Ning Yuan walked over and sat down next to the two people.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, the May weather was already quite hot, and the blazing sun was shining on the three people.
The playground echoed with the shouts of boys and girls exercising during PE class; the trees swayed in the breeze, and birds hopped and chirped on the branches.
None of the three spoke, except for Chu Hongyu, who lay on Yan Yangyang's lap, occasionally letting out muffled sobs.
After sitting quietly for over an hour, Chu Hongyu suddenly asked in a muffled voice, "Could you... get me a handkerchief, dampen it with water... and wash my face...?"
Ning Yuan and Yan Yangyang exchanged a glance.
Ning Yuan stood up and nodded: "Okay, wait for me a moment."
As she spoke, she grabbed a handkerchief and hurriedly went to the nearby gym's restroom to soak it in clean water before bringing it back.
Chu Hongyu slowly got off Yan Yangyang's lap and took a soaked flowered handkerchief to cover her face.
She took off the handkerchief and suddenly asked in a hoarse voice, "Do you think that if Su Xueming comes to me, he will admit to those things...?"
Chu Hongyu paused: "Those things? I should have caught them red-handed in the grove just now!"
Yan Yangyang said with a stern face: "What does it matter whether that beast admits it or not? You saw him hugging Ding Lan today, and you also saw what they were saying."
Chu Hongyu asked softly, "What if he denies it... After all, I turned around and ran away after I saw it, and he didn't even know that I had discovered him and Ding Lan's affair."
Yan Yangyang snorted coldly: "He..."
Ning Yuan suddenly grabbed Yan Yangyang's hand and said lightly to Chu Hongyu—
"Maybe none of this is true. It's just that Ding Lan's jealousy of you led her to seduce Su Xueming."
Yan Yangyang's eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at Ning Yuan: "Ning Yuan, you..."
Ning Yuan pressed down on her hand even harder, and said calmly, "It's not so easy to love someone for a lifetime. It's just emotional infidelity. Besides, it's all Ding Lan's side of the story. You know Ding Lan is jealous of you."
She paused for a moment, then said, "Maybe Su Xueming is just having a momentary lapse in concentration. You've known him for so many years, why not give him a chance?"
Yan Yangyang was so angry she was about to explode. She jumped up and yelled, "Xiao Ning, what nonsense are you spouting?! Are you crazy?!"
Chu Hongyu removed the handkerchief from her face, her eyes red and swollen, and said thoughtfully, "Yes, it's all Ding Lan's side of the story..."
Ning Yuan offered a helpful suggestion: "Eight years of relationship can't be let go so easily. How about this, you don't see him for the next couple of days, and don't say anything to him."
"Let him feel uneasy for a while, and think carefully about what he did wrong to make you angry."
Chu Hongyu hesitated for a moment, then grasped Ning Yuan's hand, as if trying to convince herself—
"Yes, even if he was misled by Ding Lan into saying those vulgar things, he still made a mistake and needs to be taught a lesson!"
Although she said this, there was some confusion in her eyes, as if she was trying hard to convince herself.
Yan Yangyang's arm was gripped tightly by Ning Yuan, and she bounced around like an old corpse about to rise from the dead: "But..."
"No buts! This is for Sister Hongyu's own good!" Ning Yuan's words silenced Yan Yangyang, the "old corpse."
She turned to look at Chu Hongyu, who was holding her hand, and gently comforted her with her large, smiling eyes.
"Here's what we'll do. You leave him alone for the next few days and I'll handle him for you. Once he panics, you can show up and interrogate him properly. Maybe it's all just a misunderstanding and Ding Lan's scheme."
Chu Hongyu closed her tired, reddened fox-like eyes: "Um... I'll ask for leave for the next few days and stay at my aunt's dormitory for a few days... I'll leave the public phone number for my aunt's dormitory. If you need anything, just call me."
Ning Yuan nodded: "Okay."
Yan Yangyang was scratching his head and looking extremely uncomfortable.
After seeing Chu Hongyu off, Yan Yangyang finally couldn't hold back and angrily yelled at Ning Yuan, "Xiao Ning, what are you doing? Why are you speaking up for that scumbag!"
Ning Yuan rolled her eyes at her, annoyed: "Hey, Big Monkey Sister, didn't you see that Sister Hongyu still hasn't accepted the fact that Su Xueming betrayed her?"
Chu Hongyu, who couldn't tolerate any injustice, saw Su Xueming carrying Ding Lan and ran away immediately.
Is this not enough to show that she is actually unwilling to accept Su Xueming's betrayal?
Yan Yangyang was stunned: "But she wasn't such an irrational person just now."
Ning Yuan rubbed her temples: "Eight years have passed. We fought until the Japanese surrendered. From a fifteen-year-old girl just beginning to experience love to the feelings we have now, can we just give them up like that? Didn't we learn a term in economics class—sunk cost?"
Yan Yangyang frowned: "You mean this delicate girl is unwilling to let go of sunk costs, that she's invested too much and can't bear to let go of this scumbag??"
Ning Yuan shook her head with a sigh: "They are already living like husband and wife. They should have gotten their marriage certificate long ago. Her best years and memories were given to her by Su Xueming."
All I can say is that Chu Hongyu's mother was truly prescient.
Moreover, when people encounter something hopeless, their reaction is always the same: pain, disbelief, making excuses, doubting themselves, and finally, numbly accepting it.
This is a process.
Yan Yangyang felt aggrieved: "Then...you can't speak up for that scumbag either, wouldn't that just let him get away with it!"
Ning Yuan narrowed her big eyes: "What's the rush? Sister Hongyu is currently in the stage of making excuses. Wait a few more days, and I'll think of a solution."
She had already figured out how to burst Chu Hongyu's last glimmer of hope.
...
The next day, downstairs at the girls' dormitory of Fudan University
"What? Hongyu doesn't want to see me?" A hint of surprise flashed across Su Xueming's handsome and refined face.
Ning Yuan stood on the path outside the dormitory building and smiled at him with her big eyes: "Yes, Comrade Su, it seems you've upset Sister Hongyu again. You'd better reflect on this."
Su Xueming looked at Ning Yuan indifferently, and for some reason, he seemed to sense the sarcasm in her words.
He narrowed his eyes, his expression gentle: "Can you tell me why? She was perfectly fine yesterday."
Ning Yuan shrugged: "It's probably because you didn't take good care of her."
Su Xueming's face stiffened for a moment. Serve?
Chu Hongyu actually described her as a servant in front of her roommates!
Ning Yuan smiled again: "If you want to make Sister Hongyu happy, why don't you go and learn how to massage feet from someone else? Next time you go home with Sister Hongyu, you can take good care of her."
As she spoke, she looked him up and down: "Anyway, you're used to serving her, so you should make her happy, otherwise you wouldn't be where you are today."
No matter how good Su Xueming's self-cultivation and patience were, they were about to crumble under Ning Yuan's gloating and contemptuous gaze.
His face darkened as he clenched his fists, but his voice remained calm: "I'm leaving now, I'll come back tomorrow."
After saying that, he turned and left.
Ning Yuan's eyes flickered, and she met the gazes of two people not far away.
As if receiving a command, the two people turned around and followed Su Xueming.
Ning Yuan watched Su Xueming walk away, then suddenly turned to look at the person who had appeared behind her at some point.
Ding Lan looked at her with a worried expression: "Oh dear, you're personally stirring up trouble! What if Chu Hongyu finds out you're two-faced?"
"Do you want to pay me some hush money? I'm very dedicated to my job," Ding Lan asked with a grin, as if she were joking.
Ning Yuan seemed completely unsurprised that Ding Lan was standing behind her, and even when Ding Lan spoke those veiled threats again, she didn't react much.
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