"Oh, may you have a son soon!"
"Get out." Su Mo put down her cup, laughed, and cursed.
Joking aside, they started talking about work afterwards. Jiang Jianhuan just listened from the side; she couldn't get a word in edgewise. Fortunately, the hot pot was really good, and Jiang Jianhuan buried her head in her food.
Although Su Mo was chatting, he kept an eye on her every move. Seeing that she liked it, he helped her blanch the beef and mutton slices and put them in her bowl.
Jiang Jianhuan had almost finished eating. After putting down his chopsticks, he sat with her for a while longer. The conversation drifted to the current state of the music industry. Su Mo didn't say much, only occasionally mentioning it. Producer Xu Bing lit a cigarette and spoke slowly.
This seemed to signal something, and the others lit their own cigarettes as well. Su Shan pulled one out and offered it to Su Mo, but he waved it off.
"You quit? Really?" She raised an eyebrow, seemingly incredulous, then looked hesitantly at Jiang Jianhuan.
"Or?" That probably meant he didn't dare to smoke in front of her.
"I've quit," Su Mo replied immediately, smiling. "Now that I'm back, I don't want to smoke anymore."
He squeezed Jiang Jianhuan's hand under the table, and she slowly glanced at him sideways.
Su Mo gave her a flattering smile.
Su Shan witnessed their entire interaction, and she lowered her eyes and smiled, then shook her head and sighed, feigning disappointment.
"Okay, then from now on, if you want to smoke in the stairwell again, you'll be all alone."
By the time the meal was over, it was already dark outside. Jiang Jianhuan remembered that it was three or four in the afternoon when she arrived. It gets dark early in winter, and when she checked the time, it was only a little past six.
The group parted ways amidst laughter and chatter, some driving, others offering rides. A few, not residing in Jiangcheng, were driven to their hotels by Su Mo.
Once everyone had left, Jiang Jianhuan leaned back in the passenger seat and remained silent. The car was quiet. Su Mo glanced at her, then glanced at her again.
"What? Tired?" He reached out and touched her forehead, but Jiang Jianhuan slapped his hand away. The force was quite strong, and a crisp 'smack' rang out in the air.
Su Mo pursed her lips.
A silent silence spread. He roughly knew what Jiang Jianhuan was angry about, but explaining it was incredibly complicated; it was all over trivial matters. His thoughts were like a tangled web, unable to find a single point to focus on, and any misstep would only exacerbate the misunderstanding.
Driving made it difficult to concentrate, so Su Mo simply remained silent, thinking she would have a proper talk with him when she got back.
They arrived home half an hour later. Jiang Jianhuan opened the car door and walked straight out. Su Mo parked the car and got out as well.
The two entered one after the other and went upstairs.
Jiang Jianhuan knew she shouldn't take her anger out on Su Mo, but she couldn't suppress her emotions.
Su Shan's words all indicate that the relationship between the two is more than just ordinary friends, such as "your white moonlight" and "I can only squat alone in the stairwell to smoke".
Jiang Jianhuan was furious upon hearing this. He had been holding back all night, mindful of the atmosphere, and hadn't even changed the smile on his face. He didn't dare to show anything unusual on the way, until everyone left, when he finally couldn't hold on any longer.
"Jian Huan..." After chasing her to the room and closing the door, Su Mo immediately grabbed her shoulders, brought her in front of him, and coaxed her gently.
"What are you angry about? Tell me, okay?"
"Don't you know yourself?" Jiang Jianhuan glared at him, but surprisingly didn't struggle, which made Su Mowei breathe a sigh of relief.
"Is it because of Su Shan? When we first met, we worked together for a while. We occasionally bumped into each other while smoking in the stairwell during breaks from recording songs, and we chatted for a bit."
Jiang Jianhuan didn't say anything after hearing this, but just stared down at his feet, looking sullen.
"If I had known it would make you unhappy, I would have stayed away from her back then." Seeing her like this, Su Mo added, which only made Jiang Jianhuan more upset.
"She's so beautiful, she can write songs, and you have so much in common; you're from the same world. Aside from being persistent and clingy at the beginning, I have absolutely no redeeming qualities. Even now, I don't know what you like about me. Is it just because you're used to me and don't want to move on...?"
She finally asked the question that had been lingering in her heart for so long, and her pain intensified. A lump formed in her throat, and large tears began to fall.
She had to admit that after meeting Su Shan today, she realized that they were the ones who should really be together.
Even though Su Mo accepted her confession and treated her better than most boyfriends, the long and courageous pursuit remained hidden in Jiang Jianhuan's insecure heart. As a result, when faced with successive shocks, she would only hide herself away, too cowardly to face anything related to him.
If she had even a sliver of courage, the two wouldn't have been separated for so many years.
"How could you think that?" Su Mo frowned, cupped her face and wiped away her tears, her eyes full of heartache.
"No matter how good or capable someone else is, they are not you. If I didn't need you, why would I have waited for you to come back for so many years?"
Jiang Jianhuan's tears continued to flow, silently. Her clear eyes were filled with tears, which easily overflowed and streamed down her cheeks, leaving streaks of tears.
She tried her best to hold back her tears, but her shoulders trembled, she gritted her teeth, and sobbed through her nose.
"I'm sorry... I don't know what's wrong with me, I just suddenly... feel very sad, I'm sorry." She apologized, choking back tears, and pulled away from Su Mo's hand. She turned her back, wiped her tears haphazardly with the back of her hand, trying to calm herself down.
“Jianhuan, I am a very independent and self-reliant person. You know, I don’t have many friends, and before I met you, life wasn’t very fun. I thought that was how it would be, and I never thought of letting another person into my world.”
Su Mo, somewhat at a loss, spoke in a low voice, calmly and slowly recounting her story.
"So when you came, my first reaction was rejection, a sense of unfamiliarity. But I don't know when it changed. I started paying attention to whether you were around, I wanted to spend more time with you, and seeing you smile made me feel good..."
"I gradually discovered that life is not as boring as I thought. Being with you makes every day special."
"Only you can give me this feeling, this feeling of being a real person."
Chapter 65
Jiang Jianhuan could no longer hold back. She turned around and threw herself into his arms, hugging Su Mo's neck and burying her face in his shoulder, sobbing softly.
"Don't cry." He lowered his head and kissed her hair.
The person in his arms was still sobbing, her body trembling. Su Mo patted her back gently.
"sorry..."