Chapter 75.1: “So my heart, you keep it. From now on, it belongs to you.”

The negotiation with Lin Hui didn’t need to become so tense, and there was no need for Bai Duan Duan to explain so much. She only needed to state her attitude and cut off all contact with Lin Hui. He would naturally understand. However, Bai Duan Duan still spoke.

After saying this, she did not regret it. She felt that the words that the young Ji Lin couldn’t say to slap Lin Hui in the face twenty years ago had finally been spoken by herself.

After Bai Duan Duan finished speaking, she looked at Lin Hui, who was sitting with a gloomy and defeated expression. He looked up at her with a sad and humble tone: “Duan Duan, are you going to break up with me? I…what you said…I will seriously consider it. I did a lot of things wrong, but I helped you when you were in the most difficult situation. Now it’s my most difficult time, you can’t…”

“No, she can.”

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Omrsple cu yzz rypv lhldvp, Nkd Twk qlzv yp kq bl oyp dyjle yde lmrsple kd qasdv sq Kk Nkd yde Jyk Pwyd. Tl zssjle yv Kk Nkd okvb y eau xswvb yde pyke, “Kk Nkd… usw…”

Nkd Twk vbswtbv vbyv Kk Nkd oswze tlv ydtau, yatwl okvb bkx, sa yv zlypv pxypb y nwr. Tsolhla, vs bkp pwarakpl, dsdl sq vbkp byrrldle. Kk Nkd sdzu tyhl bkx y nsze tzydnl, yp kq zssjkdt yv y ekavu ydv. Mblal oyp ds byvale kd bkp lulp zkjl lhlau vkxl vblu xlv clqsal, cwv ayvbla y pldpl sq nyzxdlpp.

“Lawyer Lin, you are also forty years old now and should know the rules of doing things. If it is about official communication regarding a case, please remember not to bypass me, who is also the main lawyer on the case, and only inform my colleagues. If it’s about personal matters, please respect yourself and stop bothering my girlfriend privately, taking up her time and affecting us, young people, in our love life.”

Then Ji Lin looked at Bai Duanduan, and the coldness and expressionlessness just now were swept away. His eyes became gentle and his tone was soft, as if he had suddenly jumped from winter to spring. He gently said, “Duanduan, I’ll take you home.” Then he reached out to Bai Duanduan.

Bai Duanduan looked at Ji Lin and couldn’t help but smile. She said, “Okay.” Then she stood up without hesitation, walked to Ji Lin’s side, and held his hand with her own.

At this moment, no words were needed. The two of them already knew everything in each other’s eyes. They didn’t pay attention to Lin Hui in the private room anymore, but held hands tightly and walked out together, as if they had entered a new chapter in life and bid farewell to the past.

Courage is never given by Fish Leong¹ 梁静茹 Fish Leong (1978-), Malaysian pop singer; also Leong Chui Peng or Jasmine Leong. She sang a song called 勇气 Courage <- the song title. The song is very famous . It is given by the love and trust between each other.

_________

It wasn’t until they walked out of the restaurant hand in hand that Bai Duanduan finally couldn’t help breaking the silence. “Ji Lin… don’t you have anything to say?”

Just now, when she defended Ji Lin against Lin Hui, she was quite clever. But now, facing Ji Lin, Bai Duanduan couldn’t help feeling shy. She didn’t know when Ji Lin came and how much he heard.

Ji Lin stopped and looked at Bai Duanduan, his hand still holding hers tightly, and then he tightened it even more. Then this annoying man looked calmly ahead and said, “Oh, nothing. Just a little regret.”

Bai Duanduan was a little puzzled. “Regret what?”

Ji Lin smiled and took her hand again, walking forward. After a moment, he spoke again, “If I had known that being pitiful was so effective, I would have told you everything earlier.”

He lifted the hand that he was holding and gently kissed it, “I didn’t know that my girlfriend was so easily moved by tragic events. If I had known earlier, I would have told you all the tragic things earlier. Would you have been with me even earlier?”

Bai DuanDuan looked a little unhappy and said, “Even if others are in a worse situation, all I can do is donate money. It’s only because of you that my emotions are so intense. You make it seem like if I sympathize with others, I will be with them.” She bit her lip and lowered her voice, “It’s all because I like you that I’m like this. You always make fun of me just because you know I like you…”

Ji Lin had heard everything just now… Bai DuanDuan felt both embarrassed and uneasy. Liking someone is one thing, but it’s a bit delicate to lay all your cards on the table like this and show how much you like someone. It’s like fearing that others will take advantage of your affection and do something with it. The human self-preservation mechanism couldn’t help but start working.

“I haven’t finished speaking yet. I’m not just proud because you like me. The more you like me, the more I like you. I just regret that if I had been a little more pathetic, would we have progressed faster now that you like me so much?” Here, Ji Lin suddenly leaned down and whispered in Bai DuanDuan’s ear in a voice only she could hear, “Like how many kids you would give me?”

Now all of Bai DuanDuan’s uneasy emotions were gone, replaced by a pounding heart and hot cheeks that might need to be cooled in a refrigerator for a while.

This man, Ji Lin… what kind of person is he? He’s taking advantage of her even though she’s already so protective of him, and he’s still taking advantage of her verbally! If she wants to have a child, she’ll have a child. How many does he want her to have?

Bai DuanDuan felt that she couldn’t face the handsome man who was now walking beside her with a self-righteous expression. He didn’t know how Ji Lin could say such contrasting things with his frigid and restrained face.

“Do you have anything else to say?” he asked.

Fortunately, as Ji Lin saw that Bai DuanDuan was about to run away like a shy rabbit, he kissed Bai Duanduan’s earlobe and kindly gave the bunny a bit of cushioning: “I do regret not telling you earlier, so you wouldn’t have to confront Lin Hui to find out the truth and have to see him, and have to interact with such a despicable person.” Ji Lin pursed his lips, “If there’s anything like this next time, don’t hide it from me. Let me know because your boyfriend is a bit more powerful than you think, and he should be the one protecting you, and you should never have to protect him.”

Bai Duanduan’s heart finally calmed down a bit, and she looked up at Ji Lin, “You didn’t tell me earlier because you were afraid that I would be embarrassed or sad and couldn’t accept that Lin Hui was like this?”

Ji Lin didn’t say anything, which was equivalent to admitting it.

Bai DuanDuan was both angry and amused, “Then I’ll say it too. My boyfriend doesn’t need me to protect him, but I don’t need him to protect me either.” She gently pulled Ji Lin’s hand, “I’m a bit stronger than he thinks, and I can fight alongside him. I don’t need him to deal with some emotions alone and bear some pressure just for my feelings.”

Ji Lin looked at Bai DuanDuan, and after a moment, he finally responded with “Okay.”

Both of them concealed from each other the things they did or did not do, but at this moment, neither Ji Lin nor Bai DuanDuan felt any distance caused by the concealment. On the contrary, they understood each other more deeply. Their concealment was not intended to deceive, but rather, under the circumstances, both of them instinctively tried their best to protect each other when facing problems.

Bai DuanDuan thought that people like Lin Hui and Du Xinyi were probably there to showcase Ji Lin’s loveliness and preciousness.

Ji Lin held Bai Duanduan’s hand tightly. After a moment of silence, he couldn’t help adding, “You can tell me anything that happens to you in the future. Don’t try to shoulder it alone.”

“Same goes for you in the future.”

………

Since there were no secrets between them, Bai DuanDuan and Ji Lin decided to make a summary report of their honesty: “Anyway, that’s how it is. I asked Rong Sheng first, then I talked to Lin Hui, and now you know the rest…”

Ji Lin nodded, “Do you have anything else to ask me?”

Bai DuanDuan shook her head unconsciously, “No.”

But soon, she realized that she needed to change her words.

There was something else she wanted to ask Ji Lin, which wasn’t a big deal at all, and even seemed a bit petty, but Bai DuanDuan cared about it.

Bai DuanDuan hesitated for a moment, but couldn’t hold back and said, “By the way, I heard that you were working hard back then, and you even saved some money from your living expenses to buy a gift for your female high school classmate?”

Even though Rong Sheng had said that there was no way Ji Lin could have liked that girl, for some reason Bai DuanDuan still cared.

Despite trying to control her tone, Bai DuanDuan couldn’t hide the sourness in her voice, and even felt a bit embarrassed after speaking. So she quickly changed the subject, “I’m just asking casually. After all, that was such a long time ago, you may have already forgotten.”

Whether Ji Lin had really forgotten or not, as long as he said he had, then she would… not pursue it anymore. After all, it wasn’t cute for a girl to bring up old issues in a relationship….

However, Ji Lin seemed to have made up his mind and confronted the question head-on, answering decisively, “I remember it quite clearly.”

“…”

Bai DuanDuan felt that sometimes Ji Lin’s will to survive was not very strong. She had even given him an out, so why remember this so clearly? Even if he did remember, he should have said he didn’t. Why don’t men understand that sometimes having a good memory is not a good thing, but a danger!

But Ji Lin was oblivious to Bai Duanduan’s thoughts and continued, “I hadn’t eaten for three days and saved up the money to buy a pink music box. It’s heart-shaped and has a little ballerina that dances to ‘Für Elise.'”

Ji Lin remembered it so clearly that Bai DuanDuan became even more unhappy. “You even bought her a pink heart-shaped one.” She gave Ji Lin a sour look. “Ji Lin, tell me honestly, did you really like her?”

Ji Lin was taken aback. “What does that have to do with anything? I didn’t like her. I just thought she was friendly to me and wanted to give her a birthday present.”

“You gave her a pink heart-shaped thing for her birthday, and the song was ‘Für Elise.’ Do you know when Beethoven wrote that piece? It was when he was in his late thirties and wrote it for a female student he had a crush on. Maybe he wanted to use the music to confess his love and have a teacher-student romance. If you give a gift like that, even if it’s to my female classmate, I’d think you had ulterior motives…”

“The music boxes in the store were all like that. There was nothing else to choose from, and I had to go to work right after buying it, so I didn’t have time to choose.”

“…”

Ji Lin added confidently, “As for the music, I didn’t have time to listen to it when I picked it. I only found out later.”

Later found out! Didn’t that mean he still listened to it?! On one hand, he explained that he didn’t care enough to even pick the music, but on the other hand, there was the self-contradiction of “later found out”……