Lin Jing stood at the bottom of the building, stamping her feet, likely because of the cold, with her hands over her mouth, breathing on them. Fu Chenxuan recognized her from afar.

"Jingjing," Fu Chenxuan called out. Lin Jing heard Fu Chenxuan’s voice, turned around, saw him, and a smile lifted on her face, which froze when she saw Gu Qingzhu.

Fu Chenxuan pushed Gu Qingzhu forward, and Lin Jing’s gaze constantly sized up Gu Qingzhu.

"Jingjing, are you here looking for me?"

Lin Jing nodded, "I called you, but you didn’t pick up."

Fu Chenxuan felt his shirt pocket, indeed not feeling the phone, "It must have been left at home. If I didn’t answer your call, why didn’t you go back? It’s cold, and you waited downstairs; are you silly?"

Lin Jing chuckled, "I saw the lights on in your home, so I thought maybe you were bathing and didn’t hear it. I was about to try calling again soon."

Fu Chenxuan fell silent, "Are you looking for me this late because something urgent came up?"

Lin Jing didn’t answer but instead turned her gaze to Gu Qingzhu. "And who might this be?"

Only then did Fu Chenxuan remember he hadn’t introduced them, "This is my girlfriend, Gu Qingzhu. Qingzhu, this is my good friend and childhood playmate, Lin Jing."

The smile on Lin Jing’s face completely stiffened. She stared at Fu Chenxuan in a daze, "When did you get a girlfriend?"

Perhaps the emotions in her eyes were too clear; Fu Chenxuan belatedly sensed something, his eyes flickered, and he faintly smiled, "Qingzhu left for a few years and has only just returned recently."

Hearing this, Lin Jing understood everything. It wasn’t that Fu Chenxuan didn’t have someone he liked—it was that he was deeply in love with the woman before him, and so he had been waiting for her return.

Lin Jing couldn’t articulate how she felt at that moment, but she was certain her face must look terrible. She wanted to smile, but her lips wouldn’t comply. All she felt was a sour and bitter tinge at the tip of her nose, knowing that tears would flood out with a single blink.

"Jingjing, did you need me for something?" Fu Chenxuan asked again.

Lin Jing shook her head, "It’s nothing, it’s late. I’ll be going now, goodbye." She turned, straightened her spine—however distressed she might look in the eyes of others, she couldn’t collapse entirely. She was Lin Jing, the strong Lin Jing.

After she had gone a fair distance, Gu Qingzhu finally looked at Fu Chenxuan with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile, "Your little childhood sweetheart cried, are you not going to comfort her?"

Fu Chenxuan sighed, "You just love to see the world in chaos, don’t you?"

Gu Qingzhu shrugged. She was serious—how could he let a girl walk away alone so late at night? What if something happened to her? Weren’t there enough news stories about women being assaulted late at night?

"You should follow her and make sure she’s alright," said Gu Qingzhu.

Fu Chenxuan looked down at her, "Aren’t you jealous?"

"Hurry up and go," Gu Qingzhu pushed him, lest any more time be wasted and the girl got even farther away.

Fu Chenxuan took up the chase while Gu Qingzhu waited for him on the spot.

The moment Lin Jing turned around, tears started falling. She raised her hand to touch her eyes and wiped them away, but new tears continued to fall, like a faucet with a broken switch, completely out of her control.

Fu Chenxuan trailed far behind her, witnessing her crouch down and cry his heart softened, but he ultimately didn’t approach. Since he couldn’t give her what she wanted, he shouldn’t offer the concern he shouldn’t have.

He had never imagined Lin Jing harbored such feelings towards him. When Fu Shuyi mentioned it before, he had always thought Fu Shuyi was overthinking things. Seeing Lin Jing like this now, Fu Chenxuan would be lying if he said he didn’t feel guilty. If he had noticed Lin Jing’s feelings earlier, would she not be so sad now?

Fu Chenxuan waited until Lin Jing boarded the bus before he returned, and Gu Qingzhu had already gone back home. The apartment had an elevator, and there were no stairs to go up or down, making the entrance and exit quite convenient.

"Did she get home safely?" Gu Qingzhu didn’t expect him to return so quickly.

"I saw her get on the bus, and then I came back," said Fu Chenxuan.

Gu Qingzhu clicked her tongue, "Is that too cruel?" The girl seemed utterly unaware of his affections.

"Better to cut it off decisively than to cause endless chaos later on. Better that she knows it from now on," he said. After all, without bringing it up they could still be friends if Lin Jing was willing, and he would still help her out if she needed anything.

Gu Qingzhu shook her head, aware that nothing was more complicated than emotional entanglements. Though Fu Chenxuan’s actions seemed heartless, it might be the best solution.

With the housekeeper at home, Fu Chenxuan didn’t have to worry about Gu Qingzhu as she’d be taken care of, and so he planned to leave.

"You’re going home now?" Gu Qingzhu asked him.

Fu Chenxuan paused in his steps, smiled at her, "If you can’t bear to let me go, I can stay." He was very willing.

Gu Qingzhu rolled her eyes at him, full of disgust, "Get going quickly."

Fu Chenxuan chuckled, bent down, and kissed her on the lips, "Goodnight."

Gu Qingzhu waved her hand in disgust, but the corners of her mouth curled up slightly.

**

"Jingjing, what’s happened to you?" Jiandan heard a knock on the door, got up to open it, and found Lin Jing slumped at the doorway, reeking of alcohol.

"Jingjing, wake up." Jiandan patted her flushed little face. Just how much had she drunk to end up like this?

She tried to help Lin Jing up, but Lin Jing, having turned into a drunkard, was too heavy, and she couldn’t move her on her own. She shook her, "Lin Jing, wake up."

Lin Jing opened her eyes, recognized it was Jiandan, and smiled, "Jiandan, it’s you."

"It’s me. What happened? Why did you drink so much? Weren’t you going to confess to Fu Chenxuan?" Jiandan frowned. Was this a rejection?

Lin Jing laughed cheerfully, "Jiandan, I’m so happy, really so happy. When you’re happy, you should drink, right? Where’s my drink?" She looked down, searching for the bottle on the ground.

Jiandan held her down, "Stop drinking, let’s go inside first."

"No, not going in, I want to drink. Today is a day to celebrate. I want to drink for three days and three nights."

Jiandan had a stern look, three days and three nights indeed. With you like this, I really want to throw you out. She silently thought, but now was not the time to argue with a drunkard. Getting her inside was what mattered, so she patiently said, "Right, right, right, today is indeed a day to be happy. We should drink to our heart’s content. But there’s no alcohol here. Let’s go inside, we have drinks at home. I’ll drink with you, we can celebrate together."

Jiandan didn’t know if Lin Jing was celebrating some happy event and wanted to drink to it. She just subconsciously went along with her words. Could it be that the confession was successful? Was that why she was so happy? But it didn’t seem like happiness to her.

Jiandan couldn’t figure it out.

Hearing that they would continue drinking, Lin Jing instantly got up with Jiandan’s help and staggered into the house, heading straight for the fridge. Jiandan couldn’t hold her back.

The fridge only had beer, which Jiandan’s friends had bought a few days ago when they came over for dinner.

Lin Jing opened a beer and started chugging it down. Jiandan grabbed her wrist, "Lin Jing, tell me first what happened today?" Getting home drunk was one thing, but continuing to drink wasn’t Lin Jing’s style.

Lin Jing looked at her with bleary eyes, smiling, "Jiandan, I’m so happy today, so happy. I’ve never been as happy as I am today."

Jiandan was slightly taken aback, "Did you confess to Fu Chenxuan? Are you two together now?" She couldn’t think of anything else that would make Lin Jing this happy.

Lin Jing shook her head and started to laugh loudly, laughing till tears came out, "I didn’t confess to him, he has a girlfriend now, a very beautiful girlfriend, I saw them. My best friend has found his own happiness, shouldn’t I be happy for him? Jiandan, I’m really happy."

Jiandan was completely stunned, not expecting this kind of outcome. She had thought that Lin Jing had been rejected in her confession, but it turned out that there wasn’t even a chance to speak before the failure was sealed, "Jingjing, let’s not drink anymore. If you’re sad, just cry it out."

Lin Jing chuckled, "Why should I cry? I should be happy, right? Jiandan, I really am happy." Didn’t she even have the right to be happy?

Lin Jing sat on the floor, hugging her knees, with a smile on her lips, but tears were streaming down like they cost nothing.

Seeing Lin Jing like this, Jiandan felt as if her heart had been pricked by needles, a dull ache, "Jingjing, let’s not be like this, I’m scared when you’re like this." She began to regret. If she hadn’t encouraged Lin Jing to confess, would all of this have been avoided?

Jiandan hugged her, "Jingjing, if you’re sad, just cry. My shoulder is here for you." No matter what, don’t keep it bottled up inside. She knew how much Lin Jing liked Fu Chenxuan, and having the person she deeply loved find someone else who wasn’t her—such a blow would be hard to bear for anyone.

Lin Jing stared blankly at the wall opposite her, her gaze scattered. Jiandan kept talking in her ear, but she couldn’t hear what she was saying. She just felt so tired, her heart hurt so much. She was so exhausted, yet she couldn’t fall asleep.

"Jiandan, I want to sing. Do you want to listen to me sing?" Lin Jing spoke distantly, her voice hollow and weak. Jiandan was taken aback for a moment, but finally nodded, "Okay, you sing, and I’ll listen."

Lin Jing gave a soft laugh. And then she began to sing.

"You accompanied me into the summer of cicadas

Overcoming the noise of the city

While the songs still wander"

Your pomegranate-colored eyes,

No longer see your tenderness,

Laughter lost among the flowers,

Time that can’t be paused,

Clouds waiting in vain,

I really miss you,

In every rainy season,

What you chose to forget,

Is what I can’t bear to part with,

Paper short, sentiment long,

Too many ripples, too much unsaid,

All my stories are about you..."

The cheerful melody flowed into Jiandan’s ears but turned into the saddest music score in this world. Jiandan’s nose tingled, and her eyes reddened slightly. She would have preferred Lin Jing to cry hysterically rather than to see her like this. Perhaps she was really wrong, she shouldn’t have encouraged Lin Jing to confess her fruitless affection to Fu Chenxuan.

Lin Jing finished a song and again fell into a long silence. She leaned against the wall, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Jiandan didn’t know how to comfort her, so she just sat beside her.

"Jiandan, I want to drink," Lin Jing said, her voice hoarse.

Jiandan nodded, actively placing a beer in her hand. If getting drunk could relieve some of the pain, then let it be.

Almost all the beer cans at home ended up in Lin Jing’s stomach. Her gaze became more and more hazy.

"Jiandan, I saw his girlfriend, she’s really beautiful, a great match for him. I’ve never seen such a tender look in Fu Chenxuan’s eyes, as if she was his whole world."

Perhaps Fu Chenxuan himself didn’t realize it, the unconscious softness in his voice and eyes when he called Gu Qingzhu’s name. That’s something only a person deeply in love would have.

"Jingjing, there are plenty more fish in the sea; we have others besides Fu Chenxuan," Jiandan said, even though she knew the words were weak and pale.

Lin Jing smiled, yes, Fu Chenxuan wasn’t the only man in the world, but the one she loved was only him.

Fu Chenxuan had waited for his girlfriend for a few years, while she had waited for Fu Chenxuan for over a decade. From the first stirrings of adolescent affection, that boy had imprinted on her heart and never left.

"Jiandan, what if I had come back a few years earlier, would it be different?" if she had returned before his girlfriend had met him, couldn’t she have been the one Fu Chenxuan deeply loved?

Jiandan couldn’t answer that question. In her view, affection wasn’t about who came first or who spent more time; liking someone was liking them, not liking was not liking—it wasn’t about knowing them longer or spending more time together.

"Jiandan, tell me," Lin Jing tugged at her, looking into her eyes, which were now red-rimmed.

Jiandan pursed her lips, "Lin Jing, let’s go to sleep, you’ll feel better when you wake up." Cry it out, sleep it off, let the emotions out and the issue will pass.

"Heh, Jiandan, you also think he wouldn’t like me, that’s why you dare not say it, right?" Lin Jing laughed after seeing Jiandan avoiding the question directly.

Jiandan felt a surge of pain, if she could, she really wanted to confront Fu Chenxuan and ask him why he had to hurt a girl who liked him so much, but she knew she had no right to do so.

Using all her strength, she helped Lin Jing into her room. Jiandan then ran to the kitchen to make her a cup of honey water. When she came back, Lin Jing was already asleep, not peacefully though, with her brows furrowed and tears at the corners of her eyes.

She sighed, went forward to tuck her in, and then got up to leave.

"Mummy, it wasn’t me, my brother’s death has nothing to do with me, not me, Daddy, it hurts, it hurts so much..." Lin Jing muttered softly in her sleep, her body beginning to convulse.

Jiandan woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and checked on Lin Jing’s room on the way, only to find this scene, startling her awake, "Lin Jing, Lin Jing."

She called out her name loudly, but Lin Jing didn’t respond. She seemed to be trapped in a nightmare, unable to be roused no matter how much she was called.

"Daddy, don’t hate me. Boo-hoo, Chenxuan, Chenxuan..."

Jiandan listened with heartache, involuntary tears streaming down, "Lin Jing, wake up."

**

When Lin Jing opened her eyes, she was completely baffled. Where was this place? Not her own home? The air was filled with the smell of disinfectant; was this a hospital?

She turned her head and saw Jiandan lying with her head on the bedside, already asleep. Lin Jing moved a little and realized that an IV was hanging from her hand, "Jiandan," she softly called out.

Jiandan immediately woke up, opened her eyes to look at Lin Jing, her eyes slightly bright, "Jingjing, you finally woke up. You scared me to death." Last night, Lin Jing kept convulsing and wouldn’t wake up no matter how much she was called. Jiandan, fearful something serious might happen, called for an ambulance.

Lin Jing could guess she probably had too much to drink and got alcohol poisoning, "Jiandan, I’m sorry." She didn’t like to trouble others, but this time she had ended up worrying Jiandan too.

Jiandan shook her head, "As long as you’re okay, that’s all that matters. Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere now?"

"I’m thirsty," Lin Jing replied. Jiandan got up to get her a cup of water and checked the temperature; it was warm.

"Jingjing, I’ve already asked for a day off for you at the company. I said you had a fever. After you finish the IV, you can go home and rest well for a day."

"Thank you, Jiandan."

Jiandan waved her hand, "Don’t be so formal with me, we are friends." As she spoke, she felt partly responsible. If she hadn’t encouraged Lin Jing to confess her feelings, none of this might have happened.

"By the way, Jingjing, your dad called this morning, and I answered. I told him you felt a bit ill and were sleeping. You should call him back when you wake up," Jiandan remembered the morning call.

Lin Jing had been talking in her sleep all night long. Although it was just a few repeated phrases, it was evident that she seemed to have some conflict with her family.

Lin Jing appeared to be living under a lot of stress, which was something Jiandan noticed. She wanted to know what had happened, but feared inadvertently touching on Lin Jing’s wounds.

"Call your dad back first; I’ll go buy you some plain congee," Jiandan said.

Lin Jing nodded her head.

After Jiandan left, Lin Jing picked up her phone to call her father.

"Daddy, it’s me."

"Jingjing, are you feeling better?"

"I’m much better, just a minor cold. I felt a lot better after taking some cold medicine." Her voice was hoarse, which did fit the symptoms of a cold.

Mr. Lin didn’t have any suspicions but cautioned her, "If you’re not feeling well, go to the hospital right away, don’t just endure it."

"Daddy, I understand. Don’t worry about me. I’ll take good care of myself."

Mr. Lin sighed. How could he not worry with his daughter alone in a foreign place? "What about Chenxuan? Has he come to take care of you?"

Lin Jing hesitated, then forced a smile, "He went to buy me congee."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Lin immediately felt relieved, "Both of you take good care."

"Yes, I will, Daddy."

Lin Jing hung up the phone and stared blankly at the ceiling. She knew that she and Fu Chenxuan were never going to be; it was clear to her that Fu Chenxuan loved that girl.

After waiting all these years, all she got was this result. Lin Jing gave a bitter smile. Was she the world’s biggest fool?

There was a knock on the door of the ward. She thought Jiandan had come back, but to her surprise, the visitor was Lu Feng.

"Lin Jing, I heard you were sick, so I came to see how you’re doing." Lu Feng held a bouquet of flowers and a thermos.

"I made some congee for you, would you like to try it?" He went to the office in the morning, and when it was time to start work and Lin Jing still hadn’t shown up, he asked a colleague and found out that Lin Jing was sick and hospitalized. After much effort, he learned of the hospital and rushed over.

Lin Jing stared at him in shock, not expecting the first person to visit her would be Lu Feng.