Chapter 19
Bo Muyu stuck to her decision and never asked Jiang Chenyin another question about the past.
She didn’t doubt for a second that if she were to voice all her questions, Jiang Chenyin wouldn’t hide a single word from her.
But she couldn’t bring herself to do such a thing. Knowing full well that the past event was like a guillotine hanging there, yet she would be forcing Jiang Chenyin’s head down onto it, just to understand why the guillotine was there in the first place.
She couldn’t do it, nor was she capable of it.
That night, after Jiang Chenyin had confided in her about Meng Yi’an, she had gradually calmed down and returned to her usual self. In fact, she hadn’t shown any overly obvious negative emotions while confiding, but because Bo Muyu was so close, she had clearly heard the faint unease in her voice and felt her trembling hands.
After that, looking at Jiang Chenyin’s gentle smile, a thought, or rather, an emotion, sprouted in Bo Muyu’s mind.
She hated her own age. Why was she so much younger than Jiang Chenyin? Why wasn’t she there to accompany Jiang Chenyin when she was vulnerable? Why couldn’t she even offer the most basic comfort?
All she could do was whisper in Jiang Chenyin’s ear, again and again, “Don’t say any more, don’t say any more.”
The only things she could do were to not ask any more questions and to give Jiang Chenyin a hug that might not have any effect at all.
After so many years, if it could still make Jiang Chenyin panic like that, then what use was a hug?
The people who had given Jiang Chenyin hugs back then, which one of them wasn’t older than her? Which one wasn’t more mature than her? Which one wasn’t more capable of soothing Jiang Chenyin’s unease than her?
So, what could she do? Only not ask, not mention.
As long as she could stay with Jiang Chenyin, as long as she could remain by her side, as long as she still needed to hold her tight to get a little bit of warmth, that would be enough.
Nearly a month passed by in a flash. A few days before her twenty-second birthday, Bo Muyu received news that her parents would be returning on the weekend.
On Saturday morning, Bo Muyu didn’t pack all the luggage she had brought, only a few sets of clothes.
Jiang Chenyin knew what she was thinking. As they were about to leave together in the morning, she pinched her cheek and said with a smile, “Alright, be good. I’ll still be living here. You can come back after your birthday.”
Bo Muyu looked at Jiang Chenyin and asked, “Will you come for my birthday?”
Before Jiang Chenyin could answer, she grabbed her hand, her eyes filled with nervousness and anticipation. “You haven’t celebrated my birthday with me for several years. Will you celebrate with me this year?”
“I will. I’ll definitely be there,” Jiang Chenyin said, wanting to smile at her, but her heart suddenly ached. She squeezed her hand back. “I’ll be there for all your birthdays from now on. I won’t run away again, I promise.”
Jiang Chenyin felt that besides her parents and brothers, the person she had wronged the most by her departure that year was this child. She had no blood relation to her, yet like her parents and brothers, she had thought of her constantly for four years, never once forgetting to wait for her to come back.
She suddenly felt that the reason she wanted to come back, although on the surface it seemed to be because the storm from four years ago had finally subsided, the real reason was her family, and this child.
“Mmm…” Bo Muyu nodded, then squeezed her hand tightly. “You have to come that day. I’ll be waiting for you.”
“Okay, let’s go,” Jiang Chenyin said with a light laugh. “I’ll take you back. Your parents will be arriving soon.”
Bo Muyu still held her hand, went with her to the car, and let her drive her back to the home she had been away from for a month.
They didn’t spend this weekend together. After Bo Mingliang and Ye Xialan returned, they chatted with Bo Muyu about their trip, the things they had seen, and Bo Mingliang’s embarrassing moments. The family was full of joy and harmony.
On the other side, Jiang Chenyin returned to the Jiang family. The two brothers, Jiang Yixuan and Jiang Yisheng, who had learned that Bo Muyu had gone home, were less enthusiastic. After all, they came back to the old residence every week; it wasn’t as if they only saw their grandparents once a year during the Spring Festival, so the novelty was naturally not high.
Over the past month, their sudden surge of love for the old residence was only because of Bo Muyu. Teenage boys were at the age when their romantic feelings were just beginning to awaken. There were plenty of vibrant female classmates around them, but it was the introverted, and now even somewhat placid, Bo Muyu from their childhood who had stirred some feelings in them that they were too shy to admit.
The quiet Jiang Yixuan became even quieter. The mischievous Jiang Yisheng was like a frost-bitten eggplant, listlessly playing with small stones on the steps outside the main gate all afternoon.
Jiang Chenyin came downstairs to find Jiang Yixuan spacing out in the living room. She then tiptoed out the door and stood behind Jiang Yisheng for a long while, but neither of the two boys noticed her.
She frowned, shook her head, and called out, “Yisheng, what are you doing?”
“Ah…” Jiang Yisheng quickly stood up and patted his bottom. “Auntie, why did you come down?”
“I came to see what you two are doing,” Jiang Chenyin said, glancing at the small stones on the steps. “Have you finished your weekend homework? Have you understood all the mistakes on your last monthly exam paper?”
“Uh…” Jiang Yisheng scratched his head, looking troubled. “The homework is done, but the mistakes on the last monthly exam paper…”
“Then what are you doing just sitting here?” Jiang Chenyin found it strange. For the past two days, Jiang Yixuan had been constantly spacing out, and Jiang Yisheng was always sitting here playing with stones. When did the living room and the steps by the door become so fascinating?
Jiang Yisheng pouted, his head hanging even lower, his eyes darting around.
Why does he look so embarrassed?
Just as Jiang Chenyin was about to speak, Jiang Yisheng raised his head slightly and asked in a low voice, “Auntie, will Sister Xiaoyu still come in the future? When will she probably come?”
Why is he not answering the question? Jiang Chenyin was about to reply when a thought struck her. She remembered how her nephew had looked a little shy when her second sister-in-law had teased Bo Muyu that day, and the strange feeling she had had at the time.
She understood at once. Her two nephews probably had some budding adolescent feelings for Bo Muyu.
She narrowed her eyes and said, “She’s working now, so it’s different from before. I can’t give you a definite answer.”
“Oh, okay…” Jiang Yisheng looked a little disappointed.
Jiang Chenyin said, “Alright, if there’s nothing else, go back to your room and review your lessons. I remember the midterm exams should be coming up soon.”
Jiang Yisheng forced a smile, and only then did Jiang Chenyin turn to leave.
Jiang Yixuan was playing on his phone in the living room, but the boy’s academic performance was at the top of his grade, much better than Jiang Yisheng’s, so Jiang Chenyin didn’t say much and went upstairs to her room.
After dinner, Jiang Chenyin went to the gym in the old residence to work out.
There had always been a gym in the old residence. Jiang Chenyin had been the one to set it up, and she was also the one who used it the most. On weekends, when all three Jiang children were back, her two sisters-in-law would occasionally go for a run around the old residence with her, or they would work out directly in the gym.
After her workout, Jiang Chenyin went back to her room to shower. When she came out, the phone on her bedside table buzzed.
She picked it up and saw a birthday reminder for Bo Muyu, and also an unread message.
Bo Muyu had sent a message on WeChat: “It’s Monday tomorrow.”
Jiang Chenyin replied with a smile, “I know.”
The implied meaning was “it’s almost my birthday.” Jiang Chenyin’s reply was ambiguous, but a plan had already formed in her mind.
Bo Muyu didn’t send any more messages. She put down her phone, preparing to wash up, when there was a knock on her door.
It was Old Master Jiang, leaning on his cane with one hand.
Jiang Chenyin let him in. “Dad, what brings you here?”
Old Master Jiang smiled slightly and turned to look at her. “I came to see what you were doing. I heard from your second sister-in-law that you went back to your room after your workout.”
“Mmm, I was just about to wash up, read for a bit, and then go to bed.”
The old master usually wouldn’t come over personally unless it was something important; he would have Auntie Wang call his children over. For him to come in person this time was a bit strange to her.
Old Master Jiang let out a “hmm” and suddenly asked, “Speaking of which, isn’t it that child Xiaoyu’s birthday in a few days?”
“Yes, it’s the day after tomorrow. Her twenty-second birthday.”
Old Master Jiang was silent for a moment, then smiled. “Twenty-two years old. She’s really grown up. She came much less often during the years you were away. Sometimes, in a daze, I still think of her as that seventeen or eighteen-year-old child.”
Jiang Chenyin helped Old Master Jiang to the sofa and sat down, also sighing, “That’s right. If you don’t see someone for a long time, you always think of how they used to be when you see them again.”
Old Master Jiang thought for a moment, then tapped Jiang Chenyin’s leg with his cane. “For this child’s birthday, your mother and I are old and don’t know what to give. What we give, young people probably won’t like. So, let her think about it and ask the oldest, the second, or you for what she wants.”
“Dad, you don’t have to specifically mention this,” Jiang Chenyin sighed with a laugh. “How could she possibly ask for anything? That child has been quiet since she was little.”
Old Master Jiang chuckled. “That’s true. Then you can handle it. This old man is out of ideas.”
Jiang Chenyin nodded in agreement.
Old Master Jiang rested both hands on the dragon head of his cane, showing no intention of leaving. Instead, he sighed.
“What I said last time, it wasn’t just a casual remark.”
Jiang Chenyin’s brows tightened. “Last time?”
Old Master Jiang smiled and reminded her, “About Xiaoyu and Yixuan.”
“Dad,” Jiang Chenyin shifted her position slightly, turning her whole body to face Old Master Jiang. “It’s too early to bring this up now. Muyu’s work has just stabilized, and Yixuan is still in his last year of high school. Where would they have the energy for this?”
She hadn’t expected the old master’s idea to be more than a passing whim. At the time, she had thought he only had some thoughts because he saw Jiang Yixuan standing very close to Bo Muyu. She hadn’t expected him to still remember it now.
“You’re overthinking it,” Old Master Jiang said, patting her hand. “I didn’t say right now. After a while, when Xiaoyu has time and Yixuan is in university, we can appropriately arrange some opportunities for these two children. Yixuan will be in university next year, and by then, Xiaoyu will surely have made some achievements at work.”
“Dad, I don’t agree with such arrangements,” Jiang Chenyin said, taking a deep breath and looking at Old Master Jiang. “If the two of them are really interested in each other, they will make their own plans. They don’t need us to arrange it.”
It wasn’t that she was against Bo Muyu having a relationship, but it shouldn’t be arranged by the elders. It should be a matter of free choice.
And she couldn’t imagine Bo Muyu and Jiang Yixuan together. Something about the picture felt very strange.
Jiang Yixuan was gentle by nature and quiet most of the time. Bo Muyu was not a boisterous person either, sometimes to the point of being taciturn. The two of them standing together were like two parallel lines that would never intersect.
Yes, that was the feeling.
Unless the two of them were to actively interact with each other, otherwise the feeling would be very strange, so strange that Jiang Chenyin wondered how the old master could have had this idea.
Old Master Jiang sighed. “Of course I know that. I’m just trying to play matchmaker a little. Look, Yixuan has several years of university, and Xiaoyu is only turning twenty-two. They can slowly get to know each other over a few years and see if they’re compatible. I’m not insisting on anything. It’s just that I really like this child…”
Jiang Chenyin’s tone softened. “Dad, I think it’s better to let the children make their own plans. After all, it’s their own business. If the elders interfere, they will feel it to some extent. If they feel uncomfortable but are too embarrassed to say so, wouldn’t that just mess things up?”
“Sigh…”
Old Master Jiang hadn’t intended to force these arrangements in the first place; he just wanted to do something. Now, thinking about Jiang Chenyin’s words, he felt she was right, so he shook his cane and didn’t bring it up again.
“Forget it, forget it. Let them be.”
He stood up with a long sigh, and Jiang Chenyin walked him back to his room.
As the door to her parents’ room slowly closed, she shook her head, unable to describe the feeling in her heart.
