Chapter 8

The day before her leave was set to end, Cheng Yan timed her return from Gentle Wind Alley back to school.

After receiving the message, Chen Shuhua waited for her on campus specifically.

Seeing her emerge from the dormitory, she quickly handed over a bottle of water, saying, “Why didn’t you call me when you were moving? I could have come to help.”

Cheng Yan smiled as she accepted it, unscrewing the cap and taking a few sips to soothe her throat before replying, “There wasn’t much stuff anyway. I just hired a moving company. The school isn’t exactly close to home, so why trouble you to make an extra trip?”

A slight tightness gripped Chen Shuhua’s heart. “It’s no trouble.”

She tightened her grip on the parasol she was using for shade, wanting very much to tell her that anything done to help her was never trouble.

But these words turned over and over in her heart, and ultimately, she still lacked the courage to speak them aloud.

Chen Shuhua lowered her eyes, silently taking a tissue from her bag and handing it to Cheng Yan. “Wipe your sweat. You must be tired?”

She hadn’t had a moment’s rest all day. After emptying the house in Gentle Wind Alley, Cheng Yan had rushed back to school without delay.

She had planned to just grab a quick bite, but then received a WeChat message from Chen Shuhua, inviting her to dinner as thanks for taking Sunset Glow to be spayed that day.

Cheng Yan’s first instinct was to refuse, but thinking of the WeChat messages Chen Shuhua had sent these past few days, and the fact that she’d already refused her once before, she agreed.

After returning to the dorm to drop off her things and remembering that her senior was still waiting downstairs, she didn’t even let her backside touch the seat before heading straight back down.

It was indeed rather hot.

But as she wiped her sweat, for some reason, her thoughts drifted back to the person she’d met by the lake that day.

The freshly cleaned handkerchief was still in her bag.

Seeing her hand pause mid-wipe, Chen Shuhua couldn’t help asking, “What’s wrong? Still very hot? Should we hurry to the car? The AC is already running inside.”

Cheng Yan snapped back to the present. “It’s nothing. I just suddenly felt that the texture of a handkerchief and a tissue are really completely different.”

Chen Shuhua had no idea why this thought had suddenly occurred to her. After a moment of contemplation, she smiled and said, “You like handkerchiefs, right? I have some at home that were given as gifts by various brands, but I don’t really use them. If you like them, I can bring them for you next time.”

“No need, I was just making a casual remark.” Cheng Yan tossed the tissue into a nearby trash can.

But… gifts from brands?

She knew that major luxury brands regularly sent gifts to their VIP clients. Cheng Yan remembered the handkerchief in her bag, the corner embroidered with a butterfly poised for flight, bearing no logo whatsoever. It was most likely a private custom order.

…Even an everyday handkerchief was a private custom piece. Just who was that woman?

A few minutes later, the two got into the car. Chen Shuhua waited for her to fasten her seatbelt before starting the engine.

Watching the road ahead, she said to Cheng Yan, “I originally wanted to bring Sunset Glow out for you to see, but when I left the house, it was fast asleep. Plus, that restaurant we’re going to has some requirements regarding pets. After thinking it over, I decided not to bring it along.”

Cheng Yan chuckled softly. “Let it sleep well. It’s not as if I absolutely must see it.”

Chen Shuhua stole a glance at her from the corner of her eye, her heart thumping twice in a rapid, tight rhythm.

She licked her somewhat dry lips and said, “If you miss it, how about you come by my place to see it in a couple of days?”

Cheng Yan’s brow furrowed slightly.

She had already said several times that she wouldn’t be seeing Sunset Glow again.

But her senior seemed not to take it seriously.

Including their WeChat conversations over the past few days – she had barely replied to any content related to Sunset Glow.

Yet her senior seemed not to notice.

In her eyes, it seemed she was still the same person who loved to seek out Sunset Glow with cat food and liquid cat treats in hand, feeding it for half an hour without pause.

But back then, what she fed was the unowned stray orange cat on campus.

Not Sunset Glow, who was now well-cared for and had its own owner.

She was a bit troubled.

If it were someone she didn’t care about at all, given her personality, she would definitely be direct and blunt.

But with people she was somewhat close to, Cheng Yan wouldn’t do that.

With those she was close to, another side of Cheng Yan’s personality emerged. She preferred a kind of mutual understanding that didn’t need blunt words to express, a connection felt in interaction.

This was also the reason why she had a slight fondness for her senior, but it had always stopped there.

Chen Shuhua noticed her frown and slightly increased the speed. “Hungry?”

Cheng Yan gave a faint hum of agreement.

Chen Shuhua said, “The place we’re going tonight is a private dining establishment. They usually don’t take walk-in guests; it’s a membership system, and even regular members need a reservation. I started trying to book half a month ago. We weren’t supposed to get a table today, but someone from their side called me at noon, saying a few of their guests had changed their plans, so we got bumped up to tonight.”

She said with a beaming smile, “I just wanted to take you there to try it, and as it turns out, you just happened to come back today. Isn’t that quite a coincidence?”

A spark of interest lit in Cheng Yan. “Indeed, it’s quite a coincidence.”

The crowds around them gradually thinned, and the surrounding environment grew noticeably more upscale as time passed.

After arriving near the destination, Chen Shuhua had her get out first. “The parking lot is a little far from here. I’ll go park the car.”

Cheng Yan nodded and, while waiting for her, took a look around.

Unlike the dazzling high-rises, the Chinese-style ambiance here was very rich. It wasn’t a blind layout chasing the national trend; every brick and tile, the placement of every structure was particularly well-considered.

Clearly the work of a master.

As she thought this, she seemed to hear the sound of wheels again.

Ah, no, not wheels—

Cheng Yan realized something and immediately turned around. Chen Shuhua’s long windbreaker fluttered noisily, surging towards her in the sudden evening breeze.

The setting sun’s lingering glow was behind her, and her smile seemed to hold the stars about to rise. “Have you been waiting long? Let’s hurry inside!”

The rhythmic wheel sound seemed to hitch for a moment, or perhaps it was just her imagination.

Two steps apart, Cheng Yan fixed her gaze on her.

Her look was so focused that Chen Shuhua, about to reach her side, suddenly stopped in her tracks.

Her heart began pounding again.

“You…”

Yet that focused, entrancing gaze shifted away the very next moment.

A sudden, immense sense of loss surged into her heart.

Chen Shuhua’s lips moved. Forcibly suppressing the inappropriate emotion, she barely recovered some semblance of reason.

After calming down, she suddenly noticed the anomaly behind her.

Turning around, she abruptly saw the person who had appeared here, and a jolt of surprise went through her.

The wheel sound stopped, finally silent.

Jun Jianqing watched the person staring blankly at her ahead with a placid gaze.

And, behind her, those familiar amber-colored eyes.

Cheng Yan also hadn’t expected to run into this woman in the wheelchair here again.

Counting carefully, this was already the fourth time she’d encountered her recently.

The two still hadn’t exchanged names even now.

But—

Cheng Yan’s brow twitched almost imperceptibly, just before Chen Shuhua’s figure suddenly emerged from the side.

Before she heard the familiar wheel sound and turned around, she had clearly seen that the bodyguard silently pushing the wheelchair behind her was in the process of changing direction.

A change in the bodyguard’s behavior was a manifestation of the employer’s will.

The other party had clearly seen her standing here, hence had come this way.

Something darted rapidly through her mind.

Chen Shuhua also noticed the positioning of the three people right now.

The three of them were standing on the same path: President Jun in front, Cheng Yan behind, and herself in the middle, separating the two. This position seemed somewhat awkward.

Without thinking, Chen Shuhua took two steps to the side, ending up precisely on the same horizontal line as Cheng Yan.

There was still some distance between them and Jun Jianqing. Seeing the bodyguard push the wheelchair this way, Chen Shuhua discreetly tugged Cheng Yan’s sleeve, slightly tilting her head to whisper to her: “Don’t worry, it’s someone I know.”

Someone she knew?

Cheng Yan met her gaze.

Chen Shuhua smiled at her and whispered, “She probably spotted me and recognized me? Honestly, I find it a bit strange too, but she’s a very busy person. I’ll just go say hello, and we’ll probably be able to head inside to eat in a few minutes.”

Chen Shuhua spoke naturally, but Cheng Yan noticed that ever since the woman in the wheelchair appeared, she had been inexplicably tense.

Not nervous out of guilt, but tense as if in the presence of… a formidable elder?

Cheng Yan found it a bit strange, but in response to Chen Shuhua’s reassurance, she flashed her a smile. The dimple on her right cheek flickered in and out, and she said softly, “Alright.”

To an onlooker, the sight of two young girls whispering and smiling at each other seemed exceptionally fitting.

Jun Jianqing’s eyes were placid. Even when Chen Shuhua led Cheng Yan to stand before her, her expression remained indifferent.

But for some reason, behind her, her bodyguard’s head drooped even lower.

“Aunt Jun, are you also here for dinner?” Chen Shuhua offered a smile and asked respectfully.

Aunt Jun.

Cheng Yan’s brow twitched. An elder?

Her gaze surreptitiously shifted between the two.

Jun Jianqing nodded slightly, her gaze falling on Cheng Yan.

Seeing this, Chen Shuhua immediately introduced the two of them. “Aunt Jun, this is my junior, Cheng Yan.”

“Junior, this is…” She paused. “Aunt Jun, an elder my family is acquainted with.”

Cheng Yan: “…”

Her eyes looked at the woman in the wheelchair.

The other party was seated in a wheelchair, her complexion pale, yet her aura was unattainably lofty, as if keeping people at a thousand li’s distance.

She paused, then followed her senior’s lead and called out, “Aunt Jun.”

The woman addressed as “Aunt Jun” nodded.

Cheng Yan noticed that the other’s expression was faint, cold, and indifferent.

Her casual nod was like one directed at a speck of dust unworthy of entering her sight.

This version of her was more aloof and cold than any time she had seen her before.

Indifferent, not putting anyone in her eyes in the slightest.

If the other party had always presented herself before her with such an attitude, Cheng Yan absolutely would not have exchanged half a word more with her.

A sudden flicker of dislike rose in her heart.

Forcibly suppressing the inexplicable emotion, Cheng Yan quietly listened to Chen Shuhua bid her farewell.

Just as they were finally leaving, she suddenly remembered the other party’s abruptly altered trajectory when they arrived.

Unable to resist, she glanced back once more at the woman in the wheelchair and happened to meet a pair of deep, pool-like eyes.

Vast as the sea, unfathomable.

Where was the previous calm indifference?

Her heart trembled, and she did not look back again.