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The banquet between the Feng and Zhao families was scheduled for a week later.
Feng Ziyang had been racking his brains over this matter, and encountering this unexpected event that evening made him feel even more guilty.
When he dropped Chu Ning off at her apartment complex, before she got out of the car, he spoke up: “Hey, Ning’er.”
Chu Ning’s hand rested on the door handle, turning her head to look at him, “Hmm?”
Feng Ziyang’s words reached his throat but were swallowed back down. He only managed to say, “That... I’m really sorry.”
These words came from the bottom of his heart, sincere and earnest.
Chu Ning tugged at the corner of her mouth, “It’s fine.”
“It was so sudden, and I didn’t know how to handle it. Once the elders’ enthusiasm dies down, I’ll come up with a solution,” Feng Ziyang gave her an apologetic smile, “Brother remembers your kindness. In the future, if there’s anything, just tell me.”
Chu Ning didn’t respond. She figured there was no need for excessive reassurances between them. Years of genuine friendship were evident, somewhere above friendship and below love—both were sincere.
Feng Ziyang didn’t mention Ying Jing. Watching her swaying figure, he sighed inwardly.
After that night, for three consecutive days, Ying Jing hadn’t contacted Chu Ning.
Chu Ning felt a little uneasy.
This unease increasingly manifested in her unconscious actions.
For instance, during meetings, she would occasionally glance at her phone. When the phone vibrated, her heart fluttered; she quickly opened it... oh, it wasn’t him. Sitting alone in her office, she still couldn’t resist checking her phone. Several times, her fingers hovered over the WeChat chat box, hesitating for a while, then with a snap, she closed the screen.
She was troubled.
Why was she troubled?
It was like holding a big bunch of keys jingling loudly, trying each one to unlock but finding none fit.
Chu Ning sank into her leather chair, rubbing her temples, three circles left, three circles right. Finally, frustrated, she sat up straight, blinked, and decided to go find him.
The car keys were already in her hand when she backed off.
Find him… what for?
Knowing clearly what he wanted, since she couldn’t give it, wouldn’t going to him make things even more complicated?
It was better to be decisive. Dragging things out, what difference would she have from other affected women?
Chu Ning was firmly pressed back into her seat by reason.
________________________________________
She was troubled, but the person on the other side was even more troubled.
Ying Jing’s low spirits had persisted for several days. When he had no classes, he stayed in the lab, rechecking all completed programs, finding a few minor errors, and began loudly blaming himself in the lab, nitpicking to the point of being neurotic.
Qi Yu and Zhou Yuan dared not provoke him, only exchanging glances privately.
Hmm, it seemed his romantic path was rough, and he was suffering.
Speaking of suffering, actually... he was used to it.
Ying Jing’s heart had been tempered thousands of times by Chu Ning, his resistance unmatched. Before doing these things, he had already mentally prepared himself. It was just that hearing her personally reject him brought an inevitable sense of loss.
In this one-sided affection, the road he walked was called rugged, the taste he tasted was called bitter melancholy, and what he learned was that life rarely goes as expected.
Ying Jing spaced out for a moment, then lowered his head, staring at the blank space on the keyboard for a long time without moving his eyes.
Just when he was at his most distressed, Li Zhoushan brought them some news—
The last recommendation slot for the China University Aviation Technology Competition held in Hangzhou in July.
C University of Aeronautics gave it to Ying Jing.
Qi Yu and Zhou Yuan were stunned, muttering several times, “No way, there must be a mistake.”
Li Zhoushan glanced at Ying Jing twice, ho! This guy, quite calm. Unable to resist, he frowned and asked, “Don’t you have anything to say?”
Ying Jing stood slanted, lazily looking at the computer desk, “What do you want me to say? Shout a few slogans?”
Li Zhoushan couldn’t help but scold, “Brat.”
Ying Jing smirked, “I will take it seriously.”
One sentence was enough.
This news spread rapidly throughout the school. The students in the aviation department were the most excited, feeling a sense of vindication. A relatively niche and less valued major, aside from provincial projects producing results, national open competitions almost never had recommendation opportunities.
In an instant, Ying Jing became a hot topic.
Zhang Huaiyu was nearly ecstatic, checking the campus forum every day, constantly reporting: “Wow! Ying Jing, you even have a fan group!”
Zhou Yuan squeezed over to look at the computer, “Do I have one? Do I have one!”
“You have nothing.” Zhang Huaiyu disdainfully pushed him away, “You’re blocking my breeze, it’s too hot.”
Wan Pengpeng, usually calm and composed, suddenly burst into laughter while looking at his phone.
Qi Yu walked over, “What is it?”
“This.” Wan Pengpeng pointed at one sentence, “Congratulations to Captain Ying for debuting at C position in C University of Aeronautics!”
“Hahaha! Holy crap!!” Everyone burst out laughing, “Who is this, so talented!”
“No, I must check the IP, see which department it is haha!”
“No need to check.” Ying Jing stood up, one hand in his pocket, calmly saying, “I posted it myself.”
“...”
“...”
He raised an eyebrow, becoming suave and confident: “Enough fun, now focus. Starting tomorrow, we’ll have regular meetings at nine o’clock every night. Each of you needs to summarize the work done that day. If there are any issues, discuss them in the meeting. We must ensure output and feedback. OK?”
“OK!”
Zhang Huaiyu raised his hand, “Um, boss, what do you think about the competition?”
“I’ll go talk to Professor Li about it tomorrow morning, hear the teachers’ opinions, then we’ll discuss.” Ying Jing said, “After this, it will be even tougher. Any problems?”
In unison: “No!”
Zhang Huaiyu quietly whispered, raising his fist in the air, “Let’s keep it up~”
The small meeting ended.
As they left, Qi Yu called out to Ying Jing: “Xiao Jing.”
“Hmm?” The midday sun was strong, early summer temperatures sharply rising. Ying Jing, who disliked heat, took off his coat and hung it on his shoulder.
Qi Yu caught up with him, “Are you going to tell Sister Ning about this? After all, she has contributed a lot to us. Let her be happy too.”
At the mention of this name, Ying Jing fell silent for a moment, then said, “Not yet.”
“Tell her. For so long, she has given us a lot, let her be happy too.”
Ying Jing didn’t reply.
Qi Yu nudged him, “What’s wrong again?”
“Nothing.” He muttered, looking up at the sky, changing the subject with an unrelated comment, “The weather is so hot today.”
“...” Qi Yu patted his shoulder, “Let’s go eat.”
________________________________________
The fourth day with no contact.
Finally unable to hold back, Chu Ning called him. The long continuous dial tone rang one after another, testing her patience until she was about to hang up when the other end answered indifferently.
“Hello.”
Chu Ning furrowed her brow but still restrained her dissatisfaction. After a brief silence, she cleared her throat, “How’s the project going recently?”
A business-like tone was the safest.
Ying Jing was calmer than her, “Very smooth.”
Three words dismissed her.
Chu Ning held her breath, unable to swallow or spit it out, thus becoming even more serious, “So you don’t need to report on time anymore?”
Ying Jing responded with an “Oh,” “I’ve been busy these days. Or should I report over the phone now?”
Chu Ning didn’t speak, thinking it was tacit agreement. He really started speaking methodically: “Phase three involves specific component simulations, completing the program codes for the compressor, combustion chamber, turbine, and other major components one after another. The hardest part is testing the turbine inlet temperature. The most advanced F-22 currently operates at 2000K, but domestic aviation engine technology can’t reach that yet, around 1600K would be very good.”
Chu Ning interrupted, “Why can’t it be done?”
Ying Jing explained, “Existing technology doesn’t meet the standard, but our simulation program aims as high as 2500K.”
Chu Ning said, “Too low, 3000K.”
Without much thought, she blurted it out and realized afterward that she had lost her composure.
Ying Jing’s tone slightly annoyed, “Can you do it?”
Chu Ning’s temper flared, what did he mean by that.
“Can’t I even ask a question?”
Silence on the other end.
Only their shallow breathing could be heard.
Ying Jing grunted, “Okay.”
Suddenly, Chu Ning felt powerless. It was like punching into a pile of cotton, a prolonged, unclear, inexplicable complex emotion, like propellers, wildly fanning in her mind, making her dizzy.
“Do you have anything else?” Ying Jing asked, “If not, I’ll hang up.”
Before he finished speaking, Chu Ning cut off the call, angrily throwing it on the table.
This terrible phone call ruined her mood for the entire day.
In the afternoon, a supervisor’s plan book had a number wrong, and Chu Ning thoroughly lectured him. She rarely got angry like this, but today she didn’t know what came over her.
After work, Chu Ning didn’t even feel like eating dinner. Feeling dispirited, she went home.
Parking her car in the underground garage, the elevator went straight to the fifteenth floor.
As soon as the elevator doors opened—
She saw Ying Jing leaning against the wall. Having waited for too long, his posture wasn’t as upright as usual, slightly hunched, chest drawn in, idly grinding the floor with his shoe tip.
Hearing the elevator sound, he looked up, locking eyes with Chu Ning.
Two seconds later, both lightly moved their gazes.
Chu Ning took out her keys and walked over to unlock the door.
Ying Jing automatically retreated behind her, standing quietly.
All the awkwardness of recent days, upon seeing her, he didn’t know how to resolve it.
She opened the door, showing no intention of stopping him. Ying Jing had waited here all night for this moment.
Chu Ning stepped aside, and he followed her into the house.
Instinctively taking off his shoes, neatly placing them on the shoe rack, with the warmer weather, Ying Jing wore light-colored cotton socks, revealing nicely shaped ankles. With a slight effort, three tendons stood out, stepping barefoot on the ground as usual.
But Chu Ning took a brand-new pair of men’s slippers from the shoe cabinet and placed them on the ground, “Put them on.”
Ying Jing was startled, when did she buy them?
This pair of blue-gray slippers suddenly made his nose sting with emotion.
“Hey.” His voice was a bit hoarse, “Can we talk?”
Chu Ning, changing shoes with her back turned, didn’t look back, softly responding: “Mm.”
They sat on the sofa, facing each other.
Chu Ning placed her hands on the cushion, two arcs of collarbones, a jade pendant around her neck, highlighting her fair skin.
Ying Jing took a deep breath, suddenly pretending to be relaxed and smiled, “All this awkwardness makes people think we’re a couple fighting. No, not even a fight, at least a breakup level.”
The word ‘couple’ set off alarm bells in Chu Ning’s mind.
But Ying Jing faced her honestly, no longer avoiding, “Hey, don’t be nervous. Yes, I like you. I’ve said this no less than four times. Anyway, that’s just my personality. Like and dislike, I have to be honest about it. You want me to hide it, but I can’t.”
His eyes itched, and he rubbed them. Once rubbed, they appeared red, causing speculation.
Ying Jing continued, “That’s why I did some... small gestures towards you. At the time, I liked you so much that I couldn’t help it, maybe I didn’t consider your feelings. I apologize first, it was ungentlemanly of me, I only thought of myself.”
Chu Ning uncomfortably turned her head, glanced elsewhere, then returned her gaze.
“There’s no helping it, I really like you. So much so that I have OCD, unwilling to see you ignore me, unwilling to see other men around you. Yeah, I’m just a childish fool. You... definitely don’t like childish people, right?”
Ying Jing forced a bitter smile, his eyes fixed on her, smoothing his breath before telling her: “Sister Ning, you always told me one thing: growth can’t be rushed. You said you were willing to give me time. Actually, feelings are the same. Sorry for troubling you.”
Chu Ning’s mind was extremely chaotic, indescribable feelings.
Disappointment? Not quite.
Happy? That certainly wouldn’t qualify either.
She only stared wide-eyed, not missing any of Ying Jing’s expressions.
Yet he remained calm, obviously having convinced himself, seemingly ready to move forward. Whether it was from rubbing his eyes earlier, his eyes were still red.
“You’re the first woman I’ve ever liked in my life.”
Chu Ning’s heart shattered—suddenly earthquake-like.
No woman could remain unmoved by this statement. Vanity or impact, in short, it was enough to make one float.
In relationships, honesty is the hardest.
He laid out his heart, dissecting it piece by piece, showing you every shred of flesh. Pointing here, it’s admiration, pointing there, it’s infatuation, finally cupping it in his hands, wanting you to see it all.
At this moment, Ying Jing was probably in this mindset.
He was single-minded, also at a dead end.
He was sincere and direct, also naive and ignorant.
His fervent passion poured onto her, but all turned to frost.
He didn’t know what to do anymore.
Ying Jing sniffled, sitting on the sofa, picking at his hands, “Don’t doubt my feelings. My liking for you is real. I don’t want to argue with you, don’t want to cold war with you. I want to be good with you, even if it’s just a client-contractor relationship. Sister Ning, can you not dislike me, not hate me? I won’t bother you anymore. I’ll strive to become better and better until one day, you change your view of me. Maybe someday, you’ll like me a tiny bit.”
Ying Jing looked up, his eyes sparkling, “Don’t despise me. I can stand farther away. Okay?”
This gaze was too piercing, hiding secrets, yet too timid to let you discover, but the seven emotions and six desires had already taken off, rushing towards Chu Ning.
Chu Ning turned her head away, unable to bear looking anymore.
Ying Jing casually stood up, brushing off invisible dust from his hands, “No more melodramatic selling sorrow. Just remember, I’m always striving to improve. Don’t forget me. Also, let me tell you some good news.”
His good mood finally took flight at this moment, “I’m going to participate in a competition.”
Chu Ning was puzzled, “Hmm?”
“The National University Aviation Technology Competition in the second half of the year.” Ying Jing’s eyes regained their sparkle, that innate, natural confidence, “I’m going to let everyone know your choice wasn’t wrong.”
He looked at Chu Ning, clear and resolute: “I won’t disappoint you, definitely.”
The living room lights were warm yellow, casting soft circles on Ying Jing’s face, his smile spreading at the corners of his mouth. His character itself had a quiet side, very trustworthy.
Whether or not, Chu Ning couldn’t predict the future.
She only knew that at this moment—Ying Jing was unbelievably handsome.
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