Chapter 109 In the Name of Friends
The taxi stopped near the hotel where Lin Yu was staying. She got out of the car, took two steps forward but then stopped and turned to look at Jiang Chuan, who was about to get out.
"That's enough for now." Lin Yu said calmly, his gaze sweeping over the wound on his face, which was no longer a major problem. He then pointed to his own face with a finger. "Remember to take care of it when you get back."
"Okay, don't worry." Jiang Chuan leaned out of the car, responded, met her gaze, and slowly rubbed the scab on his chin with his fingertips.
He stood on the deserted street in the dead of night, the dim streetlights overhead shining like spotlights on a stage, completely exposing his injured right hand to Lin Yu's eyes.
It was as if he was waiting for this one and only audience member to review his meticulously prepared performance.
As expected, Lin Yu immediately noticed the large red and swollen abrasions on Jiang Chuan's finger bones. He carefully observed Jiang Chuan's feigned relaxed expression, and after a moment of silence, he sighed softly.
"Wait here for me."
She pulled an Octopus card from the side pocket of her backpack, casually stuffed the rest of her things into Jiang Chuan's arms, and gestured with her chin toward the bench on the street corner. Without waiting for his response, she turned and crossed the street, heading straight for the convenience store that was lit up across the street.
Jiang Chuan subconsciously took the thing Lin Yu handed him and stood there stunned for a moment.
In his thirty-odd years of life, he had long been accustomed to strategizing and controlling everything. He had never gained a chance to be cherished or cared for by playing the victim.
He seemed to realize that even though Lin Yu had just rejected his request to reunite, she was still very concerned about his safety and suffering.
His heart was overwhelmed by a great longing and warmth. He watched her slender figure disappear at the convenience store entrance before obediently walking to the bench on the street corner.
As soon as Lin Yu sat down, his phone rang in his bag. Jiang Chuan looked in the direction of the sound and, through the slightly ajar bag opening, immediately saw the name flashing on the screen. His expression instantly turned cold.
He hesitated for a moment, then took his phone out of his bag and casually swiped to answer the call.
"Banban?" Chen Guang's concerned voice came through the receiver, with some background noise, like at an airport or train station.
"I'm back in Shanghai. What time is your flight tomorrow? I'll pick you up."
Jiang Chuan showed great patience, waiting silently for him to finish speaking before slowly bringing the phone to his ear. "No need to trouble you."
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone. A few seconds later, Chen Guang's voice came through again, his previous gentleness completely gone. "...Why is it you again?"
"Surprised?" Jiang Chuan chuckled softly into the microphone and said unhurriedly, "I thought you were used to it."
Chen Guangqiang suppressed his anger and had no intention of arguing with him. "Let Banban answer the phone."
The shriek was extremely jarring, causing Jiang Chuan to narrow his eyes impatiently and move his phone further away. His gaze instinctively drifted to the convenience store across the street, where Lin Yu was looking down at the glass door, intently selecting items from the shelves.
He withdrew his gaze, his voice shrouded in the shadows of the night. "I'm sorry, she's not available right now."
"What do you mean?" Chen Guang's patience was about to run out, and his tone turned cold.
“The literal meaning,” Jiang Chuan replied unhurriedly. He suddenly realized that dealing with this impatient rival was far more interesting than engaging in a war of words in court.
"Where are you?" Chen Guang asked persistently.
"Hotel." Jiang Chuan turned around and looked at the brightly lit hotel lobby not far away. It was indeed a hotel, but not a hotel room.
The answer was impeccable, yet deliberately suggestive. As for how Chen Guang would interpret those two words, he naturally hoped that the other party would follow the literal meaning and make as many associations as possible.
Jiang Chuan had always disdained such childish tricks, but watching someone he disliked fall headfirst into the pit he had dug himself gave him an indescribable sense of satisfaction.
Before Chen Guang could respond, he continued in that contemptuous tone, "Mr. Chen's timing always seems to be inopportune."
“I’ll return those words exactly as they were.” Chen Guang’s attitude turned completely cold. “Attorney Jiang, allow me to remind you, you’ve already broken up. Stop using the excuse that your elders are unaware to continue this pointless entanglement.”
"Don't you feel cheap by spending so much money on yourself every day without any recognition or status?"
“I don’t mind,” Jiang Chuan replied without hesitation, his words revealing no hint of anger.
"Men are fine with suffering a little loss, as long as they're generally happy."
He could almost picture the other person's furious expression as they slowly and deliberately delivered the final blow.
"As for me, I'm not cheap. You have my business card, so you might as well call my law firm and ask."
A long silence fell on the other end of the phone. Jiang Chuan raised the corners of his mouth and said insincerely, "Is there anything else? I can pass it on to you when Banban comes out."
The way he said "come out" was full of meaning, tinged with an ambiguous tone that left much to the imagination.
"No need." Chen Guang was thoroughly enraged by his arrogant attitude, knowing that arguing with him for eight hundred years would not yield any results. "We'll have plenty of time to talk when she gets back."
"What are we going to talk about?" Jiang Chuan let out a sneer. "Your previous failed marriage?"
"How could you...?" Chen Guang's voice was filled with undisguised astonishment.
He kept his divorce low-key, even avoiding mentioning it to his colleagues, with only a few close friends knowing about it. But now, Jiang Chuan casually brought it up, and his heart skipped a beat.
Jiang Chuan never considered Chen Guang a serious opponent, but he didn't mind wasting some free time looking through his files.
“How I know is not important,” he interrupted coldly. “What is important is, do you think Banban will continue to waste her time on a man of questionable character?”
The identical tone and manner of speaking strangely overlapped with a certain voice from my memory.
Chen Guang suddenly remembered that Lin Yu had said something similar to him. This realization made him feel inexplicably anxious and eager to prove himself.
He remained silent for a long time before speaking again, his voice now steady. "Our affairs are none of your concern. I've known her for ten years, and our bond is something no one else can match."
"Moreover, I've always believed that Banban is a sentimental person."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Chuan merely smiled faintly, a hint of pity in his voice. "It's a pity, all you have left to reminisce about is the past."
“And me,” he said firmly, making a definitive statement, “I don’t need to reminisce with her about the past. Because in her future, every page will bear the name of Jiang Chuan.”
"This is the most fundamental difference between you and me."
He had just finished speaking when he looked up and saw Lin Yu carrying shopping bags walking out of the convenience store and standing across the street, quietly waiting for the green light to let him pass.
Jiang Chuan's gaze flickered slightly. Ignoring Chen Guang's possible reaction on the other end of the phone, he moved the phone away from his ear. Screen down, he placed it face down on the bench behind him.
After doing all this, Lin Yu happened to cross the road and walked up to him.
"The store only has hydrogen peroxide and band-aids," she said, handing over the plastic bag she was holding. The bag was half-open, revealing a medicine box and two bottles of milk inside.
"There's not much food left at this time, so just make do with this."
After a whole night of commotion, neither of them had had time for dinner. Lin Yu was already starving, and thinking that Jiang Chuan, as an "injured" person, had expended more energy than himself, was probably in even worse shape. Before paying the bill, he hesitated for a moment and then bought some fast food to fill his stomach.
Jiang Chuan didn't reach out to take it. Instead, he looked up at her with a gaze that Lin Yu had never seen before, a mixture of dependence and vulnerability. His voice was also soft: "My hand is not very convenient, and... the injury on my face is not visible."
In the months they had been dating, he had never shown such affection in front of her before, like a fledgling bird leaving the nest, cautiously waiting for her favor.
Lin Yu remained silent, knowing full well that this was most likely a performance he had put on deliberately, but his heart still softened uncontrollably.
“Turn around,” she said softly, placing the bag on the bench.
Jiang Chuan obediently turned to the side, and Lin Yu sat down beside him, more than a fist's distance away.
He raised his arm and placed it on the back of the chair beside her. Without moving his body, he subtly shifted his body half an inch closer to her with a slight exertion of his wrist.
The crisp scent of white pine instantly enveloped Lin Yu. Her heart pounded like a drum, but she didn't show it on her face. She lowered her head, took out hydrogen peroxide and cotton swabs from the bag, unscrewed the cap, dipped some of the cool liquid, and carefully applied it to the wound.
The moment Lin Yu leaned closer, Jiang Chuan smelled the familiar, pleasant fragrance of her hair again, mixed with the scent of hydrogen peroxide, which strangely stirred his heart on this cold and lonely night.
He lowered his eyes, his gaze lingering on her focused brows and tightly pursed lips, feeling the itchiness of the cotton swab scratching and the stinging sensation of the medicine biting into her wound.
"Hiss..." He unconsciously gasped and shrank back.
"Now you know it hurts?" Lin Yu paused, looked up at him, and spoke with a hint of reproach that she herself didn't realize. "Weren't you pretty good at fighting just now? Taking on three at once?"
"If you hadn't been so fast, I would have recorded it and made a highlight reel for you later!"
"You think you can play the piano with those hands? If you keep going, you won't be able to play cotton anymore!"
"You'll have to sign contracts with the pen in your mouth! Your two senior brothers will laugh at you to death later."
“It’s different.” Amid Lin Yu’s nagging, Jiang Chuan’s heart softened a little, then a little, until he was completely swayed.
His voice was low and husky, but his gaze remained fixed on her. "I didn't have time for that before." He paused, half considering, half deliberately. "Now, all my attention is on you."
The implication in those words was too obvious. Lin Yu's eyelashes twitched, but he didn't reply. He silently looked away and continued what he was doing.
She tossed the used cotton swab into a plastic bag, tore open a band-aid, and carefully applied it to his wound.
The tape with cartoon patterns clashed with Jiang Chuan's calm demeanor, yet strangely softened his sharp edges, making him seem inexplicably down-to-earth.
"All done." Lin Yu finished treating him, straightened up, and put a little distance between them. "Be careful not to get it wet when you get back."
Jiang Chuan didn't respond, but gently pressed the bandage on his face with his fingertip. Then he raised his injured right hand and waved it in front of her eyes, his eyes filled with a probing and daring look.
"The basic package trial is over. If you want to upgrade your service, you'll have to pay extra!" Lin Yu was too lazy to expose his little scheme and, unusually, joked along with him.
"How much? I'll take it for a year!" Jiang Chuan readily agreed, his smile deepening.
"8888, thank you!" Lin Yu said, intending to tease him, but seeing him actually lower his head to take out his phone, she quickly reached out and pressed her hand on the back of his hand. "What? Are you serious?!"
She looked up and met Jiang Chuan's undisguised, expectant eyes. Her fingertips stiffened slightly, and after a brief silence, she sighed almost imperceptibly. "Never mind... don't let it happen again."
She took Jiang Chuan's right hand, which was hanging down on his knee, and carefully applied hydrogen peroxide to the wound with a cotton swab.
However, the wound was too large for the band-aid to be of any use, so Lin Yu had to support his swollen hand and gently blow on it to help the medicine dry faster.
This unconscious, gentle breath brushed against Jiang Chuan's burning skin after it was broken, bringing a moment of comforting coolness, but also igniting an even more raging fire in his heart.
His palm was broad and strong, still as dry and warm as he remembered. Lin Yu's fingertips inadvertently sank into his palm, and Jiang Chuan took the opportunity to close his fingers, holding her slender, cold hand in his own.
"Your hands are so cold," he said softly.
Lin Yu paused, looked up at him, and struggled slightly, but he was held even tighter. Just as she was about to lash out, she heard him say out of the blue, "Banban, I've figured it out."
"I respect your decision." Jiang Chuan released Lin Yu's hand, took out warm milk from the bag, unscrewed the cap and handed it over, then opened a carton for himself.
"On the way back, I thought about a lot of things."
“You’re right, there were indeed problems with how we got along before, and I bear the main responsibility for that.”
He gently stroked the bottle with his thumb and continued, "I will no longer force you to make any choices. But please allow me to get to know you again as a friend."
"Similarly, you can also take this opportunity to get to know the real me."
Jiang Chuan tilted his head back and took a sip of his milk, then took a deep breath. "When we get back to Shanghai, we'll find some time to talk properly. I'll tell you everything you've ever wanted to know."
"Whether you want to delve deeper or not, and whatever our future relationship may be, at least in front of you, I want to be able to act with a clear conscience."
"As for Bai Qianhe..." Jiang Chuan paused slightly, choosing his words carefully. "Between us, we've always only had a lawyer-client relationship. The transfer... is nothing more than an old compensation payment."
“I know this explanation comes too late,” he said softly. “And I don’t expect you to forgive me immediately. But I want you to know that I have never deceived you emotionally.”
The sound of vehicles passing by came from afar, clear and distinct through the night.
"Jiang Chuan," Lin Yu finally spoke, his voice calmer than expected. "I can accept being just friends with you again, and I'm willing to listen to your explanation. But that doesn't mean... we can definitely go back to the way things were before."
Jiang Chuan nodded, his eyes gentle and resolute. "I know, that's enough." This time, he would use his actions to regain her trust.
A moment later, he picked up the milk carton and gently touched the one in Lin Yu's hand, a hint of probing in his eyes. "In the name of friendship?"
Lin Yu looked up, meeting his deep gaze under the streetlight, and nodded slightly. "In the name of friendship."
Jiang Chuan looked at her, a genuine smile finally appearing on his lips. He knew the road ahead was long, but at least for this moment, he had regained the right to stand beside her.
"It's getting late, shall I take you home?"
He spoke again, his voice no longer as steady as before, as if he weren't the one who had just been carefully trying to gain sympathy. "Get some rest, you have a wedding to attend tomorrow."
Jiang Chuan stood up, his tall figure instantly looming over her. Lin Yu carefully twisted the leftover milk and put it back in the bag. She nodded, picked up her backpack, and then took her phone from the chair.
The screen was off. She turned it on and glanced at it; there were no new messages, so she casually put it back in her pocket. She didn't know when, but Chen Guang had already hung up the phone.
Jiang Chuan glanced discreetly at the phone Lin Yu had put back in her pocket, took the bag from her hand, and walked alongside her toward the brightly lit entrance of the hotel not far away.
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