Chapter 43

Sun Yaxian had been wanting to talk to Wen Yu.

She told Qian Haoran that she was going to the restroom and got up to walk over. However, Wen Yu was engrossed in a conversation with Li He and didn’t even spare her a glance.

Sun Yaxian approached them and vaguely heard them discussing a project. Li He glanced at her but didn’t pay any attention. Unable to join in the conversation, Sun Yaxian went straight to the restroom.

As she walked away, Wen Yu finally gave her a glance.

“You guys have fun, I’m leaving,” he said to Li He.

“Hey! Hey!” Li He protested, reaching out his hand. “Where are you going?”

Wen Yu swiftly slipped away. “Mind your own business!”

Li He had already noticed that Wen Yu’s mind wasn’t here tonight. He laughed and cursed, watching Wen Yu slip away.

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After Sun Yaxian walked past him, he couldn’t hold back his thoughts any longer and left first. He drove straight to Guangming Road.

Fortunately, unlike South Bridge Road, it wasn’t congested on weekends, so he arrived quickly.

At this time, the coffee shop was no longer in its peak hours, and there weren’t many customers inside.

Ji Anning was talking to Shu Chen about applying for a job as a print model. “I haven’t heard back yet, I don’t know if it will work out.”

Shu Chen comforted her, saying, “It’s only Friday, don’t worry.”

Ji Anning continued, “I have something tomorrow morning. I asked my classmate to help cover Xiao Yun’s class. I already talked to Xiao Yun’s mom about it. My classmate is a top student, the class monitor. She’s really good at studying…”

As they were talking, the door was pushed open, and the bell rang.

Ji Anning immediately stood up straight and sweetly exclaimed, “Welcome!”

Then she saw Wen Yu’s face.

Wen Yu couldn’t help but feel that Shu Chen was a vampire.

Although he had seen Ji Anning in her maid outfit through the window and had even picked her up before, at that time Ji Anning had already changed back into her regular clothes. This was the first time Wen Yu opened the door and was greeted by Ji Anning’s sweet smile.

The black and white maid dress, the fuzzy cat ears—she almost melted him! Suddenly, he understood those otaku guys.

Shu Chen only paid Ji Anning such a small amount of money! It was definitely exploitation!

“Hey, why are you here?” Ji Anning said.

“I can’t come here as a customer?” Wen Yu said irritably.

“Sure, you can come and contribute to our store as a brick and tile,” Ji Anning said speechlessly.

Shu Chen smirked, “Please come inside. What would you like to drink?”

Wen Yu ordered a latte.

When Ji Anning brought it over, she looked a bit helpless.

Wen Yu understood why when he saw the coffee—Shu Chen had drawn a cartoon girl’s head with cat ears on top of it. Wasn’t that Ji Anning?

Shu Chen was quite petty, no wonder Ji Anning looked helpless.

Wen Yu chuckled.

Sipping his coffee, he admired Ji Anning in her maid outfit. Though it wasn’t revealing, it was truly another kind of “eye candy” for men—itching at their hearts.

Shu Chen, that scoundrel, if you were to say he was a bad person, he definitely wasn’t. He was even a bit too soft-hearted.

It was this particular quirk that made people hate him to the point of itching teeth.

Before Ji Anning finished work, Wen Yu called for the “bill.”

Ji Anning said, “No need, our store manager said it’s his treat since it’s your first visit. But next time, you’ll have to pay for yourself.”

Wen Yu waved his hand towards the counter as a gesture of thanks.

Shu Chen also raised his hand to gesture “No problem.”

The two of them got along incredibly well, always making Ji Anning feel a sense of discord.

After she went to change her clothes in the back, Wen Yu pondered for a while. He hesitated and then walked over to the counter, tapping his fingers on it.

“Hmm?” Shu Chen, who was holding a pen and sketching manga drafts at the counter, looked up. “What’s up?”

“I have a question…” Wen Yu hesitated and said, “Where did Ji Anning buy that uniform she’s wearing?”

Shu Chen: “…”

Shu Chen doesn’t wear glasses.

If he did wear glasses, he probably would have pushed them up with his middle finger in a deep and dramatic way, just like in a comic.

Ji Anning came out after changing her clothes and saw Wen Yu and Shu Chen chatting happily.

It seemed as if some significant event had occurred during the short time she was changing, one that had greatly advanced the friendship between the two. They were in harmony, as if they had been old friends for years.

Fantasy!

Ji Anning walked over with suspicion and said to Wen Yu, “I’m ready, shall we go?”

Due to their past life connection, she always suspected that Wen Yu might have frightened Shu Chen again when she couldn’t see, and she worried that Shu Chen might have been scared and dared not speak up.

But it didn’t seem like it…

Once they got in the car, Ji Anning couldn’t help but say, “Shu Chen is a nice person. Don’t scare him for no reason.”

Wen Yu was confused, “Why would I scare him?”

Ji Anning was at a loss for words. Upon careful observation, Wen Yu didn’t seem to be lying.

“Then what were you two talking about just now?” she asked curiously.

“Ahem! Nothing,” Wen Yu turned his head to look at the left side mirror. After the car started moving, he asked Ji Anning, “When will you quit here?”

“I haven’t found a suitable job yet,” Ji Anning assured him. “Once I find a new job, I won’t work here anymore.”

Ji Anning’s maid outfit was truly provocative, leaving much to the imagination. In Wen Yu’s heart, it was only suitable for him to see her wearing it alone. Now that so many people were looking at her, he felt quite uncomfortable.

But Ji Anning was willing to listen to advice and had such a good attitude, so Wen Yu didn’t want to push her too hard. He just made a noncommittal sound.

As soon as Ji Anning heard that sound, she knew that Wen Yu was unhappy. Being smart, she didn’t say anything more and quietly sat on the passenger seat, not wanting to provoke this hot-tempered and domineering guy.

Meanwhile, Wen Yu thought that if Ji Anning couldn’t find a suitable replacement job after some time, he would just casually find a branch company and create a suitable position for her!

He guaranteed that she wouldn’t be able to figure out his intentions!

“Tomorrow morning at 7 o’clock, I’ll come to pick you up,” Wen Yu told her about their Saturday plans.

Ji Anning was surprised, “So early?”

“I’ll take you for breakfast first,” Wen Yu said. “After eating, we shouldn’t exercise immediately, so it’s better to eat early.”

“Well…” Ji Anning wanted to say that she could just eat a steamed bun at home.

The steamed bun was a large, satisfying one she bought from the canteen. It could fill her up.

Wen Yu had already guessed that she would refuse, so he interrupted her and said, “The direction of the place where I have breakfast is different. If I eat first and then come to pick you up, it will be a detour and too troublesome.” He used this statement to stop Ji Anning from speaking further.

With him saying that, Ji Anning couldn’t say anything else and could only agree.

When they arrived downstairs at Huada University’s family building, Wen Yu opened the trunk and took out a bunch of paper bags.

Ji Anning glanced at them and asked, “What’s this?”

Wen Yu said, “I bought you a few outfits to wear tomorrow.”

Ji Anning bit her lip and said, “Didn’t you say that I can just wear workout clothes?”

“You can wear them when playing sports,” Wen Yu said, “but you can’t wear workout clothes everywhere, right?”

Ji Anning was at a loss for words.

But she also knew that his friends were definitely well-off, including Yang Bo, who also seemed to be wealthy. Her clothes were either worn out or cheap. If she went dressed like that, she would probably stand out.

But she had to meet Yang Bo.

Ji Anning took the bags and said softly, “Thank you for going through the trouble again.”

Seeing that she wasn’t being overly hypocritical, Wen Yu breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, saying, “When have you been a trouble to me?”

On the way, he told her, “They are all affordable brands for working-class people. I deliberately went to a mall that I’m not familiar with just to buy them. I didn’t choose luxury brands to corrupt you. Don’t overthink it.”

When they arrived at the entrance of the building, Ji Anning stopped and hesitated for a moment before saying, “Can I tell you something without making you angry?”

“Hmm?” Wen Yu was surprised. “Go ahead.”

“Well,” Ji Anning mustered up the courage and said, “I sold the fruit machine you gave me to someone at school.”

“…” Wen Yu paused. “And then?”

Ji Anning said, “And then I bought an ordinary domestic mobile phone.”

The so-called “ordinary” probably meant low-end and cheap, and Wen Yu understood it instantly.

Ji Anning lowered her head slightly and explained softly, “I know you meant well. But I’m a financially needy student receiving a scholarship, and it’s really not appropriate for me to have such an expensive phone.”

Ji Anning felt uneasy because it wasn’t just a phone; it was also a gesture from Wen Yu. She always felt that he would be unhappy if he found out.

But Wen Yu laughed, rubbed her head, and said, “It’s not a big deal. I gave it to you, so it’s yours. It’s up to you.”

Ji Anning looked up at him, and he really didn’t seem angry.

Wen Yu thought for a moment and said, “I didn’t consider it properly. I’m used to buying the latest models of everything and didn’t take your situation into account. I’ll think more about it in the future.”

Ji Anning opened her mouth and said, “No…”

“No, what do you mean ‘no’?” Wen Yu interrupted her impolitely.

He looked at her with a pained expression in his eyes.

“You’ve been influenced too much by others. Why do you care about what they think? I’m not supporting you financially!” He was a little angry. “Why can’t one person be good to another?”

He wasn’t angry at Ji Anning, he was angry at those who had influenced her.

In that dream, he saw how those people had slandered her, how she was isolated and always on her own.

It was clearly just a dream, but it felt so real.

Wen Yu had been telling himself these past few days that it was definitely because Ji Anning had told him about being harassed and rumored about by others. So these pieces of information entered his brain, and he had thoughts during the day and dreams at night, which became this vivid dream.

But even though he tried to convince himself, the resentment that had arisen in the dream still remained in his heart after waking up.

Ji Anning opened her mouth but didn’t make a sound.

Finally, she said, “I have to wake up early tomorrow. You should go back, and I’ll go back too.”

Her voice was low and somewhat hoarse. After saying that, she turned around and ran upstairs.

Wen Yu looked at her disappearing figure, sighed lightly, and turned to leave.

Ji Anning ran upstairs, twisted the doorknob, and swiftly entered the room. With a loud bang, she closed the door and leaned against it, standing there.

How come it’s not possible for one person to treat another person well?

…

Fine.

Okay.

The bags fell to the ground, and Ji Anning’s back slid down, squatting on the floor, hugging her knees.

The lights in the room were not turned on, and the TV screen cast a bluish-purple glow on her grandmother’s face. She heard a voice and turned her head to look, smiling widely, “Ningning, are you back? Grandma will cook for you after this episode.”

She looked towards the doorway, and after a while, she said, “Ningning, don’t cry.”

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