Chapter 225: Flower |
In early March, Jiang Linyuan returned to Jinling.
Going back to school is an incredibly painful thing.
If schooling were something anyone could just do to you, I’d naturally look down on you, so I won’t let you school me!
Working is the same.
It’s too sensual — both work and school being relentlessly on top of you, and often with multiple people, indoors and outdoors.
The scariest part is, if someone gets too much of it, their wallet turns into a white tiger — not a hair left.
You ask why some people end up with empty wallets even after working? If I knew why, would my own wallet still be empty?
As a university student stuck between a job and classes, Jiang Linyuan was carefree.
He drove, packed his luggage, and returned to school.
“I’m telling you, you didn’t just go to Yanjing over winter break, you even went down to Southern Fujian! If it weren’t for classes starting, were you planning to never come back to Jinling?”
Jiang Zhiyao sat in the front passenger seat, tilting her head and resting her chin on her hand, looking out the window.
Early spring sunlight spilled in, and the shadows of the trees on both sides were cast on the ground.
“I’m back now, aren’t I?”
Jiang Linyuan turned a corner.
Jiang Zhiyao twisted her head and shot him a glare, snorting:
“You only realize how good home is after you get tired of playing around outside?”
Something felt off.
Jiang Linyuan decided not to reply, and quietly drove the car to the dormitory building under Jiang Zhiyao’s room.
“You go up yourself. Can you lift your suitcase?”
“If you can’t, will you carry it up for me?”
“Is that allowed?”
“Do you want to walk into the girls’ dorm and end up on the Campus Forum?”
Jiang Zhiyao said irritably, got out of the car, and took the suitcase from the trunk.
Jiang Linyuan also got out:
“Next time I’ll take you out. This winter break wasn’t suitable.”
Jiang Zhiyao bumped him lightly:
“Yu Songsong too, she looked pitiful.”
Jiang Linyuan glanced at her in surprise. He really had no idea what kind of love potion Thief Saint had applied to Haji Yao during the time he was away.
“I know what I’m doing.”
“You’d better.”
Jiang Zhiyao carried her suitcase into the dormitory building. Just as she was about to go in, she looked back at him one more time.
“What’s wrong? Did you leave something?”
Jiang Linyuan walked over.
“I just feel like you’ve changed a bit.”
“Have I?”
“Yes.”
“Then do you think it’s changed for better or worse?”
“How would I know?”
Jiang Zhiyao shook her head, feeling that Jiang Linyuan wasn’t as carefree as before.
He felt heavier.
“I’ll go first. Cars can’t stay parked on campus too long.”
“Aren’t you going to your dorm?”
“I have something to do.”
With that, Jiang Linyuan started the car and left.
...
Jiang Linyuan drove to a private hospital. The road was long, and by the time he arrived it was already night.
He parked, walked through the corridor between buildings, and went into the ward.
There were no lights on in the room. The night outside the window spilled in, painting the room with a faint, shifting silver glow.
In the dim light, a figure sat on the hospital bed.
“Why didn’t you turn on the light?”
Jiang Linyuan reached out and switched on the lamp.
“Hehe, because I thought if it were like this, you’d feel more sorry for me — a lonely ward, a cheating boyfriend, an incurable illness... wouldn’t that make my life seem so miserable?”
Su Muzhi sat on the bed, smiling sleepily at him.
Jiang Linyuan went up and rubbed her cheek:
“The Vice Principal messaged me. He only left half an hour ago, and now he’s replaced by me coming to see you. How are you lonely?”
“You won’t deny the rest?”
“You’re not suffering at all.”
“Hehe...”
Su Muzhi smiled and opened her arms, then asked:
“Does the hospital gown look good on me?”
They looked at each other.
She was wrapped in a pale blue jacket, soft like a reed, and in that look she was even more exquisitely beautiful and pitiable.
“It looks great, but why are you in a hospital gown?”
“Isn’t wearing a hospital gown in the hospital a normal thing?”
Su Muzhi chuckled.
“Then should I change into one too?”
“I’ll have the nurse fetch one for you.”
Su Muzhi laughed and reached for the bell.
“At night? You’re making a joke out of people?”
“At night? Weren’t you just here to see me anyway?”
Su Muzhi withdrew her hand, smiling.
“That’s only right.”
Jiang Linyuan held her hand.
“It’s not a big deal—just a short hospital stay for rest and observation, take some medicine, and then I can leave.”
“But you’d be lonely here alone, right?”
“During the day I have my mom with me; in the afternoon I have my dad.”
“Then I’ll come keep you company at night.”
Su Muzhi looked at him amusedly:
“Really?”
“Really.”
Su Muzhi kissed him on the mouth with a smile:
“That’s one thing I like about you.”
They chatted and laughed, trading conversation.
Su Muzhi told Jiang Linyuan that the hospital food was pretty good, but never filling enough.
“My mom and I complained, and she said food intake must be strictly controlled, so she sent me off. When she’s old, I’ll tell her the same thing.”
“Auntie Shaqima was just following the doctor’s orders.”
“Hehe, you’re taking their side. When you’re old, I’ll bribe the doctor to give vicious prescriptions, and then I’ll bully you!”
Su Muzhi lifted Jiang Linyuan’s chin, tilting her head, and declared proudly.
“Then I’ll be waiting.”
Jiang Linyuan smiled and humored her.
They spoke on and off for more than an hour—mostly Jiang Linyuan talking while Su Muzhi listened.
“Hehe, school’s starting, huh.”
Su Muzhi turned to look out the window, then suddenly said:
“I’m a little scared.”
Jiang Linyuan hugged her:
“That doesn’t sound like something you’d say.”
“Hehe, what’s wrong? Am I not allowed to be vulnerable sometimes?”
“Then what are you afraid of?”
“I’m afraid that as I sit here in the hospital, your love for me will gradually diminish.”
Jiang Linyuan couldn’t help but laugh. Su Muzhi bit his lip to stop him from laughing.
“Why are you laughing?”
She asked.
“No, nothing.”
He looked at Su Muzhi and felt she increasingly resembled the woman from The Rest of Her Life.
If she couldn’t be cured and coupled with the regret of not having children, what would Little Su be like now?
Thinking that, he added:
“If you’re afraid, then I’ll come see you every night and tell you everything that happens to me, until you’re discharged and come to be by my side.”
“Hehe...”
Su Muzhi smiled again and pointed at the vase beside her bed:
“Then from now on, every time you see me, put a bouquet into this vase, okay?”
“Any specific flower type?”
“No, but I want you to pick them yourself. Don’t buy them from a florist.”
“Little Su, are you asking me to go commit destruction?”
“Hehe, this hospital has flowerbeds, you can pick whatever you want. If anyone asks, give my name.”
“That won’t do. If I visit you every day and deliver hospital-grown flowers, it doesn’t fit your status at all.”
Jiang Linyuan replied with a laugh.
Hearing that, Su Muzhi hugged him like she was pressing the most precious thing in her body against him.
She leaned to his ear, smiling, and said:
“Right now I suddenly think that when we’re old and then when I die, I’ll drag you along to die with me, so no one else gets you.”
