Su Ran came out again, holding a hand-filled check for three million.
She walked as if she were a living corpse.
The hand holding the check was still trembling slightly.
She… had agreed.
…
On the other side.
Jiang Nanshu brought Xu Xi and Yan Yidan to the bar.
Due to Jiang Nanshu being a married person, they dared not order male models.
They only ordered lots of drinks.
Yan Yidan raised an eyebrow, “It’s really quite rare for you to ask us out for drinks. I was actually dealing with documents, but now I’m here to accompany you.”
Xu Xi shrugged her shoulders, “Good thing I’m off today, otherwise it would’ve been out of the question.”
Jiang Nanshu lifted her glass, “Stop the nonsense, let’s drink.”
The three clinked glasses and downed their drinks in one go.
Xu Xi wasn’t good with alcohol, and after just one glass, she felt dizzy.
She shook her head, “I can’t do this anymore, I can’t keep up. You drink with Sister Yan, I need to take a break.”
Yan Yidan looked at her with disdain, “Look at you, down after just one glass.”
Xu Xi muttered, “I’ve never really drunk before. If it weren’t for Jiangjiang being in a bad mood, I wouldn’t have come with you guys. I just told Jiashu that I’m at the bar, and he scolded me for no reason, it made me so angry.”
Yan Yidan looked at her with a half-smile, “Why are you telling Yang Jiashu about us drinking anyway?”
Xu Xi was also puzzled, “He kept asking me, and after he annoyed me enough, I just told him.”
“Oh~~~” Yan Yidan drew out her words, “Why doesn’t he bother me instead, always pestering you.”
Xu Xi was taken aback, clutching her hair, “Right, why does he only know to bother me! Doesn’t he know that love is supposed to be shared equally!”
Yan Yidan: “…”
If she were Yang Jiashu, she’d have broken down by now.
Xu Xi really was clueless.
She shook her head and looked at Jiang Nanshu, who was drinking in silence, feeling a headache coming on, “What’s going on with you? Did Lu Qingyan make you angry?”
Jiang Nanshu didn’t know what to say and replied to Yan Yidan, “It’s nothing, let me sort out my thoughts, and maybe it’ll become clear.”
Yan Yidan: “…”
One was woozy, and the other was drinking in silence.
Their minds were slower than each other’s.
She remained silent.
Xu Xi wore a gloomy face, “What to do, what to do, Yang Jiashu is coming over, what’s he up to?”
Yan Yidan coolly looked at her, “That’s what you get for running your mouth, solve it yourself.”
Xu Xi obviously said something, and she let out a sigh of relief, “I finally convinced him not to come. Let’s continue our conversation.”
“Hey, Jiangjiang, drink less, why are you going at it so hard?”
Xu Xi was startled when she saw that Jiang Nanshu had almost finished a whole bottle by herself.
But Jiang Nanshu paid them no mind.
Xu Xi could only turn her attention to Yan Yidan, “What’s wrong with her?”
Yan Yidan swirled the wine in her glass, “It’s definitely because of her hubby at home. They’re having a conflict and neither is willing to back down, that’s why.”
“What should we do now?” Xu Xi asked anxiously.
Yan Yidan replied at a leisurely pace, “Just wait until she figures it out.”
After what felt like ages, Jiang Nanshu was halfway drunk.
She turned her head to Yan Yidan, “Sister Yan, tell me, why does he just not trust me? No matter how much I tell him I won’t leave him, he doesn’t believe me. He monitors me, knows where I am and what I’m doing all the time. I’m not his prisoner, why does he treat me like this?”
“It takes the person who tied the bell to untie it,” Yan Yidan replied nonchalantly, watching Jiang Nanshu, “Nannan, have you really made the effort to understand Lu Qingyan?”
Jiang Nanshu’s hand gripping the glass paused, and she looked at Yan Yidan with a dazed expression.
Understand Lu Qingyan?
They had known each other for so long, what more was there to understand?
Before she left, they got along quite well.
Seeing Jiang Nanshu like this, Yan Yidan also felt helpless.
She was completely in a state of panic, and maybe she didn’t even understand why herself.
Yan Yidan had come specifically for Jiang Nanshu, but she now felt that Lu Qingyan’s love for Jiang Nanshu was something their friends couldn’t compare to.
He had placed her first in his life.
Always had.
Yan Yidan thought for a bit and still spoke up, “Every year on your birthday, fireworks fill the sky in Beijing. He celebrated for you year after year, bought you gifts you liked. During those five years you lay in a coma, he visited the hospital to be with you every day, never missing a single day. Once, he was in a car accident because he was two hours late to see you, and he kept apologizing to you, even though you couldn’t hear at all. The doctors said that talking to you more could help hasten your recovery of consciousness, so he repeated your beautiful memories over and over; I got tired of hearing it, but he never grew weary.”
Jiang Nanshu’s grip on her wine glass tightened.
She had no idea…
Lu Qingyan had never told her.
Yan Yidan sighed, although she really didn’t want to say it, she felt she had to; the way the two of them were hard-headed was just too distressing.
“Nannan, have you ever seriously prepared a gift for his birthday, or remembered what he likes, cared about his daily schedule, paid attention to changes in his mood, or have you pushed him further away in your fits of anger? You can’t accept that he protects you in his way, just like you don’t have the patience to truly understand him, what he needs, you probably have no idea, not to mention your past romance…” Yan Yidan laughed softly: “The love you had with him in the past seems like it was just him being stubborn, always proactive, with you always on the reactive side, waiting for him to come to you.”
“You knew he wouldn’t leave you, but he was unsure whether you would leave him, just like back then, we had no idea why you left so resolutely, and verbal promises can’t produce trust.”
Yan Yidan got to this point.
Then she saw Jiang Nanshu bow her head in silence.
In her eyes, Jiang Nanshu was also a stubborn little girl.
Listening to Yan Yidan’s words, Jiang Nanshu seemed somewhat lost.
She had been asleep for five years, and he had been with her for five years, talking to her for five years?
Sadly, she hadn’t heard him.
Because she didn’t want to dream about him, didn’t want to hear him talk, just seeing him made her feel guilty.
She didn’t want useless emotions to disturb her mind, so she had always taken sleeping pills to fall into a deep sleep, so she wouldn’t dream.
Without sleeping pills, she would always dream about Lu Qingyan, which troubled her.
In their past relationship, Jiang Nanshu just wanted to complete a task, she never truly accepted him, and even acted duplicitously, thinking of deceiving his emotions.
But somehow, she found herself getting irked by things relating to Lu Qingyan, she didn’t want to delve into those feelings, instead wishing to rid herself of them.
Those happy façades were just… an act.
Jiang Nanshu swayed to her feet, “I’d like to be alone for a bit, I’m going to leave now.”
“Jiangjiang…” Xu Xi wanted to follow.
Yan Yidan held back Xu Xi, “Let her think things through, she’ll be alright.”
Xu Xi looked worried.
Jiang Nanshu wandered the streets, with the dim lights and noisy crowds around her, but she was detached from the bustle.
She was alone among the crowd.
Until she walked past a jewelry store.
Only then did she touch the ring on her ring finger that she had discarded.
As if possessed, she entered the store and carefully selected from the rings at the counter.
She realized she didn’t even know what ring size Lu Qingyan wore.
In the end, Jiang Nanshu still bought a pair of rings, including one that wasn’t the right fit for Lu Qingyan.
With a heavy head and exhaustion overtake her, she sat down at the roadside; her birthday gift for Lu Qingyan was that instance of turning a blind eye, a gift that left his heart dead.
Only, Lu Qingyan was so foolish. Even after she treated him like this, he still wanted to marry her.
Tears fell onto the ring box in her hands.
Gathering more and more.
Jiang Nanshu clumsily wiped them away.
A figure stood before her and crouched down, silently wiping away her tears with a tissue.
Jiang Nanshu looked up to see Lu Qingyan’s handsome face.
Her eyes couldn’t help but feel the sting.
“Nannan, let’s go home, it’s already so late.”
Jiang Nanshu handed out the ring, “I bought a ring, but I don’t know your size, it might not fit.”
Lu Qingyan looked down and slowly took it, “It will definitely fit.”
He took out the ring and placed it in Jiang Nanshu’s hand, smiling at her, “Could you put it on for me?”