Past Love (Part 2)
Yu Ran sent a message: "Baby, I'm so bored."
After his birthday, Jiang Liu picked up the subject of studying for his international florist certification. Anyway, entering the first semester of his senior year, he had plenty of free time. Previously, he'd only been interested and had some knowledge of the subject, but now, a storefront had suddenly appeared, putting a firm stamp on his unfinished business.
At this moment, he glanced at WeChat, silently clicked on the video call, lowered his eyes after the call was connected, and studied without distraction.
Yu Ran stared at the screen intently, thinking that everything about her was beautiful, even the deep grooves between her eyebrows and nose bones were big enough to raise fish.
He saw Jiang Liu raise his eyes and glance at the top of the screen, then move away, as if he was reading some information.
"What news? You look better than me?"
Jiang Liu said, "Living expenses." He then took a screenshot and sent it to Yu Ran.
Yu Ran was dumbfounded by the exaggerated Zero. Even when playing Snake, he didn't dare eat so many beans at once, for fear of hitting the wall.
"That's great, I really married into a wealthy family." Yu Ran teased.
"Shao Pin, your copyright fee is no less than mine. It's been so long since Fire and Water was finished, which book will you write next?" A banner with the words "Marry into a Rich Family" was unrolled in front of Jiang Liu, and the word "marry into" was the finishing touch. Jiang Liu was very pleased with his self-awareness.
Yu Ran answered lightly, "I'll tell you when we meet." It seemed as if he had already prepared the answer and was just waiting for the beauty to be in his arms.
"No, if you go there, you'll be like a sheep entering a den of wolves."
After the joke, Jiang Liu silently counted the numbers in his bank card in tens, hundreds, thousands, and hundreds of thousands, and sighed.
He wouldn't touch a cent of this money. This was the freedom his parents had granted him, but it was also the string of a kite, the strings of a puppet, the shackles of a long-distance escort.
Jiang Liu gained a lot from his studies and took advantage of the National Day holiday to participate in the Japan International Flower Arrangement Grand Prix.
Yu Ran served him at his beck and call.
As a result, the competition came to an end, and Jiang Liu was destined to be rich, and his name, rich as gold, was engraved on the shining silver... runner-up trophy.
"Are you sure there's no shady dealings in this champion's resume?" Yu Ran said angrily off the court. His Chinese, mixed with the hesitant Japanese, sounded particularly sonorous and high-spirited.
The young champion was astonished as he counted the titles that appeared after his name... What's the difference between this and the ugly duckling swimming in the pond and finding that it was recognized as its own by a group of little swans!
Jiang Liu glanced at the champion profile on the big screen, and the sponsors next to the profile could not be ignored.
With an indifferent look, he competed with the financial backer's methods from a distance.
The arm cannot twist the thigh, and the mortal body cannot withstand the golden armor and long spear.
Back at the hotel, Jiang Liu fell asleep. Yu Ran had his private chef prepare a table of cooked Japanese food. He couldn't help laughing as he listened to Yu Ran's broken Japanese on the phone.
"Don't laugh. I learned it in a few days. It's amazing that you can speak like this and master the names of those dishes!" Yu Ran hugged him from behind, divided his long hair into three strands, gently braided it, and inserted a gold and mother-of-pearl hairpin.
"I just bought it. It looks good on you." Yu Ran whispered to comfort him.
"Thank you." Jiang Liu felt much better. He reached out and touched the hairpin, and suddenly remembered what Yu Ran mentioned last time, that they wanted to talk about the new book when they met.
Yu Ran shyly opened his backpack, flipped open his notebook, and presented it to him.
"His bangs were slanted to the right, gradually growing longer until they were level with his chin. His hair was gathered on the left. A pearl earring popped out, and he looked up at his face..."
Read the second half silently. After finishing, "Me?" Jiang Liu asked.
"Well, the new book will be a diary of our love."
Jiang Liu blinked. "You're at a critical stage in your career right now. Wouldn't it be inappropriate to write about this kind of subject matter?"
What this means is that writing such sweet youth stories cannot fully demonstrate one's smoldering talent.
As soon as he finished speaking, Yu Ran tore off the paper with a "swish!", trimmed the uneven edges, and sandwiched it between the first page of "The Same Moment as Water and Fire".
In the face of Jiang Liu's questioning look of "What?", he explained, "Let the other protagonists see who is the king. Those impatient characters who want to rise to the top should calm down first."
Childish and cute, Jiang Liu's heart moved, and he took the back of his hand and kissed it.
It is often said that after a long journey, there will be a new hope. How come they are in a state of withered flowers and an uncertain future?
Yu Ran never imagined that after graduating from university, he would fall from the clouds into the abyss of despair, with no hope of recovery.
Jiang Liu received a call from Yu Lei. She tried her best to control her emotions, but the doctor's verdict still came from the other end of the phone, word by word, sentence by sentence, stealing a bit of time, a drop by drop.
The anger from the hasty breakup was still clogging my chest. The next second after I hung up the phone, the anger ended, the confusion ended, and a flower of the other shore, separated by yin and yang, swayed in the air.
"Mom, this is 600,000. The password is his birthday." Jiang Liu rushed over and stuffed the bank card into Yu Qionglin's hand. The small and square card was swiping across the palm of a person's hand, which was a thousand-pound weight that could move the boundary between life and death.
"I can't take him back..." Yu Qionglin covered her face and cried bitterly. Jiang Liu put his arm around her shoulders and said, "Don't worry, I will find the best medical team for him..."
Walking out of the ward, he called his father.
The last time we spoke was a year ago.
In this way, Jiang Liu used his future as a bargaining chip in exchange for his parents' connections and the best medical resources in Country A, leaving himself with only a one-way ticket.
Leaning against the window, he watched the vast world gradually shrink into a puzzle, a color palette, and a brain CT scan.
If only the world could be made into these things at will.
Jiang Liu is willing to make a matching puzzle with his sweetheart, using similar and complementary colors.
But for now, I don't want to be alone. Alone.
The world bustled and then emptied itself, swirling past the swaying brain CT scan. The double image of black, white, and gray carved a pre-determined epitaph for Yu Ran.
Thinking of the tombstone, Jiang Liu's thoughts were distracted, and he knew that someone was about to die.
Zhang Qian.
Not long ago, Zhang Qian came to see him.
"Xiao Jiang, you're still young. You can't think that far ahead for now. And some people, just dating for fun, may not be true love."
Jiang Liu stared at the flower pot not far away. It would look better if the flower pot was changed to an open, short, round shape, similar to the shape of the coffee cup in his hand. He rubbed it around and suddenly realized that the person on the other side was chattering. He didn't hear what was said clearly, so he only responded with a symbolic "hmm, um".
Zhang Qian threw out a stack of letters, in damp, colorful envelopes.
Jiang Liu was too lazy to take it, and was spinning the bone ring. But he heard someone say:
"The love letter my son received when he was in school."
He glanced at the unfolded one and couldn't help laughing.
"Receiving a love letter only proves that he is a good person and I didn't fall in love with the wrong person."
"No! No!" Zhang Qian denied urgently, banging his head on the table to emphasize the "fact." "This proves that women like him! He likes women, too!"
Jiang Liu was shocked, not for anything else, but for Zhang Qian's expression when he mentioned "woman".
Disdainful, conceited, and playful.
Tossed and turned in the mouth soaked in tobacco and alcohol.
Chewing gum and savoring its sweetness is more precious than this.
Jiang Liu had indeed seen a reply from Yu Ran. He had good eyesight and could read it clearly from the back of his chair without having to look forward. Zhang Qian sensed this and calmly swept the paper aside.
"What do you think he likes about you? You have a woman's appearance, but a man's essence. My son finds it novel, that's all! Even if he's attracted to you, it indirectly shows that he likes women!"
Fallacy.
"What else?"
Zhang Qian panted and took a big gulp of coffee, which made him cough.
"As long as I'm alive, I won't agree to you two being together!"
"Who are you to interfere with Yu Ran's choice? Father?"
"What else?! Blood is thicker than water, and you still want to deny it?!"
"Blood is thicker than water, but their lives should be like the vast ocean, full of ups and downs. What kind of water are you talking about? Is it the dirty water that you spilled with your own hands, soaking your family's life?"
After a pause, Jiang Liu said calmly, "I wasn't involved in the Yu family's past, so I won't comment on it. But, with me, there's one more person in the world who will remember your crimes."
…
Flying in the sky, his mind was still in the mud. Jiang Liu tried hard to pull it out and stopped thinking about it. He landed smoothly. The tears that were flowing in the sky had stopped long ago and could not interfere.
Country A, Jiang family villa.
Jiang Liu just walked in exhausted and met the nanny who was driven away by her younger brother.
"Brother!" Jiang Yu rushed over, and Jiang Liu picked him up like a backpack...
At night, he insisted on sleeping in the same bed with Jiang Liu, but his brother refused. Then he used a name to pressure him: "You can kiss and hug that Yu Ran, but you can't do anything with your brother!"
Jiang Liu fanned away the jealousy that was rising in his heart and calmly informed him, "We've broken up. Don't mention him."
Jiang Yu forced his eyeballs back in place, but he didn't know if he had put them in his throat by mistake, and he hesitated for a long time without making a sound.
"You dumped him, didn't you?"
"Um."
Jiang Yu was originally complacent and declared victory for his brother. He secretly unlocked the other person's phone in the middle of the night, hoping to eliminate the trouble once and for all and delete and block the person. Unexpectedly, he saw the breakup text message from Yu Ran.
He cursed hundreds of times and felt relieved. He was determined that no mountain could stop him and no sea could fill him.
I never thought that my broken cell phone would be scolded by young people after being buried.
Jiang Yu didn't ask for details, but just swallowed the result of the breakup and was satisfied.
As the saying goes, plans cannot keep up with changes. The next morning, there was nothing beside me.
"Where are you going?" Jiang Yu sent a message.
"Blind date."
Why is his life so miserable as a younger brother?
Last night at midnight, three figures appeared in the living room.
"Break up with that guy." Jiang Yueming lit a cigarette.
Jiang Liu sniffed. He hated the smell of cigarettes and cigars, and yet he was being attacked from both sides. "Yeah." He continued to hold his breath.
Jiang Yueming was stunned and guessed the hidden truth.
"Mom and Dad don't force you to like girls. We've found someone who shares your interests. We've read your messages and are very satisfied with you. Let's have breakfast together tomorrow morning at 8:30."
Jiang Liu looked at the photo Jiang Chun handed over, a blond and blue-eyed young man.
"He is a perfect fit. Don't let our efforts go to waste." Jiang Yueming extinguished the blood-orange light at his fingertips. The ashtray was full of broken spears and blades.
The next day, he simply tied his hair up and went out with a recorder.
"Hello, Lucas." Jiang Liu pulled out a chair and sat down, speaking Chinese, even Lucas was a transliteration.
Does blonde hair and blue eyes also mean passion? Lucas's gaze was very explicit, and he spoke in a cheerful but imaginary Chinese: "Ms. Jiang, good morning!" Unable to pull up a chair, he wanted to move forward to hold hands and kiss.
"Miss?" Jiang Liu just smiled. Jiang Chun had said before that he had read her message, so his lie was self-defeating. Otherwise, how could he have gotten the gender wrong?
Therefore, when the other party was about to get his teeth sore and his mind eaten away by the endless "Honey, Sweetheart" words, Jiang Liu interrupted in a deep voice, "Speak Chinese."
"It's really impossible for us~"
"Well, I just broke up, and I don't want to get into another relationship so quickly and be irresponsible to everyone. I came here today just to make things clear with you."
"Oh~" His eyes were too superficially blue, clearly saying that it was okay to play something that was more physical than emotional.
It's not enough to just go after the body without going after the heart, you also have to go after the money. Jiang Liu thought about this man's wealth and background. If he couldn't win over his heart, and he dug up some of his connections and resources, his parents would probably be "happy".
"That's it, goodbye." Jiang Liu stood up, and the man quickly stepped forward, grabbed his hairband and pulled it off.
Jiang Liu glared at him fiercely and said sarcastically, "Leave it to you as a souvenir, to commemorate the goddess who never existed in your heart."
"What?!"
After turning off the recorder, Jiang Liu strode away.
The follow-up to the incident was that Jiang Liu used the conversation with Lucas to expose his parents' lies and win back the game. He also asked Jiang Yu earnestly what he thought.
Jiang Yu longed for his parents' approval. But he wasn't jealous of his brother, knowing he was just a stone, mediocre in every situation. Standing next to a beautiful jade, he wasn't afraid of comparison; instead, he relished the way others admired the jade while looking at him with pity.
Jiang Liu was sincerely happy for his brother, and at the same time felt that the deadlock set by his parents was not unsolvable.
"As long as you don't get back together with that unfaithful man, I will change my ways and become a qualified successor!"
"Well, I promise you!"
"Then why did you go back to Xiangze?" Jiang Yu asked one day, almost wanting to tear up the plane ticket.
"Don't be ridiculous, I've signed up for the 48th Asian Flower Arrangement Competition. Oh no, I've already paid the fee. It's quite expensive, so I have to participate anyway."
"Held in a small village like Xiangze?"
"Um."
So, Jiang Liu flew away naturally, because he learned that Yu Ran had improved.
Returning to Xiangze, preparing for the competition, and meeting Qi Zhen are all things of the past. Now, Jiang Liu returns with the title of "ex-boyfriend", becoming the gentle beginning of many stories.
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