A Chan – CH 144

Chapter 144: Ending (1)

When Zhang Jingchan recalled the past, he realized he felt indebted to Li Weiyi. Specifically, because of him, she had been extremely jealous.

After Fuming went bankrupt, for a while, fewer girls pursued Zhang Jingchan. But later, people gradually discovered that the Zhang family wasn’t as dire as they had imagined. Rumors circulated that Zhang Moyun had made a comeback and was grooming Zhang Jingchan to take over the business. Furthermore, Zhang Jingchan himself was exceptionally handsome and talented. Soon, the number of suitors returned to its previous frenzy.

Zhang Jingchan rejected them all, claiming he already had a girlfriend. Of course, no one believed him; after all, he only had a few close friends, with Li Yunmo being the most devoted. Surely Li Yunmo couldn’t be his girlfriend, right? Hahaha.

During that time, short essays about the Zhang-Li couple circulated on the school’s online community.

Until September of the following year, the famous Zhang Jingchan was seen eating in the cafeteria and studying with a freshman girl from the art academy, and even frequently standing guard outside the girls’ dormitory, shocking countless people.

For those one or two years, the two of them were truly deeply in love. Young people were no longer bound by constraints or by distance. After more than a year of “catching up,” their feelings had reached a fever pitch, and they were inseparable. Zhang Jingchan had never felt this way before. Just mentioning her, seeing her, made him want to smile. He thought she was usually silly and naive, but incredibly clever and open-minded when it mattered. He wanted to tease her all the time, yet he also desperately wanted to possess her. The affection between the two young people was like a spark falling onto a lush green meadow, instantly igniting a raging fire.

They wanted to be together all the time. When he didn’t have classes, he would wait for hours outside her studio with his textbook. Eventually, the art academy teachers even added a round stool for him at the back of the studio; everyone in the academy knew it was Zhang Jingchan’s seat. She had even more free time, accompanying him to his completely incomprehensible classes and accompanying him to his father’s office to work overtime. At only 20 years old, Zhang Jingchan even experienced the feeling of “mutual support and companionship.”

They kissed passionately in a dark corner of a movie theater; they swam all afternoon in the deserted pool of the Zhang family villa without getting tired, their passion only growing stronger; they also sneaked into the school’s grove of trees several times… What did Zhang Jingchan feel about holding such a girlfriend back then? He wanted to give her his whole heart. He only hoped that the vow of “forever” he made then could truly last a lifetime. “I love you,” such an ordinary phrase; they said it every day, as if only through repeated confirmation and expression could their intense feelings find release and solace.

Their first argument came after Zhang Jingchan had been busy with his graduation thesis for over a week and hadn’t had time to see her.

During that time, Li Weiyi was also very busy with her studies. But she still slipped out of school on Friday nights after a long lecture to go to Zhang Jingchan’s school to see him.

That night was cold. Li Weiyi stood outside his advisor’s studio, looking inside at the lights, seeing only him and one other girl.

The girl was beautiful; Li Weiyi recognized her—a classmate from a different class, ranked third in the entire department. Zhang Jingchan’s eyes were glued to the computer, his fingers tapping the keyboard. The girl stood beside his desk, laughing and talking, then patted his shoulder. Zhang Jingchan looked up, smiled at her, and said something in return.

Li Weiyi was about to explode.

Actually, she knew Zhang Jingchan would not. He was so good to her, so fond of her. His mind was filled with the idea of ​​their relationship progressing smoothly to 2022, with their two timelines perfectly converging. It was no exaggeration to say that Li Weiyi felt he was approaching their relationship like a ceremonial Taoist cultivator.

Understanding was one thing, but emotions were another.

Many things she didn’t tell him, but that didn’t mean they weren’t buried in her heart. When she walked beside him, many people gave her looks that clearly said, “You aren’t good enough,” though Li Weiyi would roll her eyes at them; and some people at her school openly and subtly mocked her for “clinging” to the son of a former richest man, even spreading rumors that she had seduced Zhang Jingchan with her body in high school, though she had retorted at the time, making those people afraid to speak to her face again… But she was only 18 after all, and she would also cry in anger and resent Zhang Jingchan for being too prominent.

As Zhang Jingchan approached graduation, he took on more and more responsibilities at the company, and she watched him develop little by little, growing into a mature man who rarely showed his emotions. He would be so stressed about the company that he couldn’t sleep at night. At that time, Li Weiyi couldn’t help him at all and couldn’t even truly understand or keep up with many of the things he did. Just like the Zhang father and son, who, in the second year after their bankruptcy, jointly earned back 100 million yuan, this was something unimaginable to an ordinary sophomore girl.

Li Weiyi was under immense pressure, but unlike Zhang Jingchan, her pressure wasn’t explicit or concrete. It was subtle, seeping into everything related to Zhang Jingchan. Even she herself didn’t understand what that pressure was.

But that evening, seeing him and his equally outstanding classmate alone together, smiling at each other, Li Weiyi’s pressure instantly reached a breaking point.

However, Li Weiyi was never one to run away or blindly charge forward. She tried to compose herself, smiled, and walked in, calling out, “Ah Chan.”

Zhang Jingchan turned around, smiled when he saw her, pushed aside the keyboard he hadn’t let go of all day, and extended a hand to her: “Why did you come? You didn’t even tell me you were coming. I would have come to pick you up.”

Li Weiyi’s smile was slightly stiff. She walked over, took his hand, and nodded to the other girl.

The girl was even more stiff than Li Weiyi. Their eyes met, and they both understood. However, the girl was much more experienced than Li Weiyi, maintaining a perfect, sweet smile: “Your girlfriend’s here, so I won’t bother you any longer. We’ll discuss the rest tomorrow.”

Zhang Jingchan said, “Okay.”

After the girl left, Zhang Jingchan said, “Could you wait a little longer? I haven’t finished something.”

“Okay.”

A while later, Zhang Jingchan had to put down his keyboard again and look at the silent girl beside him. Something was wrong with her.

But he was actually very anxious. This part of the paper was due to be submitted to his professor tomorrow. He was incredibly busy, squeezing in every spare moment. And having his train of thought interrupted twice in a row was making him quite irritable.

Zhang Jingchan patted Li Weiyi’s hair and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Li Weiyi asked, “Why were you and she the only ones here?”

Zhang Jingchan paused, then chuckled, “Seriously? Are you jealous of this, too? She’s just a classmate. I did this part of the data analysis with her.”