A Promise in a Thought 84

Chapter 84

On the first weekend after she started living apart from Jiang Chenyin, Bo Muyu couldn’t fall asleep early for two nights in a row. There was no familiar warmth and embrace in her bed, only herself.

Several times, she would groggily reach out to hug something, and the feeling of emptiness in her arms would instantly wake her up. She would lie there with her eyes open until she fell asleep again.

After this happened repeatedly, on Monday morning, a faint dark circle appeared under her eyes.

She entered the company with the female colleague she was on relatively good terms with. The other person stared at her dark circles for a long while and said in surprise, “Xiaoyu, why are your dark circles so heavy? Did you stay up late on the weekend?”

“Mmm…” Bo Muyu touched the corner of her eye and said in a low voice, “I played games until quite late these two days. I forgot to control myself.”

The colleague smiled. “You actually play games? I couldn’t tell. I thought you only liked to work. I’ve never heard you talk about any hobbies.”

Bo Muyu was not telling the truth. Afraid that the other person would ask what games she played, she quickly changed the subject. “I was just playing around. By the way, is there anything I can help you with in the script you’re writing now? You can bring it to my office later, and we can talk about it.”

The colleague was pleasantly surprised and took her arm. “Okay. It’s rare for you to ask me if there’s anything you need help with. You were always so quiet when you were working next to me before.”

Bo Muyu, who was not used to being touched by others, her arm tensed, and she subconsciously wanted to pull it back, but her colleague’s happy laughter was very genuine. This was a very common social interaction, something she had to endure and get used to.

She pressed her lips together, her arm relaxed, and she quietly let the other person hold it.

After entering the screenwriting department, everyone inside was engrossed in their work. Bo Muyu walked around and saw Su Man waiting outside her office door.

She quickly welcomed Su Man in.

Su Man pulled out a chair and sat down, looking around the screenwriting supervisor’s office, which was no bigger than her own, and then her gaze fell on Bo Muyu, who was sitting behind her desk. “Xiaoyu, did you not sleep well on the weekend?”

How is it that everyone’s eyes are so sharp?

Bo Muyu grumbled inwardly and smiled at Su Man. “I’m okay. I didn’t control myself while playing games on the weekend. I’ve already decided to uninstall it tonight on my way to work.”

Su Man smiled. “You’re uninstalling it so soon? I was going to ask you what you were playing. I could have played with you when I have time.”

“I should uninstall it, otherwise my dark circles won’t go away,” Bo Muyu said with a half-joking sigh.

Hearing this, Su Man couldn’t help but ask with a puzzled look, “You played games until late at night. Wouldn’t President Jiang have an opinion?”

Bo Muyu lowered her eyes slightly and said softly, “I’m not living with Auntie Yin anymore.”

Su Man’s heart skipped a beat. This was undoubtedly good news for her. Jiang Chenyin spoiled Bo Muyu too much, always driving her to and from work. And Bo Muyu was very dependent on her, her life basically a straight line between home and the company, with very few entertainment arrangements.

Now, many things could be tried.

After a moment of thought, Su Man asked back, “When did this happen? I remember you were still living together last month.”

Bo Muyu had no intention of saying much and said succinctly, “Just these two days.”

Su Man nodded thoughtfully, her eyebrows raised slightly, and the corners of her lips curved up. “There’s a foreign movie coming out next week, a big production. Are you interested in going to see it together?”

“Okay, no problem,” Bo Muyu quickly agreed. Now that she was alone when she got home from work, it would be good to experience that lonely and cold feeling for one minute less.

After Su Man left her office, she opened her phone to look at her WeChat chat history with Jiang Chenyin from the past two days.

Their conversations were not few. They would chat whenever they had time. Bo Muyu would send Jiang Chenyin the emojis she had collected from Sun Ruowei and Yang Shuhan. The two of them would chat about what they were doing at the moment, and occasionally they would joke around.

It was as natural as before. The only difference was that for two nights in a row, they could only say goodnight to each other over the phone.

Bo Muyu’s eyes were gentle and sad as she stroked the messages from Jiang Chenyin on the screen. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to go and see her, but she had just moved out. If they were in contact so frequently, their separation would not achieve the effect she wanted.

So she had to endure, endure for a little longer, and then ask Jiang Chenyin out like a good friend.

After work that day, Jiang Chenyin was a little dazed. She drove her car in the direction of Hongsheng, and after driving for a while, she suddenly realized that Bo Muyu no longer needed her to take her home.

Her heart trembled, and her speed slowed down a lot, almost to a crawl. Only after a few seconds did she press her lips together and turn around at the next intersection.

She bought ingredients from the supermarket in the residential complex and went home. Dinner was a simple one-dish-one-soup, and she didn’t cook much rice either. Her appetite was not large to begin with, and even Bo Muyu ate more than her.

Thinking of this, her action of picking up food slowed down.

She felt that this house made people feel very lonely. This was the first time she had had such a feeling. In the past, when Bo Muyu was still little, she would sometimes ask her to pick her up after school, and then she would eat and do her homework here. Bo Mingliang would only pick her up later.

At that time, of course, Bo Muyu couldn’t come here every day, but Jiang Chenyin would see her many times every week. Watching this child grow up bit by bit, she still liked to come to her place when she was in middle and high school.

This house was like Bo Muyu’s second home. Even Bo Mingliang and Ye Xialan had jokingly called it that many years ago.

The setting sun streamed in from the window, and Jiang Chenyin’s long eyelashes cast a slightly trembling shadow under her eyes, her eyelids hiding a hint of a melancholic emotion.

She gently put down her chopsticks, suddenly feeling that she couldn’t eat, her heart heavy.

She felt that she might be living a very old state of mind now, just like Bo Mingliang and Ye Xialan knew that their daughter would have to get married sooner or later and leave this home. She was like this now, watching Bo Muyu leave but unable to hold her back too much.

She had neither the right to keep Bo Muyu, nor could she, because of her reluctance, keep a child who wanted to be independent and spread her wings.

Lan Yuxin was right. Both Bo Mingliang and Ye Xialan had agreed to let Bo Muyu be independent. What right did she have to not allow it?

The afterglow of the setting sun was swallowed by the night. Jiang Chenyin sat in the dining room for a long time without moving, until her phone rang. After she answered the call, her brow relaxed, and she decided to go for a walk in the supermarket.

She didn’t go to the supermarket in the residential complex, but instead walked out of the complex, strolling and looking around, and chose a supermarket in the city center with a larger flow of customers.

Jiang Chenyin hadn’t wandered aimlessly in a supermarket for a while. She pushed a shopping cart and walked around, replenishing the things that were running out at home. As she walked, she went from the snack aisle to the dessert aisle.

The glass cabinet was filled with a dazzling array of desserts: mango pancakes, fresh cream puffs, snow maiden cakes. Just looking at them was enough to make one’s mouth water.

They were almost all of Bo Muyu’s favorites. If she saw them, her eyes would surely light up.

The sales assistant greeted Jiang Chenyin politely, “Ma’am, what would you like?”

Jiang Chenyin was taken aback for a moment, stopped in her tracks, and said with a polite smile, “I don’t need anything for now, thank you.”

She quickly pushed the shopping cart a little further away and let out a sigh of relief. Looking at the message Bo Muyu had sent her in the afternoon, saying that she was going to have dinner with a colleague, her eyes dimmed, and she pushed the shopping cart to the checkout.

“Hello, may I ask if you are Teacher Jiang Chenyin?”

A soft, girlish voice came from behind her, with a hint of surprise and uncertainty, fine and soft.

Jiang Chenyin turned around. It was a girl who looked like a middle school student, with her hair in a ponytail, full of youthful energy.

“Hello, I am,” Jiang Chenyin said with a warm smile.

“Wow!” The girl covered her mouth in excitement, but a little of her voice still escaped. Her eyes were full of admiration. After taking two steps closer to Jiang Chenyin, she was a little shy. “I didn’t expect to meet you here today. I’ve always liked you very much…”

Jiang Chenyin did not show any impatience, her eyes curving up. “Thank you.”

The girl scratched her temple. “I’d like to ask for your autograph. I wonder if that’s possible?”

“Of course.”

The girl quickly took out a notebook and a pen from her bag and handed them to Jiang Chenyin with both hands. After Jiang Chenyin took them, she opened the title page and saw the girl’s delicate handwriting. In a daze, the image of Bo Muyu’s increasingly mature handwriting flashed before her eyes.

She lowered her head, a smile in her eyes, a few strands of long hair falling to the side of her face. Her silhouette was indescribably gentle and captivating.

The girl’s face was flushed with excitement, and she said in a small voice, “I’m about to start my last year of high school. My studies are very stressful right now, and I have to go to school for extra classes in a couple of days. I was in a very bad mood, but I didn’t expect to meet you here…”

Just then, Jiang Chenyin had just finished signing her name. Hearing what the girl said, she then drew a smiley face under her name, closed the notebook, and handed it back.

She smiled and encouraged her, “Keep it up. I hope you can get into your ideal university next year.”

“Thank you, Teacher Jiang…” The girl was so happy that she accidentally touched Jiang Chenyin’s hand when she took the notebook. She then asked, “Teacher Jiang, do you like to eat cake? I saw you looking around the dessert section just now.”

Jiang Chenyin’s smile froze for a moment, and then she suppressed the disappointment in her heart and shook her head with a smile. “No, I was just looking around.”

The girl bit her lip with reluctance and said goodbye to Jiang Chenyin. “Then, Teacher Jiang, I won’t bother you anymore. I will definitely work hard for the college entrance exam next year!”

Jiang Chenyin watched her run away with a light laugh, the negative emotions in her heart finally easing a little at this moment. This girl was much more lively than Bo Muyu, but her youthful aura was exactly the same as the Bo Muyu from a few years ago. At that time, Bo Muyu would also often tie her long hair up, revealing her fair face.

It was just that she was too introverted and didn’t like to talk. Now, she was even fierce from time to time.

Jiang Chenyin sighed and turned to push her shopping cart to the checkout.

By the time she got home, her phone had already received many messages, all of them pictures from Bo Muyu. There were pictures of what she had eaten tonight, the dolls she had won at the claw machine while shopping, and also a picture of Bo Muyu holding a doll in each hand by her cheeks, her expression a little helpless.

By the time she had scrolled to the bottom, her eyes were already filled with a soft, fine light. Her fingers quickly typed, replying to Bo Muyu’s messages.

Just then, Bo Muyu sent a voice message, her tone a little tired. “Auntie Yin, I’m sleepy. I have to work tomorrow. I’m going to sleep now. You should go to sleep soon too. Goodnight.”

She had only typed half of the message in the dialogue box. Jiang Chenyin stopped, deleted the message, and replied with a soft voice message, “I’m going to sleep too. Goodnight.”

The house seemed even quieter at night, and there was also an indescribable feeling of loneliness.

Jiang Chenyin did not go to take a shower right away. She tossed her phone aside and lay down on the bed, casually hugging the bear that resembled a thickened golden-hooped rod.

There was still a hint of Bo Muyu’s scent in this room, a cool, refreshing, and heart-penetrating fragrance. Even this bear had it, as if Bo Muyu had never left.

She curled up and hugged the bear tightly, letting Bo Muyu’s scent fill her senses and fill the void in her heart.