After Lin Jiayu left, Jiang Tu stood there for a long time without moving. He lowered his head, as if he was confessing. But what should he confess? To himself, or to Zhu Xingyao? Jiang Tu didn't know what the eighty-seven love letters meant to Zhu Xingyao. To him, it was a hopeless outlet for his emotions.
After a long time, Jiang Tu turned back to the car. He took out a cigarette from the central control box, put it in his mouth, and lit it. He took a deep breath, but his chest was still blocked and uncomfortable. He didn't know how to explain to Zhu Xingyao to make her feel better.
Those love letters.
He didn't even dare to write "I like you".
In the end, it was this that pushed Zhu Xingyao to agree to Lu Ji.
The phone screen lit up, and it was Xiao Jiang's exclusive ringtone.
Jiang Tu looked down, put out his cigarette, and then picked up the phone to answer it. On the screen, Zhu Xingyao was wearing a loose cotton home skirt and a pink wig. She tilted her head and looked at the screen: "Are you in the car? It's so dark over there."
Jiang Tu looked at her, his voice a little hoarse: "Well, I'll go back later."
Zhu Xingyao smiled and said, "What time are you going tomorrow?"
Jiang Tu asked in a low voice: "I agreed to attend the symposium this afternoon, what about you?"
"Xixi and I will go there around 4pm. We will rehearse on stage, put on makeup and change clothes..." Zhu Xingyao looked at the dim screen. Jiang Tu's expression also became gloomy. She asked uncertainly, "Are you in a bad mood?"
Jiang Tu took a deep breath, raised his hand to turn on the light, and smiled: "No." He looked at her quietly and whispered, "After the school celebration is over, I have something to tell you."
What does Jiang Tu want to say to her
At night, Zhu Xingyao tossed and turned in bed, wondering if he was going to formally confess his feelings.
She suffered from insomnia again.
The 70th anniversary celebration of Jiangcheng No. 1 Middle School was held grandly, starting at eight in the morning. Lu Ji, Xu Xiangyang and Zhou Yuan arrived early. Lu Ji was the alumni representative and would go on stage to give a speech, so he had to arrive early.
Zhou Yuan had a camera hanging around his neck. When most of the alumni had arrived, he turned around and asked, "Didn't Jiang Tu come too?"
Xu Xiangyang said: "I guess he will come to the symposium in the afternoon."
Lu Ji's face was expressionless as he walked inside. Zhou Yuan approached Xu Xiangyang and asked quietly, "Is it true that you said Jiang Tu is pursuing Zhu Xingyao?"
"Really." Xu Xiangyang had only had a feeling before, but later he got confirmation from Li Xixi.
Zhou Yuan clicked his tongue and frowned, "Has that guy been thinking about me for years? This feels like thinking about your brother's girlfriend... Oh no, Lu Ji and Jiang Tu don't have a good relationship either, but we had many meals together in high school. It's weird."
However, Lu Ji and Zhu Xingyao have broken up for so many years, so if Jiang Tu wants to pursue her, it is his freedom.
At 1:50 pm, Jiang Tu walked into the discussion room. The class of 2006 was arranged to sit in a row. He looked over there, and several familiar faces also looked over. Xia Jin came early on purpose and reserved a seat next to her. She waved happily: "Jiang Tu, sit over here."
Everyone in the room looked over, and Jiang Tu gave her a blank look. Xia Jin donated a building to the school, and the school leaders were very grateful. When Director Liu saw it, he quickly came over and patted Jiang Tu on the shoulder, smiling and saying, "Jiang Tu, I'm impressed. Go over and sit down first."
Sitting on the other side of the empty seat was Zhou Yuan, and next to him were Lu Ji and Xu Xiangyang. Jiang Tu walked over and patted Zhou Yuan on the shoulder, saying indifferently, "Let me change seats with you. I have something to talk to Lu Ji about."
Zhou Yuan was confused: "Ah? You two..."
What could be going on between you two
He looked at Jiang Tu's cold face, hesitated for a moment, and stood up.
Xia Jin looked embarrassed. Zhou Yuan glanced at her, sat down and whispered, "Don't be so serious. We are all classmates. It's not good to treat each other differently. How about I tell you a crosstalk?"
"Okay." Xia Jin smiled wryly.
Zhou Yuan took out his phone and searched Baidu, then smiled and said, "Wait a minute."
Xia Jin: “…”
Jiang Tu sat down next to Lu Ji, his face expressionless, leaning against the chair and looking forward. Similarly, Lu Ji's expression was also indifferent, occasionally joking with Xu Xiangyang or other old classmates, and the two of them had zero communication throughout the whole process, which made everyone around them embarrassed.
Didn’t we agree that we had something to discuss
Was it just an excuse for Jiang Tu to reject Xia Jin? For a moment, everyone looked at Xia Jin and Jiang Tu with some ambiguity. Xia Jin's family was rich and powerful, and she was beautiful, a standard white, rich and beautiful woman. Everyone else was vying to talk to her, but Jiang Tu was cold and arrogant.
Xu Xiangyang asked Lu Ji: "How about I switch places with you?"
Lu Ji said: "No need."
Xu Xiangyang had no choice but to let the two of you remain awkward like this.
A large group of teenage high school students, mostly girls, gathered in the corridor outside the discussion room. They stood on tiptoe to look at the successful people inside and whispered about who was the most handsome. A short-haired girl said excitedly, "I like the one wearing a gray shirt and glasses. He looks cool and cool."
Another little girl said, "I like the senior in the white shirt next to the glasses." She explained with a longing look on her face, "You forgot, he is Lu Ji, the one who confessed his love to Zhu Xingyao when he was the star lamp. He is the legendary male god of our No. 1 Middle School. He is super romantic, handsome, romantic and rich."
The short-haired girl said, "But they broke up."
"What a pity... It seems that they were reported by someone, and Director Liu broke them up."
"Who is so mean as to report..."
One boy couldn't stand it anymore and said speechlessly, "Can you girls be quiet? I can't hear what they are saying." He couldn't help rolling his eyes, "I've heard girls talking about Lu Ji everywhere I go all day today. It's useless for you to say anything. You are not Zhu Xingyao. She is a goddess. Look in the mirror. If I were in the same class as her, I would also be willing to pursue her like this."
The boy was rude and was chased and beaten by several familiar girls.
Director Liu was chatting with someone at the door, his ears perked up. When he heard what the students said, he walked over with a gloomy face after sending them in, cursing in a low voice: "What are you guys making noise about? If you want to listen, just be quiet, if you don't want to listen, go and have fun. Especially you female classmates, what are you thinking about! Don't try to imitate others and fall in love early. They have rich families, they have talents and skills, and they can live well no matter what they do. If you don't study hard, you will starve in the future."
People...
Are you referring to Zhu Xingyao
The rumors turned out to be true. Director Liu didn't like pretty girls who were in early love.
A few little girls pouted and ran away.
A nanny car stopped at the Art Building, and Zhu Xingyao and Li Xixi got out of the car. They each brought their assistants and stylists, and Li Xixi also brought bodyguards, mainly to avoid disorder. Zhu Xingyao was carrying a red cello bag, and she and Li Xixi walked in front, while the assistants walked behind carrying things.
They were so eye-catching that after just a few steps, they heard a cry of surprise: "Ah! It's Zhu Xingyao and Li Xixi!!!"
Soon, a group of students rushed over excitedly.
Xiao Kui quickly stopped Zhu Xingyao, and Zhu Xingyao smiled and said, "It's okay, we are all students, there's no need to stop us."
Li Xixi's assistant was very experienced. She shouted to everyone not to crowd over and to be careful because they had to prepare for the evening party. The students were very cooperative and took out their phones to take pictures. One student asked expectantly, "Can we take a group photo?"
The group photo took more than half an hour before Zhu Xingyao and Li Xixi went over to rehearse the sequence.
After the rehearsal, Li Xixi took the phone from her assistant and logged into the campus forum. As she browsed, she sighed, "Students nowadays are so lucky. They all use Apple phones. In the past, we only had keypad and flip phones." She held up her phone to show Zhu Xingyao, "Now that the Internet is well developed, our photos are all over the forum all of a sudden. I guess they have spread throughout the class group of No. 1 Middle School."
Zhu Xingyao smiled and said, "There must be a big difference between ten years ago and ten years later."
Xiao Kui poured Zhu Xingyao a cup of warm water and asked with a smile, "How do you access the campus network? I want to see it, too."
Zhu Xingyao taught her how to log in, and she flipped through it. Suddenly, she saw a very old post that was pushed to the top again. It was a post from the summer of 2008, about the star lights, and it had received nearly 100,000 replies.
Xiao Kui exclaimed in shock: "What kind of magical post is this? It's actually such a tall building!"
Zhu Xingyao was silent.
Why hasn't this post been deleted yet
Li Xixi said: "This is a legend of our Jiangcheng No. 1 Middle School."
A very romantic legend.
A dark secret.
When Zhu Xingyao and Li Xixi started to put on makeup, the symposium over there also ended. Xu Xiangyang called Li Xixi and asked, "Do you want me to bring you some food?"
The makeup artist was applying foundation to Li Xixi. She said, "No, we've already had enough food. We won't eat after putting on makeup."
At the same time, Zhu Xingyao also received Jiang Tu's message.
She replied: "No, I've already eaten."
Another: "I'm putting on makeup."
Zhu Xingyao thought about it, took a photo in front of the mirror and sent it to him.
This was the first time Zhu Xingyao sent a photo to Jiang Tu. In the photo, half of her face was blocked by the phone. She was smiling, with loose long hair and fair and beautiful skin. Jiang Tu stood under the teaching building, the afterglow of the setting sun shining on him. He lowered his eyes to look at the photo, and the guilt sank again. If she knew the truth, would she regret sending him the photo and smiling at him like that
Lu Ji put his hands in his trouser pockets and walked by with Xu Xiangyang and Zhou Yuan.
He suddenly glanced towards Jiang Tu and saw Zhu Xingyao's photo at first glance.
Lu Ji's face turned cold, and the feeling of frustration from his youth was suppressed again. He retracted his gaze and walked away quickly.
…
In the evening, in the school auditorium.
The host shouted excitedly: "Does everyone know who and who will be the opening act?"
A group of students below shouted passionately: "We know! We know! Zhu Xingyao and Li Xixi!"
"Li Xixi! I love listening to her songs so much!!!"
"Zhu Xingyao is the goddess of our No. 1 Middle School. Who doesn't know her!!!"
Some students even made cheering signs and banners. Zhu Xingyao and Li Xixi stood backstage and watched. They both couldn't help laughing. Li Xixi sniffed: "I suddenly feel like crying. What should I do? It reminds me of our teenage years. It was so good when we were teenagers."
Zhu Xingyao’s girlhood was hazy and not very beautiful, but some things were meaningful, with completeness and imperfection coexisting. She smiled.
The first two rows of the auditorium are fixed seats, and there is a nameplate in front of each table.
Zhu Xingyao saw Jiang Tu sitting two rows in the front. He had a cold look on his face and Xia Jin was sitting next to him.
Li Xixi came over and whispered, "Xia Jin donated a building to the school. I guess she abused her power to get the position."
After the two of them came on stage, the screams from the audience were comparable to those at Li Xixi's concert. Zhu Xingyao was wearing a bright red dress, her collarbone was straight and beautiful, and a star pendant fell in the soft shadow, shining.
Jiang Tu recognized it; it was the necklace he had given her.
He swallowed, a mixture of emotions surging. It seemed that Zhu Xingyao was going to give him an answer tonight.
A few minutes later.
Jiang Tu lowered his eyes, stood up and left his seat.
Xia Jin asked, "Where are you going?"
Jiang Tu seemed not to hear anything and strode away when the stage lights dimmed.
Xia Jin thought about it and chased after him without hesitation.
Li Xixi walked off the stage after singing, leaving Zhu Xingyao alone with the stage lights shining on her.
When the lights came on, Zhu Xingyao only saw Jiang Tu walking to the door of the auditorium, with Xia Jin chasing after him. She was stunned, her eyes following them. The audience in the audience looked back in the direction of her gaze.
Zhu Xingyao quickly came to her senses. She smiled at the audience, took a deep breath, put aside all distracting thoughts, and raised the bow.
The night wind shook the branches. Jiang Tu stood in the same place where he had stood at the freshman welcome party when he was seventeen years old. He looked at the dazzling Zhu Xingyao on the stage from afar. She had grown from a sixteen-year-old girl to a twenty-six-year-old young woman.
He made one mistake and kept making it for ten years.
Jiang Tu didn't know how to make Zhu Xingyao forgive him, he couldn't even forgive himself.
Xia Jin was wearing high heels and almost fell down. She finally ran to him with great difficulty.
Jiang Tu looked at her expressionlessly: "Xia Jin, what do you want to do?"
Xia Jin pursed her lips. It's not like she hasn't been in love over the years, but Jiang Tu is different. She has never seen a man like him in all these years. Xia Jin felt a little aggrieved: "I have been so obvious all day today. I like you, don't you know?"
Jiang Tu frowned and said coldly: "I thought I was more obvious. I don't like you. You have always known it."
Xia Jin's expression froze, as if she was about to cry.
On the stage, the last note ended, and Zhu Xingyao lifted her skirt and bowed to the audience.
Jiang Tu raised his eyes and watched her walk backstage, then he turned and left.
Before leaving the backstage, Zhu Xingyao and Li Xixi went to the bathroom. When they walked to the door, they heard a few little girls talking about them inside.
"Zhu Xingyao is so beautiful in person, she is a real goddess. No wonder the male idol back then was willing to spend so much time pursuing her."
"I envy her so much!"
"If I could be that beautiful, I would be willing to sacrifice ten years of my life for it!"
Zhu Xingyao and Li Xixi looked at each other and smiled helplessly. Just as they were about to go in, the toilet cubicle door opened. Xia Jin walked out, looked at the girls, and laughed, "Why are you envious of Zhu Xingyao? Don't you know how the leaders of No. 1 Middle School think of her? Director Liu used her as a negative example every year and told you not to learn from her. Why don't you listen?"
Several girls' faces froze slightly, and someone whispered, "Senior Xia Jin."
Zhu Xingyao and Li Xixi stood outside the door, listening with frowns on their faces.
Xia Jin smiled gently: "Do you really think that her and Lu Ji are just legends? When she was with Lu Ji, she was also flirting with other boys and stealing other people's boyfriends. Others couldn't stand it, so they reported her. Lu Ji got back together with her in college and broke up again. I can only say that Zhu Xingyao is not as good as you think. Study hard, junior high school girls."
Li Xixi cursed and walked out: "Xia Jin, are you crazy? What nonsense are you talking about? You are a bitch..."
Assistant Li Xixi quickly covered her mouth and pleaded in a low voice: "Sister Xixi, please stop talking nonsense and pay attention to the occasion."
Zhu Xingyao looked at Xia Jin coldly: "What did you say?"
Xia Jin was stunned for a moment, but quickly came to her senses. She lifted her long hair and said nonchalantly, "Didn't you hear everything?"
When the little girls saw this hellish scene, they were frightened and quickly ran away.
At half past nine, Zhu Xingyao and Li Xixi walked into the large private room, which was already full of people.
—
Dividing line, I'll add a paragraph later, I'm almost done writing... Woohoo
The author has something to say: Friendly advice: Xingxing, just beat him half to death~
Update around 2pm tomorrow.