Jiang Ren sat on this type of bus for the second time. The occasional bumps in the road made everyone in the vehicle jolt together.
Jiang Ren insisted on sitting with her, his lips pressed tightly together. Not a word was spoken.
Meng Ting knew he got carsick, and thought he must be traumatized by now.
She held back her laughter and took out an orange that Grandmother had given her from her backpack, offering it to him: “Eating this will make you feel better.”
His pitch-black eyes looked at her. Meng Ting was afraid of this look, so she turned her head to look out the window on the other side.
Fortunately, the airport wasn’t far.
Jiang Ren didn’t know which day she was leaving; he didn’t even have a ticket. But money talks, and as soon as he arrived at the airport, a scalper handed him a boarding pass. Their flight was in the evening.
The last time Meng Ting flew, it was a sky of white clouds. This time, it was the deep night.
Jiang Ren’s seat wasn’t next to hers. Beside her was a heavily made-up woman in her forties.
Jiang Ren negotiated with her: “Can we switch seats?”
The woman with heavy makeup glared at him: “No.”
Jiang Ren’s gaze turned cold, looking a bit fierce. The woman, with a brash attitude, retorted: “What? This seat is mine. You want it? Well, I’m not giving it to you. What are you going to do, hit me?”
Jiang Ren glanced at Meng Ting, who turned her head to look outside the plane. Her shoulders shook slightly; she was laughing.
He smiled too, took out his wallet, and counted out the price of the ticket for the woman. Soon, the woman happily switched seats with him.
An hour after takeoff, the girl beside him was still looking down at the magazine provided by the airline. A faint light shone above her head.
She was very focused as if he didn’t exist beside her.
Jiang Ren covered her book.
She finally turned to look at him: “What’s wrong?”
“Aren’t you sleepy?”
Meng Ting was a bit tired, but with Jiang Ren next to her, she felt odd about sleeping. So she shook her head and softly replied, “Not sleepy.”
“Even if you’re not sleepy, don’t read. The light is too dim; it’s not good for your eyes.”
It was strange to hear him say something like this.
However, the next moment, Jiang Ren pushed her head onto his shoulder: “Sleep!”
Meng Ting laughed in exasperation. She didn’t want to lean on him. She sat up straight and told him seriously: “Not tired, not sleeping.”
She resumed reading the safety instructions on her knees.
The plane was quiet, with most people sleeping.
Suddenly, Jiang Ren propped one hand on her side, encircling her in his arms without touching her, just looking down at her.
They were so close.
Meng Ting’s back pressed against the seat: “What are you doing?”
“Meng Ting, I stayed in a hotel for a week and waited for you at that shabby station for seven days. What do you think I want to do?”
His eyes were pitch-black, burning with an unquenchable fire.
His Adam’s apple bobbed as he whispered in her ear: “Can I kiss you once?”
Meng Ting’s face grew hot. She used the magazine to cover her face, pushing him hard: “No, can’t you be normal?”
Jiang Ren couldn’t be normal.
He felt this trip to Pear Blossom Village was too unreal. Something that had been bothering him for so long was resolved so easily; he felt uneasy.
He was a bad person, judging others by his standards, and always thinking others had bad intentions too.
They had broken up, but wasn’t there still a chance to get back together? She didn’t seem sad at all. She was so beautiful, gentle, and capable. The better she was, the more he felt he couldn’t hold onto her. The closer they got to H City, the more he feared she and Xu Jia would “rekindle their relationship.”
Jiang Ren said: “We should be about half an hour from H City.”
She lowered the magazine, revealing only her clear eyes looking at him. In the dim light, they were soft and moist. He put on a stern face to scare her: “When we get back, you’re not allowed to talk to Xu Jia, not allowed to get back together, understand?”
Meng Ting didn’t like this position, so she just nodded.
Seeing her so obedient, Jiang Ren wanted to smile. But fearing she might be tricking him, he still stared at her expressionlessly: “If you two haven’t broken up, I’ll kill him first.”
Meng Ting didn’t know if he was serious or joking.
She always felt Jiang Ren had some antisocial tendencies. He didn’t seem like a good person, though saving her great-grandfather didn’t make him seem bad either. She remembered the pear blossoms in full bloom, him scowling as he carried her great-grandfather, and suddenly felt sad. Would he kill someone in the future? She had changed her great-grandfather’s fate by breaking his leg, but what about Jiang Ren? Could she prevent him from becoming a killer?
Meng Ting wasn’t sure.
After all, the person Jiang Ren had killed in his previous life didn’t seem to be Xu Jia.
Seeing her lost in thought, he couldn’t resist wanting to kiss her eyes: “But if you’re good, I’ll do whatever you say, okay?”
Meng Ting didn’t believe him. She said: “Then sit properly, don’t lean over.”
His eyes held a hint of amusement: “Okay.”
He did sit up straight.
After getting off the plane, Meng Ting’s phone buzzed. She opened it to look. It was a message from Mr. Shu’s phone, but the sender was Shu Yang.
[Dad went to the lab, he asked me to pick you up at the airport.]
This was the first message. Meng Ting thought of Jiang Ren beside her and frowned as she replied “Okay.”
However, soon after, Shu Yang said [Xu Jia came too.]
A simple sentence, but it made Meng Ting’s heart sink. No way? Why did Xu Jia come? If Jiang Ren saw Xu Jia later, would he think she had lied to him?
Meng Ting didn’t let Jiang Ren see her phone and replied to Shu Yang [Don’t let him come!]
Shu Yang was also frowning, looking at the politely smiling Xu Jia beside him. But this guy had come on his own; he had already refused, but it was useless.
Xu Jia said: “She said some… things I didn’t understand. I want to ask her in person.”
Shu Yang sensed something was off, but he couldn’t just send people away. In the end, he didn’t reply to Meng Ting, thinking she was just being polite and didn’t want to trouble others, so he didn’t pay much attention. Besides, the person was already here.
While they were waiting for Meng Ting at the airport, the quietly smiling Xu Jia suddenly spoke: “Do you know how long I’ve known Meng Ting?”
Shu Yang frowned. Xu Jia’s family had only moved here before the New Year, so it couldn’t have been too long.
Xu Jia looked towards the airport outside, the bare runway looking somewhat desolate.
His smile was faint: “It’s been five years.”
Shu Yang was surprised, but after saying this, Xu Jia didn’t speak again. As if that conversation had just been his imagination. Shu Yang wasn’t a talkative or gossipy person. He felt a vague displeasure at an outsider coveting his step-sister, but his personality was reserved, so he didn’t say anything. So neither of them spoke.
Xu Jia silently added to his heart, known her for five years, and loved her secretly for five years. From being an unremarkable chubby boy in middle school, he ran every day, finally becoming what he was now.
So, after realizing the possible situation behind her words, could he just give up?
After the plane landed and they took the shuttle to the airport terminal, it was already night in H City. The airport passageway was brightly lit. Meng Ting grew increasingly uneasy. She glanced at Jiang Ren beside her: “Alright, you can go home now. My brother will come pick me up.”
Jiang Ren said: “I’ll watch you go over.”
Meng Ting was anxious. So did Xu Jia come or not?
Because it wasn’t peak travel time, the airport was quiet. To reach the exit, they had to go down from the second floor.
Jiang Ren had sharp eyes.
When he looked down towards the exit from the second floor, he only needed one glance before his face darkened. Then it took on a mocking expression.
He thought so. How could it be so easy and simple?
But whatever Xu Jia wanted to do was none of his business. If he provoked him, he’d kill the brat. What about Meng Ting? What was she thinking?
One moment saying she wouldn’t have anything to do with Xu Jia, and the next moment Xu Jia and her brother come to pick her up together.
He grabbed her wrist.
Meng Ting felt uneasy, now especially afraid of bad luck. The corners of his lips turned up as he asked her: “Do you remember what you promised me on the plane?”
He seemed to be smiling, but there was no smile in his eyes.
Meng Ting hadn’t seen Xu Jia and the others, but she was a girl who kept her word, so she nodded.
The smile at the corners of Jiang Ren’s lips faded.
Most of the people around them had already left, leaving the entire second floor of the airport building empty.
Her eyes were pure but held a hint of uneasiness.
Jiang Ren wanted to trust her too. Really.
But he liked her so much, wanted to possess her so badly. The more he thought about it, the more impossible it seemed. Just like when Hé Jùnmíng and the others said he was crazy for starting to study seriously. No matter how hard he tried, he was still so far from passing.
Jiang Ren turned her body around, his voice cold, whispering in her ear: “Look at the entrance.”
Meng Ting looked up: “…”
Her reserved brother and Xu Jia were standing at the entrance, looking inside, probably searching for her.
The man behind her wrapped his arm around her waist, his tone both mocking and smiling: “Your ‘ex-boyfriend’ is here. Happy?” As he asked if she was happy, his arm tightened more and more.
Oh no, Jiang Ren didn’t believe her anymore!
Anyone in this situation wouldn’t believe it.
Jiang Ren must think she was tricking him.
The chest pressing against her back was hard. Meng Ting’s legs trembled slightly as she stammered: “No, I didn’t ask him to come.”
He was almost burned to death by jealousy: “You didn’t ask him to come but he came anyway, telepathy, huh?”
Compared to the foolish, easily deceived brute from before, he now seemed like a madman.
Meng Ting had seen him during an episode; he wasn’t a normal person at all. If she could, she would have smashed the glass in front of her and screamed for help to her brother.
Shu Yang and the others hadn’t seen Meng Ting come out, so they looked up towards the second floor.
Jiang Ren snorted with laughter, covered her mouth, picked her up, and carried her into the nearby men’s restroom.
The bathroom was silent without a single person. Jiang Ren, without a word, sat her on the clean washbasin. Behind her was a mirror; she was terrified.
Meng Ting had rarely lied in this life, but she never expected her first lie would make her so fearful. She dared not lie again; Jiang Ren with his jaw muscles tensed was terrifying.
For the first time, she truly assessed the danger of this young man.
Sitting on the washbasin, she was finally at his height.
Her bare calves hung pitifully in the air. Meng Ting finally understood why he was so infamous at their school. It was a chaotic vocational high school, yet the whole school feared him.
Jiang Ren lifted her chin, his voice unreadable: “I do like you.”
This kind of confession was the scariest.
Meng Ting wanted to jump down, but his arm was propped on the washbasin.
He continued: “I haven’t smoked for a long time, haven’t fought either. Every night I go back and memorize vocabulary until I want to vomit. I practice math problems, starting from the beginning.” His face expressionless, “I even went to see a psychologist.”
“…”
Meng Ting bit her lip. She didn’t dare speak now. She was still a normal person after all. With trembling hands, she placed them on his shoulders.
She wanted to tell him through her actions: It’s okay, it’s okay, don’t be angry.