Chapter 26: You in My Mind (Part 1)

  On the first morning of the New Year, the dawn slowly arrived, and Su Yisu opened her blurry eyes, looking out the window. Outside the window was still a blur, she had forgotten to pull up the curtains last night, the tree shadows outside swayed in the wind, casting dappled coolness on the window, making it impossible to distinguish inside from outside.

  Su Yi stared blankly ahead, not caring whether she had really seen anything. The scene from last night was still vividly etched in her mind and couldn't be erased. She couldn't forgive herself for her impulsiveness, nor could she let go of Su Yi's scolding. This torment continued until the sound of her phone's message alert pierced her eardrums.

  Opening the message, Jiang Fengchen said: Happy New Year! Happy Valentine's Day!

  Su Yisuo furrowed her brow and thought for a long time, flipping through the calendar on her phone, only to discover that the first day of the first month was actually February 14th - Western Valentine's Day!

  It's been a long holiday, and I've been counting down the days according to the lunar calendar. I didn't even realize that Valentine's Day had quietly arrived, and it just so happens to be on this special day. She couldn't help but get excited, it's too magical!

  But soon she became disheartened again. What does Valentine's Day have to do with her? There was still another trouble waiting for her to solve.

  I don't know how many people are using the New Year as an excuse to wish others a Happy Valentine's Day today?

  Su Yisu decided not to respond to Jiang Fengchen's message.

  Logged into QQ, opened my space and scrolled through the updates. Found many people were struggling with whether to celebrate Chinese New Year or Valentine's Day. Also saw many people laughing out loud, finally able to openly spend this holiday, mentioning Valentine's Day isn't too embarrassing after all, no significant other, might as well just celebrate Chinese New Year instead.

  No Valentine's Day, let's go for Chinese New Year instead.

  After seeing this sentence, Su Yisu thought for a moment and still sent a message back to Jiang Fengchen: Happy New Year!

  Not mentioning Valentine's Day at all.

  Looking at the message records with Jiang Fengchen, Su Yisu couldn't help but sigh, and finally had to find a random excuse to comfort herself: Dad and Mom said no early love!

  In a daze, she heard Shen Xiulan shouting downstairs for her to go down and have breakfast. She hastily responded with a "yes" and changed into clothes before heading downstairs.

  Just then, Su Yi Xun had just finished washing up and came out of the bathroom. The two almost collided with each other. Su Yi Xun opened his mouth but didn't say anything, his face expressionless as he gazed at Su Yi Su faintly before walking out of the living room.

  Su Yi Su looked at the back of Su Yi Xin with some melancholy, wanting to call out to him, but the words reached her lips and she swallowed them back, unable to say anything.

  Why did it become like this? It's not even a lovers' quarrel... Su Yisu thought gloomily, took a few deep breaths, and ran to the kitchen door, shouting at Su Yixin who was busy: "Su Yixin!"

  Su Yixin turned around and asked calmly: "What's wrong?"

  "You're still making me angry."

  Nothing.

  "Why don't you care about me?"

  "Isn't this for your sake?"

  "Hmm!"

  Shen Xiulan looked at the quarreling siblings and couldn't help but interrupt, "Listen to this conversation. People who don't know them would think they're a young couple."

  Su Yixin heard this and her already troubled heart felt even more depressed, discontentedly saying: "Mom, what are you talking about."

  "Mom, I think it's definitely someone who committed great sins in their past life that would unfortunately find a boyfriend like Su Yi Xin."

  "Sui Su, anyway I'm your brother!"

  Su Yisu looked at him with a smiling face but unsmiling eyes, an expression that begged to be slapped, "So I must have been very kind in my past life!"

  "What a thick skin!"

  "I'm just stating facts!"

  "Alright," Shen Xiulan interrupted again, saying: "Su Su, go call your dad back for dinner. Ah Xian, help me carry the dishes out."

  "Alright..."

  "Got it."

  The two almost spoke at the same time, and upon hearing their nearly overlapping responses, they couldn't help but exchange a glance, share a smile, and walk out of the kitchen together.

  Shen Xiulan looked at them with curiosity and wondered: Have these two siblings made up already?

  At the dinner table, Su Yisuo silently peeled his rice without saying a word. Su Yixin, on the other hand, desperately tried to make conversation, causing Mr. and Mrs. Su to exchange confused glances - wasn't it usually the other way around?

  "I've finished eating!"

  "I'm done eating!"

  The two of them said this at the same time, Su Yu finally couldn't bear it and asked: "What's wrong with you two today?"

  "Nothing!" Su Yixin replied first, then turned to Su Yisu, "Go next door to the orchard to steal peach blossoms, are you going or not?"

  "Sui Su immediately perked up upon hearing this, 'Let's go!'"

  They said they would leave and left quickly, leaving Su Yu and Shen Xiulan who hadn't reacted yet.

  After a long time, Su Yu asked Shen Xiulan in a daze, "Xiulan, did they really quarrel last night?"

  "Probably... yeah." Shen Xiulan was also confused by this situation. Had the siblings ever been so united before?

  Half an hour later, Su Yisu and Su Yixin walked back with a few branches of beautiful peach blossoms in their hands, whispering to each other about where to put them.

  Looking at the two of them rummaging around, Shen Xiulan furrowed her brow and asked: "You really did go steal someone's peach blossoms?"

  "Hey, hey," Su Yixin smiled and replied, "Mom, how could your son do such a thing? I had already discussed it with Uncle Li. He said the peach tree's branches were too dense and needed to be pruned. Since our peach blossoms didn't bloom, I went to get some back."

  Su Yisuo complained dissatisfiedly on the side, "Su Yixin deceived me and harmed me. I was so excited."

  Su Yixin turned back and glared at her, "What's wrong with you, always learning from others how to be a thief."

  Su Yisu was unhappy again, "Can't even talk about it?"

  "No way! Didn't your teacher teach you? Stealing needles when young, stealing gold when grown!"

  "Mother, look at him! He's all talk and no action, he's so stubborn!" Su Yisuo couldn't argue with him anymore, so she brought up Shen Xiulan instead.

  Shen Xiulan was too lazy to care about the two siblings, and only said: "As long as you don't make a mess of things, I won't bother with anything."

  Su Yi pouted her mouth and continued to fiddle with her peach blossom branch. As a result, the entire courtyard was decorated into a pink peach blossom exhibition by the two of them.

  Su Yisu stood up, patted the dusty palms of her hands, looked around in a circle, and nodded in satisfaction. Thinking that there was nothing else to do, she decided to go back and make up for lost sleep, after all, she had been severely sleep-deprived last night.

  She went back to the room, picked up her mobile phone and took a look, only to find that there were several unconnected calls. Su Yisuo sighed repeatedly, it seemed that the habit of not bringing a mobile phone when going out needed to be changed.

  Flipping through the call records, one by one, they were all just New Year's greetings, chatted for a few sentences and then Su Yisu found an excuse to hang up, sleep is more important.

  Just fell asleep, someone called again, Su Yisu got annoyed, can't even let people sleep?

  Breathlessly, Su Yisu reached out from the head of the bed to grab her phone and take a look. She was suddenly stunned, the incoming call on the screen seemed like a curse, making her not want to answer it, yet also not wanting to ignore it.

  Jiang Fengchen, must you haunt me like this?

  Su Yi stared blankly at the screen, neither answering nor hanging up, just holding it like that. The ringing lasted for a whole minute before stopping.

  The screen went dark and she finally let out a breath of relief.

  Want to get close, but afraid to get close, torturing oneself like this. Zhang Ailing said, it's only when you get close that you realize how strange it is. Maybe I just want to preserve a little bit of the beautiful fantasy about love. Reality is so cruel, what if one day I find out it's not as beautiful as I imagined? Wouldn't I be hurt? So, let's just hold onto the fantasy then.

  But after this episode, Su Yisou completely lost her sleepiness.

  After a while, new information came in, and Su Yisu nervously picked up her phone, and it was indeed sent by Jiang Fengchen.

  "Yi Su, there are some things I've never said to you. I thought that as time went by, you would understand. At first, I didn't believe in love at first sight, so I spent a long time verifying my feelings for you. Until today, I can strongly feel its existence and it's getting stronger every day. Some people say that meeting is like a dandelion, accidental but unforgettable. Yi Su, you are my dandelion. I hope to be by your side, experiencing the ups and downs of life, until we grow old together, watching the sunset with white hair. Yi Su, can you give me a chance?"

  Chrysanthemum, accidental encounter, happiness is by your side. You linger in my mind and cannot be shaken off.

  Jiang Fengchen, I understand the meaning of sunflowers, but I don't understand you.

  Su Yi Su sighed silently and suddenly had another thread of confusion about so-called love.

  After some thought, Su Yisu decided to give Jiang Zuo a call. People in love always have more say in matters of the heart than she does.

  The ringing tone kept echoing, but no one answered. Su Yisu hung up and dialed Lin Wan again.

  This time it connected quickly. Su Yisu exclaimed repeatedly, "In this era, it's still easy for us singles to find each other, but no one answered Jiang Zhanlin's phone."

  Lin Xiao smiled and said: "Others have gone to Jiang City for a date, who has time to care about you? It's not like we're lonely people, waving goodbye as soon as they come."

  "What about her family's little mouth? It's a big New Year's Day, and her family is so open-minded?"

  "No way, that's just how open-minded her family is. However, it's said that her whole family went to visit relatives, and she just found an excuse to slip away..."

  "It's like this after all..." Su Yi smiled calmly and let out a sigh.

  "What's wrong?"

  "Do you believe in being trapped by emotions?"

  "Jiang Fengchen is bothering you again?"

  "It's not like that..."

  "What were you thinking?"

  "What's wrong with me?" Su Yisu became confused again, "I've always been unaware of what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, when my heart isn't thinking that way..."

  "Dead, fallen in love. Su Yisou, you'd better jump into Jiang Fengchen's trap obediently, can't escape from him, haha..."

  Su's eyebrows furrowed in concentration, "But I couldn't tell if it was just a feeling, genuine liking, or just a fleeting impulse..."

  "You were young and reckless, who didn't have a few impulsive things? It's called dating, not getting married, what are you tangled up about?"