Chapter 52 Little Jiang
Lian Yi actually dislikes the feeling of looking up at people.
It's as if you're trying to lay out all your expressions and place them under that person's eyes, letting them see them clearly.
The other party can conceal many thoughts simply by lowering their eyes slightly.
However, at this moment, none of them spoke.
Her gaze traced his face closely; his beautiful eyebrows were relaxed, and beneath them, his phoenix eyes held a smile, warm and gentle as if imbued with the spirit of spring. Her gaze followed the lines of his nose downwards, and his lips were no longer as pale as she remembered.
He smiled, the corners of his mouth slightly upturned, even the corners of his eyes were tinged with a faint smile, making the two beauty marks on his somewhat pale and delicate skin seem even more rosy.
"Little Jiang, it's been a long time."
Two years later, Lian Yi still habitually raised her hand, but stopped just before touching his face.
She is not the sixteen-year-old Lian Yi.
He is not the nineteen-year-old Jiang Yu.
Lian Yi could grope Xie Ling without restraint, and she could do the same to him in the past.
But the Jiang Yu in front of her was neither a name in the plot outline, nor was she the quiet and gentle Xiao Jiang who followed her around all day.
Two years is enough time for a person to grow and change a lot, and he would no longer be her Xiao Jiang.
But just before she withdrew her hand, Jiang Yu bent down slightly.
His gaze remained fixed on her palm, his face tilting towards her hand. His eyes, crinkled into a line with a smile, revealed a serious expression in his clear, dark pupils.
"Long time no see, Yi Yi." Her clear voice was slightly hoarse as she uttered a sentence she had practiced countless times in her heart without any hesitation.
Jiang Yu lowered his eyes slightly, hiding his longing for the warmth of her cheek.
For more than six hundred days and nights, he never showed any nostalgia for his past life to anyone, as if he had truly forgotten the more than ten years he spent in Yunhai, both the things and the people.
Jiang Yu was always calm and confident in front of anyone, but he felt uneasy countless times on the way from the city to Liujin Bay.
Will Lian Yi be angry?
Will they question him about what he did?
Will I... forget him?
But at the moment they met again, at the moment she spoke to him, at the moment he saw only pure joy in her eyes, Jiang Yu felt as if his heart had been tightly gripped and then suddenly released.
Immersed in the flowing, warm current, I felt a complex mix of sourness and swelling.
He bent over, completely ignoring the discomfort caused by the posture, his gaze fixed on the face that he could only recall in his heart for more than six hundred days and nights.
"Yi-yi, I miss you too."
"Go to hell."
Lian Yi was stunned for a moment. Her hand, which had been lightly touching his face, showed no tenderness. She pinched his cheek with two fingers and said in a harsh voice, "What do you mean by 'also'? Did I say that?"
"Hmm, I must have been hallucinating." Jiang Yu's face showed a slight pain, but he smiled with a bright and beautiful look in his eyes and said gently, "It's been so long, why do you still always like to fight?"
Lian Yi gave a soft snort, let go of his hand, took a step back, and tilted her head to examine him.
"It seems you've been recovering well these past two years; you look much better. Where did you go for treatment? I'll go see them next time I feel unwell."
In Lian Yi's memory, Jiang Yu had never been healthy and lively.
She catches a cold every three days and has a fever every five days. She can't stand the wind or the cold, and she can't stand the heat either. In short, she's a sickly beauty.
Lian Yi often admired Jiang Yu's persistence. Sometimes, even when she was coughing so badly that her lungs felt like they were going to fall out, she would still insist on following Jiang Yu around aimlessly.
So she was genuinely curious about what kind of miracle doctor could have made Jiang Yu look perfectly healthy in just two years, except for his pale complexion and slight weakness.
Jiang Yu frowned slightly, his expression serious. "Don't talk nonsense."
"Okay, okay, fine, fine." Lian Yi knew that he was the kind of person who liked to avoid things endlessly.
She familiarly took Jiang Yu's hand, but his hand wasn't cold, and it seemed bigger than before, carrying a dry warmth that reached Lian Yi's palm.
"Knowing that you and your friends came to Golden Bay, I thought I'd come to see you first, so I came without an invitation. Will you be upset with me?"
Jiang Yu seemed unaware that she was trying to let go, so he habitually tightened his grip slightly, slowly lowered his eyes, and asked with a slight pursing of his lips.
Distracted like this, Lian Yi glanced at the two holding hands with a hint of embarrassment in her eyes. At this point, it seemed unnecessary to say anything more, so she simply curled her lips indifferently.
"Why should I blame you? Come on, everyone will be surprised to see you like this. There are still some people upstairs who haven't come down yet. Come on, let's give them a scare!"
Lian Yi spoke, her expression slightly excited.
She was well aware that her friends had a strange aversion to Jiang Yu. It wasn't that they hated him, but they always maintained a distance from him.
Jiang Yu smiled gently and let her lead him forward.
But his warm, smiling eyes dimmed slightly for a moment.
Lian Yi didn't ask about his life over the past two years. Was she indifferent, or did she choose to maintain the proper boundaries between friends...? Either way, it seemed to be telling Jiang Yu—
An invisible dividing line has formed between them.
Jiang Yu suddenly stopped, his hand holding Lian Yi like a knot, pulling her to stay still.
"What?" Lian Yi turned her face and looked at him in confusion.
"When I came here just now, I noticed what happened. Did someone upset you again?" Jiang Yu asked gently.
"..."
Lian Yi tilted her head and stared at him for a while, then her eyes crinkled into a smile as she said in a good mood, "In Yunhai, who dares to make me angry? It's just that some brainless person wants to use Xiao Hai and the others to cause trouble, it's not a big deal."
"Okay, that's good." Jiang Yu nodded slightly and let her continue to lead him forward.
"Look, everyone, who's back!"
Lian Yi pulled Jiang Yu to Pei Tu'an and the others, led him forward a bit, then naturally let go of his hand and said with a smile, "Our little Jiang, making a dazzling appearance!"
"..."
"Um, Jiang Yu, welcome back." Pei Tu'an was the first to react, and soon his smile was beaming, so warm that you could no longer see any trace of his previous surprise.
He subconsciously wanted to reach out and shake hands, but then felt it was too formal. He hesitated, his hand hanging by his side, and finally smiled and nodded at Jiang Yu, while nudging Xiao Haiyang next to him with his elbow.
"Oh...oh!" Xiao Haiyang raised his hand, coughed lightly with his fist to his mouth, and looked to the side. "Brother Jiang Yu, welcome, welcome."
"Welcome... Brother Jiang is still as handsome as ever."
"That's right, that's right."
"Nothing has changed, absolutely nothing has changed!"
"..."
After a warm greeting tinged with awkwardness, Jiang Yu smiled and nodded slightly to them, saying, "Everyone seems unchanged, just as warm and friendly as I remember."
He looked at Lian Yi beside him, lowered his gentle voice slightly, and said, "I am very happy to see you all again."
"As long as you're happy." Lian Yi smiled slightly, her eyes shining.
She knew that Jiang Yu's two years away were not just for medical treatment and recuperation.
But everyone has their own secrets. Just like she never knew who Jiang Yu's family was, she still tacitly allowed him to be the person who accompanied her the longest for more than ten years.
Lian Yi didn't have a penchant for prying into other people's secrets; all she needed to know was that Jiang Yu was still her little Jiang.
"Come on, I'll take you upstairs to see Gu Xin and the others. Xu Qingyao is there too, and so is my older sister... You don't know, do you? My older sister used to always like to nag me, but lately..."
With a relaxed and cheerful tone, Lian Yi called everyone back, and on the way, he talked about the things that happened while he was not there.
Jiang Yu listened attentively the whole way, always smiling as he looked at her, occasionally offering a few words of response to the key points.
“…Perhaps he deserved it. People like him make too many enemies. Once he shows a weakness, he will naturally be retaliated against.” Jiang Yu’s eyes were gentle as he smiled and said, “Yi Yi, you did the right thing.”
"That's right." Lian Yi snorted lightly, her chin slightly raised with pride.
"It's a bit of a pity that I wasn't the one who exposed his dirty secret, but even so, my uncle was still furious, haha."
She smiled, looking both smug and adorable.
Jiang Yu chuckled softly, his eyes slowly lowering, his voice gentle, "It is a bit of a pity."
"..."
As a star-rated hotel standing in a tourist attraction, Ocean Hotel naturally achieves top-notch standards in every aspect.
Even the elevator was incredibly spacious, with its pale gold walls and ceiling so smooth they were almost reflective.
Lian Yi and Jiang Yu talked as if no one else was around, and there was no awkwardness between them. They were so harmonious that it was as if they were naturally isolated from the other people in the elevator.
Separated from the group, Pei Tu'an tried his best to maintain a smile, ignoring all the glances he received from Xiao Haiyang and his friends.
You're already being used as background figures, can't you be a little more self-aware and stop drawing attention to yourselves?
After finally getting out of the elevator, Lian Yi, with Jiang Yu's figure slightly close as if supporting her, completely ignored the group of friends in the elevator and led him out of the elevator.
"Brother, Brother Tu'an, didn't you say he died of illness outside?!" Xiao Haiyang, who had been holding it in all the way, couldn't help but ask in a low voice as he followed Pei Tu'an out.
The people beside him nodded repeatedly, their eyes fixed on Pei Tu'an.
"You bastard, don't talk nonsense! When did I say he died of illness outside?" Pei Tu'an's expression changed slightly. He admitted that after Jiang Yu had been out of contact for a long time, he did say such a thing out of anger.
And then, because Jiang Yu completely disappeared, this sentence inexplicably became a consensus in everyone's hearts.
Pei Tu'an whispered, "Remember this, and whatever you do, don't let him know."
"Sigh, I understand!" Xiao Haiyang frowned, looking slightly bitter.
After all, if Jiang Yu finds out, these words will inexplicably reach Lian Yi's ears, and in the end, they will be the ones who suffer.
"...However, everyone should be careful. Who knows what he did during those two years of disappearance, or what his purpose is in suddenly coming back?"
Pei Tu'an frowned slightly. "Lian Yi is simple-minded and doesn't think too much about her friends, but we can't just let this slide, understand?"
"Understood!" A series of quiet responses rang out.
Pei Tu'an couldn't help but sigh inwardly. What kind of mess is this?
Lost in thought, he looked up and realized that, without him noticing, the two people walking ahead of him, the young man with his face slightly turned to the side, seemed to be looking at them with a half-smile.
"..." Pei Tu'an felt a chill run down his spine from the sight of that person.
What are you spacing out for?
Lian Yi raised her face and waved her hand in front of Jiang Yu until he looked down at her with a natural smile and snorted in dissatisfaction.
"Xiao Jiang, you've changed. You never used to be so distracted."
"Then what should we do?"
Jiang Yu chuckled, then cooperated by showing a hint of distress and self-reproach, pursing his lips slightly, "If I catch a fish later as punishment, I'll share half with you, okay?"
"I'll have to do it reluctantly." Lian Yi, having gotten the better deal, feigned innocence and smiled smugly.
"You're on the right track!"
Her little Jiang is still the same as ever.
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