Chapter 78

Chapter 78

After so many years, Yun Li had forgotten most of what had happened in her youth. If the homeroom teacher from Beicheng No.1 High School hadn’t recognized her at the Rong Family birthday banquet that day, those memories she had forcibly sealed away never would have been unlocked.

It was only then that Yun Li suddenly remembered Jiang Baichuan had once existed in that long-buried part of her past.

Yun Li had transferred from Beicheng No.1 High School to Experimental Affiliated High School in her second year of high school.

So the people and events from No.1 High had long since blurred in her mind.

They had only been classmates for one year, yet Jiang Baichuan brought it up as if it made them old schoolmates.

Jiang Baichuan seemed far too excited about this sudden classmate connection.

Clearly, they had never had much to do with each other.

And they had long since forgotten one another.

“Teacher Liu asked me a few days ago how you’ve been lately.” The neon lights of the night reflected into the car, casting shadows across the interior. When they hit a red light up ahead, Jiang Baichuan stepped on the brake. As they waited, he glanced sideways at Yun Li, who sat with her eyes lowered and said nothing.

At the mention of her homeroom teacher from first year, Yun Li’s breath caught slightly. She unconsciously clenched her hands. “I was only his student for one year. I don’t deserve that kind of concern from him.”

This Teacher Liu, besides having been Jiang Baichuan’s homeroom teacher for all three years of high school, was also a live-in son-in-law in high society.

Word was that he had married into the wealthy Wang Family.

The last time he had attended the Rong Family birthday banquet, he had come both with the Wang Family and in his capacity as Jiang Yourong’s high school homeroom teacher.

Jiang Baichuan had long felt suspicious. Yun Li had only been Teacher Liu’s student for one year, yet he had recognized her at a glance.

Teachers had students everywhere, and usually it was the students who recognized their teachers. Teachers recognizing a student immediately after so many years was rare.

Jiang Baichuan asked, “Is Teacher Liu a relative of yours?”

“No!” Yun Li’s eyes reddened slightly. She abruptly turned her head and snapped, “Jiang Baichuan, aren’t you meddling a little too much?”

The light turned green, and the car started forward at a steady speed. Once again, the interior fell into dead silence.

“I’m sorry. That was intrusive.” Jiang Baichuan apologized sincerely.

“Just drop me off at the entrance of the complex. I’ll walk in myself.” When they were almost home, Yun Li suppressed the overreaction in her chest. As she got out of the car, she drew in a deep breath and explained, “I… didn’t mean to.”

She hadn’t meant to raise her voice and accuse him.

It was just that whether it was Teacher Liu himself or those memories from her first year of high school, she didn’t want to mention either.

“Teacher Liu isn’t a relative of mine, and he isn’t exactly a mentor to me either. If he asks about me again in the future, I’d appreciate it if President Jiang didn’t tell him too much.” Yun Li closed the car door, lowered her lashes, and turned to leave.

Jiang Baichuan’s brows drew tightly together as he sank into thought.

A person met far too many people over the course of a lifetime. If Teacher Liu hadn’t told him at that birthday banquet that Yun Li and he had been classmates in their first year of high school, he probably still wouldn’t have recognized her even now.

That square classroom had held more than forty students.

In the first semester of their first year, Jiang Baichuan sat in the second-to-last row of the first group by the entrance, while Yun Li sat in the first row of the last group in the classroom.

In the second semester, after the seating arrangement changed, Jiang Baichuan moved to the second-to-last row of the second group, while Yun Li moved to the first row of the first group by the entrance.

There had been only one aisle between them.

But Yun Li entered through the front door, while he always came in through the back.

In that entire year, the only real interaction between them had been when they both won awards in a city-level English competition and went onstage together to receive their prizes.

That had happened in the second semester of their first year. It was July then, with only half a month left before summer vacation.
When school started again, she had transferred away.

From then on, their paths never crossed again.

Later still, in their second year of high school, the arts and sciences classes were divided. They began meeting new classmates, and the classmates from their first year gradually became passersby in their lives.

As time went on, they were slowly forgotten.

But fate brought them together once more.

Just one glance, one sentence, one misunderstanding-and he fell in love at first sight.

But she had a boyfriend.

Jiang Baichuan loosened his collar, tugging his tie askew. Staring in the direction where Yun Li’s figure had disappeared, he closed his eyes helplessly and leaned back.

Yun Li’s boyfriend was named Liang Jing. He was a civil servant who had recently passed the exam and secured a government post. Both his parents were teachers, making his family fairly well-educated.

Liang Jing was an only child and lived with his parents. His mother was ill and had to go to the hospital every few days. According to the information Jiang Baichuan had found, Yun Li and Liang Jing had met through a blind date. From the day they officially got together, Liang Jing had often used the excuse that he couldn’t leave his post to ask Yun Li to go to the hospital in his place and take care of Mother Liang.

Even the day Yun Li had been called away in the middle of the birthday banquet, it had been because Mother Liang suddenly needed surgery.

Liang Jing was not the right man for her.

And she did not like Liang Jing either.

She had only agreed to be with Liang Jing because Mother Yun had threatened to kill herself.

It was precisely because Jiang Baichuan knew all this that he allowed his feelings to run unchecked, showing up in front of her every few days just to make his presence known.

Privately investigating someone was not the act of a gentleman, but he had never thought of himself as one.

He simply liked Yun Li.

Whether there was a spark between a single man and woman often took only one look to tell. But Yun Li never dared to look him straight in the eye. Even when she did look, it was always in secret.

A man’s sixth sense told him that Yun Li did not feel nothing for him.

So this corner, he was going to poach.

–

By the time they returned to Lanting Bieyuan after dinner at Imperial Kitchen, Xia Wanzhi was so full her stomach felt uncomfortable. She lifted her head and saw a crescent moon hanging in the pitch-black night sky, and suddenly had the urge to take a walk.

“Girlfriend, want to go for a stroll?” As if they shared a telepathic connection, Xie Qiyan invited her after parking the car.

Xia Wanzhi’s eyes curved with a smile, amusement spilling over. “Sure. But, President Xie, everyone already knows I’m your girlfriend. You don’t have to call me that.”

Xie Qiyan couldn’t hide his sense of triumph. He had been smug all day and still didn’t think it was enough. “Then what do you want me to call you?”

“Just directly-”

“Baby? Or babe?” Xie Qiyan walked over and took her hand, even his steps brimming with delight. “That doesn’t seem appropriate. Showing off our love in public like that… I’m thin-skinned. I’d get embarrassed.”

Xia Wanzhi: “…”

A couple walking their dog passed by. Xia Wanzhi’s eyelid twitched, and she immediately reached out to cover his mouth, glaring at him in warning. “If you keep messing around, I’m going to ignore you!”

This sly old fox with that hidden flirtatious streak-nothing decent ever came out of his mouth.

A laugh slipped from Xie Qiyan. He took her hand again and held it in his palm. “Mm. Got it, Teacher Wanzi.”

Xia Wanzhi: “…”

After teasing her, this man became especially obedient. Xia Wanzhi couldn’t even find a place to direct her anger.

The couple passing by glanced at them, probably because they had heard their conversation.

So embarrassed that she quickened her pace, Xia Wanzhi pulled Xie Qiyan around a corner and hurried far away.

“You just ate. Walk slower.” Xie Qiyan chuckled, the indulgence in his eyes impossible to hide. Lazily clasping her hand, he strolled along at an unhurried pace.

Xia Wanzhi pursed her lips and lowered her eyes to glance at their tightly linked fingers. Then she lifted her head again to look at the moon in the sky and the faintly visible stars.

The moonlight was beautiful tonight.