Chapter 3, Chapter 3: Chen Jizhou in His Prime
Jiang Meng actually understood why Chen Jizhou liked to come to his maternal grandfather's house—it was quieter. Sometimes she envied him; he had a place to hide, unlike her, who, even when unhappy, had no choice but to return to this icy house.
With a "bang".
The door was closed.
She was all alone at home, so Jiang Meng turned on the light and went to the refrigerator to find something to eat.
After finishing a carrot, Jiang Meng took a shower, returned to bed, and idly scrolled through her phone.
She scrolled to a chat window with an online friend and realized that she hadn't spoken to this person for several days.
Jiang Meng stopped looking.
Jiang Meng never changed his contact name: "Friend A..."
She met this online friend in a game, and she was addicted to it, spending a lot of money on it. However, her parents later started restricting her allowance, making it difficult to spend money on in-game purchases, so Jiang Meng stopped logging into her game account.
The other person took the initiative to add her and asked if they could be friends.
The two have been chatting on and off for almost a year.
His age, as listed on his application, is 26.
What would a 26-year-old man be like? He'd probably graduated from university, she thought, maybe even a master's degree.
Jiang Meng sent him a message: "Why are you calling me Friend A? Are you trying to please me?"
"Friend A" is a code name in an anime, meaning: someone who exists in your life as a friend.
He knew she really liked that anime. Because Jiang Meng's online name was the female protagonist's name.
Looking at it this way, it actually has the feel of a couple's name, and even their profile pictures are a pair.
A few minutes later, the other party replied: "Does the reason matter?"
Jiang Meng: "I want to know!"
A: "What if I said yes?"
Jiang Meng: "Then will you change it again?"
A: "If you like it, then don't change it."
Jiang Meng: "Then you should never change it, I really like it."
A: "Okay"
Jiang Meng: "You're not allowed to change your profile picture either!"
A: "Never change"
Although the word "forever" has become cheap, Jiang Meng was still happy to hear the promise and rolled around on the bed twice in a good mood.
She then showed him Chen Jizhou's gift: "Look, the copper coins my childhood friend gave me."
A: "Good taste"
Jiang Meng: "You know about these things too?"
A: "I know a little bit about it."
Jiang Meng: "Is this kind of thing valuable?"
A: "It depends on the mintage of coins issued by the dynasty. Larger mintage means less value, smaller mintage means more value. Some dynasties had short minting periods, and some unique Warring States period coins can fetch millions at auction. Others have become cultural relics and are displayed in the National Museum of China. Your coin is quite valuable too."
After A finished speaking, she changed the subject: "You wouldn't sell a gift someone gave you, would you?"
Jiang Meng was still studying his previous post when she suddenly saw this message pop up: "Of course not! I'd rather starve than sell!"
A: "Strike while the iron is hot; he definitely won't have the heart to see you starve."
Jiang Meng typed with a smile: "You seem pretty amazing?"
A: "In which aspect?"
Jiang Meng: "Knows everything"
A: No, I just happened to know about it.
Jiang Meng: "I know, humble people are like that."
A: "I'm not a humble person; I'm just stating the facts."
Just as Jiang Meng finished scanning that line of text, she heard the sound of the front door opening outside.
She put down her phone, poked her head out of the door, and called out, "Dad."
The man changed his shoes and walked inside. Hearing the noise, he glanced over and asked, "Still not asleep?"
Jiang Su was strikingly handsome, his features appearing even more defined in the dim light. He married and had children early, entering into marriage right after graduating from university, and only continuing his postgraduate studies afterward. People say a man is in his prime at forty, and this saying certainly applies to Dr. Jiang.
Jiang Meng: "I've sent it to you, that wine."
It took Jiang Su a moment to realize what she was talking about, and he gave a perfunctory "hmm": "Good girl."
Noticing something on his sleeve, Jiang Meng pointed and said, "Your clothes are a bit dirty, is it ink or something?"
Jiang Su raised his arm and looked at the place she had mentioned.
Because of this lift of his head, Jiang Meng could see more clearly a patch of light blue and bright yellow ink spreading across his sleeve, which looked more like paint than ink.
Jiang Su glanced at it and then lowered his rolled-up sleeves: "It got there at the hospital, get some rest."
Jiang Meng nodded as if she understood, and then didn't think much of it.
She smiled slightly, with a hint of self-satisfaction: "I'm still working on my test paper."
Jiang Su didn't praise her or even look at her; he simply said, "Don't stay up too late; it's bad for your eyes."
Jiang Meng was still leaning against the door frame, her lips slightly moving as if she wanted to say something but then swallowed it back: "Okay, goodnight, Dad."
Jiang Su walked towards his bedroom: "Good night."
Jiang Meng was planning to ask for some money. If she could get some money from her parents, she wouldn't have to go through all the trouble of finding a job. But seeing that Jiang Su wasn't in much interest, she figured he was probably a little tired.
She sighed and thought, "I shouldn't go looking for trouble. I'll talk about it another day."
-
On Monday, Jiang Meng woke up a little late. After getting dressed, she hurriedly left the bedroom, looking for a hair clip at the back of her head. She wandered around for a while but couldn't find one.
Jiang Su was quietly smoking on the living room sofa. He was wearing a black shirt today, which matched his cold and austere temperament and was particularly suitable for this cold family. He caught a glimpse of her flustered appearance and said, "Have you been coming this early lately?"
"I already told you, we've changed the time." Having found the hair clip, Jiang Meng, a little annoyed, took her hair out and re-tied it, as she couldn't get a bulge in her hair on top.
Jiang Su looked up and stared at her for a while: "Want me to help you comb your hair?"
Jiang Meng quickly said, "No need."
"Just stand there and tie it up properly, don't walk around and get hair everywhere."
"..." Jiang Meng was too lazy to bother anymore and quickly tied her hair into a ponytail. "Okay, okay."
"Go get something to eat, I'll take you home in a bit," he said.
"I'll go with Xie Zhuo's family's car."
Jiang Su did not answer her question, whether he did not hear it or simply did not want to pay attention to her.
He kept his head down, continuing to smoke and look at the documents on the coffee table.
Jiang Meng was already used to the atmosphere between them that could turn cold at any moment.
She could have left as soon as she put on her shoes, but after standing at the door for a while, she decided to take the math test paper out of her schoolbag and nervously handed it to her father: "Could you sign this for me?"
Jiang Su reached out and took it, glanced at her mediocre score, and then scanned each of her wrong answers.
When her father's gaze fell on the last fill-in-the-blank question, Jiang Meng explained, "This time the questions were beyond the syllabus. The school teachers set the questions themselves. Even Song Zixuan, the super genius in our class, only scored 140."
After observing in silence for a long time, he said, "Calculations require carefulness."
Jiang Meng nodded hurriedly: "Yes, yes, if I had two questions that I didn't get wrong, I would have already crushed Song Zixuan."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Su chuckled.
Although it was just a faint whisper, it relieved her greatly, and Jiang Meng grinned.
Seeing Jiang Su sign his name under the score, she said, "By the way, is Mom coming back today?"
The signed exam paper was pushed in front of her, and Jiang Su said, "Go ask her."
As Jiang Meng eagerly walked out of the house, she thought to herself, "Say it or not, it's up to you."
As another close childhood friend of Jiang Meng, Xie Zhuo had often given her a ride to school over the years. Although it wasn't exactly on the same route as Jiang Meng, he would encounter traffic jams if he took the shortest path between the two points, so it made sense for him to take a detour here.
As soon as Jiang Meng opened the car door, she saw the young master of the Xie family sitting in the back.
He didn't look at her, wearing headphones and flipping through a study guide, completely ignoring the girl who sat next to him, until Jiang Meng cheerfully said to the driver, "Thank you, Uncle." Then she took out an egg.
Xie Zhuo: "Don't eat in the car."
Jiang Meng stopped peeling the egg and looked at Xie Zhuo with an expression that said, "This is just a bland boiled egg that's hard to swallow," thus morally blackmailing him.
However, she still put the eggs away.
Jiang Meng secretly played on her phone for a while, checked in on several of her K-pop fan forums one by one, read the discussions for a bit, and finally casually checked in on the No. 1 High School's forum: "Did you know? The new moderator of the school forum changed the pinned post to a picture of Chen Jizhou yesterday. Xie Zhuo is doomed. This public space, the forum, has been taken over by his fangirls. The competition for the school's most handsome guy actually ended with your defeat. This is too O. Henry!"
Xie Zhuo didn't even look up: "Give it to him."
Jiang Meng laughed and said, "I understand, I understand. Losing to Chen Jizhou is an honorable defeat."
This statement is 0.1% more aggressive than the previous one.
Xie Zhuo looked at her, then at the egg in her hand, and suddenly said generously, "Eat it."
Jiang Meng happily peeled the shell: "Yay, I'll definitely go online to vote for you today and try to even out the popularity score."
“No need,” he said.
"You say you don't need it, but you're secretly thrilled, aren't you?" Jiang Meng gave him a knowing smile.
Xie Zhuo was so angry he laughed, finally breaking into a smile: "Are you sick in the head?"
Jiang Meng laughed loudly, "Hahahaha, goose goose goose!"
The title of that post was: "Chen Jizhou in the Prime of His Life".
The main building displays the scene from the evening after the sports meet, showing Chen Jizhou sitting on the podium, holding three medals in his hand, raising them and giving the camera a slight smile.
Jiang Meng heard that he was in a bad mood that day, so his smile was a bit detached, overshadowed by the sharp competitive spirit in his eyes. The lingering provocation still seemed to blend in perfectly with the scene that should have showcased youthful spirit.
Jiang Meng scrolled through the posts and asked Xie Zhuo, "By the way, did you go watch him jump high at the sports meet?"
Xie Zhuo: "No."
Jiang Meng: "I heard that the competition that day was super cool, and they even broke the school record."
Xie Zhuo: "I've heard a little about it."
Jiang Meng stopped looking at her phone. She glanced at Xie Zhuo and asked, "He beat Li Shuheng. You heard about it too?"
Xie Zhuo raised an eyebrow: "Of course."
Jiang Meng suddenly thought of something and patted his shoulder: "Hey? Why don't you go up and compete? You have long legs too."
Xie Zhuo turned a page of his book, his voice calm: "Then is there still a chance for him to prove himself?"
Jiang Meng was afraid she would laugh herself to death, so she quickly covered her mouth.
Xie Zhuo noticed the commotion not far away out of the corner of his eye, took off his headphones, and looked out the window.
At the school gate.
Chen Jizhou was stopped by a student on duty. The student, who was holding an attendance sheet, didn't dare to look up at him and quietly asked, "Didn't you bring your school ID?"
Chen Jizhou was still a little sleepy and replied in a low voice, "It was stolen."
The girl glanced at him quickly: "Who stole it?"
Chen Jizhou thought to himself, "If I knew who stole it, would I still be staring at you like this?" He didn't say anything more and told her to write down his name: "Class 9, Grade 11, Chen Jizhou."
The girl is writing with her head down.
As Chen Jizhou watched her write, he noticed that her fingertips were trembling slightly. He was about to ask her if her hand was alright when a male voice came from the side: "Chen Jizhou, come here."
It was Old Tao, the head of the teaching department.
He walked over.
"Hand over your phone." Old Tao's expression was cold and stern.
Chen Jizhou looked speechless, but still managed a forced smile: "If I take four students a semester, where am I supposed to find the money to buy new ones?"
Old Tao looked at him with an expression that said, "I don't believe a word of your nonsense," and patted his chest with the folder in his hand: "Raise your hands!"
It's like interrogating a criminal.
Chen Jizhou readily raised his hands, striking a pose of surrender, allowing Lao Tao to search all his pockets. He hadn't slept well the night before and was still sleepy in the morning. Standing before his superior, he was completely at ease, his tall, slender figure relaxed, exuding a casual, languid charm that made him even more attractive. Girls passing by kept glancing at him.
Old Tao circled around him twice.
Chen Jizhou couldn't help but look down at him. "I said, you don't have to investigate me every time you see me. You can't find anything when you search, and you always act like a cat seeing a mouse. Everyone says that you have a crush on me. You don't punish me, and you scold me all day long as if you're flirting."
Old Tao sneered, "Shut your mouth, you brat."
Chen Jizhou glanced at Xie Zhuo who was passing by and said, "You're so biased, Director Tao. Why don't you check the good students? You always leave me standing here as punishment."
Old Tao glanced to the side and said, "Don't I know Xie Zhuo? Do I need to investigate him? Only spoiled brats like you will cause me trouble if I don't keep an eye on you for a moment."
Xie Zhuo walked past in peace and quietly echoed, "Indeed."
However, Jiang Meng, who was beside him, was stopped.
Old Tao pointed at her: "You."
Jiang Meng's body stiffened: "Are you going to search me?"
Before she could react, Chen Jizhou pulled her behind him.
His aura swept over her with the wind, enveloping her entirely. The tall, upright young man stood in front of her, and after Jiang Meng regained her balance, her vision was completely blocked, and she could no longer see Lao Tao. She immediately felt a great sense of security.
Chen Jizhou's expression turned serious: "Isn't that inappropriate, teacher?"
Old Tao: "I suspect there's something fishy going on between you two."
Chen Jizhou found these words particularly offensive and raised an eyebrow, saying, "Even if I have something going on with you, I wouldn't have anything going on with her."
Old Tao disliked his loose tongue, clicked his tongue, and looked around, afraid that someone might overhear what he was saying.
Jiang Meng peeked out from behind him and nodded quickly.
Old Tao didn't touch her, but pointed at her and said, "I won't search you, just take your pockets out and let me see."
Chen Jizhou nodded slightly and looked down at her as she walked out from behind him.
Jiang Meng opened her empty pockets to confess.
Old Tao sized her up and, seeing that she was relatively well-behaved, didn't continue searching her bag: "You should read less romance novels, or I'll call your parents if I catch you again."
Jiang Meng fluttered her eyelashes: "You've got it wrong, I'm the one who's a fangirl."
"..." Old Tao fanned the folder in his hand behind him, urging impatiently, "Go, go, don't block the way, hurry up and go inside."
He turned his head, and Chen Jizhou was still looking at him innocently.
Old Tao glared and puffed out his cheeks: "You get out of the way too! You're in my way."
He nodded, a relaxed smile on his face. "Yes, ma'am."
Stepping out of the teacher's sight, Chen Jizhou whistled at the person in front of him.
Xie Zhu tossed the phone from his pocket over.
Chen Jizhou reached out and took it, saying, "Thanks."
Jiang Meng was dumbfounded. Her eyes darted back and forth between them. After a long pause, she couldn't take it anymore: "No way! You two are in cahoots, why am I the one who got hurt?!"
She turned her face and glared at the boy beside her, accurately catching the culprit: "Especially you, you have so many tricks up your sleeve, Xie Zhuo has been corrupted by you!"
Xie Zhuo quietly moved forward, leaving the battlefield to those behind him, and said, "Indeed."
A few verbal curses weren't enough to vent her anger, so Jiang Meng reached out and punched Chen Jizhou in the chest. When people are furious, they can't help but resort to violence.
As she moved, Chen Jizhou subconsciously caught her harmless fist, but with a slight restraint, he didn't touch her hand, only holding her wrist. His palm was very light, and he smiled with a roguish charm, but also with a touch of tenderness, as he softly admitted his mistake: "Alright, it's my fault."
He said, "I didn't let him search you, so don't be angry."
Several people nearby looked over.
Walking beside two equally handsome school heartthrobs, Jiang Meng felt a strong sense of crisis. If she were to have a rumored relationship with either of them, she would not hesitate to leave this school forever.
Jiang Meng pulled her arm out of his grasp, pushed Chen Jizhou away, hastily left behind the words "Anyway, I'm really annoyed by you," and ran away quickly.
Chen Jizhou stumbled back a little after being pushed by her, but quickly regained his balance, still laughing heartlessly.
Watching the girl's retreating figure from afar, he caught up with Xie Zhuo and put his arm around his shoulder: "Look what you've done."
Xie Zhu brushed his hand away: "What does this have to do with me?"
Chen Jizhou chimed in, "If you could stand with us for a few minutes, would she direct her anger at me alone? If she gets upset, I'll have to spend ages coaxing her."
Xie Zhuo didn't take his words to heart at all: "I can't stand with you, but I can help you coax you."
Chen Jizhou was in the humanities class and didn't go the same way as them. He was on his way to his own classroom when he heard this and stopped.
“That won’t work either.” He turned to look at Xie Zhuo, very seriously, “You’re so clueless about romance, you don’t understand her at all.”
Xie Zhuo didn't bother to argue.
He thought resignedly that if two of them were destined to collude, he would definitely be the one excluded.
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