“How bizarre. In the past, he had rumors that were even more ridiculous than this one, so how come he never came out to clarify them before?” Meng Shuyin stared at her phone screen, frowning in confusion.
“Did that Lucy girl do something to offend him?”
Meng Shuyin directed her gaze toward He Xicun, who was eating gossip along with her. The latter also looked completely blank and shook her head.
As for Lin Shuxue, she was doing her best to pack her toiletries with the smallest movements possible to lower her sense of presence.
Although it sounded a bit like wishful thinking, still…
Could Jiang Zong’s sudden appearance in his own skin on the confession wall to clarify the rumors have even a tiny fraction to do with her?
As if to validate her hypothesis, her phone chimed with a WeChat notification sound the very next second.
A profile picture that hadn’t sent a single word since they added each other popped up.
Lin Shuxue could clearly see the first message sent by the other party inside their previously empty chat box.
Jz: [Restored your innocence]
Lin Shuxue felt a sudden burst of guilt and secretly raised her eyes to glance at her roommates.
Fortunately, they were so deeply immersed in the post that they didn’t notice the minor activity on Lin Shuxue’s end.
She carefully tapped on the screen.
Lin Shuxue: [What innocence?]
Jz: [Didn’t you say it yourself, you won’t be a homewrecker?]
Her premonition came true; Jiang Zong’s reply really had been posted for her sake.
Lin Shuxue asked again.
Lin Shuxue: [Then why didn’t you clarify things before?]
Surprisingly, Jiang Zong replied very quickly from the other side.
Jz: [No one ever ran over to ask me for an official status before either.]
Seeing his message, Lin Shuxue couldn’t help but chuckle. It was as if she could hear the drawn-out, casual cadence of his voice when saying this line echoing right by her ear, leaving her with an indescribable feeling in her heart.
She suddenly found herself agreeing a bit with those evaluations regarding Jiang Zong—unbridled, rebellious, and completely doing as he pleased.
Only after the fact did she realize that even though they had crossed paths very early on, she seemed to have never truly known Jiang Zong.
Time flew by rapidly. In what felt like a flash, before the banners celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival could even be taken down, the announcement sheets welcoming the National Day holiday were already pasted all over the campus.
With this being their first seven-day long holiday since starting university, everyone was discussing how to spend it.
When Meng Shuyin asked Lin Shuxue what her plans were for National Day, she thought about it briefly and said uncertainly,
“Finish writing the news article assigned by the editing and interviewing class?”
This response of hers successfully caused both of her roommates to fall into a collective silence.
After a long pause, Meng Shuyin let out a faint remark: “What should I do? You making it like this makes me feel extremely embarrassed to invite you to fool around with us. It makes me seem incredibly unlearned.”
She added: “And like I’m corrupting others.”
He Xicun nodded vigorously to express her agreement.
Lin Shuxue muffled a laugh. “What are your plans then?”
“A new resort just opened in the suburbs of Hua’an City! Senior Guan invited us to go, saying it was opened by a friend she knows, and they won’t charge us any money!” He Xicun introduced eagerly. “If you aren’t going home, why don’t you come along to play with us?”
Out of the three people in the dormitory, Lin Shuxue was the only one who wasn’t a local of Hua’an.
She indeed had no intention of returning to Yijiang for this National Day holiday.
Therefore, she nodded. “Sure, when are we going?”
Meng Shuyin: “It’s set for the fourth and fifth. For the first few days, both Xicun and I have to take a trip back home.”
Lin Shuxue froze slightly. If that was the case, then inside the dormitory, only…
Meng Shuyin: “You must take good care of yourself staying alone in the dorm!”
Lin Shuxue looked up to find both of her roommates’ faces hung with a touch of remorse.
She smiled softly, her eyes crinkling. “I’m not a child, you guys can rest easy.”
As if a prophecy had been spoken, on the very first day of the National Day holiday, she forgot to draw her curtains and was forcefully dragged out of her dreams by the piercing morning light.
She sat up and looked at the empty dormitory, feeling a rare hint of unreadiness.
Her phone ringtone suddenly went off abruptly.
When Lin Shuxue picked it up to check, it was unexpectedly her mother.
“Hello? What’s wrong, Mom?” she said gently.
The female voice coming over the phone carried a bit of self-reproach. “Oh dear, I forgot you were on holiday. Did I wake you up?”
Lin Shuxue’s gaze softened. “No, I’ve been awake for a while.”
The woman on the other end probably also caught that Lin Shuxue’s voice didn’t bear the raspy tone of having just awakened, so she set her mind at ease slightly.
“Your Uncle Qi has to go to Hua’an for a business trip to negotiate some trade over these next two days, so I thought I’d come along with him to see you while I’m at it. We are about to board the vehicle now. Do you have time to have lunch with us at noon?”
Lin Shuxue had heard her mother mention Uncle Qi before; he was her mother’s recent suitor. It appeared the progress of their relationship was developing quite rapidly.
Ever since the divorce back then, Mother Lin had raised Lin Shuxue all by herself. During that time, there was no shortage of people showing goodwill, all of whom were rejected by Mother Lin, who had been bitten once and remained twice shy.
In truth, Lin Shuxue had always hoped her mother could find someone who truly deserved her trust.
The curve of her eyebrows widened a bit more, and even her voice became laced with a smile. “I have time. See you at noon.”
Regrettably, they had all underestimated the volume of foot traffic inside Hua’an City’s major shopping malls on the first day of the National Day holiday.
Right at peak dining hours, when Lin Shuxue arrived at the mall address her mother had sent, her vision was completely filled with a congested surge of crowds.
The small waiting stools lined up outside the entrances of every single restaurant were packed with people.
They took a lap around the mall, and in the end, helplessly selected a Ningbo cuisine restaurant that had quite decent reviews, pulling a queue number at the entrance.
This was the first time Lin Shuxue had seen this kind of scene inside a shopping mall. Yijiang was considered a small city, and its pace of life was far slower compared to Hua’an.
Mother Lin and the accompanying Uncle Qi had presumably also not anticipated that inside such a massive shopping mall, there wouldn’t be a single restaurant with an open table.
Mother Lin looked at Lin Shuxue with concern. “Are you hungry?”
Lin Shuxue shook her head, comforting her, “It’s fine, it’ll be fine after a little wait.”
The sounds of queue numbers being called echoed from the fronts of every restaurant, noisy and chaotic. Mother Lin and Lin Shuxue had to press their ears close together and raise their volumes just to speak.
It really wasn’t a good environment for chatting.
Lacking anything better to do, Lin Shuxue took a photo of the queue and posted it to her Friends Circle (Moments).
The accompanying text read: The materialization of rubbing shoulders.
She rarely posted to her Friends Circle. The moment this one went out, Meng Shuyin, who surfed the web at a high intensity 24 hours a day, swiftly liked and left a comment.
Meng Shuyin: [Listen up, people inside the mall, you have already been surrounded by me! Vacate the mall immediately, my precious roommate needs to eat right now!]
Seeing her nonsensical comment, Lin Shuxue couldn’t help but curl the corners of her mouth.
Just as she lowered her head wanting to reply to this comment, the page suddenly refreshed, revealing a familiar, blurred profile picture.
Jz liked your Friends Circle post.
Lin Shuxue’s heart skipped a beat.
As she raised her eyes, her peripheral vision seemed to catch a few familiar figures flitting past.
“Sister Lin! It really is you!”
Lin Shuxue looked back toward the sound. Pei Tianyang was waving at her in a loud, boisterous manner through the glass window of the restaurant door.
And behind him, a certain someone who had just appeared in the likes column of her Friends Circle followed along with loose, casual steps.
It was rare for Jiang Zong to change out of his eternal black-and-white shirts today, having thrown on a deep blue hooded sweatshirt. The hood collar which would look bloated and cumbersome on anyone else only served to make his neck appear more slender, while the black casual trousers on his lower half outlined perfect proportions. He was undoubtedly the most eye-catching presence in the crowd.
With his arms folded across his chest, his well-defined fingers clutched a black smartphone, his idle gaze landing upon Lin Shuxue.
It was hard to tell if it was accidental or a deliberate attempt to remind her of something.
Pei Tianyang walked over in a few quick strides. “You really are here! What a coincidence?”
Lin Shuxue bypassed Jiang Zong with her gaze, politely greeting Pei Tianyang.
“I just happened to scroll past your Friends Circle post and thought it looked a bit like this restaurant, so I ran out to take a look. Are there no seats left?”
Pei Tianyang explained the reason behind their sudden appearance in a few short sentences, bringing a wave of realization to Lin Shuxue.
The photo she had casually taken for her Friends Circle earlier had exposed the name of the restaurant opposite them. She just hadn’t expected that Pei Tianyang and his group would actually be dining inside this very establishment.
Lin Shuxue nodded. “We came late, we only pulled our number a short while ago.”
Pei Tianyang waved his hand in a careless manner.
“That’s easy. My dad invested in this restaurant. They still have an empty private room kept over there; I’ll take you in!”
“Ah?” Lin Shuxue let out an exclamation of surprise instinctively.
Seated to the side, Mother Lin and Uncle Qi were also stunned.
She had vaguely heard Senior Guan mention Pei Tianyang’s family background before; for someone who could run in the same circles as Jiang Zong, his family background certainly wouldn’t be lacking.
“Would this… would this be a bit too much trouble for Senior?” Lin Shuxue hesitated slightly.
In all fairness, she actually didn’t share much acquaintance with Pei Tianyang, aside from the few “goddess” jokes he cracked and their interactions during student union work. Owing this kind of personal favor would make her feel somewhat uncomfortable.
Pei Tianyang pulled open his mouth in an entirely indifferent smirk. “It’s nothing. That private room is kept for me to occasionally grab a bite during holidays; it’s originally not open to the public anyway.”
“How can we let Uncle and Auntie go hungry right at the middle of the day?” He nudged his chin to indicate them.
It turned out he had long since discerned the identities of the two elders beside Lin Shuxue.
With the words spoken to this extent, it would be a bit excessive for Lin Shuxue to refuse again. She exchanged a gaze with her mother for a few seconds.
Subsequently, she turned her head to express her gratitude.
“Thank you for the trouble, Senior Pei.”
“Shuxue, were those few people just now your classmates?”
After being led into the private room by the server and finishing placing their orders, Mother Lin could finally no longer suppress the curiosity she had bottled up for a long time.
Lin Shuxue pondered for a moment, lowering her eyes as she said, “They are a few seniors I got to know in the student union.”
The scene just now of the server addressing Pei Tianyang with absolute reverence as “Young Master Pei” was deeply etched into her mind, providing a truly profound shock.
…Did Jiang Zong usually get called “Young Master Jiang” too?
If so, he would probably narrow those beautiful eyes of his, knit half of his brow, and wear a face completely full of distaste.
Thinking along these lines caused Lin Shuxue to space out a little. She didn’t even hear her mother calling her name.
“Shuxue?” Mother Lin spoke again.
“Mm?” Lin Shuxue’s drifting thoughts snapped back, and she lifted her eyelids to look over. “What did you just say? I didn’t catch it clearly.”
Mother Lin weighed her tone carefully before repeating, “I said, that boy wearing the blue clothes, the tall and slender one, looks strangely familiar to me.”
Lin Shuxue froze, blinking her eyes with force as she said in a voice that was as calm as possible:
“Mom, he is Jiang Zong.”
Mother Lin turned entirely rigid on the spot.
A moment of silence fell through the air.
When she spoke again, her words carried a distinct hitch: “Then… then I ought to go over and properly thank him. Back then, if it weren’t for…”
“There’s no need, Mom.” Lin Shuxue softly cut off the latter half of the sentence her mother was about to utter. “He doesn’t remember anymore.”
The memories inside her mind inverted and rolled backward, returning once again to that small path shrouded in night where Jiang Zong had escorted her back to her dormitory.
In the end, she hadn’t been able to restrain herself, taking advantage of the dim streetlights and the faint moonlight to stare at the light-colored scar on the corner of Jiang Zong’s brow for a very long time.
Sensing Lin Shuxue’s gaze, he had arched his brow. “Are you just that infatuated with this face of mine?”
Lin Shuxue had ignored his teasing, using her finger to point at the location of her own brow corner as she asked softly, “Jiang Zong, what happened to you right here?”
The sparse fragments of moonlight illuminated the eyes beneath the boy’s long eyelashes—eyes in which it was hard to find a shred of sincerity. It was as if he was blank for a fleeting instant, his brow knitting slightly, before it dissolved away like the early autumn night wind.
“Forgot.” He had lifted his jaw carelessly, his smiling eyes hazy. “Must have been left behind from some day I got into a street fight with someone.”
As Jiang Zong spoke, he hadn’t forgotten to tilt his head to cast a couple of glances at Lin Shuxue, drawing out his words: “You know how it is. For delinquents like us, getting injured is a regular occurrence.”
Hearing this, Mother Lin let out a dull noise, abandoning her movement just as she was about to stand up. She carefully peeked at her daughter’s expression.
The events of that year had always been a thorn buried deeply in her heart. If she hadn’t been overly absorbed in her own internal world and neglected the care of her daughter, how could she have caused her to suffer that kind of misery?
Fortunately, a great disaster had not been brewed, and the true face of that scumbag had been recognized in time. It was just that when facing Lin Shuxue, she couldn’t help but feel a few layers of irremediable guilt in her heart.
Lin Shuxue spent the entire afternoon shopping with her mother, accompanying her to try on several new outfits.
Like a child, Mother Lin would finish changing each piece and ask the two of them with a smile if it looked good, even having Uncle Qi help her make the choices. Uncle Qi smiled as he praised her beauty, stating that every single piece of clothing suited her perfectly, and even beckoned the server to purchase all of them.
Standing to the side, Lin Shuxue felt like the top of her head was glowing brightly, exactly like a lightbulb. Yet within her heart, she felt genuinely happy for her mother.
After confirming multiple times that her mother did not require her companionship, Lin Shuxue returned to the school.
The National Day plan she had mentioned to Meng Shuyin and the others a few days ago wasn’t a joke; she truly intended to work on this news article assignment for the editing and interviewing class.
This assignment wasn’t a mandatory item, but the lead mentor of the editing and interviewing major was a famous big shot in the journalism industry. He had mentioned that he could help them revise the drafts they submitted, and would even assist them in contacting newspaper agencies for submission. Lin Shuxue’s heart stirred slightly; she didn’t want to let this opportunity slip away.
Therefore, she didn’t return to the dormitory, choosing instead to go to the university library.
The Hua’an University Library had become exceptionally intelligent after undergoing an upgrade last year. Students only needed to find an empty seat to reserve on a specialized app, allowing them to claim a seat in advance.
As she walked along the road, Lin Shuxue conveniently booked a spot near the journalism category books and periodicals. It was a large square table designed for four people. Lin Shuxue checked to confirm that this table currently had only one person utilizing it. She checked the box for the seat along the diagonal line on the app to select her reservation.
However, by the time she finished selecting her books from the shelves and followed the signs to locate the seat she had reserved, a splash of deep blue clothing entered her vision.
Lin Shuxue couldn’t help but knit her brows slightly.
This “tablemate” of hers who had his head lowered along the diagonal line—how did the clothes on his body look more and more familiar the more she stared?
The other party had presumably also heard the commotion, lifting his sight away from the heavy pages of the book.
The moment their eyes locked, Lin Shuxue’s movement of pulling out her chair froze right on the spot.
She saw the other party using his arm to prop up half of his face, accentuating a sharp, distinct jawline, while a trace of a bantering smile cut across his pitch-black pupils.
Jiang Zong suppressed his throat. His volume, which was nearly down to a breathy tone, couldn’t mask the lazy, tired cadence unique to his voice as it drifted lowly into her ear.
“Don’t tell me…”
“You’re secretly stalking me?”