Chapter 20
The day before, Jiang Mu had felt embarrassed before going to bed. At her age, she still holds onto a childhood promise and keeps that pen, waiting for the day Jin Chao will find her. Originally, it was fine to keep this little secret to herself, but then the person involved discovered it. The feeling… how could one describe it but as pure shame?
But luckily, after a night’s sleep, that feeling mostly faded. The awkwardness from the night before was pushed out of her mind, and all that occupied her thoughts was one word: tired.
Although tired, when the alarm clock went off for the second time, she still struggled and got up. After washing up and heading out, she saw that Jin Chao had tidied up all the books and stationery she had scattered across the table the previous night. She figured that he might be feeling a little guilty. Alright, she admitted that her mood lightened just a tiny bit.
Seeing Jin Chao busy in the workshop, she took the initiative to greet him, “Good morning, do you usually get up this early?”
Jin Chao looked up at her, seeing that she was acting like nothing had happened, and replied, “I’m not selling buns.”
Since Jin Chao started his own business, his schedule has become quite flexible. No meetings, no need to manage anyone. It was fine for him to open the shop at 10 AM. No one told him what to do, and he didn’t need to tell anyone what to do. But ever since Jiang Mu arrived, he actually started feeling like he had a job again.
It should have been a pleasant and harmonious morning, but just as Jiang Mu was about to grab another pad from the plastic bag on the bedside table, a small box slid out and fell to the ground.
For a few seconds, Jiang Mu’s movements were almost frozen. She just stared at the small box, then squatted down and picked it up with two fingers, shocked. She then quickly tossed the box into the bedside drawer like it was a hot potato and slammed the drawer shut. Her heart raced, and she couldn’t understand why Jin Chao had given her a box of… condoms?
Although it was all very strange and she had no clue, she just couldn’t bring herself to ask him about it. This left her feeling odd for the rest of the morning.
When she left the workshop with her backpack, she couldn’t help but glance over at Jin Chao, who was standing outside the garage, smoking. She hurriedly crossed the street, and San Lai, noticing her rush, called out, “You’re leaving so early today? Want to grab some noodles?”
Jiang Mu quickly waved him off without looking back, heading straight for the bus stop. Unfortunately, the 6-route bus was hard to catch, and she ended up waiting for quite a while. Across the street, Jin Chao was lazily watching her while smoking, and the way he looked at her made Jiang Mu feel uneasy. Her eyes darted around, and her steps slowly moved behind the bus sign. The sign was just a thin pole, and it couldn’t completely block her figure, making her feel like Jin Chao was still watching her. So, she quietly turned her back, trying to avoid his gaze.
People usually stand by the roadside waiting for the bus, facing the direction it will come from, but Jiang Mu directly had her back to the street. Her awkward posture made Jin Chao quite puzzled. Seeing that it was getting late, he stamped out his cigarette and was about to ask her if she’d still have time to catch the bus.
However, before he could take a step, the number 6 bus roared in from the distance. When Jiang Mu turned around and saw Jin Chao walking towards her, the bus hadn’t even stopped yet, and she rushed forward as if something were chasing her. She was the first to jump on the bus as if she were being chased by a ghost.
It wasn’t until the bus disappeared at the end of the street that Jin Chao withdrew his gaze and muttered, “Girls at this age are really a mysterious species.”
Yesterday morning, she had been begging him to give her a ride, but today, she suddenly started avoiding him.
San Lai turned his gaze to Jin Chao, feeling curious. His friend had a lot on his mind, but none of it was about women. While everyone else was going through puberty and being restless, Jin Chao never seemed to think much about women. Now, though, he was suddenly pondering the nature of women.
San Lai smirked and teased, “What’s going on with you and her?”
Jin Chao let out a cold “tch” and turned his head, replying, “What could I possibly do with her?”
San Lai wore a mysterious expression and leaned in closer, “Don’t try to guess what girls are thinking. No matter how much you guess, it’s always the same—puppy love, a fluttering heart, the flower has a mind of its own. You don’t even know what kind of impression you give! Back in school, how many girls around her age wanted to date you? I just don’t get it. You act all high and mighty, not considerate, not gentle, not romantic, but so many girls still flock around you. The more I think about it, the more unfair I feel. How come the charming, humorous, suave, and handsome guy I was back then doesn’t compare to you now? I say those girls must be blind. Seriously, looking at you from every angle, I’m still a top contender for school heartthrob…”
Then, San Lai continued to chatter about being a school heartthrob for five more minutes. He’d been going on about this nonsense for eight years, and who knew why he was so obsessed with this title.
Jin Chao interrupted him impatiently, “I’m going back home later. I’ll head to Quan County in the afternoon and might not be back. If you don’t have anything else to do, pick up Mu Mu tonight, ‘School Heartthrob.'”
San Lai’s expression suddenly turned serious, “Have you made up your mind?”
“Yeah.” San Lai knew there was no use trying to persuade him further.
After a while, he asked, looking at the busy Jin Chao, “What if, I mean, hypothetically, Jiang Mu really developed feelings for you? Would you treat her like any other woman and show no mercy?”
Jin Chao paused for a moment, then slowly raised his gaze to look at San Lai, and cursed, “Cut the crap… get lost.”
……
The entire way to school, Jiang Mu’s feelings were quite complicated. Initially, when she was about to leave, she was still contemplating what Jin Chao meant by buying a box of condoms and giving it to her.
But after arriving at school, she finally figured it out. She thought that maybe Jin Chao had intended to use them himself but accidentally placed them in the plastic bag he gave her. So the question became: should she return them to him?
Although Jin Chao was of an age where such matters were normal, just thinking about the fact that he might have a woman made Jiang Mu feel a little strange. Who could that woman be? Was it Xiao Qingshe? But based on what San Lai implied yesterday, it didn’t seem like it. Could there be someone else?
Who exactly was this other person? Jiang Mu didn’t know, but just the thought of their existence made her feel a little dazed.
The night she left the hospital, she actually felt quite desperate. The past couple of days, her mood had improved slightly, mostly because she at least had a place to stay temporarily at Jin Chao’s, a shelter from the storm, so she wouldn’t feel completely helpless in this unfamiliar small city.
But if Jin Chao had a woman, her presence would become extremely awkward. Of course, it wouldn’t be appropriate to keep disturbing his life. Even if she was his sister, it would be odd—let alone her, a so-called “sister” with whom he hadn’t had contact for years.
So, before the school mock exam, while everyone was busy preparing for the final stretch, she unexpectedly showed up in Old Ma’s office to inquire about the transfer process.
Old Ma was quite surprised and told her that she needed to have her parents bring the household registration book to the school for the application. Then, after the school reviewed it, they would report it to the school registration authorities for approval. Her parents would also need to contact the local educational bureau of the school she was transferring to, according to the local policies, and go through all the necessary procedures. This process would naturally involve waiting for the new school and local educational bureau to verify everything, among other things.
Old Ma was somewhat aware of the situation in Jin Qiang’s family, so he asked Jiang Mu with concern if things weren’t going well with her father’s side of the family and if she needed him to talk to Jin Qiang. Jiang Mu immediately refused and told Old Ma to forget that she had even come.
After leaving Old Ma’s office, Jiang Mu felt a bit down. If she wanted to transfer back to Suzhou, it would definitely have to go through Jin Qiang and Jiang Yinghan. If she went through them, though, it would be a whole mess, and the approval process could take who knows how long. The delay and hassle wouldn’t be worth it. In the end, she might have to stay here and just get through the college entrance exams.
When she entered the exam hall with her stationery, Pan Kai waved at her excitedly. However, Jiang Mu was distracted and didn’t even notice him.
Pan Kai hadn’t expected to end up in the same exam hall as Jiang Mu. Although there were several seats between them, he still wanted to try to help her, but during the entire exam, Jiang Mu didn’t look up once, leaving Pan Kai with no opportunity to play the hero.
As soon as the exam was over, Pan Kai ran over to Jiang Mu’s side, whispering gossip. “Was that guy from yesterday really Touqi? How do you know him? He’s quite handsome, though his gaze is so sharp I didn’t dare to look at him…”
Jiang Mu listened to him babbling about Jin Chao, rubbing her temples, and calling out to him, “Pan Kai.”
“Yeah?”
“Shut up.”
“Alright.”
After school in the evening, San Lai was waiting at the school gate in his white Honda. Unlike Jin Chao’s understated style, San Lai returned to his alma mater in an extremely flashy manner. With a little ponytail, wearing a floral jacket, and sporting large sunglasses at 9 PM, he looked like he was about to go to a party. He was even casually chatting with the security guard about the recent educational reforms at the school and its future development.
His attention-grabbing appearance made it so that Jiang Mu felt a bit embarrassed to get into his car in front of so many people. After fastening her seatbelt, she couldn’t help but ask, “San Lai, were you quite popular back in school?”
San Lai proudly told her, “Back in the day at high school, countless girls would surround me. With my flowing bangs, I was like the bronze version of Bai Yuanchong from Tonggang, the high school version of Kimura Takuya, and the Gakuen High School’s very own little Koyuki Shun from Class 7 in Year 1.”
“…” That was a bit much.
He got more and more enthusiastic as he spoke, “For all three years of high school, I was the most handsome in the band, only one spot away from being the school’s top handsome guy.”
Jiang Mu was confused, “What do you mean by ‘one spot away’?”
San Lai thought for a moment, looking frustrated, “What else could it mean? When the new freshmen arrived in Year 1, there was this guy who came in after me and stole all my thunder. He was taller than even the seniors, and he didn’t even look down when he looked at people. The guy exuded this superior feeling like the air around him was fresher or something. All the shallow girls were gossiping about him and flocking to admire him. That punk is exactly Youjiu.”
Although Jiang Mu wasn’t from the same generation as them, she could imagine the scene. There was a junior at her old school who wasn’t even as good-looking as Jin Chao, yet a lot of girls still went after him.
At this point, San Lai suddenly seemed to remember something and laughed, “Let me tell you something interesting. Back then, a lot of the boys hadn’t grown yet, but Youjiu was already over 1.8 meters tall. Every time there was a class cleanup, they’d assign him to clean the windows. Others had to bring stools, but with his long arms, he could reach the highest windows just by stretching. So, he took over cleaning all the windows for the class, and sometimes even the classes next door would come over to ask him for help. Every time he wiped the windows; a bunch of girls would stand in the hallway and crane their necks to watch him. At first, I didn’t know what they were looking at, but later I realized—they were just waiting for Youjiu to stretch his arm and pull up his uniform to look at his waist.”
Jiang Mu was puzzled and asked, “What’s so special about his waist?”
“I don’t know, you girls have all these strange preferences.”
While speaking, San Lai casually added, “By the way, Youjiu isn’t coming back tonight.”
Jiang Mu turned to him and asked, “Where did he go?”
San Lai vaguely replied, “He’s on a business trip.”
“…Is it really necessary to go on a business trip for car repairs?”
Jiang Mu felt like this excuse was a bit far-fetched. She stayed quiet for a while, then asked, “Jin Chao… does he have a girlfriend?”
San Lai, who had been lazily resting his hand on the steering wheel, paused when he heard this, then burst out laughing in a very exaggerated way, leaving Jiang Mu completely confused.
After laughing for a while, San Lai finally curved his lips and looked at Jiang Mu, saying, “On matters like this, unless Youjiu officially confirms it, as his bro, I can’t say too much.”
Jiang Mu didn’t respond, her gaze shifting to the window. She felt like her guess was probably right; there really was a woman in the picture.
Then, San Lai spoke slowly again, “A few years ago, Youjiu and I went to the arcade to play some games. Afterward, we were walking through the night market. I tried to drag him around, but he was really impatient. In the end, I didn’t buy anything, but he found a little keychain he liked. He paid for it and kept it with him. As for your question, the answer is in that keychain. Turns out, he has a motorcycle, and the keychain hangs on the motorcycle key. Last I heard, that keychain is now on a spare key at the garage’s roller door. He doesn’t usually use it, but he carries it around just in case he needs to give the key to Xiao Yang or someone else. If you get a chance to find that key, you’ll have your answer.”
Jiang Mu furrowed her brows in confusion and looked at San Lai. But San Lai just smiled and didn’t say another word.