Chapter 8

“Are you still angry?”

After I asked, Zhou Xuan turned his head slightly to glance at me, as if suddenly coming back to his senses.

“No.”

He replied with a detached tone and started the car.

The atmosphere inside the car was eerily quiet. My eyes instinctively wandered around until they fixed on a corner.

There lay something shiny, reflecting the sunlight streaming in through the car window.

I picked it up; it was a miumiu hair clip.

The one Lin Xingyue often wore.

An overwhelming wave of emotion suddenly surged within me.

It was like a dense liquid, enveloping my entire heart.

Amidst the intense suffocating feeling, I clenched my fist, feeling the sharp pain from the edge of the hair clip.

I took a couple of deep breaths, trying hard to keep my voice calm:

“Did Xingyue… ride in your car?”

Zhou Xuan responded, “She said she wanted to see you, so I gave her a ride.”

Then why sit in the front passenger seat?

And under what circumstances would she leave her hair clip in the corner without noticing when she left?

I called out to him with a trembling voice, “Zhou Xuan.”

“What now?”

He turned his head slightly, his tone carrying an obvious impatience.

“Do you know the guy Xingyue likes? Does he… really exist?”

Just then, the light turned red, and Zhou Xuan slammed on the brakes.

He turned to look at me.

“Li Jiangjiang, are you being paranoid again?”

He said coldly, “Aren’t you two good friends? If you’re so suspicious, why don’t you ask her?”

“Can’t I ask you?”

I said, my eyes reddening,

“Zhou Xuan, you used her failed confession as an excuse to give her a ring. Is it wrong for me to ask you about it?”

“After all this, you just want jewelry, don’t you?”

The light turned green, and Zhou Xuan restarted the car, changing course to the nearest mall.

He strode ahead, gripping my wrist, and dragged me into a jewelry store.

“If you’re so upset, then pick one for yourself.”

The store was brightly lit, reflecting off the sparkling gems in the display cases.

Because of the evident cold sarcasm on Zhou Xuan’s face, the store clerk hesitated to approach us.

Suddenly, I was filled with immense fatigue and confusion.

Before this, I had dreamed countless times of coming to a place like this with Zhou Xuan to pick out a wedding ring.

Even back when we first started college, while working part-time, we passed by here.

At that time, we leaned our heads together, looking down at the price tags in the display case.

After much hesitation, we only bought the cheapest pair of silver rings.

Zhou Xuan held my hand tightly and said in a hoarse voice:

“Jiangjiang, when our days get better, I want to give you the most expensive ring in the store.”

I smiled and held his hand back, shaking it gently:

“But I don’t like such expensive things.”

“As long as it’s from you, anything is fine.”