Chapter 22 Tickets
After Zhao Tingyu returned to the car, he sat in it for a long time, his elbows resting on the edge of the window, his forehead in his hand, his eyes closed and he breathed.
He was furious. How could Xu Mo casually compare him to Lin Jingchuan? He had known her for ten years, Lin Jingchuan for only a month. What was wrong with Xu Mo? What kind of magic potion had Lin Jingchuan drugged her with? Could Lin Jingchuan really not mind that she had a boyfriend of eight years? That was impossible. No husband would not mind that his wife had belonged to another man in the past, and for eight years. As a man, he could guarantee that Lin Jingchuan was either holding it in or simply didn't love her.
I didn't expect that after working for four or five years, Xu Mo was still the little girl who couldn't walk when she saw a handsome guy in school. She was so naive that even though she knew the other party had bad intentions, she still rushed forward, just like she did to him, Zhao Tingyu.
Liao Haizhou sent an address. Zhao Tingyu was not in the mood to drive, so he turned on the automatic driving mode and drove to the destination.
When he arrived at the late-night snack shop, Liao Haizhou was already waiting for him at the outdoor dining area. He raised his arms and greeted him loudly: "Tingyu."
Zhao Tingyu walked over when he heard the voice, but unexpectedly saw a young girl with a strange face next to Liao Haizhou. She had a round face, round features, and a pretty appearance. She had shoulder-length hair and was wearing a bank uniform.
Zhao Tingyu frowned slightly and walked over. Liao Haizhou introduced her to him, "This is Jiaxuan, a campus recruit from our bank."
Liao Haizhou introduced the girl again: "Jiaxuan, this is Zhao Tingyu, my good friend."
Min Jiaxuan's eyes lit up when she saw Zhao Tingyu's facial features, and she greeted him, "Hello."
Zhao Tingyu had no idea Liao Haizhou would bring someone else with him, nor did he know what Liao Haizhou was up to by bringing this girl with him. He could only nod and say, "Hello."
He pulled out a chair and sat down. The waiter came with the skewers. Liao Haizhou took two skewers for the girl and two for Zhao Tingyu. "These skewers are made of fresh beef. They have a special aroma. Try them."
"Thank you, Brother Haizhou." Jiaxuan took it and smiled sweetly.
The waiter brought over the craft beer. Liao Haizhou poured beer for himself and Zhao Tingyu while asking Min Jiaxuan, "Jiaxuan, where are you from?"
Min Jiaxuan: "I'm from Lin City."
"Oh." Liao Haizhou nodded. "Yes, yes, yes. You said at the last department dinner that you were from Lin City."
"Lin City, it's very close to Nan City, Tingyu and I's hometown." Liao Haizhou said as he pushed the glass of fine beer closer to Zhao Tingyu's plate, "Right, Tingyu."
Zhao Tingyu held the wine glass and looked at him with a slight frown, and their eyes met in the air.
Zhao Tingyu: What are you doing?
Liao Haizhou: Haven't you been heartbroken for a long time? Look at your new sister?
Zhao Tingyu: ...
Liao Haizhou: How is it? Does it look like Xu Mo back then?
Zhao Tingyu looked away, put the empty wine glass on the table, lowered his eyes in indifference and laziness, and said nothing. The air seemed to freeze, and an awkwardness quietly spread.
Min Jiaxuan spoke first: "Yes, Lin City is very close to Nan City. There is no high-speed rail station in Lin City. Every time I go home, I get off at the Nan City High-speed Rail Station, and then my family drives to pick me up."
Liao Haizhou quickly responded, "Is that so? It's really very close."
Min Jiaxuan wasn't blind; she could tell Zhao Tingyu had little interest in her. In fact, although she liked handsome men, she wasn't particularly attached to Zhao Tingyu, whom she had just met. It was Liao Haizhou who had offered to bring her to the dinner. Liao Haizhou was her superior, and she hadn't come with the intention of going on a blind date; as a new employee, she simply couldn't disobey her boss. Of course, she didn't deny that she had her own selfish motives behind following Liao Haizhou—she wanted to use this opportunity to infiltrate her boss's personal life and solidify her position within the industry.
At least pass the probation period.
Min Jiaxuan smiled and changed the subject: "Brother Haizhou, you really know how to choose. The meat on this barbecue grill tastes very fresh."
Liao Haizhou: "If you like it, eat more. If you want to add any dishes, just tell the waiter."
Min Jiaxuan nodded: "Yeah."
Zhao Tingyu didn't say a few words during the meal. It was Liao Haizhou and Min Jiaxuan who did all the talking.
After the dinner, Min Jiaxuan took a taxi home.
Zhao Tingyu looked at Liao Haizhou and said calmly, "Have you changed your career to become a matchmaker? What are you doing?"
Liao Haizhou looked at Zhao Tingyu who was drinking and sighed.
"This is a young girl who just graduated from our bank. She has a very good personality," Liao Haizhou said. "I think you've been feeling very depressed lately, so I brought her here to meet you."
Zhao Tingyu: "Are you familiar with her?"
“…”
Zhao Tingyu put down his wine glass: "Does Xie Wan know?"
Liao Haizhou frowned: "They are just colleagues at work. Xie Wan won't care about these things."
Zhao Tingyu glanced at him and said, "Be careful."
Liao Haizhou had an inexplicable strange feeling in his heart, which made him uncomfortable, so he simply changed the subject: "Have you talked to Xu Mo?"
Zhao Tingyu felt upset when he thought of what Xu Mo had just said to him: "I've seen it. She is determined to be with a man she has only known for a month."
"Just known each other for a month? I heard you say before that he and Xu Mo were college classmates, weren't they?" Liao Haizhou frowned. "By the way, Xu Mo and he are a seamless transition, right? Did they...when you were with Xu Mo?"
Zhao Tingyu shook his head: "Impossible."
"How do you know it's impossible?"
"Xu Mo isn't that kind of person," Zhao Tingyu said. "Anyone could do that, but she wouldn't do it."
Zhao Tingyu lowered his eyelids. He had checked the time when Lin Jingchuan and Xu Mo met, and it was indeed after Xu Mo broke up with him. Xu Mo knew his past and knew that his mother's infidelity had led to the family tragedy. She would not hurt him like this.
He didn't believe that Xu Mo would hurt him in the same way as his mother.
"People change," Liao Haizhou said. "Tingyu, people change after experiencing certain things."
Zhao Tingyu's fingers tightened around the glass, their joints bulging. He knew people change; wasn't it the family tragedy that had transformed him into the way he was now? But he didn't believe Xu Mo would change, either.
"Tingyu, tell me the truth. Are you so concerned about Xu Mo's marriage now because of a brother's concern for his sister, or is it for some other reason?"
"For example?"
"You still love her."
Zhao Tingyu's gaze fell on the distance. He looked at the blurry city garden, surrounded by dim street lights. White-collar workers in professional attire who were leaving get off work walked past there one after another.
"I never thought she would leave me." The cup wall was a little cold, and the cold and damp touch touched his nerves. Zhao Tingyu said, "I also know that I can't leave her."
"If that's the case, then why have you always been so cold to her over the years?"
"I don't know. But the only thing I know now is that she can't marry anyone else, and she can't be with anyone else."
"So?" Liao Haizhou looked at him with complicated eyes, "What if she insists on not getting a divorce? Are you going to be the mistress?"
Zhao Tingyu's eyes darkened slightly and his Adam's apple rolled slightly.
"She wouldn't refuse a divorce," Zhao Tingyu said. "Don't talk nonsense."
Liao Haizhou picked up his wine glass and touched the table: "Well, I'm talking nonsense."
The two of them drank a few more glasses. Zhao Tingyu looked dull and Liao Haizhou remained silent. Zhao Tingyu noticed that he didn't seem to be in a good mood either, so he asked, "What's wrong with you? Why didn't you go home to have dinner with Xie Wan tonight?"
Liao Haizhou remained silent, so Zhao Tingyu asked again, "Did they have a fight?"
Liao Haizhou: “Yeah.”
"What's wrong?"
"Didn't we buy a big house for our wedding?" Liao Haizhou said. "Part of the down payment for that house was borrowed. Now I have to pay off several loans with my monthly salary, and it's a bit too much. I asked Xie Wan if she could help pay some of the debt, and she got angry."
Zhao Tingyu frowned. "Down payment? Didn't I lend you 500,000 yuan? Did you borrow money from someone else?"
Liao Haizhou: "Well, I thought it would be difficult to ask you for it, so I asked other relatives for some. Now they are in urgent need of money and are urging me to pay it back."
Zhao Tingyu: "How much leverage did you add?"
"Alas, I thought the house price could still go up, who could have imagined it would plummet to this point... Actually, I don't care whether it goes down or not. It's just a house, and I live in it. But what bothers me is Xie Wan's attitude."
"When we got married, I gave her family hundreds of thousands of yuan. Now I want to ask her for some emergency money, but she actually accused me of being calculating!" Liao Haizhou said, "Actually, when we got married, I didn't want to buy such a big house. She forced me to buy it because she said we couldn't get married otherwise. So I bought it. Now she's accusing me of deceiving her..."
"I've already dealt with the money issue, but I can't get over this..."
Zhao Tingyu's brows furrowed even deeper. He didn't say anything because he felt that Liao Haizhou's behavior was indeed inappropriate. Liao Haizhou couldn't afford so much money to buy a house, but he bought it just to save face. However, he was indeed deceived by Xie Wan.
"Everything is wonderful when we're in love," Liao Haizhou sighed. "But when it comes to real life, things can turn sour in a matter of minutes. This is adult love. Tingyu, we're no longer the 18-year-old boys playing basketball on the Nanshi No. 1 Middle School basketball court."
"How are you guys doing now?" Zhao Tingyu asked. "Cold war? Still living together?"
"We live together, but this year she plans to go back to her hometown for the Spring Festival and not go back to Nanshi with me," said Liao Haizhou.
Only then did Zhao Tingyu realize that the Chinese New Year was almost approaching. He squinted his eyes and looked into the distance. The square had been quietly decorated to celebrate the New Year.
It's the New Year. Since he was seventeen, he has spent every New Year with Xu Mo.
This year...
The phone vibrated. Zhao Tingyu looked at the caller ID and saw it was Xu Mo's father.
"Hello, uncle."
"Tingyu, you're not busy, are you?"
"No." Zhao Tingyu said, "I'm resting."
"I just called Momo and asked her about the New Year. She said she would buy a ticket to go home on the 28th of the lunar year. Do you want to come back with us?"
Zhao Tingyu raised a smile at the corner of his lips: "Of course. Don't worry, uncle, I will come back with Xu Mo."
"Okay, okay." Father Xu smiled. "Mother Xu Mo and I will help you clean the room and wait for you to come back."
-
After dinner, Xu Mo returned home after taking a shower and came out of the bathroom in her nightgown. Her long hair was pinned behind her head with a light pink shark clip. A few strands of hair at her temples were wet and stuck to the fair skin of her face. Lin Jingchuan walked straight over, hugged her and kissed her on the mouth.
Xu Mo originally thought that he was just going to give her a kiss, but unexpectedly his hand quickly covered her chest, and the other hand pinched her waist, pushing her against the wall.
The man's breathing became heavier. Xu Mo gently pushed him away. Lin Jingchuan grabbed her slender wrist and whispered, "Are you angry?"
Xu Mo opened her eyes slightly and asked, "What are you angry about?"
"If you're not angry, why are you pushing me away?" Lin Jingchuan held her in his arms, his lips close to her eyebrows, "Did anyone tell you anything about me before dinner tonight?"
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