Chapter 57: Revisiting the Past
Yan Nian slowly opened his eyes and looked at the scene outside the car windshield for a few seconds.
The sun was setting outside.
She moved her sore neck slightly and sat up straight, her seat belt still fastened. She was wearing a black coat, the same one Zhou Ran had put on her the last time she got caught in the rain.
The air conditioner in the car was on, and the time on the central control screen jumped to 7:30 in the evening.
She slept for more than two hours.
Zhou Ran disappeared.
Yan Nian folded his clothes in the back seat, unbuckled his seat belt, pushed the door and walked out of the quiet car.
The car stopped in an empty dam, surrounded by tall and straight camphor tree forests.
The wind blew with the sound of excitement.
Yan Nian looked back following the sound and saw a modern single-family garden restaurant with tropical-style decoration. In the yard surrounded by a white fence, there were umbrellas everywhere, and people were sitting underneath.
The fireworks are curling up and the air is hot.
It was the barbecue restaurant she had seen last night.
Not only that, there are all kinds of independent courtyard restaurants everywhere you look.
Like fireworks hidden in the woods.
Yan Nian unlocked her phone and sent a message to Zhou Ran: [Where have you been?]
Zhou Ran: [Lock the car and go to the second floor of the restaurant.]
Yan Nian did as he was told, turned off the car, locked it, took the car keys and went into the restaurant.
Zhou Ran was sitting in a seat on the second floor, playing with his phone, bored.
There was only a nearly empty glass of water on the dining table, as if it had been waiting for a long time.
Yan Nian sat down and said a little embarrassedly: "Sorry, I fell asleep, you can wake me up."
Zhou Ranli raised his eyelids and said rudely, "Trying to wake up a sleeping pig is like trying to wake someone who is pretending to be asleep."
"..." Yan Nian looked at him and blinked a few times. She was usually a light sleeper, but today she slept very soundly in his car. She didn't hear his voice at all and slept for more than two hours.
Zhou Ran called the waiter to take the order.
Yan Nian drank the tea poured by the waiter silently, intending to leave the whole process to Zhou Ran.
Zhou Ran handed her the menu: "Take a look."
Yan Nian had no opinion on the dishes and said, "Just whatever you order."
The waitress was a young girl. From the moment she arrived, her eyes had been fixed on the person opposite her, and she hadn't moved away until Zhou Ran handed her the menu: "Okay, that's all."
The girl took it implicitly: "Okay, is there anything you can avoid?"
Zhou Ran looked at Yan Nian.
Yan Nian: "No."
The girl also looked at her, her eyes suddenly darkened with guilt, and she outlined the menu: "Okay."
Zhou Ran didn’t order much, and Yan Nian just didn’t have much appetite.
After dinner, the sky had already darkened and the lights in the restaurant in Xiangzhangli were on, making it very lively.
Yan Nian paid the bill and the two of them left the restaurant together.
Walking slowly towards the parking lot, it would be a shame to go back like this, so Yan Nian asked, "Do you have any other plans tonight?"
Zhou Ran looked at her sideways.
Yan Nian gently accepted his arrogance and invited him, "How about walking with me?"
Zhou Ran said he had no objection.
The two of them chose a deserted cement path and walked side by side aimlessly.
Zhou Ran asked, "What happened to you last night?"
Yan Nian looked ahead and pretended to be indifferent: "My parents had a fight. The atmosphere at home has been quite bad recently. It's nothing serious. It will be fine in a couple of days."
Zhou Ran tilted his head to glance at her calm face. It seemed that this matter was not as easy as she said.
I felt so powerless last night, I felt like I would choke up and say something to him any second.
She didn't.
Zhou Ran's expression was slightly gloomy. He had never seen his parents quarrel. To be more precise, he rarely saw his parents.
Zhou Ji and Zhao Ning spent the whole day in their own world, and were always together at social events, like a newlywed couple.
He had never felt the impact of his parents' quarrels, nor had he experienced the unspeakable moments in such a situation.
I can't really understand her feelings, let alone be in a position to comfort her.
She was just his employee now.
After what happened last night, Yan Nian is still frightened.
Xu Yiqing's prejudice against her grew. When she was little, she thought Xu Yiqing loved her very much, but her way of loving her was different from that of other mothers.
Over the years, this kind of love has become a thorn in my heart that cannot be pulled out or touched.
My whole body hurts when I touch it.
If you want to remove it forcibly now, there will undoubtedly be flesh and blood involved.
When Zhou Ran went to see her, Xu Yiqing was packing clothes in her room, and her cell phone was charging on the bedside table.
Xu Yiqing asked her to go outside to get something.
Zhou Ran's flight was delayed, and he would occasionally send her a message: "Still waiting, so bored."
【I miss you too.】
Your boyfriend doesn't know when to install the computer.
After getting a cell phone in junior high school, Xu Yiqing liked to check her phone every now and then.
She set a password. When Xu Yiqing saw the message, he pulled her in from the balcony and asked her to unlock the door in front of Yan Qilin.
She did not untie it and confronted Xu Yiqing in silence.
Xu Yiqing tried every possible way to unlock the door on her, but failed. He then called Xu Ke and asked her to come over.
She is usually close to Xu Ke, and Xu Ke knows almost all of her secrets.
Later, Xu Yiqing had exhausted all his patience and wanted to call Zhou Ran.
She was slapped hard, her ears were ringing and her heart was trembling, but she still refused to give in.
When Xu Ke arrived, he protected her and prevented her from being beaten again.
Even though Xu Yiqing screamed at the top of her lungs, she didn't want Zhou Ran to hear these embarrassing sounds.
She didn't want Zhou Ran to see her bad side.
Afterwards, Zhou Ran sent her a message while on the plane: [Your boyfriend has been installed, destination Lingyun, remember to check in three hours!]
The three of them stared at the news and extinguished her light.
Her family thought that it was dirty for her to fall in love at that age and that it would lead to bad behavior, so she went astray.
She understood their concerns, but she and Zhou Ran had only secretly held hands twice and had not done anything else.
Zhou Ran also respected her very much and never did anything excessive.
Xu Yiqing took the phone away, and Yan Qilin asked her to apologize.
Her response at the time made Yan Qilin somewhat disappointed in her: "I am an adult. There is nothing wrong with liking someone, and it's not dirty."
At that time, she didn't understand why the word "dirty" was used to describe Zhou Ran, whom they had never met.
He is so good, as warm as a beam of light.
Perhaps it was the memory that brought back the heavy past. Yan Nian looked sideways at the person next to him and called him softly, "Zhou Ran."
Zhou Ran looked back at her with his eyes downcast, "Hmm?"
Yan Nian pursed her lips and asked, "Did you hate me at that time?"
Since she entered Boya, they have covered up their past very well and no one has revealed any clues.
Until the night of Zhou Ran's birthday, he tried to touch the boundary that had been blank for nearly seven years.
You advance, I advance; you retreat, I retreat, both eager to try, and no one can pull it apart.
Now, caught off guard by the mention of the past, Zhou Ran's eyes passed by her, and he looked away for a moment before asking, "What do you mean?"
Yan Nian observed his expression as they walked, and seeing nothing unusual, she said softly, "I want to say sorry to you about what happened that year."
"I'm sorry, Zhou Ran. After all these years, I know it's too late to apologize." Yan Nian spoke softly. Facing Zhou Ran's indifferent attitude and a head full of yarn, she continued, "I broke my promise and broke the promise."
Apart from three dry "I'm sorry", she really didn't know what words to use to describe this old event that had already been covered in dust.
Zhou Ran looked at her indifferently for a few seconds, sneered twice, and called her name: "Yan Nian."
Yan Nian didn't know whether he was smiling indifferently because he had forgotten the past, or was making self-deprecating remarks about his own poor vision.
Zhou Ran stopped and stood in front of her. Yan Nian stopped half a meter away from him, grunted with tense nerves, bit her lip, and stared at him below his Adam's apple, not daring to look into his eyes again.
His arms hung at his sides and he clenched them subconsciously.
No matter what Zhou Ran's reaction was, she would accept it.
The smell of fireworks wafted around, and the occasional laughter and joy quickly faded into the woods.
In the dim light of the street lamp, Zhou Ran could see all her helpless little movements from his high vantage point.
The person in front of me is still the same as before, so cool and beautiful that one can fall in love with her at first sight.
No matter if it was due to some reason or she just didn't like him anymore, Yan Nian didn't say it at the beginning and didn't give an explanation.
My first love experience ended so abruptly.
During that time, I suddenly felt a huge void in my heart, and I wanted to ask her why. Since she had agreed to be together, why didn't she even give me an explanation when she dumped me?
It's unacceptable to be dumped without knowing any reason.
The cold reply of "Let's not contact each other anymore" was like breaking one's bones.
That feeling is not pleasant.
Zhou Ran looked at her calmly and asked leisurely, "You think that after you apologize, the matter of that year is over, right?"
It's like being accidentally bumped by a stranger and just saying "sorry" and letting it go.
Yan Nian's breathing stagnated slightly, and he said sullenly, "That's not what I meant."
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