Chapter 21
Two nights ago, Jin Chao was there before Jiang Mu went to bed, so she could still sleep peacefully. But tonight, she was alone in the dark car dealership, and when she looked up, she saw an empty repair room. She couldn’t help but feel uneasy. Fortunately, San Lai brought Lightning to accompany her.
Lightning was obedient. It didn’t cause trouble when Jiang Mu was answering the questions. It just lay on the table and slept with its legs spread out. Its little paws were still on her paper. She didn’t feel scared when she touched it from time to time.
When she went to bed at night, Jiang Mu put the dog mat that San Lai gave her next to the bed, and Lightning slept next to her under the bed, which comforted Jiang Mu.
But after turning off the lights and lying on the bed, she began to think about random things again. She wanted to send a message to Jin Chao to tell him that she was asleep, but then she thought, what if Jin Chao is not alone now? Would it be inconvenient for her to send it? If he is not alone, what should he be doing now?
Once this problem had started, it became uncontrollable, causing her dream that night to be full of Jin Chao. The strange thing was that, maybe because of the content of the conversation with San Lai at night, Jin Chao in the dream had no clothes on his upper body, standing outside this small room to clean the glass. She opened the blinds to see his waist, and a faceless woman hugged him from behind. Jin Chao threw down the rag and turned around to pick up the faceless woman horizontally and pressed her on the thing covered by the big tarpaulin.
The visual impact of the picture was so strong that Jiang Mu sat on the bed for a long time after waking up in the morning without regaining her senses. She thought she was a girl with simple thoughts and a pure heart. This was probably the first time in her entire girlhood that she had such a large-scale dream. The protagonists in the dream were actually Jin Chao and a faceless woman. The key point was that she was still very anxious in the dream, and kept trying to climb out of the window at the head of the bed to stop Jin Chao. As for why she wanted to stop him, she couldn’t explain it.
Lightning saw Jiang Mu getting up and excitedly shook her buttocks and lay on the bed begging for a pat. Jiang Mu exhaled and touched Lightning’s head. She stood up from the bed and opened the blinds to look outside. The sun hadn’t come out yet, and the backyard was dark. Of course, there was no Jin Chao in the dream who was naked and cleaning the glass. But just when she was about to let go, she suddenly found that the thing in the backyard that was originally covered by a large tarpaulin was gone. But she didn’t care too much. She yawned and got out of bed to change clothes.
Jin Chao didn’t come back for two days. In order not to be too conspicuous, Jiang Mu still refused San Lai’s kindness to pick her up, saying that it was convenient for her to take bus No. 6. But when she came back, San Lai was sitting at the door eating melon seeds. After watching her enter the car repair shop and lock the door, he moved the bench back to the store and called Jin Chao, “She’s home.”
Jin Chao said “hmm”.
San Lai asked, “When will you be back?”
“I want to check out the terrain, maybe it will take two days.”
That was Jin Chao’s plan, but plans couldn’t keep up with changes, because he received a call from Old Ma the next day.
During the evening self-study, class monitor Changjiang came in from the corridor holding a stack of notices and shouted with his eyes squeezed into a slit, “Old Ma asked you all to do the paper that morning. He is talking to someone and will come later.”
Someone in the front row asked, “Who is it?”
Class monitor Chang Jiang handed out the notice and replied, “How do I know? A young handsome guy.”
The words “handsome guy” successfully reached Yan Xiaoyi’s ears. After hearing this, she insisted on pulling Jiang Mu to the bathroom. Jiang Mu was internally resisting, but her strength was no match for Yan Xiaoyi’s. She was pulled up from her seat and dragged along. As soon as they left the classroom, Jiang Mu reminded her, “The bathroom isn’t this way.”
Yan Xiaoyi nonchalantly said, “Let’s take a walk, give our eyes a break, it’s good for your eyesight.”
Sure enough, they ended up at Old Ma’s office. The light in the office was on, and when they reached the door, they noticed that not only were they there, but a few passing students were also peeking inside. However, Yan Xiaoyi’s size was too large; when she stood there, even a pillar couldn’t block her, so Old Ma noticed them immediately and called out, “Yan Xiaoyi, what are you doing outside the study hall?”
The people nearby quickly ran off, and Jiang Mu also wanted to leave, but Yan Xiaoyi directly looped her arm around her and, smiling, said to Old Ma, “We’re just taking Jiang Mu to the bathroom.”
Jiang Mu was inexplicably dragged to the office door. She was about to force a cooperative smile, but then she suddenly saw Jin Chao sitting calmly on the black sofa next to Old Ma with his legs crossed.
At that moment, Jiang Mu’s face froze. She hadn’t expected Jin Chao, who had gone to another city, to return, and to her surprise, he was in Old Ma’s office. An ominous premonition immediately flooded her mind.
Sure enough, after Old Ma saw her, he said, “Yan Xiaoyi, go back to class. Jiang Mu, stay for a moment.”
Yan Xiaoyi innocently shrugged at Jiang Mu, then left. Jiang Mu took a few steps into the office. Jin Chao was still in the same posture, wearing a dark brown plaid shirt on top and greenish-gray cargo pants on the bottom. The muted colors made him look neat and minimalist, exuding a youthful aura. The only thing that set him apart from a high school student was the mature and steady gleam in his eyes, which now rested on Jiang Mu.
There was a disposable paper cup on the armrest of the sofa next to Jin Chao, and the tea inside was still steaming hot.
Jiang Mu unconsciously placed her hands in front of her, vigilantly staring at him. Seeing this, Old Ma said to Jiang Mu, “There’s nothing much. I understand if you don’t want to talk to me. I just want to have a word with your brother. You know, it’s best to discuss things with your family. Once you talk things out, it’s not a big deal. Go pack your things and head home early today.”
Jiang Mu obediently nodded. Jin Chao slowly got up from the sofa, took the disposable cup, drank the tea, casually squeezed it, and tossed it into the trash can, then turned to Old Ma and said, “I’ll be leaving now.”
Old Ma, probably intending to pat Jin Chao on the shoulder, found the height difference too much, so he patted his back instead, his tone full of helplessness, “You too, just disappear without a word. You don’t even come by to visit when there’s nothing going on.”
Jin Chao nodded silently, not saying anything more.
After leaving Old Ma’s office, Jin Chao originally intended to wait for her downstairs, but Jiang Mu told him, “Our class is over there. We have to go around from the front.”
Then, she suddenly remembered something and said, “You probably know the way better than I do. I need to grab something. Wait for me.”
Jin Chao had no choice but to accompany her back to the classroom. If it weren’t for Old Ma’s call today, if it weren’t for the girl beside him, he wouldn’t have thought of any reason to come back here. As he looked at the familiar school building, Jin Chao remained silent.
Jiang Mu tried several times to observe his expression, but there was no way to tell anything from his face. The two of them walked through the corridor in silence. When they passed by Class 1 of Grade 3, Zhang Fan, with his sharp eyes, spotted Jin Chao through the window and shouted loudly, “Brother Jiu!”
Jin Chao furrowed his brows and glanced over. His thick eyelashes shadowed his deep, cold eyes, and that glance immediately caused an uproar in the class. Many people pressed their faces against the window, asking Zhang Fan who that person was.
Zhang Fan, with a gleam in his eye, said, “He’s the legendary Touqi! You guys really are clueless, you don’t know anything. He was in the same class as my brother!”
With his exaggerated elaboration, within ten minutes, the news spread throughout Class 1, and quickly circulated in several group chats.
So, when Jiang Mu returned to her classroom, there were already a number of people in both Class 5 and Class 6 peering in. She methodically folded the papers on her desk and placed them neatly in her bag. Jin Chao stood just outside the back door of Class 6. The corridor lights were dim, and his figure blended into the half-darkness, tall and straight.
Yan Xiaoyi couldn’t resist taking another look and asked Jiang Mu, “Do you know him?”
Jiang Mu nodded and said, “I’m leaving now. Old Ma knows.”
She then glanced at Jin Chao, who stood quietly outside the door, his hands resting on the railing, gazing into the distance. A familiar feeling suddenly welled up in her chest.
When she was younger, Jin Chao always finished school later than she did. Jiang Mu remembered that for a period of time, when Jiang Yinghan was busy with work, she would often do her homework at school while waiting for Jin Chao to finish. If she finished early, she would carry her bag and wait for him at the back door of his classroom.
At that time, his homeroom teacher was a Chinese teacher who often liked to run overtime. Once, during a class meeting, the teacher used the time to go over test papers. The bell rang for a long time without being dismissed, and Jin Chao suddenly stood up in front of the whole class and asked, “When is class over?”
The teacher, caught off guard by the question, looked at him and said, “What’s your rush? Don’t you see everyone’s paying attention? Do you have something urgent at home?”
Jin Chao casually slung his bag over his shoulder and replied flatly, “My sister’s still waiting for me. She’ll get hungry.”
Then, in front of the whole class, he opened the back door, took Jiang Mu’s hand, and walked out.
That moment left a deep impression on Jiang Mu’s young heart. As a child, she viewed her teachers with respect, mixed with a bit of fear. But Jin Chao, in that instance, stood up to the teacher for her, something that seemed so brave to her at the time—almost like a hero.
But the tables had turned. She never imagined that one day, Jin Chao would be standing at the back door of her classroom waiting for her to finish school.
As she packed her things, her movements became lighter. Slinging her bag over her shoulder, she walked out the back door. Pan Kai, in a hurry, called out to her, “Jiang Jiang, you…”
Before Pan Kai could finish his sentence, Jin Chao turned around. His gaze swept over him with a cold, distant look. At that moment, Pan Kai’s mind went blank, and he completely forgot what he had wanted to say to Jiang Mu.
Jin Chao casually grabbed the strap of her bag from her shoulder and spoke to her, “Is there something else?”
Pan Kai waved his hand in a daze, “No, no, nothing. Bye, Jiang Jiang.”
Jin Chao turned and walked away, taking Jiang Mu with him, leaving behind a group of bewildered onlookers.
As they passed by Class 5 of Grade 2, Jin Chao glanced casually at the physics teacher standing at the podium. The teacher was speaking passionately, but when he saw Jin Chao’s figure passing by the window, his voice suddenly faltered. Jin Chao lowered his head and quickened his pace. Jiang Mu, walking behind him, glanced back at the middle-aged teacher, whose eyes were fixed on Jin Chao’s retreating figure, filled with a mix of shock and confusion.
As they descended the stairs, Jiang Mu asked, “Does that teacher know you?”
Jin Chao gave a faint “Mm.”
When they passed a display case, Jiang Mu tugged on his arm. Jin Chao slowed his pace, and she turned to point at a photo of the relay race from the sports meeting, asking him, “Did you win in the end?”
Jin Chao’s gaze followed her finger to the photo. His usual calm demeanor was stirred by the image in the picture. Jiang Mu turned her head to look at him, and for just a second, his gaze returned to normal as he said, “I forgot.”
He began walking toward the other end of the corridor, and the darkness of the evening seemed to envelop the campus, burying all the youthful passion and struggles of those years.
Jiang Mu watched his retreating figure and thought to herself that his heart must not be at peace. This place was a crossroads in his life, a point where he had to stop just as he was about to step into the threshold of the highest university. No one could face such a moment with ease.
Jiang Mu suddenly thought about how every time Jin Chao came to high school, he always wore a hat and hid in the inconspicuous street across the road. Was it because he feared being recognized and causing trouble, or was it that he simply didn’t want to face everything here?
Her heart tightened suddenly, and without thinking much, she sprinted a few steps to catch up with him. She grabbed the sleeve of his jacket. Jin Chao lowered his head and looked at her hand tightly gripping his sleeve. Jiang Mu turned her head away and mumbled, “I’m afraid I’ll fall, let me hold on to you.”
She wasn’t sure why she felt the urge to hold onto him, but seeing his lone figure, she didn’t want to let go of him at this moment.