It's so much like you.
Happy birthday.
"Landi"
After breaking up with Wang Fan, one thing that Shi Nan still couldn't get over was the Burberry dress that Wang Fan bought for her at the China World Trade Center.
Shi Nan liked the dress, but now that they've broken up, and the dress wasn't cheap, Shi Nan felt he couldn't wear it.
Returning the dress was definitely out of the question; what was the point of giving it back after wearing it? There was only one way to make myself feel at ease wearing it in the future: give him the money, even though I knew Wang Fan probably wouldn't want it.
Shi Nan doesn't have that much New Year's money, and being a student, it seems the only way for him to earn money is by working.
Summer vacation is approaching, and I estimate that by the end of the vacation, including the New Year's money, I will have earned about 5,000 yuan.
But what kind of work can she do?
When Shi Nan wrote to Lan Di, he casually complained that he needed to earn money to pay off his debts, so he wanted to work during the summer vacation, but he didn't know whether he should tutor, hand out flyers, or do promotions.
The final exams were finally over, and everyone was eager to go home. After finishing his last exam, Shi Nan and Ye Feng exchanged home phone numbers and went home. That evening, he unexpectedly received a call from Lan Di from overseas.
Shi Nan was taking a shower at the time. He asked his mother to tell him to wait a moment, and his mother began to interrogate him, asking about his name, age, relationship, where he was, what he was studying, etc. She asked him everything clearly. Lan Di was not ambiguous either, answering every question frankly and calmly, which was his usual style.
Shi Nan never expected him to call from Japan. He quickly washed up and took the phone from his mother.
"Landy, it's me."
"Are you on holiday?"
"Yeah, I just finished my exam today. Why are you calling? Is something wrong?"
“I received your letter. Why are you going to work to earn money? Who are you going to pay back?” Lan Di asked directly.
So that's what they wanted to ask. After hesitating for a moment, Shi Nan decided not to answer, saying, "He's a classmate."
"What happened to you, Shi Nan?"
"It's nothing serious. Lan Di, don't ask." The reason she didn't want him to ask was because she didn't want to bother lying.
Lan Di was silent for a moment, then asked, "How much?"
Shi Nan didn't think much of his intentions. "Five thousand. I estimate I can earn two thousand working during the holidays, plus my New Year's money, that should be enough."
Do you have time tomorrow?
"what??"
"Wait at home for a call."
After Shi Nan hung up the phone, his mother came in and asked, "What's the relationship? He called you from so far away, you're not just an ordinary classmate, are you?!" Shi Nan said, "I really am just an ordinary classmate. Maybe his phone card is about to expire, so he just called randomly."
Shi Nan wasn't lying. Lan Di didn't say anything special on the phone from beginning to end. Just like in the letter, the two of them seemed to be reporting on their respective battle situations.
The next day, Shi Nan slept until noon. Just as he got up, the phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Hello, are you Mr. Shi?"
"Yes, who are you?"
"I'm Lan Di's older sister. He has something he wants me to give you. Are you free to come out this afternoon?"
McDonald's is a great place to meet strangers; it's noisy, which can mask awkwardness.
Shi Nan was restless. The woman opposite her, supposedly Lan Di's sister, looked somewhat familiar. She had been smiling at her ever since they met, a smile that carried a scrutinizing quality. Shi Nan felt uncomfortable under her gaze.
"I didn't know Lan Di had an older sister." Of course she knew it might be her cousin, but she still had to say something.
“I’m his cousin.” She finished speaking and continued to smile scrutinizingly.
Shi Nan gave up and simply lowered her head to drink her milkshake. Suddenly, she remembered that the face looked familiar because she had been there at the airport that time.
"This is five thousand yuan. Lan Di asked me to give it to you." My cousin finally got to the point.
Oh dear, no wonder he told her to wait for his call today. "I can't accept it, please take it back. Please thank him for me."
“Mr. Shi, I don’t know what happened with this money. My job is to hand it over to you. If you don’t want it, you can return it to him later. But please cooperate today so I can finish my task.”
Shi Nan smiled and said, "No need for later. You can take it back today. He must have borrowed the money from you and wanted you to give it to me, right? I really won't accept it. You can take it back now, so you won't have to go through the hassle of returning it later."
"Hehe, I won't lend him the money. It's his money. Before he left, he gave me all his cash and bankbooks to keep safe. It's not safe to leave them at home. Shi Nan, don't make things difficult for your sister," she said, shoving the envelope into Shi Nan's hand and getting up to leave. "I'm leaving now, I have things to do."
Before Shi Nan could react, her cousin had already said "goodbye" and added a sentence that left Shi Nan completely baffled: "Don't let his good looks fool you, he actually has no experience whatsoever."
When Shi Nan returned home, he stared blankly at the money.
In order to avoid owing Wang Fan any debts, he ended up owing Lan Di.
Without Lan Di's phone number, Shi Nan wrote, "Your sister gave me the money. What do you mean by this?! I can earn my own money, what do you mean by giving it to me?! Why should I use your money?!" Her words were tinged with resentment.
Asking him this way might get him to open up—if he did it because he cares about him.
Two weeks later, Shi Nan received a reply and from then on, he completely lost hope in Lan Di.
He wrote in his letter, "I have no use for the RMB; I can't spend it here."
Emotional Admonition
Shi Nan hadn't seen Wang Fan for the past year. They'd made two or three phone calls, but neither of them had the courage to meet. Shi Nan was afraid of feeling guilty if she saw him, and Wang Fan was afraid of being sad if he saw her.
It's best to give the money in person, so Shi asked him to meet. When they met, Wang Fan looked delighted.
But after Shi explained the situation, his expression immediately turned ugly.
He naturally refused the money, and Shi Nan bluntly said, "Wang Fan, you just want me to be unhappy, you just want me to be uncomfortable, right?"
"What are you saying? Of course I don't want to."
“A few thousand dollars is nothing to you, but I have to pay you back, otherwise it will weigh on my mind.”
Hearing her say that, Wang Fan finally accepted it, but said, "Shi Nan, don't you know that it will make me sad if you distance yourself from me like this?"
The weather was unbearably hot and humid, and Shi Nan really didn't want to go out, preferring to stay home with the air conditioning on all day. Since going out was a rare treat, he decided to invite two people out at once.
After saying goodbye to Wang Fan, Shi Nan was offered a ride home, but she declined, saying she had other plans. She stayed put and waited for Ye Feng.
Lord Ye arrived late, and Shi Nan gave him a cold look. But then he produced three roses from behind his back and handed them to Shi Nan with a smile.
Shi Nan frowned. "What's going on?"
"Props. Summer vacation is already halfway over, and you're only now showing up to see me? When have I, Ye Feng, ever been so humiliated? You have to pretend to be my girlfriend for the whole day to make it up to me." He still had that cheeky grin.
Looking at his childlike face, Shi Nan couldn't bear to say no. She knew there was nothing between them, so she wasn't afraid and could let loose and act silly. So she immediately feigned a charming demeanor and tenderly accepted the flowers.
Little did they know, Wang Fan, who had been watching from afar, had seen everything.
During summer vacation, Tang Beibei would visit Shi Nan's house from time to time. One day, she knocked on the door and said she had some explosive news.
"What's wrong? Did you see your dream girl while walking?"
"Shi Nan, Shi Nan, Wang Fan... Wang Fan..."
"Wang Fan what?"
"Wang Fan has a girlfriend." Tang Beibei finally caught her breath.
Oh? It would be a lie to say I wasn't surprised; Shi Nan straightened up.
"And I heard it's from your school."
He's barely even been to our school a few times, how did he manage to hook up with him?
"His name is Zhang Fan. Do you know him?"
How could I not know her? "She's my roommate."
"Huh??? Could it be... that you introduced them?"
Shi Nan tilted his head and thought for a moment, "I guess you could say that indirectly."
"and you........?"
"What do you mean, 'what do you mean,' you know we've been broken up for a long time."
"Aren't you upset at all?"
She wasn't upset, but she was quite surprised. He hadn't mentioned it when they met last time. "When did they start dating?" Shi Nan opened the refrigerator, took out an ice cream, and handed it to her.
"It should have been recently. Zhang Miao told me about it; Wang Fan took her with him when he was hanging out with them."
"Actually, I'm quite happy," Shi Nan said.
"??"
"To lessen my guilt," Shi Nan smiled.
Tang Bei shook her head helplessly. "What a pity. I originally wanted to use you two as a positive example to prove the purity and enduring nature of young love, but it only lasted two months."
"Perhaps it's true for others, but we're the exception—you've made the wrong bet." Shi Nan smiled, but in his heart he thought, who doesn't want a pure and lasting love?
Their correspondence continued uninterrupted.
The students all knew that Shi Nan had a classmate in Japan who corresponded with her. Whenever they wrote to her, they would say, "Shi Nan, your Japanese classmate has written to you again."
When they asked about the letter writer, she only said it was a good friend.
Another letter arrived. Shi Nan opened the letter in his dormitory and unexpectedly, a photo fell out.
His quick-thinking roommate snatched it away, exclaiming, "Wow! Who's this? He's got a real stunner! I've never seen such a handsome guy before!"
"Shi Nan, you deliberately misled everyone: we all thought your good friend was a girl, but it turns out she's a guy!!!"
"Shi Nan, what's your relationship with him? Are you really just good friends? Then introduce him to me quickly, you only need Ye Feng."