"I'll put my things at home first, and then I'll come back when I hear news about Gu En."
Lin Ziming patted Xia Ran on the shoulder, got into his car, and drove away.
Xia Ran stood there for a while, then turned around and walked back.
Unbeknownst to him, Gu Zheng, in a car next to him, had witnessed the entire scene.
After leaving Lin Ziming's office, he immediately went to the dean and asked the dean to dismiss Lin Ziming.
This was the first time he had ever been so angry and furious that he had used such power to act.
Even when he was extremely angry, he would never have done something like this in the past.
But today, he had reached his breaking point.
Xia Ran's special treatment of Lin Ziming had driven Lin Ziming to the brink of insane jealousy.
He had thought he could leave immediately after talking to the dean, but once he got in the car, he realized he still couldn't leave.
Although he thought Xia Ran would never come down and wouldn't care about him.
But he still didn't want to leave; he just wanted to get closer to Xia Ran.
But to his surprise, he saw Xia Ran escorting Lin Ziming downstairs.
The two chatted and laughed, their familiar and intimate manner causing him to feel waves of pain in his heart.
Even before they divorced, Xia Ran wasn't always so relaxed and at ease around him.
The moment he saw the two of them come out, he really wanted to rush up and separate them, but he held back because he knew that if he really rushed up, Xia Ran would hate him even more.
Gu Zheng lit a cigarette, and the act of smoking aggravated the wound on the corner of his mouth.
The slight pain didn't stop him from smoking; instead, it made him smoke even more.
This was the first time he had ever liked someone so deeply, so he really didn't know how to ease the tension between himself and Xia Ran.
Every time he came over, he wanted to ease the tension between Xia Ran and him, but every time he made things worse and made Xia Ran angry again and again.
But this time he did gain something; he received Lin Ziming's provocation, which proved his feelings.
His feeling was right; Lin Ziming did indeed like Xia Ran, otherwise why would he have said those things to him?
Gu Zheng took a deep drag on his cigarette, stubbed it out, and left.
He absolutely, positively wouldn't let Xia Ran be with anyone else.
Since he was going back tomorrow, Dazhuang planned to come to the hospital one more time to visit Grandpa Xia.
Actually, he had wanted to come a long time ago, but He Xiu's visit delayed him, and He Xiu's actions affected his mood, causing him to sit alone in his new house for a long time in a daze.
He wasn't sure what he was thinking, but the look in He Xiu's eyes when he left made him feel inexplicably uncomfortable.
But he couldn't figure out exactly what was wrong with him.
Finally, seeing that it was almost time, he had no choice but to come to the hospital.
As Dazhuang walked down the corridor, he suddenly remembered the time when He Xiu grabbed his collar.
He stiffened, shook his head vigorously, and shook away the jumbled thoughts in his mind.
No, no, he couldn't think about it anymore.
But just as Dazhuang was comforting himself and telling himself not to overthink things, He Xiu walked towards him from the front.
Da Zhuang subconsciously stopped in his tracks, his ears burning.
As the two drew closer, Dazhuang instinctively wanted to dodge, but then he felt it was unnecessary, so he straightened his toes again.
However, when Da Zhuang was all prepared to get along well with He Xiu if He Xiu greeted him, He Xiu simply walked right past him as if he hadn't seen him at all.
Da Zhuang's expression froze completely, and disbelief appeared in his eyes.
He pursed his lips, unsure how to describe his feelings at that moment—a mixture of discomfort and bitterness.
But these emotions came and went quickly. Dazhuang pursed his lips, stopped thinking about it, and went straight to Grandpa Xia's room.
He thought He Xiu must have been angered by what he had said today.
But what he said wasn't wrong either; it was He Xiu's fault for insisting on saying it.
Anyway, he didn't really like He Xiu that much; he just had a vague feeling about him.
Now that He Xiu has figured it out, he no longer needs to worry about how to deal with He Xiu.
That's right, that's exactly it!
Even though Dazhuang kept trying to comfort himself, his mood was still affected, at least Xia Ran noticed it the moment she saw him.
Chapter 338 Regret
"What's wrong? You don't look well. Did something happen?"
Xia Ran looked at Da Zhuang, who seemed rather listless, and couldn't help but feel a little strange and worried.
Well, Dazhuang has always been a little ray of sunshine, always laughing and joking. It's hard for Xia Ran not to worry about his sudden change in mood.
"Huh? What's wrong with me?" Dazhuang was also a little confused. "Nothing's wrong. I'm not in a bad mood, and my complexion isn't that bad, is it?"
As he spoke, he took out his phone and looked at his face, seemingly not noticing anything amiss.
Xia Ran: "Still saying you don't? Look at you, your lips are drooping, you obviously have something on your mind. And why are you here at this hour? Shouldn't you be packing your bags to go back tomorrow?"
"Also, didn't He Xiu come to see you? You didn't meet?"
Upon hearing the name He Xiu, Da Zhuang's lips tightened into a straight line. He decided to drop the pretense, sighed, and said...
"How about we go for a walk?"
Grandpa Xia, who had been watching the two of them with a smile, waved for them to leave as soon as he heard this.
"You two should go out and have a private chat. You don't need to stay here with me. I can watch TV by myself. You two will be separated again tomorrow, so take advantage of today to chat as much as you can. Who knows when we'll see each other again?"
Hearing Grandpa Xia's words, Xia Ran nodded in agreement.
"Grandpa, I'll go out and chat with Dazhuang for a bit first."
Xia Ran and Da Zhuang went downstairs. Xia Ran even went to the milk tea shop in the hospital to buy two cups of milk tea. She and Da Zhuang each took one cup and walked in the garden.
Dazhuang kept biting his straw without saying a word, so Xia Ran took the initiative to ask.
"Did He Xiu say something to you?"
Dazhuang nodded. "Yeah, I did tell him a little bit, but why did you give him your address? It would have been so much better if I hadn't. I wouldn't be bothered at all now."
If He Xiu doesn't come to see him tonight, he basically won't realize his feelings for He Xiu.
If you weren't aware of your feelings for He Xiu, you wouldn't be so troubled now.
He finally understands why so many people say that falling in love makes a person more sentimental.
"But won't you feel regretful?" Xia Ran stopped and looked at Da Zhuang.
"What's there to regret?" Da Zhuang answered without even thinking.
Xia Ran sighed, and couldn't help but roll her eyes at Da Zhuang, saying,
"You've been single for so many years, and you finally met someone you felt a connection with. If you miss this opportunity, won't you regret it later?"
Xia Ran directly exposed Da Zhuang's thoughts, leaving him with no way to deny them.
Since he couldn't deny it, Dazhuang had no choice but to admit it.
"How did you figure out that I had even the slightest bit of a crush on that He Xiu?"
Dazhuang sat down next to him, and Xia Ran followed suit.
"It was probably when you were at home that you said you were going to buy some late-night snacks, and then you never came back. If I'm not mistaken, you went to see He Xiu that night, right?"
Although it was a question, Xia Ran's tone was very confident.
Even Da Zhuang, who was well-prepared, was still taken aback when he heard this.
"How...how did you find out back then?"
At that time, he himself was not even aware of his feelings for He Xiu.
Or is his affection for He Xiu that obvious?
"It's actually very simple." Xia Ran took a sip of her milk tea and slowly explained, "Not to mention you were gone for so long that day, you even smelled of alcohol when you came back, or maybe you didn't even notice it yourself?"
"Another thing is that I didn't notice it at first. At most, I was just a little confused. I thought you must have your reasons for not wanting to tell me."
"Then I heard He Xiu say that he went drinking with... Gu Zheng that day, so I made a rough guess. So, am I right?"
Faced with Xia Ran's gaze, Da Zhuang couldn't utter a single word that said "wrong."
This is simply because what Xia Ran said was indeed true!
"Yes, that's right, but... I didn't realize I had feelings for him at the time. He sent me a message before he started drinking, saying that if he hadn't messaged me by then, I should definitely pick him up."
"Then, I... was also afraid that something might happen to him, so I went. After all, it's a human life, no matter what. Of course! I didn't mean to hide it from you, I just felt there was no need to tell you. It's not a big deal, so you wouldn't overthink it, right?"
Da Zhuang's voice trailed off, clearly betraying his guilt.
Xia Ran didn't say anything, just looked at him with a half-smile.
In the end, Dazhuang couldn't stand Xia Ran's gaze and took the initiative to admit his mistake.
"Oh, okay, okay, I was wrong, I was wrong. I shouldn't have kept it from you. I promise it won't happen again, but I really didn't know how I felt about He Xiu back then!"
As if afraid Xia Ran wouldn't believe him, Da Zhuang nodded vigorously.
Xia Ran couldn't help but laugh and said,
"Actually, I wasn't really angry. I just wanted to help you relax! Look at you, your face is so tense."
"You!" Da Zhuang angrily punched Xia Ran's shoulder, but his mood did improve a little.
"But how should I put it, it's actually quite annoying."
Da Zhuang took a big gulp of milk tea, feeling very irritable.
In a building not far from them, He Xiuzheng looked at them from a window.
He was also quite upset when he brushed past Dazhuang just now.