He finished speaking those words, and Tao Shuran felt as if the entire world had gone quiet.
Her tongue felt tied, and she hastily denied it in a panic.
“We’ve never kissed.”
Liang Yuanjing lifted his eyelids and watched her anxiously denying it in front of Jin Boyu.
They had clearly kissed, so why was she denying it for another man?
His lips pressed tightly together. He shoved one hand into his pocket, his brows raised, a low-pressure aura enveloping his entire body as his gaze drifted unsparingly into the distance.
Jin Boyu spoke considerately. “Junior Sister, I’ll wait for you by the car.”
Tao Shuran softly replied with an “Mm.”
“The weather’s getting cool at night. Put on your jacket properly.”
Before leaving, he considerately helped her into the jacket he was holding.
He fastened the top button and smoothly took away the man’s jacket she had been hugging in her arms.
He tossed it lightly into Liang Yuanjing’s arms, his words casual and breezy.
“Captain Liang, take good care of your own things.”
Once again, only the two of them were left.
Tao Shuran earnestly emphasized, “We’ve never kissed.”
“That time was an accident.”
Liang Yuanjing replied casually, “Is that so? I thought it was pretty deliberate.”
If emotions could be traced back, he had actually fallen for her in that kiss.
In the instant their lips met, the anger and fury he had imagined did not come crashing down. Instead, his heart raced, and in the second she turned and pulled away, what annoyed him was that he hadn’t gotten a clear look at her full expression.
In that moment, Liang Yuanjing knew he had fallen.
In this game of pretend love, he had completely immersed himself.
“Are you getting revenge on me now, Liang Yuanjing?”
Tao Shuran suddenly looked up at him, her voice somewhat choked. “Because I deceived you in the past, now you keep bringing up this relationship to toy with me.”
Liang Yuanjing lowered his head to look at her.
It was also at this moment that he noticed the slight redness around her eyes, the somewhat crumbling emotions. His heart thumped, and he stood there at a loss for what to do.
He pressed his lips together and said, “No.”
“I just…” He trailed off halfway, then sighed helplessly.
What else could he say? He had said the same words five years ago, but she had never believed him.
“Don’t cry, alright?”
He reached out to brush away the tear at the corner of her eye, coaxing her in a low voice—
“I won’t mention it again.”
It was indulgence and compromise, or perhaps surrender to this relationship.
For a moment, Liang Yuanjing even thought that as long as she didn’t shed tears anymore, it wouldn’t matter if she liked someone else.
As long as she was happy, that was enough.
He irritably kicked at the pebbles by his feet, his tone cocky and arrogant, though his words lacked any intimidation.
“Ordinary friends it is, then. At least give it a name.”
Tao Shuran didn’t respond to him anymore.
She got into the car ahead of them, and as she left, she didn’t know if it was intentional or not, but she stomped heavily on his foot.
It was like punishment for his insolent words.
Staring at the small shoe print on his shoe, Liang Yuanjing suddenly laughed out loud.
He knew that with Tao Shuran’s good temper, it was almost impossible for her to pointedly add the word “ordinary” in front of friends.
Her posture of rejection, clearly drawing a line between them, was too obvious.
Amid his heartbreak, he always thought back to the past her.
Had every casual rejection from him back then left her just as dejected?
The smile on Liang Yuanjing’s face gradually froze.
Amid the blend of wind and sand, he lifted his leg and strode forward steadily, determined to retrace every step of her bitter secret crush.
…
Tao Shuran leaned back against the seat. The sky was very dark, and the surroundings were very quiet.
Jin Boyu turned on an overhead reading light, holding a book and reading. The rustling sound of turning pages was very soothing.
She wanted to catch a nap in the car but couldn’t fall asleep no matter what.
In the end, she simply kept her eyes open and turned her head to look at the scenery outside the window.
On the vast, endless road, every car sped along rapidly. Massive clouds of windblown sand rose on both sides of the road, and the boundless desert under the golden sunlight resembled a palette of light brown tones.
It was a landscape completely different from the city.
Before coming to North City, Lin Tingzhou had once asked her why.
How had Tao Shuran answered back then?
She had said, “I want to live in a completely different place.”
Fuqing City was filled with too many memories of Liang Yuanjing.
Living independently in this city alone, every lonely day made her think of him.
The feeling of being wrapped in memories was too painful.
But fate always seemed to love playing jokes on her.
Those suppressed feelings of injustice now churned like a lake surface, completely in turmoil.
Tao Shuran shifted her body again, and the jacket rubbed against the seat, making a sound.
“Try this.”
Jin Boyu took a small aromatherapy stick from his bag and wafted it under her nose.
Tao Shuran leaned down to smell it. It had a fresh mugwort scent mixed with other Chinese herbal fragrances.
Jin Boyu said mildly, “It helps calm the mind.”
So even Senior Brother had noticed her unsettled state?
Tao Shuran pressed her lips together. “That person just now…”
She had just wanted to explain when Jin Boyu interrupted her.
He leaned back against the headrest, his tone relaxed.
“If you don’t want to talk about it, then don’t.”
“You’re twenty-five. It’s normal to experience a heart-stirring love in your life.”
The topic was brushed aside just like that.
Tao Shuran breathed a sigh of relief inwardly and turned to ask him, “What about you, Senior Brother?”
Jin Boyu said candidly, “I’ve never encountered it. My life has always been very bland.”
“So I occasionally feel nostalgic for the passion of the young.”
Tao Shuran tsked and said, “Senior Brother, you’re only twenty-eight this year.”
“Is that so?” Jin Boyu sighed. “But these past few years taking care of you and Songnian, you two troublemakers, I feel like I’m more than twenty-eight.”
Tao Shuran widened her eyes. “When have I ever been that much trouble?”
“Skipping class to drink at Qing University bars, covering for each other to attend concerts, and secretly cooking glue in the rice pot.”
Jin Boyu rubbed his forehead. “The glue didn’t cook properly, but you didn’t want to waste it and stubbornly ate it in secret.”
He listed incident after incident, and Tao Shuran’s head hung lower and lower.
She muttered softly, “It was all Gu Songnian egging me on.”
Just like that, she unhesitatingly ratted out her accomplice, Gu Songnian.
Jin Boyu laughed and scolded, “He needs it even more.”
Getting back to the point, Tao Shuran asked curiously, “Senior Brother, why have you never dated?”
Though their cultural relics restoration major was niche, the other academies had plenty of people.
Tao Shuran remembered that back at school, Jin Boyu had been quite popular.
But he was like a high mountain flower, never plucked by anyone.
Jin Boyu said slowly, “Because I feel I couldn’t bear the pain and anxiety of parting in love, so I thought about it and decided not to start at all.”
“Life involves gains and losses. I don’t want the sweetness, nor do I bear the pain.”
Tao Shuran sighed. “Very philosophical.”
“Don’t give me that.”
Jin Boyu snorted a laugh and lightly tapped her head with the book in his hand.
“Has your little brain gone blank?”
“Who’s blank?”
Tao Shuran said softly, “I’m the follow-your-heart type. If I like someone, I like them.”
“It’s just that I don’t want to like him anymore now.”
A flash of dimness crossed her face, and she said dejectedly in a low voice, “He’s great, but I don’t want to bear that wistful sense of loss beneath the sweetness anymore.”
“Then try getting along with an ordinary mindset.”
Jin Boyu turned to look at her and suggested seriously, “Don’t avoid it, don’t fear it. Treat him like just an ordinary person.”
He paused, then added—
“A somewhat handsome ordinary person?”
Hearing this, Tao Shuran couldn’t help but burst out laughing with a puff.
With Liang Yuanjing’s looks, he could never fall into the category of “ordinary” even if thrown into a crowd.
Her mood lightened, and she shook her head, deliberately saying, “Is that so?”
“I don’t think he’s as handsome as Senior Brother.”
“Don’t give me that. I know exactly what you’re up to.”
Jin Boyu looked at her knowingly. “Trying to get me to do work for you again?”
That night, after returning and fetching water for a simple wash, Tao Shuran emerged from the bathroom to find the swelling on her ankle had worsened.
It was within expectations.
These past two days had been too busy, and she hadn’t had time to tend to the injury.
She had planned to buy medicine at the town market, but inconvenient transportation made her keep forgetting.
Tao Shuran tried applying a hot towel, but as soon as she did, a sharp pain drilled through, and she couldn’t help but hiss.
Someone lightly knocked on the door.
Without thinking, she responded, “Senior Brother, I’m not asleep yet. Just come in.”
Liang Yuanjing fell silent but entered under the title of “Senior Brother.”
Tao Shuran froze for a moment and saw that he was covered in dust, not even having changed out of his training clothes.
She asked slowly, “You’re here… Is there something wrong?”
Liang Yuanjing set down what he was holding, crossed his arms, and looked at her leisurely as he spoke.
“What, Senior Brother can come, but I have to have a reason?”
Picking up on his hostile tone, Tao Shuran pressed her lips together and said softly, “Shouldn’t you?”
“Yes.”