It was one o'clock in the morning, and Liangxia was curled up on the windowsill of her bedroom.
The bustle outside the window had not yet dissipated, but inside the window it was cold. Xu Qingyan called Liang Xia and sent her a text message, and her answer was: "It's too late today, let me calm down."
But after saying this, Liang Xia felt conflicted. He wondered if Xu Qingyan would be lonely living in a hotel alone. On New Year's Eve, he drove two hours to Yuncheng just to spend New Year's Eve with her.
Liang Xia felt extremely melancholy. She picked up her phone again and said, "I'm fine. Go to bed early. Happy New Year, Ayan."
Not long after, Xu Qingyan sent another message, saying: "Liangxia, give me some time, I will definitely handle this matter. Liangxia, I hope we can grow old together."
Liang Xia's emotions were complicated. She was a little angry this time, but she knew that she couldn't doubt the relationship between herself and Xu Qingyan because of her anger.
So, I hope everything will be fine tomorrow morning.
Just as Liangxia was about to go back to sleep, her cell phone suddenly rang. It was Jiuqiu calling. Liangxia was a little confused, but she answered the call anyway. Before she could say anything, Jiuqiu asked in a hoarse voice, "Liangxia, are you back..."
"I'm at home. What's wrong, Jiuqiu?" When Liang Xia heard Jiuqiu's voice, she guessed that something bad might have happened to Jiuqiu.
"I want to go to your room and sleep." Jiuqiu's voice was filled with tears.
Liang Xia walked out of the bedroom to open the door and said, "The door is open, come here."
A few minutes later, Jiuqiu appeared at Liangxia's door with tears on her face. Liangxia pulled Jiuqiu into the house, closed the door, and took her into the bedroom.
As soon as she entered the bedroom, Jiuqiu leaned on Liangxia's shoulder sadly. Liangxia hugged her, patted her back, and asked caringly: "Are you cold? Wearing such a thin pajamas."
Liang Xia brought Jiu Qiu to the bed, and the two of them leaned against the head of the bed, pulling the quilt high. Jiu Qiu leaned weakly on Liang Xia's shoulder and said, "Liang Xia, Jiang Han and I had a quarrel..."
"What's the quarrel?"
Jiuqiu recounted what happened, buried himself in Liangxia's arms, and cried, "I really didn't mean that... Liangxia, he ignored me."
Liang Xia didn't express any opinion, just smiled faintly.
"What should I do?" Jiuqiu raised her head and asked with tears in her eyes.
Liang Xia raised her hand, touched Jiu Qiu's hair, and said, "Silly boy, you have completely fallen in love with Jiang Han."
Jiuqiu stared at Liangxia blankly, tears streaming down her face again: "But he ignores me, what should I do?"
"Then do you want to apologize?" Liang Xia asked.
Jiu Qiu shook his head violently: "No! It's too embarrassing."
"If I say that as long as you go and apologize, Jiang Han will definitely forgive you, will you go?" Liang Xia asked again.
Jiuqiu was silent. Wouldn't apologizing to Jiang Han be indirectly admitting that she liked him?
As if seeing through Jiuqiu's thoughts, Liangxia said: "Is it so difficult to admit that you like him? Jiuqiu, Jiang Han has been waiting for you for so many years."
"But..." Jiu Qiu was panicking, "I don't know why, I'm a little afraid. I'm afraid of losing him. I can feel my feelings for Jiang Han in my heart, but I don't seem to have the courage to be with him."
Liang Xia understood that Jiu Qiu's heart was not as strong as she appeared. Tang Cheng had liked her for ten years, but she did not have the courage to accept it. Not to mention that Liang Xia also liked Tang Cheng, even if Liang Xia did not like Tang Cheng, Jiu Qiu might not be able to face her heart calmly.
Jiuqiu has never had confidence in love, she is afraid of losing.
"Jiuqiu, according to your idea, you should spend at least a few years dating before getting married, but you are still hesitating to confirm your relationship with Jiang Han. You haven't even started dating yet. How long will you wait to get married? You don't want to get married so early, but you can't delay Jiang Han, right?" Liang Xia tried to persuade in another way.
"If you like someone, you like him/her. If you don't like someone, you don't like him/her. It's just a relationship between two people. There's no need to think too much. If you find that you are not suitable for each other after being together, you can break up and find another one while you are still young. Don't procrastinate. Procrastination will make you lose the most suitable person." Liang Xia continued, "In fact, there are many problems between Ayan and I, but at least we are sure that we like each other and can deal with problems together. In fact... Ayan and I just had a conflict."
"You guys?" Jiu Qiu asked doubtfully, "What's wrong..."
"Didn't I say that I'm not ready to meet Ayan's parents? That's why his parents don't know I exist. Ayan will be 26 after the Chinese New Year this year, and his family is urging him to go on a blind date. The blind date followed Ayan to Yuncheng, as if she wanted me to give up. But I ignored her. After I came back, I thought about it and realized that it wasn't Ayan's fault. It was my 'lack of preparation' that brought Ayan a lot of trouble. Ayan said that he would handle it all, so I'll stay put for now. But if Ayan's parents ask to see me, I will do my best to face it and won't escape anymore." Liang Xia said slowly.
She didn't really have to struggle to make these decisions. She just wanted to do it in a split second. Maybe when Xu Qingyan said, "I'll definitely take care of this matter," Liang Xia had already made up her mind. After all, dating is a matter between two people, and Liang Xia wouldn't leave all the problems to Xu Qingyan to solve.
"Liangxia, you are really brave. I am far inferior to you." Jiuqiu said seriously.
Liang Xia put her arm around Jiu Qiu and said, "You can do this too. We all work hard to live in this world. Why should we avoid things when they happen? It's better to face them head on. There are only two outcomes: success and failure. What does it matter?"
Jiuqiu lay quietly in Liangxia's arms, his eyes slowly becoming firmer in the quiet environment...
She didn't know what her future would be like, let alone whether it would develop according to her plans, but she thought that she should at least do something about the current situation that gave her a headache, even if it was just a small contribution.
The next few days were quite busy, so Jiuqiu did not go to look for Jiang Han.
Of course, Jiang Han didn't look for her either.
Their cold war continued until Liangxia and Jiuqiu returned to Nanshi.
In the new year, everyone starts a new busy life.
Taking advantage of a free day, Jiuqiu downloaded some gourmet recipes from the Internet and carefully prepared three dishes and a soup. She put the food into an insulated box and prepared to bring it to Jiang Han.
Today, Jiang Han posted a status on his WeChat Moments, saying that he had to work overtime again, which was a headache. So Jiu Qiu thought about bringing food to Jiang Han.
Jiuqiu took a car to Jiang Han's company. Because it was already time to get off work, there were almost no people in the company. Jiuqiu went straight to Jiang Han's department. Before he entered, he heard voices outside the door.
Jiuqiu stood at the door and looked in curiously, but the scene inside surprised Jiuqiu. Jiang Han was indeed working overtime, but it didn't seem as hard as he had imagined!
A woman in a short skirt was holding Jiang Han's shoulder with one hand, her whole body almost pressing on him. On the table was a meal that seemed to have just been packed.
The woman said seductively, "Handsome Jiang, I just brought this to you. It's a token of my love for you. Don't waste it."
Jiu Qiu saw her flirting and wanted to smash the thermos in her hand on her face! But at this moment, she had to endure it!
"Oh, you are so thoughtful. Thank you." Jiang Han not only did not push the woman away, but he took a look at the food and thanked her calmly.
"Handsome Jiang really knows how to be gentle with women." The woman's hands slowly hugged his neck and blew into his ear, "I have the honor of working overtime with handsome Jiang today, so after get off work, can you please have a midnight snack with me?"
"Sure." Jiang Han said.
"Bang——" Jiuqiu pushed open the half-open door and rushed into the office with a forced smile on her face.
Jiang Han and the woman turned around at the same time, but Jiang Han had no expression at all. He just looked at Jiu Qiu calmly.
The woman straightened up and asked, "Who are you?"
"Oh, sorry to bother you." Jiu Qiu said sarcastically, walked over to pick up the packed food and threw it into the trash can, and said to the woman, "You'd better eat less gutter oil outside, it's not good for your health."
After that, she placed the thermos bottle she had brought heavily on the table in front of Jiang Han, and said word by word with gritted teeth: "Here are three dishes and a soup. Eat slowly. Call me before you choke to death, and I will collect your body for you."
"Handsome Jiang, who is your girlfriend?" the woman asked jokingly.
"I'm not his girlfriend, just an ordinary friend. I had a fight with him last time, and I came here to apologize. I'm fine, you can continue." Jiu Qiu rolled his eyes and said to the woman, then strode out of the door.
As soon as he walked out, Jiu Qiu was so angry that he started punching.
"Scum!" Jiu Qiu cursed angrily.
The woman who had been watching Jiuqiu leave retracted her gaze, lowered her eyes to look at the thermos box on the table, and asked, "Handsome Jiang, don't you want to eat?"
Jiang Han unscrewed the lid of the thermos and said, "Let's eat together."
"Oh, aren't you afraid that she will be angry?" the woman laughed.
Jiang Han brought out all the dishes and said, "It's good to piss her off. After all, she's been pissing me off for so long."
The woman smiled and sat down, saying, "Then I won't be polite, but by the way, if you have a girlfriend, I won't pursue you."
Jiang Han lazily looked up at the woman and said, "Whether I have a girlfriend or not, do you think you can pursue me?"
"Handsome Jiang, I feel very sad when you say that." The woman said this, but she picked up the food that Jiuqiu brought with a smile on her face.
But after taking a bite, she spat it all out, then looked at Jiang Han distressedly and said, "It's not delicious."
Jiang Han chewed the food with no expression on his face, and said, "It's okay, I'll eat it."
So the woman sat next to him and watched Jiang Han finish all the dishes.
Now, she realized that no matter whether the girl liked Jiang Han or not, Jiang Han liked her very much. After all, those dishes were really too disgusting.
Xu Qingyan did not come back.
On the first day Liangxia arrived in Nanshi, she received a call from Xu Qingyan, who said that something had happened at home and she would be back later.
Liangxia didn't think much about it and lived alone for a week.
A week later, someone knocked on the door. Liang Xia thought it was Xu Qingyan coming back, but when she opened the door, she saw a middle-aged couple she had never met before.
When the middle-aged couple saw Liangxia for the first time, they asked, "Are you Lin Liangxia?"
Liang Xia seemed to understand something.
That’s right, the middle-aged couple are Xu Qingyan’s parents. They came here specifically to see Lin Liangxia.
Xu's parents found a place to meet Liangxia for a talk. In the private room, Xu's mother's first words were: "Ayan doesn't know we're here to see you."
Liang Xia was a little reserved, nodded, and said, "It's okay. I didn't know that my uncle and aunt were coming, so I didn't prepare a welcome party for them in advance. It was Liang Xia who was not considerate enough."
"Don't be polite. Let me ask you, how long have you known Ayan? How did you meet?" Xu's mother asked straight to the point.
Liang Xia did not hide it: "I met Xu Qingyan when I was a junior in college. It has been more than two years now. We met while skiing in Hokkaido, Japan."
"What do you do for a living? What do your family members do? What is your family's financial situation?"
When asked this, Liang Xia knew the purpose of Xu's parents coming here, and said: "I am a university teacher and a part-time writer. Um... my mother opened a small jewelry store in Yuncheng, and my father is just an ordinary worker."
"Is that so?" asked Xu's mother, sounding somewhat surprised.
Liang Xia nodded: "That's it."
"Then do you know our family background?" asked Xu's mother.
"I know. Xu Qingyan said so."
Mother Xu glanced at Father Xu and said, "Then you should know that you and our A-Yan are not a good match. It is unlikely that you will be able to get married, have children, and grow old together."
Liang Xia sneered in her heart, raised her head, and asked: "So, Auntie, do you want to persuade me and A Yan to break up?"
"It's best if you know it in your heart. No matter what Ayan thinks, his father and I will not agree to this marriage. We have already helped him find a more suitable candidate." Xu's mother's tone was quite polite.
Liang Xia said: "If I guess correctly, the more suitable candidate is Lin Niao, right? But aunt, A Yan doesn't like her."
"It's not up to him. Only marrying a girl like Niao Niao can help Ayan's future and career."
Liang Xia looked into Xu's mother's eyes and asked, "According to what my aunt meant, will I hinder A-Yan's future and career?"
Xu's mother spoke very tactfully, and perhaps she didn't mean to hurt Liang Xia, saying: "Child, I'm not saying you're not good, I'm saying you and A Yan are not a good match. You're both young, you can try to find someone who's more suitable for you."
"Auntie." Liang Xia interrupted Xu's mother and said, "Although you are the elder, since you are here, I still have to tell you my attitude, so that you don't make a wasted trip, right? I admit that my family background is indeed not as good as Ayan, but I now earn as much as Ayan with my own ability. Ayan and I understand and help each other in life and work. We have been together for more than a year and our relationship has been very stable. Auntie, if you ask me to leave and say that I am not worthy of it, I will only give up if Ayan tells me so himself. If I guess correctly, you must have found a way to keep Ayan at home so that he would not have time to come to our first meeting, right? As long as Ayan doesn't give up on me, I will just pretend that I didn't hear what you said."
Liang Xia looks like a weak girl. When Xu's mother first met her, she thought she would be easy to deal with, but she didn't expect her to be so stubborn.
Seeing Liang Xia refute her, Xu's mother's attitude seemed to have changed a little. She was a little impatient and said, "Why can't you listen? If A Yan could tell you this, would I have to come here in person?"
"That's enough. I'm in love with Ayan, not you. Although you are Ayan's mother, you have no right to interfere with who Ayan is with." Liang Xia said.
"You..." Mother Xu opened her eyes wide and looked at Liang Xia in disbelief, "Lin Liang Xia, I am A Yan's mother after all, how can you talk to me like this?"
Liang Xia had a blank expression on her face, but her voice became gentler as she said, "Yes, you are Ayan's mother, but Ayan and I are just boyfriend and girlfriend now, not husband and wife yet. So, please don't waste my time here, I have classes in the afternoon."
"You!" Mother Xu stood up angrily, the muscles on her face twitched, and she said angrily, "What's your attitude?"
"Auntie, don't be angry, I didn't mean anything else." Although Liang Xia said she was submissive, her cold expression made Xu's mother angry.
Xu's mother said, "I won't let my son marry someone like you!"
Then, she left angrily. Father Xu, who had been sitting next to him and had not spoken, scratched the back of his head and looked at Liang Xia: "Child."
Liang Xia raised her eyelids and looked at Xu's father.
Father Xu laughed and said, "It's okay. You and Ayan are in love freely. It's your business. Don't take your aunt's words to heart." After that, he stood up and turned around and gestured to Liang Xia to keep quiet before leaving. "Don't let your aunt know this. Go to class quickly."
After saying that, Father Xu took out the coat that Mother Xu had forgotten to take away.
Liang Xia's straight body slowly relaxed. She looked at the three full cups of strong tea on the table. None of them drank a single sip...
Xu Qingyan's mother is not easy to deal with, and it is really difficult for Xu Qingyan.
Xu Qingyan has not come back yet. His cell phone is unreachable and he has not replied to WeChat messages.
Liang Xia even imagined that his freedom was restricted by his parents and she was worried about him every day.
As for Jiuqiu, ever since she saw Jiang Han flirting with that woman in the office, she swore never to pay any attention to Jiang Han again and let him fend for himself!
But the next day, Jiang Han took the initiative to find Jiuqiu.
Looking at Jiang Han standing outside the door with a thermos box in his hand, Jiu Qiu's expression changed from anger to sarcasm: "Hey, handsome Jiang, how come you have time to come to my place? Why don't you go have a midnight snack with the beautiful lady in your office?"
"I'm here to return something, and I'll leave after I'm done." Jiang Han said.
What kind of attitude is this! Jiuqiu's heart was filled with rage for no reason. She snatched the incubator and put on a proud expression: "Please, handsome Jiang."
Jiang Han stood there without moving.
Jiu Qiu asked, "Anything else? Handsome Jiang."
"Can you stop mocking me?" Jiang Han said suddenly.
"No." Jiuqiu crossed her arms over her chest, and the incubator swayed gently in her hands.
"By the way." Jiang Han pointed to the incubator and said, "I haven't washed it yet."
What? Jiuqiu quickly opened the lid of the thermal box and found that there were indeed some leftover food scraps inside!
"Eh...you're so disgusting!" Jiuqiu covered his nose in disgust, turned around and went into the house to clean the incubator.
Jiang Han followed in naturally and closed the door. Hearing the door close, Jiu Qiu turned around and asked, "Who let you in?"
"I didn't sleep well yesterday, so let me borrow your sofa to take a nap." Jiang Han walked straight through the express boxes on the floor, pushed all the sundries on the sofa to the ground, and lay down on it naturally as if he was at home.
Jiuqiu was about to teach Jiang Han a lesson, but stopped.
Jiang Han must have forgiven her, right? She should control her temper first. Thinking of this, Jiuqiu went into the kitchen to wash the incubator. When she came out, she saw Jiang Han sleeping on the sofa, and Jiuqiu tiptoed over.
He seemed... to have fallen asleep.
Jiuqiu went into the room and took out a blanket, gently covered Jiang Han with it, then squatted in front of the sofa and looked at Jiang Han's face carefully.
In fact, she had seldom looked at Jiang Han's face carefully since she had known him for so long, especially after he confessed to her for the first time. Since then, every time she looked at Jiang Han's face carefully and met his eyes, she would always think of the way he confessed to her.
Jiang Han's eyes were like a sharp dagger that could accurately dig out the secrets in her heart. Now Jiang Han was sleeping quietly and looked very handsome.
Jiuqiu slowly leaned forward and got closer to Jiang Han.
She seemed to... really fall in love with Jiang Han, and the feeling was growing stronger and stronger.
Since he is already asleep, he shouldn't be discovered if I kiss him secretly, right?
Jiu Qiu couldn't help but move closer to Jiang Han, his lips lingering above his lips, but he couldn't kiss him anymore.
Suddenly, a pair of arms hugged Jiuqiu's waist. Jiuqiu screamed, and was instantly held in Jiang Han's arms and pressed under him. Jiuqiu was so scared that she dared not move, and had no idea what to do.
"You want to kiss me secretly?" Jiang Han moved closer to Jiuqiu, his breath hitting Jiuqiu's face.
Jiu Qiu stammered, "No...no, I just saw that your face was a little dirty."
What a terrible lie.
"Really? Now look at me, is my face dirty?" Jiang Han said.
Jiuqiu glanced at Jiang Han randomly, then hastily avoided Jiang Han's gaze and said, "It's too close, I... I can't see clearly."
"It's okay, we'll watch it when we have time." As he spoke, Jiang Han moved closer.
"What are you going to do!" Jiuqiu closed his eyes nervously.
Jiang Han smiled slowly, "You want to kiss me secretly, I will do as you wish." After saying that, Jiang Han lowered his head and kissed her, gently and lingeringly. Jiu Qiu, who had always been greedy for Jiang Han's lips, soon fell into such tenderness, and her hands and feet seemed to be out of control, slowly stopped resisting, and turned to cater to Jiang Han's actions.
After the romance, Jiang Han hugged Jiuqiu from behind, wrapped her body with a blanket, and whispered softly in her ear: "Jiuqiu, from now on, whether you like it or not, you are already my girlfriend."
Jiuqiu slowly came to her senses and bit the back of her hand, feeling a little regretful for her lack of restraint just now. She clearly had something else to settle with this man!
"Then...what about that person?" Jiuqiu still couldn't help it.
"Which one ?" Jiang Han, who was drowsy and buried in Jiuqiu's hair, opened his eyes and asked.
"The woman who brought you takeout." Jiuqiu said with his cheeks puffed up.
"Ah...she is just an ordinary colleague. She tried to pursue me last time, and you saw her." Jiang Han closed his eyes again.
Jiu Qiu then asked: "I saw it, why didn't you push her away?"
"You make me so sad, how can I not be angry with you?"
"You are so stingy!" Jiuqiu said angrily.
Jiang Han opened his eyes again and asked, "Am I stingy?"
Jiu Qiu was so scared that he changed his words again and again: "No... No! I'm just stingy!"
Jiang Han smiled triumphantly and said, "Just lie there and don't worry about anything else."
Jiuqiu's face flushed and she stopped talking. Even though curled up like that made her feel uncomfortable, she stayed motionless in Jiang Han's arms.
This Jiang Han is really a repressed person.
Fortunately, I seem to have fulfilled my wish.
So be it, it’s good to have a peaceful and stable life.
It’s very late at night.
Nearly two months have passed, and Liang Xia has not seen Xu Qingyan in these two months.
The longer the time went on, the more panicked she became. She couldn't sleep at night and often thought of some not-so-good endings.
That night, Liang Xia still couldn't fall asleep until midnight. She tossed and turned on her phone, looking at the chat interface with Xu Qingyan, and tears flowed down her face unconsciously.
I don't know what happened to him...
Liangxia turned over and wiped away her tears silently.
Suddenly, there was a noise outside the door, as if someone was unlocking it. Liang Xia's heart skipped a beat and she became alert.
Is it Ayan? Or a thief?
Liang Xia half-supported herself to sit up. She deliberately left the lights on in the living room, just to wait for Xu Qingyan to come back. Looking at the light coming through the crack in the bedroom door, and listening to the familiar sounds of changing shoes and putting keys in the living room, Liang Xia knew who the person outside was.
She quickly wiped away her tears and lay on her side on the bed pretending to sleep.
Xu Qingyan opened the door and came in, rubbed his temple, got into bed, and hugged Liangxia the moment he lay down.
"Ah... I'm finally back." Xu Qingyan said tiredly. His voice was very small, as if it was a sound made by his breath, but in the quiet night, Liang Xia could still hear it clearly.
Then, Xu Qingyan didn't say anything else, just kept hugging Liang Xia and soon fell asleep.
In order to let Xu Qingyan sleep comfortably, Liang Xia lay on the bed motionless.
If you are tired, just take a rest first. We can deal with the rest in the morning.