Chapter 19: Is she your ex-girlfriend?

Jiang Nanshu’s birthday is on May 15.

In her junior year, on the night of her birthday, her roommate took her to a cake shop at the school gate to pick up a pre-ordered birthday cake.

It was around nine o’clock at night, and there were quite a few people.

The tables in the cake shop were all occupied.

Jiang Nanshu stood at the counter, chose a cake style, and handed the menu back to the clerk.

The clerk was about to write the order and asked, “Do you need any birthday blessings written on it?”

“Jiang Nanshu, happy birthday.”

Jiang Nanshu said, “Jiang with a grass radical, Nan as in the south, and Shu as in ‘clouds drifting freely in the sky.’”

At that moment, Jiang Yu called her.

She told her roommate to wait while she stepped outside to answer the call.

Jiang Yu reminded her to order a birthday cake to share with her roommates and also sent her a red envelope so she could have a big meal the next day.

After hanging up the phone, she turned to return to the store, but her roommate had already come out holding a box of cream puffs.

She lifted the corners of her lips and casually glanced through the floor-to-ceiling window inside the shop.

In an instant, her whole body stiffened, her heartbeat stopped, and she widened her eyes in disbelief.

She saw a young man sitting casually in a chair.

Song Ye was wearing a simple white T-shirt, sitting in the corner of the cake shop against the wall.

His head tilted slightly, and his gaze passed through the glass, landing on her face.

There was no visible expression on his face.

He didn’t seem surprised, nor was it clear when he had noticed her or how long he had been looking.

Jiang Nanshu was still young at the time, unable to hide her emotions.

Her panicked and dazed expression immediately caught her roommate’s attention.

Following her gaze, her roommate also saw Song Ye and exclaimed, “Damn! Where did this handsome guy come from?

Why haven’t I seen such a hottie before?

He’s not from our school, right?

Whose boyfriend came to visit?”

The two of them were no more than ten meters apart, staring at each other in silence amid the bustling crowd.

For a short ten seconds, time seemed to stretch infinitely, like a slow-motion scene from a movie.

Countless thoughts and emotions flashed through her mind like a carousel, leaving behind only anxiety and a slight bitterness.

“Are you in a daze?” Her roommate shook her arm.

Jiang Nanshu snapped back to reality, shifted her gaze to her roommate, and forced a smile, shaking her head.

“I was just on the phone with my mom, thinking about something.”

She paused for a moment, then looked toward the shop again.

Song Ye had already averted his gaze, his profile turned to her, with a faint smirk at the corner of his lips.

Sitting across from him was another young man holding up his phone and speaking to him.

She didn’t recognize this man.

In fact, Song Ye didn’t know him either.

The guy was picking out a birthday gift for his girlfriend and happened to ask for Song Ye’s opinion because he looked stylish.

That night, Jiang Nanshu unsurprisingly had trouble sleeping.

The next evening, after treating her roommates to hot pot, she went to pick up the cake.

She took a look at the order slip and suddenly noticed that the store clerk had written her name incorrectly.

It was written as “Jiang Nanyun.”

Throughout her school years, people often miswrote her name.

Many mistakenly wrote it as “Jiang Nanshu” with the wrong character.

So whenever she introduced herself, she would emphasize, “Shu as in ‘clouds drifting freely in the sky.’”

“……”

Maybe the clerk was too busy and misheard her words, changing “Shu” to “Yun.”

The cake she ordered was a basic style, and the name was written in cream on top of it.

Imagining the appearance of the cake, Jiang Nanshu looked devastated.

Her roommate apologized, “My bad, I didn’t double-check the order slip last night.”

Jiang Nanshu sighed.

“Forget it.

We’re going to eat it anyway.”

However, when she opened the cake box, the name was correct—it said “Jiang Nanshu.”

The clerk explained, “Last night, I almost wrote your name wrong, but luckily, when checking the order, a handsome guy who knew you helped correct it.”

Jiang Nanshu’s heart skipped a beat.

She asked, “Who was it?”

The clerk smiled, “I don’t know.

He was really good-looking.

Maybe he’s someone from your school who knows you.”

“Handsome” was a common slang term in Cantonese for describing a good-looking man, often heard in Guangzhou.

Jiang Nanshu asked again, “What was he wearing?

Do you remember?”

Last night, at around ten o’clock, the cake shop was about to close.

There was only one customer left in the shop.

This young man was very handsome, sitting in a corner near the wall, as if he was waiting for someone.

No one knew how long he had been there.

Several girls approached him to ask for his WeChat, but he rejected them all.

Two clerks were checking the next day’s birthday cake orders when Song Ye withdrew his gaze from the window and got up to leave.

As he reached the door, he overheard one of the clerks say, “Jiang Nanyun…

Why does this name seem off?

Did I write it wrong?”

He stopped in his tracks and turned back.

“Can I see the order slip?”

The clerk was stunned, momentarily mesmerized by the young man’s strikingly handsome face.

“Jiang with a grass radical, Nan as in the south, and Shu as in ‘clouds drifting freely in the sky.’”

Song Ye looked at her.

“You wrote it wrong.”

“Oh, right!

That’s it!

Do you know her?”

“Mm.”

Years later, she saw 23-year-old Li Yi.

With his youthful aura, she immediately thought of the Song Ye from back then.

She turned to look at Song Ye beside her.

This man was still as clean-cut and handsome as before.

Only now, his usual cold demeanor made it easy to overlook his youthful charm.

She stared at him and finally couldn’t help but ask, “In our junior year, was it you who helped correct my name at the cake shop?”

Song Ye didn’t expect her to suddenly bring it up.

He froze for a second, looked down at her, and gave a soft “Mm.”

Jiang Nanshu was silent for a few seconds, then smiled at him.

Her dimples were shallow but beautiful.

“Thank you.

I almost ended up eating a ‘Jiang Nanyun’ birthday cake.”

She paused and raised an eyebrow.

“The clerk called you handsome.

She remembered you clearly.”

Song Ye looked at the dimples on her smiling face.

The corners of his lips curled slightly as he lowered his eyes and glanced at her.

“And you?”

“Me?”

Jiang Nanshu hesitated, then said in a calm tone, “Of course…

I was just surprised.

I didn’t expect to run into you at the school gate.”

She took a sip of water, then looked up with curiosity.

“What were you doing at our school back then?”