Chapter Seventy-Four: As It Once Was

After hearing Zhao Kewen’s ruthless words, I scratched my head awkwardly. “If it wasn’t Luo Qiancheng, then who else could it be?”

Zhao Kewen seemed utterly convinced by my answer. She put both hands on my shoulders, her lovely eyes widening as she looked at me, and said very seriously, “Little brother, are you really stupid, or just pretending to be?”

I looked at her speechlessly, utterly baffled. Was there some obvious conclusion I had somehow missed?

“You’re beyond saving,” Zhao Kewen said, letting go of my shoulders and covering her face as she sighed and shook her head. “Anyone with a brain could tell it was your little sweetheart who did it!”

“Luo Qing?” I stared at Zhao Kewen blankly. It wasn’t that I couldn’t think of it; I simply hadn’t gone in that direction at all. Throughout the whole matter, I had instinctively treated both myself and Luo Qing as victims. I had been so preoccupied with worrying about her safety that I had forgotten she was no ordinary woman.

“Of course. Even if she doesn’t have the ability to do all that herself right now, she can always ask her rich, powerful old man to handle it, can’t she?” As she spoke, Zhao Kewen stood up, stretched lazily, yawned, and waved at me, preparing to leave.

Was it really Luo Qing who did this? I watched Zhao Kewen slowly make her way to the door and say goodbye to me, but all I could think about was Luo Qing. When I was alone in the hospital, gripped by panic, when I spent my days complaining that life here was far too boring, Luo Qing had been helping me with so many things behind the scenes. And yet all I could do was pray and miss her every day... In the end, it was my own inadequacy and ordinariness that had caused this helplessness.

“Hey!” Zhao Kewen’s voice suddenly came from the doorway, snapping me back to myself.

Seeing Zhao Kewen already at the door, frowning at me in dissatisfaction, I felt a little embarrassed and hurriedly said, “Take care, sis.”

Hearing my sudden remark, Zhao Kewen sighed at me. “I’m next door... and you’re telling me to take care? The moment you hear Luo Qing’s name, you lose your soul. Honestly, you’re hopeless!” With that, she slammed the door shut and left as though she could no longer bear the ordeal.

After turning off the light, I lay on the big bed, my mind still slowly untangling everything I had heard about Luo Qing, piecing together the details.

After lying there for a while, I finally felt a wave of drowsiness wash over me. I tossed my phone aside, pulled up the blanket, and soon fell deeply asleep.

Early the next morning, I was jolted awake by a ringing phone. Irritated, I answered without even checking who it was, pressing the button and muttering nothing in my groggy state.

“Yang Chen?”

“Mm...” Hearing that it wasn’t Luo Qing’s voice, I grew even less energetic. On top of being sleep-deprived, I couldn’t be bothered to say much at all.

“Still not awake?” This time I recognized Zhang Jiaxin’s voice clearly. I answered impatiently.

“Oh. Then you should rest well. Call me back when you wake up.” Zhang Jiaxin’s voice sounded a little hesitant, but in the end she didn’t say anything more.

“What’s wrong? Just say it.” I sighed inwardly. I couldn’t bear hearing that disappointed tone from Zhang Jiaxin. It had always been like this before: if she wanted something and I wouldn’t buy it for her, she would go about everything looking listless and miserable. Yet whenever I saw her like that, I had no choice but to give in.

Besides, I kept telling myself there was no need to be too hard on her. Especially after hearing what Zhao Kewen told me yesterday, I felt even more that Zhang Jiaxin’s life over the past year or so probably hadn’t been easy either. She must have gone through many things no one would have expected.

“It’s nothing. Go back to sleep.” Zhang Jiaxin’s voice suddenly turned a little gentle, which made me feel extremely uncomfortable.

“Say what it is first.” The more she acted like this, the less I could settle down.

“Oh... come out... and keep me company for breakfast,” Zhang Jiaxin said after some hesitation, her voice low.

“You’re kidding, right? Do you think this is back in school? You don’t even know where I live, and you want me to keep you company for breakfast?”

I was quite stunned by her bizarre train of thought. Was she treating this like our college days, when I’d wait for her downstairs at her dorm early in the morning?

“Then should I come find you?” Zhang Jiaxin seemed to realize that what she’d said was a bit unrealistic and thought about it before asking again.

“Forget it. I’m not eating breakfast. You eat by yourself.” With that, I was about to hang up and draw a clear line between Zhang Jiaxin and me. We were on different roads and could not walk the same path.

“Yang Chen, just this once, okay?” Zhang Jiaxin pleaded. “I feel terrible right now. I just want someone who can sit with me and let me talk about what’s in my heart. I really can’t find anyone except you!”

I thought about it. Actually, it made sense that Zhang Jiaxin would say she was feeling down. After all, Qi Tian was her boyfriend... but on second thought, that didn’t seem right either... Judging from how miserable Qi Tian had become, hadn’t she played a rather large part in it too?

“Come on, please!” Zhang Jiaxin began to coax me, and the sleepiness had already been completely driven away by this call. In the end, I could only agree helplessly, telling her I’d wash up and then take a taxi to find her.

To be honest, I was quite conflicted. On one hand, I didn’t want any more contact with Zhang Jiaxin, feeling as though I was letting Luo Qing down. On the other hand, I also thought my attitude was rather inexplicable. If I truly meant everything to Luo Qing with sincerity, then I shouldn’t be thinking such random nonsense. Excessive resistance only proved that I lacked confidence in this relationship. Besides, Zhang Jiaxin’s situation really didn’t seem optimistic. I truly couldn’t understand how a girl who hadn’t even finished college had the courage to report someone as cunning and malicious as that after years of struggle in society. Could it be that her own life had also been difficult? I really couldn’t bear to watch her endure so much pain all by herself.

After washing up and dressing myself properly, I took a taxi to the new district in the south of the city. Following the address Zhang Jiaxin had given me, I got out beside a pedestrian street. After walking for a while, I spotted Zhang Jiaxin standing not far away with her hands behind her back, looking around.

I greeted her and walked over with my hands in my pockets. When Zhang Jiaxin saw me, she ran up beside me in delight, and we strolled together down the pedestrian street.

What she wore today was pure and fresh, perfectly capturing the brightness and vitality of a college girl. On her head was a white knitted hat for women, leaving her two cute little ears exposed. Her pale pink autumn outfit was slim and fitted, beautifully highlighting her figure, and she had paired it with a pair of bright pink short leather boots, giving her a look that was both playful and somewhat composed.

“Just going out for breakfast, and you dressed up so beautifully...” I glanced her over, then deliberately turned my head away and refused to look at her.

“Of course. For you, it’s just a breakfast you can take or leave. For me, it’s something very important!” Zhang Jiaxin seemed to be in a good mood and said brightly as she walked beside me.

Hearing the way she spoke, as if there was some hidden meaning in it, I didn’t continue the subject and changed the topic instead. “Where should we eat? I don’t come to this area often...”

“No rush. Let’s walk around first.” Zhang Jiaxin didn’t seem hungry either, so she just strolled along with me at an unhurried pace.

The new district in the south of the city had only been built over the past year or so. Back in my college days, this place had still been a very backward area with nothing in it; it could even be said that the southern part of the city had dragged down the overall standing of Yichun. But now it looked like development was going well. The street had basically every kind of shop, and I even decided I should come here more often when I had time. Compared with the east and west districts, the air here was also better, with no large factories, pharmaceutical plants, or the like nearby.

“Yang Chen, look at this dress. It’s so beautiful!” Zhang Jiaxin seemed to instinctively take my hand and led me to a clothing store, admiring a white short coat behind the glass window.

Feeling the familiar warmth in my hand, I reacted as though I’d been shocked and quickly shook her off.

After I suddenly let go, Zhang Jiaxin’s body stiffened for an instant, but only for an instant before returning to normal. With her back to me, she walked to the glass window by herself and pressed close to it, looking at the clothes inside.

“But you wouldn’t really suit something like this.” I could say without exaggeration that no one understood better than I did which clothes looked good on Zhang Jiaxin and which didn’t. Because I liked her too much, I paid even more attention to the details.

“If you say it doesn’t look good, then it definitely doesn’t look good.” Zhang Jiaxin looked a little disappointed as she bit her lip, reluctantly leaving the display window and continuing onward.

I could only sigh helplessly inwardly. “Are you here to eat breakfast or not? It’s almost noon, you know...”

I took out my phone to check the time. It was already nine o’clock. Although I had delayed things for a long while, it still didn’t really affect the breakfast, but if we kept wandering like this, we truly wouldn’t need to eat it at all.

Zhang Jiaxin seemed not to care about time at all. She led me to one clothing shop after another, then to one fast-food restaurant after another, looking around but never buying anything, as though it were simply an outing for strolling.

“Let’s go take photos!” Zhang Jiaxin looked excitedly at the little photo studio ahead and called out to me, who was standing there looking listless. “They do sticker photos here. I haven’t taken any in ages!”

“No way!” Sticker photos and the like were usually just something for boys to accompany girls to, and besides, the sticker photos Zhang Jiaxin and I had taken before were already enough to cover an entire English textbook! Back then we were a couple, so even taking wedding photos would have been normal, but now we could at most be considered friends. There was no reason at all for us to take any.

“Fine...” Zhang Jiaxin sighed in disappointment, then walked forward in small steps, glancing back again and again at the little photo studio with obvious reluctance.

Looking at Zhang Jiaxin with her head lowered and saying nothing, I felt that I might be being too stingy. Since we were already out, then at the very least I should let everyone who went back feel happy... or at least let her be happy.

“Let’s go, but no taking too many.” I muttered under my breath.

“Yes! That’s great!” Zhang Jiaxin exclaimed, ran over to hug me, and then made a kissing gesture toward me through the air. Before I could push her away, she had already dashed into the photo studio.

Silently watching her cheerful figure, I had the illusion that I had somehow returned to the days when we were still together, when every day had been filled with such teasing and laughter, with neither worries nor so much pressure on our shoulders.

“What are you doing?” Seeing that I had stopped at the entrance to the studio without going in, Zhang Jiaxin grew anxious. “You promised! You’re not allowed to back out!”

“Tch... you little girl, you should try growing up a little...” I muttered, then opened the door and went inside.