MSTP Chapter 63

Previous | Table of Contents | Next

Translator: Cheese

“Don’t you think it’s irresponsible for two adults to pin their feelings on a child?”

---

The night before Song Yuan left B City, she received an invitation from a female upperclassman from university. The senior said she wanted to treat her to dinner.

At the time, this upperclassman was in the same club as her and took very good care of her. It was just that ever since she graduated, they didn’t get in touch anymore. After all, Song Yuan had still been in school, while her senior was working; their lives didn’t overlap. Suddenly, this upperclassman asked her to dinner, and she agreed without thinking.

The senior’s surname was Jiang, and her full name was Jiang Na. An enthusiastic person, it was said she didn’t perform well on the college entrance exams. Otherwise, it was hard to say whether she couldn’t have been the top scorer in liberal arts.

The two met at a shopping mall near the third ring road. When Song Yuan saw Jiang Na once again, she couldn’t help but feel in her heart that her upperclassman was very gentle. At a glance, she looked like a talented woman with a strong intellectual atmosphere.

“I heard from my friends that you were also in B City.” Jiang Na poured Song Yuan a cup of tea. “I didn’t know if your preferences of habits changed, but I took the liberty of ordering a dessert for you.”

“I like eating sweets nowadays,” Song Yuan giggled. “Xuejie, where do you work now? I didn’t see you at the last club gathering. They said you were really busy.”

“It’s all busy work. I work at a foreign company now, and I’m mainly in charge of greeting customers. Sometimes I travel abroad too.” Jiang Na paused, then took out a packaged box of perfume from her bag. “I didn’t know what you’d like, but I saw this in the duty-free shop and thought it smelled youthful and refreshing. It should suit you.” 

“I didn’t prepare a gift…” Song Yuan was embarrassed to accept this perfume.

“It’s different. I’ve been working for a few years, and you just graduated.” Jiang Na placed the gift in her hand and smiled. “Take it ba, this perfume won’t suit me. My colleagues all might say I’m acting younger than my age.”

The two chatted while eating. The good atmosphere reminded Song Yuan of her senior while in college, when she had frequently taken her out to dinner. How nice!

While they were eating dessert, Jiang Na suddenly asked, “Yuanyuan, you know, Ji Junpei is in the same office building as me now.”

The topic changed so quickly that Song Yuan was left stunned.

“In fact, Ji Junpei and I graduated from the same high school. He’s one year older than me, and I grew up listening to legends about him,” Jiang Na said in a joking tone. “I admire him very much, because even though people say that it’s difficult to rise from rags to riches^[1], I think that he can do it.”

“Xuejie…” Song Yuan didn’t know what to say.

“I know what you’re going to say. I spoke with Ji Junpei when we were eating together the other day. Yuanyuan, since I know some things, I think I should tell you. Otherwise, it’d be a pity for two people to be unable to be together because of a misunderstanding. Yuanyuan, although you don’t talk about your family situation much, a lot of people know your parents are famous local entrepreneurs. Everyone says your family is rich, and whoever marries you would need to struggle for 20 years less². There was someone who said this to Ji Junpei at the time. Ji Junpei’s family background is very ordinary. His grandpa had heart bypass surgery, and the medicine costs over two thousand every month. His parents are ordinary office workers.”

“Ji Junpei felt suffocated. He didn’t want others to look down on him, and he didn’t want you to misunderstand him. It just so happened that he applied for a scholarship and went to study abroad. He wanted to wait until he made a certain level of achievements before telling you his feelings. I also persuaded him at the time that if you liked him, you wouldn’t think too much of it. This is what he told me. He said, the things you eat and use are excellent. If he was together with you while he didn’t have any financial means, he was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to give you these things, and his attitude would change³.”

“He really, truly likes you.”

Song Yuan was silent. She was a very slow person. Now, listening to the words of her upperclassman and recalling the care she had been given in college, what more didn’t she understand?

She stirred the ice cream in her cup with her spoon, whispering, “Xuejie, do you like him?”

Jiang Na was taken aback, but she just smiled and said, “I don’t know either. I just can’t bear to see others have difficulties due to misunderstandings and lack of explanations. In fact, this has nothing to do with me. I haven’t paid you two close attention in the last few years. It’s just, it’s just, seeing him in such low spirits, I find it hard to look at. How could a grown man not say what’s in his heart? What good is that mouth for?”

“Xuejie, thank you ah.” Song Yuan looked up and smiled at her gratefully. “Although they’re things of the past, I was happy to hear about them. I always felt… in those years, I felt like I was showering affections on an uninterested party, but I don’t like him anymore. I can’t say why. I don’t have difficulties or regrets, but it’s really impossible between me and him.”

Jiang Na sighed. “I understand. I can only say that he’s a very self-important person ba. Maybe all men are like this?”

She tilted her head and smiled. “Men are so arrogant, always believing that everything will go as they planned, right?”

Song Yuan, amused by these words, nodded vigorously. “Right, men are so arrogant!”

This meal with her upperclassman made Song Yuan completely put down the past between her and Ji Junpei.

She was relaxed, even happy. She couldn’t understand Ji Junpei’s thoughts because their backgrounds were not the same, but she also had no right to accuse him of being in the wrong. Perhaps if the circumstances were switched, she would also have made the same choice. She just sighed when she thought of the past few years. Song Yuan, don’t let your imagination run wild. You weren’t showering affection on an uninterested party. It’s just that you two aren’t a good fit.

With a good mood, her footsteps were naturally much lighter.

Song Yuan took the express train back to the community. Just as she was walking quickly towards the building, she spotted Rong Heng standing by the flower beds downstairs.

A little surprised to see him, she quickly jogged over to him. Her cheeks were flushed, chilled by the cold wind. “Why are you here?”

Rong Heng took out a small hand warmer from his coat pocket and handed it to her. “Just passing by. I wanted to tell you something.”

“What is it?” Song Yuan didn’t want to take this precious hand warmer, but he stuffed it directly into her hands…

A rarely seen look of helplessness and awkwardness appeared on Rong Heng’s face. “I didn’t tell you. Mr. Xie, my father in name, arranged a blind date for me a few days ago.”

“Huh?” Song Yuan reacted in a timely manner and smiled. Seeing his embarrassed look, she comforted him. “That’s normal, it’s very normal for us here. A lot of my classmates were urged to marry as soon as they graduated from college. According to the information I read on the Internet, Xie Heng is in his twenties. It’s understandable that the elders in the family are anxious.”

Seeing that she didn’t show the least bit of displeasure, Rong Heng lowered his gaze. When he raised his eyelids again, the helplessness in his eyes had been swept away, as though he’d been persuaded by Song Yuan’s explanation. “Is that so? I don’t understand it very well. I just don’t know why I find this kind of thing a bit disagreeable and a bit repulsive.”

“I don’t know how the wealthy elite arrange blind dates, but I don’t think that they’ll force you.” Song Yuan actually wanted to laugh a little. If a person from the ancient times came to modern times and encountered parents urging them to marry as though threatening them with their lives, those people would likely be dumbfounded ah.

But could it be that what Gugu saw that day was his Emperor Father’s blind date? It was quite possible.

“I hope so.” Rong Heng looked at her again. “I must have seen Rong Ting that day. I’d thought I saw wrong, but later on I heard you say that Uncle took him to a resort. I was a bit worried that he would misunderstand when he saw me with someone else. I don’t have that kind of intention.”

“Gugu actually did see, but don’t worry. I’ve already told him that you don’t remember anything now, and you’ve also become Xie Heng. It just so happens that I also don’t remember anything. You can live your own life.” Song Yuan thought. “What I mean is, when you meet someone you like, you don’t need to have any misgivings. Gugu will realize and come to understand it.”

She made clear with Rong Heng that they had no relation in the modern times, and with Gugu, she could also explain it as a divorce. With this divorce, he could pursue his own happiness, and the same for her. Even if Gugu couldn’t accept it now, he would slowly accept it in the future, just like she did at the beginning.

Rong Heng looked at her intently, as though wanting to say something, then sighed. “Actually, have you ever thought that, I am Rong Ting’s father, and you are Rong Ting’s mother, and we could give him a complete family?”

Song Yuan’s expression turned to shock.

She really didn’t expect Rong Hend to think like this!!

Seeing her state, Rong Heng hurriedly added, “I don’t have any other intentions. I’m just afraid of shorting Rong Ting, that he’ll be sad and uncomfortable.”

No matter what his thoughts were, in short, such thoughts weren’t allowed!

Song Yuan wasn’t afraid that he would think she was forcing her love on him, nor was she afraid that he would misunderstand her intentions. She said solemnly, “Don’t you think that it’s irresponsible⁴ for two adults to pin their feelings on a child?”

Rong Heng was stunned.

“If you were just Xie Heng, I might have considered being with you.” After all, he was exactly the type she liked. She was also a person who was a bit foolish, and perhaps in a moment of impulse she really would have ended up with him. Of course, that was on the premise that he was Xie Heng, and only Xie Heng.

“But you’re not just Xie Heng. You’re also Rong Heng. What we were like in the ancient times, neither you nor I know. We also don’t know what happened before. How could we carelessly get together, wouldn’t that be not taking responsibility for our past? Wouldn’t you say ba?”

The fists Rong Heng kept in his coat pocket clenched, but when he raised his head, he smiled gently at Song Yuan. “You’re right. I was being confused. I was afraid of this blind date, and I was also afraid Rong Ting would misunderstand. He doesn’t seem very close to me, and I was afraid he would hate me.”

“He won’t. Gugu isn’t an unreasonable kid. I’ll talk to him, he’ll understand.”

“Mn.”

“Is there anything else? If not, I’ll be heading up. It’s too cold here.”

“Mn, goodbye.”

Rong Heng watched Song Yuan enter the building before turning to leave.

Back at his own residence, he headed to the study, his breaths heavy and his expression cold. He unfolded a scroll, ground some ink, picked up a brush, and drew an outline on the paper. After more than an hour, the tip of the painter’s brush seemed to condense all his emotions, giving life to a portrait of a young woman.

Rong Heng closed his eyes. After a while, he finally settled his emotions and calmly rolled up the portrait and placed it in the bookcase.

---

The author has something to say:

confession rejected = =

father and son’s habits are so similar ahahaha~

---

[1] 寒门再难出贵子: lit. it’s difficult for a poor family to give rise to a noble son/child. Commentary on how most academically successful students come from wealthy families who can afford to pay for good-quality education. The context didn’t seem to fit well here, though, so I went with what I thought made more sense

[2] Because they rely on their family’s wealthy background

[3] As in he would start to resent and blame her for wanting things he can’t afford

[4] 儿戏: a metaphor for being careless or not serious

---

Cheese: jiang na telling it like it is!! saying exactly that will be rong heng’s downfall and reckoning teeheehee

---

Previous | Table of Contents | Next