A Promise in a Thought 97

Chapter 97

Lin Chuwan accompanied Bo Muyu for a long time, mostly in silence.

The best comfort for Bo Muyu right now was companionship. Lin Chuwan couldn’t say anything else, because Bo Muyu understood it all. From her behavior, it was clear that she was very aware of the current situation and was trying her best to get out of it, but she just couldn’t control her emotions in the short term.

It was only after Bo Muyu’s emotions had stabilized that Lin Chuwan sent a message to Song Muqing, and then she said her goodbyes to Bo Mingliang and his wife and left.

In the car, Lin Chuwan was in a daze several times. When she was about to get out of the car in the garage at home, she was still immersed in her lingering emotions, which Song Muqing sensitively noticed.

Just as Lin Chuwan closed the passenger door and was about to leave, Song Muqing stopped her with sharp words, “What’s wrong? Did you get rejected after your confession?”

Lin Chuwan’s footsteps stopped. She bit her lip gently and said in a low voice, “What do you want from me to let me go?”

After Bo Muyu had started working, she and Bo Muyu had still been close, especially after Bo Muyu had confided in her about her feelings for Jiang Chenyin. Their contact had become even more frequent than before. It was because of this that Song Muqing’s verbal provocations towards her had become more and more excessive.

She had endured Song Muqing for a long time. Tonight, Bo Muyu’s emotions had also affected her, and she could no longer endure such a misinterpretation.

“Let you go?” Song Muqing let out a laugh and walked up to her, facing her. “I didn’t say anything wrong, did I? I reminded you before that this junior of yours is really not bad. You can totally give it a try. It’ll also save me the trouble.”

“I don’t need you to trouble yourself!” Lin Chuwan’s eyes were bloodshot, her emotions on the verge of breaking.

“Do you think I want to?” Song Muqing sneered in a low voice, took a few steps closer to her, and lowered her head, her tone even colder as she said in her ear, “If I hadn’t promised him that I would take care of you and your mother, do you think I would have stayed in this house for a single day? If I weren’t worried about your auntie, do you think I would have planned these things for you?”

Song Muqing’s words were devoid of any warmth, filled with ridicule, hatred, and resentment. These emotions merged into a piercing cold, and every word, every sentence accurately stabbed into Lin Chuwan’s chest.

Lin Chuwan’s body trembled. They were so close, but she couldn’t feel a single bit of warmth. The person before her seemed as if she would only be satisfied when she saw her in extreme pain. Only when she was in agony would this person show a hint of a satisfied smile.

Song Muqing had never laid a hand on her, but from the day she had moved into the house, her life had been filled with these verbal attacks. Because Song Muqing knew very well that to make her hurt, all she had to do was to tear open her scars and never let them heal.

“I’ve had enough,” Lin Chuwan’s voice was hoarse, her face expressionless but her eyes sorrowful. “Song Muqing, I’ve really had enough.”

Song Muqing was taken aback for a moment, then she smiled, her cold gaze reaching out a hand to lift Lin Chuwan’s chin. “What, are the ones who did wrong so righteous now?”

Lin Chuwan was powerless to argue. She lowered her eyes, even more dejected than she had been in the car just now, and even her voice had no strength. “This was never the result I wanted. You know better than anyone how I chased after you back then. I don’t want to deny my mistake. I’m sorry to you, but I had no choice…”

Song Muqing interrupted her in a low voice, “No choice, so you threw me to someone else?”

At this, Lin Chuwan’s body clearly trembled, and tears welled up in her eyes, but they fell in an instant. She met Song Muqing’s deep and somber gaze, and finally, she could no longer hold back the bitterness of many years. Her hands grabbed Song Muqing’s other arm, which was hanging by her side, and tears streamed down her face. “Then what was I supposed to do? My brother, he liked you. He didn’t have much time left. I couldn’t bear to see him not be a little happier in his final moments… do you know, every time I saw the look in his eyes when he looked at you, my heart ached so much I wanted to die… why did I have to bring you to him…”

The warm liquid fell on the back of Song Muqing’s hand, searing her heart, and also bringing a hint of pain to the resentment in her eyes.

Song Muqing squeezed Lin Chuwan’s chin, forcing her to lift her face. “Lin Chuwan, have you ever considered my feelings?”

Lin Chuwan was sobbing uncontrollably, biting her lower lip hard. “I didn’t know what to do. I had no choice…”

“Is that still what you think?” Song Muqing let out a soft laugh, and then her expression turned cold, her words full of despair and anger. “I trusted you back then, was willing to get close to you, because I thought you wouldn’t deceive me like the family who abandoned me. But you, what did you take my trust for? What did you take my feelings for!”

She was at the peak of her grief and anger, and the strength in her hand increased. Her whole hand gripped Lin Chuwan’s chin, and then it slid down to her neck, her fingertips turning white.

If she could, she really wanted to break Lin Chuwan’s neck, to let her taste the pain she had tasted back then. If she could, she wanted to go with Lin Chuwan. That would be the best, to let them go back to the beginning, to a time when there were no grudges.

Her eyes turned red, and the strength in her hand became more and more uncontrollable. Her wrist was being constantly slapped by Lin Chuwan’s struggles.

“Let go of me… Song Muqing…” Lin Chuwan’s breathing was labored, the air in her lungs being squeezed out. She instinctively pulled at the wrist that was choking her.

Song Muqing turned a deaf ear, her eyes as if filled with blood, her grip on Lin Chuwan’s neck tight. It wasn’t until the frequency of Lin Chuwan’s slapping on her hand gradually weakened, and her teary eyes closed powerlessly, that her heart skipped a beat, and she quickly let go!

Song Muqing looked at her own hands, trembling uncontrollably. She had almost really hurt Lin Chuwan, almost done something she could never forgive herself for.

She stood there in a daze, lowered her head, and let out a hoarse, bitter laugh.

She still couldn’t bring herself to really hurt Lin Chuwan. She had wanted to make her hurt a little, so that she would feel a little better. But when it really came to this, she still couldn’t bear it…

“Are you satisfied now?” Lin Chuwan’s voice was tinged with a sob. The brief lack of oxygen had made her body sore and weak. She could only clutch Song Muqing’s clothes with both hands. “What do you want from me to let me go? Can’t you just give me a clean break?”

A sharp glint appeared in Song Muqing’s eyes. She swung her hands, and Lin Chuwan was thrown off balance, falling to the ground. Her hands had subconsciously wanted to support her, but the next second, they had stopped dead in mid-air, tightly clenched into fists.

“You want to end it?” Song Muqing sneered, her face cold and harsh. “Impossible. I want you to taste the pain I tasted back then. I didn’t believe you were lying to me no matter what. I waited for you downstairs at your dormitory for so long, watched you for so many days, and in the end, you still told me that you had only gotten close to me for your brother. You said you had never liked me, that you hoped I would accompany him in his final moments for the sake of your persistence… you were just like those people, making me trust you so much, and in the end, you didn’t want me…”

“I’m sorry…” Lin Chuwan shook her head frantically, her vision already a blur.

Song Muqing bent down slightly and said to her in a hoarse voice, “Do you remember? It was raining heavily that day, and I waited for you for a long, long time.”

Lin Chuwan saw Song Muqing look down at her for a while, then turn around, and before she strode away, she threw out a cold sentence, “I won’t let you end it with me. You will have to atone for your choice for the rest of your life.”

Lin Chuwan covered her face and sobbed. Her memories had been stirred up by Song Muqing’s words.

Once upon a time, the cold-spoken woman just now had been the cold-faced girl of that year. After several entanglements back then, that girl had finally hugged her in a corner of the school library and had whispered in her ear, “I like you. What should I do?”

After the New Year, Lan Yuxin went out of town for a program and stayed there for a few days, only returning in mid-January.

As soon as she got off the plane, Lan Yuxin went straight to Jiayi. When she entered Jiang Chenyin’s office, she threw off her coat without a care for her image and tossed it onto the sofa in the reception area. Under her coat, she was only wearing her undergarments, and her curvy figure made Jiang Chenyin’s assistant, Xiao Lu, blush.

Jiang Chenyin helplessly gave Xiao Lu a look, and she quickly fled the office.

Lan Yuxin sat on the sofa with her legs crossed and let out a long sigh. “I can finally relax for a while. I can stay in Qinzhou without having to go out during this time. It’s so comfortable.”

Jiang Chenyin did not answer, sitting quietly behind her desk, holding her unlit phone in her hand.

Seeing that Jiang Chenyin did not reply, Lan Yuxin continued to talk to herself, “Hey, Teacher Jiang, why don’t we go on a trip for the Spring Festival next month? Let’s just throw our work aside. We haven’t gone on a trip together for many years, have we? Should we ask the little block of wood to come along?”

At the mention of Bo Muyu, Lan Yuxin’s whole body trembled. How could she have almost forgotten about this matter again!

There was definitely something wrong between Jiang Chenyin and Bo Muyu. She had occasionally thought about this when she had free time, but no matter how she thought about it, she couldn’t figure it out. But she was curious. She had no intention of putting this question out of her mind.

Just then, Jiang Chenyin spoke, “We’ll see when the time comes. I don’t really want to travel far.”

“Then what about the little block of wood?” Lan Yuxin jumped up from the sofa and walked to her desk, her eyes narrowed.

Jiang Chenyin put her phone aside, lowered her eyes, and rubbed her temples. Without looking at her, she replied, “You have her number. I remember she called you with her own phone. You can ask her directly.”

“Isn’t it normal for me to ask you? It doesn’t conflict with me having her number,” Lan Yuxin felt even more strange. She walked around the desk, turned Jiang Chenyin’s boss chair to face her, and leaned forward with her hands on the armrests, looking at her suspiciously.

Had the two of them become so distant? They had been so close for more than a decade. Jiang Chenyin’s four years away had not made them distant, but in just a few short months, they had become so distant?

Jiang Chenyin pushed Lan Yuxin away, and her frowning, absent-minded look made Lan Yuxin’s heart skip a beat.

Jiang Chenyin sighed. “You have her number. Why are you still asking me?”

“Why can’t I ask you?” Lan Yuxin asked in a deep voice as she observed her expression. “Teacher Jiang, if you had pushed it off once, it wouldn’t have been a big deal. But you’ve pushed it off twice in a row. What’s the reason?”

Only then did Jiang Chenyin look up to meet her gaze, her brow furrowed even tighter. “What are you trying to say?”

Lan Yuxin’s gaze was so direct that Jiang Chenyin unconsciously averted it. She didn’t know what she was hiding from, but Lan Yuxin’s probing look made her subconsciously conceal it.

“I don’t know what I’m trying to say either…”

Lan Yuxin muttered in annoyance. She stared at Jiang Chenyin’s face, and the scenes that had made her feel puzzled resurfaced in her mind. From the first time she had sensed the doubt on the day Jiang Chenyin had told her that Bo Muyu was moving out, to the scene she had witnessed on the night of Ye Xialan’s birthday, and then to Jiang Chenyin’s lonely figure on the balcony on her own birthday, and now…

It was as if something was emerging from her heart. Lan Yuxin’s heart skipped a beat, and her face rarely turned serious.

She thought of the relationship between Jiang Chenyin and Bo Muyu, this long-standing relationship of mutual dependence and trust, an intimate relationship. She had seen a lot of things, but now, when certain clues were vaguely pointing in a certain direction, she suddenly felt that it was both reasonable and unbelievable.

Jiang Chenyin’s state during this period was just like someone who had been heartbroken.

“Teacher Jiang, do you like the little block of wood?” she swallowed, asking the question she didn’t even dare to think about. “I mean the kind of like where you can kiss, right?”