“You… how can you keep calling yourself ‘I, me’ so arrogantly like that?”
“You have no manners at all.”
“So your so-called love is this shallow? Just because you gave something, you expect a response. And if you don’t get one, you immediately quit? No wonder Tang Yue doesn’t like you.”
The two girls spoke in a flustered, angry tone.
To be precise, Wang Guilan and Liu Xiumin being friends with Tang Yue was partly because they shared similar interests, but more importantly, they benefited a lot from following her around Jiang Lin.
Every time Jiang Lin bought food, if Tang Yue couldn’t finish it, she would share it with them. For example, today’s meat buns… if Tang Yue had gotten them, she would definitely have given each of them one.
But now that Jiang Lin had woken up, it meant they would no longer get any benefits.
That was why the two of them were so furious.
“I, Jiang Lin, am just this shallow. Whoever wants to be the fool can go ahead and be one. Stop standing here ruining our appetite.”
Jiang Lin grabbed a few buns and stuffed them into Chen Jiangshan’s hands. “Jiangshan, hurry up and eat. They won’t taste good once they get cold.”
Chen Jiangshan’s grin stretched almost to his ears.
His family’s conditions weren’t bad, but compared to Jiang Lin’s, they were far behind.
Meat buns like these… he might only get to eat them once every half a year.
Sure enough, once his brother’s obsession with love was cured, blessings were immediately shared, hardships borne together.
Back then, when Jiang Lin had been chasing after Tang Yue, he even had to snatch food from Chen Jiangshan just to fill his stomach.
Now, without Tang Yue, his brother’s quality of life had clearly improved.
No matter how Wang Guilan and Liu Xiumin argued and stomped around, Jiang Lin remained completely unmoved, like a dead pig unafraid of boiling water, nothing like how he used to be with them.
Meanwhile, everyone finished eating and returned to the classroom. Almost every pair of eyes was fixed on Jiang Lin.
What he had done today was simply too unexpected. Everyone wanted to see how long he could keep it up.
After all, quite a few people had already bet that Jiang Lin wouldn’t last more than a day before surrendering.
He had a history of this. Every time he argued with Tang Yue, he would end up trailing behind her, coaxing her gently, obeying her every whim, presenting all kinds of good things to her.
No one believed Jiang Lin would truly stop liking Tang Yue.
Tang Yue herself was furious.
At noon, Jiang Lin hadn’t used his meal tickets to buy food for her, causing her to lose face completely in the canteen.
Once food was served into a lunchbox, it couldn’t be returned. But the little money she had on hand had already been given to Gu Xingzhi.
Her parents did give her some meal money, but in those days, no family had it easy. Tang Yue’s family gave her at most 0.1 yuan per day.
In 1985, 0.1 yuan a day was already considered decent, but it was far from enough.
She had to scrimp and save just to cover her own three meals, let alone support Gu Xingzhi, whose family was extremely poor.
She had never paid attention to this before. But today, when it was time to pay, she couldn’t bring herself to take out the money. The way everyone stared at her made her feel as if she had been slapped across the face several times.
In the end, a few boys who liked her couldn’t bear to watch. They pooled together the money from their pockets and paid for her meal.
Even so, Tang Yue felt that her carefully maintained image of pride had shattered.
Especially when she saw the looks the other girls gave her.
She hated Jiang Lin for it.
When she walked into the classroom, she deliberately raised her chin high, not even glancing at him.
She had already decided that no matter how Jiang Lin apologized or begged for forgiveness this time, she would never forgive him.
However, after sitting in her seat for quite a while, she didn’t feel Jiang Lin approaching her at all.
She quietly glanced over from the corner of her eye.
To her surprise, Jiang Lin, seated diagonally across from her, looked completely at ease, holding a book and reading seriously.
He didn’t even spare her a single glance.
Where was the apology?
Tang Yue’s face turned pale with anger. She swore that this time, Jiang Lin would never earn her forgiveness.
As for Jiang Lin, the rest of the classes went smoothly.
He picked up his books and studied seriously.
For some reason, the knowledge that should have been long forgotten seemed to resurface the moment he opened the textbook.
He had thought repeating his final year would be difficult, but unexpectedly, after coming back, his mind felt exceptionally clear. It was as if he could remember things after just one glance.
Jiang Lin flipped through all his books, a smile tugging at his lips.
He had assumed that after coming back, he would need to study desperately. After all, he hadn’t gotten into university in his previous life, so he shouldn’t expect success this time either.
But it seemed the heavens hadn’t deceived him. Even without any special advantage, his entire state had changed.
With his current clarity of mind, getting into a university shouldn’t be a problem… as long as he worked hard.
If he still failed with this kind of mental sharpness, he would feel like he had let himself down.
Jiang Lin attended class attentively.
Even the teachers couldn’t help but feel surprised.
Today, he had already become a notable figure in school. Everyone knew about his situation with Tang Yue.
They knew the two had fallen out, but no one expected Jiang Lin to be serious about it. Seeing him study so earnestly was truly a first.
After classes ended peacefully, Jiang Lin cheerfully called out to Chen Jiangshan, “Jiangshan, let’s go!”
Their village was close to the county town, so they went home every day. Both of them had bicycles… the classic Phoenix brand with the big 28-inch frame.
Hearing Jiang Lin’s words, Tang Yue’s eyes flashed with disdain.
Wasn’t he hinting for her to wait for him?
Tang Yue, Gu Xingzhi, Jiang Lin, and Chen Jiangshan were all from the same village. In fact, many students in their class were.
Every day, she rode Jiang Lin’s bicycle to and from school.
Wasn’t what he said just meant for her?
Tang Yue deliberately packed her bag slowly, arranging her stationery bit by bit.
She dragged it out for nearly half an hour before finally heading toward the bike shed with Liu Xiumin and Wang Guilan.
The two girls were also from the same village, but they didn’t have bicycles and could only walk back.
When they reached the bike shed, they waved at Tang Yue.
“Don’t forgive Jiang Lin so easily. Make sure you deal with him properly. Don’t get on his bicycle later.”
“If he doesn’t apologize properly, just ignore him.”
Tang Yue smiled faintly. With a seemingly casual motion, she brushed the hair by her temple behind her ear, knowing the gesture made her look even more beautiful.
“I’m not riding his bicycle. I’m not that pathetic. I won’t forgive Jiang Lin.”
But as soon as she turned around after speaking, she froze.
The bike shed was completely empty.
Not a single person remained. All the bicycles were gone.
Tang Yue stood there, dumbfounded.