Chapter 102: Despair / Departure / Choking Back

  In Jiang Hui's expectant gaze, Liang Jing finally lifted her head, with tears welling up in her eyes: "Jiang Hui, I'm really sorry"

  "I see, is it because you still can't forget Luo Feng?" Jiang Hui's expression turned gloomy.

  Liang Jing looked at him suspiciously: "How did you know the person I like is Luo Feng?"

  "I've been following you..." Jiang Hui lowered his head unnaturally: "You didn't respond to my pursuit at all, I wanted to figure out the truth, sorry"

  "What else do you know?" Liang Jing's face suddenly looked ugly.

  "Still know... don't know ah..." Jiang Hui suddenly realized and looked at Liang Jing: "Could it be, you guys have already... is he not willing to acknowledge you so you want to leave?"

  "What's on your mind?" Liang Jing Shu took a deep breath: "Jiang Hui, I don't accept you not because I have someone in my heart. Even if it's Luo Feng, I admit that I like him, but it's not to the point where it has to be him."

  "Why is that?"

  "Jiang Hui, don't ask anymore. Anyway, we're not suitable for each other. I believe you'll soon forget about me and find a girl who's truly right for you."

  "Have you decided where to go? When are you leaving? I'll see you off then."

  "Tomorrow afternoon I'm going to Wei City, the environment there is similar to Island City, although the salary will be a bit lower, but the cost of living is also low." Liang Jing let out a soft sigh: "For me, settling in any city has the same meaning, the key is to settle down."

  "What's the difference which city to settle in, the key is to settle down?" Jiang Hui thought for a moment: "Are you refusing me because I'm not a city person? Can't let you settle in the city?"

  "Is this important?" Liang Jing's face showed a look of difficulty.

  "If you don't want to say, then I won't force it. I was just casually asking." Jiang Hui's eyes were filled with deep disappointment, the other person's expression had already told him the answer. Such a passionate and invested emotion, yet when the veil is lifted, it's so laughable. What is love?

  Liang Jing looked at him apologetically: "Jiang Hui, I'm sorry. Making this choice is my hope that one day, my family will understand that their ways are wrong, and I won't have to suffer until I'm over thirty and reluctantly marry a flawed man."

  Jiang Hui looked at Liang Jing with disappointment: "Do you know why I'm so obsessed with liking you? All along, you've been working hard to be strong, and everyone's jealous that you're President Liang's relative, but I clearly see that your efforts are no less than anyone else's.

  The occasional glimpse of sadness in your eyes sparked my curiosity, and I discreetly asked about you to learn that you've taken on too many responsibilities that don't belong to someone of your age. So I thought of becoming the man who can protect you, help alleviate your burdens, and make you happy.

  But today, you shattered my dream. It turns out that I didn't lose because of emotions, but because of a household registration in the city. How ridiculous! Why didn't I think of this before?

  "Jiang Hui, you won't understand my feelings. For me, staying in the city is the only way to hold my head up high at home and in the village. I accepted some arrangements for this idea, but ultimately had to leave the city. However, I don't plan to change my original intention. I've lost too much already, and this is what I must insist on."

  "I forgot to tell you, my family is from Weishi rural area, but my parents are doing business in Weishi and they bought a house for me there long ago. My household registration is also there. If I knew what you were worried about, I should have told you earlier." Jiang Hui's eyes showed a hint of sarcasm: "Coming to your uncle's company was for an internship, but after the internship was over, you didn't leave because of me, isn't that laughable?"

  "Jiang Hui......" Liang Jing's face flushed with burning sensation, her mind was in a mess, she didn't know what to say.

  "Never mind, no need to explain. I'll just quit tomorrow and go back where I belong. But not for you, I've lost faith in you."

  "It's better to believe a sow will climb trees than to trust men. One of you is like this, and the other is no different. Your feelings change too quickly!"

  "Me from before... how could I have been so infatuated with you?" Jiang Hui shook his head and left the hotel in big strides, secretly laughing bitterly to himself, he too had been blinded by a single leaf.

  Liang Jing stared blankly at Jiang Hui's figure getting farther and farther away until it disappeared. Had he really given up like that? Was the reason for giving up so simple?

  "Liang Jing, hurry back, everyone is waiting for you. Hmm, where's Jiang Hui?" Chi Xiaofeng's inquiry restored the sparkle in Liang Jing's eyes, and she smiled faintly: "He left."

  "Left? How could that be? He likes you so much, how can he bear to leave early? Nonsense!"

  "It's not blind talk, he already doesn't like me, like? Hehe......" Liang Jing's expression was somewhat desolate: "Xiao Feng, I know my leaving makes you all quite happy, actually, I'd rather not have the identity of a relative, perhaps I would be happier that way."

  "Liang Jing..." Chi Xiaofeng smiled awkwardly: "If I said no, that would be a lie. But as for your departure, we are also very reluctant to see you go."

  "I understand." Liang Jing glanced at the door again and let out a disappointed sigh: "Let's go, back to our room."

  "Liáng Jìng, Jiāng Huī should be going to buy you a gift. Even if he doesn't show up tonight, he'll definitely go find you tomorrow. Seeing that you're starting to care about Jiang Hui, I'm really happy for him. Go on, tell the others, they'll all be happy for Jiang Hui too..."

  "Really?" Liang Jing muttered to herself and looked back at the door again. How she hoped that Chi Xiaofeng was telling the truth, but would he?

  Is this feeling for the house, the household registration, or the person? She herself is also confused...

  ……

  "The clams are really fresh and clean, aren't they? From now on, if Grandpa wants to eat them again, I'll call you and Fang'er to go dig together. Don't sneak off by yourself, got it?" Grandpa Luo was both touched by his granddaughter's filial piety and worried about her going through hardship late at night.

  "Got it, Grandpa." Realizing that he couldn't take all the credit, he quickly added: "Uncle Jiang and Ye Dage also dug together, it's not my own merit."

  "Yèr, why didn't you call me to go together?" Luō Fēng's tone was already not great to begin with, and now it was filled with a strong sour taste.

  "Brother, I didn't call Uncle Jiang and Ye Da Ge either, they found out themselves. You sleep like a dead pig, how can I wake you up?" Thinking that what her brother did today was quite to his liking, Yue tried to please him by scooping a spoonful of clams into his small dish: "I promise, from now on even if Brother sleeps like a dead dog, I'll drag you up and we'll go together."

  "Hmm...hmm..." The little pine ball crouched under a certain leaf made two timely humming sounds, and Luo Ye hastily rubbed the pine ball with her foot: "Pine ball, you don't sleep like a dead dog." Then she looked at Grandpa Luo in doubt: "Grandpa, does it know that when I said 'dead dog', I was referring to its own kind? How strange!"

  The little white girl answered quickly: "You think it's teasing? It's asking you to eat, aren't you worried about getting fat and sick easily? I'm controlling its food intake."

  "Heh heh...... I thought it understood what I was saying. " Yue smiled awkwardly, she was indeed a bit on edge after being teased."

  Luo Zheng glared at his daughter: "Yexi, eat properly and don't be afraid of being laughed at by Uncle Jiang and Xiao Ye."

  Luoye stuck out her tongue and quickly behaved herself to eat, recently the atmosphere at Luojia's dinner table has been relatively relaxed, she forgot that there were outsiders at the table.

  Jiang Zheng waved his hand: "No matter what Ye Er does, I won't laugh at her. Xiao Ye, will you laugh at her?"

  "It's not funny, kids eat like that." Ye Xuan's magnetic voice was pleasant to hear, but unfortunately, the words didn't quite sit well with Ye Ye. "Hmph..." Ye Ye excitedly bit her tongue and inhaled a mouthful of cool air before glaring at him: "Who are you calling a kid?"

  "Hey," Luo Zheng interrupted, "aren't 16-year-olds just kids?"

  Luoye glanced at Yexuan with a faint expression, speeding up her eating pace. This dead man, she remembered, must never fall into her hands again.

  A certain Ye with a bad mood, after dinner, said goodbye to everyone and returned to his room. Luo Feng gave Xuan Ye an unhappy glance and followed him in.

  Luofeng smiled and sat opposite her sister, stroking her sister's head: "Yeer, are you really angry?"

  "No, it's just that I don't like the look on his face, shouting 'Brother Jiang' with every sentence, how come he's so willing to act like a senior?" A certain Ye's tender lips pouted: "Obviously trying to tell me that he and Dad and Mom are of the same generation, humph."

  "No, he calls dad and mom uncle and aunt." Luofeng's originally depressed mood was lifted a lot by her sister's cute appearance.

  "Brother, are you feeling a bit better?" Luo Ye suddenly changed the subject: "As soon as brother came back today, I could tell that he was quite down in the dumps. Is it because of Liang Jing's matter? She came to find me." Luo Feng didn't return home with her because he had student council activities, otherwise she would have comforted her brother on the way.

  Luofeng's heart moved: "Was Yezi just now intentional?"

  Lu Ye nodded: "Half and half, I really want to make Brother's mood a little better."

  "Since Liang Jing went to find Ye Er, then Ye Er should be clear about her situation, right? I'm not in a good mood because I refused her, but because I think she's quite pitiful." Luo Feng scratched his head awkwardly: "To be honest, I hesitated whether to go see her, thinking of what you said and finally held back, but afterwards I felt that I was too heartless. Ye Er, I really feel guilty, she's a girl from another place, and I treated her like this, it's really... Ah"

  Lu Ye got up and locked the door from the inside, turned around and looked at Lu Feng seriously: "Brother, you don't have a cold heart, you can believe me and do what I say, I'm really very happy.

  "Liang Jing's pursuit of brother, liking brother is indeed a part of it, but helping others to harm our family is another part. Originally, I didn't want to tell brother about this matter, but I don't want brother to over-blame himself either. So, I decided to tell brother the truth."

  "Yèr, what's going on? Did you know from the beginning? Who wants to harm our family?" Luō Fēng's expression suddenly became tense.

  "At first, I just had a very bad impression of her, extremely bad. At night, I even dreamed that she harmed my brother, and I was especially afraid, which is why I forced my brother not to be with her."

  This thing sounds a bit unbelievable, but the fact proved that my feeling was right. This time when Uncle Jiang and Ye Dage came to our house, apart from their own tasks, they also helped Father clean up some dangers around him. They found out that Liang Jing was hired by someone to get close to Brother, waiting for an opportunity to do something unfavorable to our family.

  Of course, I heard these in the middle of the night when I got up to pour water and eavesdropped. No one dared to say, "Brother, you don't have to feel guilty, everything that happened to her was her own fault."

  Luofeng remained silent for half a day before digesting the news, then hastily grabbed Luoye's arm: "Yeer, do you know who wants to harm our family? What can we do?"

  "Brother, I believe Dad and Uncle Jiang will handle these things well, so don't worry about it." By choosing to tell her brother only part of the truth, Luo Ye hoped he wouldn't be burdened with mental shackles. As for letting him get involved, Luo Ye hadn't thought that far yet.

  With her brother's current abilities, he can't help much anyway. Moreover, Jiang Zheng promised to assign two capable personnel to protect her family, which is the actual purpose. She won't refuse this kind intention. For now, she really needs such people, and she believes that she can make them not treat her like a child, but as her true right-hand men.

  Qian Mei's affairs she hasn't told Jiang Zheng and Ye Xuan yet, believing that soon they will be able to investigate, at which time they should be more convinced of her strength.

  For the sake of her father, for the sake of this family, she doesn't mind showing off a bit of her extraordinary abilities. As for the reason, if it can't be explained clearly, just gloss over it, Jiang Zheng and Ye Xuan shouldn't make things difficult for her.

  But Dad's mood seems to be not very good today, did something happen again? Liu Zhenghang should be restrained for a while.

  "Leaf after leaf..."

  Lu Ye smiled awkwardly: "Brother, I was just thinking about something earlier, hehe..."

  Luofeng doted on his little sister, rubbing her head: "You're always so mysterious, forget it, there are some things you don't say and I won't ask. Just remember, no matter what you do, don't forget to call me."

  "No problem." Luo Ye's eyes curved into a crescent moon shape: "Brother, are you feeling better now?"

  Luofeng nodded with satisfaction: "Yeah, it's clear now"

  "Doesn't it feel a little sad knowing that Liang Jing doesn't love her brother with all her heart?" You Ye started being mischievous again.

  "No, I'm glad it's like this. Otherwise, in the future, I would have been torn between my sister and her, suffering myself. This is a happy ending for everyone."

  "Hmm..." Yue was speechless, this idea, probably only his brother, that strong person, could have.

  ……

  "Never mind, I don't want to think about it anymore. After Dad and Uncle Jiang finish talking, I'll go find Uncle Jiang." Luo Ye played with the soft belly of the small pine ball, racking her brains but couldn't think of a way to get around her dad's words, so she gave up trying. She had already formed an alliance with Jiang and Ye, why bother putting in so much effort? It seemed like she needed to get used to having someone help her out quickly.

  She had thought about forming an alliance with her father, but unfortunately, she knew his personality all too well. If she didn't make it clear where the information came from, he wouldn't believe her. So, forming an alliance with him? Forget it for now.

  "Knock knock..."

  "Come in." Luo Ye glanced at the time, 8:30. Whoever it was should be Mom or Grandpa? Anyway, it wasn't her brother, he had just left a while ago.

  As soon as Ye Xuan entered the door, he saw a certain Ye's little brain hanging under the bed, with big bright eyes staring at him, and a small pine ball lying comfortably on his stomach. Next to him was a small tease, with one arm dangling from the bedside, swaying back and forth. This is indeed a child! He regretted it, wanting to turn around and leave, but felt it wasn't very polite. He lightly coughed, making conversation: "Ye, tomorrow afternoon I and Jiang will be leaving, someone will deliver your phone over."

  "You've already said that, and now you're entering menopause ahead of time?" Luo Ye quickly sat up straight, but her tone wasn't very good, obviously still resentful.

  "Uh......, you're not a kid, sorry." Xuan apologized awkwardly. He wasn't stupid, and Xiaoyu's words were clearly directed at him.

  "Cut, yesterday someone was still thanking me for helping out, and in the blink of an eye I've become a kid again. It's really frustrating, my poor hurt heart." As she spoke, she twisted her hair tie and pinched her cheeks: "Fortunately you two don't despise me."

  "Alright, what do you want as compensation?" Ye Xuan rubbed his temples, coaxing girls was really not his strong suit, but since she had helped him so much, it wouldn't be good to make her angry.

  "Compensation? Am I that kind of person?"

  "You're not, but I want to make it up to you, okay?" Ye Xuan's mouth twitched, this was the first time in his life he was eager to compensate someone.

  "Alright, the beauty of being an adult is what a gentleman does." A certain Ye's eyes rolled: "Originally, my brother and I were thinking of learning to drive during summer vacation, but we ended up staying at grandpa's house until school started again.

  "Can you help me and my brother get two learner's permits? We'll study whenever we have time, and when we feel ready, we'll take the driver's test. This is a difficult task for ordinary people, but it should be no problem for someone like you, right?"

  Ye Xuan furrowed his brow: "Luofeng is fine, but you're only 16 years old, what's the hurry to learn how to drive?"

  It's always good to have a special skill, didn't you hear about the car accident that happened in Island City recently? The driver, who was over 40 years old, suddenly had a cerebral hemorrhage while driving a bus and fell onto the steering wheel.

  Unfortunately, no one in the car knew how to drive and didn't even know where the control buttons were. The doors couldn't be opened, so many people had to jump out of the windows.

  The out-of-control bus crashed into a small sedan in front of it with a loud "bang", pushing the sedan forward, and then collided with several other cars before finally coming to a stop, leaving the scene in complete chaos.

  "This accident resulted in three deaths, not including the bus driver, and 29 injuries, including those who jumped off the bus and broke their legs and arms. You say, if there was someone on the bus who could drive at that time, wouldn't this accident have been avoided?"

  "After all, such sudden events are rare." Ye Xuan looked at Luo Ye silently, what was she thinking about in that little brain of hers?

  "A few represent the probability of encountering, forget it, no need to find a reason, help or not? If this matter is asked to Lao Da, it's definitely impossible, she's being unreasonable."

  "Alright, but I need to consult with your father."

  "Whatever, that's clearly a refusal to help me." Luo Ye rolled her eyes in disdain: "Don't bother, I'll just ask someone else for help then."

  "Did you really learn to drive just for emergency situations?" Ye Xuan asked, and then regretted it. He found that in front of this little girl, he had a tendency to be weak-minded?

  It's no wonder that Xuan was despised: "You just learned to drive in order to deal with unexpected events, do you think I'm Superman? I like cars, I want to buy a car, is that okay?" Meow, there are some things that are more convenient to take care of at midnight with a car. She wants a legitimate license plate, okay? She doesn't want to be found by the traffic police uncle and have her father's reputation tarnished, she won't do that.

  "Alright, I'll help you with it, but be careful."

  "Don't worry, I'm not done living yet."

  Yexuan: "......" Can't you just admit one wrong sentence? Why hold such a grudge?

  ……

  "2:20 long-distance bus to Weicheng is about to depart, please hurry up for passengers who haven't boarded yet..." Liang Jing let out a disappointed sigh, picked up her luggage and got on the bus. She had been hoping to see that familiar figure again, but unfortunately, everything really was over.

  As the car slowly started, Wang Yike, one of the two staff members assigned by Jiang Zheng to Luo Ye, dialed the phone number of Luo Ye's school.

  Liang Jing finally disappeared from view. Luo Ye walked out of the office, letting out a long sigh. Things had to be settled one by one. Her brother's issue was now resolved, but her father's still had Jiang Shu, Ye Xuan, Song Fangzheng and others involved... Hopefully, it would all come to an end soon.

  And mom, it's actually already thought through and wants to return home to admit mistakes, but when it comes to confirming the date, there's a bit of avoidance, hoping mom can adjust her mood as soon as possible.

  "Ouch!"

  "Sorry, sorry!" Luo Ye apologized repeatedly to the person he had bumped into, his own strength still unclear, only momentarily unsure of what to call - the person he had bumped was Yang Yao Guang.

  Yang Yao's eyebrows slightly furrowed: "Be more careful when walking in the future, a girl who is reckless and impulsive is like what kind of talk?" Her voice was slightly husky, somewhere between masculine and feminine.

  "Got it." Luo Ye's lips curled up, this girl is really fun, such a beautiful face looks like a girl, and thought others couldn't tell.

  "It's all right, you can go now." Yang Yaoguang waved his hand and strode towards the office.

  "Lolo, what's so happy?" Tang Luo looked at Luo Ye sitting in the seat with a smile still on his lips: "Was it Brother Qing who called you?"

  "Get out of here! What's with this 'brother' and 'sister' nonsense? Can't you talk about something serious for once?"

  "Anything important?" Tang Luo handed a letter to Luo Ye with a sly smile: "Also, just now when you went to answer the phone, a boy delivered a letter for you."

  Lu Ye took it and glanced at it twice. The smile at the corner of his mouth deepened: "This guy can still bear it, only coming to find me now."

  "Who? Who is it?" Tang Luo's face was full of gossip.

  Just then the bell rang, and Luo Ye hastily sat up straight: "Class is starting."

  Tang Luo rolled his eyes in dissatisfaction: "Excuse!"

  Special thanks to 'nanxiaoqiong', 'ぐ戀貓﹏', '阿星丫头', and '语诺' for their great support. Special thanks to '孞尐洳', '书过留影', and '褪色的记忆08' for their rewards. Special thanks to those who have subscribed to the official version, especially to Pink for her gift to Warm.