The first snow of the season fell in B City in November.
As snowflakes blanketed the entire campus, Jiang Ren had already begun a new real estate development project.
Meng Ting knew that this nationwide property speculation frenzy would continue for several years into the future.
He should have been very busy, yet he appeared on the B City campus.
Jiang Ren walked in without any pretense. By now, almost everyone at B University recognized him.
He trod through the snow-covered ground, hands in his pockets, walking slowly.
Students occasionally glanced at his leg, and someone asked, “Has Mr. Jiang’s leg always been like that?”
“Who knows if it’s always been that way.”
Meng Ting saw him as soon as she came out of the library. He raised his eyes to look at a bird on the verge of freezing to death on a bare branch, his gaze calm and unperturbed.
After she came out, Jiang Ren took a hat and scarf from his bag and put them on her.
The pink and white color scheme contrasted with his dark eyes as he focused on his task.
Her delicate face looked even smaller framed by the hat.
Meng Ting glanced at him, then stood on tiptoe to reach for the little bird on the bare branch.
Jiang Ren wrapped his hand around hers and pulled her back, calmly saying, “It can’t be saved. It didn’t fly south for the winter. It’s almost dead.”
Meng Ting met the half-closed eyes of the bird.
She knew it had no life left in it.
Jiang Ren asked, “Do you have strong sympathy?”
“Why do you ask that?” Her long eyelashes were dusted with snow, giving her a pure, crystal-like appearance.
Jiang Ren reached out to brush the snowflake away, and it melted in his palm.
Jiang Ren didn’t answer her question, instead saying flatly, “I saw it was about to die and felt nothing.”
Meng Ting looked up at him.
People were gradually coming out of the library, and they had already walked several steps. Jiang Ren looked back and saw that some girls had noticed the bird and taken it down from the branch, cradling it in their hands.
He suddenly wanted to know if women generally had stronger sympathy.
Not just in helping animals, but also in love. They might fall for someone out of empathy. Men often wouldn’t. They were loyal to the feeling of being together and obsessed with the constant thoughts of the other person.
Meng Ting didn’t seem to have the same feelings as him, the desire to meld the other person into his very bones, wanting to be together every second.
If we’re talking about being busy, Jiang Ren was busier than her.
Yet she didn’t cling to him.
The only time she had been insistent about him was when he had a lame leg.
Jiang Ren had this thought for a long time.
Did she truly love him, or was there more sympathy than love?
Jiang Ren didn’t say anything, just pursed his lips. He shouldn’t ask for more. Gao Yi had already found a doctor who could perform surgery on his foot injury, but it had to be done abroad.
At first, he was happy, but then he frowned. Jiang Ren had always wanted to heal his leg, after all, such a leg wasn’t worthy of her. But suddenly he thought of another possibility. Meng Ting wasn’t necessarily bound to him.
If Meng Ting didn’t love him that much, at least sympathy was a good way to keep her by his side.
Meng Ting also knew he was busy, so whenever he came to the B University campus, she always tried to accompany him.
Meng Ting hadn’t accepted the apartment at B University that Jiang Ren gave her, but if he wanted to stay there, she would always keep him company.
Meng Ting felt very happy.
Her definition of life had always been positive and content, but she found that Jiang Ren was very strange today. It seemed to have started with the bird he saw this morning.
He became very odd.
He liked to kiss her, but today when he closed the door and pressed her against it, he was about to lower his head but suddenly straightened up.
His dark eyes looked at her. “Kiss me.”
Meng Ting was stunned.
She couldn’t distinguish between being proactive and passive. But she didn’t refuse. Blushing, she hooked her arms around his neck and stood on tiptoe to kiss him gently.
He cooperated, opening his mouth when he should and holding her waist when appropriate.
However, when she pulled away, he pulled her back again, smiling and saying, “Are you completing a task?”
“No, you’re so strange.” She reached out to poke his cheek, but he caught her hand.
He placed his hand over her heart, which was only beating slightly faster. It was completely different from his heart rate, which was about to go crazy. “Do you like this feeling?”
Meng Ting asked with a red face, “What feeling?”
“The feeling of kissing me.”
She thought he was being embarrassed.
Jiang Ren smiled and said, “Why aren’t you passionate at all? Don’t you want to throw yourself at me? Don’t you have that desire? Ting Ting, am I not lovable enough?”
Meng Ting’s face turned scarlet at his words.
Why was he asking this? Was it normal to be unsatisfied? What was he thinking all day?
“Do you,” he gently pinched her earlobe, “have any desire for me?”
“Jiang Ren, today you… you…” She trembled at his touch, “are not normal.”
“No, today I’m the normal one,” he said.
But seeing her eyes widen slightly, he laughed again. “I’m just teasing you. Are you scared?”
“No.”
He picked her up and carried her to the kitchen, touching his forehead to hers, his voice very gentle: “What do you want to eat? I’ll cook for you.”
Meng Ting had never eaten food he cooked before and was curious. “You know how to cook?”
He just smiled: “To take care of my wife, I have to know everything.”
Meng Ting’s cheeks burned.
He had bought fresh ingredients and was going to cook for her.
Jiang Ren put on an apron and started washing vegetables. Meng Ting wanted to help, but Jiang Ren put a pair of connected gloves on her and told her to go watch TV.
Hands get cold when cooking in winter.
After a while, she quietly came back to watch.
Jiang Ren chopped vegetables skillfully, his expression cold as always when doing anything. When he met her tea-colored eyes, the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.
Jiang Ren didn’t know how to cook before. Even when he went to the military academy in junior high school, he always ate out.
He learned to cook last winter when she made dinner waiting for him to come home but fell asleep.
From that day on, he started cooking whenever he had time.
By now, he was quite proficient.
She held the bowl, eating happily.
He liked this feeling of taking care of her.
Jiang Ren held her hand: “No need to wash the dishes, the hourly worker will come later. I’ll take you to see a movie.” Seeing her shake her head in horror, he smiled and said, “This year we’re going to the cinema, no horror movies.”
Meng Ting finally felt relieved.
Many couples come to the cinema in winter. Jiang Ren put a mask on her and intertwined their fingers.
She didn’t like this hand-holding position, it was so uncomfortable. Meng Ting adjusted it pitifully many times, but Jiang Ren didn’t budge.
Sometimes he was very gentle, but when it came to possessing her, he was incredibly forceful.
Meng Ting had no choice but to let him lead her to watch the movie.
“A romance movie?”
“Mm-hmm.”
It was an obscure romance film called “In His Eyes.”
The protagonist was special, a man born blind who fell in love with the most beautiful girl on campus. But because he couldn’t see, he didn’t know how exceptional the girl he liked was.
The girl told him that because she wasn’t good-looking, no one liked her. He carefully and preciously loved her, thinking it didn’t matter that he couldn’t see; in his heart, she was the most beautiful and kind girl.
Until the young man learned the truth and learned how exceptional the girl was. Not only was she popular at school, but many people pursued her.
He was just a blind man.
Because his eyes couldn’t see the world, he had dared to like her by mistake.
The hand holding Meng Ting tightened its grip.
Meng Ting shuddered and turned to look at him. He smiled and kissed her cheek. “Is it good?”
Meng Ting nodded and said softly, “Why do I feel like it will be a tragedy?”
“It won’t be a tragedy,” he said flatly.
Meng Ting was afraid watching this plot, worried that the male lead stumbling in the rain might do something rash or turn dark. Fortunately, the female lead had liked the male lead from the beginning, so she told him she wasn’t good-looking.
After various reassurances from the female lead, the male lead finally got together with her.
As Jiang Ren said, this movie had a good ending.
Meng Ting sighed in relief, deeply moved and teary-eyed.
Jiang Ren asked her, “Any thoughts?”
Meng Ting thought for a moment and borrowed the female lead’s words from the end of the story: “Many people in the world like her beautiful face, only the male lead likes her kind heart.”
Jiang Ren laughed and brushed her hair aside. “Silly.”
Meng Ting glared at him. “Then what do you think it is?”
“They can be together because one fantasized too deeply, and the other’s sympathy overflowed.”
Meng Ting was furious. “Nonsense!” She angrily pinched his waist. “How can you see such a beautiful relationship as so… so unworthy?”
Jiang Ren lowered his head to kiss her little fist, chuckling, “It’s fine if you think it’s beautiful.”
Who the hell would a goddess like a blind man? Are they crazy?
The female lead in the movie wasn’t even as beautiful as Meng Ting, yet she was moved to tears.
His cold-blooded interpretation made her no longer feel moved, and she felt so wronged she wanted to bite him.
Jiang Ren was just a child who had never been loved by the world. She wouldn’t argue with an unlovable, cold child.
On their way home from the cinema, they encountered an unexpected person.
Meng Ting was startled. “Senior Huo?”
Huo Yifeng nodded. Seeing their clasped hands, he unconsciously said, “You’re still together?”
He said this from the bottom of his heart.
Back then, when Jiang Ren dropped out of school, it caused such a big commotion. How could this delinquent have the charm to make Meng Ting wait for him all this time?
Jiang Ren’s eyes were cold as he sneered, “The sky hasn’t even darkened, why are you already dreaming?”
Huo Yifeng’s face turned green. He knew he had spoken out of turn first. “I’m sorry.”
He was following a mentor for a national innovation project in B City for a while and naturally had heard about Jiang Ren’s legendary deeds. He knew this man wasn’t easy to deal with, but he had also secretly liked Meng Ting for many years.
Moreover, last year both families met, making Huo Yifeng feel he had a chance.
His family background was good, a stable civil servant family. Both his parents liked Meng Ting. But that troublemaker was still by her side, making Huo Yifeng feel disappointed and helpless.
“Senior, don’t mind Jiang Ren, he…”
Jiang Ren turned her face towards him and said to Huo Yifeng, “Why haven’t you left yet? Do you like watching others being intimate?”
Huo Yifeng was furious but could only turn and leave.
Meng Ting tried to pry his fingers loose. “Jiang Ren, you’ve been crazy enough today…” She couldn’t move them, and she was so angry.
Afraid of hurting her, he loosened his grip. “I haven’t said anything, nor did I use force. Why are you defending him so much?”
“I was defending you!” She wanted to hit this jerk. Senior Huo was an outsider, and one needs to be polite to outsiders.
Jiang Ren smiled. “Mm.”
Huo Yifeng was a thorn in his side.
That year when he steeled his heart to break up with Meng Ting, he saw her smile at that guy.
In ancient times, there were scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants. Someone like Huo Yifeng would be a second-generation official, while a merchant like him couldn’t compare at all. Only his grandfather’s generation was worth mentioning.
Moreover, by today’s aesthetic standards, Huo Yifeng was more likable than him in every way.
She was a bit angry at the strange Jiang Ren today, to the extent that she still didn’t want to pay attention to him when they got back.
Jiang Ren heated up a hand warmer and put it in her arms, then held her in his arms and gently kissed her. From her forehead to her collarbone, when she pushed him away he just smiled and came closer again. Meng Ting was left completely at a loss by his behavior.
How thick-skinned was he! She frustratedly pulled at his face.
Jiang Ren held her fingers. “Preserve some dignity.”
Meng Ting looked up at him with her big, watery eyes. He chuckled softly. “Never mind, I’ll give you my dignity too.”
He guided her fingers to his cold, stern face.
Meng Ting didn’t know why, but her heart suddenly started beating faster. Who wants your dignity?