After ending the call, Su Jiaobai returned to her office.
In the office, she met with two more parents. Around 11:30, after the parents had politely bid farewell, she tidied up briefly and headed towards the school gate.
Before she even reached the entrance of the Japanese restaurant, she spotted a tall, slender man standing by the entrance from afar. He was wearing gold-rimmed glasses, and even though he was only standing with his side facing her, she recognized him instantly.
Nearly ten years had passed, and compared to his youthful appearance in her memory, he hadn’t changed much.
Undoubtedly, men like Jiang Heng, with their handsome features and scholarly demeanor, appealed to her aesthetic.
If she hadn’t known he was not a good match and that getting entangled with him would lead to a bad ending… she might have actually divorced Gu Xingmo and gotten together with him.
But all of this was based on the premise that Jiang Heng was a reliable and trustworthy partner for life.
No matter how much he appealed to her aesthetic, the mere fact that he had “ulterior motives” disqualified him in her eyes.
She was a sucker for good looks, but she was a discerning admirer of beauty.
She might fall for handsome men, but she wouldn’t fall for handsome bad guys with ill intentions.
Her requirement for character was higher than her requirement for looks.
With these thoughts, any ripple of emotion that had stirred within her instantly vanished.
Her mood immediately became calm again.
Campus love was undoubtedly precious, but someone she hadn’t been in contact with for nearly ten years was no longer the person she once knew.
Therefore, walking over calmly, Su Jiaobai greeted him coolly, “Professor Jiang.”
Jiang Heng, who was lost in thought, was interrupted by the sudden “Professor Jiang.” He immediately turned his head.
Walking towards him was a woman with a bright and beautiful face. Compared to two months ago, she seemed to have lost some weight.
She was naturally elegant, and even when she was heavier, she had the look of a beauty. Now that she had lost weight, she was even more so.
Otherwise, when they were at the same high school, he wouldn’t have chosen her specifically out of so many people to be his girlfriend.
The feelings of youth were pure; they didn’t consider family background, only whether one liked the other.
But Jiang Heng also noticed her change at a glance.
Besides her appearance, her temperament and attitude seemed to have changed as well.
Looking into his eyes, there was no longer passion and overflowing love, but a calm, unruffled gaze.
It was as if the person standing in front of her was not her former first love or admired senior, but just an ordinary alumnus.
“Jiaobai.” He called her, a gentle smile on his handsome face, even with a hint of ambiguous affection. “Long time no see.”
For Jiang Heng, “long time no see” was only two months. But for Su Jiaobai, “long time no see” meant ten years.
So she sincerely sighed, “Yes, it’s been a long time, Senior.”
After speaking, she politely smiled and extended her hand, “Please, come inside.”
Jiang Heng: “I’ve already booked a private room. It’s the Yinghui Pavilion we used to frequent.”
Back then, one of the teaching buildings at their high school was called Yinghui Pavilion. When they first came to this Japanese restaurant, they both smiled knowingly at the name on the private room.
In a way, this was a form of destiny.
Upon entering Yinghui Pavilion, Su Jiaobai didn’t immediately suggest leaving. Instead, she first ordered many of her favorite dishes.
There was a QR code on the corner of the table, and she ordered through it.
After ordering, she kindly reminded him, “I’ve ordered for myself. I haven’t ordered for you, so you can order whatever you like. This meal is on me.”
The smile on Jiang Heng’s face faltered. “Why be so formal between us?” But he immediately thought of their past interactions and felt the neglect even more strongly.
She knew what he liked to eat, so every time they came to this restaurant before, she would proactively order, and also order for him.
After ordering, she would proactively show him the menu and ask if there was anything else he wanted to add.
But this time, she only ordered for herself. For him, she perfunctorily told him to order for himself.
Jiang Heng didn’t have much of an appetite, so he ordered a bowl of eel rice.
After ordering, the private room fell silent.
Jiang Heng then looked at the person sitting opposite him and asked, “Jiaobai, did something happen while I was away from the country?”
Su Jiaobai had originally planned to have a proper breakup after the meal, but since he was asking now, Su Jiaobai said, “Professor Jiang, today’s meal is a farewell dinner. From now on, it’s inappropriate for a man and a woman to meet again.”
“Why?” Although he had prepared himself mentally, hearing her say these words directly was still difficult for Jiang Heng to accept.
“Before I left, wasn’t everything fine? It’s only been two months.”
It hadn’t even been two months.
Just ten days ago, they were still chatting enthusiastically on WeChat.
At that time, she had even said that after he returned to the country from his advanced studies, she would give him a surprise as a gift.
In just ten days, upon meeting again, her attitude had undergone a drastic change.
He didn’t understand what had gone wrong to cause such a significant shift in her attitude.
Facing his questioning, Su Jiaobai remained very calm.
“Because… I’m already married.”
The book stated that Jiang Heng’s intentions in approaching her again were not pure. He had learned of her identity as the lost daughter of a wealthy family, which was why he deliberately approached her.
Despite his intention to become a son-in-law of a wealthy family, he pretended to know nothing, playing with her emotions under the guise of “destiny” and “true love.”
Initially, he truly didn’t know she was married, thinking he could hook a wealthy daughter and achieve his goals in one go, saving himself twenty years of hard work.
But he soon found out. However, because she and her nominal husband, Gu Xingmo, were busy with their own lives, their marriage was merely a formality… Although he feared Gu Xingmo’s methods, he was unwilling to give up everything he had invested.
Furthermore, he had already captivated the Su Jiaobai in the book, who clung to him and refused to leave. Therefore, he neither welcomed nor rejected her advances.
He was calculating that if she and Gu Xingmo could separate peacefully, she would surely receive a huge amount of assets.
Then, if he married her, he would also receive half of that enormous fortune.
But he hadn’t expected that Gu Xingmo wouldn’t give her a single cent.
In the end, they divorced, but she left with nothing, penniless.
As for the Lu family, she had already offended everyone, and no one was willing to associate with her. So, she didn’t get any benefits from the Lu family either.
Seeing his years of planning and effort go down the drain, and not wanting to bear the reputation of “seducing a married woman” in the future, Jiang Heng immediately cut ties with her.
When she tearfully sought him out, he stood on the moral high ground: “When we reconnected, I didn’t know you were married. Later, when I found out, I wanted to break up, but you begged me relentlessly. I was afraid of hurting you, so I didn’t speak too harshly. But actually, when I knew you were married and still flirting with me, my affection for you had already vanished. Today, I officially tell you, don’t contact me again. I’m getting married, and I don’t want my future wife to misunderstand. Miss Su, please have some self-respect.”
With these words, he completely absolved himself, pinning her alone on the pillar of “immorality.”
Her life seemed hopeless, and with her last source of comfort gone, she made a rash decision, drove drunk, and ultimately died in a car crash.
Ending her short and tragic life.
Therefore, at this moment, she had to tell him that she was married. If he was truly such a moral person, he should immediately cut ties upon hearing that she was married.
Jiang Heng’s eyes clearly flickered with a hint of panic. He obviously hadn’t expected her to so directly admit to being married.
When he approached her after they were adults, he indeed didn’t know she was married. It was only recently, after he was exceptionally granted an opportunity to go abroad for academic exchange, that he made some inquiries and discovered that it was a Mr. Gu, a wealthy boss, who had been subtly facilitating things.
And that Mr. Gu was her husband.
Naturally, he also found out that her marriage to this Mr. Gu was merely due to an accident. If not for that accident, the two of them would have had no connection whatsoever.
There was no affection between the couple; in fact, before marrying her, that Mr. Gu had a stable relationship with someone else and intended to marry them.
Initially, upon learning that she was married, he should have given up immediately to protect his reputation.
But thinking about the benefits he could still gain from this relationship, he hesitated.
The reason he hadn’t contacted her for ten days was also because he was internally struggling with this matter and hadn’t made up his mind.
It was only yesterday, on the day he returned to the country, that he finally made up his mind.
Since she hadn’t mentioned being married, he would pretend to be ignorant.
And that Mr. Gu, knowing his wife’s infidelity, hadn’t stopped it, clearly showing indifference or even indulgence. Perhaps Mr. Gu also wanted his wife to make the first mistake so that he could use it to control the Lu family.
Being exceptionally granted a two-month study abroad opportunity might have been an acknowledgment, or even encouragement, of his actions.
And as long as he remained ignorant of her married status, he could later stand on the moral high ground and extricate himself.
But now…
His plan was disrupted, his ideal scenario dashed, which made him extremely agitated.
Behind the gold-rimmed glasses, those eyes gradually turned cold.
His fair and handsome face struggled to maintain even a forced smile.
At this moment, a voice in his heart roared and raged—why did she have to reveal that she was married?
But soon, Jiang Heng adjusted his mindset.
“You’re married?” He feigned disbelief, shaking his head with a smile. “How is that possible… If you were married, why would you go on dates with me again and again, eating meals together? Jiaobai, this is not a reason to break up.”
Su Jiaobai hadn’t expected him to be so shameless. She laughed in anger and cursed, “Jiang Heng, what are you pretending for? Didn’t you deliberately approach me because you knew I was actually the lost daughter of the Lu family? You wanted to be a son-in-law of a wealthy family, didn’t you?”