coincide
Zhou Ji'an shook the bottle, which still had a third of water left. He glanced up at him quickly, then looked down at the long string of English words on the bottle. He said guiltily, "I have many mutual friends with him. Attending his housewarming party will also allow me to meet some of them."
"Am I also a friend you wanted to meet along the way?" Deng Yi gently pinched her chin, looked down to meet her eyes, and asked slowly.
Zhou Ji'an was completely flustered when Zhou was forced to raise his face.
If Deng Yi knew that she attended Wei Jinglin's housewarming party to bump into him, and that she married him to reconnect with him, he would most likely file for divorce.
Because once there is an emotional entanglement between the two, the unrestrained marriage he desires becomes impossible.
Zhou Ji'an could only rely on his decent memory to come up with a response: "I didn't know you would go."
As Deng Yi became more and more successful and famous, Zhou Ji'an realized that the chances of them seeing each other again were getting closer and closer to zero, so she placed her hopes on Wei Jinglin.
Despite Wei Jinglin often boasting to the girls he was interested in that Deng Yi was his friend, Zhou Ji'an had only seen Deng Yi once in his WeChat Moments over the years.
That was probably Deng Yi's grandfather's 80th birthday. Wei Jinglin and Deng Yi appeared together in a group photo.
Zhou Ji'an wanted to get closer to Deng Yi and confirm that the time she had experienced with him was not what she imagined.
After she broke up with Deng Yi, her only remaining connection with him was with Wei Jinglin, that scoundrel.
Wei Jinglin was a miniature window through which Zhou Ji'an peered into Deng Yi's life. Even though she had to endure Wei Jinglin's unscrupulous and inappropriate words and actions, she couldn't bear to delete Wei Jinglin's contact information.
On the first day of the dog days of summer this year, Zhou Ji'an completed her sixth moving ceremony in Jishi.
Her moving ceremony was simple: she stood in her one-bedroom apartment and posted on WeChat Moments, glancing at the wealthy people in her circle.
"Every time I move, I feel like I want to fight you rich people to the death."
When she finished showering, filled a whole bottle with mineral water, and then opened her WeChat Moments, the post she had made earlier had received quite a few likes and comments.
Wei Jinglin's comment was particularly eye-catching, prompting their mutual friends to follow up with teasing comments.
Wei Jinglin: You didn't ask me for help with the move?
Mutual friend A: If your girlfriend can't find you, how can Jian find you?
Wei Jinglin replied: She can find me as long as she wants to.
Zhou Ji'an suppressed a chill, sat cross-legged on the sofa and started typing. Before he could finish editing, a new comment popped up.
Mutual friend B: You two might as well just get married, so you don't harm other people.
Wei Jinglin: As long as she is willing to marry me, I can go and get the marriage certificate with her right now.
The sofa in the rented room was too soft, making Zhou Ji'an uncomfortable, so he simply stood up, deleted the text he had just edited, and retyped it.
She was determined to stop Wei Jinglin from manipulating her with his tactless words and actions, and she planned to give him a taste of his own medicine.
Zhou Ji'an: I took a screenshot. If you're so capable, come and take me to get our marriage certificate right now. As long as you can make sure I never have to move again from now on, I don't need a big diamond ring, a lavish wedding, or a big house.
She thought that someone as carefree and playful as Wei Jinglin would be frightened by her words, or at the very least feel disgusted.
The guy replied directly: I took a screenshot too, you better keep your word.
Zhou Ji'an surrendered and admitted defeat. When it comes to shamelessness and lack of morality, she can't possibly compete with the talented player Wei Jinglin.
She lay back on the large bed in the bedroom, gazing at the ceiling light.
My reflection in the lampshade was blurry, like a wisp of smoke that would dissipate with a gust of wind.
After the start of the dog days of summer, Jishi City completely transforms into a pot of boiling water—hot and humid, making it impossible to concentrate on anything without air conditioning.
Recalling the time right after graduating from university, when he lived in a house without air conditioning, Zhou Ji'an suddenly felt a sense of suffocation.
She reached for the remote and lowered the air conditioner temperature by two degrees.
The cold wind brushed against her face, and she thought of the photos of Deng Yi and his colleagues from the entertainment industry having a party at his villa. The pictures of the cool and refreshing swimming pool instantly intensified her feeling of suffocation.
"You're great too. You can work from home from now on," Zhou Ji'an comforted himself.
Her self-comfort didn't work, and she had to get up again and go to the refrigerator to find food to fill the void and emptiness.
In this kind of weather, I have absolutely no intention of cooking.
Zhou Ji'an opened the refrigerator, opened a whole bottle of water, and ate a cucumber and half a carrot raw with a small piece of triangular cheese.
This is her most common meal for maintaining vital signs in the summer.
In the evening, Zhou Ji'an finished a full day's work and received a call from Wei Jinglin.
Zhou Ji'an pulled back the bedroom curtains, glanced outside, and immediately closed them again to avoid seeing the glaring streetlights.
Wei Jinglin: "I'm having a housewarming party tomorrow, so you have to come over. A lot of people are coming. My old classmates and friends all want to take this opportunity to see how this small-town exam-taker who always gets scholarships is doing."
He thought Zhou Ji'an would refuse, and before Zhou Ji'an could respond, he threatened, "If you don't come, I'll post photos of you and Deng Yi when you were dating online."
In reality, Zhou Ji'an only heard him say that many people were going to his house.
Zhou Ji'an hopes that the many people he mentioned include Deng Yi.
The next day, Zhou Ji'an arrived at Wei Jinglin's house on time, driven by his own selfish motives.
The moment she stepped into Wei Jinglin's residential compound, she knew that she, him, and his friend Deng Yi were not from the same social class at all.
Her past with Deng Yi was truly a dream.
There were indeed quite a few people attending the housewarming party, but because Wei Jinglin had purchased a luxurious 300-square-meter flat, the house didn't feel crowded at all.
Zhou Ji'an's former classmates and friends were indeed curious about her current situation, but their purpose was to prove that she was not doing any better than them. Zhou Ji'an went along with their wishes and gave them perfunctory replies.
Within minutes, these people stopped wasting their time on her, a person who was of no benefit to their careers or families.
Zhou Ji'an held a light pink Miami Beach-themed glass and sipped it, his eyes fixed on the doorway.
The housewarming party had been going on for two hours, but Deng Yi was still nowhere to be seen.
Zhou Ji'an put down his wine glass, preparing to leave quietly under the cover of the drunken crowd.
As she walked a few steps with her bag slung over her shoulder, someone, emboldened by drunkenness, asked Wei Jinglin, "Senior Brother Jinglin, didn't you always say that you and Deng Yi were childhood friends? Why haven't I seen him come to your housewarming party?"
Dreams often begin with coincidence.
Zhou Ji'an stood quietly in place, waiting for the coincidence to happen.
Amid the clamor of the crowd urging him to see the celebrity, Wei Jinglin said loudly, "He's so busy, and being a celebrity is quite tiring. Like some of your favorite idols, he developed agoraphobia because he's too famous, so I didn't call him."
The group was unhappy, but they still compromised, saying, "If you can't come in person, can't we at least make a video call?"
The commotion was mixed with music, so Zhou Ji'an couldn't hear Wei Jinglin's words.
Based on his previous observations of the interactions between Wei Jinglin and Deng Yi, Zhou Ji'an concluded that Deng Yi would not be coming today, and resumed his actions.
The moment Zhou Ji'an turned the doorknob, a scream blew like the wind to her ears.
She hurriedly turned back.
Wei Jinglin stood in the middle of a group of people, holding up his phone high. The screen showed Deng Yi's face.
Zhou Ji'an hadn't fully seen Deng Yi's face yet, and hadn't been able to compare it with the face she had seen in the news and interviews before. Wei Jinglin, in order to take care of her friend on the other side, turned her wrist.
Soon, Zhou Ji'an could only hear Deng Yi's voice.
She couldn't squeeze into the crowd and look up at the star who only existed on the screen with the others.
She has not yet fully accepted the reality that she and he can no longer have any contact.
Deng Yi: "Congratulations."
Wei Jinglin: "What's there to congratulate me on? I just bought it to have a get-together with friends. You're such a busy person, I won't keep you any longer. Go ahead and get busy!"
Before Wei Jinglin hung up the phone, Zhou Ji'an seemed to hear Deng Yi say something, but because she was too far away from the group of people, she couldn't hear it clearly.
"They just left?" Wei Jinglin asked loudly.
Zhou Ji'an stopped in his tracks and lied, "I'm putting my bag down."
"Where can't you put your bag?" Wei Jinglin pushed through the crowd and approached Zhou Ji'an. "Don't worry, Deng Yi won't come."
Zhou Ji'an gave a fake smile: "What does it matter to me whether he comes or not?"
"Didn't you see her just now?" Wei Jinglin looked around to make sure no one else was nearby, and whispered, "When Deng Yi was video chatting with me, his girlfriend was right next to him, wearing a white tank top and shorts. How could you not see her?"
"Why should I look?" Zhou Ji'an gripped his bag strap tightly and took another step towards the door.
"Don't you want to see the difference between you and his other girlfriends?" Wei Jinglin scoffed.
Wei Jinglin's expression at this moment was exactly the same as when she said Deng Yi wouldn't be interested in her.
Zhou Ji'an carefully wrapped up his tattered heart, pressed his cheeks, which were aching with pain, and replied, "Since you enjoy watching so much, then watch slowly."
"Don't leave." Wei Jinglin blocked Zhou Ji'an's way and shouted to the others who had already scattered to drink, have fun, and socialize: "Hey, hey, hey, have you neglected the town's exam-taker? He's leaving now."
The wonder of life is that you never know how much impact your small actions will have on other people's lives.
When Wei Jinglin half-threatened and half-coaxed Zhou Ji'an into purchasing cycling club supplies with him in order to cultivate a relationship with her, he did not expect that Zhou Ji'an would run into Deng Yi again, and he did not expect that Deng Yi would take a liking to Zhou Ji'an and start dating her.
At the housewarming party, Wei Jinglin stopped Zhou Ji'an, forcing Zhou Ji'an to deal with the contempt, curiosity, and indifference of his former classmates. This was in retaliation for Zhou Ji'an's choice of Deng Yi. When he didn't choose him, he never expected that Deng Yi would suddenly ring his doorbell within an hour without his address, and without his knowledge, start dating Zhou Ji'an again and get married.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
