Not just their three dorm rooms were planning to watch the flag-raising ceremony.
When they arrived at Tianann, there were noticeably more people than yesterday.
They even unexpectedly ran into Miao Hongqi and her roommates.
After the flag-raising ceremony, the crowd in the square lingered for a long ti, university students from all corners of the country chatted and debated with unrestrained enthusiasm.
Lin Nianhe said to the girls from Dorm 208, "I need to go ho for a bit and also do so shopping. What are your plans for roaming around?"
Zhou Li responded, "You go ahead with your errands, we will just wander around and then head back to campus."
"Alright, make sure you don’t catch the wrong bus on your way back."
"Don’t worry."
Lin Nianhe explained several routes to them before departing for the courtyard with Wang Shui and Wen Lan.
Besides bike tickets, Comrade Old Lin had also thoughtfully left them so industrial coupons and cloth tickets in an envelope on the coffee table.
Lin Nianhe grabbed the tickets and, taking her two companions, headed straight for the Cooperative Society inside the courtyard.
The Cooperative Society here had a broader selection of goods than outside; besides bicycles, they also bought vanishing cream, soap, and two sets of clothes.
On their way back, they passed Tianann where there were even more people than before.
Under the dormitory building was a bike shed. They parked their bikes, and the three were happily discussing what to eat for lunch when their smiles suddenly froze.
Underneath the girls’ dormitory, Sun Guanghui was standing under a tree, staring intently at Wang Shui.
"Shui..."
He stepped forward cautiously and called out, "Can we talk?"
Wang Shui pursed her lips slightly and nodded, "Let’s find another place."
Next to Unnad Lake, Wang Shui and Sun Guanghui stood side by side.
After a long silence, Sun Guanghui finally said, "Don’t mind my mother. She never knows how to speak properly."
"Huh." Wang Shui did not expect that Sun Guanghui had pondered for half a month only to say this. She asked impatiently, "Are you asking to forgive her?"
"No, no, that’s not what I an..." Sun Guanghui’s face turned red with anxiety, struggling to articulate his thoughts.
"So what do you an?" Wang Shui turned to look at him.
"I, I..." Sun Guanghui furrowed his brow and said earnestly, "Shui, I don’t care what your parents are like. I, I... what I like is you..."
"Can you convince your parents not to care either?" Wang Shui asked again.
"This... this is our business, what does it have to do with them..."
Behind a tree ten ters away, Lin Nianhe, squatting and eavesdropping, was utterly dumbfounded.
Wen Lan’s chin rested on her crown, sweating anxiously, "Hezi, what did he say?"
"He said that his relationship with Sister Shui is their own business, and it has nothing to do with his parents," Lin Nianhe honestly relayed.
The next second, she heard a duet:
"How can it have nothing to do with them?"
"How can it have nothing to do with them?"
The last sliver of a smile at the corner of Wang Shui’s mouth also faded away.
"Sun Guanghui, don’t be so naive. Marriage has never been just about two people." She said, with a hint of tears shimring in her eyes, "You couldn’t possibly abandon your parents for , and I’m not willing to belittle myself."
If she were a naive young girl inexperienced in the ways of the world, she might have felt moved by these words and impulsively committed to a secret engagent.
But she was Wang Shui.
Ever since she was young, she struggled with her stepmother, worked on relationships with neighbors, and saw through the ways of the world ten years ago.
Not related?
When he likes you, everything is unrelated;
When he stops liking you or doesn’t like you that much, you beco the perpetrator who caused the estrangent between him and his mother.
"It’s not, you..."
Sun Guanghui’s brows tightened, probably still not understanding why Wang Shui insisted on involving his parents in what was ostensibly a matter between the two of them.
Wang Shui looked at him, her mory dragged back to that year in front of the brigade office.
Back then, Sun Guanghui plucked a Virginia creeper leaf for her to wipe her tears, and emphasized very seriously that he was not stupid.
Is he not stupid?
He really was quite stupid.
Stupid enough to give up the chance to be a village school teacher, stupid enough to believe that love could overlook prejudice.
He would never know that his mother’s words had stabbed Wang Shui in the most painful spot in her heart—
Chen Daya had spoken to her with the sa attitude countless tis.
But Chen Daya thought that feeding her and her two siblings was a benevolence, while Mrs. Sun felt that Sun Guanghui being with her was a charity.
She wanted neither anyone’s benevolence nor anyone’s charity.
Her sensitive pride, Sun Guanghui probably would never understand.
"That silly girl, did she cry?" Wen Lan pointed at Lin Nianhe’s head with her chin, "Should I go beat up that mope for you?"
"No, don’t you move." Lin Nianhe stood up and grabbed Wen Lan’s hand, "Sister Shui can handle it well."
Others might not be able, but she is Wang Shui, the Wang Shui who could deftly handle negotiations with foreign businessn on her first try.
She trusted her.
Wang Shui took a deep breath, and the glint of tears in her eyes faded away, her back straightened.
"Sun Guanghui, thank you for your care these past two years," she said, "However, I think we are not suited to continue dating, let’s just be ordinary friends from now on."
"Shui!"
Sun Guanghui’s voice rose.
"This really was just an accident, I’ll never let you go to my house again, okay?"
Wang Shui gently smiled: "Indeed, I will never go to your house ever again."
Her emphasis was on the words "your house."
It seed that at this mont Sun Guanghui belatedly realized that he, and his ho, would never be separable.
Wang Shui took two steps back, waved her hand gently at him.
"Goodbye, Comrade Sun Guanghui."
She turned around and left first, the early spring wind rushed into her embrace, competing eagerly.
...
"Sister Shui, how about we find a place to have a drink?"
"izi, just say the word, and I’ll flip his skullcap right now."
"Don’t be angry, Sister Shui. What if I figure out a way to make our match factory take over their soda factory, and demote his dad from Deputy Factory Director to workshop manager?"
"If you think he doesn’t deserve death, I can just use a sack to beat him up for you!"
Wang Shui’s head buzzed.
She covered their mouths with one hand each: "I’m begging you two, shut up."
Lin Nianhe and Wen Lan blinked their innocent big eyes, looking at her in confusion.
Wang Shui sighed lightly and said, "It’s all in the past, I don’t owe him anything, he... let it be, it’s all over."
Sun Guanghui indeed turned in a blank paper during the village school teacher examination, but Wang Shui bought him a watch upon returning from Sui City—an expense that exceeded two years’ allowance of a village school teacher.
Wen Lan pulled down her hand, her eyes still filled with concern: "You’re not upset?"
Wang Shui spoke softly, "A little, but it’s nothing, I’ll get through it."
Lin Nianhe pressed on: "Then will you lose interest in your studies because of this?"
Wang Shui frowned slightly and looked at her as if she were a fool: "Of course not, my future is my own."
Lin Nianhe clutched her chest: "But I’ve been so worried about you, I can’t focus on my studies..."
Wang Shui: "...?"
"Sister Shui, can you help write an ’Admission Reflection’? It’s due tomorrow."
"Lin Nianhe, are you even human?"
"Hmm... how could I not be human...?"
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