TSDT - 48

The price of late-night indulgence was that Jiang Ying woke up with a pounding headache the next day. Coffee didn’t help, her temples throbbed, and her efficiency was low all day.

When she was utterly exhausted, office gossip saved her.

It was said that the newly promoted beauty was incredibly skilled, and Director Hu was so utterly charmed that he actually paid the down payment for a small apartment for her in a good location. Zebian’s housing market had sky-high prices, so even a small apartment was a large sum. This naturally angered the “red flag” at the director’s home. The director’s wife was no simple person either, holding many shares in the firm. If she intended to oppose her husband, there could be changes in the firm’s upper management. However, even if there were changes, it wouldn’t concern them, the small fry; they could just stand by and make comments without feeling the pain.

Jiang Ying, dizzy and bleary-eyed, did feel a bit more awake after hearing the news, but the only information she extracted from this big story was: Men are truly no good!

So, she angrily bombarded Meng Jingshu with many emojis.

He immediately called her back, asking what was wrong.

Jiang Ying squinted and said, “Such a quick reaction, very awake, not tired at all, huh?”

“Not...” He detected the tone in her voice, paused, and changed his answer, “A little.”

Changing his answer was useless; she already understood perfectly. This man needed less sleep than she did. Often, when she was crawling out of bed with dark circles, he was already dressed and looking refreshed. So, every time after a passionate night, she was the only one left to suffer the consequences.

She huffed, “I’m so tired I can’t even see the words clearly. I’ll have to work overtime until midnight tonight, not playing with you anymore, hmph!”

She hung up after saying it all in one breath.

Turning around, Xiao Man stared, dumbfounded: “I’ve never seen you this fierce before; I need to get to know you again...” She shook her head and sighed, “I would never talk to my boyfriend like that...”

Jiang Ying rolled her eyes at her.

The culprit deserved what he got.

Both of them had to work overtime that night, and Jiang Ying actually finished later than Meng Jingshu. When she was done, he came to pick her up, saying he was already downstairs. Jiang Ying made an excuse about needing to print documents and turn off the lights and lock the door, stalling for a while, intentionally making him wait.

In reality, she was leaning back in her chair, Browse forums.

She was engrossed in a juicy gossip thread about various directors’ wives when she suddenly heard unhurried footsteps approaching.

She turned to look at the doorway, and his tall figure appeared outside the glass door.

He looked at her, calmly knocking on the door.

Thump, thump.

Twice.

Her heart was squeezed twice, like a gummy candy.

She didn’t react. Meng Jingshu pushed the door open himself and entered.

The link Jiang Ying had clicked a few seconds ago finished loading and began playing at just the right moment:

“Recently, the 13th XX Film Festival concluded successfully. At the opening ceremony, renowned director XX and his wife, famous actress XXX, attended together. The two were seen inseparable throughout, deeply in love, truly making others envious...”

Seeing this, Meng Jingshu raised an eyebrow slightly.

Uh!

Caught red-handed.

Jiang Ying blinked, showed him her phone, and tried to change the subject: “Look, isn’t she beautiful? Isn’t she the kind of dignified lady all men would like?”

Meng Jingshu could occasionally guess her little thoughts now.

He glanced at it and said, “She’s pretty. But I like little kids who throw tantrums.”

“...” Jiang Ying’s face instantly turned as red as a rotten tomato.

He chuckled, reached out to pinch her cheek, and asked, “Still need to print, little one?”

“Hmph.”

Jiang Ying’s desk was already tidy. She stood up, turned off the air conditioning and lights, and quickly closed the door and left.

The sensor light in the hallway went out, then lit up again in response.

Meng Jingshu held her hand, she pulled it away. He held it again, she pulled it away again.

He stopped and looked at her.

She returned his gaze with a provocative look.

He suddenly lowered his head and kissed her eyelids. While she was caught off guard with her eyes closed, he took her hand and held it in his palm, interlacing their fingers tightly, leaving her unable to move. This time, she finally settled down.

________________________________________

Arriving at the elevator, she suddenly said, “Let’s take the stairs. It’s only three floors.”

Meng Jingshu naturally had no objection.

Opening the fire escape door, Jiang Ying stomped her foot into the dark stairwell, and it instantly brightened.

Their initially uneven footsteps gradually merged into one, echoing in the empty stairwell.

Actually, they were going to the basement parking lot, which meant it should be a total of four floors.

He seemed to understand something again.

He checked his watch; it was past 10:40.

He said, “Jiang Ying, night self-study has ended.”

She paused slightly, looked at him, and pursed her lips into a smile.

In school, every time they advanced a grade, they would change classrooms. In their second and third years of high school, they moved classrooms but stayed on the same floor, remaining on the fourth floor for two years.

Jiang Ying served as both vice class monitor and discipline committee member. In the evenings, she had to collect all the papers from the last small test and take them to the teacher’s duty room by the hallway. Some students were slow writers, so she would wait for them, often being among the last few to leave the classroom.

Meng Jingshu, on the other hand, had a busy day but didn’t slack off at night. He often finished his small test papers early and stayed in the classroom to continue his studies until the teaching building’s power was cut off.

Therefore, they shared many nights walking down those four floors together, though most of the time there were a few others beside them.

Last year, at this very door.

They possessed the first stanza of that poem.

Both felt a sense of telepathic pleasure.

At this moment, the sensor light went out, plunging them into darkness within a second.

They laughed aloud.

It was even more similar.

Back then, they often experienced power outages halfway through their walk, plunging the entire building and even the entire teaching area into pitch blackness. They had to rely on the faint light from their phones to continue.

But now, they just needed to stomp their feet.

The light came on again.

“I feel like having a late-night snack,” Jiang Ying suddenly said.

Meng Jingshu mused, “Roasted chicken drumsticks and small wontons?”

Those were the signature late-night snacks of their alma mater. The queue at the window could always circle the tree three times, requiring them to rush out of the classroom and run wildly ahead of time to even hope to get a spot.

“Let’s go!” Jiang Ying was excited.

A few times, she was lucky enough to get these two signature dishes. That was before school sports meets or big evening galas, when night self-study was used for rehearsals instead of small tests.

The first time, Jiang Ying and a few roommates, including Huang Yanfei, agreed to rush early to queue up. After buying them, they were amazed by the first bite. On impulse, each of them bought a few more servings. So the girls were stuffed with food, mouths full, barely able to walk. They just stood in an open space next to the cafeteria, gobbling down their food.

Then Xu Jiahong, who arrived late, saw them. He was shocked by the girls’ appetites, or perhaps jealous that they managed to get so many rare delicacies. He immediately pulled a few boys beside him, “Look, look, they’re eating so much!” He even spread the word widely back in the dorm.

This led to many boys greeting Jiang Ying the next day with: “Hi Discipline Committee member, were the chicken drumsticks good?”

Jiang Ying wanted to use the Manchu Ten Tortures on Xu Jiahong.

Hearing this, Meng Jingshu asked, “Was I one of them?”

Jiang Ying thought for a moment: “Probably not, otherwise you’d be the one getting yelled at now instead of Xu Jiahong.”

“...”

Talking about Xu Jiahong made her angry, and she continued to curse: “He looks like a decent person, but why is his mouth so big! No wonder... no wonder he’s still single!”

They arrived at the car. Meng Jingshu expressionlessly opened the passenger door for her. Once she was seated, he leaned over her.

Jiang Ying, squeezed, struggled to ask, “...What are you doing?”

He said, “Whether he’s single or not has nothing to do with you.”

“...” Jiang Ying deliberately said, “Well, sometimes, you have to care about your friends’ happiness in life too.”

Then her chest felt a little painful.

“Ouch!”

He rubbed it hard a few times before stopping, warning her coldly, “You’d better worry about whether you’ll be tired tomorrow.”

“...”

Oh, right! She really forgot the pain after the wound healed! She had just regained a bit of energy tonight, and she had already forgotten his misdeeds and was being kind to him.

The driver walked around the front of the car and got into the driver’s seat. The door had barely closed when he received a fierce “Hmph!!!” from the passenger seat.

Meng Jingshu: “...”

Miscalculation.

He had clearly appeased her, so he shouldn’t have brought it up again.

________________________________________

They went to a nearby snack street.

Undoubtedly, the barbecue stall was packed with people. Jiang Ying stretched her neck and called out a few times, but she felt the owner couldn’t hear their order amidst the noise.

Light snow began to fall, biting cold.

Jiang Ying didn’t want to be exposed to the cold wind any longer. They settled for a second-best option, a wonton shop with a few empty seats. They ordered two bowls of chicken broth wontons, considering it close enough to having had chicken drumsticks.

The randomly chosen shop turned out to have surprisingly good food.

She was no longer cold, and Jiang Ying’s feigned anger was chased away by the warmth and comfort, especially when the person opposite her quickly finished his meal and looked at her, still wanting more.

“Two more bowls?” he asked.

He had finished his soup, his pale lips red, and his stern face also bearing a hint of casualness from the food.

Jiang Ying couldn’t help but smile: “I can’t eat that much. You order another bowl for yourself.”

He seemed a little disappointed: “Then no.”

Jiang Ying wanted to rub his head.

“Then let’s get another bowl, and we’ll share it. I’ll eat less.”

He quickly nodded.

While sharing the third bowl of wontons, Meng Jingshu’s lips were constantly curved upward, showing he was in a good mood.

He told Jiang Ying that he was going on a business trip tomorrow to City B for a seminar.

Jiang Ying’s first reaction was: Holiday! Finally, I can get some good sleep!

She immediately asked, “How long will you be gone?”

Her surprise was evident.

Meng Jingshu’s lips immediately pressed down: “Two days over the weekend.”

“Ah~ Not long at all~”

He put down his cutlery: “You’re happy when I’m not here?”

Jiang Ying suppressed a laugh: “Not really, no.”

“You are very happy.”

He could be coaxed, but it wasn’t necessary.

Jiang Ying: “Hehe.”

________________________________________

Meng Jingshu’s flight was scheduled for tomorrow night. He would go directly after finishing work at the company. So, after showering at home, he began to pack.

Two days’ worth of clothes were light and easy. He picked out his clothes in a couple of minutes, then kept rummaging around for something. He searched the house without a sound, and even though Jiang Ying deliberately walked back and forth in front of him, he paid no attention. He had been like this since they left the wonton shop, sulking with her.

He wandered around like a headless chicken for a while. Jiang Ying couldn’t bear it anymore and asked him, “What are you looking for?”

His gaze shifted to her, somewhat reluctantly: “Do I have a tablet at your place?”

“Ah, yes.” She was obsessed with a few small games on the tablet. Meng Jingshu didn’t care what files were on it and just gave it to her to play with. Lately, she had been out and about every day. Fearing she might fall asleep on the way and miss her stop, she put it in her bag to entertain herself and stay awake.

“If you had asked earlier, you wouldn’t have had to search,” she felt like laughing, but her face was covered in a face mask, so she didn’t, and her voice sounded stiff. “It’s right by the entrance, in that larger black shoulder bag.”

“Oh.” He turned to look for it.

The mask time was up, and Jiang Ying went to the bathroom to wash her face. Just as she was about to examine her skin for any miraculous changes, she heard Meng Jingshu’s heavy footsteps returning from outside.

“Jiang Ying.” His voice was soaked with frost and snow.

Her heart leaped in alarm: “What’s wrong?”

He followed the sound to the bathroom, his face unusually pale, his lips drained of color.

“What is this?”

He held something in his hand.

It was the discarded hay, its sealed plastic bag stamped with the words: Zebian University College of Agriculture.