The Salted Fish Has Gotten Over It Chapter 120

Chapter 120:

Reunited or not, there were still papers to write and the professor’s reading list to finish. Xue Fangli couldn’t issue an edict banning university students from writing papers, could he? Otherwise, they’d all be arrested.

Jiang Juan sighed deeply.

Xue Fangli asked him, “What’s wrong?”

Jiang Juan said with a troubled expression, “Dizzy from all the papers.”

He lowered his head, barely reading two lines, then thought about what his roommate had said earlier—during military training, Xue Fangli almost got someone seriously injured. Jiang Juan mulled it over, stood up, and walked to the bookshelf.

“Here you go.”

When he returned, Jiang Juan handed Xue Fangli a book. Xue Fangli glanced at it, and several words stood out on the cover:

**”Handbook of Common Laws for Citizens.”**

Jiang Juan said earnestly, “Times have changed. You should take a look.”

Xue Fangli: “…”

His expression was somewhere between amusement and irritation, but Jiang Juan wasn’t fazed. He continued seriously, “If you accidentally end up inside, even if I steal the household registration book and marry you, my parents will still force me to get a divorce.”

Xue Fangli snorted, “Got it.”

Jiang Juan doubted he really understood and was about to lecture him further when his phone lit up with a message from his roommate.

His roommate, who had been in a daze for a while earlier, insisted on finding another seat instead of sitting nearby. Jiang Juan opened the message.

[Juan’er, what’s going on between you and Xue Fangli?]

[Did you know each other before?]

Jiang Juan answered truthfully, selecting two words and was about to send them when he heard a discontented clicking sound. The next moment, Xue Fangli grabbed his hand holding the phone and typed a few words.

At the other end of the library, Jiang Juan’s roommate was drinking water when his phone buzzed. He glanced at it and nearly choked.

[We know each other.]

[We were married.]

Roommate: ??? 

Married?

Married???

The roommate was dumbfounded.

“What are you doing?”

Jiang Juan hurriedly snatched back his phone, frowning as he messaged his roommate.

[The last message wasn’t from me. Don’t believe his nonsense.]

Roommate: “…”

If it wasn’t Jiang Juan, then who sent it? Xue, Xue Fangli?

With a loud thud, the phone fell onto the table. The roommate looked horrified, and it took him a while to pick up his phone and add the other dormmates into a new group chat.

[Guys, wake up.]

[Our Juan’er is about to be defiled!!!]

[That guy with the last name Xue has taken a fancy to him!]

After sending the message, the roommate named the new group chat:

“Protect Our Juan’er!!!”

Barely calming himself down, Jiang Juan couldn’t read anymore as the sky grew darker. He listlessly lay on the table, flipping through pages until he finally stood up.

Xue Fangli lifted his eyes. Jiang Juan whispered, “I’m going to find a book.”

If he couldn’t focus on reading, he might as well look for other books on the reading list and at least do something productive.

Xue Fangli responded with a quiet “Hmm,” gracefully turning a page in his book. Jiang Juan curiously leaned over. It seemed to be an economics book, which made his head spin after just one glance. He asked, “Isn’t that boring?”

Xue Fangli said, “It is.”

“Then why are you reading it?”

Xue Fangli glanced at him, “If I don’t read, how will I support you in the future?”

Jiang Juan, confused, said, “I’m easy to support.”

Xue Fangli didn’t comment further, lowering his eyes to continue reading. Unconvinced, Jiang Juan hugged his arm, insisting on talking, “What do you mean support me? You have plenty of companies to inherit and you still push it onto me.”

But Jiang Juan also understood that Xue Fangli wouldn’t need to do any of this if it weren’t for him.

Since they were in the library, even quiet conversations weren’t appropriate for long. After complaining, Jiang Juan went to the shelves to find the books he needed.

He looked through the shelves, picking out several books. Soon, he had several in his left hand while reaching for another with his right.

The position was awkward for grabbing books, and the shelves were too crowded. After several attempts, Jiang Juan still couldn’t pull out the book he wanted. Seeing this, Xue Fangli walked over.

Standing behind Jiang Juan, he took the books from his hand and reached for the one on the shelf, accidentally brushing against Jiang Juan’s fingers.

Jiang Juan flinched and instinctively turned back.

“This one?”

Xue Fangli asked in a calm tone.

He was a head taller than Jiang Juan, so when he spoke, his breath fell on Jiang Juan’s ear and neck, making it damp and ticklish.

Jiang Juan quickly covered his ear and, without looking, hurriedly said, “Yeah, that one.”

Xue Fangli glanced at him but didn’t immediately take the book down. Instead, he grasped Jiang Juan’s wrist.

That slender wrist, pale and thin, seemed like it could break with just a twist.

Xue Fangli said, “You’re missing a red string.”

Jiang Juan looked over too. He used to wear a relic on this hand and murmured, “It feels empty.”

Xue Fangli lowered his head, the corners of his lips lifting slightly. “I have something to tell you.”

Jiang Juan asked, “What is it?”

“That red string was dyed with my heart’s blood.”

Heart’s blood.

Jiang Juan’s eyes widened instantly.

“It’s not to anchor your soul, but to bind it,” Xue Fangli said softly. “I was afraid you’d leave, so I insisted on tying you to me.”

Jiang Juan opened his mouth, but it took a long time for him to say anything.

Xue Fangli asked, “Are you angry?”

Jiang Juan shook his head. He stared at Xue Fangli, tears streaming down his face. Though they hadn’t cried when they reunited, at this moment, he couldn’t stop the tears from falling.

“Did it hurt?”

He didn’t care about anything else, only whether Xue Fangli was in pain.

“As long as you’re here, it doesn’t hurt.”

“I’ll always be here. I won’t leave. You really don’t need to be afraid anymore.”

Jiang Juan promised softly, earnestly comforting Xue Fangli.

Xue Fangli gazed at him for a long time before finally responding with a soft “Hmm.”

Xue Fangli took down the book Jiang Juan had indicated earlier. This time, Jiang Juan took a proper look at it and shook his head, “Not this one.”

Jiang Juan wiped away his tears. After taking a book from the shelf, the other books were easier to reach. Jiang Juan handed the correct book to Xue Fangli and said, “This is the one.”

Xue Fangli nodded and was about to put the other book back when a bookmark fell out. He picked it up and casually placed it back between the pages, catching sight of a poem.

“I give you my withered streets,

The hopeless sunsets, the abandoned moon.

I give you the sorrow of a man who has watched the lone moon.

…

I give you my loneliness, my darkness, my heart’s hunger;

I try to move you with confusion, danger, and failure.”

After reading the poem, Xue Fangli chuckled.

Jiang Juan, walking ahead, turned back curiously. “What’s wrong with that book?”

Xue Fangli put the book back, glancing at the spine.

[The Collected Poems of Borges]

A moment later, Xue Fangli looked at Jiang Juan, whose eyelashes still glistened with tears, and lazily said, “Nothing, just a little trick.”

He walked over to Jiang Juan.

Suddenly, the lights went out, and the library was plunged into darkness.

The sound of chairs moving and voices erupted all around. Jiang Juan instinctively looked out the window, seeing the distant classroom buildings still brightly lit. The situation was clear.

The power was out.

Jiang Juan said, “Xue…”

His hand was immediately grabbed.

In the next moment, he was pulled and pressed against the bookshelf.

It was noisy all around. He could hear the summer cicadas, footsteps, and his own heartbeat.

It was also quiet all around. The distant lights blurred in the night, and they hid in the pitch-black library, concealed behind the most secluded bookshelf.

Jiang Juan tilted his head up. In the darkness, he could only see an outline, but he instinctively hugged Xue Fangli. “Do you want to kiss me?”

Xue Fangli didn’t reply. He raised his hand, his fingertips gently rubbing Jiang Juan’s soft lips.

After a while, Jiang Juan said frankly, “I want you to kiss me.”

Xue Fangli lowered his head, his forehead resting against Jiang Juan’s.

With a “bang,” the emergency exit was opened, and the librarian announced, “The power’s out, everyone head back to the dorms.”

People gradually walked out, their voices full of laughter and complaints. Yet throughout, no one knew that just a wall away, two people were in love.

Jiang Juan asked Xue Fangli in a soft voice, “Should we go?”

Xue Fangli lowered his eyes, “No.”

Jiang Juan nodded, his eyes curving with a smile, “I don’t want to go either. I want to hide here and wait for you to kiss me.”

The world was lively, but it had nothing to do with them.

No matter how bright the world was, it had nothing to do with them.

Xue Fangli chuckled and leaned in to kiss Jiang Juan.

On that blackout night, they held each other once again.

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