However, when this pale-faced, cold-looking man saw Xu Zhengyang, a hint of embarrassment and awkwardness appeared on his pale cheeks and icy, narrow eyes. He took a few steps forward and said coldly, "She's inside."
Xu Zhengyang chuckled and joked, "Even a tiger couldn't eat you, Chen Chaojiang, right? If I hadn't come, would you have dared to see her?"
"I don't know what to say to her." Chen Chaojiang frowned his long, thin eyebrows.
"Then how did you manage to get her to come out?" Xu Zhengyang was a little confused. How exactly did Chen Chaojiang and Ye Wan communicate via text message? Given his personality and what he just said, Xu Zhengyang didn't believe for a second that Chen Chaojiang and Ye Wan had a phone conversation.
“She said, ‘Let’s meet again.’” Chen Chaojiang paused, his tone slightly gentler. “So, I came.”
Xu Zhengyang gave a thumbs up: "Amazing! Amazing!"
"Shall we go in now?" Chen Chaojiang asked.
"Nonsense... Hey, I feel like I'm the one here to meet you, and you're the main character!" Xu Zhengyang laughed and put his arm around Chen Chaojiang's shoulder as they walked towards the gate of Hanyuan Courtyard. "By the way, didn't you buy any gifts?"
"No."
"I'll go in and buy another clay figurine later," Xu Zhengyang said casually. He really didn't care much, thinking that whether or not he received a gift didn't matter. Besides, in terms of emotional intelligence, he wasn't much better than Chen Chaojiang. Apart from occasionally shamelessly saying he wanted to marry Li Bingjie in front of her, when it came to things like romance and creating romance... he was definitely a novice.
Yes, Chen Chaojiang is a complete newbie.
Unexpectedly, after entering the Cold Garden, Chen Chaojiang, as if possessed, pulled a purplish-red wooden sculpture of a beautiful woman from his pocket and held it in his hand. The puppet was only the size of two eggs, but it was carved very realistically and delicately. As soon as Xu Zhengyang saw the puppet's classical image, he knew that it was something Chen Chaojiang had carved himself; only this guy's repressed and lecherous nature would lead him to do something like this.
Yes, as you might expect, the beautiful wooden sculpture of the woman's face was clearly carved in the likeness of Ye Wan.
Thanks to Chen Chaojiang's dedication, Xu Zhengyang was both amused and exasperated: "Dude, don't take it too seriously."
"Hmm." Chen Chaojiang nodded, but it was unclear whether he had truly taken Xu Zhengyang's words to heart.
"Hey, if you keep acting like everyone owes you money and never say a word, aren't you afraid Ye Wan will take a liking to me?" Xu Zhengyang joked.
Chen Chaojiang curled his lip: "Once we meet, are you really planning to just sit there and watch over us the whole time?"
Xu Zhengyang was stunned for a moment, then laughed and cursed, "Damn it!"
...
Han Garden is not large. After walking more than twenty meters along the corridor under the shade of the trees and passing two antique houses, you will see two young girls sitting in the pavilion in the middle of the pond in the backyard.
One was dressed in pristine white, the other in a black dress.
The despicable Xu Zhengyang, upon seeing the two young women's graceful and delicate backs, didn't experience the typical male urge to feast his eyes on beautiful women; instead, he thought of... the Black and White Impermanence. This thought flashed through his mind, and Xu Zhengyang immediately felt guilty. Had he been thinking about these things too much lately? Could this be considered an occupational hazard?
Walking down the side corridor, Xu Zhengyang and Chen Chaojiang both stopped in their tracks when they saw the two girls' profiles. They stared at each other blankly. "No way?"
Are you kidding me...?
Why is Li Bingjie sitting with Ye Wan?
Xu Zhengyang thought he must be seeing things. He looked around and saw Li Chengzong sitting on a bench on the bank of the pool about 20 meters away, looking at him with a slight surprise.
Just then, Li Bingjie and Ye Wan also noticed them and turned around at the same time. Li Bingjie seemed to be quite surprised and stunned by the coincidence, while Ye Wan didn't seem to care that Chen Chaojiang would bring a friend with him. She smiled and waved to them.
Chen Chaojiang said coldly, "Are you still fantasizing that Ye Wan will take a liking to you?"
"Ahem..." Xu Zhengyang coughed twice, looking slightly embarrassed. He scratched his head and walked over, saying, "Dude, you're lucky..."
Ye Wan remained seated, while Li Bingjie rose and greeted them softly, saying, "What brings you here?"
"Besides coincidence, I really don't know how else to explain it." Xu Zhengyang smiled and walked up to Li Bingjie. "You know Ye Wan?"
"Yes, she's Uncle Ye's daughter." Li Bingjie nodded, then asked with a hint of doubt, "You know Xiao Wan too?"
Xu Zhengyang chuckled and turned to look at Chen Chaojiang, who had also stopped, saying, "What are you doing standing here? Come on over. We're all acquaintances here..."
Chen Chaojiang nodded and walked towards the pavilion.
Inside the pavilion, Ye Wan stood up with a look of surprise on her face, looking at Li Bingjie who was whispering to Xu Zhengyang.
Therefore, Ye Wan and Chen Chaojiang no longer needed to think about what to talk about after their meeting. Ye Wan said, "Do you know Bing Jie?"
"Mm." Chen Chaojiang nodded.
"Hey, really? What a coincidence! You didn't tell me either."
Chen Chaojiang said directly, "I didn't know you knew Li Bingjie."
Ye Wan was taken aback for a moment, then burst out laughing, and said reproachfully, "Hey, why are you so serious? I just had some questions, really."
"Oh, I'm sorry." A hint of apology appeared on Chen Chaojiang's cold face.
"You're really interesting..." Ye Wan said with a smile, "Hey, tell me, what ulterior motive did you have for asking me out?"
“No,” Chen Chaojiang said seriously. “Besides, I only came because you said you wanted to meet.”
Ye Wan was furious and said angrily, "Are you saying that I begged you to come out and meet me?"
"no."
"So what do you mean?"
Chen Chaojiang paused for a moment, then lowered his head and said, "It was indeed you who suggested the meeting."
"You..." Ye Wan's beautiful eyes widened, her anger surging, but then she couldn't help but laugh again. Unlike most girls, she didn't take this seriously and changed the subject, saying, "Hey, Chen Chaojiang, you're pretty good. You actually managed to subdue me. Were you in the army? Or is it your family's martial arts?"
I learned it when I was a child.
"Your friend and Bingjie seem to get along well. What's his name?"
"Xu Zhengyang".
How did you two meet Bingjie?
"My junior high school classmate."
Why do you always have such a long face? Can't you smile?
"..."
"If I don't ask you questions, will you stop talking?"
"no."
Ye Wan was furious, feeling an urge to tear Chen Chaojiang apart. She had never seen such a cold and rigid guy before. She had thought he was the typical cool and reserved type, but it turned out he was such a weirdo.
To be honest, Ye Wan was initially just curious about Chen Chaojiang, finding him rather amusing. He dared to ask a girl for her phone number on their first meeting, and after failing, he strangely bought a clay figurine, engraved his number on it, and gave it to her. This suggested he definitely had those kinds of thoughts… Furthermore, Ye Wan was surprised, or rather, impressed by Chen Chaojiang's fighting skills. Although to outsiders it seemed like a simple physical altercation, Ye Wan knew her own strength and knew this guy was no ordinary person.
Hmm, ever since that meeting, Ye Wan couldn't stop thinking about the somewhat strange young man and his expression. So one day, on a whim, she curiously sent Chen Chaojiang a text message, only to receive a reply: Busy…
Ye Wan thought to herself, "What's with the show-off? Trying to play hard to get?" So she stopped paying attention to Chen Chaojiang and didn't think much of it. However, two months later, she unexpectedly received a text message from Chen Chaojiang.
After that, the two began exchanging text messages. Of course, there weren't many messages, and each one was very simple, containing only a few words.
This morning, when Ye Wan was preparing to accompany Li Bingjie to the World Park, she remembered that Chen Chaojiang's workplace wasn't far away, so she inexplicably sent him a text message asking if he could come over for a meeting. So Chen Chaojiang came, completely unaware that it was a date.
Ye Wan, of course, had no idea that Chen Chaojiang's cold exterior concealed impure thoughts, and she was very angry right now: How boring!
"Hey, Chen Chaojiang, don't you have anything to say to me?" Ye Wan said, somewhat bored.
"Yes." Chen Chaojiang's answer was still crisp, simple, and direct.
"Really? Tell me, what do you want to say?" Ye Wan finally found it a little interesting.
"You're doing well."
Ye Wan laughed: "What's so good about me?"
"Good-looking."
Is there anything else?
“Yes…” Chen Chaojiang racked his brains for a long time, a rare hint of tenderness appearing on his cold expression, and said softly, “Love at first sight.”
Ye Wan was stunned.
Saying "I fell in love with you at first sight" to a girl you don't know very well is usually something only guys who want to flirt with girls would say. And only girls who are completely obsessed with romance novels or infatuated with handsome men would believe such nonsense.
However, when Chen Chaojiang said those four words, Ye Wan felt that they were very serious and sincere.
So Ye Wan believed it, was stunned, and felt a little embarrassed.
Therefore, a blush appeared on Chen Chaojiang's pale cheeks, but he did not lower his head to avoid Ye Wan's stunned eyes.
...
Over here, Xu Zhengyang and Li Bingjie strolled leisurely down the corridor, whispering to each other with relaxed expressions.
During their casual conversation, Xu Zhengyang learned that Li Bingjie was indeed unaware of what had happened that day. The reason Li Bingjie had gone out today was because her mother, Jiang Lan, was busy, and Ye Wan happened to be there, so she asked Ye Wan to accompany her for a stroll, which led them to the World Park. Li Bingjie had been wanting to see Xu Zhengyang these past few days, but considering that he was spending time with his parents in Beijing, and that she had now emerged from her period of self-isolation and wanted to spend more time with her mother, feeling the long-lost warmth and love of family, she hadn't contacted Xu Zhengyang.
"Bingjie, Chaojiang has taken a liking to Ye Wan," Xu Zhengyang said with a smile.
Li Bingjie glanced in that direction and said softly, "Oh."
"I bet Ye Wan's family is quite powerful, isn't it?"
"Hmm?" Li Bingjie thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Uncle Ye is Grandpa's old subordinate, just like my father, he's a soldier."
Xu Zhengyang scratched his head, thinking to himself that he and Chaojiang were indeed somewhat like brothers in misfortune.
Of course, this is on the premise that Ye Wan also thinks highly of Chen Chaojiang.
"Zhengyang, Mom said that I can go to university after the summer."
"Oh, what will you study?"
“She said she’d learn anything.” Li Bingjie lowered her head and said softly, “I want to learn a musical instrument, the guqin.”
Why do you want to learn this?
Li Bingjie did not answer, her head was lowered, and her cheeks were slightly flushed.
Xu Zhengyang grinned and said, "Because I told you I like listening to 'High Mountains and Flowing Water'?"
"Mmm," Li Bingjie said softly.
"Bingjie..."
"Um."
"I also love seeing beautiful women in ancient costumes dancing gracefully, like Chang'e at the Peach Banquet in Journey to the West..."
Li Bingjie blushed even more and said shyly, "I, I can't dance."
"Isn't it all learned from books..." Xu Zhengyang became increasingly shameless and pushed his luck.
"Then, can you be Pigsy (Zhu Bajie)?"
Xu Zhengyang said very seriously, "Actually, you probably don't know that the reason why Pigsy failed and was punished to go to the mortal world was because... the Jade Emperor was jealous."