The media hyped it up in their reports, and the hot searches on Weibo kept climbing again and again.
That Ming Yu would know about it, Jiang Fuyue wasn’t surprised.
“Yes,” she smiled and nodded, “you should know each other, right?”
As she spoke, she also picked up a piece of braised ribs and put it into his bowl. “Eat more, you’re too thin.”
Although he had long known the answer, hearing her admit it personally still made the tip of Ming Yu’s tongue turn bitter.
“…Congratulations.”
Just those two short words seemed to use up all his strength.
Jiang Fuyue smiled. “Thank you.”
For the rest of the meal, Ming Yu quietly ate and didn’t speak again.
Instead, Ye Qianji and Niu Rui were arguing noisily over the seafood, making a racket without a moment’s peace.
After eating, Jiang Fuyue went to settle the bill.
Then she sent Ye Qianji and Ming Yu back to “Danggui” before leaving.
“…Are you alright?” Seeing that Ming Yu’s complexion didn’t look very good, Ye Qianji couldn’t help asking.
Ming Yu waved his hand. “No…” Before the word problem could come out, his stomach suddenly churned. He gagged, leaning on his cane as he staggered toward the restroom.
The sound of vomiting came from inside, mixed with labored breathing and retching.
Ye Qianji waited nearby. When he finished vomiting, he handed over a tissue, and a sigh slipped out as well. “If you can’t eat, don’t force yourself. The one suffering is you.”
Ming Yu took it and said thank you. “…If I don’t eat, she’ll worry.”
“Why bother doing this to yourself?”
But Ming Yu only shook his head.
Ye Qianji: “Be stubborn then!”
After saying that, he flicked his sleeve and left.
Ming Yu looked at the mirror in front of him. Reflected in it were his gaunt cheeks, and the white strands hidden among his black hair.
A bitter smile gradually crept onto his lips.
Even the best hair dye couldn’t change the fact that he had already grown old. He shouldn’t feel disappointed, because…
He shouldn’t have held any hope in the first place.
“Ming Yu, oh Ming Yu… how could you possibly deserve her?”
…
On the way back while driving, Jiang Fuyue received a call from Xie Dingyuan.
“Hello?”
There was a pause on the other end. “…You’re driving?”
“Mm. How did you know?”
“I could hear it.”
That level of perception, no one else had it.
“Did you go out for something?”
Jiang Fuyue hummed lightly. “But it’s already done. I’m on the way home.”
“Where exactly are you right now?”
She answered honestly: “…What’s wrong?”
Xie Dingyuan rarely pressed a question to the very end like this.
There was a light cough from the other end, as if somewhat embarrassed. “…I’m at A&G Bar. Could you come pick me up?”
The last words were spoken softly and gently.
As if afraid Jiang Fuyue might get angry.
To be honest, she wasn’t angry, but she was genuinely surprised.
Xie Dingyuan actually went to a bar?! Tsk!
“You drank?”
“…Mm.”
That made it even more astonishing.
“Wait there. I’ll be there soon.” Jiang Fuyue ended the call, immediately made a U-turn, and sped off in another direction.
…
Half an hour later, the car stopped in front of A&G Bar.
Xie Dingyuan stood on the steps. When he saw her, he looked as if a burden had been lifted.
“Yueyue…”
Before he could finish speaking, a staggering figure beside him stretched out a long arm and slung it directly around Xie Dingyuan’s neck.
“Old Xie, I’m telling you… she just doesn’t know what’s good for her! Her eyes are blind, blind!”
As he spoke, he leaned against Xie Dingyuan and let out a huge, foul-smelling alcoholic burp.
Jiang Fuyue clearly saw Xie Dingyuan’s expression change, his jaw clenched, veins bulging on his forehead, obviously enduring to the extreme, on the verge of exploding.
“What’s wrong with him?” Jiang Fuyue stepped forward and glanced at Shen Qiannan, who was drunk out of his mind and spouting nonsense.
“Heartbroken. Throwing a drunken tantrum.”
“Who’s heartbroken?! I’m not heartbroken! Absolutely not!” Shen Qiannan protested, suddenly standing straight up and wagging one finger.
But he stared too hard, and ended up crossing his own eyes.
Xie Dingyuan: “……”
Jiang Fuyue: “……” I really want to laugh, but I have to hold it in!
“Old Xie, tell me, aren’t we brothers?”
“……”
“You can’t expose your brother like that! Heartbroken my *ss. If anyone’s heartbroken it’s her. Why would I be heartbroken? I was never even in love! If there’s no love, there’s nothing to lose! Heh heh!”
Xie Dingyuan: “Behave yourself! Stop touching people!”
“What’s wrong with hugging you? Haven’t you hugged me before? Why so shy?”
Xie Dingyuan: “……”
Jiang Fuyue: “?” Are these two normal?
Seeing that Shen Qiannan was about to keep babbling, she immediately called to Xie Dingyuan, “Alright, hurry up and get him into the car. Let’s send him home first.”
When Shen Qiannan heard this, he reacted like a cat with its fur standing on end. “Go back? Go where?! I’m telling you, your grandpa here is staying right here. I’m not going anywhere!”
As he spoke, he actually tried to reach out and grab Jiang Fuyue. With a dazed, infatuated look, he muttered: “Weiwei… Weiwei… don’t go… If you dare leave, I, I’ll f**k you until you cry!”
Before Jiang Fuyue could change her expression, there was a sharp pia sound. Xie Dingyuan slapped the back of his hand and shoved Shen Qiannan away.
Bang!
He fell onto the ground with a thud, landing on his backside. Raising his head in confusion, he blinked, seemingly still not understanding what had happened.
Xie Dingyuan bent down, grabbed his collar, and said coldly, word by word: “You can go crazy however you like, I don’t care. But if you dare make dirty jokes about my woman again, I guarantee I’ll beat you until even your parents won’t recognize you.”
Shen Qiannan: “?”
“Did you hear me?” His grip tightened.
“Cough cough cough… le-let go… you’re going to strangle me!”
“Speak! Did you hear me?”
“I heard! I heard!” Shen Qiannan shouted loudly.
No one knew whether Xie Dingyuan was gripping too tightly or if he had choked himself, but as he yelled, his voice cracked.
“Get up.” Xie Dingyuan released his hand, stood straight, and looked down at him from above.
Shen Qiannan didn’t move. The handsome young man over 1.8 meters tall sat on the ground like an unkempt vagrant.
The scene was momentarily ridiculous, kind of funny.
Jiang Fuyue couldn’t hold back and took out her phone, snapping a photo of him.
Xie Dingyuan: “I’ll say it again, stand up.”
Shen Qiannan froze for two seconds. “…D*mn! At least help me up!”
Xie Dingyuan didn’t move at all.
Shen Qiannan pouted, cursing under his breath as he got up himself, casually patting the dust off his pants.
“Now you care about appearances?” Xie Dingyuan sneered coldly.
Shen Qiannan: “……”
“Get in the car.”
“…Oh.” This time he behaved.
…
Jiang Fuyue planned to send Shen Qiannan home first.
He and Xie Dingyuan sat side by side in the back seat, slumping and swaying around bonelessly. It was hard to tell whether he was truly drunk or pretending.
If he was really drunk, he still knew to open the window for ventilation.
If he was pretending, some things he said really didn’t sound like something someone sober would say, for example,
“She thinks she’s someone important, that Lin Weiwei? Oh, after treating me like some high-end gigolo, sleeping with me, using me up and wiping her mouth clean, she just pats her butt and leaves, without even paying! Is there really such a good deal in this world?!”
Jiang Fuyue’s hand slipped slightly on the wheel, almost failing to steady the steering.
What kind of shocking, melodramatic gossip was this?!
“I, Shen Qiannan, have at least passed through countless flowers, but who would’ve thought I’d capsize in a gutter and get played by a female sea king? I got played? Hahaha, Old Xie, do you believe it? What kind of international joke is this?!”
As he spoke, he leaned toward Xie Dingyuan’s shoulder.
But Xie Dingyuan dodged away in disgust.
He didn’t care and continued on his own: “How could I get played? Obviously I got tired of sleeping with her and didn’t want her anymore! Right, I was the one who didn’t want her first… Who does she think she is?”
“Luckily you didn’t get on her pirate ship back then, but in the end… in the end I got on it! D*mn it!” At this point Shen Qiannan suddenly felt overwhelming sorrow, completely failing to notice Xie Dingyuan’s already dark, ink-like expression and the furious look in his eyes that looked ready to devour him.
“How good would it have been if your blind date with her had succeeded? Then I wouldn’t have ended up as this cannon fodder. I usually don’t even mess with that type, so why did I, of all people, with her…”
Screech!
With a sudden brake, the car pulled over to the side.
Jiang Fuyue’s chilly voice followed: “Blind date? Who had a blind date with whom?”
Xie Dingyuan instantly felt his scalp go numb and his whole body stiffen.
Shen Qiannan jerked upright, his drunkenness completely gone.
“Uh… well… I suddenly feel fine now. No need for you two to send me back. I can just take a taxi myself.”
After saying that, he pushed open the car door and rushed to the middle of the road, flagging down a taxi. “Driver, hurry and go! Just drive forward! Anywhere!”
As if ghosts were chasing him.
The taxi sped off in a flash, leaving only Jiang Fuyue and Xie Dingyuan in the car.
A cold wind blew through, making the back of one’s neck feel chilly.
“Yueyue, it’s not like what he said. Listen to my expla…”
“You went on a blind date? When? With that… Weiwei?”
Xie Dingyuan: “……”
“Not speaking means you’re admitting it?”
“No, I…”
“Alright,” Jiang Fuyue waved her hand. “If you don’t want to talk about it, forget it. I don’t want to hear it either. You, get out of the car now.”
Xie Dingyuan: “?”
Two minutes later, on the brightly lit road, the car drove away, leaving a gust of wind behind. Xie Dingyuan stood alone at the roadside, eyes blank.
Who am I?
Where am I?
She’s angry?
I got kicked out?
Just then, a taxi drove over and stopped beside him. Shen Qiannan, who had originally fled, stuck his head out from the back-seat window.
“Heh heh… Didn’t expect it, did you? I came back! Surprise? Unexpected?! Come on, get in the car. A woman abandoned you? No problem, you still have your brother here!”
“So you see, at critical moments you still have to rely on brothers. I already left but turned back to pick you up. Pretty loyal of me, right?”
Xie Dingyuan said expressionlessly: “You ran pretty fast.”
“Of course! Why wouldn’t I run? Stay there and wait for Jiang Fuyue to beat me up? I heard she used to train in shot put, one push from her and I’d be sent flying.”
Xie Dingyuan: “You know quite a lot.”
“Right? Heh heh… Hurry up and get in. The car can’t stop here for long.” As he spoke, he opened the door and shifted to the other side, leaving a seat.
Xie Dingyuan walked over with a cold smile, grabbed Shen Qiannan and dragged him out of the car. Without giving him any time to react, he directly started punching.
“Who told you to run your mouth! Who told you to run your mouth!”
“D*mn, are you crazy? Why are you hitting me?!”
“Ow! Don’t hit my face… Lin Weiwei likes this face of mine the most… D*mn! You’re really beating me?!”
“That’s too much, Old Xie! You you you, ah! It hurts, it hurts!”
…
After returning home, Jiang Fuyue changed her shoes and walked into the living room.
Now the person accompanying the old master in chess had been replaced by Han Ting.
The former frowned deeply, scratching his head; the latter looked relaxed and occasionally urged him on.
“Sis! You’re back! There’s longan and lotus seed soup in the kitchen, Aunt Liu made it and left you a bowl.”
“Thank you.”
After finishing a bowl of the sweet and refreshing lotus seed soup, Jiang Fuyue’s mood instantly improved.
She walked to the chessboard and gave Han Ting a look, telling him to go easy and not make the old master depressed from losing.
Han Ting returned a “Don’t worry, I understand” look.
Only then did Jiang Fuyue feel at ease and go upstairs back to her room.
She took out her phone and placed it on the bedside table. While she went to shower, the screen kept lighting up because someone was calling repeatedly.
Unfortunately, Jiang Fuyue had already set it to silent mode.
She couldn’t hear it.
After finishing her shower, she dried her hair and leisurely put on a face mask.
It was from a brand sponsor, Han Heng couldn’t use them all up, so he had piled half of them into her room. The drawers and cabinets were stuffed full.
Before going to bed, Jiang Fuyue even browsed two Science papers on her tablet online, but she still didn’t check her phone.
Then she turned off the lights and went to sleep!
A whole night passed without dreams, her sleep sweet and peaceful, just like that bowl of thick yet refreshing lotus seed soup.
Only certain unfortunate people tossed and turned all night, grinding their teeth until dawn,
Regretting it. If he had known earlier, he should have beaten Shen Qiannan, that b*stard, to death!
…
On the last day of Jiang Fuyue’s rest at home, she received an email from Country E. The sender was, Dougal Dixon!
The same person who, during the academic debate before, was the first to jump out to support Tosaki Kawashima.
It was said that he and Tosaki Kawashima had met while studying in Country M when they were young, and afterward maintained a deep friendship for decades.
In the end, it shattered completely during one academic debate.
At first Dougal simply didn’t believe that Tosaki Kawashima would commit academic fraud, and even rudely refuted Jiang Fuyue on the spot.
But when the evidence was laid out, he personally verified it afterward, and in the end he couldn’t deny it.
Because of this, Dougal was quite depressed for a period of time.
However, just one week ago, he became active again.
In an interview, he said energetically that he had found a new goal and new direction for the future, and that this new direction was related to China!
When reporters pressed him about whether he still had contact with Tosaki Kawashima, Dougal stated frankly that he was extremely disappointed in that friendship and would completely sever ties with him in the future, with no further contact.
At the same time, in front of the media cameras, he bowed on the spot and apologized to Jiang Fuyue for his biased listening and arrogant disdain.
But this kind of long-distance apology did not receive any response from Jiang Fuyue.
Logically speaking, he had already made enough of a gesture and outsiders had nothing to criticize; he should have let the matter rest.
Yet unexpectedly, he would send her an email?
Jiang Fuyue clicked it open.
The first half was another deeply sincere apology to her.
Between the lines it could be seen that Dougal had placed himself in a very humble position, full of sincerity.
The second half expressed his hope to apply to settle into Ming University’s Wujin Building, hoping to obtain admission qualifications.
Although Jiang Fuyue had vigorously promoted it after the debate ended, the only people truly willing to move their laboratories into the building so far were Xu Kaiqing, Old Peter, and Ming Yu.
Dougal was the first foreign scientist to apply to move into the Wujin Building!
Jiang Fuyue immediately contacted Xiao Shan and asked him to help Dougal complete the relevant procedures as quickly as possible.
She had a strong feeling that the breakthrough point for the Wujin Building to break the ice with the Western scientific community had been found.
Soon the approval came through.
The news that Dougal was about to settle into the Wujin Building at Qiming University of China quickly spread throughout the global academic community…
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