Chapter 24: Didn’t you say you weren’t full? I’ll take you to eat something.

“Huh?”

This question came from Cheng Jiajia.

She looked at Jiang Nanshu in shock and confusion.

After knowing Jiang Nanshu for so many years, she knew that the only person she had ever liked was Song Ye.

When did an ex-boyfriend suddenly appear?

Fang Xu saw her expression and was also a bit stunned.

“You really weren’t together?”

“Who said we were together?” Jiang Nanshu snapped back to her senses and frowned at Fang Xu.

“Did Chen Qingyue say that?”

“Uh…” Fang Xu hesitated for a moment and became a bit unsure.

“That year when we graduated from college, he got drunk once and said it.

Then he also said that actually, you two were never together, and you never could be together… He even said that you didn’t actually like him, you just pitied him, and later, not even that…”

He felt like he shouldn’t have brought this up, but since he had already started, he had to finish.

“I thought he was just talking nonsense because he was drunk.

After all, I knew he had always liked you.

I assumed the breakup hit him too hard.”

Jiang Nanshu’s expression became complicated, and for a moment, she didn’t know what to say.

She remained silent, and no one else knew what to say either.

The atmosphere turned awkward and heavy.

After a long pause, Jiang Nanshu finally spoke, “I really was never with him.”

“Since it was a misunderstanding, let’s not bring it up again,” Zhou Jiale immediately tugged on Fang Xu’s sleeve.

Some couples break up and won’t even admit they were ever together.

Plus, Chen Qingyue’s situation was special.

Fang Xu wasn’t sure what the truth was anymore, and he already regretted bringing it up.

He awkwardly followed along, “Okay.”

Zhou Jiale turned to Jiang Nanshu, “Nanshu, are you guys going to eat?”

“We’re still waiting in line.”

Jiang Nanshu smiled and showed her the queue number in her hand.

“What about you guys?”

“We were planning to eat here too, but we took too long parking.

If the line is too long, we might skip it.

We already bought movie tickets.”

Jiang Nanshu thought for a moment and handed her the queue ticket.

“Then you guys go ahead.

I just checked, and there are about ten tables ahead of you.

It shouldn’t take too long.”

Zhou Jiale was surprised.

“Then what about you two?

Do you want to share a table?”

“I just told Jiajia that I suddenly feel like having Hong Kong-style dim sum, so we’re going to change places.”

Jiang Nanshu didn’t want to share a table, but she also didn’t want Zhou Jiale to have to wait in line again.

Consider it a small favor for hitching a ride tonight.

She pulled Cheng Jiajia beside her.

“We’ll head out then.

Have fun.”

Cheng Jiajia played along and waved with a smile.

“Bye-bye.”

After the two of them left, Zhou Jiale finally responded with a “Bye-bye,” still staring after them in confusion.

Then, she looked down at the queue number in her hand and turned to Fang Xu.

Fang Xu felt like he had ruined the mood of their date and was a bit embarrassed.

He asked, “So… should we eat?”

Zhou Jiale pouted, “Of course, we shouldn’t waste it.”

As they walked forward, Zhou Jiale couldn’t help but turn back and ask, “Why did your friend say he and Nanshu were together?”

Compared to the blind dates she had only met three times, even if she had a good impression of Fang Xu, she naturally felt closer to Jiang Nanshu, whom she had known for almost a month.

Fang Xu hesitated while holding his phone, debating whether to tell Chen Qingyue about this.

Hearing Zhou Jiale’s question, he put his phone down and looked at her, suddenly unsure how to explain.

He sighed.

“Their situation is complicated.

I don’t know how to put it, and I don’t want to say the wrong thing and make you upset.”

Zhou Jiale felt that this was Jiang Nanshu’s private matter, so she didn’t press further.

But she couldn’t help but tease, “Your emotional intelligence… is really worrying.”

Jiang Nanshu and Cheng Jiajia walked to the other end of the mall.

Cheng Jiajia finally couldn’t hold back and turned to stare at her.

“Who is Chen Qingyue?

Why have I never heard you mention him before?”

They had known each other for almost ten years, yet she had never heard this name.

And now, this person turned out to be Jiang Nanshu’s rumored ex-boyfriend.

Jiang Nanshu raised the cake box in her hands and looked at her.

“Let’s find a place to sit and eat cake?”

It was Christmas Eve, and there was no store without a crowd.

In the end, they sat on the stairs in the mall’s emergency exit.

Jiang Nanshu unwrapped the cake, and the two of them ate with plastic spoons.

Cheng Jiajia saw her eating so slowly and got impatient.

“Hurry up and tell me!”

Jiang Nanshu took another bite and smiled helplessly.

“I never told anyone about this.

It’s like a secret buried in my heart.

Let me think about where to start and how to say it.”

Fine.

Cheng Jiajia lowered her head and ate her cake.

After a while, Jiang Nanshu spoke softly.

“Chen Qingyue and I were classmates in junior high, in the same class for three years, and desk mates for about a year.

In high school, we ended up in the same class again… and were deskmates again.

That guy, Fang Xu, was our high school classmate and was pretty close with Chen Qingyue.”

She paused for a moment.

“Chen Qingyue liked me.

I vaguely knew about it when I was in tenth grade, but he never confessed.

On weekends or holidays, he would invite a few classmates, including me, to hang out together.”

Cheng Jiajia hadn’t expected this to be an unspoken crush story.

“So he was the type to secretly like someone while being friendly with everyone?”

“No.”

…

Jiang Nanshu’s most painful memories were two events: the car accident that took her father’s life and her confession to Song Ye being rejected.

“During the summer vacation after our first year of high school, a week before school started, he invited me and another classmate to go out.

That morning, my dad dropped me off at the school gate and said he had something to do at work, so he might be late picking me up.

I remember that day so clearly, down to every little detail, even after so many years…”

But then, she received a call from her mother’s friend.

“Xiaoshu, come to the hospital.

Your dad… your dad had a car accident.

Wait don’t run around.

I’ll send someone to pick you up.”

That day, her father had run a red light and hit a high school student before crashing into a truck.

He didn’t survive.

The student he hit… was Chen Qingyue.

…

Jiang Nanshu transferred schools, and her mother told her never to contact Chen Qingyue again.

But when he asked to see her, she couldn’t refuse.

She visited him during rehab, before his surgeries, and even after she moved to a new school.

Until one day, her mother found out.

And that night, she finally learned the truth her father had been on the phone with Chen Qingyue’s mother when he crashed.

Her father had been having an affair.

And the other woman was Chen Qingyue’s mother.

…

Cheng Jiajia sighed deeply.

“No wonder you were so distant when you first transferred.

People said you were cold, but I just thought you were quiet.”

She shook her head.

“This is more dramatic than a TV show.”

Jiang Nanshu laughed lightly.

“More melodramatic?”

“Yeah.”