CM - 59

Shen Tingwen hadn’t spoken to Zhou Shuirong for a week, and he was even avoiding her. Zhou Shuirong went from feeling relieved at first, to later regretful, and now she was annoyed. It was all a constant reminder to her: “Stop acting so proud. You’re about to die for him. Look at yourself right now, it’s pathetic.”

Lying in bed, she stared at the ceiling, completely at a loss for what to do.

If it was a matter of physical action, she would not back down. If it was a matter of intellect, she would also be at the top of the game. But when it came to love, she had only seen Si Wen and Zhou Yan’s love, and Shen Tingwen was nothing like Si Wen. How was she supposed to deal with this?

If she couldn’t deal with it, she should run. She wasn’t the kind of person who would force something when she knew her abilities weren’t up to the task.

Now she had run, and the person was gone. He was ignoring her, and she regretted it.

She opened Shen Tingwen’s WeChat countless times a day but couldn’t bring herself to send him a message. She went to the gym, but Shen Tingwen wasn’t going there anymore.

Of course, why would he go to the gym? He probably had one at home. He didn’t need to take the bus or subway; he had a chauffeur if he wanted one. He went to the gym for her, and he took the bus and subway for her. Now that she had offended him, he was going back to being a young master.

Zhou Shuirong regretted it while also cursing him. “Go back to being a young master! Go back to your pacifier! Let people hand-feed you and clothe you!”

After cursing him, she regretted it in a different way than most people would. “Care or don’t care, I don’t care. Who needs him! I’m going to take a shower, damn it!”

See how much backbone she had? But halfway through her shower, she ran out naked, wanting to find the selfie Shen Tingwen had sent her that day. After searching, she remembered she had cleared the message history. Thinking about this, she collapsed onto the bed, still wet, and covered her face in silent frustration.

At that moment, Zhou Xiyou messaged her, inviting her to dinner. She said it was their last get-together before she was hospitalized. She had finished her examinations and was going to be admitted for treatment soon. Zhou Shuirong hadn’t seen her at school recently, but she had kept up with her news. Zhou Xiyou had created a group chat where she talked every day, sending them all kinds of inappropriate videos and playlists.

After their private chat about dinner, Zhou Xiyou asked her, “What are you doing now?”

“Taking a shower.”

“I thought you were with my Shen baby. He went to Shanghai. My uncle said he went to meet someone. I said, who else could he be meeting besides you? So you two aren’t together?”

Zhou Shuirong’s heart sank, and she suddenly felt uneasy, not wanting to say anything at all.

Zhou Xiyou didn’t reply again.

Zhou Shuirong took at least five minutes to feel a little better. She curled up and messaged Shen Tingwen, typing and deleting, typing and deleting, but in the end, she didn’t send anything and threw her phone to the side.

Why was she so sad? Wasn’t this her own fault?

Who would want to constantly water a tree that wouldn’t bloom? Xi Murong?

________________________________________

When school started on Monday, Shen Tingwen took the day off. Zhou Shuirong kept looking at the empty seat. The paper couldn’t contain the fire. Her love for Shen Tingwen was burning on her face, and anyone with eyes could see it.

The next day, Shen Tingwen came to school, wearing his school uniform with his hair down. His skin was still very fair, and he still looked very well-behaved.

When Zhou Shuirong was handing out papers, she was thinking that she absolutely had to have a paper for Shen Tingwen. There had to be one. And there was. She handed it to him without saying a word, not even stopping for three seconds.

She hadn’t learned to express her affection as brazenly as Shen Tingwen, and she wouldn’t stop either.

Shen Tingwen saw that Zhou Shuirong was still cold and distant. He knew that if he kept this up, the scene of her going to a play with someone else would repeat itself, and she might even walk hand-in-hand with another person.

She might have developed feelings for him, but her most precious quality was her ability to endure. She could endure anything, and that included these feelings.

With enough time, her feelings would fade, and someone else would take advantage of the opportunity. All of his hard work would be for nothing. He knew all this, but he couldn’t always go after her without any dignity, and she couldn’t always deny it.

Shen Tingwen had inherited Shen Cheng’s strategic mind, but he couldn’t strategize for what he wanted. He was in a dead end, where he could think clearly but couldn’t act on it.

________________________________________

There were only three months left until the college entrance exam. The students, who had been tense for a year, were now in their most stressful phase. The school organized a stress-relief meeting, inviting some alumni who had graduated years ago and achieved some success to give speeches, along with a few psychologists.

All the senior high students gathered in the grand lecture hall, looking at the successful people on stage and listening to their entrepreneurial stories, and they couldn’t help but get emotional.

Zhou Shuirong was distracted. Shen Tingwen was sitting two rows behind her, and he could see her when he looked up. She was so preoccupied with thinking about whether he was looking at her that she had no time to listen to the successful people’s life experiences.

After a while, she felt restless. She was no longer going to stay there. She quietly bent down and left.

She ran into Liang Jifan on her way out. Liang Jifan was a little surprised to see her and had a “long time no see” expression on his face. He walked up to her and said, “Where are you off to, Young Mistress?”

Zhou Shuirong had never met anyone so annoying. Even the detestable Shen Tingwen wasn’t this annoying.

Liang Jifan saw that she wasn’t saying anything and reached out to pinch her face. “Why the long face?”

Zhou Shuirong quickly dodged him, grabbed his wrist, and twisted it. His arm was dislocated, and he fell to his knees with a thud. He hadn’t even had time to react before he had given Zhou Shuirong a grand bow.

Zhou Shuirong didn’t want to get tangled up with him. She let go and walked forward.

Liang Jifan was a bit stunned. What was that? What did she just do? How did he... suddenly lose all his strength?

He stood there for a while, still in a dazed state when Shen Tingwen came out.

Shen Tingwen ignored him and walked past him.

Liang Jifan saw him and grabbed his arm, wanting to talk to him. “Zhou Shuirong is strong. Damn it, she almost broke my arm.”

“Zhou Shuirong.” Shen Tingwen said Zhou Shuirong’s name so easily because he had said it countless times. But she didn’t need him to worry about her. She could protect herself. He, Shen Tingwen, was just an extra! Didn’t he understand yet?

Whatever else Liang Jifan said, Shen Tingwen didn’t hear it.

He saw Zhou Shuirong’s back, but he chose to walk in the opposite direction, getting farther and farther away, without ever looking back.