Chapter 2

  All the way back, crossing half of the globe, it's a tiring journey, but Situ Xuan has no sleepiness. Wu Jiang said she was still jet-lagged and hadn't had a good sleep for over 20 hours, but they might be afraid to leave her alone in the hotel room, so they suggested taking her out to experience the nightlife of their hometown again, find a place to have a few drinks, and catch up on old times.

  She readily agreed. She didn't tell them that she hadn't closed her eyes for over twenty hours. The night before returning home, she stared blankly at the sky outside the window as it gradually turned from dark to white, not closing her eyes for a minute, unable to say why, but feeling anxious and restless, with no place to settle. On the plane, she was exhausted, but when she stepped onto the ground, Wu Jiang and Lin Jing's successive appearances were like injecting her with a stimulant, and now that the critical moment had passed, she didn't feel sleepy at all.

  They arrived at the agreed location in Wujiang early, and the waiter pushed open the door of the private room. Xīu Tuō, who was standing at the front, was startled on the spot. The large private room was bustling with people, and she had no doubt that she had been led to someone else's territory by mistake. Just as she was about to leave, Wujiang had already stepped inside the room and turned back to look at her, still in a daze, and asked with a smile: "What's wrong? Are you also scared by this scene?"

  As they spoke, the people who were originally sitting, leaning, singing and drinking all came up laughing. Sutu Xuan rubbed her eyes, those faces, perhaps a little fatter, perhaps with added fish tail wrinkles, perhaps balding foreheads, or perhaps completely changed in attire and temperament, but upon closer inspection, which one was not someone she had once been familiar with? Those names that seemed to have been forgotten in another world suddenly all came out, right on the tip of her tongue, about to be called out.

  Wu Jiang was right, she was frightened, it's hard to say whether that feeling was unexpected or something else. Si Tu Xuan was completely unprepared and felt a few points of fear at this sudden prosperity, she couldn't pretend to be happy like the swallows returning to their nest, she could only stand stiffly in the crowd with a look of confusion or indifference on her face.

  Fortunately, Lin Jing, who followed Su Yu, was more meticulous and good at observing expressions. He came with Wu Jiang's invitation to accompany Su Yu, and most of the people inside were old friends of Wu Jiang and Su Yu. Although he didn't know them well, he at least understood Su Yu. This time, there might be "surprise", but not necessarily "joy". He stood beside Su Yu, gently patted his tightly wrapped back, and Su Yu seemed to come back to himself, opening a smile, calling out the names of those people one by one, quickly throwing himself into their midst, hugging, chatting, and being lively. After greeting everyone, Wu Jiang didn't forget to introduce Lin Jing to everyone. With Lin Jing's identity and his social skills, it was not difficult for him to blend in seamlessly with a group, which was exactly what this reunion party should be like - exciting, harmonious, noisy, and warm.

  Xī Tuò Jǐn finally had a chance to take a break and drink some water, when Wú Jiāng asked in a low voice: "What's wrong, Xī Tuò? Earlier... I'm also to blame for not telling you beforehand. They heard that you were back and really wanted to come gather with you. I didn't expect so many people would come... I thought you'd be happy."

  Situ Xuan naturally knew that Wu Jiang was good-natured, but how could he have known that after so many years, the Situ who had been calling the shots in this group would become timid. Facing his friend's apology, Situ Xuan smiled and said, "Why not be happy? I'm just suffering from jet lag and lack of sleep, seeing so many people made me dizzy."

  Lin Jing also extricated herself from a "as if they had known each other for a long time" conversation and sat down beside them.

  "Situ, are they all your old friends? It's getting late now, and so many people are still waiting to toast you, it seems that wherever you go, your relationships are always so good." Lin Jing said.

  Wu Jiang smiled and said: "Otherwise, why would they say 'everyone loves Cen Jun'?"

  "Stop talking nonsense." Si Tu Jue gave Wu Jiang a white look.

  Lin Jing nodded in agreement, "Doctor Wu is right."

  Who doesn't like Su Tu Xuan? Even Lin Jing, who seems to be sociable and easy-going but is actually very proud and rarely gets close to people, considers her a close friend. She knows she's beautiful, but never uses it as leverage; she's smart, but never flaunts it; she's proud, but only in terms of her strict self-requirements; besides, she's hardworking, interesting, kind, and reliable... She's the kind of friend you can confide your secrets to without worrying about them being leaked; she's a partner who'll drink with you when you're feeling great and accompany you to drown your sorrows until late at night before sending you home safely. She's a lovely woman who's romantic when emotional but extremely clear-headed when rational. In the eyes of good friends, Su Tu is a naturally perfect gem, but her name contains the character "Xuan", which means half-ring or incomplete jade pendant. Is it possible that the elder who named her knew the principle that perfection is flawed and wisdom can be hurtful? So in Lin Jing's view, Su Tu, who deserves happiness the most, even has a hint of anxiety and uncertainty in her eyes when she's happiest.

  "What's the point of your harmonious singing and killing me?" Si Tu Ming obviously didn't buy their act, and said disdainfully.

  Lin Jing quietly pointed at the people around them, "No way, it's clear that they all came with good intentions to gather with you, this isn't easy."

  Situ Xuan smiled but didn't speak. Although the people present weren't necessarily as close to her as Wu Jiang, who had been a sworn friend since childhood, nor were they all as intimate with her as Lin Jing, they had indeed all been her friends at one point. It's just that when she left, she was in such disarray and her reputation was so tarnished that she hadn't expected to have such a scene seven years later.

  Everyone loves Su Tu. Yes, they all used to like her. When Mei was dating, every beautiful skirt she wore was picked from Su's closet. When San Pi broke up, Su accompanied him for a whole week, listening to his complaints. Min Min always sat behind Su during exams and had a smooth ride. And then there's Xiao Gen, who now looks very promising, but back in school, he was so poor that he often went hungry, until Su silently handed him her meal card. She even lent him 1,000 yuan to pay for his senior year tuition, and she never mentioned the word "repay" again.

  Situ never thought of getting gratitude, she did that just because they were friends. But where were they when that thing happened back then, when her reputation was ruined and she couldn't say a word? Situ could understand their silence and avoidance, but she couldn't forget the contemptuous, disdainful, and gloating eyes among which theirs were also included, as if saying: Situ Xuan, you're having your comeuppance today?

  She fled in a sorry state, seven years have passed, perhaps time has made them forget many things, only remembering her return, remembering that she was once someone who treated herself well, so they came today. After a brief moment of discomfort, Situ Xuan also tried to forget the darkness and betrayal, and laughed with them, letting bygones be bygones.

  Perhaps that's why Lin Jing said she was generous. But she knew she wasn't generous, and she wasn't as good as others said. She was also arrogant, willful, and demanding, but these traits were only shown to those closest to her. She forgave these friends and understood them more, but because of the pride in her heart, they weren't people she cared about. She couldn't control "others", so she didn't care, and could just laugh it off.

  After drinking for a while, Mei Mei, San Pi and several others started singing. The rest of the people were also chatting and laughing without noticing the time passing by. Si Tu Jue was enthusiastically pulling Wu Jiang and Lin Jing to "build the Great Wall", claiming it as "retrieving national essence".

  Wu Jiang accompanied him reluctantly while joking with Sito Jie: "When did you become so infatuated with Chinese culture?"

  Lin Jing smiled and took over: "She doesn't even know the way home, but she knows about the nude photo scandal. Her heart is admirable."

  Situ Xuan was delighted to pick up a good card from Shang Jia Xiao Gen and opened with a loud bang.

  Xiao Gen, also a sidekick, said: "Situ, your drinking capacity has improved too. You drank so much wine and still played cards with such precision... America..."

  "What?" Siu To, who was concentrating on shuffling the cards, looked up in surprise at Xiao Gen's unfinished sentence. He smiled and was about to ask why he had suddenly seen a ghost, but then he noticed that the private room had become eerily quiet. The people chatting stopped talking, those drinking put down their cups, and the KTV singing disappeared, leaving only the empty accompaniment still circulating in confusion. The lively scene had unknowingly cooled down at some point, as silent as a ghost ship on the sea. And all of this was caused by the waiter pushing open the door and the person standing at the entrance.

  He walked in unhurriedly, turned around and took off his overcoat, still smiling as he spoke.

  "Everyone is here, am I late?"

  He spoke as if it was a matter of course, as if he wasn't an uninvited guest, but just one of the ordinary people in the group, because he had arrived late to his friend's gathering due to overtime, that's all. The awkward atmosphere and everyone's embarrassed faces had nothing to do with him.

  It's actually not quite right to say "everyone looked at each other in dismay", because apart from the newcomer, everyone's line of sight was focused on Siu Yuk next to the mahjong table. They would look at him and then at her, as if they were all feeling embarrassed for the people involved.

  Situ Xuan's position was diagonally opposite the door, she didn't even glance in that direction, amidst the silence, she suddenly pushed down the card in front of her.

  "It's all over!"

  She then smiled and reminded several card friends, "You all have to pay, what are you pretending, want to be perfunctory?"

  Lin Jing smiled and took out the chips, Wu Jiang followed suit.

  "Situ, you're really lucky tonight."

  The people on that side reacted quickly and greeted the newcomer one after another. Even Xiaogen turned his head and gave a greeting.

  "Rise, you have arrived."

  The man known as "Qiyun" chatted with Xiaomei and the others for a few sentences, during which Sanpi suddenly said, "You're late, you should be penalized three cups."

  Yi Yun smiled and pretended not to hear, nor did anyone tease him about it. Although everyone knew each other, precisely because they were familiar with each other, they all knew that his appearance this time must have had another reason, a reason that was clear to everyone.

  He walked leisurely to the side of the intense card game, standing behind Xiaogen, watching with great interest. Situ Xuan was engrossed in playing cards, Wu Jiang was facing him, their eyes met, he smiled slightly, Wu Jiang's expression was indifferent, and he didn't take it to heart. Lin Jing, on the other hand, had clearly interacted with him before, and greeted him as a matter of course.

  "Lin Jian is so enthusiastic today?"

  "Yes, accompany friends to play a couple of rounds. Does President Yao have time too?"

  "I also haven't seen friends for a long time, so I came out to gather together."

  Yao Qiyun held one hand in a ring and the other fist to his lips, after saying that sentence, he slightly bowed down to look at Xiaogen's sign, as if he came specifically to see Xiaogen today.

  "How is it?" he asked.

  Xiao Gen was obviously a honest person, chuckled twice and said straightforwardly, "At the beginning of the game, Si Tu Gang won a hand by himself, he had good luck."

  Yao Qiyun smiled and said: "That's not necessarily true, there's a saying among card players 'thousand knives and ten thousand cuts, but not a single win', just now losing money was your luck."

  Wu Jiang heard this and gave a faint, cold smile.

  Yao Qiyun's face was apologetic, "Sorry, I didn't mean any harm."

  Situ Xuan threw out a card without even raising an eyebrow.

  Lin Jing joked with her: "Situ, you're too ruthless, not playing a single good card all night."

  Xiao Gen nodded repeatedly in agreement.

  Yao Qiyun, who had been watching the small root card face all along, suddenly reminded him gently, "I think you can touch this card, and it's unlikely that your door will be clear this round."

  "Oh, okay." Xiaogen said and hit one of Situ's six million tiles, the extra five million tile was about to be discarded.

  It was Yao Qiyun who silently stopped him, pressing down Xiao Gen's hand that was about to play a card, and subtly pointing to another one. Xiao Gen clearly deeply believed that the opponent was more clever than himself, and he followed Yao Qiyun's guidance without question. Yao Qiyun didn't say anything after that, and this round ended in a draw, with no one winning. Before shuffling the cards, everyone pushed down their own cards, and only then did Xiao Gen see that Situ had made a clear suit, and the card he had been waiting for was actually the five million that almost got played out by him. Including the six million she threw out, it's likely that she also guessed that he had the card she wanted in his hand.

  "Rise of the cloud, you're still the best." Xiaogen wiped his sweat.

  Yao Qiyun shook her head, "No."

  He didn't say the real reason, but more than one person present had a number in mind, he just knew his opponent better than Xiaogen.

  "Playing cards with four people when there are five of us doesn't make much sense."

  Xiao Gen misunderstood, he stood up with a sigh of relief, "Qiyun, I'll go to the restroom upstairs, why don't you take my turn?"

  Yao Qiyun didn't decline, and instead sat down with a big smile. The atmosphere at the table changed instantly, and the relaxed mood was gone. Even Lin Jing, who had been trying to mediate, didn't know what to say. Yao Qiyun's card skills were flawless, and after several rounds, everyone realized that he never made careless moves, except when self-drawing or when faced with Si Tu Yu's cards. Moreover, he seemed to have X-ray vision, knowing exactly which card Si Tu Yu was waiting for, even though she was sitting next to him, and not giving her any advantage at all.

  Situ Xuan lost several rounds in a row, but didn't say anything, while Wu Jiang had already noticed that she was biting her teeth tightly.

  Wu Jiang suddenly said with a smile: "Situ, you're not doing well, I think it's not because of the first loss, but because you're triumphant in love and defeated in gambling."

  "Is it?" Situ Xin smiled ambiguously.

  Lin Jing arranged her cards, absent-mindedly asking: "Successful in love? I'm saying, Sutu, are you still with that German-French mixed-blood?" As he spoke, he himself burst out laughing, "At the beginning it was just that you two were too sweet, and this neighbor who couldn't bear to watch was driven away alive."

  "It's actually you who moved in with Lindsay and now you're blaming me."

  Wu Jiang continued to expose Si Tu's secrets, "The German-French mixed blood is a long time ago thing. Before I came back, I called her and it was midnight on her side. The male voice in the background was clearly an Australian accent, you and me, no wonder she didn't want to come back."

  "Australian accent? Wasn't it Eric who was chasing you back then?" Lin Jing said curiously.

  Situ Xuan lost his smile, "Forget it, it's not him."

  They chatted with each other, one sentence at a time, but Yao Qiyun remained silent all along. It was unknown when he started to lose his smile, and his face showed a restrained and indifferent expression.

  This is Yao Qiyun back in his true form.

  She lowered her eyelids, and when she raised her head again, her face was faintly lit up, but in her heart, a warm smile was brewing. This warmth temporarily overcame her anxiety and bitterness. Wu Jiang and Lin Jing were both taking care of her, she knew. She couldn't help but feel grateful that she was still fortunate to have friends. Friends who understood her inside out, intelligent and considerate, always standing by her side without hesitation, knowing exactly when to lend a helping hand at critical moments.

  Unconsciously, the night has already deepened. Everyone has work and needs to get up early tomorrow, so people start leaving one after another. The battle on the mahjong table also comes to an end, with no one winning too much in the end.

  "Sidao, I'll send you back, look at you, your eyes are dark and sunken, you should get a good night's sleep."

  Wu Jiang picked up the handbag for Si Tu Jue.

  Yao Qiyun also stood up and bid farewell, "Since that's the case, I'll take my leave first. Lin Jian, it was great seeing you, let's meet again next time."

  He shook hands with Lin Jing and bid farewell. When he left, he also smiled at Wu Jiang a few times, and then left just like when he came.

  It wasn't until Yao Qiyun disappeared from view that everyone let out a sigh of relief. By this time, there were not many people left. Wu Jiang took the lead in making his position clear to Si Tu Jue, "Don't look at me, it's absolutely not me who made him come."

  Three skins They also clarified one after another, no one is stupid, knowing that Situ is here, who would be afraid of chaos and call up Yao Qiyun?

  Situ Xin didn't say anything. The awkwardness just now was so obvious that she didn't even want to pretend in front of these people and say "it's nothing".

  "It was me."

  In everyone's speechless gaze, he stuttered and said: "Actually, I didn't invite him either. He suddenly called me and asked where I was tonight? I...I guess that's how it is."

  "You're brainless, he asks what and you say what?" San Pi scolded.

  Xiao Gen said reluctantly, "He didn't say anything on the phone either, let alone that he was coming over."

  "That's enough." Situ laughed and interrupted, "I'm so sleepy, you guys are making me fall asleep. He's coming anyway, it's a small place, we can't avoid running into each other, and he's not an enemy either. Let's disperse for now and go out drinking together another day."

  The topic ended here and everyone said goodbye. Sutu Xuan and Wu Jiang got on Lin Jing's car as usual, sending them back to their residences separately.

  On the bus, Situ Xin remained silent. As she had said before, perhaps she already knew that this time back would inevitably lead to a confrontation with him, but didn't expect it to be so soon. Tonight he came and went so abruptly, without anyone inviting him, and no one knew what he wanted to do. Situ Xin only knew that his appearance made her feel tired, and the look in his eyes when he left also revealed the same emotions. Everyone was looking for trouble, but what were they after?

  "You can't blame Xiao Gen either. He's now working under Yao Qiyun, and since he's eating from the same pot, there are things that are beyond his control." Wu Jiang said to Situ.

  Situ Xuan couldn't help but feel a little surprised, "He's under Yao Qiyun?"

  Here is the translation:

  Speaking of which, Wu Jiang gently patted his own cheek with his hand, "Look at me, I'm also confused, what am I saying. Xiao Gen and Yao Qiyun are now both in Ji'An Hall, that should be your family's company."

  Ji'An Tang Pharmaceutical is a well-known pharmaceutical group in the south, founded by Situ Jiu'an, Situ Yue's father. Initially, under his father's request, Situ Yue studied pharmacy at a domestic university, later ran to study biochemistry abroad, and then took a bite of her teeth to take an exam for a living and settled down after obtaining her degree. She has been working in research and development at a long-standing pharmaceutical institution in Los Angeles. This time she returned to China, apart from Wu Jiang's wedding, a large-scale pharmaceutical industry conference was also held in G City, which is also one of the main reasons why she had to return as the person in charge of the company's main product research and development.

  Situ Jiu'an is a well-known figure in the domestic pharmaceutical industry, and Situ Xuan's mother was also a pharmacist by profession. Situ Xuan grew up in such a family and worked in this line, but not to mention Wu Jiang, even she herself did not consider Jiu'antang as "hers". Although she is surnamed Situ and is the only daughter of the family, in her opinion, Jiu'antang belongs to her parents, or it can also be said that it belongs to Yao Qiyun, but it has nothing to do with Situ Xuan. She is just an unfilial daughter who floats outside without roots.

  Yao Qiyun has returned to Jiu'andang, and it seems that he is still doing well. Yao Qiyun, like Wu Jiang, studied medicine, but this was also expected, as Situ Yue's father trusted him so much that he relied on him, and Jiu'andang would eventually become his. It's good that everyone has their own place, and each person has their own destiny. However, even if her parents ultimately became his, they could never become a family.

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