Chapter 36: A Visit and a Goodbye
After Fu Guanxian arrives at Xiang's house, he hesitates at the entrance for a while before pressing the doorbell.
Jiang Manxin is busy in the kitchen. She hears the doorbell and walks to the living room. Seeing Fu Guanxian being led in by the maid, she smiles and says, “Guanxian, you're here? Just in time. The maid's just about to cut some fruit. Let's have some together.”
Fu Guanxian, unusually embarrassed, says, “Thanks, Auntie. Is Xiang Yang home? I have something to tell her.”
Jiang Manxin points upstairs. “She's studying in her room. Go up and find her.”
“Okay, Auntie, I'll come down later and eat the fruit you cut.”
“Alright, don't forget to call Xiang Yang down later.”
“Got it.” Fu Guanxian nods, then familiarly walks towards Xiang Yang's bedroom.
Fu Guanxian stands at the door for a moment, his mind racing about how he's going to talk to her.
Is it a bit demeaning if he comes to find her like this?
What will her attitude be?
Wouldn't she get angry with him again because of that guy, Xing Zhaoyan?
Fu Guanxian feels that this is very possible. He immediately blackens his face.
Why can't she be honest for a minute!
Fu Guanxian thinks this, then raises his hand and knocks on the door.
Xiang Yang hears the knock, but doesn't respond. Usually, Jiang Manxin knocks three times, waits a few seconds, and then pushes the door open herself. After waiting for a while, the person outside doesn't come in directly, but impatiently knocks again.
Xiang Yang knows that it's not her mother. Who could it be?
She has a bad feeling.
So when she drags her feet, moves to the door, opens it and sees Fu Guanxian, wearing a white shirt, she unconsciously frowns slightly and asks, “What are you doing here?”
Fu Guanxian's gaze has been fixed on her face since she opened the door. Seeing her frown, he gets angry and asks, “You don't like me that much?”
Xiang Yang is shocked by his low, angry tone. She quickly changes the subject and says, “No. What do you want?”
Fu Guanxian seems to hear her denial and his face improves slightly. Then, he goes past her, walks directly into her room, and replies, “Can't I come find you even if I have nothing to do?”
Xiang Yang closes the door, thinking to herself: What are you doing here if you have nothing to do!
Fu Guanxian looks around her room. It's pink and very tidy, and clean. But compared to last time, there are two more big plushies on her bed. One looks like a round monkey wearing glasses, the other is a white and pink rabbit.
Fu Guanxian stares at the plushies on her bed for a while and finally remembers that it's been a long time since he's been in her room.
He points to the things on her bed and asks, seemingly disdainfully, “You're almost an adult. Aren't you being childish?”
Xiang Yang deliberately walks to the edge of the bed, sits down, and pulls the soft pink rabbit into her arms. She doesn't answer his childish question, but asks, “What did you come here for?”
“Heh.” Fu Guanxian laughs, then says, “You're making me think you're trying to get rid of me.”
Xiang Yang has nothing to say. After a while, she asks, “Do you need me to help you with your homework or write a self-criticism?”
“Can't I come see you for any other reason?”
Xiang Yang blurts out, “Why else would you be here?”
Fu Guanxian glares at her fiercely. This ungrateful wretch! He even risked getting into a fistfight with another boy for her sake. He's so annoyed! So he directly says, “My flight is tomorrow morning, I'm going abroad.”
“What?” Xiang Yang is very surprised. “Why are you going abroad?”
Fu Guanxian sees her surprise and feels a little better. He deliberately says, “My father's punishment, he's making me go clean up the mess.”
“Company matters?” Xiang Yang knows that the Fu family business involves all sorts of industries, and they're very successful, but she doesn't know the extent of it.
Fu Guanxian nods and continues, “So I won't be back for a long time.”
Xiang Yang asks worriedly, “What about your studies?”
“I finished learning the knowledge for senior year, and I don't need to review.”
Xiang Yang hears his proud tone and says nothing.
Well, you're a genius, you're awesome.
Fu Guanxian looks at her unhappily. “What's that expression on your face?”
Xiang Yang shrugs. “Nothing.”
“Hmph, Xiang Xiaoyang, don't think I don't know what you're thinking? Those guys, their level is just...even if I wasn't at school for the entire senior year, I'd still be miles ahead of them.”
“Oh.” Xiang Yang continues in her head: I know you're awesome, okay.
Fu Guanxian glances at her, then says, “Don't send me off tomorrow. While I'm not at school, if you need anything, you can find Zheng Jie. I'll call him later.”
Xiang Yang doesn't understand. She opens her clear eyes and asks, “Why would I find him?”
“If anyone bullies you, you can ask him to help you. If anything happens, I'll take the blame.”
Xiang Yang looks at him speechlessly, thinking that nothing would happen as long as he wasn't at school, then she realizes, “When did I say I was going to send you off?”
“That's why I said, don't send me off!”
Xiang Yang: “...” She can't keep up with his rhythm.
Fu Guanxian sees that she's angry but not daring to speak. He stands up, instinctively reaches out and touches her hair, smiling and saying, “While I'm not at school, you better behave yourself. Don't cause any trouble. Also, stay away from some people.”
Even if Fu Guanxian doesn't say it, Xiang Yang knows who he's referring to. She wants to argue back, but she decides to just endure it and not say anything. So she bites her lip, reaches out to try to swat away his hand resting on top of her head.
But Fu Guanxian has already quickly withdrawn his hand. He puts it behind his back and says, “I'm going now.”
Xiang Yang is too lazy to look at him.
What is this guy doing? He came here just to tell me that he's going abroad?
Fu Guanxian walks to the door and turns back to say, “Oh yeah, your mom wants you to go downstairs to eat fruit in ten minutes.”
“Oh.” Xiang Yang replies perfunctorily, still not understanding why he came tonight. Was he just being nice, coming to say goodbye?
After Fu Guanxian goes downstairs, Jiang Manxin has already prepared a fruit platter and is waiting for them. Seeing that he's the only one who has come down, she finds it a little strange. “Where's Xiang Yang? Why isn't she down here?”
“She said she'll come down after she finishes that problem.”
“Okay.” Saying this, Jiang Manxin invites him to eat fruit.
Fu Guanxian symbolically eats a piece, then casually mentions that he's going abroad. Jiang Manxin tells him to be careful. Fu Guanxian smiles and says, “Auntie, don't worry, I'll be fine.”
“Okay.”
Fu Guanxian then bids farewell and goes home. When he leaves, Xiang Yang happens to come downstairs.
Jiang Manxin is puzzled. “Why did you come down right after Guanxian left? You two are so in sync!”
Xiang Yang is stunned. She feels like something's off.
Fu Guanxian is on his way home, and from time to time he reaches out, takes a look, then clasps his fingers together and rubs them. He touched her hair just now, and the feeling was so nice, smooth, like silk.
Fu Guanxian fears that the longer he stays with her, the more reluctant he'll be to leave. But he has to leave.
Fu Guanxian sighs, and in his mind, he calculates that as long as he gets through this torture of high school, when she grows up, he can do whatever he wants.
Just wait a little longer, endure it a little longer, and it will be fine.
The news of Fu Guanxian's vacation quickly spread. After all, he just did such a glorious thing yesterday.
Fan Xiaoyu asks Xiang Yang, “Is Fu's being suspended?”
Xiang Yang doesn't know what's going on either, but she feels that the school wouldn't handle it like that. So she says, “Maybe not. He said he's going abroad to take care of things.”
“So cool! He's the first person in history to dare not to come to school during the stressful senior year!”
Xiang Yang slightly curls her lips and doesn't respond.
Who can argue with that!
A few days after Fu Guanxian leaves school, Xiang Yang notices that the school seems to be quieter, everyone seems to be focusing on their studies.
One day after school, Xiang Yang and Fan Xiaoyu are on duty together. They close the windows and are about to leave when Xing Zhaoyan comes back to the classroom to get his backpack.
Xiang Yang just stepped out of the classroom door and almost bumped into him. Xing Zhaoyan quickly put his hands on her shoulders. Xiang Yang was forced to stop and they avoided an awkward collision.
Fan Xiaoyu follows and sees Xing Zhaoyan quickly retract his hands. She pretends not to see and smiles, “Class Monitor, why did you come back?”
“I just went to play basketball and came back to get my backpack.”
“Oh.” Fan Xiaoyu replies with a knowing tone. Normally, even if boys go to play basketball after school, they'll bring their backpacks with them, because the distance from the playground back to the classroom is quite long.
Fan Xiaoyu winks at Xiang Yang.
Xiang Yang doesn't understand.
Xing Zhaoyan glances at Xiang Yang. He wants to go in to get his backpack, but he stops, turns around, and says, “Xiang Yang, wait, I want to talk to you about something.”
“Hm?” Xiang Yang wants to ask what it is, but he runs into the classroom.
Fan Xiaoyu puts her hand on Xiang Yang's shoulder and smiles. “I'm not going to be a third wheel. I'll take off.”
“Xiaoyu…”
Fan Xiaoyu leans close to her and whispers, “I think he deliberately came back. He definitely came to find you.”
Xiang Yang has the same feeling.
Fan Xiaoyu quickly says, “Then I'm going now. If you need anything, call me back.”
Xiang Yang actually wants her to stay and keep her company, but she also knows that what Xing Zhaoyan will say, it's better if there are no other people around.
Xing Zhaoyan gets his backpack and sees that Xiang Yang is still there. He can't help but smile at her.
Xiang Yang wants to smile back, but she can't, so she can only ask, “What do you want to talk about?”
Xing Zhaoyan walks side by side with her towards the stairs, asking, “Are you still angry?”
Xiang Yang asks him, “What am I angry about?”
“After the incident with Fu Guanxian last time, you haven't spoken to me properly.”
“Have I?” Xiang Yang is actually afraid that she'll say more than she should, so she just doesn't speak.
Xing Zhaoyan says, “Actually, I was in a bad mood that day. When you questioned me, I felt like my heart was stabbed.”
Xiang Yang dares not look at him, just lowers her head and looks at the ground, walking silently.
Xing Zhaoyan looks at her profile, pauses for a while and asks, “Can we still get along like we did before?”
Xiang Yang raises her head and asks, “Isn't it the same as before?”
“It's not the same.” Xing Zhaoyan presses on. “I feel like you're avoiding me.”
Xiang Yang hasn't thought of how to respond when he says emphatically, “On purpose!”
Xiang Yang has nothing to say. She's indeed deliberately avoiding him. Because she can't explain herself the awkward feeling she's having.
Xing Zhaoyan sees that she's not saying anything and asks again, “Can we? Go back to that kind of relationship.”
Xiang Yang thinks that if she doesn't agree, he'll continue on this topic. So she nods, answering with a single word as he wants. “Okay!”
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