“If you could go back to the past, which day would you want to return to?” “September 20th, 20XX.” “What day was that?” “The evening when Feng Ning first rejected me.” “What would you do?” “At the moment she rejected me, I would give up on her.”
But time cannot flow backwards, and what has happened cannot be redone. This night was still this night, the moon wasn’t very full, nor was it very bright.
After Jiang Wen finished yelling hysterically, he stood there frozen, suddenly falling into dead silence.
Feng Ning’s face still maintained her previous angry expression.
Her mouth formed a small ‘o’, not speaking immediately. Her mind raced for a while, having never expected things could develop so inconceivably.
His expression, face turned aside, eyes red with anger, was definitely not joking. This left Feng Ning in a difficult position.
Even with her heart of stone, she didn’t know how to handle this situation for a moment. Before she could remain detached and unconcerned. After all, what did it matter to her if others liked her?
But… but now… there were too many feelings, hard to describe.
After a long while, Feng Ning looked at him and said, “You—”
Noisy voices drifted over, with a man shouting with all his might, “Little sister, did you lose anything else?”
From far away came the wailing of police sirens. Soon, several police officers jumped out of their cars, dispersing the crowd of onlookers, and came this way.
After briefly understanding the situation, Jiang Wen and Feng Ning were also taken to the police station.
The phone in her pocket vibrated again. Unable to reach Jiang Wen, Jiang Yuyun called Feng Ning directly: “Is Xiao Wen with you? Why isn’t his phone connecting?”
“We just ran into a robbery, then someone called the police, we have to go to the police station now.” Feng Ning briefly explained what had just happened.
“Robbed?!” Jiang Yuyun was startled, anxiously asking: “Are you two okay?”
“We’re fine, fine, it shouldn’t take long.”
Jiang Yuyun felt somewhat relieved: “Okay, is Jiang Wen nearby? Let me say a few words to him.”
“He is.” Feng Ning agreed, passing the phone over.
Unknown what was said on the other end, Jiang Wen lowered his eyes, perfunctorily responded twice, and hung up.
Taking back the phone, Feng Ning unintentionally glanced at him again, noticing his cheeks were unusually flushed.
She suddenly remembered Jiang Wen’s fever had just broken, and in such cold weather, he had been freezing outside for so long, wearing only a thin suit and shirt, without any warm clothes.
Feng Ning leaned forward a bit, saying sweetly: “Officer, could you turn up the temperature in the car? My friend has a cold.”
“Why dress so thinly in winter?” The officer in the passenger seat leaned over to adjust the air conditioning, glancing at Jiang Wen in the rearview mirror, hesitating to speak, “Are you a celebrity?”
Jiang Wen didn’t make a sound. Feng Ning explained for him: “Not a celebrity, not a celebrity, just happens to be quite handsome.”
The police station was nearby, just a ten-minute drive. Maybe because everyone was trying to meet year-end quotas, they processed things very efficiently.
While taking their statements, a slightly older officer said, “The robber from just now was released a few months ago and has several prior cases. With New Year’s coming, everywhere is unsettled. Yesterday a candy store owner was robbed and stabbed to death on the street. This society is very complex. You two students, when encountering such things, remember to call the police first, don’t try to be brave.”
As the old officer spoke, Jiang Wen’s face grew darker.
When they walked out of the police station it was completely dark, and Jiang Yuyun had sent a driver to pick up Jiang Wen.
The street lights extended one by one on both sides, seeming endless. The shadows of the young man and woman, one in front and one behind, slightly offset.
Feng Ning tried to speak several times, but Jiang Wen avoided her gaze. She cleared her throat, making conversation: “About today’s events, I’ll forget everything.”
“Forget what.” Jiang Wen spoke coldly.
“Well… you know, your after-bath photo, I was really too perverted.” Feng Ning reflected on herself, “I shouldn’t be like that.”
“How many more times are you going to bring that up.” Jiang Wen’s face darkened.
Evidence proved they really couldn’t get along peacefully for long.
Feng Ning took over the conversation, like criticizing a younger person who didn’t know better: “Also, next time you go crazy don’t throw your phone, such an extravagant temper tantrum, couldn’t you smash something cheaper when you’re really angry?”
“I finally got your phone back, you should just thank me properly, I really don’t understand what you were thinking, has your brain stopped working?” She brought this up still feeling the pain.
Jiang Wen resumed his mocking expression: “Who wants to thank you properly, if anything had happened to you, I would have been the one affected. Simple-minded and all brawn.”
“I’m simple-minded?” Feng Ning smugly held up her hand in front of him, making a six, then a nine, and finally an eight, “See clearly? This was my final exam score, did you score higher than me? Eternal second place!”
He suddenly grabbed her wrist.
There were several dirty scratches on the back of her hand.
Feng Ning tried to pull her hand back, “Hey hey hey, what are you doing, not going for the pure route anymore, switching to harassment?”
If possible, Jiang Wen really wanted to sew her mouth shut.
He took a deep breath, his face extremely unpleasant, saying with restraint: “There’s a medical kit in the car.”
“These little scratches, what’s there to treat?” Feng Ning didn’t care at all, but being restrained, she couldn’t shake off his hand.
Regardless of whether she was willing or not, Jiang Wen dragged her toward where the car was parked.
Because they needed to apply medicine, they turned on the rear dome light. To avoid affecting night driving, they pulled down the partition.
In the small car cabin, it became so quiet their breathing was audible. With nothing to do, Feng Ning started counting his eyelashes.
One by one, slightly curled at the ends, like little slides.
The car suddenly bumped, hitting her wound, making her hiss in pain.
Jiang Wen immediately raised his eyes.
At such close distance, they could see their reflections in each other’s eyes. After a few stunned seconds of eye contact, an strange intimacy suddenly arose.
Feng Ning spoke teasingly: “Were you confessing your love to me again just now on the street?”
Jiang Wen’s hand holding the cotton swab trembled, his face heating up as he said angrily, “Shut up!”
She sat up straight, distancing herself from him, and didn’t shut up: “I won’t beat around the bush with you anymore. Although we’re always arguing and insulting each other, actually that night at the hospital, I already considered you my friend.”
The word “friend,” seemed like both an explanation and a way to clear up their relationship.
In any case, it sounded extremely harsh to Jiang Wen’s ears, he knew it would be like this.
“You are a very excellent person, don’t keep yourself stuck in place.” Her pace was steady.
Jiang Wen’s face suddenly changed and he interrupted her: “You don’t need to say anymore.”
Regardless of his reaction, Feng Ning continued earnestly: “No, I need to say this. I can tell you, I have completely different attitudes toward my pursuers and my friends. I can give you some more time to think clearly about whether you want to be the former or the latter.”
She was always like this. Acting humble on the surface, but harder to get close to than anyone else deep down.
Jiang Wen stared at her intently.
Staring at her, permanently etching this serious and cold appearance into his heart, making himself completely give up hope.
They arrived at their destination. The car stopped and turned off. Feng Ning tucked her bag under her arm, turned to say goodbye, “Alright, I’m going, goodbye. I look forward to your answer.”
After a pause, Feng Ning calmly added, “Remember, only friendship can last forever.”
“……”
If he still had any rationality left, Jiang Wen’s hands would have already been around her neck. He gave a cold laugh.
Feng Ning raised an eyebrow: “What?”
“Go to hell with your ‘last forever.’”
— These were Jiang Wen’s final words as he slammed the car door.
“I suspect he’s a masochist.”
“When we’re together, we’re either arguing or opposing each other.”
“Jiang Wen is really shallow, he just likes me for my looks.”
“Actually he should thank me, Teacher Feng taught him a lesson, letting him know that beautiful women are all liars, their words can’t be trusted.”
“I believe after this experience, Jiang Wen definitely won’t be easily fooled by women in the future.”
Shuang Yao couldn’t listen anymore, how could someone be so despicable? She put down her novel, “You’re the biggest scam Jiang Wen has ever fallen for in his life.”
Feng Ning sat at the foot of the bed drying her hair in front of the heater, the slightly yellow light illuminating her features, making her look both spirited and delicate. Just looking at her appearance, one could never imagine she would have such a bitchy soul.
“Really!” Feng Ning shouted, “I’m so troubled!”
Shuang Yao looked at her back speechlessly.
A thought suddenly occurred to Shuang Yao, and she asked worriedly: “Feng Ning, you’re not into women, are you?”
“?”
“I really can’t imagine what kind of man could conquer you.”
Feng Ning spaced out for a while, then said rationally: “Actually, regarding Jiang Wen, how should I put it, it’s not like I have no feelings at all, at least his looks really suit my taste, that pretty face often dazzles me.”
“Heh, he’s Qide’s famous handsome guy, you don’t need to act so reluctant, like you’re doing yourself a disservice.”
Shuang Yao spoke sharply, as if she had seen through her long ago: “From the beginning when you said you wouldn’t spoil others but went to flirt with him so shamelessly, I knew you must have been moved by his looks.”
Feng Ning nodded in agreement, appearing to accept the criticism: “Go on.”
Shuang Yao knelt on the bed, gently pulling her ear, “What else is there to say, anyway you’re just heartless, flirting with people without planning to take responsibility. When you see things aren’t going well, you want to just walk away. You even force others to be friends with you. God, I’m starting to pity Jiang Wen, such a nice campus prince, was living well, how did he end up meeting a weirdo like you.”
Feng Ning pushed away her hand, thinking seriously: “But I feel we really are more suitable as friends. I gave Jiang Wen the choice today. If he insists on not wanting to be friends, and must interact with me with dating as the goal, then I…”
“Then what? You’ll completely stay away from him? Never speak another word?”
“To be honest, I don’t know either.” Feng Ning’s face scrunched up in distress, “We’ll have to wait and see what choice he makes.”
After years of being brainwashed and oppressed by Feng Ning, Shuang Yao saw things more clearly than most people.
She shook her head, “Feng Ning, you weren’t so indecisive with those guys who pursued you before. There were many who were more persistent than Jiang Wen, didn’t you deal with them all cleanly and decisively? Why has this one dragged on so long, so lingering, still without a result?”
Having said this much, Shuang Yao said: “Compared to Jiang Wen, I think you’re the one who needs to think carefully.”
“At least he dares to face his heart, you probably don’t.”
A heavy snow fell last night, the snow on the ground still hadn’t melted, and Zhao Binlin and Xi Gaoyuan had agreed to come to Jiang Wen’s house to play games with him.
Jiang Wen had another high fever that night after returning home, only breaking this morning, and his whole mental state was very low.
While the game was loading, Zhao Binlin told them about a recently popular male-oriented novel, “It’s really good, this novel has me completely absorbed lately, can’t eat or sleep.”
Xi Gaoyuan’s interest was piqued, agreeing to read it when he got home tonight. Zhao Binlin turned his head, enthusiastically trying to sell Jiang Wen on it too.
But he responded coldly, “Don’t like that kind.”
Zhao Binlin persisted: “Then what type do you like? I’ll recommend something for you!”
Jiang Wen wrapped in a blanket, picked up the game controller, speaking lifelessly: “Novels where the female lead doesn’t love the male lead, I can only find resonance in those.”
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