Chapter 45: Someone Looking in the Mirror
TL: Etude
“Hong Yan, Jiang Qin has liked me from the beginning. Why must you compete with me for him?” Chu Siqi was the first to speak, her eyes filled with resentment.
Hong Yan slowly raised her head. “He doesn’t like you, and even if he did, you’re not worthy of his affection.”
Wang Huiru’s mind went blank. She couldn’t believe the usually gentle Hong Yan could say such a thing. “Hong Yan, calm down.”
“Am I wrong? Chu Siqi, what do you want to do? Have him continue liking you, reject him again, and derive satisfaction from it?”
Chu Siqi’s breath hitched, her face turning pale in an instant. “You’re talking nonsense. I didn’t.”
Hong Yan looked at Wang Huiru. “Huiru, you know many things better than I do. Who do you think is spouting nonsense?”
Wang Huiru pursed her lips, silent for a long time. “I don’t know, I don’t understand anything.”
“Even you’re afraid to speak the truth. It means Chu Siqi is beyond help.”
“Hong Yan, don’t twist the facts. Jiang Qin has liked me since the first year of high school!” Chu Siqi gritted her teeth.
Hong Yan looked at her calmly. “So, what did that bring you? Do you like him?”
“I…”
“You just enjoy the feeling of being pursued, right? Selfish, vain, foolish.”
Hong Yan’s words were sharp like a knife, instantly draining the color from Chu Siqi’s face.
She couldn’t understand how she, having changed into her most beautiful and sexy clothes and applied attractive makeup, could not withstand a few words from the other party.
On this weekend, South Street was crowded with people dining out. The tables around Jiang Qin’s, and those further away, with about a dozen people, all stared at Jiang Qin’s table, wondering why so many beauties were surrounding a man who seemed quite ordinary.
“Hong Yan, you’ve only met Jiang Qin twice. You don’t really understand him.”
Hong Yan’s lips curved slightly. “Does that matter? I have plenty of time to understand him, since I won’t waste my time flirting with seniors.”
Chu Siqi’s eyes widened in shock. “How can you distort the truth? There was a problem with my student record. What was I supposed to do?”
“Really?”
Hong Yan reached into her purse, pulled out a BuBuGao phone, opened a message, and showed one of them.
“Junior sister, there’s an issue with your student record. Can we talk about it sometime?”
Chu Siqi’s eyes widened as she stared for a long time, then compared it with the message on her phone. It was exactly the same!
“I also received his message, but I didn’t go because I knew he was just looking for an excuse. Don’t you understand?”
“I…”
After putting her phone back in her bag, Hong Yan calmly looked at Chu Siqi. “You’re not dumb, you’re just pretending to be. You hoped for more people to pursue you, to feel proud. That’s why you pretended not to know Zheng Qinglong’s intentions, acting innocent.”
Chu Siqi felt extremely wronged. “I didn’t. I didn’t think about it at the time. I had issues with my student record in high school. You’re wrongly accusing me.”
“Stop acting innocent. It’s really annoying.”
Si Huiying couldn’t stand it anymore. “Hong Yan, we are sisters from the same dormitory. Just for a worthless man, is it worth it?”
Worthless man???
Jiang Qin’s brows furrowed. He thought to himself, from the beginning to the end, he had been trying hard to make money and not dating. How did he become a worthless man?
For two lifetimes, it was his first time receiving such a “honor.”
But Si Huiying, once she started, didn’t seem to plan on stopping, and directly turned her accusations towards Jiang Qin.
“Sitting here without a word, do you feel honored to see two women fighting over you? Do you enjoy this feeling?”
“Our dorm was harmonious, but because of you, it’s filled with mutual hostility. Do you still have the face to sit here and eat?”
“If you like Siqi, just keep liking her. She said she’d give you a chance. Why provoke Hong Yan and play two-timing games?”
Jiang Qin looked up at her, thinking, why should I explain myself to a stranger?
As Si Huiying noticed Jiang Qin’s silence, she became even more aggressive, her words sharper.
“Why don’t you say anything?”
“You’re right, I have nothing to say.”
Jiang Qin opened another bottle of beer, pouring it into four glasses. “If you’re tired of arguing, have something to eat. After this drink, let’s all forget each other and move on.”
Si Huiying scoffed disdainfully. “Forget just like that? Our dorm’s relationship is ruined because of you. Don’t you think you should take responsibility?”
“Four is too many. The law doesn’t allow me to be responsible for that.”
At that moment, a piercing scream rang out from the middle of South Street, making everyone tremble and turn their heads toward the sound.
A boy in a white T-shirt was kneeling on the road, wailing, surrounded by scattered roses, their stems broken and disheveled.
In front of the kneeling boy, a girl with flaxen hair looked at him in shock, her arm around another boy, panic in her eyes.
“Tang Xiaoyan, I’ve loved you for five whole years, five years!”
“From the first year of high school to the second year of college, I thought I would eventually win your heart. You always encouraged me, saying you’d be with me if you felt the same. I believed you!”
“I came here full of hope after a night on a long-distance bus, only to find you strolling with someone else?”
“I don’t blame you for not liking me, but why did you say last night you couldn’t resist being with me?”
“Is this how you repay my five years of youth?”
“Tang Xiaoyan, I’ve chased you for five years. Everyone knows I like you, even my mother!”
“Ah!!!”
In his agonized scream, the entire street fell into a profound silence.
The girl seemed to curse him as a lunatic, then slammed her bag into the boy’s face. He didn’t even try to dodge, only offering a bitter smile.
Jiang Qin, witnessing this scene, felt bewildered. “I came out just to eat, who’s holding up a mirror to me?”
Chu Siqi stared at the kneeling boy, feeling an unexpected tightness in her chest.
“Five years is quite dedicated, and the boy is not bad-looking. I wonder if the girl will regret it…”
“No, she won’t.”
Si Huiying looked up sharply at Jiang Qin, her expression turning cold. “Who asked you? A worthless man has no right to speak!”
Jiang Qin wiped his mouth with a napkin, his gaze calmly settling on the flaxen-haired girl. “She’ll never regret it. She won’t even realize she had the chance for the best love. If that guy can be taken for granted like this, it shows the girl has no sense of truly beautiful things. Such a heavenly opportunity won’t come twice. But don’t worry, having encountered such a girl, that guy will never be hurt by love again.”
The four beauties from the law department stared at him, speechless for a moment.
Especially Si Huiying, who seemed stunned, unable to understand how a worthless man could speak so profoundly.
Wang Huiru, as an outsider, saw things more clearly. She felt Jiang Qin had matured to a point where he could see through everything, making discussions of love seem particularly naive in his presence.
What they didn’t know was that Jiang Qin saw his past self at that moment. He too had repeatedly questioned where he went wrong, never receiving an answer.
He felt a heaviness in his heart, perhaps only comforted by Feng Nanshu’s tender little feet.
“Love, it’s not even worth discussing.”
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