Chapter 24: Your Shadow

  He Ge pushed forward with his memories, trying to withstand some of the firepower. "Why didn't you attack Ah Yi?!"

  Ji Siyuan tilted her head and sneered, "Because her husband is Xiao Ziyuan, who can't afford to provoke Xiao Ziyuan? Why don't you find a husband like Xiao Ziyuan too, then I won't attack you either. Besides, pregnant women are all bullied, do they have any human rights?"

  He Ge just wanted to speak but suddenly stopped, then looked at San Bao and winked at her.

  San Bao blinked his eyes with a confused face, until he heard the voice behind him and suddenly opened his eyes wide, jumped up to greet, "Head Nurse, what a coincidence."

  A middle-aged woman stood a few steps away, exchanging pleasantries with a fake smile, "Dr. Ren, this is my niece, you haven't met her before, have you?"

  San Bao shook his head desperately, "Never seen never seen."

  A middle-aged woman patted her niece and said, "By the way, when will your mentor be free? I want to ask him to take a look at my niece and adjust her body. She's just too thin."

  After finishing, he went to pinch San Bao's waist and said, "Dr. Ren, why don't you teach your nephew how to eat so fat?"

  Three treasures laughing and smiling foolishly, also didn't mind.

  Ji Siyuan couldn't help but turn her head and ask, "Who is this auntie?"

  Su Yi leaned in close to her ear and whispered, "The experienced head nurse is quite capable, the one next to her is her niece. I heard she's been trying to introduce her niece to Chen Zhuo, but Chen Zhuo ended up with San Bao instead, so now she's always finding fault with San Bao."

  He Ge's heart had a faint feeling of supplementing, "Especially poisonous mouth!"

  Ji Siyuan raised her chin and took a glance, "Oh, looks like it's 'quite' vicious, I thought it was Cinderella's stepmother."

  The vicious stepmother continued to stab in the back, "Girls should be thinner and look better. Look at my niece, isn't she thin and pretty?"

  "Yes, she's quite thin, so we have to take her to see a veterinarian." Ji Si Xuan raised her voice and said in a sarcastic tone, "Do we have any classmates who are veterinarians? Introduce one to her."

  He Qiang spat out a mouthful of water, "Pfft..."

  Suddenly remembering something almost inaudible, the 'Queen' got angry.

  The girl glared at Ji Si Xuan with a furious face, "You!"

  The vicious woman took two steps closer, "A pretty little girl like you, how can you say such unpleasant words?"

  Ji Siyuan leaned back in her chair, looking at the two people with a calm and collected expression. "I originally thought that whether or not someone's words were pleasant to listen to had something to do with their appearance. No wonder I find your words so unpleasant to hear."

  "Who did you say is ugly?"

  "Are you kidding me? Can't you hear how obvious it is?"

  "Who are you? What does it have to do with you if I'm talking to Dr. Ren?"

  Ji Siyun replied calmly, "It's okay, I'm just sick and haven't taken my 'medicine' yet. How about you, haven't taken your 'medicine' either?"

  The middle-aged woman was so angry that she trembled all over, and dragged her own niece away without looking back.

  After San Bao sat back, Ji Siyuan reached out to pinch her face, with a look of frustration, "Did you eat too many buns? When others bully you like this, you don't even fight back?"

  Sanbao still had a smiling face, slightly blushing, "I'm afraid Chen Cong will be embarrassed."

  Ji Siyuan let out a sorrowful cry, "Let's go, let's go. We might as well go window shopping."

  Four people strolled around for an afternoon, had dinner and then went to a nearby bar with a strong petty-bourgeois atmosphere to kill time.

  Three treasures are drunk with just a sip of wine, but he insists on drinking every time. After just a few sips, he hugs Ji Si Xuan and bursts into tears, "You wicked girl, how can you be so heartless? You've been gone for so many years without coming back... I'm so afraid you'll never come back..."

  Ji Siyuan struggled to prop up the constantly falling San Bao, but suddenly turned her head and said to Sui Yi and He Ge, "I've always been afraid to come back. When I came back and saw you guys, I would think of the past, think of Qiao Yu..."

  She still smiled faintly, under the dim light, her eyes were as bright and clear as ever, shining like stars.

  How dare you mention that name so recklessly, at the mere thought of it, my heart skipped a beat. He Ge immediately slapped San Bao on the back, "What's wrong with you bringing up this topic?! Change the subject!"

  Three Treasures looked at the three people with a confused expression, "Change one? Oh, when are we going to Hai Xian Lou then? I'm so afraid it will suddenly close down one day, I've only been there once, waaahhh..."

  He Ge was about to slap her again, but was stopped by Ji Siyuan. She laughed uncontrollably, "Alright, alright, she's had too much to drink and doesn't even know what she's saying."

  He Ge followed San Bao's example and fell asleep at the bar, sleeping soundly until late at night.

  "What's wrong? You've been off all day."

  Ji Siyun was watching the man on stage singing a love song in a soft voice, when she heard Su Yi's voice and turned her head to look at him, asking seriously, "Su Yi, why do you like Xiao Ziyuan? Has he ever done anything... that touched your heart?"

  "I thought about it and realized that liking someone is probably the most unreasonable thing in this world. It's not about weighing the pros and cons, nor is it about being attracted to their appearance. It's just that suddenly, there's this one person who makes you feel like you can't let go. What moved me about Xiao Zi Yuan wasn't something he did, but his attitude towards me - in all of his plans, he always left a place for me."

  Ji Siyuan's smile on her face gradually disappeared, and she lowered her eyelids without speaking.

  A man doesn't need to make grand promises, his greatest sincerity is slowly telling you how he spent every day in the days when you were not around. Although you are not there, he still keeps your position. It was like this in the past and will be like this in the future.

  "Guess what Qiao Yu did again?"

  Ji Siyun took a deep breath, narrowed her eyes and looked puzzled for a long time, "Actually, nothing was done at all..."

  Ji Siyu pulled out a cool 'medicine' paste from her bag and handed it to Sui Yi, "It was given to me when I returned from my business trip, she dragged me on and talked nonsense with me for half an afternoon, that's all."

  "Is it really just nonsense?"

  Ji Siyuan remained silent.

  "It's not nonsense." Her eyes were filled with defeat, unwilling to admit but had to admit, "Most of the earth-shattering and heart-wrenching love stories in this world don't have good endings. The most lingering love is actually living a plain and ordinary life every day, being responsible for oneself and for each other. There's no need for so much drama, accompanying each other until old age is true depth. That man back then was like that to me, setting up candles under the dormitory building, singing love songs, but never doing anything, just frowning and saying, 'Ji Si Xuan, have you finished reading the architectural history? You're already a year behind others, why aren't you working harder?' 'Ji Si Xuan, take some time to learn this drawing software.' 'Ji Si Xuan, your concept is too vague, your progress is too slow, your quality is too poor, there's no depth, the data is too weak, the lines are not drawn well, the model is not 'tall' enough, the rendering is not realistic enough, redo it, re-do it, re-test it, start over.' He would criticize my homework to pieces, but when I finished and submitted it ahead of time, he would be surprised and praise me. When I was abroad, people would say to me, 'Ji Si Xuan, your drawing foundation is very solid, your habits are very good,' actually, my parents didn't teach me properly, the advantage of studying architecture for me was having a fine arts background, relying on some talent and intuition, but those skills and habits were all taught by Qiao Yu. Even my own professor would say to me, 'Actually, I have a favorite student who is a male, also Chinese, from the same school as you, named Qiao Yu, do you know him?' But he didn't come, there's a shadow of his in your work."

  Ji Siyun's eyes were downcast, her brow furrowed in distress as she spoke word by word, "Do I know him? Can I say I don't know him? Can you understand that feeling, when all the memories come flooding back, one after another? It turns out this man had long ago woven a web, silently and stealthily drowning me, leaving no escape. Now that I'm back, it's still the same, he looks at you with a warm smile, you get angry, irritated, sarcastic, venomous, but all your resistance and defensiveness are met with his gentle acceptance, silently reeling in the net. This man is not weak, he's truly gentle, a gentleness born from inner strength, how am I supposed to resist?"

  As I recall, in the year of graduation, there was a time when that girl handed in an assignment. The professor who taught the class was very pleased and praised her, saying that this drawing of hers was similar to one of his previous students, named Qiao Yu. He also said that she had always been relying on novelty to attract attention, but now she was finally willing to calm down and work hard, and it seemed like she had something of her own at last, which was great. But when she got back, she tore up the drawing into pieces. That night, after lights out, she glued them back together one by one under the corridor light. It was winter then, and the temperature was very low at night. She was wearing thin pajamas, squatting on the ground, feeling lonely and isolated. Later, she saw her tears falling to the ground drop by drop. That was the first time she had seen that carefree girl cry after Qiao Yu left.

  No matter how free-spirited you are, when you encounter love, you become a timid little woman.

  Ji Siyuan's eyes were a bit red, she endured for a moment, smiled and turned her head, "I'm a bit drunk, I don't make sense, just pretend you didn't hear it."

  Su Yi returned the medicinal paste, "Then you can be with him."

  Ji Siyun proudly turned her head to one side, "I don't want to! Why? Was it him who said we couldn't study abroad together anymore? Was it him who let go first? Why can I come back and act like nothing happened with him?"

  Suddenly remembering something, "You witch, don't you think..."

  Ji Siyun didn't even lift her head, and there was a hint of regret in her voice, "I think so."

  "So you..."

  Ji Siyuan looked at Sui Yu quietly, with a faint smile, "But Ah Yu, back then you and Xiao Ziyuan weren't being pretentious either?"

  Su Yi tilted her head in thought for a moment, then suddenly smiled and couldn't help but nod in agreement, "Overly sentimental."

  "What's the point of dating if you can't be a little pretentious?" Ji Siyuan narrowed her eyes at Sui Yi, her slightly curled long hair falling by her ear, exuding charm, "You say I'm so pretty, can't I be a bit pretentious?"

  "Ah, I love your true nature, seeing right through everything. And by the way, aren't you tired of that cliché scene where people sing love songs and hold candles under the dorm building? Back then, so many people called out your name under the dorm building, acting like they were in a drama, but weren't they all just shallow and ended up losing to you?"

  "Is it?" Ji Siyuan sipped his wine, replying indifferently, "I completely don't remember."

  "You've been back before, haven't you? That New Year's Eve? Qiao Yu saw you, just that one glance, and he almost went crazy." Su Yi suddenly had a serious expression. "At the time, he was holding my arm, asking me if I saw you, with such force, probably he himself didn't realize it. At the time, so many people were watching, his voice was trembling, I watched him forcing himself not to lose control, using all his strength to suppress his emotions. After you left, he never asked me about your news, only that one time. One year, a colleague in their department had a baby, a girl, and the father thought of several names for them to see which one sounded good. At the time, I was also there, Qiao Yu pointed at the character "Xuan" on the paper and told him that he heard girls with the character "Xuan" in their name would grow up to be very beautiful. The colleague thought for a moment and asked, like what? Qiao Yu smiled, like, for example, Zhou Xuan from the Republic of China. Someone else asked, is there another one? Qiao Yu paused, his mouth moved slightly, and suddenly couldn't smile anymore, saying there were many, but he couldn't think of them at that moment. At the time, Zi Yuan whispered to me, he must have been thinking of you just now. But for him, the three words "Ji Si Xuan" are something that is difficult to say out loud. Hasn't he ever told you any of this? Qiao Yu's endurance and love are all hidden behind his gentle smile. You witch, I used to think that no matter what others thought, Qiao Yu and you would definitely end up together, although many things happened later, but I still think so, until now."

  Ji Siyun raised her hand and rubbed Rang Yi's face, drawing out her voice, "Understood, Mrs. Xiao!"

  Su Yi slapped her hand open, "Don't you think that the characters 'qiao' and 'yao' are very similar!"

  Ji Si Xuan lazily opened her mouth, "What does it look like? 'Qiao Yu' is all talk and no action, 'Ji Si Xuan' is all talk and all action."