Chapter 120: Arrogant White Moonlight 13: Hiding a Beauty in a Golden House
The door closed behind him with a click, completely isolating him from the cold outside world.
The light in the entrance hall was soft, illuminating a small area of the world. Ali stepped aside to let Jiang Ye enter first.
"Grandma, I'm back." Ali bent down to change his shoes, making his voice sound as usual.
"Why did you come back so soon today? Are you not feeling well..." Grandma's voice came from the kitchen. Footsteps were getting closer. Grandma, wearing an apron, appeared at the entrance of the hallway. She stopped talking halfway through.
Her gaze passed Ali and stopped at the tall, cramped figure behind Ali: "...Isn't this your classmate?"
Jiang Ye stopped half a step behind A-li, looking somewhat at a loss, scratching his head awkwardly: "Uh, Happy New Year, Grandma. Happy New Year."
I was so confident before, but when I got to the other person's house, I was still so nervous.
Jiang Ye tugged at his messy pajamas, his face flushed red.
Grandma was stunned for a moment, then smiled gently: "Happy New Year! Come in! It's so cold outside. Why are you dressed like this?"
She remembered this male classmate who had helped a lot when her granddaughter injured her wrist.
"I met him while running this morning," Ali answered quickly, speaking a little quickly. "He...he wasn't feeling well, so I brought him back to rest for a while and warm up."
Although my grandmother was full of questions, she still agreed with them: "Come in, come in. Your face is freezing. Go sit on the sofa and drink some hot water."
Jiang Ye stammered, "Thank you, thank you." He stepped his dirty slippers onto the smooth floor hesitantly, not daring to move again.
Ali tugged at his sleeve and said to his grandmother, "Well... he's all sweaty after running, and he'll catch a cold easily if he gets exposed to the wind. I'll take him... for a hot bath to cool down."
As she said that, she pushed Jiang Ye towards the bathroom, said a few words quickly and slammed the door shut.
Ali leaned against the wall outside the bathroom, hardly daring to look at his grandmother's expression, his cheeks burning.
Through the door, she heard a low "thank you" from inside.
Soon the sound of dripping water could be heard from the bathroom.
Ali breathed a sigh of relief, and when she looked up, she saw her grandmother standing in front of her with a set of clothes in her hand.
"Grandma, what is this?"
Grandma patted the clean and tidy clothes in her hands and said, "This is what your father wore. I see that your classmate is about the same size as your father, so he should be able to wear it."
Ali pinched the corner of his clothes and said, "Grandma, don't you think what I did was wrong?" On the first day of the Lunar New Year, he brought a male classmate home and let him take a bath.
Grandma folded the clothes and put them on the stool at the door, then pulled her to sit on the sofa: "His classmate helped you before, so what's wrong with you helping him now?"
Ali nodded thoughtfully and returned to his room as if he remembered something.
When Jiang Ye came out, only his grandmother was sitting on the sofa, and a New Year's program was playing on TV, which was lively and cheerful.
She was wearing reading glasses on her nose and seemed to be flipping through a thick old photo album in her hands. Hearing the noise, grandma raised her head and a kind smile appeared on her face.
"Have you finished washing? You look much more energetic. This clothes fits you well." Grandma looked him up and down, nodded with satisfaction, and motioned him to sit next to her.
"Qiuqiu went back to her room."
Jiang Ye whispered his thanks: "Thank you, grandma."
He raised his eyes with rare restraint and saw that the coffee table in the living room was filled with candies and melon seeds. The house was decorated with festive red decorations posted or hung everywhere. The warm atmosphere of "home" was overwhelming, completely different from his cold and empty home filled with depression and quarrels.
Seeing him looking at it, grandma explained, "These are all arranged by Qiuqiu. Although it's just her and me every New Year, she always puts a lot of thought into making the house lively and festive."
The envy in Jiang Ye's eyes suddenly froze, and his fingers resting on his knees curled slightly. "Are you the only one spending the New Year with her?"
Grandma sighed and spread the photo album on her lap in front of him: "Qiuqiu's parents are both police officers and rarely have time to spend with her."
Jiang Ye was stunned for a moment and looked in the direction his grandmother pointed.
The photo shows a family of three. They are standing under an old tree with bright smiles, but the corners of the photo have long turned yellow and peeled off.
Most of the photos in the album were records of Ali's life from childhood to adulthood. Jiang Ye's eyes fell on her bright little face and did not move away for a long time.
Seeing that he was interested, grandma flipped through the photos one by one and told him the interesting stories behind them as if they were her own treasures.
"When she was a child, she was much more lively than she is now."
Jiang Ye listened quietly. Through his grandmother's nagging narration, he seemed to have participated in Ali's life over the past ten years.
It turns out that she was not always so well-behaved, quiet and calm. She used to love to laugh, make noises, be naughty and playful.
As the album pages turned, the girl's face in the photo gradually became clearer, and her eyes gradually became calm and sad.
Before he could finish reading, Ali had already come out of the room, changed into his going-out clothes and had a backpack: "Jiang Ye, let's go..."
As soon as she stood still, she found that her grandmother and Jiang Ye were looking at her childhood photos. Her face flushed red and she almost rushed over, trying to close the album: "Grandma! Why do you show everything to everyone?"
Jiang Ye raised his head because of her sudden approach, with a mischievous smile in his eyes, and looked closely into Ali's panicked eyes.
"It's too late, I've already seen it," he pointed at the album, his voice was not loud, but it was enough to make Ali blush, "I saw a very different you."
Ah Li frantically closed the photo album and quickly hid it in his room. He patted his face and walked out again with forced composure: "Let's go."
"Where are you going?" Jiang Ye asked.
Ali replied dryly: "Anyway, let's go out first."
Jiang Ye's eyes flickered over her flushed cheeks. He stood up slowly, said goodbye to his cheerful grandmother, and then followed her out the door slowly.
Ali was going to a nearby library. Today was the first day of the Lunar New Year and there was no one in the library.
The two of them became the only visitors in the library.
Jiang Ye put his hands in his pockets and looked at A Li's leisurely back. His eyes moved slightly: "Do you come here often?"
"Well," Ali's white fingertips slowly moved across the bookshelf, "I come here when I'm in a good mood, and I also come here when I'm in a bad mood."
Jiang Ye followed her and easily helped her pull out the book she wanted from the top shelf: "When will you be in a good mood? When will you be in a bad mood?"
Ah Li took it in surprise, his eyelashes trembling slightly: "I... am often in a good mood."
Jiang Ye looked down at her, not exposing her obvious lie: "When do you feel bad?"
Ali turned around with the book in his hand and didn't answer his question.
The two sat down at the table. Ali leaned on his hand and looked out the window: "When I'm in a bad mood, I will come here. Looking at the orderly people and the tranquility, I feel that my parents are always by my side."
Jiang Ye sat lazily on the chair and tilted his head to look at her: "Why?"
Ali glanced at him and said softly, "This peaceful and reunion is something my parents have protected with their lives. I don't see them often, so this is the only way I can feel their love for me."
Jiang Ye was silent for a moment: "Are you trying to comfort me?"
Ali nodded, his eyes sincere: "Well, I'm just comforting you." Such straightforward words made Jiang Ye stunned for a moment.
She went on to say, "Your parents definitely love you. I can feel it from the little things you say."
When the two were desk mates, Jiang Ye would complain about his parents several times every day, either because they brought him duplicate gifts from abroad, or because they kept putting pocket money into his card without caring where he spent it.
"Your parents' love has always been with you, but you feel lonely. It's not your fault." Ali said slowly. Her voice was clear and soft, and anyone could easily hear it, including Jiang Ye.
He sat up straight, turned his head away expressionlessly, and didn't look at her.
Ali's eyes slowly drifted away. "Actually, I can understand this feeling of emptiness. Look at me. My parents always seem to be on duty or on missions. They rarely come home. I used to complain about it, thinking they didn't love me. Why can other people's parents be with their children, but they can't?"
She paused, her eyes warm. "Actually, I'm a little envious of you. Your parents are right next to you, and you can tell them all your emotions, but I can't."
Jiang Ye finally turned around and looked at her.
Ali smiled bitterly and said, "I don't feel that much love, and I don't even have the right to ask my parents for more, because I know how dangerous the environment they are in is. If they are not careful, their lives will be in danger... How can I ask them to give me some of it?"
"Every minute they spared was squeezed out of such a tense environment. When I think about this, I can no longer complain."
After Ali finished speaking, neither of them spoke again. The library became completely quiet, like a deep pool of silence.
After an unknown amount of time, Jiang Ye suddenly said, "So, when you are in a bad mood, it means you miss your parents."
"Ah?" Ali didn't expect him to say this. He was stunned for a moment. Under his questioning gaze, he nodded slowly, and his heart skipped a beat for unknown reason.
She stuttered, and although she wasn't very good at comforting others, she racked her brains to say something soothing: "Perhaps your parents' love for you also needs to be felt and discovered in another way, from another perspective."
"I'm not saying this is the right way to express love, or that you shouldn't be sad, or that you should be understanding of your parents... I'm just saying you should allow yourself to be sad, and also allow yourself to change your perspective and approach. That way, you might discover that their love has always been around you in other forms, and you'll feel better."
“It’s better to deceive yourself than to make yourself uncomfortable.”
Ali finished speaking in one breath, lowered his head, and twisted his fingers tightly. "I have never said these words to anyone else, not even my grandmother. If you don't like it, just pretend you never heard it."
For a long while, she didn't hear Jiang Ye's voice. She thought that he must have felt that she was talking without any concern, so he left angrily.
Ali wiped the sweat from her palms and looked up dejectedly, only to see Jiang Ye still sitting opposite her, staring at her with a sharp gaze.
She subconsciously avoided his gaze, a little flustered: "Is there something on my face?"
Jiang Ye nodded.
Ali quickly stood up and wanted to go to the bathroom to look in the mirror, but he stopped her: "Thank you."
These three words were spoken with great sincerity. His eyes, which had been rebellious in the past, were now gazing deeply at her, and the surging emotions in them made people dare not explore.
Ali's words were soft but gentle, easily suppressing the boiling grievance and anger in his heart.
The troubles of everyone around him are more or less similar to his.
They all have almost excessive material things and almost neglected emotions, but no one has ever told him that it is not his fault, and the "loneliness" he feels may be connected to the surging love of his parents.
Only when she clumsily and unreservedly showed him her world, such clumsy sincerity, like a warm current, instantly broke through the dam of self-pity in his heart.
Jiang Ye's Adam's apple rolled, and the cynical hostility in his eyes completely dissipated, replaced by an extremely complex emotion, like the calm sea after a storm, reflecting the bright moonlight of the newborn: "Your parents are amazing, and you... too."
Ali blushed and lowered his head in embarrassment: "I have one more thing to say. Anyway, I don't have anything to do during the winter vacation. If you don't want to go home, can you... read a book with me here?"
"In short, your life is your own. Live it well and never let yourself down."
Jiang Ye looked at her and suddenly felt that this quiet girl had a huge energy in her body that he had never seen before.
This discovery made his heart swell, and a sour and soft feeling spread.
Jiang Ye took Ali's words to heart and suddenly said, "Let me teach you how to exercise."
His voice suddenly became much lighter. Ali couldn't help but look up: "What kind of exercise? Running on my own counts as exercise. I don't really need anyone to teach me..."
Jiang Ye shook his head in disapproval, regaining his usual composure: "If you keep running like this, it will be useless. It's all in vain."
Ali was quiet for a moment: "Then what do you say we should do?"
Jiang Ye couldn't help but curl his lips and cleared his throat: "Of course, I will tailor an exercise plan for you and exercise with you every day."
He looked like a professional, which frightened Ali so much that he agreed in a daze.
So throughout the winter vacation, Jiang Ye would show up downstairs of A Li's house before seven o'clock every morning. He even turned down all the invitations from his friends, causing Bo Gao and Han Zixuan to scold him for forgetting his friends for the sake of a beautiful woman, and for not telling them who the girl was.
If this isn’t a beautiful woman in a golden house, what is it?
Jiang Ye, however, kept this secret to himself, not wanting Ali to be bothered by their interactions.
In the blink of an eye, it was the second year of high school. After the class was divided into arts and science classes, Sun Huiyue went to Class 5, a key liberal arts class. Bo Gao and Han Zixuan still couldn't find out who the girl Jiang Ye was pursuing was.
On the contrary, Jiang Ye became more and more serious in his studies, as if he had become a different person.
Except for the time they missed an exam in the first semester of their freshman year, Ali and Jiang Ye's names were always listed closely together in all the exams and competitions, big and small, from their freshman year to their sophomore year.
This also made looking at the report card after each exam Jiang Ye's biggest pastime.
After the second year of high school started, in order to prepare for the physical examinations for the third year of high school, Rongcheng No. 3 Middle School stipulated that starting from the second year of high school, students would be organized to run in the morning before self-study every day. Ali and Jiang Ye's training plans had to be temporarily put on hold.
The relationship between the two never got any closer. Every time Jiang Ye wanted to say something, he would always think of the wrong things he had done in the past. He was afraid that if he acted rashly and did something wrong, he would push Ali, who had finally gotten close to him, away again. That would be too late for regret.
That day was the weekly physical education class, the first class in the afternoon. Everyone was a little wilted from the sun, and the physical education teacher didn't torture the students anymore. After gathering them, he let them move freely.
Jiang Ye remembered a classical Chinese comprehension question that Ali had helped him with last night, so he turned down his classmate's invitation to play basketball and looked for her everywhere on the playground.
A few minutes later, he finally found Ali reading a book in a shady place. This was where she most often stayed, and Jiang Ye always found her accurately.
He walked over with a smile on his face, threw a bottle of mineral water he had just bought to her, and put on a cool look on his face: "Hey, nerd."
Ali had gradually gotten used to his sudden appearance, but he still hated having his thoughts interrupted, so he grabbed the bottle of water and was about to throw it back.
The moment she stood up, her face suddenly turned pale and she fell down without any warning.
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