But he was already someone else's boyfriend.
"But he's already someone else's boyfriend."
17.
Chongming had experienced firsthand how terrifying a woman can be when she gets angry, having witnessed it firsthand with his mother and younger sister.
When it was his newlywed wife's turn to be angry, Chongming was at a loss.
You can coax your mother with sweet words, but to coax your sister-in-law, you just need to put in more effort to make her some handicrafts. Chongming has absolutely no experience in what to use or how to coax his wife.
The two of them had reached this stalemate because of "sex life," Chongming thought to himself, "He can't just use that stick between his legs to coax people, can he?"
That's so vulgar.
For Chongming, all talk and no action is nothing compared to actually sleeping in bed with his junior sister – it's a hurdle he can't overcome.
Moreover, he has been celibate and abstinent until now at twenty-eight. It's impossible that he would suddenly become a beast just because he got married.
He truly never harbored any lustful thoughts towards Lan Jian.
Chongming has conservative views on marriage and relationships, always thinking of starting with holding hands and hugging, and gradually progressing to kissing and rolling around in bed. Lan Jian's angry words, telling him to "live a widow's life," really startled him.
Although he had never been a virgin, he was, after all, a vigorous, young man with normal sexual function.
Thinking about this, Chongming felt more and more aggrieved, but he couldn't directly tell Lanjian, "Oh, I'm sorry, your husband is still a virgin. It's hard for me to get 'sexually interested' without first cultivating feelings!"
So, would Lan Jian first mock him for being a virgin?
Or will she be even angrier that he's not sexually interested in her?
This is really difficult.
Lan Jian had no idea what Chongming was thinking.
Anyway, she was so angry that she took a taxi back to her dormitory. Chongming, that blockhead, only knew to drive behind the taxi and escort her back to school, but didn't even bother to chase after her and stop her.
Not long after she returned to her dorm and turned on the lights, he sent her a message telling her to get some rest in her dorm.
Lan Jian got even angrier when she saw his message. She turned off her phone, threw it on the bed, and went out to find Guan Shaoxiao to continue their game.
The next day, Chongming saw a row of blue tissue boxes on the table and Meng Lanjian using tissues more and more frequently and blowing her nose constantly. For a moment, he really couldn't understand what she meant.
...What could Meng Lanjian possibly mean?
Every time she blew her nose, she would berate herself, thinking that she shouldn't have gone drinking with Guan Shaoxiao, and that she shouldn't have shamefully wiped away tears while holding a bottle of alcohol in the street. The two of them drank together in the cold wind outside the convenience store until dawn, and after getting splitting headaches, they unsurprisingly caught a cold at the same time.
Initially, the reason for drinking was simple, but the more I drank, the more complicated the reasons became.
Guan Shaoxiao, a keen-eyed expert on relationships, guessed that Meng Lanjian had only invited him out for drinks because of Chongming. Therefore, he reasonably deduced that Meng Lanjian broke up with Han Li because Chongming had broken up with her, and she could now openly fall for someone else.
Lan Jian emphasized to Guan Shaoxiao countless times that her breakup with Han Li was not because of Chongming.
How could it be because of Chongming?
But Guan Shaoxiao refused to believe her.
To shut him up, Lan Jian bought him a dozen bottles of liquor. At first, she didn't drink any herself because the convenience store was right next to the red bean cake shop that Chongming often took her to, which meant that this was the only way Chongming could go to and from school.
She inexplicably felt guilty, always afraid that Chongming wouldn't be able to reach her by phone in the middle of the night, and that when he came out to look for her, he would catch her having an affair with the playboy from the twelfth floor.
But she also felt a vague sense of excitement deep inside—
If her husband were to see her sneaking out of her dorm after returning to her dorm and drinking with her male best friend near his house, wouldn't he be furious and immediately drag her home and give her a good beating?
"You still say it's not because of Chongming!" Guan Shaoxiao suddenly snapped his fingers. "There are so many convenience stores near the school, why did you choose this one? Isn't it because Chongming's home is nearby?"
Lan Jian's idyllic reverie was interrupted, and she retaliated by self-torture, stubbornly saying, "Don't worry, he's definitely holed up in his room playing games at this hour, he won't care what I'm doing!"
Even so, Lan Jian's hand involuntarily opened a bottle of wine and took a big gulp.
<
Along with the cold winter wind from the southern foothills, it was also swallowed down her throat.
The wind was stronger than the wine.
Words spoken against one's conscience are truly unpleasant to hear.
Lan Jian rubbed her ears, ordering herself not to listen anymore.
"Lanjian," Guan Shaoxiao exposed her, "You've always cared a lot about Chongming, about his opinion of you, about whether he comes to the lab every day, about whether he'll abandon you after your true nature is revealed... Since you care about him so much, why don't you give it a try?"
Lan Jian was probably out of her mind from the wind, or perhaps she'd only had a little wine, before she started talking nonsense. Leaning on her arm, she finally dared to reveal a bit of her true feelings, "Guan Shaoxiao, do you know how much I wanted a brother when I was little?"
“My dad and mom asked me if I wanted a younger brother or a younger sister, and I firmly refused. I said I didn’t want a younger brother or a younger sister, I only wanted a older brother.”
"I've wanted an older brother since I was little."
"When I grow up, I want a boyfriend who is like my older brother."
"I waited and waited, for a very, very long time, and finally that person appeared..."
"But he's already someone else's boyfriend."
Guntang's tears slid down the inside of her arm, and Lan Jian buried her face even deeper, trying to hide the deep regret in her mouth.
Even after marrying Chongming, Meng Lanjian still didn't feel like he belonged to himself.
After Lan Jian caught a cold, she became listless and dazed.
One moment she's showing off her slightly magnetic voice to Ma Yuehe after her nose got stuffy, and the next she's discussing the science behind eating ice cream when you have a sore throat with Niga.
While waiting for the code to run, Chongming caught Lanjian slacking off on the sofa next to Hui's seat. He called her over to the table and handed her a tissue. "Your cold is so bad, why don't you take half a day off to see a doctor?"
Meng Lanjian observed Chongming's expression; it was that same serious, earnest, and ruthless look of a Buddhist disciple.
Whenever he was in the lab, he automatically switched into the role of the senior student. Surrounded by sharp-witted and astute people, Meng Lanjian dared not reveal the slightest bit of resistance towards him.
“It’s very troublesome for me to see a doctor in Nanlu. Going to a public hospital to see a doctor and get a diagnosis certificate takes half a day, and going to a private clinic requires an appointment in advance. Both are a waste of time, so I don’t see a doctor easily.” Lan Jian blew her nose, a little harder, and her voice was so loud that even she was disgusted. “You’d better stay away from me. The viruses I catch are all very virulent.”
What does this mean?
“When I was little, I got mumps. My mom took care of me closely, but she got infected by me and it got even worse than mine!” As Lan Jian was speaking, she saw the screen of Chongming change and his program finished. She subconsciously stopped talking and did not continue.
Chongming continued testing the others, echoing Lan Jian's words, "Then you should go back and get some rest. It's okay if you infect me, but Senior Sister Hui is at a critical juncture recently, so we all need to be extra careful."
Sister Hui is currently trying to conceive. She is now close to being an older mother, so everyone is taking extra care of her.
Lan Jian thought for a moment and realized that she was dizzy and not in a good position to push herself. She packed her bag and, out of basic courtesy to her teacher, sent a message to Xue Xiang, who was in hiding. Then she dragged her tired body back to her dormitory.
When she got back, she took a hot shower, took the cold medicine that her senior sister Hui had given her before she left, and dozed off on her narrow single bed in the dormitory. When she woke up and checked her phone, she was surprised to find that there were more messages from Chongming.
Aside from lab matters, he rarely messaged her frequently. It was only when Lan Jian was indecisive and sought his help that he would chat with her.
Lan Jian drew back the tightly drawn curtains and saw the sun setting outside the window; her day had come to an end just like that.
It seems like it's almost over, yet it also seems like it's just begun.
She opened the wardrobe and took out all her winter clothes and loungewear. When she was putting away her underwear, she subconsciously picked up the few sets she had recently bought. They were solid colors and had no lace or textures.
Even though her hands never stopped moving, Chongming's words kept replaying in her mind: "We're out of tissues. You're in the dorm, so pack some more luggage and I'll pick you up after get off work."
@righteous and stern Chongming: Although my meaning was direct enough, my wife has a cold, and I wouldn't be so hypocritical!
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