Chapter 70 Fame
"Jingjing, you only ever seem peaceful and serene when you're by my side."
Lin Yujing ultimately ignored her mentor's advice and replied to the Painting Association and the Academy that same day, agreeing to return to China a week later to sign the contract.
Just then, she received an invitation to the anniversary celebration of Pengzhen No.1 Middle School, so Lin Yujing asked her teacher for a half-month leave.
"What!" Upon hearing this, the tutor immediately slammed his fist on the table in anguish. "Jing, you still won't listen to me."
Lin Yujing bit her lip and said, "Teacher, I can't have achieved what I have today without him. I can never repay him for the path he paved for me, the support he gave me, and the emotional support he provided."
"Now, it's really time for me to go back to him."
She no longer waited for him to come to her, but instead did as she had promised.
As long as he can stand on his own, she can grovel and beg for his love.
"Jing, you're too confident. How can you be so sure you'll have a future with him?" The tutor was quite helpless, but still approved her leave request. "Nothing in this world is unchanging."
At this moment, Lin Yujing could no longer listen to any kind words of advice, and she took the leave slip.
I booked a flight for a week later and hurriedly returned to China.
She first went to Yijing and signed agreements with the Painting Association and the Academy respectively.
Upon hearing that she had returned, the secretary of the art association personally came to receive her. "Lin, the talented lady, I thought she was going to refuse us again this time."
Lin Yujing smiled, sat in front of the banner that had been put up for her, and signed the employment contract. "I hadn't considered returning to China to develop my career before, which is why I didn't reply to you."
"Have you figured it out now? Can you gossip a bit about why?" the secretary joked with her.
Lin Yujing pursed her lips, her eyes filled with a warm, ambiguous light, "Love."
"So it was love. That love is truly great."
Lin Yujing remained noncommittal.
But deep down, she thought that Chen Jingshu held an extremely important place in her heart.
After finally signing the two contracts, she took a day to visit Jingyuan.
After two whole years away, Lin Yujing stood in front of the elevator and suddenly felt a sense of trepidation, as if she were returning home.
There was also a hint of lingering speculation: would Chen Jingshu be here?
But when she took out her key and opened the door, it was the height of summer, and the courtyard was full of withered trees, a reality that told her that no one had been here for a long time.
Lin Yujing went to the reception room, her studio, and the bedroom she used to share with Chen Jingshu.
I found that all the furniture there was completely covered with white dust cloths.
She reached out and wiped the dust off the table; it had been years since anyone had been here.
Lin Yujing shrugged and gave a wry smile.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed several picture frames placed on the ground, still in their original packaging, lying unopened in the corner.
Curious, she walked over and discovered that those were all her works that had been sold at high prices when she first arrived in the United States.
It was those few paintings, which consistently outsold all other paintings at the exhibition, that caught the eye of the American brokerage firm.
From then on, all her paintings were hung in the best positions, which completely opened up her fame in the United States.
It turns out that this was something he had been doing for her behind the scenes.
Lin Yujing, suppressing the sting of her nose, rushed downstairs and hailed a taxi, heading first to JING Capital.
She thought there was no need to deliberately arrange the scene of their first meeting. The biggest surprise would be to simply appear in front of him and tell him that she would never leave him again.
However, after arriving at JING Capital, Lin Yujing learned that Chen Jingshu had already moved to Huaren Commercial Building to work.
Before she could think too much, she flagged down a car and went to Huaren Shopping Mall, only to find out that Chen Jingshu had gone to another city to find his girlfriend.
In that instant, Lin Yujing felt as if she had been struck by lightning.
"girlfriend?"
"Yes! Mr. Chen is getting married soon."
The receptionist looked very proud as she scrutinized her from head to toe.
Seeing that she was dressed elegantly and had an air of wealth and refinement, I guessed that she might be a young lady from a wealthy family who was still hung up on Chen Jingshu.
He patiently explained to her, "Our boss doesn't like daughters of wealthy families. The future boss's wife is an ordinary girl, so you'll have a better choice."
Lin Yujing was on the verge of tears, never expecting it to end like this.
She suddenly remembered that when she accompanied Jiang Yingli to give birth in New York, Chen Jinyi had told her that Chen Jingshu had a new girlfriend.
At the time, she was only concerned about Chen Jingshu's heart condition, and later, as she became busy with her studies and career, she completely forgot about it.
Looking back now, I realize that in the past two years, I've been playing the role of someone who reminisces about the past all by myself.
A commoner girl. She's getting married soon.
Lin Yujing's shoulders slumped, thinking that this was nothing unusual.
After all, he is Chen Jingshu, who has good looks, ability, and a huge business empire and status in the capital.
Any girl would find it hard not to like him. Even if she didn't like him, his gentleness and power would make it difficult for her to refuse.
Only she was ungrateful and rejected him time and time again.
Perhaps this is the punishment God has given her.
She was punished for not being brave enough.
Lin Yujing flew to Pengzhen again and contacted Gao Jiadong with ulterior motives.
However, Gao Jiadong was just an ordinary employee and had no idea about the relationship between Chen Jingshu and Lin Yujing.
When he received the reservation notification, he simply replied politely: "I'm sorry, ma'am, the guesthouse on the first floor is already booked."
Lin Yujing replied, "Your boss and I are classmates. Can't we think of another way?"
Gao Jiadong was in a difficult position, but he still told the truth: "Our boss is traveling with his girlfriend and it's inconvenient for him to contact us. We can recommend other guesthouses for you, and we'll definitely reserve a room for you next time."
Lin Yujing sat on the airport shuttle bus, completely drained of her last bit of strength.
Her boy truly belonged to someone else.
Lin Yujing randomly booked a hotel and checked in. That night, she developed a fever and a rash all over her body.
Upon learning this, Jiang Yingli made a cross-border call to her, saying, "I really regret not stopping you for your mentor. Now that you've signed a domestic contract, can you still back out with the art association and the academy?"
In the sweltering summer heat, Lin Yujing had a fever; her nose felt like it was stuffed with cotton, and her eyes were both dry and burning.
Her voice was hoarse, and she couldn't even cry. "I don't know, and I can't worry about that now."
She returned full of hope, thinking that the two of them had finally overcome their hardships.
But fate played a cruel trick on her, and she was truly about to lose Chen Jingshu, the person in the whole world who truly cared about her.
If she had had the courage to call Chen Jingshu before, she wouldn't dare to embarrass herself now.
A timid hedgehog should stay in its burrow.
Those who are not worthy of competing with the brave to enjoy this world are not worthy of such opportunities.
The next morning, when she looked at her pale face and swollen eyes in the mirror, she suddenly regretted agreeing to attend the school anniversary celebration.
But since we've already arrived in Penghu and replied to the homeroom teacher that we will definitely attend, there's no turning back.
When she arrived at the school gate, the security guard actually remembered her. "I remember you, the girl who went to America and never planned to come back."
Lin Yujing smiled wryly, "It's rare that you still remember me."
"I remember, but where's that young man from before?" the security guard asked, looking around.
She thought that it would never happen again.
He's going to become someone else's husband.
Just then, a female student wearing a red welcoming armband came over. "Is that Senior Lin Yujing?"
Lin Yujing was surprised to be recognized and nodded, "Yes."
"Wow, I didn't expect the senior to be back!" a junior student shouted to the people not far away. "Your senior from Chongyi Building! It's Senior Lin Yujing!"
She never imagined she would be so popular when she was studying here.
After graduation, he was instead rumored to be a legendary figure.
"This is the first year that senior Chen Jingshu has not attended the school anniversary celebration, but I didn't expect that senior sister would attend on his behalf."
Lin Yujing blinked, didn't respond, and changed the subject, saying, "I didn't expect that this place has changed so much again."
A new concierge building and a library have been added.
Even the school's landscaping has introduced many species that were never seen before.
"Actually, the biggest change in the school is Chongyi Building. We guessed at the time that it was donated by senior student Chen for you alone."
Lin Yujing was surrounded by a group of people and led to Chongyi Building, a beautiful Western-style building with corridors filled with paintings in her favorite style.
"Last year, a senior came to the school anniversary celebration and said he was planning to get married the year after next. Congratulations in advance!"
"Senior, why don't you and your senior come together for next year's school anniversary celebration!"
Lin Yujing stood outside the window of her former studio, and the world seemed to quiet down.
She finally understood the pain Chen Jingshu had endured attending the school anniversary celebration alone in the past, and the unspeakable truth behind their breakup.
Despite her high fever and bitterness, Lin Yujing did not attend the entire school anniversary celebration. After exchanging pleasantries with several school leaders for a short while, she bid farewell and headed straight for the airport.
She booked a flight back to the United States that same day, and, as if utterly ashamed after being exposed for her unrequited love, slunk away.
-
After returning to the United States, Lin Yujing continued as usual.
Even when Jiang Yingli asked for a day off to accompany her to relax, she politely declined with a smile, saying that her studies were more important.
Lin Yujing is best at hiding her heartache; the more upset she is, the more calm and collected she can appear.
The flaw is that they frantically fill their lives with work and studies.
On her second day in Ohio, she contacted her advisor to cancel her leave and started attending classes as if nothing had happened.
After class, Lin Yujing absentmindedly packed her schoolbag and then followed the crowd toward the school gate.
Suddenly, several sounds, like firecrackers, came from not far away.
At first, everyone was startled, but the continuous screech grew closer and closer, and students fleeing in panic surged toward them.
"School riot, murder."
Only then did everyone belatedly realize that the sound they had just heard was gunfire.
Ohio is a state where open gun ownership is permitted, and registration is not even required.
When Lin Yujing first arrived, she noticed that her neighbor always carried a gun on his waist, but because he was a kind uncle, Lin Yujing forgot about the danger of the gun itself.
With a crisis looming, Lin Yujing disregarded her spring melancholy and immediately ran out of the school with a large group of students.
However, such a chaotic scene inevitably leads to overcrowding.
Lin Yujing and several Asian girls were squeezed into a corner. Just as they were about to walk down the steps of the path in front of the pavilion, a gunshot rang out from behind. Immediately, some students panicked and fell down the steps.
Some people reacted quickly and dodged in time, but some girls were tripped and fell.
Lin Yujing was one of those who couldn't escape in time and tumbled down.
She fell backward to the ground, watching the gunman approaching from not far away.
Terrified and screaming, Lin Yujing scrambled to her feet when a bullet struck a window less than three meters away, scattering shards of glass everywhere.
She didn't care about anything else and just quickly took a step forward, only to realize that she had just twisted her ankle.
Before he could take a single step forward, the intense pain caused him to lose his balance and fall forward.
Lin Yujing's mind went completely blank, and even her wildest thoughts vanished.
I just felt that it was all over, everything was over.
But before she could fall onto the cold, hard ground again, she was first embraced by a warm and strong chest.
At that moment, Lin Yujing even felt like she was having an illusion.
She watched as Chen Jingshu picked her up in a princess carry and ran out of the school.
Overwhelmed by the emotions of surviving a disaster and reuniting after a long separation, her nose immediately stung, and her tear ducts burst forth.
"Chen Jingshu." She choked up, calling his name as if making a wish.
"I'm here." The voice was so familiar that she wished she could dream of it every day, and now its owner was truly standing in front of her.
Lin Yujing raised her arms and hugged his neck tightly. His breathing became clearer amidst the swaying. "Why did you take so long to come? Why did you take so long to come!"
She thought she had already lost him.
“I came a week ago and asked a lot of people. They all said you went back to China to find your boyfriend.” As soon as they left the campus, Chen Jingshu’s car was parked outside. He helped her into the passenger seat, then looked up at her, his eyes red. “Didn’t you say you weren’t with anyone but me?”
Lin Yujing sobbed, her voice choked with emotion, "I came back to China to find you. Everyone said you went to be with your girlfriend."
Chen Jingshu held her hands and buried his face in her palms. "Lin Yujing, you're really something. You always manage to make even the most embarrassing and tragic situations seem interesting and full of twists and turns."
And then there was his sigh, as if to say to her, "Jingjing, look at you. Only when you're by my side do you always seem so peaceful and serene."
A note from the author:
The main story is almost finished!
Think about which side stories you'd like to see, and which secondary couples you'd like to see!
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