Chapter 18
Jin Chao was wearing a black hoodie and a cap, looking down at his phone, the brim of the cap covering his entire face. If it weren’t for the message he sent to Jiang Mu, his figure would have almost blended with the streetlamp pole, making it hard for anyone to notice him.
When Jiang Mu saw Jin Chao, she couldn’t help but smile slightly and then walked toward him.
Pan Kai noticed that Jiang Mu wasn’t heading toward the bus station and quickly followed her.
Jin Chao didn’t lift his gaze, but when Jiang Mu stopped in front of him, he finally put his phone away, raised his eyelids, and looked at her. His eyes had become sharper than when he was younger, and wherever his gaze landed, the surrounding air seemed to stir, causing Jiang Mu’s emotions to be subtly affected by his look.
With a smile she couldn’t hide, she asked, “What are you doing here?”
“Just passing by.”
After he spoke, his eyes flicked to the side, and Pan Kai, who had caught up, tugged at Jiang Mu’s school uniform sleeve and asked, “Aren’t you going to take the bus?”
Jin Chao’s gaze shifted to the school uniform sleeve that Pan Kai had tugged at and slowly said three words, “Take your hand off.”
The natural tone in his voice immediately sets up a psychological defense in Pan Kai.
Jiang Mu felt that Jin Chao had enough authority to stop others from touching her school uniform, so she quickly pulled her hand back. Her action left Pan Kai even more surprised, and he turned to look at Jin Chao, asking Jiang Mu with a sideways glance, “Who is he?”
Jiang Mu turned her head, stared at Pan Kai for two seconds, then leaned over and whispered in his ear, “Touqi.”
After hearing those two words, Pan Kai’s pupils instantly shook, and he stared at Jin Chao with a ghostly expression.
Jin Chao’s gaze returned to Jiang Mu’s face, carrying a suffocating sense of pressure. Jiang Mu obediently walked in front of him and said, “Let’s go.”
Then the two of them disappeared at the intersection, leaving Pan Kai, still standing there with a dazed look, caught in the wind, utterly disoriented.
After walking a few steps, Jin Chao casually turned back, his narrow eyes carrying a hint of coldness. Pan Kai shivered all over, feeling completely unsettled.
Jiang Mu noticed that Jin Chao wasn’t riding his motorcycle or driving, so she curiously asked, “Did Tie Gongji ride his motorcycle home today?”
Jin Chao stuffed his hands in his pockets and replied, “What’s wrong?”
Jiang Mu carefully probed, “Why don’t you get a motorcycle?”
Jin Chao’s eyes showed no sign of change, only returning the question with, “Didn’t you have enough of it this morning?”
Jiang Mu recalled the high-speed ride from that morning, and to be honest, she thought next time it might be easier just to arrive late. She hesitated for a while before saying, “Not exactly…”
Jin Chao walked with Jiang Mu along a small path, thinking it was a good chance to talk to her about how relationships might interfere with studies.
Jiang Mu had been at the high school for almost a month, but many of the paths still felt unfamiliar. Seeing how Jin Chao seemed to know his way around even in the dark, she couldn’t help but ask, “You’re very familiar with this area, aren’t you?”
“It’s hard not to be.”
“So, what do you usually do in these alleys?”
Jiang Mu’s original intention was to comment that these alleys seemed to have nothing in them—dark, with no streetlights, not even a milk tea shop in sight—but as the words left her mouth, she felt a bit awkward.
Sure enough, Jin Chao spoke up, “What do you think I’m doing in these alleys?”
As soon as he finished speaking, a pair of high school students appeared ahead, with the boy pinning the girl against the wall in a “wall slam.” The two were caught up in their own world, kissing passionately. Jiang Mu froze, even stopping her steps. Jin Chao paused for a moment as well, cleared his throat, and the two high schoolers, hearing the noise, glanced over at them before walking off into another alley.
Jiang Mu’s expression became slightly uncomfortable. Jin Chao glanced at her, saying, “In the past, when people had conflicts, they’d come here to settle things. What are you thinking about?”
Actually, Jin Chao had been a fighter since he was little. When he was a child, he often fought with boys his age in front of his house. Though it was just kids playing around, every time he beat someone to tears, he never shed a single drop of his own. The adults around their neighborhood always thought Jin Chao was in the wrong, and as a result, he often got scolded by Jiang Yinghan.
There was one time when she and Jin Chao were downstairs poking at a snail with a stick, and a boy from the building next door started throwing stones at Jin Chao. At first, Jin Chao ignored him, but the boy kept at it. One of the small stones, coated with rain-soaked mud, hit Jiang Mu’s new leather shoes. She angrily shouted, “How annoying!” and Jin Chao immediately picked up a brick and threw it, scaring the boy so badly that he started crying and screaming. The boy’s parents came rushing over to Jiang Mu’s house to demand an explanation, and in the end, Jin Chao got scolded again.
At that time, she was still small and had tried to stand up for Jin Chao, so angrily chewed off the ears of her toy rabbit. It wasn’t until she grew older that she realized that the child who cries gets fed, but she had never seen Jin Chao cry, not even once. It was as if he were born without tear ducts.
While Jiang Mu was lost in thought, she felt a lightness on her shoulder as Jin Chao took her heavy school bag.
The alleys here were uneven, and there was hardly anyone around, not even streetlights. Jiang Mu wanted to take out her phone to use as a flashlight, but when she checked, the battery was under 10%, so she quietly put it back. She then said to Jin Chao, “Can you walk a bit slower?”
Jin Chao was used to traveling with a group of big guys, so he had no habit of accommodating girls. But in order to find an opportunity to talk to Jiang Mu about relationships and studies, he slowed down a few steps. He then carefully observed the way she looked at things and asked, “How much is your myopia?”
“About 100 degrees.”
“Why don’t you wear glasses?”
Jiang Mu glanced at him and whispered, “I look ugly wearing glasses…”
Jin Chao raised an eyebrow. Occasionally, a small flying insect would pass through the air, but it made no sound at all.
Jin Chao didn’t have much experience with matters like this, so he wasn’t sure where to begin.
When he was at Jiang Mu’s age, he couldn’t really be called the traditional “good student.” Though his grades were always solid, he’d done his fair share of bad student things. However, because of his good grades, Old Ma had a bit of favoritism toward him. He often wrote self-criticisms but never faced any formal punishments.
Back then, he was always in a rush, too busy to think about relationships. Even so, he still often found himself helping his friends out of trouble. His grades kept people from gossiping, and strangely, parents were very comfortable with their children hanging out with him.
In reality, those guys were hiding in a pavilion, whispering sweet nothings to their girlfriends. Jin Chao had seen that sort of thing many times and wasn’t particularly fazed by it. But when it came to Jiang Mu, it was a different matter. He couldn’t help but feel a bit of a difference in his heart.
If Jiang Mu were a boy, he would have just taken him out for a drink, tried to talk some sense into him, or maybe even given him a good scolding.
But Jiang Mu was a girl. If he said something too harsh, she might not be able to handle it, or she might feel embarrassed. If he softened his words, she might brush it off and not take him seriously at all.
Especially now, in her senior year of high school, when she was already under so much pressure. Who knew what crazy things a girl, troubled by love, might do?
So, walking through the dim alley, Jin Chao kept his brow furrowed the whole way, which made Jiang Mu feel that something was weighing heavily on his mind as if he had something important to tell her.
After a while, Jin Chao suddenly asked, “Have you ever thought about what kind of person you want to marry in the future?”
Jin Chao intended to use this question to help her realize how long and difficult the road ahead would be, but Jiang Mu completely missed his point. She just thought it was a rather strange question.
She answered truthfully, “No.”
She hadn’t even decided which university to apply to or what major to choose for next year. She didn’t have the time or energy to think about abstract things like what kind of man she wanted to marry in the future.
However, Jin Chao felt that the situation was a bit serious. Since Jiang Mu had never considered having a future with the boy she was with now, it must be just a casual fling.
When it came to not taking relationships seriously, as a girl, she was inevitably at a disadvantage.
Jin Chao was silent for a moment, then continued, “I had a friend in my old class. He was pursuing a girl from the class next door, and he was really into her—bringing her breakfast in the mornings, buying drinks in the afternoons, giving her gifts, and using all sorts of sweet talk to make the girl fall head over heels for him. Behind our backs, the things they discussed were unmentionable, and he even used their relationship as a bragging point. Later, you know what happened?”
Jiang Mu tilted her head and followed his lead, asking, “What happened?”
“The girl’s grades plummeted, and her parents went to the school and caused a scene, making everything awkward for everyone. The boy broke up with her, and the girl, feeling embarrassed, even threatened to drop out. What do you think about that?”
Jiang Mu didn’t expect Jin Chao to suddenly bring up a past classmate’s situation and ask for her opinion. She blinked in confusion and said, “Well, still… there’s no need to drop out, right?”
“…”
Jiang Mu’s focus on the details left Jin Chao momentarily speechless.
After a brief pause, his voice echoed in the alley as he said, “Boys your age, when they find the opposite sex interesting, it’s usually just a passing fancy. To them, getting a pretty girl is like capturing a trophy to show off, without any real sense of responsibility.”
Jiang Mu didn’t quite agree. She seriously rebutted, “That’s not always the case. I had good friends in my class, and both got into the University of Science and Technology of China. They’re still together now.”
As Jiang Mu spoke, she didn’t notice the uneven pavement beneath her feet and tripped over a protruding gray stone brick. Jin Chao reacted quickly, grabbing her just in time, and his breath brushed close, casting a shadow over her. He said, “The vast majority of boys at your age aren’t mentally mature enough to bear the responsibility that comes with relationships.”
In the distance, colorful clothes fluttered on a clothesline on a second-floor balcony. The ivy climbed along the earthen wall, stretching toward an unknown place. The quiet, dim alley separated the hustle and bustle of the world and the restlessness of society, as if time had slowed to a standstill. Jiang Mu looked up, her gaze meeting his, those autumn-water eyes reflected Jin Chao’s face. She parted her lips lightly, asking, “What about you? Are you the same?”
Jin Chao’s dark eyes quietly studied her, his emotions inscrutable. He said to her, “Hold onto me.”
The road beneath them was uneven, with gray stone bricks scattered about. Jin Chao extended his arm to her, and Jiang Mu, following his lead, grasped his sleeve. She then heard him say, “The person you’ll meet isn’t me.”
“How do you know the person I’ll meet couldn’t be you?”
As the words left her mouth, Jiang Mu tightened her grip on his hand, then remembered the lack of any familial bond between them. She awkwardly added, “I mean, someone like you.”
Jin Chao didn’t look at her. A fleeting light appeared in his eyes, but it was gone in an instant as he casually shifted the topic, “You’d better get a pair of glasses.”
“No.”
“Next time, if you walk down a road like this, no one will be there to catch you.”
“I won’t follow someone down a road like this.”
The evening breeze gently blew, and they walked one in front of the other. The small fabric of her sleeve and his arm connected the past with the present. In his mind, there was the image of a girl taking her first steps; in hers, the thought of a boy who would never leave her behind.