Jiang Tu had worked various part-time jobs when he was young, and his palms have always had calluses, which are traces left by the hardships of life. When Zhu Xingyao's hand was held in his palm, the delicate back of her hand felt rough and dry.
Zhu Xingyao felt moist in her heart. She gently pulled her hand back and pressed the elevator up button.
A group of people came one after another behind him. Standing behind them, Jiang Tu lowered his eyes to look at Zhu Xingyao. She was wearing a smoky pink long skirt, and her right hair was braided into a braid, revealing her right ear. She was wearing a star earring, and when she lowered her head, the earring swayed gently.
The elevator door opened, Zhu Xingyao walked in, Jiang Tu followed her in, pressed the first floor button, and stood beside her.
As soon as the two turned around, everyone's eyes widened in surprise, their gazes swung back and forth between them, and finally landed on Zhu Xingyao. A boy of about 17 or 18 stared at her: "Are you Zhu Xingyao?"
Zhu Xingyao smiled at him: "Yes."
Jiang Tu looked down at her smiling face. She was a semi-public figure, beautiful, and easy to remember. It was not surprising that she was recognized outside. He looked at the boy. The boy probably wanted to take a photo or get an autograph, but Jiang Tu's eyes were cold. He hesitated for a moment, and the elevator door opened.
Jiang Tu looked down at Zhu Xingyao and said softly, "Go to the door and say hello first."
Zhu Xingyao looked at him, opened her lips, but said nothing in the end. She nodded slightly and followed him out of the elevator.
At the hotel gate, Ding Xiang, wearing a white shirt with a red flower on his chest, was welcoming guests with his bride with a cheerful look on his face. When he turned around and saw them, he smiled and waved: "Brother Tu, Zhu Xingyao, why are you here together?"
Zhu Xingyao also wanted to know why they happened to meet each other
Jiang Tu said: "We met in the underground parking lot."
The two of them were really good-looking, and they attracted a lot of attention when they stood next to each other. Ding Xiang's bride was very cute. She looked straight at Jiang Tu and asked in a low voice: "This is your cool deskmate in high school, Brother Tu? He looks much more handsome than in the high school photo."
Ding Xiang said seriously: "I am also much more handsome than when I was in high school."
The bride smiled and whispered that he was shameless, then turned around to greet Jiang Tu and Zhu Xingyao and gave them some wedding candies. Jiang Tu and Zhu Xingyao handed over the red envelopes they had prepared at the same time, and both of them had very thick red envelopes.
Ding Xiang poured out a cigarette and leaned over to light it for Jiang Tu. He smiled and said, "Let's share in your good luck. I hope to attend your wedding banquet soon."
Jiang Tu didn't want to smoke in front of Zhu Xingyao, but he took the cigarette and put it in his mouth. He lowered his head to touch the flame of the lighter, took a light puff, and smiled, "I hope so."
Zhu Xingyao turned her head and looked at Jiang Tu. In the past, when they sat close to each other, she would occasionally smell a faint smell of tobacco on him. This was the first time she saw him smoking. Jiang Tu lowered his head and looked at her: "Let's go up first."
She was standing at the door with a cello on her back, looking very attractive.
Zhu Xingyao nodded again, and the two walked to the elevator. Jiang Tu put out his cigarette in the trash can beside him and threw it in. While waiting for the elevator, he raised his hand to help her with the piano bag, but stopped halfway. She probably didn't want him to touch her treasure now.
The wedding hall was on the third floor. When Zhu Xingyao and Jiang Tu walked to the door, someone suddenly jumped out and hugged them. Li Xixi smiled and looked up: "Didn't you arrive earlier? How come you are slower than me? I..." She stopped talking and looked at Jiang Tu. She quickly stood up and greeted him with a smile, "Jiang Tu, long time no see."
Jiang Tu looked at Li Xixi and smiled, "Long time no see, but I see you often."
Li Xixi has been in the entertainment industry for many years, releasing albums, winning awards, participating in various activities and variety shows, and you can occasionally see her endorsement photos on the street. Li Xixi glanced at Zhu Xingyao and suddenly asked, "So you often see stars, too, right?"
Zhu Xingyao pulled her and told her to stop talking nonsense. She was still very confused and didn't know how to talk to him.
Jiang Tu hummed softly.
Li Xixi couldn't help but sigh: "For eight years, you've been really patient. We almost cut off all contact, and only Lin Jiayu had a little news..." Zhu Xingyao, Li Xixi and Lin Jiayu get together two or three times a year. Zhu Xingyao doesn't ask, but Li Xixi can't help but pry some questions, but Lin Jiayu only says a few words every time.
Zhu Xingyao couldn't help but hold her back and whispered, "Let's find a place to sit first, then hand the props over to the hotel staff and explain everything to them."
Xu Xiangyang walked over, looked at Jiang Tu, and said with a smile: "Long time no see. I heard a few days ago that Weichuang Technology hired a CTO from abroad with a large sum of money. It was you, right?" In fact, he heard that Jiang Tu had returned, and he found out after a little inquiry.
Zhu Xingyao heard it, she turned around, took the bag from Jiang Tu's hand, and left with Li Xixi.
Jiang Tu moved his fingers, looked at Xu Xiangyang, and said calmly, "It's me."
"Ding Xiang arranged for us to sit at a table. Let's go over and sit down and chat." Xu Xiangyang said.
Jiang Tu nodded: "Let's go."
The two walked towards their seats.
Zhu Xingyao and Li Xixi walked away. Li Xixi looked back and saw Jiang Tu and Xu Xiangyang had already walked in. She said, "Now I believe that Jiang Tu's appearance can make women fall for him. If his family wasn't so bad back then, he would have pursued you directly and he wouldn't necessarily lose to Lu Ji."
If Jiang Tu had pursued her back then... they wouldn't be like this now.
Zhu Xingyao had thought about this as well, but there was no if. She looked at Li Xixi and whispered, "Xixi, don't tell Jiang Tu about Chen Yi."
Li Xixi was stunned for a moment, then sighed: "Okay, why didn't I know you were so tolerant before? Don't worry, I didn't even tell Xu Xiangyang. Sometimes I can't figure it out. Even if that starlight lamp was really given to you by him, he never even pursued you back then, and never even said he liked you. You were moved by that starlight lamp, and you were with Lu Ji, but he didn't express anything. He just pushed you to Lu Ji. Not to mention that you suffered so much injustice because of him in the past few years. Is it worth it?"
Zhu Xingyao lowered his head and said, "He said so."
Spoken in German, if that counts.
Li Xixi curled her lips: "I know he was really suffering in high school, and he was so forbearing that it was scary...so sometimes I don't know who to sympathize with." She didn't even ask Zhu Xingyao whether she liked Jiang Tu or not, always feeling that the relationship was too complicated.
Zhu Xingyao was a little sad. She didn't want to continue this topic and pulled her: "Let's go, it's almost seven o'clock."
The guests arrived one after another. More than half of the high school classmates who were able to attend came from all over the country. When they saw Jiang Tu chatting with Xu Xiangyang, they all came to join in the fun. In fact, only those few of them were familiar with Jiang Tu back then. Some of the classmates had never even spoken to Jiang Tu. They were purely curious about him.
Cao Shujun and Xie Ya came with their six-year-old daughter. Ding Xiang arranged them at Jiang Tu's table. Cao Shujun was very excited to see Jiang Tu. He walked over and patted his shoulder: "You kid, there has been no news for so many years." He thought of the accident he had encountered during the college entrance examination. Seeing Jiang Tu like this now, he smiled with relief, "It seems that he is doing well now."
Jiang Tu smiled and said, "Very good, thank you."
Zhu Xingyao and Li Xixi came back. Cao Shujun smiled again when he saw her. "And Zhu Xingyao too. Xu Xiangyang and Li Xixi went back to see them, but you didn't. Come on, sit here and have a chat."
Zhu Xingyao was pushed to sit next to Jiang Tu. Cao Shujun was asking him about studying in the United States. Jiang Tu turned his eyes to her and then turned back calmly. Zhu Xingyao took a cookie from the plate and ate it. After a while, he put a glass of water in front of her.
At seven o'clock sharp, the wedding officially began and the whole atmosphere was very warm.
When Ding Xiang and the bride came down to toast, he asked with a smile: "Squad leader, when will it be your and Li Xixi's turn?"
Xu Xiangyang glanced at Li Xixi. In the past few years, they had quarreled and even broke up. He said helplessly, "Not so early. Miss Li said she wanted to focus on her career first."
Everyone laughed and urged them to hurry up. Li Xixi stepped on Xu Xiangyang's foot under the table and said with a smile: "The competition in the entertainment industry is too fierce. I am almost out of fashion now. If I don't work hard, I will retire."
"No way, you are very popular now!"
"I play your songs in my car."
"That's right. Let Zhu Xingyao help you. You two can still be popular for another 30 years!"
Everyone was talking, Zhu Xingyao was also laughing, she turned her head and met Jiang Tu's lowered gaze again, his eyes were dark and deep, which made her feel even more confused. Zhu Xingyao quickly turned around to pull Li Xixi, it was their turn to go on stage.
Ding Xiang came over to toast Jiang Tu, but Jiang Tu took a drink instead. He wanted to send Zhu Xingyao home tonight.
Suddenly, someone started applauding. Jiang Tu looked up at the glass stage of the wedding hall in front of him. Zhu Xingyao walked up from the side with a cello in her hand. Her high heels made a clear sound when she stepped on the stage. She sat down with the cello in her arms, adjusted it, smiled at the guests, and raised her bow.
As the melodious and cheerful piano music began to play, everyone fell silent and took out their cell phones to take photos and videos.
Jiang Tu stared at the girl on the stage, his heart burning. This moment was not a dream or an image, but reality. She was less than fifty meters away from him. He was no longer the poor boy who was in debt and could get into trouble at any time, who could not even see any hope and dared not say that he liked her.
In the past, he couldn't afford her.
Now, he could afford to buy her a precious cello custom-made in Italy, and could give her a decent home. He would not let her accommodate him and suffer with him, and would let her always be a shining star.
After Zhu Xingyao finished his solo, he changed to another song. Li Xixi walked onto the stage singing. The two of them gave Ding Xiang enough face and supported him for more than an hour.
It was already nine o'clock when the wedding ended. A group of old classmates played in the hotel's leisure box for another two hours. Li Xixi fell asleep leaning on Xu Xiangyang's shoulder. After Xu Xiangyang carried her back to the room, Zhu Xingyao also stood up with his guitar bag on his back.
Jiang Tu was answering the phone outside the door. When he turned around, he saw her coming out. He whispered, "That's it for now. Let's talk about it tomorrow when we go to the company."
He hung up the phone and walked in front of her, whispering, "Are you going home? I'll take you there."
There was a hint of tentativeness in the man's tone. Zhu Xingyao looked up at him, as if she was trying hard to adapt to his current appearance and trying to reconcile the current him with the him in high school. She blinked and nodded.
When they arrived at the underground parking lot, Jiang Tu took the guitar bag off her shoulders and put it in the back seat.
Zhu Xingyao stood behind him, watching his movements. When he was ready to close the door, she suddenly raised her hand to hold the door. He was stunned for a moment, with his hand still on the door. Zhu Xingyao bit her lip, slipped under his arm, and sat in the back seat.
Jiang Tu: “…”
He looked at her sitting upright in her seat, and suddenly felt that she didn't seem to want to talk to him. She seemed to be in a state of confusion, but he didn't know what she was struggling with. He closed the car door and smiled with his head down.
The car was driving quietly and steadily, and the cabin was dim. Zhu Xingyao leaned in the back seat and looked at Jiang Tu's hand which was skillfully controlling the steering wheel. That hand was wearing a men's watch, and his grey shirt sleeves were rolled up to his forearms. His fingers were long and slender, and the veins were just right, making him look a little sexy.
She didn't know what Jiang Tu was feeling at the moment. They were very close in high school, but that closeness had many other meanings in her eyes now. She taught him German, played the violin for him on snowy days, and kissed him on the jaw because he was injured. He blocked water for her, got injured in fights, helped her skip classes, won a lot of game coins for her, and gave her a whole field of star lights on her seventeenth birthday...
There is an inexplicable entanglement between them. If it were two other people, they might be an ambiguous couple or even a lover.
However, they seemed to be nothing. Just as Li Xixi said, he had never even said a formal word of love to her, nor had he ever pursued her. He even pushed her to Lu Ji.
They hadn't seen each other for eight years. Eight years was a very long time.
It was so long that Zhu Xingyao didn't know how to address him.
Half an hour later, Jiang Tu parked the car under the shade of the trees in the villa area. He got out of the car to help her take out the piano bag and put it on her shoulder. "Go back and go to bed early."
The night wind rustled the leaves, the moonlight was gentle, Zhu Xingyao didn't move, she raised her head and suddenly called him: "Jiang Tu."
Jiang Tu was stunned. He thought she would not speak to him tonight. He looked at her gently swaying earrings, the matching necklace on her delicate white neck, her straight and beautiful collarbone, and her cello on her shoulders.
He smiled and asked softly, "You didn't talk to me all night. Are you just hesitating whether to call me Jiang Tu or Brother Tu?"
The author has something to say: This article is not about reconciliation, and Tu Ge is not a domineering boss. He is occasionally strong, and there is no crematorium. It is just about the delicate relationship between two people.
A reader recommended a song called "The Beauty of the World is Intertwined with You" and said it is very suitable for Tu Ge and Xing Xing. You can go and listen to it. Telling me this in advance makes me feel very stressed about a plot later...