A Promise in a Thought 89

Chapter 89

The end of August was Ye Xialan’s forty-first birthday. Last year, she had spent it traveling with Bo Mingliang. The couple had almost gone crazy with fun this past year, so this year, they planned to celebrate at home.

Bo Mingliang was a hopelessly straightforward man, but he was extremely devoted to his wife. From the time he had gotten together with Ye Xialan when they were young, he had poured his whole heart into it. This time, when his wife said she wanted to celebrate her birthday at home, without a big fuss, Bo Mingliang had arranged it without a second thought. Although the birthday banquet was a family affair at home, the dishes were prepared by a star-rated chef who came to their house.

This past year, having fun was secondary. The main thing was that their daughter had been promoted and no longer needed her elders to worry about her. Ye Xialan was overjoyed.

Bo Muyu now had a single office, so Ye Xialan no longer had any scruples about the way she notified her to come home and called her directly.

The sunlight was moist and bright, streaming in from the window. The fine dust floating in the air was gilded with gold.

The person writing at the desk had her inky-black long hair falling to the side of her face, her brow clear and distant, her whole person looking pure and serene. She was concentrating on marking the key points in the document, writing annotations, and then continuing to turn the pages.

It wasn’t until her phone rang that she answered the call with a slight smile.

Ye Xialan’s voice came from the phone, “Ah, Xiaoyu, we’re not eating out the night after tomorrow. You can come home to eat.”

“I know. It’s Mom’s birthday,” Bo Muyu replied softly.

“Oh, that’s right,” Ye Xialan laughed, and then said, half-jokingly, “And, you don’t need to bring a gift for Mom. Just come back. Your dad has hired a chef to cook at home. You don’t need to bring anything. Just come home with an empty stomach.”

And “you don’t need to bring a gift for Mom.” Bo Muyu laughed inwardly. This was so fake. She was clearly looking forward to it.

Since Ye Xialan had said so, Bo Muyu did not expose her and agreed, “Okay, I’ll remember.”

Ye Xialan cleared her throat twice and said coolly, “Then I’m hanging up.”

Just as Bo Muyu was about to reply, the call was disconnected. She glanced at the screen and the corners of her lips curved up, but the next second, the faint smile in her eyes disappeared without a trace.

Jiang Chenyin had not taken the initiative to contact her these past few days. No calls, no WeChat messages. It was all her who took the initiative. But even when she did, Jiang Chenyin seemed to be very busy. When she called, she would say she was busy after a couple of sentences, and her replies to her WeChat messages were very slow several times.

Bo Muyu opened WeChat and found her chat history with Jiang Chenyin.

The day after she had confessed to Lin Chuwan, she had gathered her courage and sent a message to Jiang Chenyin, “Auntie Yin, I miss you.” Jiang Chenyin had replied, “Mmm, I know.” After that, when she said she had an idea for a new script, Jiang Chenyin had replied with a concise “very good, keep it up.”

And then, all the subsequent conversations were initiated by her, and Jiang Chenyin’s replies were all very placid, a placidness that could be felt just by looking at the words. Such words would not have been very gentle even in a face-to-face conversation.

Why was she suddenly so busy?

In Bo Muyu’s impression, before this situation, Jiang Chenyin had not said that she would be busy recently. Just a few days ago, she had even complained with a hint of a plaintive tone that she couldn’t go home early again.

She scrolled down the record. It was when she had tentatively asked Jiang Chenyin if she wanted to come to her place for dinner. Jiang Chenyin had not come over for a meal since she had moved in. And her reply was that she had already gone to Duan Zhiheng’s film crew and couldn’t come over recently.

She had already gone to Duan Zhiheng’s film crew. That was when he was pursuing Jiang Chenyin, when he had invited her to play a supporting female role in a drama during dinner at a Thai restaurant.

Bo Muyu was in a daze as she looked at this message. It was as if she could still see Jiang Chenyin stroking her head that day, telling Duan Zhiheng in a warm voice that she was the one who loved sweets.

But now, how could she not even know when Jiang Chenyin was not in Qinzhou?

This situation had never happened before. This was a long trip, a separation. She didn’t even know that Jiang Chenyin was not in Qinzhou.

Bo Muyu took a deep breath, gripped her phone, and her eyes dimmed. Was it a mistake for her to move out? But if she hadn’t, Jiang Chenyin would always have treated her as a child. But now, no matter what, she couldn’t delay any longer. She didn’t have many opportunities to work hard.

On the set, the director had just called “Cut.” The actors were gathered in twos and threes, chatting and laughing as they walked to the dressing room.

The evening breeze was gentle, but it couldn’t blow away the fatigue of the whole day. Jiang Chenyin glanced at Lan Yuxin, who was chatting happily with a few actors, shook her head, and left with her assistant first.

“Chenyin.”

Duan Zhiheng chased after her from behind. Jiang Chenyin turned her head in surprise, and after seeing him, she smiled. “Zhiheng, what’s wrong?”

Seeing this, her assistant, Xiao Lu, slowed down and kept a certain distance from Jiang Chenyin, following behind them not far away.

Duan Zhiheng walked side-by-side with her and replied with a smile, “It’s nothing. I’m going back to the hotel to rest too. They’re still planning to go out for a late-night snack.”

The corners of Jiang Chenyin’s lips were still lifted. “You’re not going? Yuxin doesn’t seem to be planning to go back to the hotel right away either.”

Duan Zhiheng shrugged and sighed. “I’m very tired. I just want to go back and sleep. I’ll pass on the late-night snack. I’m not hungry either.”

“Me too. I’m very tired today. I just want to go back and rest,” Jiang Chenyin said with a light smile, hiding her fatigue well.

Duan Zhiheng also smiled. “Perfect. We’re on the same road.”

The two of them kept a certain distance, and Duan Zhiheng, as he had agreed with Jiang Chenyin before, did not make any move that would make her feel awkward. His words and actions were all within the proper bounds of friendship.

After walking for a while, they got into the nanny van and talked about business all the way back to the hotel.

Back in her room, Xiao Lu poured a glass of water for Jiang Chenyin and asked with a grin, “Sister Chenyin, I’ve always been a little curious. Why didn’t you and Director Duan…” she paused, hesitating.

Jiang Chenyin, who had just sat down on the sofa, looked up at her and chuckled in a low voice, “Are you surprised? We look like a good match, and our personalities are compatible, but we’re not together.”

Xiao Lu quickly nodded. “Mmm, you and Director Duan look like a good match, and you were in contact a lot a while ago. It seemed to be going well.”

Jiang Chenyin looked at her quietly for a while, then smiled. “That’s because there are many other reasons that we can’t be together. But the main thing is that we lack the kind of feeling that can develop into a romantic relationship, the feeling of a fluttering heart.”

“Uh?” Xiao Lu had never heard Jiang Chenyin talk about her thoughts on love before. To suddenly say so, she was a little taken aback.

“Do you think it’s a little pretentious?” Jiang Chenyin pressed her lips together and smiled, crossing her legs and leaning back into the sofa, taking a deep breath and sighing. “To still be pursuing such perfection at this age, unwilling to compromise, unwilling to settle down just because it’s suitable. In your opinion, is that a little pretentious?”

“No. Why would you think so, Sister Chenyin?” Xiao Lu reacted quickly this time and retorted, “What’s wrong with pursuing a perfect relationship? What does that have to do with age? If you don’t like Director Duan, then don’t be with him. The rest of your life is so long. How boring would it be to be with someone you don’t like?”

She said a whole string of things at once. Jiang Chenyin’s smile deepened, but after she finished, her smile froze on her lips.

She thought of Bo Muyu, thought of their plain and peaceful life together. Every day, she could guess the ordinariness of the next day, but every day was full and complete.

She liked that kind of life.

She fell silent, a dull ache in her heart.

She had been cold to Bo Muyu for several days. Every time Bo Muyu called or sent a message, she would subconsciously want to reply with the same doting emotion as before. But these past few days, she had forced herself not to be like before. She was afraid that that kind of feeling would deepen, even though it had already reached a point where it made her flustered.

In the past, it was she who had ignored the proper boundaries. She couldn’t be wrong again.

Her phone rang at this moment, interrupting the sourness that was spreading in her heart.

Xiao Lu said to her softly, “Sister Chenyin, then I’ll be going back to my room now. I’ll come over again tomorrow morning before we go to the set.”

“Mmm, go on,” Jiang Chenyin said, watching as Xiao Lu went out and closed the door, and then she answered the call.

Ye Xialan’s cheerful voice sounded in her ear, “Teacher Jiang, it’s my birthday the day after tomorrow. Come over for a meal.”

Jiang Chenyin was in a daze for a moment, and only then did she remember that it was almost Ye Xialan’s birthday. She asked, “Are you celebrating at home? Not going out?”

“No. I’m tired of going out,” Ye Xialan said with disgust. “Just us. Me and my husband, my baby, and you. If the big star Lan is free, you can ask her to come over too.”

When Ye Xialan said the words “my baby,” Jiang Chenyin’s hand, holding the phone, suddenly tightened, and her whole body tensed up.

“Teacher Jiang?”

“I heard you,” Jiang Chenyin said in a deep voice, her heart so heavy that she could hardly breathe. “I’m filming out of town. I’ll be back the day after tomorrow.”

Ye Xialan said in astonishment, “Oh, you’re filming out of town? Then it’ll be a hassle to come back and then go back, right? Why don’t you just not come back for now? You can come over after you’re done.”

Jiang Chenyin let out a soft laugh. “It’s okay. I’ll make arrangements here. I’ll have Xiao Lu book a flight in a bit.”

The decisions she made could not be taken back. Ye Xialan couldn’t persuade her. She let out a “tch” and laughed with satisfaction on the other end of the line.

Jiang Chenyin lowered her head, her eyes without a focus, her mind filled with the deeply affectionate words Bo Muyu had said that day. She had been avoiding her for so many days, but in the end, she couldn’t avoid meeting her. How should she face her?

She had to admit that she had not yet thought of a proper way to handle it, only knowing that it couldn’t go on like this.

“Xialan,” she suddenly said, a hint of hesitation in her tone. “Has Muyu ever liked anyone?”

“Why do you suddenly ask that?” Ye Xialan asked curiously, then laughed. “And you don’t know if she has liked anyone? You’re almost her second mother.”

Jiang Chenyin frowned, her other hand unconsciously clenching. She explained, “I mean during her university days. I wasn’t in Qinzhou in those years. We were in contact a lot, but I didn’t know everything about her.”

She subconsciously felt that something had happened in those four years. Otherwise, how could Bo Muyu’s feelings for her have become like this? Could it be that someone had exposed her to homosexuality, or could it be that she had liked someone of the same sex? Many possibilities surfaced in her mind one after another.

“No…” Ye Xialan said thoughtfully, then asked excitedly, “Did you find out that she’s in a relationship?”

Jiang Chenyin immediately denied it. “No. Don’t ask her. I just suddenly thought of it and asked you.”

“Really?” Ye Xialan muttered suspiciously. “Why do I feel that something is strange?”

Jiang Chenyin said in a deep voice, “Of course it’s true. Don’t ask her this kind of question.”

Ye Xialan mumbled a few words in agreement and then hung up.

Jiang Chenyin stared at her phone for a long time without moving, as if her whole person had been frozen there.

The intricate relationship between the two families, the huge age gap between her and Bo Muyu, all these made her unable to not stop in her tracks when she had heard Bo Muyu’s confession that day.

She couldn’t go in. She could only retreat, back to the position she should be in, and pick up the sense of propriety that she had lost for so long.

She had never deliberately been cold to Bo Muyu like this before. She couldn’t imagine if Bo Muyu would notice. This child had not been sensitive since she was little. If she did notice, how sad would she be? And how would she live in the future?

Jiang Chenyin closed her eyes and leaned against the sofa powerlessly, her eyes stinging.