine Duan Zhuxian's nonchalant and provocative look when he typed this.
I kind of want to rush over through the network cable and start a fight.
His brows knitted as he typed, "Is it too late to break off the engagement now?"
Duan Zhuxian: "It's too late, wife."
Grass!
Jiang Yao blocked Duan Zhuxian again without blinking.
【Author’s words】
Duan Zhuxian: How many years will you be sentenced for calling someone "wife"?
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