78 Chapter Seventy-Seven
◎Suppressing his cravings, he just wanted Yu Jinyang to come back. ◎
On a rainy night during their senior year of high school, Li Yingqiao and Liang Mei had an argument in the rain.
At that time, Li Yingqiao couldn't understand Liang Mei at all, nor could she understand why she was unwilling to stay in Fengtan and insisted on going to G Province to teach. She felt that Liang Mei seemed to be proving to her indirectly that she taught them to read without any ulterior motives.
She absolutely did not believe that Liang Mei was trying to escape Qian Dongchang; in her heart, Liang Mei was not that fragile. Or rather, what Liang Mei was escaping was the network of personal connections in Fengtan. She wanted to be a teacher; she wanted to be a teacher openly and honestly.
Zhu Xiaoliang said that once you've stepped into a classroom, picked up chalk, and given a lesson to students, seeing their eager and inquisitive eyes, it's hard to say you don't want to be a teacher.
How could Liang Mei not want to be a teacher? She dreams of coming back to be a teacher.
Later, Zhu Xiaoliang told her that her teacher, Liang, actually cared about her the most, but she wasn't very nice to talk to. He told her not to take it to heart, as she and her mentor never said a kind word to each other until their deaths.
Li Yingqiao also found it strange. She was never stingy with saying nice things to people. She could tell her mother, "Mom, you're the best. I don't want to go to school today," or she could say to Yu Jinyang, whom she hadn't seen in a long time, "Meow meow, it's so nice to see you." But she still couldn't say thank you to Liang Mei.
Perhaps it was because Liang Mei was always the one who approached her first, begging her to study, even using her as a bet. And then, she won the bet, and she left.
They never contacted each other again. She left her phone number with Zhu Xiaoliang, and over the years, apart from that one call she made, Liang Mei never contacted her on her own initiative.
She was always curious about how Liang Mei viewed her.
At first, when she learned that she was the stake in her bet with Tan Xiuyun, she was a little unhappy and didn't want to be used as a bargaining chip. At that time, she was taking tutoring classes and they argued in the kitchen every day. She would deliberately say some discouraging things, and Liang Mei would smash the pots and pans loudly. Usually at this time, Yu Jinyang would come in and pull her away.
Zhu Xiaoliang mostly ignored her, only occasionally saying a few words to her, and it was then that he would tell her: "I'll let you in on a secret, Teacher Liang and I are both orphans."
An orphan, she understood. She quickly forgave Liang Mei for using her as a wager, and one of the signs of reconciliation was that she would take off her shoes next to Liang Mei when she came in, because when she was angry, she would even take her shoes off far away so that they wouldn't touch her at all.
Others might not notice, but Liang Mei and Yu Jinyang could usually tell who she had recently argued with just by looking at the order in which the shoes were placed.
Sometimes the two would even talk privately about what had happened to her. Yu Jinyang also had a bad temper back then, and when they argued, he would bury himself in his test paper and just say he couldn't be bothered with her.
That was when Li Yingqiao was getting closer to the class monitor of Class 6. Liang Mei noticed something was amiss, but she didn't comment on it. She rarely interfered in their affairs outside of academics.
Anyway, they soon went their separate ways.
When Li Yingqiao first arrived in Beijing, she was determined to make a name for herself there. She barely gave herself any rest outside of class and spent all her free time finding part-time jobs to fill her university life.
Four years passed quickly. She received scholarships every year and had a top GPA. Senior students frequently offered her various projects, but she was short-sighted at the time. In order to get over Liang Mei as soon as possible, she gave up the opportunity to take the postgraduate entrance exam and accepted a high-paying job offer. She started working directly and worked day and night, finally making a name for herself in the company. However, the company suddenly went bankrupt, and the boss was arrested.
She has to start all over again.
She was not discouraged and diligently submitted her resume online, but she dared not return to Fengtan, fearing that her unemployment would eventually reach Liang Mei's ears.
So she always said the good things, that everything was great, that everyone liked her, that she had become a manager, and that she was about to buy a house. To cover up these lies, she even considered using Yu Jinyang's household registration when she first came back.
Even when Li Shuli asked her how she was doing, she didn't have the truth to tell her. But Shuli could tell that she was unhappy outside, so she didn't force her to go home. She just said, "Li Yingqiao, you need to eat on time and take care of your health."
What angered her mother the most was changing Qiaoqiao to Li Yingqiao.
Qiaoqiao, you need to eat on time.
Li Yingqiao, you must stay healthy.
That's the difference.
Because Shuli knew what she was persisting in, over the years, Shuli had frankly told her: she had hated Liang Mei, but Liang Mei was both her strength and her weakness. Without Liang Mei, you wouldn't have had so much pressure, but without Liang Mei, you would have missed out on a lot of happiness, and you wouldn't have known how excellent you could be.
Li Yingqiao knew in her heart that without Liang Mei, she wouldn't have been able to come to Beijing. But life was very difficult then; her bank account was almost empty, she couldn't pay her rent, and she was about to be evicted. At that time, the pandemic was raging, and she accidentally showed up on her QR code, which immediately sent someone to her door to take her for a nucleic acid test. She thought it was her landlord coming to collect rent, and she didn't even dare open the door.
She thought that getting into university would be the end of everything, only to find out that it was just the beginning. At that time, she felt that the world was absurd.
Then she joined Convey and met Zhang Zongxie. He was ruthless and efficient, and she learned from him step by step. Suddenly, she understood how to maintain an absurd order. Zhang Zongxie said, "When dealing with clients, you must always have the courage to be one step ahead of the devil."
If the other person is putting on an act, you have to be even more pretentious than them.
If the other party has ideals, you must have a global perspective;
When the other person is sincere, you feel like you want to lay your heart bare and show it to them.
So what should you do if the other party is aggressive and bites?
Li Yingqiao thought to herself, "Anyone can be ruthless."
Zhang Zongxie laughed and said, "You need to let him know that you like the smell of blood."
Blood splattering everywhere is nothing; after all, the poor have fragile lives, while the rich have thick skin. Even if blood gets in your eyes, you can't blink. As long as you're still sitting there, people will be afraid. He said.
…
…
In Qian Dongchang's muddled mind, it was as if a fluorescent spider was slowly weaving a web, the outlines gradually becoming clearer. Along with Li Yingqiao's features, her childhood face could now fit perfectly into the silhouette of the woman in the black turtleneck in front of him, without any sense of incongruity.
What's even more in line with her and Liang Mei's crazy, silent, and sudden attack is their way of getting into trouble.
This is like a student Liang Mei could teach. No, she's even more ruthless than Liang Mei. When Liang Mei saw his blood, she trembled all over.
Qian Dongchang regretted it very much.
He regretted taking a chance and not killing Liang Mei directly. At that time, the law was not perfect. If Li Boqing had been willing to bribe him, he would have been convicted of manslaughter at most and served a few years in prison.
His wife was slept with by his son, that's all, he should have done it.
If Liang Mei had been killed back then, there would have been no worries, and none of this would have happened.
Suddenly, Qian Dongchang sprang up and, before anyone could react, slammed his head into Pan Xiaoliang's forehead, sending Pan Xiaoliang sprawling backward. Pan Xiaoliang's head hit the ground hard, and he saw stars in pain, muttering, "That idiot..."
"I want to see Li Boqing! My wife has slept with his son for so many years, and he thinks he can get rid of me with this little bit of money! He even wants to arrest me and put me in jail? Dream on!"
Immediately afterward, Qian Dongchang, like a mad bull, started ramming around the office. The next second, Gao Dian also received a blow to the chest and cursed out in surprise, "Damn it, this old bull."
"I want to see Li Boqing! I can't reason with you! I want to see Li Boqing!"
Qian Dongchang was burning with rage, veins bulging on his forehead like a zombie about to mutate. After smashing past the two protectors, he immediately locked onto Li Yingqiao.
She initially didn't want to dodge, thinking he wouldn't dare. But then she noticed something was wrong with him; his eyes were bloodshot. Knowing better than to fight a losing battle, she quickly dodged to the side. Qian Dongchang, with his large, fleshy frame and heavy body, couldn't adjust his direction in time and charged straight ahead!
So President Zhang, who had been standing aside and smoking a cigar, heard the commotion and was about to turn around to see what was going on when he was suddenly pushed straight against the floor-to-ceiling window of his office.
It felt like being squeezed onto a packed bus, with people pressing your face against the window, looking innocent as if you didn't even know which bus you were on.
In the ensuing silence, everyone heard President Zhang utter a curse word.
Qian Dongchang, I'll f*** your grandpa.
The last time Li Yingqiao heard him curse was when the manager of the airline's direct operations refused to refund customers during the pandemic and pocketed tens of millions of yuan in route subsidies. At that time, Zhang Zongxie was running around hotels and airlines at home and abroad to coordinate the refund issue, only to find that he had been made a fool of. He was so angry that he cursed loudly for the first time and directly cut off the source of the problem. After securing the exclusive operating rights for five years, he sent the person to jail.
***
Zhang Zongxie broke his back and consulted several experts at the city hospital overnight. It was confirmed that his back was broken. He stayed in the hospital for almost half a month. Li Yingqiao brought him three meals a day, and Yu Renjie brought him meals for the rest of the time.
No one came to deliver it today.
Zhang Zongxie waited on an empty stomach. After a long while, he picked up his phone and realized that Yu Jinyang had been released today.
Back in Xiaohuacheng, Tang Xiang was also asking, "By the way, did you send anything to Zong Xie? Don't let him go hungry, his back probably won't heal for a while." She added curiously, "How did he get gored by a cow? Why is he working in the fields all the time?"
Yu Renjie had no idea what had happened; he only knew that when he received the call, he was already at the hospital. The doctor told him to sign the surgical consent form, and Yu Renjie was caught in a dilemma—signing it or not signing it. He was about to suggest contacting his family again.
The doctor exclaimed, "He said you're his father, that's why we notified you to come."
Yu Renjie was somewhat moved by what he heard, and immediately signed the document.
After hearing this, Tang Xiang sighed, "Is that really true? Zongxie is quite pitiful. I heard his grandmother passed away a long time ago, and it seems he doesn't have any relatives left. Didn't you love playing father roles since you were little? That's great, you got a son for free."
After spending forty days rolling around on the floor outside, a certain cat walked in carrying its luggage and exclaimed: "..."
He hadn't even had time to take off his coat, his brows sharply defined, carrying the chill of the outside air. A two-second silence followed, then Yu Jinyang slowly spoke: "...I remember telling you before I left, didn't I? I didn't run away from home, Mom?"
Li Yingqiao was also anxiously waiting to get off work; she had never felt forty days could be so long. Gao Dian was a foodie, and every few days he would send her a bunch of food links, while Miao Jia would occasionally share funny variety shows and good movies with her.
Li Yingqiao had never thought about it before. She used to think that seeing something was fine, and eating something was fine too. Now she was restraining herself, restraining her cravings, and restraining her spiritual exploration and catharsis. Even the last movie they watched together the night he left, she didn't skip ahead, because she was waiting for Yu Jinyang to come back.
It looks like it's going to snow in Xiaohua City. Li Yingqiao glanced out the window; the sky was overcast, and the wind was fiercely sweeping through the fallen leaves, leaving the branches bare and desolate. But Fourth Brother was probably at home cooking for him right now; a pot of soup was bubbling on the stove, steaming hot, and the aroma could waft out onto the street.
He could have a drink as soon as he entered the door, and he wouldn't get cold at all, just like when he was a child. From afar, he could hear Tang Xiang asking him, "Ah Yang, is the soup Dad makes delicious? Does it warm you up right away? Oh dear, why did you take off your scarf again?"
“There’s some annoying person who thinks I’m wearing too much.” He was aloof then, drinking his soup with a straight face, and replied to Tang Xiang in a serious tone.
Just then, the office door was flung open, and Gao Dian rushed in, "Miao's finally out tonight! I invited him for a late-night snack, let's all have a good get-together tonight."
Li Yingqiao turned her gaze away from the window and glanced at him: "He agreed?"
"He hasn't come back yet," Gao Dian said with certainty. "Is there even a question? If he doesn't come looking for us, who else would he come looking for? This is as certain as rain falling from the sky, a mother remarrying, or a father marrying into the family. It's a done deal."
"Wait for his reply before you speak; he might have other plans."
Gao Dian chuckled, about to retort, when his phone rang.
He received a WeChat reply right away. Yu Jinyang's familiar profile picture was in the chat box. He chuckled and tossed it in front of Li Yingqiao.
"See? Meow said see you later." Gao Dian stuffed his phone back into his pocket, his down jacket rustling. "How could I not understand? How hard can it be for a single dog to get a date?"
Sure enough, the next second, her WeChat popped up. Besides the phone call, the person she hadn't contacted for over forty days was now lying in her chat box, tempting her.
D321: Meow.
[Author's Note]
We're finally back!
Thunder is coming, rain is coming, and I need to update!
There will be another update tomorrow! See you tomorrow!
This is a red envelope!
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