Chapter 82 Conspiracy
Maybe because of Xu Chen’s behavior just now, Lin Shuliang didn’t talk to him. But Luo Yun kept talking. Fortunately, he brought her here to ease the atmosphere.
Xu Chen sent them to the dormitory building. He said to Lin Shuliang, "There are so many chairs downstairs in your dormitory. Can you chat with me for a while?"
Luo Yun was very interested and said, "I'll go up first."
In front of Luo Yun, Lin Shuliang didn't want to embarrass him. After Luo Yun left, she said, "If you want to continue talking about what happened just now, I don't really want to listen."
"No, I know what you mean. Sit down." Xu Chen patted the seat next to him.
Autumn is coming, and the wind is a bit chilly. Lin Shuliang was wearing a skirt, and Xu Chen was wearing a sunscreen jacket. He took it off and covered Lin Shuliang's legs with it. "It can block the wind or mosquitoes, but don't give it back to me. I just can't bear to see beautiful women get cold."
There is really nothing you can do about Xu Chen. He is a very good person and knows his limits. He is neither too close nor too far away. Even with his previous behavior, he was trying his best to make amends.
Every evening, downstairs in the girls’ dormitory, there are always many couples, some saying goodbye to each other, some quarreling and playing, and the sound of laughter is everywhere.
Xu Chen was slow to speak, so Lin Shuliang finally said what she hadn't said: "Happy birthday, Xu Chen. I haven't had time to prepare a gift, I'll give it to you in a few days."
He smiled, "You said so, I'm waiting for your gift."
"Hey, you, what if I'm just being polite?"
"But I won't be polite with you."
"..." Lin Shuliang laughed and had nothing to say.
After a moment of silence, Xu Chen said, "The person you met tonight was my mother. She works at Yuncheng KTV, and I never got to know her. Since she divorced my father, she has become a workaholic. I always see some men pestering her, right under my nose, and every time I hear the man say: If you make me angry, I won't order from you next time. I hate her more and more, because I think she is..."
He didn't mention the job. After all, no child would want to say that his mother did that kind of work, especially if it was a misunderstanding.
Lin Shuliang patted his shoulder to comfort him.
He went on to say, "I'm fine. Last time in the park, I went to the administrator to open the fountain, and he said something that made me misunderstand. I never wanted to understand her, and I defined her based on my own judgment, just because she didn't care about me before. In fact, how could I care about her? She was betrayed by her husband and lost more than ten years of her youth. She should have had a harder time than me.
I used the high living expenses she gave me, lived a carefree life, ignored her, and misunderstood her. Managers all have performance, and people put orders on your head. The more they spend, the more commission you get. She couldn't figure out such a simple thing, and was stupid enough to slander her as a person who sold herself out.
Shuliang, do you look down on me?"
He looked at Lin Shuliang helplessly, like a child. In all the time they had known each other, he had always been confident and carefree. He had never seen him like this before.
Lin Shuliang paused, "I don't know much about your family situation, but I believe that no matter how you misunderstood her or didn't understand her, she would be very happy if you told her how you felt just now. She has never blamed you, and just like you, she feels very guilty towards you."
"Do I deserve to be forgiven? I'm so despicable." He crossed his hands, and the places where his fingers overlapped were already red from being pinched.
"To her, you are always worth it." Although Lin Shuliang only spoke a few words to his mother, every time she mentioned Xu Chen, her expression was full of pity and guilt. She missed her son, but could not contact him.
Xu Chen loosened his clenched hands, touched his face, leaned his head back on the chair, and looked at the few stars in the sky, "Lin Shuliang, thank you."
"We don't need to talk about this, bro, it's just for rants."
Hearing the word "brother", Xu Chen smiled bitterly, "Although I asked you this question before, I want to ask it again, do you like Shen Xinghe?"
She pulled all her hair back and had no makeup on, which gave her a different kind of beauty under the light.
She also began to think about this question seriously. This time she did not rush to deny it. "Well... I don't know. When he is not around, I will want to share everything I see with him. I always think from time to time that it would be nice if he was around. I don't mind what he says to me or what he does. I am not afraid of embarrassing things in front of him. He has even seen me with unkempt hair and dirty face early in the morning. I can say unpleasant things in front of him. Is this love? Why do I feel that it is more like a tacit understanding and dependence that has been with me for many years? I don't understand."
She shook her head in distress.
Xu Chen saw that she was talking seriously, and he really regretted it in his heart. Why didn't he get to know Lin Shuliang first? If he could travel back in time, he would definitely ask his grandfather to move his family next to hers and grow up with her. When Shen Xinghe moved over, he would instigate her and ignore Shen Xinghe.
When he went to college, he confessed his love to Lin Shuliang, and they got together smoothly. After graduation, they worked, got married, and had children.
But now all this is impossible.
He firmly believed that the only thing he lost to Shen Xinghe was time. However, time was the only thing that could not be made up. Everything else could be made up, except time...
Xu Chen suddenly called her name, and she turned around blankly, "What's wrong?"
He hugged Lin Shuliang and said, "I don't know why, but after hearing what you said, I still like you very much."
He buried his head in the crook of her neck. "I just need three seconds. Three, two, one. Good night."
He talked to himself, and after counting, he really left without looking back.
…
Time flies, and the happy time in college passes by in a flash. More than half of the last semester has passed, and Lin Shuliang has been participating in competitions, both at home and abroad, and it is normal for her to go out on behalf of the school.
Shen Xinghe would occasionally come to University A, stay with her for two days and then go back. They were like a couple, but not really.
Because no one explicitly said that they were a couple.
Xu Chen still often appeared in front of her eyes, as if everything was calm.
Suit, dancing, classes, friends and Shen Xinghe seemed to be her college life so far.
Ordinary days can't stand the slightest disturbance. On this day, she was in class and Luo Yun kept calling her. She went out the back door and Luo Yun was outside. "Something happened!"
"What happened? Jiang Yang confessed to you?" She couldn't think of anything else that could make her so excited.
"No, it's your business." She handed the phone to Lin Shuliang, "I saw this video in our class group. I don't know if it's available elsewhere. I sent you a message and you didn't reply, so I came to you directly."
Lin Shuliang knew the content of the video. It was the time when Li Panxi came to talk to her and she splashed water on her and slapped Li Panxi. The video was quite long, about five minutes.
From the video, it seems that Li Panxi is always the bullied little white rabbit, and Lin Shuliang is the unscrupulous big bad wolf.
Without thinking, everyone knew whose work it was. It was childish to use this trick again. Lin Shuliang returned the phone to Luo Yun, "Let her be, this drama queen. I was wondering why she was so quiet during this period and didn't cause any trouble for me."
"So this is real, not synthesized by technology?" Luo Yun was so shocked that his jaw dropped to the ground.
She didn't know that Lin Shuliang could be so vicious.
"It's true. You've never seen me hit anyone, have you? I was the one who helped Shen Xinghe chase away his bad girlfriends in junior high school. Don't be too surprised."
"No, you didn't realize the seriousness of this matter? Li Panxi has been doing very well at F University this semester. She has been working with teachers on national-level projects and represented their school in university debates. She is very popular! She is considered a semi-public figure. You don't need to say anything. You are often in front of the camera. Didn't you read the title of the video?"
Lin Shuliang's reaction was so indifferent that Luo Yun even wondered if she had lost her mind. In order to send this video, Luo Yun even skipped her counselor's class.
Only then did she pay attention to the title of the video: Those who lack both moral integrity and artistic talent will surely fall hard if they climb high!
It refers to Lin Shuliang.
There was also text, which exaggerated the awards they had won and the fact that they were from the same high school. In the end, it severely criticized Lin Shuliang: As a frequent participant in various dance competitions, she was so arrogant and domineering in public. She was really not qualified to stand on the various award podiums. After all, there were many children learning to dance, and a senior like her was not worthy of being a role model for the younger generation.
Lin Shuliang thought that Li Panxi was just making a small fuss, but it seems that things are not that simple.
She almost wanted to curse, "This is too much!" It was clearly Li Panxi who directed and acted in the play, so how could she be the one who was wrong?
Luo Yun saw that she finally responded, "When did this happen? I haven't even heard you say anything. With someone like Li Panxi, I know without even thinking that she was the one who provoked you first."
"It was the day we went to celebrate Xu Chen's birthday. So many things happened in that day that I didn't tell her and later forgot about it. I didn't expect that she would bring it up now."
"This is our school. It looks like it was filmed by our school's surveillance camera. Let's find the complete version."
"It's useless." Lin Shuliang shook her head. "It's been three months. The school surveillance is also kept for about that long. Even if it's found, it won't be of much use. No one can hear our conversation here."
"What should I do?" Luo Yun was very anxious and flustered. "Will this affect you?"
"Of course. She and I are both well-known to a certain extent. We are from two different universities, so there is so much to talk about. Things will definitely get bigger and bigger." Lin Shuliang could foresee what would happen in the future.
"How can you be so calm? How can you save the relationship? You should think of a way."
"Don't think about it, she will have the next move, let's see what she wants to do. Now it's just in our school class group, such influence is not enough, wait for her to perform first. She is the best at conspiracy, she has already thought of the next step." She can figure out Li Panxi's routine.
Luo Yun thought for a moment, "Shen Xinghe and she are in the same school, why not let Shen Xinghe talk to her first."
"No, why do you think she dislikes me so much? It's because of Shen Xinghe. Just wait, the drama queen will be on stage at the latest tonight."
Sure enough, Li Panxi posted a statement on her personal Weibo in the evening, and for a while, Lin Shuliang became the target of attacks from the entire Internet.