Chapter 62 Is it worth it for a man? ...
As he spoke, he raised his hand and swore, "If I ever do the same thing again, may I die a horrible death."
Chen Yao'an's heart skipped a beat, but she quickly hardened her heart again.
She didn't say a word and walked away without looking back.
She rushed back to the Chen family home, went into her room, closed the door, and then leaned against the door to calm her racing heart.
After a long while, Chen Yaoan's heart finally returned to normal. She sat down at her desk and couldn't resist opening one of the drawers.
The double-ring necklace was in the drawer; she had previously thrown it into the far corner of the drawer.
She reached out and took it out, holding it in her hands and looking at it for a long time.
His words echoed in her mind.
Xu Jialan has been both passionate and ruthless from the beginning, treating everyone the same way. Could she really be the exception?
The moment the thought crossed Chen Yao'an's mind, she shook her head vigorously.
She overestimated herself. What made her think she could be the unexpected person in his life?
He's trying every possible way to get her forgiveness now, perhaps just because he's unwilling to accept it.
Thinking of this, she put the necklace back, closed the drawer, and decided to avoid seeing it altogether.
one
During this time, Chen Yao'an had not seen Gao Hou. She thought he had given up. Unexpectedly, early one morning, he rushed into her shop.
He looked travel-worn, his face showed signs of exhaustion, and his clothes looked like they hadn't been changed in days.
What's wrong with you?
"I just came back from a neighboring county. The floods there were quite severe, and we went there to provide assistance for a few days."
No wonder I haven't seen anyone for so long.
"Please sit down, I'll get you a glass of water."
Gao Hou sat down on the small sofa in her shop, took the water from her hand, and quickly took a sip before saying, "I just got back this morning. I heard this place was flooded too?"
"It's nothing serious, just a little water got into the shop."
"And what about at home?"
"Nothing's wrong at home, and your aunt and uncle are doing well. Haven't you gone home yet?"
"Well, I thought you were nearby, so I came to visit you first."
"I'm fine, you should go home."
Gao Hou paused for a moment, feeling somewhat guilty, "I'm sorry, the disaster situation in Linxian was too urgent, and we rushed there as soon as we received the order. I couldn't help you much with your troubles."
"Is this why you came here? It's nothing, work is more important."
Despite what she said, Gao Hou still seemed apologetic.
Chen Yaoan had no choice but to be more direct: "Gao Hou, you don't need to feel guilty. You have no obligation to help me. Also, you don't need to send your parents to my house. No matter what, we can't be together. Otherwise, just pretend you don't have me as a friend."
Gao Hou was getting anxious. Did she not even want to be friends with him anymore?
He fell silent for a long time before replying with a hint of sadness, "I understand."
"It's good that you understand. You should go back now."
He nodded, and after a long while, he slowly got up and left.
Watching his retreating figure, Chen Yaoan breathed a sigh of relief. Now he should be able to give up completely.
However, upon further reflection, Chen Yaoan felt a headache coming on as another problem arose.
Xu Jialan is now her neighbor and often stays at her house. She will definitely run into him when she goes back, but she doesn't want to see him at all right now.
After thinking for a while, Chen Yaoan called Shi Xinyu before leaving get off work. Yinye hadn't opened yet, and she had been staying at home for the past few days.
“Perfect, then I’ll stay at your place tonight.”
Shi Xinyu immediately sensed something was wrong. Since graduating from university, Chen Yaoan had never stayed at her house again.
"What's wrong? Why aren't you going home? Don't you care about your family anymore?"
Chen Yaoan felt a little guilty, and then she thought of Xu Jialan. If she didn't go back, he would probably help her take care of her mother and grandmother.
"Oh, don't worry about it, I just want to relax for one night."
Shi Xinyu snorted, clearly not believing her words, and directly saw through her disguise, "You don't want to go back because of Xu Jialan, right?"
Why did she directly hit her so hard when she could see through it but didn't say anything?
She denied it, saying, "It's not because of him. You're overthinking it."
"Oh? Am I overthinking it?"
"Yeah, you're overthinking it."
After getting off work that evening, Chen Yaoan called Yan Shumei and said he wanted to stay at Shi Xinyu's house for the night. Yan Shumei was somewhat dissatisfied.
"Why do you suddenly want to stay at her house?"
"Something happened at Shi Xinyu's shop, I'm going to help her."
Yan Shumei then stopped asking questions.
In the evening, Chen Yaoan had dinner at Shi Xinyu's house, and the two sat in the courtyard chatting.
"I heard you rejected Gao Hou today?" Shi Xingyu asked her.
"You found out so quickly? What did he tell you?"
"He said he gave up, you really don't like him."
Chen Yao'an was completely relieved. "It's just that it might be a little awkward if we meet again in the future."
"That's true, so it's best not to develop feelings for someone you're friends with."
Chen Yaoan nodded.
Shi Xinyu suddenly remembered something, "Oh right, I made a new cocktail, would you like to try it?"
"good."
"So readily? Didn't you used to dislike drinking?"
Chen Yao'an was also stunned. She used to keep her distance from alcohol, so what was wrong with her now?
"Didn't you want me to try the new product? I just wanted to try it for you," she said guiltily.
"Okay, I'll go adjust it now."
Shi Xinyu ran into the house and didn't come out until much later, carrying two glasses of orange wine, one of which she placed in front of her.
"You should try it."
Chen Yaoan picked it up and took a sip, almost spitting it out. "Why is it so bitter?"
Shi Xinyu paused for a moment, then took a bite, her face scrunching up. "It is indeed quite bitter."
"These two drinks are a mess." She quickly took the cup from her hand. "I'll go make two new ones."
After saying that, she went back inside.
After more than ten minutes, Shi Xinyu finally brought out two more glasses of wine, saying, "Try them quickly."
Chen Yaoan took a small sip cautiously this time. "It's still a bit bitter."
Shi Xinyu held up a finger and waved it in front of her. "You're wrong. This taste is just right. I gave it a name: Bitter Margarita. The top notes are bitter, the base notes are sweet, and only at the very end can you taste a slight hint of alcohol."
"Think about it again."
Chen Yaoan had no choice but to taste a few more bites, and finally nodded, "I can taste it now, it really does taste like you described."
Shi Xinyu praised her: "Not bad, you have better taste than before. Your taste in drinking has improved after your trip to northern Beijing."
Chen Yao'an paused for a moment, recalling the time she dragged Xu Jialan to a bar to test him, and immediately ordered him a strong drink.
That was the first time she drank with him.
What are you thinking about?
Chen Yao'an snapped back to reality and immediately felt a pang of annoyance. Why had she thought of him again?
"What did you say this wine was called?"
"Bitter Margaret".
Why is it called this name?
"This drink is like a breakup. It's bitter at first, then you might recall a little sweetness, and then you feel regret. You use alcohol to numb yourself. Bitterness represents the top note, and the margarita flower represents the sweetness of the memories in the middle. Together, it's called a bitter margarita."
Chen Yaoan examined the wine in the glass. According to her, the name was indeed fitting.
Thinking about it, she picked up the cup and drank it all in one gulp.
Shi Xingyu was startled by her drinking habits. "What are you doing?"
Chen Yaoan swallowed the wine and exhaled. "It's nothing, I just think it tastes good."
It's a pity that the anger that was weighing on her heart is still there.
For the next few days, Chen Yaoan deliberately avoided Xu Jialan, lying that he was working overtime and going home very late every night.
Fortunately, he didn't contact her first.
She thought she could keep hiding like this, but Xu Jialan didn't want to keep putting up with her like this.
It was very late again. Chen Yaoan took a taxi home. The car stopped at the entrance of the alley, and she got out and walked into the alley.
The alley was dark, and she kept her head down as she walked, not noticing that someone was standing in front of her.
She was startled when Xu Jialan blocked her way.
"What are you doing?" she asked, still shaken.
"Let's talk."
"There's nothing to talk about." Chen Yao'an dodged him and walked forward.
"Where's the necklace I gave you? Did you take it with you when you left Beijing?" Xu Jialan asked from behind her.
Why did he suddenly ask about the necklace?
He had never mentioned it in all this time, and she thought he had forgotten that he had given her a necklace.
She turned to look at him. "I threw the necklace away."
He suddenly raised his hand, released it, and a necklace fell down, hanging on his hand.
Despite the darkness of the night, the gold necklace on his finger still shone brightly.
It was the one she hid in the drawer.
Realizing something, Chen Yao'an became somewhat angry: "You were in my room? And you went through my things?"
"Yes, I went to your room to look for something and accidentally saw it in the drawer." There was a hint of apology in his voice. "Why did you bring it back?"
Chen Yao'an didn't want to hear his explanation, much less answer his questions.
“I have no obligation to answer you. Since the necklace is now in your possession, I will return it to you.”
Chen Yaoan turned to leave.
Xu Jialan took two steps forward and blocked her way.
"Why have you been avoiding me these past few days? And why have you kept this necklace?"
Annoyed by his questions, Chen Yao'an said hurtful things, "I'm avoiding you because I hate you, and this necklace, I've wanted to throw it away for a long time."
“But you didn’t throw it away,” he insisted.
She had already given him the answer, but he didn't believe her. So Chen Yao'an simply snatched the necklace from his hand, turned around, and threw it into the distance.
A bright light streaked across the darkness, finally disappearing into the roadside weeds.
Chen Yao'an suddenly felt a void in her heart, but she chose to ignore it and turned to look at him, "Okay, throw it away now."
Xu Jialan stared blankly at the direction she had thrown the necklace.
Chen Yao'an walked past him toward her home and closed the door.
In the middle of the night, Chen Yao'an tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep.
She sat up in bed, finally admitting that she was still thinking about the necklace that had been thrown away.
Is it really impossible to find it?
Still feeling uneasy, Chen Yaoan got out of bed, found a flashlight in the living room drawer, and tiptoed out of the house.
The blocked moonlight now shone through, illuminating the alleyway somewhat.
As soon as Chen Yao'an stepped out of the Chen family's gate, she saw someone walking back and forth in the alley with a flashlight. Upon closer inspection, she recognized Xu Jialan.
She quickly took a step back, afraid that he would notice.
Once she was sure Xu Jialan hadn't seen her, she cautiously turned her gaze toward the alley, wondering what he was doing there so late at night.
Xu Jialan was seen holding a flashlight, bending down and searching through a patch of weeds.
That seems to be the place where she threw the necklace before.
Is he looking for a necklace?
Chen Yaoan suddenly felt a mix of emotions. Was that necklace also important to him?
Xu Jialan was there, so she couldn't go over. She quietly retreated, but after returning, she found it even harder to fall asleep.
The next day, Chen Yao'an went to the store with huge dark circles under her eyes, but she didn't expect that an acquaintance would come to patronize her business.
When Xi Xi entered the room with a boy, she was taken aback.
Xi Xi greeted her warmly first: "Boss Chen, it's been a long time."
"Long time no see." Chen Yao'an was still a little taken aback. "Are you here to buy clothes?"
"Yes, I brought my boyfriend here to shop."
"Okay, take a look, I recently got some new arrivals in my store."
"Okay." She pulled her boyfriend to look at clothes.
After browsing for a few minutes, she picked out a few items and looked at her, asking, "May I try these on?"
Chen Yao'an smiled and said, "Okay."
She took the clothes from her hands. "The fitting room is over here. I'll put your clothes in for you."
Chen Yaoan put the clothes into the fitting room, and Xi Xi followed behind her, but stopped her when she was about to leave.
Are you with Xu Jialan?
"No."
“That was my new boyfriend just now. Did you notice that he looks a bit like Xu Jialan?”
Chen Yao'an frowned. She hadn't looked closely before, but now that she thought about her boyfriend's appearance, he did indeed resemble Xu Jialan somewhat.
Xi Xi leaned closer to Chen Yao'an, "What do you think? Don't you also think it looks a lot like her?"
"You've found a substitute."
Wu Xi replied matter-of-factly, "Yeah, what's wrong with that?"
Chen Yaoan found it unbelievable to see her nonchalant attitude.
This is insane!
Is it worth it for a man?
Chen Yaoan also asked herself the same question: Is it worth it to live in a fantasy world all day long for a playboy like Xu Jialan?
Xi Xi's face from today kept replaying in her mind; the expression on her face was somewhat crazed.
Chen Yaoan wondered if she would soon suffer the same fate as her.
No, it won't happen.
She definitely won't!
No matter how well he acts, she won't believe him!
For the first time ever, Chen Yao'an forgot to call home to tell Yan Shumei that she would be home late. She also for the first time ever bought a bottle of wine and drank it alone in the store.
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