He tapped the cola, pointing at himself: “I’m this ice cola that witnessed the whole process of those two greasy main courses getting together and breaking up, refreshing and authoritative.”
Qiao Ling: “……”
So why exactly did he feel the need to compliment himself out of nowhere.
Xie Lisheng looked at her, casually leaning back against the chair, “Since I’m already here, as matchmaker I’ll go all the way. Whatever you want to know about Chen Kuang, I guarantee I’ll tell you everything.”
Qiao Ling didn’t expect there would actually be this kind of plot development today. She seriously thought for two seconds, then said to him: “Everything.”
“Is that okay?”
Since Jie Rouyin specially called in this helper, she should live up to her expectations.
“Looks honest, but actually quite greedy.” Xie Lisheng sneered once.
Qiao Ling’s gaze was sincere, placing her taro pie onto his tray, “Please, you can have this.”
He deeply scrutinized Qiao Ling, thumb rubbing his brow tail while thinking, then finally reached into his pocket, took out wireless earphones and a phone, and handed them to Xiao Feng, “Find yourself a healthy, harmless cartoon to watch.”
Xiao Feng pouted and obediently took it, “Why is there always something adults can say that I can’t hear.”
“That’s right, you can’t hear it. It’s very scary, the kind where if you know, bad guys will chase after you to kill you.”
Xie Lisheng put noise-canceling earphones on her, then laid out his own condition to Qiao Ling: “I’m not someone who does losing business. As an exchange, after you listen to what you want to know, help me with one thing.”
Although Qiao Ling was unfamiliar with him, considering he was a relative of Chen Kuang and Xie Rouyin, he probably wouldn’t scam her, so she agreed straightforwardly.
Xie Lisheng sat up straight, and his first sentence was like dropping a bomb.
“Chen Kuang’s parents are already all gone.”
Her brain buzzed, stunned.
“What do you mean, gone…”
“Passed away from illness.” Even someone as unreliable as Xie Lisheng couldn’t help but become serious when mentioning Chen Kuang’s experience.
“And it was one after the other, passing away in succession.”
Qiao Ling covered her mouth, shock and sadness flowing from her eyes.
“As far as I know, Chen Kuang’s family background is average, his parents did a bit of small business, had some foundation, and the family of three had really good feelings for each other.”
He sighed, inserting a sentence of dissatisfaction in the middle: “His brain works top-class well, unlike people like us who soaked in international departments since childhood waiting to be sent to domestic and foreign universities. He got into Nanligong purely by scores from a township high school.” [“Nanligong” (南理工) is an abbreviation for Nanjing University of Science and Technology (南京理工大学). ]
“Originally someone holding the script of a shuangwen male lead, but in the first semester of sophomore year, his father was diagnosed with mid-to-late stage liver cancer.” [shuangwen: feel-good novel]
Xie Lisheng shook his head and gave a small laugh: “By the time they found it, there was basically no saving it.”
“But their whole family are people who value feelings heavily. Chen Kuang brought his parents to Nancheng, looking for the best oncology hospital for treatment.”
He leaned his head back, recalling: “It was from then on that his professional grades never surpassed mine again, I also drew my sword to look around, feeling lost.”
“At that time, I thought he was slacking off and playing around. Only later did I find out he was running to the hospital every day, where would he have the energy to care about studying.”
Hearing this, Qiao Ling thought of Chen Kuang’s usual unrestrained and gentle appearance, her hanging heart felt like it had been wind-dried, crumbling piece by piece, stabbing all her internal organs with a dull pain.
“How… it was like this…”
“When it comes to playing with people, fate, the old man himself, is the true patriarch, isn’t it?” Xie Lisheng hooked his lips and continued: “Chen Kuang and his mother, in order to extend his father’s life, threw in all their family’s foundation.”
“Just refused to give up.”
“If he hadn’t gotten sick, the money his parents earned would have been enough for their family to eat, drink, play, and support Chen Kuang all the way to a master’s and PhD graduation.”
He folded his arms, staring at the water droplets dripping from the cola cup, “Back then I wasn’t familiar with him. When I knew about it, his father was already gone.”
“Dan Zi got together with him before his father’s cancer was diagnosed.” Xie Lisheng almost forgot there was another character, adding Dan Zi’s existence into the story.
“Just now I told you, at the start of our sophomore year, Dan Zi went crazy chasing after him.”
Dan Zi was also a local from Nancheng, family doing business with a solid background, considered to be in the same circle as Xie Lisheng, aware of each other but not familiar.
The pampered Dan Zi was the brightest and most dazzling department beauty among the new students back then. The number of boys chasing her was countless, but she insisted on hanging herself on the tree named Chen Kuang, chasing for a very long time.
“I heard through gossip they were already together. Maybe Chen Kuang was moved by her relentless pursuit and wanted to try it out. That kind of person, actually as long as you keep pestering him, you can get him.”
“Besides, Dan Zi’s conditions weren’t bad. If their aspirations matched, there’s no reason to refuse.” He said.
Qiao Ling followed the timeline and couldn’t help but guess: “So, not long after Chen Kuang and Dan Zi started dating, something happened in Chen Kuang’s family?”
“Mm, about that time, maybe a month? Probably not even.”
Xie Lisheng rubbed Xiao Feng’s head, crossing his legs like an old master, “At first, Chen Kuang didn’t tell Dan Zi at all that his dad was sick. That’s just his way, even when things are burning his butt, he wants to act tough.”
And Dan Zi just happened to be the little princess who’d never been neglected by anyone since childhood. After finally chasing down Chen Kuang, she hoped he could give her the most ideal, most dreamy university romance.
But she found that Chen Kuang didn’t care about her at all. Not only did she have to be the one to take the initiative every time they met, but Chen Kuang also never gave her the sweetness a boyfriend should.
Dan Zi couldn’t tell if he was just too straight and didn’t know how to be romantic because it was his first relationship, or if he simply didn’t want to bother with these things at all.
After less than a month of dating, Chen Kuang suddenly became so busy she couldn’t even catch him. No matter how much Dan Zi liked him, she gradually started showing her sharp princess temper.
Not to mention the little amount of time they met. Every time they met, Chen Kuang was so exhausted he couldn’t even give her a proper look. Every time he just said he was busy, said sorry, said it would get better after a while, but just wouldn’t say why.
Almost three months passed, and the two of them didn’t even have a single normal couple interaction.
Dan Zi couldn’t help but lose her temper at him, complaining that he was unqualified, angry that he didn’t know how to please her, guessing that he didn’t like her at all.
Qiao Ling, hearing up to here, nodded, standing from a bystander’s point of view and said: “Actually, you really can’t blame Dan Zi for this. She didn’t know anything, and Chen Kuang didn’t want to bring his burdens to the people around him.”
Xie Lisheng’s gaze towards her shifted slightly, smiling: “You actually understand him quite well.”
“Guessing?”
Qiao Ling: “……”
Just take it as me guessing.
“Up until this point, Chen Kuang can’t be blamed for anything regarding Dan Zi. The key lies in what Dan Zi did afterward.”
Xie Lisheng slowly tapped the table.
Between the two of them, there wasn’t any mutual understanding to begin with; each one’s pressure gradually piled up to the extreme.
Later on, there was one time Dan Zi exploded at Chen Kuang in front of many people, arguing loudly outside.
Running between the hospital and school every day, crushed by his family’s sudden misfortune for almost three months, Chen Kuang finally helplessly told the situation to the completely collapsed and sulking Dan Zi.
But after she listened, she did not give Chen Kuang the response he needed most.
Instead—
“You think this way you can naturally be sorry to me?”
Dan Zi’s dissatisfaction squeezed to the point where she completely lost reason, crying as she complained to Chen Kuang: “But what does all of this have to do with me! I just wanted to date you!”
“I’m here to date you, not to clean up your mess!”
This sentence almost broke Chen Kuang’s already crumbling spine completely.
Dan Zi regretted it as soon as she finished speaking, but spilled water cannot be gathered again, and an apology was already useless.
The hurt had already been done.
At that time, Chen Kuang didn’t need Dan Zi to do anything for his family affairs. He only needed one comforting sentence to keep holding on to this relationship.
But Dan Zi didn’t give it. At that time, in her heart, there was only herself.
In Chen Kuang’s heart, there was only him and his family.
Chen Kuang straightened his thin back, smiled, and said the last sentence to her.
“Indeed, it has nothing to do with you.”
“Sorry, go find someone else to date with you.”
…………
“This is everything Chen Kuang told me afterward.” Xie Lisheng recounted everything in detail. When he looked up, he saw Qiao Ling’s tears falling down in big drops, so scared he even dropped his crossed leg posture.
He leaned back, moving away a bit, looking as if he wanted to clear himself of any involvement, that annoying attitude.
Qiao Ling took the tissue he pushed over, quickly lowering her head to apologize: “Sorry, I…”
The more she spoke, the sourer it became. She felt so wronged as if it were her own experience, once she started crying she couldn’t stop, choking as she said: “I’m not someone who loves crying… but… he…”
She really couldn’t imagine Chen Kuang’s helplessness and exhaustion at that time.
She really wanted to travel back to the past, to say that one sentence of comfort no one said to him.
“He really is a bit pitiful, you don’t cry first, making it look like I’m bullying people.”
Xie Lisheng took a sip of cola, speaking calmly and with ease: “If just hearing up to this point already makes you cry like this, the things after this—are you sure you can handle it?”
Qiao Ling choked mid-cry, lifting her reddened gaze, “…Ah?”
…………
At the same time, Zhoucheng Huating.
Chen Kuang was curled up comfortably asleep in Qiao Ling’s apartment sofa bed.
The phone beside the pillow buzzed lightly, and though he was still asleep, his eyebrows moved slightly, showing a trace of waking.
These past few years, he hadn’t been able to sleep deeply, so even a little movement made him easily wake up.
Chen Kuang pressed down on his chest, reached out for the phone with his eyes still closed, squinting as he looked.
Xiao Feng had sent a WeChat message from her children’s smartwatch.
【Xiao Feng: Xiao Kuang uncle, my little uncle has come to Binyang.】
After glancing at the message, Chen Kuang tossed the phone aside again, closing his eyes.
“……”
It seemed like Xie Lisheng to him was already as insignificant as a dead person.
Half a minute later, the phone vibrated again.
Just as Chen Kuang was about to fall back asleep, he irritably grabbed it to check again.
【Xiao Feng: Xiao Kuang uncle, my little uncle seems to have made Ling Ling little auntie cry.】
Chen Kuang stared at it for a few seconds, slowly furrowing his brows.
……?