Chapter 41

The salon was held at a university, hosted by the dean of the research institute. Wei Qingyue presented a research report, analyzing the three key trends in the autonomous driving sector, and also shared their vehicle-road synergy products on site.

He had been with Lingdong for less than three years, rising through the ranks with each step. His ability had always matched his ambition, a typical talented young man, so it was inevitable that people were concerned about his personal life. Wei Qingyue had hypocritically gone on blind dates. He had met all sorts of girls, all of them very nice. In his eyes, everyone was very nice, a kind of niceness that transcended gender, like a polite person in a social setting.

But he knew he belonged to Jiang Du. Only in Jiang Du's hands could he be considered returned to his rightful owner.

Therefore, when the dean politely asked to have a word with him in private, Wei Qingyue finally didn't have to be hypocritical this time. He said he had a girlfriend and would be getting married soon.

The dean had seen it all and wasn't the least bit awkward. He laughed and said, "Look at me, my very first attempt at matchmaking has gotten off to a bad start."

Wei Qingyue smiled.

Zhang Xiaoqiang was there representing an automaker. Before they could even get into business, she brought up the matter of seeing a neurologist. Wei Qingyue suppressed his annoyance. For the past few years, this old classmate of his had been acting as if she were possessed. He really wanted to say, 'I think you're the one who needs to get your head checked,' but Wei Qingyue held his tongue. Zhang Xiaoqiang already had a boyfriend and was still so concerned about him; although he didn't need it, he couldn't be so ungrateful.

"I won't keep you in suspense," Zhang Xiaoqiang said with a grin, her temper exceedingly good. She wore a pair of pearl earrings and had been working out and losing weight recently, looking radiant. "You know the doctor, Jiang Du's deskmate, do you remember her? Zhu Yulong from the Liberal Arts Experimental Class, who later transferred to Science Experimental Class One. Oh, I almost forgot, you'd already gone abroad when she transferred to our class. Your poor sleep is an old problem, you should really get it checked out. Let an old classmate take a good look at you. Let me tell you, Zhu Yulong is amazing. She's at the best hospital and already got some kind of professional title at such a young age?"

Wei Qingyue's expression was indifferent. He said, "The earrings are nice." Then he pretended to be very interested in her outfit. "You have dark skin, this color suits you well."

Zhang Xiaoqiang looked at him helplessly. "You're always like this."

Her skirt had gotten a bit wrinkled from sitting. Wei Qingyue pointed and said, "You should go home and iron your clothes."

"

Zhang Xiaoqiang wanted to smash his dog head. She touched her skirt and said, puffing her cheeks, "I must really have water in my brain."

"Zhu Yulong?" Wei Qingyue, as if sleepwalking, suddenly resumed the topic. He remembered this girl and, for the first time ever, nodded. "It wouldn't hurt to go have a look."

He had relented so suddenly.

It must be Zhu Yulong. The three words 'Zhu Yulong' must have had some magical effect!

Zhang Xiaoqiang concealed her ecstatic joy. She was afraid that if she revealed even a hint of an inappropriate expression, Wei Qingyue would change his mind. It wasn't that she was being inappropriate, but this guy, Wei Qingyue, was so moody and best at being sarcastic and infuriating in front of familiar people.

Clearly, she had just seen him talking to the dean of the research institute with a face as pleasant as a spring breeze, and he was so skilled and experienced when presenting his research report on stage. Online, his videos were always flooded with bullet comments, with countless young girls wanting to be his wife. He had a whole group of so-called wife fans. How charming Wei Qingyue was, at least that's how it seemed.

"When would be a good time for you?" Zhang Xiaoqiang asked, feigning casualness.

Wei Qingyue replied calmly and seriously, "You can arrange it."

Zhang Xiaoqiang didn't tell him that Zhu Yulong actually had her own private psychology practice with a very high hourly rate. That girl who had seemed so indifferent back then was now thriving.

Large clouds floated in the sky like blooming roses.

Wei Qingyue sat in the back seat while Old Luo drove. He now quite enjoyed looking at the sky, the clouds, the birds that flashed past. It brought him a comfortable sense of dullness.

He remembered, many, many years ago, he had felt something similar, but it had been interrupted for a very long time.

Back then, he had just started elementary school, boarding, unable to go home at night. None of the boarding children were from the city. Noisy little kids, stinky shoes, a strict dorm supervisor—Wei Qingyue rejected this place. It was too messy, too noisy. Everyone liked to push and shove, knock over lunch boxes, step on toothbrushes. His money was secretly taken, and the dorm supervisor couldn't find it, just yelled loudly and complained that he was too much trouble... He wanted to go home, but his home was a complete mess, with neither a father nor a mother.

His mother said, "You see? This house is not a home. It's no use staying. I need to be away for a while. It's better for you to become independent and self-reliant sooner."

His money was always getting lost. He fought with people like a ferocious little rooster. The dorm supervisor called Wei Zhendong, saying, "There's a problem with your son. He's not cheerful enough for his age. Whenever he fights, he beats the other kids as if to kill them. It's normal for boys to be a bit mischievous, but no child is like your son. You should really have a good talk with him."

Wei Zhendong came to the school once and, in front of the teacher, nearly beat him to death. He kicked him so far that his head hit the small flowerbed in the center of the school. The teachers were terrified. From very early on, Wei Zhendong's way of communicating with him was to hit him.

Wei Qingyue was beaten until he vomited. He ran a high fever, becoming delirious and confused. He was in pain and cold, lying alone in bed thinking, 'I need to grow up fast.'

Before he finished elementary school, during summer vacation, Wei Qingyue was sent to a hospital in Shanghai for an emotional disorder. His mother said, "I'll come to see you. Be good. If you're sick, get proper treatment."

When she said this, Wei Qingyue suddenly felt an incredibly passionate sense of anticipation. He thought someone was finally planning to care about him.

But his mother never came, not once.

When Wei Qingyue was bored, he would sit by the window and look at the sky. The clouds changed shape constantly. The cicadas chirped in the trees. Summer was long. Reaching a hand out the window was like sticking it into a bottomless black hole, yet the sunlight was intense.

The patient in the next room was a few years older than him, a middle school student. His mother was always with him, keeping a mood journal, a thick notebook, more diligent than his own essay writing.

He thought, if his mother was willing to love him, he would love her back doubly, triply.

Later, his heart grew colder and harder day by day. Wei Qingyue was going crazy staying in the hospital. He had had enough of the endless treatments. At that time, he only hoped to see his mother. He had hoped purely, been disappointed purely, and then fallen into pure despair.

When summer vacation ended and school started, he told his mother on the phone that he was better and could go back to school normally. It was then that he learned that a certain lady was about to go abroad to continue her studies, completely abandoning him.

He didn't cry, but the urge to cry was so intense it made him shudder.

The sky didn't seem to have changed, and the clouds still floated by, changing shapes.

When Wei Qingyue called Jiang Du, she was at his place. He was extremely surprised and drove all the way back.

It turned out she had gotten off work early, taken leave, and come back to tidy up his house for him.

His house wasn't messy, but it wasn't tidy either. It was in a very average state, just what one would imagine a single man's place to be like.

All his clothes had been thrown out, including his socks.

She wore disposable gloves and was using a tool to measure the dimensions of the cabinets, taking notes, just like the neighboring patient's mother had done with the mood journal. She had a large notebook in her hand.

Seeing him return, Jiang Du immediately asked him, "Why do you have Tweety Birds thrown everywhere?"

Wei Qingyue was also stunned. "I do?"

"Of course, look, in the cabinets, in the drawers, there are dozens of Tweety Birds." Jiang Du didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "It's one thing to buy so many Tweety Birds, but you also throw them around randomly."

Actually, there weren't that many shirts, trench coats, or socks.

But Wei Qingyue bought his underwear in bulk, buying thirty pairs of CK underwear at a time to stock up for a month. He never washed his underwear.

Because underwear had to be washed separately, he found it troublesome and simply wore them as disposables.

Wei Qingyue told her all his habits without any reservation. In front of her, he had a complete sense of security. Underwear was private, but he was completely sincere.

"Can't you buy a washing machine just for underwear?" Jiang Du touched her own hot face, thinking, 'This person is so wasteful.'

Wei Qingyue said, "It's too much trouble, I'd still have to take them out to dry."

Jiang Du looked at him speechlessly again. She asked, feigning casualness, "Have you always been like this? Were you like this as a child too?"

"How young?" Wei Qingyue started chatting casually. "I boarded in elementary school. In first grade, I was too young and didn't even know to change my underwear. I didn't like washing my feet either. As soon as it got dark, I'd want to hide under the covers. Everything was messy and noisy. In the end I said, 'How did it get so stinky?' Wei Zhendong smelled me and gave me a good beating. After I started middle school and grew up a bit, I learned about cleanliness."

As he spoke of his childhood, Jiang Du stopped what she was doing and listened quietly. After hearing it all, she frowned, moved closer to gently touch his arm, and said in a soft and gentle voice, "Then let me give you a washing machine."

She really wanted to cry. She had loved being clean since she was little, always wearing snow-white socks. While her classmates' red scarves were worn like rags, twisted into ropes, hers alone was neat and clean. If only she had been his classmate back then. She would have definitely reminded him, 'Wei Qingyue, you stink, it's time to change your clothes. Does no one wash your clothes? I can take them home and have my grandma help you.'

"Give me a washing machine?" Wei Qingyue's eyebrows shot up. He let out a scoffing laugh. "I thought you were going to say you'd wash my underwear for me from now on."

He was really dreaming.

Jiang Du lightly hit him with the notebook, then began to fold, hang, and sort his clothes. Even the socks were rolled up neatly.

Wei Qingyue didn't offer to help. Instead, he got a glass of water, leaned against the door, and watched her work.

He was also quite tactless. Jiang Du kept coming in and out, but he didn't even think to move or shift aside. Jiang Du kept saying, "Move aside."

"Oh," Wei Qingyue moved one millimeter.

Jiang Du looked up at him. "Move a little more."

Wei Qingyue moved back again.

He was really in the way.

"Wei Qingyue," Jiang Du called him by his full name. "Can you go sit on the sofa for a bit?"

"I can't," he said, looking at her with a smile.

"You're so childish," Jiang Du sighed.

After more than an hour of work, she was finally done. She told him where she had put everything.

Wei Qingyue glanced around distractedly and said, "It's enough that you know."

But in the next moment, he asked with great interest, "You're this capable? Why do I remember you couldn't even rinse clothes properly, leaving them covered in laundry detergent marks?"

That was ages ago. Of course, she still couldn't wash them properly now. Jiang Du was a bit embarrassed to say it truthfully. "I wouldn't say I'm capable. I can't even cook well, that's a shortcoming. But I do enjoy tidying up the house, especially now that our rented place isn't very big, so good storage is even more important. Half virtues, half flaws."

After she finished, she felt a little shy and asked haltingly, "Do you want to come to my place for dinner? My grandpa made your portion too."

Of course Wei Qingyue wanted to. He asked her to wait ten minutes for him, took a shower, and changed his clothes. The mirror was so fogged up with steam he couldn't see his face clearly.

The two left the apartment and went to the garage. A mother was scolding her child with a troubled expression. The little boy was throwing a tantrum on the ground. The mother said with a stern face, "Li Haoran, if you keep this up, you're not getting in the car. I don't want you anymore."

With that, she turned and walked away. The little boy was stunned at first. Seeing his mother walk away as if she really meant it, he scrambled up, ran after her, and hugged her waist from behind. The woman turned around, scolded him a bit more, then picked him up and put him in the car.

Wei Qingyue watched for a long time with a faint smile, only retracting his gaze after the mother and son were settled in the car.

He opened the car door and let Jiang Du get in first.

But he didn't start the car right away. He began to speak slowly, "If I had a child, I would never casually say I didn't want him."

A trace of sorrow flashed in Jiang Du's eyes, an exceptional heartache. Whether it was for him or for herself, she wasn't sure, but she comforted him, "Just now, that mother was just trying to scare her child. She didn't really mean she didn't want him."

"Then he's really lucky," Wei Qingyue said. "The year I was in seventh grade, I got first place in the entire school on the mid-term exams. Wei Zhendong came to the parent-teacher conference. He was the parent representative and went on stage to talk about how to raise a top student. A group of people came to him for advice, complimenting him. That's how it is when you're a student; good grades are the biggest halo. After it was over, I went home with him. I thought he'd be in a good mood that day and wanted to say something to him, but I beat around the bush and didn't know what to say. Halfway there, he answered a call and said he had to attend a dinner party, telling me to get out of the car. The weather was bad, windy and rainy. I said, 'Dad, can you drive a bit further and drop me at the bus stop?' Just that one simple sentence enraged him. He told me to get out and scram immediately, cursing that I was just like my mother, always ordering people about condescendingly. It was raining so heavily, but he didn't even let me take an umbrella. I was soaked like a dog, standing on the side of the road, watching his car disappear into the vast rain and mist. In that moment, I completely understood that I could be abandoned at any time, whether by Wei Zhendong or my mother. If I didn't want to be an abandoned child, I had to be successful and never rely on them, never have any expectations."

Having said this, he turned his head and looked deeply at Jiang Du. "Will you abandon me? Suddenly demand that I get out of the car, that I must scram."

Jiang Du felt her heart seize violently, the pain making her dizzy.

She shook her head. Only when she held his hand did she realize Wei Qingyue's body was trembling imperceptibly.

"Your kindness to me, it's real, right? I mean, you won't leave, you'll stay and tidy up my room for me." He asked, almost in a pained and dazed state.

Jiang Du's eyes filled with hot tears. She smiled and said, "Even if you chase me away, I won't leave."

Wei Qingyue pulled her head over, held her, and they kissed in the car. His control over her brought him a sense of fulfilling pleasure and satisfaction.

There were gifts in the trunk. When they arrived at the residential complex, Wei Qingyue subconsciously glanced at the security guard's face. That face was identical to the one from twelve years ago, which instantly made him break out in a cold sweat.

He remembered very clearly that on that day, when he came out, the security guard had greeted Jiang Du. He had followed the sound and looked over, seeing an ordinary, middle-aged man's face.