Chapter 22

Why had he?

Lin Yu didn't understand.

Had he been drunk?

Lin Yu moved her legs. Her throat was parched, so she shifted to the edge of the bed, picked up the cup on the nightstand, opened the lid, and took a sip. The water was still warm; the insulated cup had kept it warm until now. She drank several mouthfuls in a row, and her gaze happened to sweep over the journal and pen.

The pen was in a different position, and the string tied around the journal was a little shorter.

Someone had touched them. Lin Yu's heart began pounding furiously. The journal held some of her private thoughts, on the last few pages.

She abruptly put down the cup and picked up the journal. A piece of paper fluttered off the table and fell to the floor. Lin Yu froze for a moment, then bent down to pick it up.

Four Chinese characters were written on it, their strokes simple, casual, and forceful.

"Come find me when you wake up."

Flustered and uneasy, Lin Yu opened the journal and flipped all the way to the back. The private thoughts on the last few pages leaped off the paper. The rose bookmark she had placed against the page rested securely where it was; it hadn't been moved. But that didn't mean he hadn't read it. Lin Yu instinctively looked up at the picture frame.

Inside were her, him, and Ming Yu.

She looked away and returned her gaze to the journal, flipping through it to find exactly where he had torn out the page.

Between the second and fourth pages was a gap; the third page had been torn out. She liked to start writing at the very last page. It was a habit of hers.

So almost everything between the first page and the private thoughts near the back was blank, except for a few pages with simple drawings of everyday objects, such as porcelain and cakes...

If he had read the last few pages,

the page he tore out should have been somewhere near them...

Not on the third page.

The third page looked as though he had torn it out at random. That was how Lin Yu reasoned it out, comforting herself.

As for finding him?

Lin Yu neither wanted nor dared to.

She tucked the note into her journal, tied it up again, and put it back where it belonged.

She got up. Even though she had only drunk fruit wine last night, after being ravaged all night, her body still felt uncomfortable. Lin Yu took her pajamas to the bathroom to wash up. Standing beneath the bathroom heater, she let the hot water wash over her. It splashed against her lips, just like those gently nipping teeth. Her eyes flew open, and she rubbed at her long hair, her face bright red.

What on earth was he doing?

Lin Yu scrubbed hard at her hair, her head covered in foam and her body silky smooth. After her bath, she sat on the carpet in soft pajamas, a phone on the table in front of her.

Leaning against the sofa, she knew she needed to tell her mother about the situation between her and Li Yin.

But that was also why the call was hard to make. Li Yin's mother worked at the same school as hers; they were bound to run into each other. As for her father, Lin Yu would never bring it up with him of her own accord. Someone like him might go straight to reporting Li Yin's parents.

Lin Yu scratched her head.

What a headache.

Just then, the phone on the table rang. Ring, ring, ring. The caller ID read "Mom." Lin Yu paused, then picked up and answered. Her mother's voice came from the other end, as if on a sigh. "Are you doing all right?"

At those words, Lin Yu's nose stung. "You know?"

"Li Yin's mother invited me to dim sum this morning and told me everything. Li Yin knows he wronged you and prepared some lavish gifts, but I didn't accept them."

Lin Yu pressed her lips together and wiped the corner of her eye. "I didn't know how to tell you and Dad."

"Just tell us directly. What's there to be afraid of? It's better for you to tell me than for me to hear it somewhere else."

Lin Yu said, "I was just about to call."

Her mother asked softly, "Are you sad?"

Lin Yu thought for a moment. "A little, but not terribly. It's like I wanted to take a step forward, only to step back again."

Her mother was silent for a few seconds.

Though Lin Yu was quiet, she kept a lot on her mind. As her mother, she knew that better than anyone. She said, "Li Yin was in the wrong here. He took this wrong step, and he'll taste the bitterness of it himself. But Yuyu, you should also know that nothing can stay the same forever. Things are changing all the time. It's better to see Li Yin clearly now than after you've married him."

Lin Yu nodded. "Mm, I know."

"So there's no need to be too sad over him, unless you really like him."

Lin Yu shook her head on her end. "Not that much..."

Her mother laughed. "You've finally told the truth. By the way, is there no one you like among those friends of yours?"

Lin Yu's heart skipped a beat.

Before she could answer, her mother continued, "They all seem good-looking and well brought up, especially the one from the Chen family. With looks like his, has he really never dated anyone?"

Lin Yu pressed her lips together. "He hasn't."

But that didn't mean there was no one in his heart.

She knew why her mother had mentioned only Chen Lüli. Back in school, both in high school and college, he had received the most love letters. But he was so difficult to approach that the girls hadn't dared give them to him themselves, so they passed them through her. And why had they chosen her?

Because Ming Yu wouldn't help.

Jiang Zao would ask those girls outright why they didn't give them to him themselves.

But Lin Yu had the gentlest temperament and found it hardest to refuse. When she found letters stuffed in her desk drawer, she couldn't bring herself to throw them away or pretend she hadn't seen them.

So she could only place them carefully on his schoolbag. Once, he caught her in the act. He was sitting and she was standing, and he lifted his eyes to the letter in her hand. "Did you write it?"

Lin Yu quickly shook her head and held it out to him. Someone else's name was signed on it. Chen Lüli was silent for a few seconds, then gave a soft, derisive laugh. "So you're going to deliver letters for them from now on?"

Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment, and she murmured, "Each one carries someone's feelings."

Perhaps it was because she was usually so quiet, yet when she suddenly interacted with him, it was to deliver a letter for someone else. Chen Lüli looked at her for a few seconds, one hand resting on a basketball. "You can deliver them if you want, but let me make this clear first: I won't read them."

"Will you throw them away?" Lin Yu asked instinctively.

Chen Lüli bounced the basketball and stood up. "If I accept them, of course I'll keep them safe. I'll deal with them later."

Lin Yu understood then.

The letters would merely pass through his hands; nothing would ever come of them. Later, when she caught one or two girls putting letters in her drawer, she would explain what he had said. Even so, countless girls still came forward in wave after wave. Once, when Lin Yu went home, her mother helped sort out her schoolbag and tipped out a pile of letters, all of them for him.

So her mother remembered it well.

"It's good that he's never dated. With so many people around him, he can still keep his heart steady. That shows he's strong-willed," her mother remarked. Compared with Li Yin, she admired this friend of Lin Yu's more.

"Yuyu."

"Mm, Mom." Lin Yu came back to herself.

"Don't doubt yourself over a temporary setback."

Lin Yu tightened her grip on the phone. "Okay," she said softly.

Meanwhile.

At Star Rise Games headquarters, in a distinctly high-tech conference room, the development manager was onstage presenting a competitive game about to be released. Two rows of young managers below each had a phone in hand, playing the internal test and trading blows back and forth. Jiang Yingshan was practically about to send the nine-grid controls flying.

An assistant stood beside Chen Lüli, talking to him about other matters.

Chen Lüli listened, his gaze resting on the phone on the table.

Not a sound.

Utterly quiet.

The time showed ten thirty in the morning, but there was no activity on the phone's screen, only a silent expanse of black. The assistant noticed and glanced curiously at the phone.

What was President Chen waiting for?

Here it is.

Another 100 red packets for this chapter. See you tomorrow.

Chapter 22

After talking with her mother and hanging up, Lin Yu felt much more at ease. Her parents were both somewhat strict, but much of the time, they were also her safe harbor.

Just then, the doorbell rang. Lin Yu got up from the carpet, casually pulled on a jacket, and saw Jiang Zao waving through the peephole.

Lin Yu's eyes curved as she opened the door.

"Surprise~"

Jiang Zao spread her arms and shouted. Behind her, Ming Yu poked her head out in a camel-colored coat, her radiant, beautiful face framed by light brown curls and a bright smile on her lips.

Lin Yu froze. "You're back?"

Ming Yu smiled and stepped out. She was a little taller than the other two. "Yes. I missed home so much that I begged my advisor for ages before she let me come back a few days early."

She carried a bright fragrance, the familiar scent they all knew. In the past, the boys and girls who liked her had praised even the strands of her hair for smelling sweet.

They all wanted to become some part of her body and stay with her forever.

Even now, she hadn't changed. Even the strands of her hair still smelled sweet.

Lin Yu came back to herself and smiled. "That's wonderful."

"Come on, come on, let's go in. We came especially to keep you company, you who just had your heart broken." Jiang Zao stepped forward and put an arm around Lin Yu's shoulders. She was carrying a dozen beers, while Ming Yu's hands were full too, holding some food with her expensive little handbag tucked among it. Lin Yu glanced at the beer in Jiang Zao's hand and felt dizzy. "Drinking this early in the morning?"

"Early in the morning? It's noon, okay? I ordered takeout. It'll be here soon, and we can eat and chat."

Lin Yu said softly, "I still have to go to the shop this afternoon. Let's not drink, okay? I'll make you both some pour-over coffee."

Jiang Zao pinched her cheek. "You've had your heart broken. Get some proper rest. Why go to the shop?"

"Exactly." Ming Yu went inside, put her coat and handbag on the sofa, and set down the snacks she was carrying. Jiang Zao put down the beer too.

Lin Yu closed the door and poured them each a glass of water. Ming Yu didn't visit Lin Yu's place often, mainly because she spent so little time back in the country. Holding her glass, she looked around and smiled. "Yuyu, your place has the same layout as Chen Lüli's, right?"

Lin Yu took down the coffee beans and paused. "It's the same."

"Only your master bedroom door faces the living room, while his faces inward." Ming Yu drank her water, looking toward the second bedroom.

Jiang Zao tore open a packet of squid strips. "It's still a little different. Yuyu's living room is partitioned off from the hallway, but Chen Lüli's hallway leads straight to the master bedroom. He didn't put up a partition, so his living room looks bigger. Yuyu's master bedroom door faces the front door, and she built a wall, so it looks a bit smaller but cozier. Unlike Chen Lüli's place, which is cold and unwelcoming."