AL Chapter8

Ignoring Jiang Cheng’s exasperation, Liang Ruixi asked, “Hey, by the way, did you mention our bar to my classmate at the hospital last week?”

 

Jiang Cheng let out an “ah.” And said, “I just mention it casually. When that buddy of yours rushed to the hospital, he probably thought you were about to kick the bucket. You should have seen his face, all shocked and anxious, his voice was even trembling…”

 

Liang Ruixi’s hands paused in their movements.

 

Despite his jealousy, Jiang Cheng quite approved of Zhou Yan’s reaction at the time. “To be fair, your buddy is pretty loyal.”

 

What man in his late twenties doesn’t have his own things to deal with? Just hearing a few words over the phone, being able to rush over in the middle of the night at the first opportunity — that kind of concern couldn’t be faked.

 

But Jiang Cheng was also curious. “You yourself said he’s a really good friend of yours, so how come you didn’t tell him we opened a bar? I’ve never heard you mention this close friend of yours in all these years either.”

 

“He’s pretty busy…” Liang Ruixi said vaguely.

 

“No matter how busy he is, if you just said the word, wouldn’t he come to support you?” Jiang Cheng pondered. “Did you two have a fight before?”

 

“No ah.” Liang Ruixi said, lowering his head and absentmindedly tracing patterns on the screen with his finger.

 

They hadn’t actually argued, but he held a secret in his heart that he dared not speak aloud.

 

—A long time ago, he had suspected that Zhou Yan might like him.

 

Because of this, he had kept a slight distance from Zhou Yan. Of course, apart from that prank at the graduation party, Zhou Yan hadn’t made any substantial gestures expressing affection, so Liang Ruixi had concluded that he was overthinking things and had always been too embarrassed to bring it up.

 

However, the real reason for their estrangement was actually their meeting two and a half years ago.

 

At that time, they had been out of college for half a year. Zhou Yan had given up his job as a prosecutor in Nanshi to become a lawyer in Haicheng and had called to invite him to meet up.

 

It happened that Liang Ruixi’s grandfather had just passed away from a cerebral hemorrhage. He only went to the appointment after returning to Haicheng from handling the funeral arrangements in his hometown. At that time, he was still immersed in the grief of losing a loved one and felt very down. Yet, Zhou Yan also looked extremely haggard.

 

He had assumed that Zhou Yan was too busy with work. The competition in the legal profession was fierce, especially since Zhou Yan had joined a firm like Yintian. Even though he had been the president of the student council at F Law School, he would still have to work hard for quite some time to stand out in such a gathering of talented individuals.

 

Therefore, even though Liang Ruixi was in a bad mood, he didn’t dare to confide too much in Zhou Yan, afraid of unconsciously relying on him as he had in college.

 

Furthermore, his failure in the judicial exam in September, coupled with the need to establish himself, led him to decide to give up on becoming a lawyer.

 

Zhou Yan had seemed very disappointed by this. Liang Ruixi still remembered how, when they parted that day, Zhou Yan seemed to be covered in a layer of frost, exuding a cold aura that said, “Don’t bother me again unless it’s something really important.”

 

Their contact had dwindled after that. Although they had seen each other once or twice later, it wasn’t by special arrangement but rather at classmate gatherings that they both happened to be invited to. When they did meet, they would only exchange a few polite words…

 

Around seven o’clock in the evening, guests began to arrive one after another, and Jiang Cheng had already left him to attend to the bar.

 

The occasional vibration of his phone in his pocket interrupted Liang Ruixi’s thoughts. He took it out and glanced at it, finding that several university alumni groups were discussing Xiao Zhi’s wedding.

 

It turned out that half an hour ago, Xiao Zhi had officially posted her wedding photos on her social media.

 

Actually, she had previously replied under a photo posted by Qi Qiurui, saying that she and Zhou Yan had already broken up and asking everyone not to send the wrong blessings. Liang Ruixi had seen that later.

 

But if the photos from last week had only sparked discussion among a small circle of acquaintances, then Xiao Zhi’s actions tonight undoubtedly ignited a widespread gossip frenzy.

 

As public figures at F University, Zhou Yan and Xiao Zhi had always been the center of attention. When everyone saw that the groom in the photos was someone else, it was as if a melon patch had been invaded by a pack of excited badgers. They all jumped up and down, trying to find out when Zhou and Xiao had broken up.

 

One of the groups was the F University campus singer group that Liang Ruixi had participated in back in the day. Neither of the two involved parties was in it, so the discussion was even more unrestrained—

 

“Weren’t they from the same hometown? How did they end up breaking up?”

 

“Is President Zhou still developing his career in Haicheng?”

 

“Yeah, I even ran into him at the Marriott Hotel two months ago. I heard he started his own law firm now and is always in a suit, having meals with big clients.”

 

“So he’s doing pretty well then? No wonder he looked down on Xiao Zhi. Usually, among male and female graduates with similar academic backgrounds, the guys tend to develop their careers better. When the gap widens, it’s normal for them to want to dump the girls. Xiao Zhi probably couldn’t take it and just randomly found someone to have a flash marriage with.”

 

“Hahaha, that analysis is convincing!”

 

“To be honest, even back in college, I felt like those two were just putting on a show. I never thought they’d make it to the end.”

 

“Me too. Zhou Yan was always the best at putting on a facade. Someone like him is deep down more focused on fame and fortune than feelings. Poor, beautiful Xiao Zhi couldn’t see through people clearly. There were so many excellent guys at F University, and she just had to choose Zhou Yan…”

 

Back in the day, Zhou Yan was the president of the law school’s student council and a consistent scholarship recipient for years, so he was incredibly successful and likely aroused a lot of envy and jealousy in secret.

 

Reading those comments, a wave of annoyance surged through Liang Ruixi. He couldn’t help but jump in and say, “It’s just a normal breakup. Don’t make malicious speculations here without any evidence. And for those of you acting like sour grapes, take a look at your own sarcastic faces. Do you really think the campus belle would even glance at you if she broke up with Zhou Yan?”

 

After his outburst, he felt a surge of irritation and flipped his phone over.

 

Damn it, what did it have to do with him? They weren’t even criticizing him…

 

It made it seem like he was very close to Zhou Yan.

 

Frustrated, he scrolled through songs, and after a few minutes, he switched back to the group chat. Unexpectedly, his comment hadn’t caused any trouble or uproar. Instead, someone came out to smooth things over.

 

“Yo, isn’t this the campus heartthrob Liang Ruixi?”

 

“I was wondering why he was so fired up. Turns out he’s Zhou Yan’s little wife ah!”

 

Even the guy who had previously said Zhou Yan was all about profit explained, “I was just f*cking talking nonsense. Why are you so explosive ah, campus heartthrob?!”

 

“That’s right, we’re all old classmates, no hard feelings, calm down.”

 

Then, other classmates started asking Liang Ruixi how he was doing now, whether he was in Haicheng, and if he had time to get together, making Liang Ruixi feel embarrassed. Looking back at his lone, aggressive retort, it seemed particularly impulsive and ill-mannered.

 

Just then, another classmate announced, “Xiao Zhi and Zhou Yan have appeared in the main group!”

 

Everyone exclaimed excitedly, “What? What?”

 

The person posted a screenshot. It turned out that Xiao Zhi had clarified in another student council group that she and Zhou Yan had decided to break up peacefully due to different choices regarding their futures.

 

Immediately after, Zhou Yan also said, “Thank you for everyone’s concern. Although we have separated, we are still very good friends. I am equally happy for Xiao Zhi upon hearing her good news.”

 

These words were appropriate and showed good character, instantly bringing a harmonious atmosphere to the group chat.

 

Liang Ruixi switched over and was surprised to find that he was also in that group.

 

It was full of the student leaders who had organized F University’s campus events back in the day. Liang Ruixi hadn’t held any position; he was purely in there because he had been voted the campus heartthrob for three consecutive years, plus he sang at the welcome party every year. He had no idea who had added him, allowing him to mingle among them for so many years.

 

Watching the well wishes filling the chat, Liang Ruixi also joined the chorus, adding, “Congratulations to Junior Sister Xiao Zhi on your wedding.”

 

But as soon as he sent the message, Xiao Zhi replied to him, “Thank you, campus heartthrob! Wishing you and Zhou Yan happiness too!”

 

Everyone else: “???”

 

Liang Ruixi cursed “f*ck” under his breath, his face turning red as he explained, “Junior Sister Xiao, please don’t ruin my and Zhou Yan’s reputation with such baseless remarks.”

 

Immediately after, someone eager to stir things up jumped in: “What reputation do you two have? I think you should take this opportunity to officially make Zhou Yan yours.”

 

It was Wei Ran, his and Zhou Yan’s classmate from back in the day.

 

Xiao Zhi: “Hahaha… okay then, since we’ve already broken up, I have no objections.”

 

After a series of playful jokes, everyone finally realized that Xiao Zhi was kidding. Then, recalling Liang Ruixi and Zhou Yan’s relationship back in the day, they joined in the teasing.

 

Because both of them were very good-looking and inseparable, they had been widely rumored to be a couple by their classmates at F University.

 

Even though both Zhou Yan and Liang Ruixi had girlfriends, it didn’t stop a group of girls from shipping their CP. Even Xiao Zhi herself had been a fan of their CP.

 

Liang Ruixi had never understood it back then. Clearly, Xiao Zhi was Zhou Yan’s girlfriend, so why did her eyes always light up whenever she saw him and Zhou Yan together? She even wrote fanfiction about them in secret, making the people around them used to joking about his and Zhou Yan’s relationship.

 

He used to be carefree and just took it all as a joke. But he didn’t know when it started, the flavor of the teasing had changed. He began to feel nervous about those jokes, his heart would race, and he even became afraid of facing Zhou Yan directly.

 

Liang Ruixi furiously spammed a bunch of emojis in the group chat, then put down his phone. But just then, Zhou Yan’s profile picture popped up in his private chat with a red notification dot.

 

Zhou Yan: “Have you eaten?”

 

Liang Ruixi’s hand trembled. He looked around guiltily and quickly grabbed the half-eaten piece of bread Jiang Cheng had left on the bar, replying, “Eating now.”

 

Zhou Yan: “What are you eating? Take a picture and show me.”

 

Liang Ruixi obediently took a picture of the bread and sent it.

 

Zhou Yan: “What about your medicine?”

 

Liang Ruixi quickly poured himself a glass of water, took out the pills from his pants pocket, and swallowed them.

 

Liang Ruixi: “Ate it.”

 

Since he had taken Zhou Yan’s keys and left his apartment last week, the two of them hadn’t seen each other again.

 

They were both in their late twenties, with their own work and social circles. Without a specific reason, Liang Ruixi didn’t feel it was appropriate to go find Zhou Yan again.

 

Compared to before, their interactions on WeChat had just become a little more frequent.

 

Zhou Yan had asked him a total of three times that week if he had taken his medicine and eaten on time, and Liang Ruixi, after washing the underwear he had changed out of last weekend, had jokingly asked Zhou Yan if he should just keep it.

 

Being able to easily chat about everyday topics with the other party and bridge their once-strained relationship had already made Liang Ruixi feel gratified.

 

“Oh, right, your scarf is still here with me,” Liang Ruixi mused. “The weather’s getting warmer, so you probably won’t need it anymore. Should I just get a flash delivery to send it to you another day?”

 

Only after saying that did he realize it sounded a bit impersonal. Zhou Yan had at least gone to the hospital to see him in the middle of the night last weekend and had even prepared brunch for him the next day. It seemed wrong for him not even to offer a meal in return.

 

Liang Ruixi quickly tried to make up for it. “Or, I could treat you to a meal sometime and give you the scarf then?”

 

Zhou Yan: “Okay, what time?”

 

Liang Ruixi: “Tomorrow? I’m still singing at the bar right now.”

 

Zhou Yan: “Expecting Possibilities?”

 

Liang Ruixi: “En.”

 

Zhou Yan: “Send me your location. I’ll come find you after I finish up.”

 

Liang Ruixi: “……”

 

There was no need to be in such a hurry, was there? His scarf was still at home…

 

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[Little Interlude]

Jiang Cheng, who returned after mixing a drink: Where’s my bread???