Chapter 19. His car was parked right where the girls were coming and going...
Chapter 19
At 11 p.m., the streets were quieter than during the day, and Wen Yining was dropped off at the school gate by Yue Feng.
The school gate, bustling with people during the day, was now only illuminated by the dim yellow streetlight overhead.
Yue Feng parked the car under the dim tree. "You should get some rest when you get back. The teacher said this lesson will be held next week."
Wen Yining nodded, secretly relieved.
She didn't really want to face Li Changjing right now.
After the bodyguard finished speaking, he suddenly took out his phone. "Ms. Wen, please save my number. I will be your driver from now on and will be responsible for picking you up and dropping you off every week."
Wen Yining stopped in her tracks as she reached for the door, staring at him in surprise. She instinctively refused, saying, "I...no, no, no, I can manage on my own, really, I don't need to."
It's obvious whose arrangement it was.
She simply didn't want to have too much involvement with the people around him.
Thinking she was worried about attracting too much attention, Yue Feng explained, "I understand your concerns. Sir has made all the arrangements. I will change cars when picking you up and dropping you off to avoid any unnecessary misunderstandings."
"No, I said no." She said, opening the door to get out of the car.
"Miss Wen," Yue Feng suddenly called out to her, his voice becoming more forceful.
She paused.
Yue Feng looked at her and said, "Mr. Li isn't as patient with everyone as he is with you."
Wen Yining stopped opening the door.
Saved the number.
Wen Yining pushed open the door and got out of the car. Yue Feng reminded her again, "Ms. Wen, remember to call Mr. Li to let him know you're safe."
Wen Yining smiled politely, closed the car door without answering, and tore off the gauze from her IV drip when she walked to the trash can.
Fearing that Jiang Fengqing and Gu Lingling would worry, when she woke up in the hospital, she only told them that she had to attend extra classes and would be back late, without mentioning that she had been to the hospital.
Therefore, when she returned to the dormitory, the two of them only asked her a few simple questions before going about their own business.
Perhaps because she had slept in the hospital, Wen Yining couldn't fall asleep in bed late at night.
After sending the message, she turned off her phone, got out of bed, sat at her desk, turned on her computer, and started doing English listening exercises.
From childhood to adulthood, the thing that accompanied her the most and that she was most familiar with was studying, which almost became a mental response to it.
Doing familiar things helps her find her usual feeling, makes her feel like she's still the same person she used to be, and that she can still control her own heart.
She hated that feeling of being out of control.
She didn't make that call.
But the next day, as expected, his call came in. Wen Yining watched the number light up on the screen, listened to the ringtone, and then pressed the mute button.
Then I watched the phone hang up automatically, and it never rang again.
Sure enough, he never makes a phone call twice in a row. I wonder if this habit is related to his childhood environment.
One text message encapsulated all the questions he would ask.
He replied with a text message, and based on his usual practice, he probably wouldn't contact her again.
Sure enough, he didn't call again for a whole week.
However, Wen Yining would unconsciously tap the screen, turn it off, and then tap it back on, and even start spacing out during class.
When Professor Xu called on her to answer a question, she didn't even realize what the question was.
Professor Xu didn't say anything, but other students would suddenly call her over when class ended.
Professor Xu sighed and said kindly, "Xiao Wen, I know you're studying and working part-time at the same time, but you also need to take care of yourself and get some rest. Health is the foundation of everything. Our school has very high scholarships, and with your grades, it shouldn't be a problem. I will do my best to help you get one."
"Boom!"
A strong sense of shame overwhelmed her instantly. Wen Yining stood there with red eyes, watching the professor's back, as if she had been slapped in the face.
*
Saturday morning.
Yue Feng sent her the location and license plate number, and she walked over helplessly.
Sure enough, I changed cars. It's a very low-key brand, no longer as eye-catching as before. Even if someone sees it, they would never guess in that direction.
"Sir, you've been very busy lately, so I had to come pick you up alone," Yue Feng said as he drove.
Wen Yining looked out the window without saying a word.
When she arrived, she found his car parked on the side of the road, and there was also a very flashy sports car parked haphazardly in front of the entrance.
It looks like someone is looking for him.
He probably wouldn't have time to talk to her.
During the first break, even though she knew he was on the second floor, Wen Yining didn't go out to avoid running into him.
When it was time to leave, Wen Yining quickly packed her things.
"Knock knock knock"
There was a knock on the door.
As if electrocuted, she quickly turned her head, book in hand, to stare at the door. A multitude of thoughts flashed through her mind, and for a moment she didn't know whether to say "come in" or something else.
The door opened the next second.
It wasn't him.
Given his personality, he wouldn't open the door rashly unless the person inside told him to come in.
Wen Yining couldn't quite discern the complex emotions she felt when she realized it wasn't him outside the door.
Sure enough, Aunt Liu came in and saw her packing her things. "Teacher Wen, please wait outside for a while. Xiao Qi and the others are here. Qing Ge will come down to see you off in a bit."
He then instructed Liu Hengheng, "I'm going out for a bit. You do your homework properly."
Liu Hengheng nodded.
Like a thief, Wen Yining stood by the window of Liu Hengheng's room with her bag on her back, watching her aunt's figure cross the yard and disappear at the gate. Then she quickly turned around, ran to the door, and carefully opened the door to peek through the crack.
The living room was clean and elegantly furnished, exuding a cold, aristocratic air, and was quiet and deserted.
She immediately went out, grabbed her bag, and ran out of the gate in one breath. Then she sprinted in the other direction where Aunt Liu had left, passing the ostentatious sports car at the gate and Li Changjing's car parked in the parking space. She ran all the way to another gate of the community and didn't even have time to wipe her sweat until she got into the car.
She habitually turned on her phone, and Li Changjing, seemingly noticing she had left, called her.
Wen Yining did not answer.
Back at school, as she walked through the small park outside her dormitory, her phone rang again.
Looking at the number on the screen, her fingers unconsciously tightened around her phone.
As darkness fell later, the sky was still bright and the sun was still warm. She sat down on the stone bench, and the scorching heat of the stone bench, which had been baking in the sun all day, spread throughout her body.
She answered the call, but it was quiet on the other end. There was no sound for a moment, and then Li Changjing's voice came through after two seconds. He was still the same as usual, and it seemed that he hadn't noticed that she had deliberately sneaked away.
"Why are you running? I told you to wait for me."
Wen Yining felt relieved and prepared her explanation, "I saw you were busy, so I went back by myself first."
He didn't press the matter, seemingly believing him, and asked gently, "Does your stomach still hurt?"
"It doesn't hurt anymore."
"Have you taken your medicine on time?"
Suppressing the bitterness in her heart, she said, "I ate it on time."
He asked a few questions, and Wen Yining answered them honestly, but said nothing more than that.
Li Changjing remained silent for two seconds, then suddenly let out a cryptic sneer.
Her heart jumped, and she subconsciously felt a silent pressure and intense unease. Holding her phone in one hand, she instinctively wanted to hang up.
Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Xu Yi and one of her roommates coming out of the girls' dormitory and walking this way together. The roommate also saw her and waved at her, "Wen Yining!"
Wen Yining was delighted.
It's like a pillow being delivered to someone who's just fallen asleep!
She immediately stood up and waved excitedly at Xu Yi, "Xu Yi!"
Hearing Wen Yining's impatient tone, Li Changjing's tone instantly turned cold: "Wen Yining."
Her heart skipped a beat, and Wen Yining's smile faded.
“Go and refuse her, tell her to wait.” Li Changjing’s tone carried the unquestionable pressure of a superior.
She remembered the time he talked on the phone with someone else when they went to the hospital; it was the first time she had ever heard him speak to her in that tone.
The other person nodded, understood, stopped, waved to her, and left with their roommate.
Wen Yining gripped her phone tightly, the only sounds she could hear were her own breathing and her nervous heartbeat.
There was continued silence on the other end. Wen Yining nervously picked up her phone to check; the call was normal and hadn't ended.
"Ningning, you're avoiding me."
It's a declarative sentence, not a question.
Wen Yining felt flustered, as if she had been exposed, and subconsciously retorted, "No, I wasn't avoiding you."
Are you avoiding me? Or are you avoiding yourself?
Li Changjing's voice was very pleasant, with a clear and cool tone, and he always spoke slowly and deliberately. But at this moment, saying those words in that tone almost felt like a slow, deliberate torture. "Ningning, does liking me make you so afraid?"
My breathing seemed to stop for a second, and the voices of passersby in the distance were amplified infinitely.
Wen Yining's eyes instantly reddened, her breath trembled slightly, and she opened her mouth to try to continue hiding her feelings, but then a sense of powerlessness welled up inside her.
She remembered his ambiguous smile from earlier.
Yes, he's such a perceptive person, he probably noticed her feelings for him a long time ago.
She began to hate his keenness, and his constant calmness and strategic planning.
She took a deep breath and her tone turned cold: "You've misunderstood. I don't like you. I'm really busy. Goodbye, Mr. Li."
After saying that, she immediately hung up the phone, sniffed, and then opened her phone again and blocked him.
After doing all this, she returned to her dormitory dejectedly. Neither of them were there, and the dormitory was so quiet that you could hear the air moving.
Watching the sunset shine on the balcony window, Wen Yining suddenly felt homesick. She had been too busy lately and hadn't called home in a long time.
She tried calling her mother's video call, and she answered it shortly afterward.
Opposite her was Liu Jingzhen's surprised face and clean but old furniture. She had lived there for a long time before and hadn't noticed, but now she suddenly felt that the house was small and crowded, and looked dusty.
Wen Yining forced a big, bright smile, looking very happy. "Mom."
Without speaking to Liu Jingzhen, she blurted out, "Mom, I found a tutoring job. It's just two hours a day on Saturdays and Sundays, and the pay is really high. I'm earning money now! You don't need to give me my living expenses for this semester or next semester."
She didn't want her parents to feel bad, so she kept quiet about it and didn't ask for living expenses during this time, always telling them it was from her scholarship.
Sure enough, Liu Jingzhen felt both heartache and pride, and then began to worry whether it was a scam.
She talked for a while before her mother felt relieved.
Listening to her mother repeatedly telling her to study hard and take good care of herself, and thinking about her recent behavior, a strong feeling of sadness and guilt welled up inside her.
Afraid of being discovered crying, she quickly made an excuse to hang up the phone.
After spacing out for a while, she inexplicably turned on her computer and randomly clicked on a news replay.
Listening to the host's professional and rhythmic announcement, and hearing the name Fang Qi had told her read aloud by the host.
I didn't think much of it before, but now the name sounds jarring.
She looked at the dignified yet gentle-looking old man on the computer screen.
Li Changjing looks somewhat like his grandfather, and even has a similar temperament. He appears unassuming and low-key, but exudes an imposing aura.
Wen Yining mechanically raised her hand and turned off the screen.
*
It got dark.
The three of them went to eat at the school's snack shop.
They were both very happy that Wen Yining finally ate with them instead of going to the cafeteria.
After finishing their meal, the three of them returned to their dormitory.
As Wen Yining was walking, Jiang Fengqing tugged at her arm. "Yining, why do you look like you've lost your soul?"
Wen Yining then realized that she had almost bumped into a classmate riding a bicycle on the road.
Gu Lingling sipped her cola: "Yeah, I was distracted the whole time."
Wen Yining snapped out of her daze and smiled, "It's nothing."
There were quite a few people around at this time. She composed herself, and the three of them walked to the dormitory entrance.
Suddenly, a horn blared.
The eye-catching license plate and behavior attracted the attention of passing students.
Wen Yining froze, her blood rushing to her head, and she instinctively took a step back.
Seemingly noticing her gaze, the rear window slowly rolled down, revealing the face she least wanted to see at that moment.
With porcelain-white, cool skin, exquisitely handsome features, and the aloof, noble air of a young master, even in the dim light of night, his silhouette alone was strikingly eye-catching.
And that striking and powerful aura he exudes makes the youthful and energetic classmates next to him appear like innocent, naive, and soft little lambs in comparison.
The crowd seemed to fall silent for a moment, then there was a buzzing sound. Wen Yining heard Gu Lingling gasp next to her, and someone nearby blurted out a curse.
Even though she couldn't see clearly, she could still feel Li Changjing's gaze fixed on her, as if it were a physical object, giving her a feeling of being forcefully locked on.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Li Changjing looked in her direction, holding his phone to his ear with one hand.
The next second, Wen Yining's phone rang.
Looking at the unfamiliar number, she stiffened her arm and mechanically answered the call.
"Ningning, should I go down, or will you come up?"
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