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Chapter Seventy-Three
Chapter Seventy-Three
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The hotel's "Lion's Head Meatballs" were always a hot topic, and the dish was devoured as soon as it was served. Ruolin used to love eating "Lion's Head Meatballs," but today, after just one bite, she felt like vomiting. She held back and took another bite, but unexpectedly, she immediately gagged.
She covered her mouth, trying her best to suppress the urge to vomit, then left her seat and hurriedly went to the restroom.
Ruolin vomited completely into the toilet, bringing up all the food and alcohol she had just eaten and drunk.
She suddenly had a bad feeling, then realized that her period seemed to have been late. Remembering how in TV dramas, vomiting was always a warning sign of pregnancy, her heart jumped to her throat. Could it be...?
In the past, every time she had a relationship with Han Haoxuan, he would always take precautions. Did he not take precautions when he violated her that time?
Ruolin grew increasingly worried; she really had been too careless this time. But it was understandable; since breaking up with Han Haoxuan, she'd been somewhat absent-minded and couldn't possibly be thinking about anything else.
Ruolin emerged from the bathroom, feeling somewhat exhausted, only to bump into Mu Jingyan. He asked anxiously, "Ruolin, what's wrong? Is something the matter?"
"It's nothing," Ruolin shook her head.
Mu Jingyan had noticed Ruolin's unusual behavior at the dinner table, so he followed her after she left her seat. He waited for her in the hallway outside the restroom.
The bathroom door wasn't very soundproof, and he could hear Ruolin vomiting violently from outside, which pained him deeply. He waited outside for a long time, thinking she was drunk, and almost went to ask his female classmate to go in and check on her.
"You don't look well. Are you drunk?" Mu Jingyan asked again.
"Yes, I'm a little drunk. I don't drink alcohol," Ruolin replied.
"Then don't drink later. If I had known you didn't drink at all, I would have drunk that glass of wine for you earlier." Mu Jingyan still blushed and her heart was pounding when she recalled the scene of drinking the nuptial wine earlier.
"It's okay, I'm much better now." Ruolin forced a smile. "Amu, thank you for caring about me. But you wouldn't tell me you were here because you were following me, would you?"
"No, I just happened to be going to the restroom..." Mu Jingyan tried to make an excuse, but found that the more he tried to explain, the worse it got.
"No need to explain, I know. Let's go, otherwise everyone will be getting impatient with my disappearance for so long."
When they returned to their seats, Mu Jingyan and Ruolin were inevitably teased by their mischievous classmates.
"Look how well Mu Jingyan is a protector of flowers. He even escorts Shen Ruolin when she goes to the restroom."
"That's only natural, so many years of fate! What's that saying again... 'I searched for him a thousand times in the crowd, and suddenly, when I turned around, I found him where the lights were dim.'"
"What a beautiful feeling! It's truly enviable."
...
Ruolin kept her head down and ate her meal, ignoring what was being said.
Mu Jingyan didn't answer, but kept glancing at Ruolin out of the corner of his eye while eating. Not only was her expression off, but she also seemed preoccupied. Was she unhappy because their classmates had tried to match them up? He wondered to himself.
Seeing that Mu Jingyan and Ruolin, the two parties involved, seemed unmoved, the classmates felt they had made a fool of themselves and stopped talking.
Ruolin found that she felt nauseous whenever she ate meat, so she only ate vegetables.
"Ruolin, are you a rabbit? Why do you only eat vegetables?" The sharp-eyed Tian Jing immediately noticed Ruolin's pattern of eating vegetables.
"I can't eat too much meat during the Spring Festival because my family eats a lot of meat and fish, and I'm tired of it," Ruolin replied somewhat guiltily.
"Oh." Fortunately, Tian Jing didn't press for details, and Ruolin breathed a sigh of relief.
After finally getting through the wedding banquet, Ruolin hurriedly said goodbye to her classmates and went outside, wanting to confirm as soon as possible whether she was pregnant.
"Ruolin, let me give you a ride." Mu Jingyan called to Ruolin from behind, and added, "My dad just bought a new car, so I drove it here today."
“I’ll just take the bus home myself,” Ruolin said, turning around to him. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to take the free bus, but she wanted to go to the pharmacy to buy a pregnancy test, and of course, she wanted to do it discreetly.
"Ruolin... I have something to tell you. Can you come with me for a walk around No. 1 High School?" Mu Jingyan hesitated for a moment, but finally spoke. Attending his high school classmate's wedding had ignited his courage again. His feelings for her had been brewing for too long, hidden for too long, and had been suppressed in his heart. He thought he had hidden them well, but as long as there was an outlet, they would gush out like a spring, unstoppable.
Ruolin stopped in her tracks, glanced at her watch—two o'clock in the afternoon. This watch was the one Han Haoxuan had given her. She had only returned the ring to him, but not the watch. She thought that although she couldn't be his bride, she could at least preserve the happy memories of being with Han Haoxuan. Happiness is sometimes fleeting, but as long as there is love in one's heart, it will become eternal.
"It won't take up too much of your time. I just want to fulfill a wish of mine," Mu Jingyan said hastily, afraid she might have something urgent to attend to. Why should he need someone else to repeat what he loves about her? He must take this moment, when he has mustered up the courage, to solemnly tell her that he loves her and give her the birthday gift he had prepared for her.
"Okay," Ruolin replied, as if she had made a great decision.
Chapter 74
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During the Spring Festival, four large red lanterns were hung at the main gate of the school, with the words "Happy Spring Festival" written on them, which looked very festive.
The old man on duty still remembered Mu Jingyan, after all, he was a top student who was admitted to a prestigious university back then. However, in just a few years, the wrinkles on the old man's face had become deeper, and his hair had turned even whiter.
Ruolin couldn't help but lament the ruthlessness of time.
Time flies by without ever considering human wishes.
The only good thing about the passage of time is that memories become so precious and beautiful.
People and events that have passed away settle down with the passage of time, filtering out all the unpleasantness and leaving only sweetness.
Before they knew it, the two had walked to the school's long corridor. They both stopped and sat down in the corridor.
Withered vines twined around the ceiling of the long corridor. Ruolin remembered how she loved coming here to study in the mornings during high school. She loved the environment; in spring and summer, the plants here would be quite lush, especially the green vines that climbed all over the white corridor, their intertwined tendrils like the intricate thoughts of a young girl. She also liked to sit at one end of the corridor, gazing at Mu Jingyan sitting on the other side. She would pretend to be diligently memorizing her lessons, but her gaze would always inadvertently drift towards Mu Jingyan.
She thought he had never noticed her. She thought her unrequited love during high school was a bitter pill to swallow, a one-woman show, a flawed yet memorable youthful romance. Little did she know, she had also been placed in his heart.
Although the temperature wasn't high, the afternoon sun shone through the gaps in the corridor, so it didn't feel too cold.
The two sat side by side, remaining silent for a long time.
“Ruo Lin…” Mu Jingyan broke the silence.
"Hmm?" Ruolin looked up at him.
A tender emotion flickered in Mu Jingyan's eyes, making them exceptionally bright. Ruolin dared not meet his gaze and quickly lowered her head.
"Did you ever really like me before?" Mu Jingyan asked.
“Yes,” Ruolin replied softly.
"I don't know when I started liking you. Maybe it was when I felt you were special at the beginning of the semester, or maybe it was that sudden flutter of the heart during our time as classmates." Mu Jingyan was lost in memories. "Back then, the studies were very demanding. Everyone was constantly saying, 'Exams, exams, exams, the teacher's magic weapon; grades, grades, grades, the student's lifeline.' I didn't have time to figure out if my liking for you was love. The pressure of exams and my parents' expectations outweighed everything else. I could only force myself to bury that special feeling for you deep in my heart. I originally wanted to confess my feelings to you after the college entrance exam, but considering your future university studies..." "I might meet better guys, and we'd be going to different universities in different cities, so even if we dated, we'd only see each other infrequently. That would mean we'd both suffer from the torment of longing. So I gave up. I told myself, 'Go find a partner in university; you might meet a girl better than me.' While I was in university, some girls confessed their feelings to me, but I just didn't like them and would compare them to you. So I never had a relationship until graduation." Mu Jingyan finished speaking in one breath and then asked Ruolin, "Was I stupid? Should I have confessed to you right after the college entrance exam?"
“I’m just as foolish as you.” Ruolin’s voice was soft, as if she were sighing. “I used to have an obsession with you, always feeling that no boy could compare to you. So, just like you, I had no romantic history until I graduated from university.”
“We are all persistent people…” Mu Jingyan smiled.
"No, at least not me. After meeting Han Haoxuan, I became less persistent, and my feelings for you aren't as strong as before..." Ruolin couldn't help but think of Han Haoxuan again. The time she spent with him wasn't long, but every little moment they shared had been etched into her life, making it impossible for her to forget.
"I regret it."
"Regret what?"
"I regret not confessing to you sooner. If I confess now, is it too late?" Mu Jingyan looked at Ruolin expectantly.
Ruolin didn't look at him or say anything; she just sighed and shook her head slightly.
"You still love him, right?" Mu Jingyan asked.
Ruolin hesitated for a moment, then nodded emphatically.
"Since you still love him, go tell him. Don't keep it buried in your heart. Otherwise, you'll end up like me, missing out on a relationship. What a pity!" Mu Jingyan said this with a heavy heart. Loving someone is hard, but letting the person you love be with someone else is even harder.
"Being together isn't just about love; it also requires many other things, like trust and sincerity. There are too many things between us. I feel exhausted when I'm with him."
Do you feel tired being with me?
"I'm not tired," Ruolin said truthfully.
"Then be with me, and I'll make you happy." With that, Mu Jingyan reached out his right arm and put his arm around Ruolin's shoulder.
Ruolin smiled and moved his hand away: "You should pay attention to your personal image at school. You were once a very popular senior, after all."
"I'm serious. Ruolin, if you love him right now but don't want to be with him, then be with me. I'll wait for you, until you forget him. No, it's okay if you can't forget him. As long as I can be with you, that's enough," Mu Jingyan said wistfully.
“Why bother, Amu? There are plenty of girls better than me. You should broaden your horizons and stop focusing on me.” Ruolin said, standing up and rubbing her hands to warm them up.
Mu Jingyan then stood up, took Ruolin's hand, and placed it in his broad, warm palm: "Isn't this warmer now?"
Ruolin tried to pull her hand away, but Mu Jingyan held it even tighter: "Accept me, okay? Just think of it as finding yourself a pair of gloves, a heater, isn't that enough?"
"Hehe, you're much more useful than gloves and a heater. Let me go, or I'll get angry."
Mu Jingyan reluctantly released her slightly cold hand.
"Here you go." Mu Jingyan handed Ruolin a glass bottle filled with colorful origami cranes.
"What is this?" Ruolin looked at the glass bottle with suspicion.
"This is a birthday present for you. I wanted to give it to you for your last birthday..."
"Thank you." Ruolin said, carefully examining the gift. It looked so familiar that she remembered folding origami cranes and putting them in a glass jar as a birthday present for Mu Jingyan back in her senior year of high school. However, he didn't show up that day, so her gift remained undelivered and was still at home.
She couldn't help but sigh at the cyclical nature of life and the capriciousness of fate.
"But giving origami cranes is an old-fashioned way of giving gifts. Why did you think of giving me this?" Ruolin asked.
After Mu Jingyan told Ruolin his reason, Ruolin laughed and said, "You really are a typical bookworm! Folding so many origami cranes is of course for your sweetheart. Do you think I'm just bored and like that stuff for no reason?"
"Did you fold it for me?" Mu Jingyan's reaction this time was remarkably quick.
Ruolin did not deny it.
"Can you give me back the gift you prepared for me back then?" Even if she doesn't love him now, she should at least keep evidence that she once loved him.
"Opportunity knocks but once. So much time has passed, the gift is long gone." Of course, it's not that the gift is gone, but rather that Ruolin doesn't intend to give him the birthday present she prepared for him years ago. How wonderful it would be if she could put the origami cranes he gave her now together with the ones she folded for him back then. It would be as if the past and present merged, as if time had reversed.