Old Stories
Practice has proven that imagination can become reality, but it requires a long wait, and during that wait, one may encounter various setbacks.
Therefore, Zhou Ji'an was a little afraid of the five days he would spend waiting for Deng Yi to return home.
Her fear intensified when she entered Wei Jinglin's wedding venue.
Wei Jinglin seemed to have invited everyone he could...
Zhou Ji'an was pulled aside by former classmates or members of the cycling club, and subjected to all sorts of tricky interrogations and tests.
She could only offer safe excuses, but these excuses were far from satisfying these people's voyeuristic desires.
“We did date before,” Zhou Ji’an said.
"Then why did you deny it back then?" someone asked.
“I didn’t want to ride the wave of popularity at the time, and I was also afraid of getting into trouble,” Zhou Ji’an replied.
Some people sarcastically remarked, "Someone who doesn't want to ride the wave of popularity and is afraid of trouble is holding such a grand wedding."
Zhou Ji'an glanced at the decorations at Wei Jinglin's wedding and recalled her own wedding with Deng Yi, unable to determine whether it was grand or not.
She seemed to remember only the guests coming and going, and her drowsiness.
Later, she saw some photos and videos released by guests and the media, and it felt like watching someone else's wedding.
When she was alone in Deng Yi's large apartment, she would ask herself many times a day, "Am I really married? Am I really married to Deng Yi?"
"Grand? I feel like it's not as grand as Senior Brother Jinglin's wedding." Zhou Ji'an glanced at Wei Jinglin walking over and deliberately responded loudly.
Wei Jinglin is terrified of being overshadowed. Seeing his former classmates and friends surrounding her and paying attention to her marriage with Deng Yi will definitely make him resentful.
She could easily have used his bad mood to back off.
Wei Jinglin loosened his tie and grinned crookedly, "Now you think my wedding was grand? It's not too late to regret it."
Zhou Ji'an, caught off guard, was terrified. She didn't realize that Wei Jinglin was completely disregarding his wife's feelings upon hearing these words, and was only focused on sending her and Deng Yi into the eye of the storm.
She whispered angrily, "What nonsense are you spouting?"
Wei Jinglin pouted and said to the others around him, "Are you saying I'm talking nonsense? Didn't you all see what she said before, asking me to go and get a marriage certificate with her?"
The others laughed and echoed Wei Jinglin.
Zhou Ji'an retorted, "You were the one who joked first."
Wei Jinglin tilted his head back and took a swig of wine, his breath reeking of alcohol, and said, "Who said I was joking? Can't I be serious?"
Zhou Ji'an was stunned, and at the same time found it strange.
Because Wei Jinglin, who was swirling his wine glass and staring at her, didn't have his usual mocking expression on his face; instead, he looked rather serious.
Could it be because Deng Yi struck first, characterizing his jokes as harassment, that he had to be serious in order to maintain appearances?
A voice called out "Ji'an" from the bustling crowd.
Zhou Ji'an breathed a sigh of relief for no apparent reason. She turned her head to look for the source of the voice. Before she could call out the person's name and was still wondering why that person would be here, Wei Jinglin called out affectionately, "A-Rang."
“Your husband’s ex-girlfriend,” Wei Jinglin said excitedly, a mocking smile returning to his face.
"Tsk, bro." Qin Xirang frowned and stopped Wei Jinglin. "Ji'an, why didn't Director Deng come with you? I saw some behind-the-scenes photos of their show, it seems like they didn't record today."
Qin Xirang did not deny Wei Jinglin's words.
So Deng Yi lied to her that day.
Zhou Ji'an always felt that he had actually foreseen all of this.
She was too naive to believe the words of her ex-boyfriend, whom she had broken up with almost ten years ago.
But at this moment, her sadness and grief are not important. What is important is that she recognizes her own identity and fulfills the obligations in the verbal agreement between her and Deng Yi.
She must play the role of wife well.
“Their program is almost finished recording, there’s no need for him to make the trip back and forth.” Zhou Ji’an said, his voice trembling slightly.
"Tsk tsk tsk, let me tell you this. Deng Yi didn't invite me to his wedding, fine, but when I invited him to my wedding, he still didn't come." Wei Jinglin continued to fan the flames. "I suspect he's still angry about what happened back then."
Qin Xirang glanced at Zhou Ji'an and said quietly, "I know he's still angry with us."
Zhou Ji'an wanted to escape; she didn't have the courage to know what had happened to the three of them back then.
She maintained a composed expression, looking around for Lu Jianni and Xu Zhiyan.
It would be nice to see the bride.
But the three of them seemed to have vanished.
Zhou Ji'an was about to say that she needed to go to the restroom when Wei Jinglin, as if seeing through her thoughts, seized the opportunity and said, "You don't actually believe what Deng Yi said on the show that you were his first love, do you?"
Zhou Ji'an's lips were so dry they were almost sticking to her teeth. She moved the stiff muscles around her mouth, moistened her upper lip with the tip of her tongue, and replied, "Of course I believe you. Otherwise, would I believe the two of you?"
Perhaps it was because Zhou Ji'an's voice was too loud and his tone was unfriendly, but Wei Jinglin and Qin Xirang's expressions both stiffened for a moment.
Qin Xirang smiled and said, "Ji'an, you're not upset that I didn't tell you that I know Brother Xiaoyu, are you?"
Xiaoyu is Deng Yi's nickname.
Zhou Ji'an found out on the day Deng Yi beat up Wei Jinglin.
"Judging from her expression, Deng Yi didn't tell her about his old flame with you either." Wei Jinglin's resentment from the past few days had lessened somewhat. "I told you I'm kinder than Deng Yi, but you wouldn't believe me. Now look what happened, you've been fooled by Deng Yi."
“Ji’an, that happened more than ten years ago, don’t take it to heart.” Qin Xirang elbowed Wei Jinglin.
The thought that Deng Yi's behavior at the dinner party might have been an act for Qin Xirang's benefit made Zhou Ji'an feel waves of chest pain.
She originally thought she was just a pawn in the push-pull relationship between Deng Yi and Yu Xi, but unexpectedly, a real female lead appeared out of nowhere.
Perhaps the two of them were lying. When Deng Yi was alone with her, he said that everything said by everyone who tried to break them up was nonsense.
Moreover, during the year or so that she worked part-time at Deng Yi's studio, she never saw Qin Xirang.
If Qin Xirang, Deng Yi, and Wei Jinglin really knew each other a long time ago, it's impossible that she had never met them.
“I went abroad right after graduating from high school and only came back this summer, so Xiaoyu and I are really strangers. Please don’t think we were pretending not to know you that day or deliberately lying to you,” Qin Xirang reassured him.
Zhou Ji'an didn't think that Qin Xirang was comforting her; on the contrary, she thought that Qin Xirang was saying this on purpose to lead her to think that Deng Yi had deceived her.
Zhou Ji'an knew he was being irrational, so he ended the conversation by saying, "No, I won't think that way. Besides, Deng Yi told me about you that night."
Qin Xirang was somewhat surprised, then chuckled and said, "That's good. I was worried that my unintentional actions might affect your relationship."
Not far away, Wei Jinglin's wife finally appeared.
The bride wore a red, modern Chinese-style cheongsam, which accentuated her slender waist and made her look very beautiful.
“Your wife is here,” Zhou Ji’an said, his cheeks aching. “I’m going to find Lu Jiani and the others.”
Wei Jinglin glanced lazily at the woman walking towards him. The resentment of the past and the resentment of today converged into a torrent. He said again, "Zhou Ji'an, it's not too late for you to regret it now."
Zhou Ji'an glanced at Wei Jinglin in surprise, then quickly backed away, cursing the man as a lunatic.
"Ji'an," Xu Zhiyan grabbed Zhou Ji'an's arm, "Where are we going?"
Fearing being photographed by someone with ulterior motives, Zhou Ji'an quickly broke free from Xu Zhiyan's hand, saying, "I'm looking for Lu Jiani."
"She had to go home urgently," Xu Zhiyan said dejectedly.
Zhou Ji'an wondered why this person hadn't told her anything. She took out her phone and saw that Lu Jianni had sent her a message.
"I have something urgent to attend to, I'm about to leave," Zhou Ji'an lied. "What about you?"
"I have to stay here. I probably won't be able to leave until the early hours of the morning." Xu Zhiyan looked at the strand of hair that had fallen onto her neck and wanted to pull it out for her, but in the end, he only reminded her, "Your hair isn't finished."
Zhou Ji'an raised both hands, touched the sides of his neck, and smiled awkwardly: "I'm leaving now, have fun."
Wei Jinglin, who was speaking to the bride with a dark expression, suddenly glanced over, and Zhou Ji'an was so frightened that he ran away.
The sky outside was gray, like it was about to snow.
Keji City rarely sees snow in winter; it's just damp and cold, and often windy.
When I got home, the two housekeepers were cleaning the living room.
After greeting them, Zhou Ji'an went into the bathroom to take a hot shower.
She had originally planned to handle some work matters, but she was completely unmotivated and didn't want to return Deng Yi's call.
Zhou Ji'an, huddled in his blankets, looked at the three missed calls in his call log, and felt a pang of unease all over his body.
The screen started flickering again.
This time it was a video call.
"Back?" Deng Yi asked, looking at the familiar scene on the screen.
Zhou Ji'an forced himself not to act too strangely and nodded, saying, "Mm."
"Did Wei Jinglin mention your WeChat Moments post?" Deng Yi sensed that something was off with the person on the other end.
"I did mention it, but it was alright, just a brief mention," Zhou Ji'an replied, biting his lip.
Deng Yi asked, "Didn't he say anything else?"
Zhou Ji'an raised his eyelids slightly, swallowed wave after wave of bitterness, and asked, "What else?"
She couldn't directly ask him why he said he didn't know Qin Xirang; she didn't have that right.
Even if Deng Yi was really using her to provoke Qin Xirang, according to their agreement, she had to quietly endure it.
“For example, saying things like Qin Xirang is my ex-girlfriend,” Deng Yi replied, then saw the astonishment in the eyes of the person opposite him and couldn’t help but sigh, “Don’t do this again. You decided to distance yourself from me without even asking me. We can’t have these kinds of inexplicable misunderstandings anymore.”
"So what Wei Jinglin said was false?" Zhou Ji'an asked, then couldn't help but feel that he was being pretentious.
Isn't it normal for someone like Deng Yi to have ex-girlfriends? What is she so bothered about?
"It's fake. I have never dated Qin Xirang."
Zhou Ji'an wanted to say, "How could that be? Wei Jinglin lied, but Qin Xirang wouldn't have any reason to lie, would she?" She, Zhou Ji'an, had no grudge against Qin Xirang. "Then why did you lie and say you didn't know Qin Xirang at the dinner party?"
"Didn't you also say you'd never heard of Xu Zhiyan?" Deng Yi seized the opportunity to bring up old grievances.
Zhou Ji'an was speechless for a moment.
Deng Yi, who was on the other side, continued, "When I was a senior in high school, Qin Xirang was a freshman. She was a friend of Wei Jinglin, and Wei Jinglin often brought her to my house to play."
Zhou Ji'an listened attentively, thinking to herself that Qin Xirang looked really young. When they first met, she thought Qin Xirang was only a little older than Zhao Xingran, but she didn't expect them to be about the same age.
Deng Yi paused for a moment and said, "You should have sensed it by now, my dad really likes Wei Jinglin."
"Doesn't this further prove that you and Qin Xirang may have been in a relationship?" Zhou Ji'an let out a deep sigh of resentment.
“It was Wei Jinglin who wanted me to date Qin Xirang,” Deng Yi said.
Zhou Ji'an realized what was happening and asked in disbelief, "Wei Jinglin wouldn't be trying to make your grades drop this way, would he?"
Deng Yi nodded with a faint, helpless smile on his face, and said, "Mm."
Knowing Wei Jinglin's character, Zhou Ji'an immediately believed Deng Yi's words. His spirits gradually returned, and he asked, "Qin Xirang is so beautiful, weren't you ever tempted?"
"I didn't have those thoughts back then." Deng Yi recalled those days when he had to deal with all sorts of troubles, his brows furrowing deeper. "It was just to stop Wei Jinglin from doing anything else, to pretend that he had dated Qin Xirang."
Zhou Ji'an scoffed, "But we still talked about it."
Deng Yi laughed out loud: "We never even held hands. Back then, I used my hands to do my homework."
Deng Yi was sure she was jealous again.
Zhou Ji'an lowered his head shyly, but couldn't control his jealousy and continued to ask, "And now? How do you feel about her?"
“I don’t feel anything. She’s a stranger to me. We’ve only been pretending to be in a relationship for less than half a month when Wei Jinglin came clean and said that it was all his plan and that Qin Xirang actually liked him.” Deng Yi looked at the top of someone’s head and said anxiously, “Jian, let me see your face.”
"See?" Zhou Ji'an looked up angrily, childishly holding his phone close to his face.
Deng Yi chuckled softly, rubbing his forehead: "Are you thinking of doing something else?"
Zhou Ji'an quickly stretched out his arm and denied it: "Of course not!"
“I’ll get home before your birthday. I miss you so much.” Deng Yi tilted his head slightly as he told her about his work schedule.
Feeling flattered and elated, Zhou Ji'an didn't know where to look. He changed the subject, asking, "Why didn't your parents attend Wei Jinglin's wedding?"
With one hand behind his head and the other holding his phone high, as if afraid he wouldn't be able to see the whole person on the screen, Deng Yi replied, "My mom went abroad on business."
Then he frowned and said, "My dad never makes public appearances."
"No wonder your dad didn't attend our wedding," Zhou Ji'an said knowingly. "Isn't he a university professor? Why can't he make a public appearance?"
He said he didn't want to be an actor.
Zhou Ji'an felt a pang of sadness in her chest, a sadness completely different from the one she felt before. Holding her phone, she said angrily, "He doesn't even look good enough to be an actor."
After speaking, she realized her words were inappropriate and quickly said, "I'm sorry, that's not what I meant. I meant that your dad isn't as good-looking as you. I don't like your dad. I think he's gloomy and seems very chauvinistic, completely lacking in respect for others..."
Deng Yi said softly, "Ji'an, I know what you mean."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
