Zhou Yaxian was about to say sothing else when she suddenly saw Ji Qingluan enter the cafe. Her gaze wandered around the shop, as if looking for soone. Zhou Yaxian then lifted the beaded curtain and raised her hand to greet her.
As Ji Qingluan walked in and was about to speak, she unexpectedly saw Su Mu sitting opposite Zhou Yaxian. She paused for a mont before speaking:
"I was passing by on my way ho and saw your car parked outside, so I ca over to say hello."
Zhou Yaxian smiled softly.
Ji Qingluan turned to look at Su Mu:
"Miss Su, long ti no see."
Su Mu nodded slightly:
"Hello, Miss Ji."
Zhou Yaxian: "Although there is a few years’ gap between you two, you look fairly close in age. It’s good to make more friends, and there’s no need to be so formal with each other in the future."
Ji Qingluan nodded, looking at Su Mu:
"Then I’ll just call you Su Mu from now on, and you can call Qingluan."
Su Mu smiled faintly, accepting the proposal.
Ji Qingluan’s arrival brought Zhou Yaxian and Su Mu’s conversation to an abrupt end. Su Mu’s mind was in turmoil, and she had no desire to stay any longer, so she stood up and left. Zhou Yaxian completely understood her feelings and did not try to keep her, only reminding her to be careful on the road and to let her know in advance if she planned to go to Portugal.
After Su Mu left, Ji Qingluan’s gaze remained on her for a long ti before she snapped back to reality. Zhou Yaxian saw this and smiled slightly:
"Why? Are you interested in Su Mu?"
Ji Qingluan smiled lightly: "No, it’s just that when I went to see Shaoyuan the day before yesterday, he told that Su Mu was no longer his teacher."
Even when facing Ji Qingluan, Zhou Yaxian couldn’t speak about the matter between Wen Han and Su Mu—it wasn’t a matter of trust, but the reputation of a woman. It was always better for one less person to know.
——
After leaving the coffee shop, Su Mu still chose to walk. She needed ti to think.
A few days ago, when she faced Fu Shinian’s indifference, she had guessed that he must have found out about her and Wen Han, but she had thought it was Ji Nanfeng who had told him, especially since Fu Shinian had started ignoring her calls after their encounter at the hospital.
When Fu Shinian threw those photos at her, Su Mu was shocked. It was the first ti she saw the intimate and ambiguous pictures of herself and Wen Han, photos so damning that even she couldn’t forgive herself. In that mont, all she cared about was Fu Shinian’s feelings, so she subconsciously ignored the fact that Wen Han had already destroyed the negatives long ago, never stopping to question or ask Fu Shinian where he’d gotten these photos from.
In the following days, she closed her ears and eyes to the matter, unwilling to think about it, which ant she never really considered these questions. Now, with Zhou Yaxian’s revelation, she finally realized she had been in a fog, being played by soone lurking in the shadows.
Perhaps they were raising their glasses in celebration, laughing at her stupidity.
She could accept defeat, accept the outco of being fooled. Loss was loss; there was nothing to be said about that. But she had to know the truth, to know who was behind the planning and execution of it all.
With this in mind, Su Mu imdiately opened her phone app and booked a flight to Portugal for that evening.
She had to find Chen Huifang; she had to know the truth.
——
When I brought Zhou Yaxian back ho, I unexpectedly found Wen Han also at ho, sitting with Wen Shaoyuan in the living room watching TV. The atmosphere was eerily quiet. Seeing Zhou Yaxian and Ji Qingluan arrive together, Wen Shaoyuan politely stood up from the sofa and greeted them. Although he was still a considerate child, sothing had changed; before, he would have run over joyfully at this ti.
Perhaps Su Mu’s departure really made him mature and grow up quite a bit.
Wen Han got up from the sofa, his gaze lingering briefly on her before he nodded slightly as a greeting. Ji Qingluan didn’t mind and sat down next to Wen Shaoyuan, chatting with him.
Zhou Yaxian intentionally left them so private space, gesturing for Wen Shaoyuan to accompany her upstairs. Obediently, Wen Shaoyuan stood up from his seat and courteously said goodbye to Ji Qingluan before leaving with Zhou Yaxian.
Only two people were left in the living room, yet neither spoke a word. Only the sound of SpongeBob’s voice ca continuously from the TV.
After an unknown amount of ti, Ji Qingluan was the first to break the silence:
"I saw Su Mu today."
Wen Han maintained his initial posture, but Ji Qingluan saw his fingers on his thigh twitch nervously. Even though he seed indifferent, his heart ultimately cared.
So the statent he told himself, "I will never fall in love with anyone again in this lifeti," wasn’t really credible at all.
Ji Qingluan laughed self-deprecatingly and looked at Wen Han:
"Do you really have to pretend not to care? Don’t you want to know what she said?"
"What could you possibly have to say to her."
"True, I’m not close to her, and we don’t have much to talk about. But when I saw her, she was sitting and having coffee with your mother."
At hearing this, Wen Han looked toward Ji Qingluan. It was clear he wanted to say sothing, but in the end, he remained silent. Ji Qingluan chuckled, her laughter thick with irony, unsure if she was mocking her own foolishness or Wen Han’s timidity.
She really wanted to keep her composure and wait for Wen Han to ask her, but at the sa ti, she knew very well that whether he asked or she told, the end result would be him finding out the answer. So did it make a difference who spoke first?
With this thought, Ji Qingluan spoke faintly:
"She said she’s going to Portugal."
"Portugal?"
"Yes. Although I don’t know exactly what she and your mother talked about, it seems they didn’t have much to discuss. The only mutual acquaintance now in Portugal is Wen Shaoyuan’s grandmother, right?"
Portugal, Chen Huifang... When these two keywords were connected, Wen Han instantly understood sothing. Without any hesitation, he stood up from the sofa, grabbed his coat from the armrest, and left straight away.
During this ti, he didn’t say a word.
Ji Qingluan sat alone in the living room, accompanied only by SpongeBob’s laughter, silently smiling.
She didn’t know if the way she loved soone was right or wrong. So say it is right because one day Wen Han will see how good she is, while others say it is wrong because such actions might forever prevent her from winning Wen Han’s heart.
Maybe both answers are possible, but she knew very clearly that she couldn’t pretend to be deaf and dumb when she knew what he cared about, what he liked.
It’s like when you’re walking down the street and suddenly see a dessert he likes; you can’t help but stop and buy so to take ho for him.
For Wen Han now, the news about Su Mu was the dessert he wanted.
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