Chapter 27: You in My Mind (Part 2)

  Su Yisu was surprised and asked: "If you don't get married, what's the point of talking about love?"

  "My goodness," Lin Wan couldn't help but exclaim, "Su Yisou, what era are we living in? People change partners like they're changing clothes, and you still have such outdated thoughts, it's terrifying, too terrifying!"

  Su Yisuo said: "The great Shakespeare once said that all love that does not aim at marriage is a form of prostitution."

  "Some people say marriage is a graveyard for love!"

  "I'm not telling you!" Su Yisu hung up the phone.

  After tossing and turning for a long time, Su Yisou finally fell into a deep sleep.

  When I woke up, it was already after noon. The faint sunlight filtered through the curtains and spilled in, seemingly there yet not quite.

  She turned over, picked up her phone and flipped through it casually, only to remember that she hadn't replied to Jiang Fengchen's message in her inbox.

  "Sigh..." Su Yisu let out a heavy sigh again, holding her phone and subconsciously fiddling with it repeatedly, thinking about how to respond, or whether she should respond at all.

  Jiangcheng urban area.

  Jiang Zhan and Chen Jierui sat face to face on a bench outside the supermarket, leisurely sipping milk tea. The street was bustling with cars and people, the sounds of vendors calling out their wares filling the air. Various shops were playing music, but this music was different - one moment it was joyful New Year's greetings, the next it had turned into a sentimental love song.

  Jiang Zhe was enjoying himself, swaying his head back and forth, regardless of whether he was listening to a New Year's song or a love song.

  Chen Jierui couldn't help but tease her, "Look at you, trying to act elegant like others?"

  Jiang Zuo suddenly opened his eyes and pretended to be angry: "You've learned the bad habits of Lin Wan and Su Yi Su!"

  Chen Jierui shrugged and smiled: "Lin Wan said that we must have the courage to tell the truth about what really happened."

  "So I heard Lin Wan say, am I your girlfriend or is she your girlfriend?"

  "Oh, I certainly love and only love you, don't doubt this fact."

  Jiang Zuo pretended to be dissatisfied and lowered his head to drink milk tea, "I was wrong about you, who did you learn to be so glib from?"

  "Don't you like it?"

  "No! Happy!"

  "Ah..." Chen Jie Rui let out a sigh of relief, "I knew it, our family's Zhi Ling wouldn't be like those ordinary girls who rely on sweet talk and sugarcoated words to get by."

  "Hey," hearing this, Jiang Xiao suddenly leaned in, with a sly smile, "Tell the truth, is someone teaching you how to pick up girls?"

  Chen Jierui was startled and quickly changed the subject: "What's with this 'bubble sister' stuff? Don't be so crude..."

  Jiang Zuo indeed took the bait and replied: "Do you look down on me?"

  Chen Jierui shook his head repeatedly, "No no..."

  Jiang Zuo wanted to say something else, but his phone rang in time. Chen Jier quietly let out a sigh of relief.

  "Ah, it's Su Yisuo. Jiang Zuo couldn't help but curve up the corners of his mouth into a slight smile, 'Hey, Su Yisuo, what brings you here?'"

  From afar came Su Yisuo's faintly resentful voice: "Zhu..."

  Jiang Zuo couldn't help but shiver and asked: "Where did you get hurt?"

  "I called you this morning and you didn't even pick up..."

  "I didn't hear it..."

  "See color forget friend..."

  "Alright! Su Yisu, try speaking to me in that resentful tone again!" Jiang Ya finally lost his temper.

  "Just don't say it, what's there to be angry about..."

  "Su Yisu," Jiang Zuo realized something, "are you stimulated?"

  "Yeah, you don't care about me at all."

  "What's wrong with you?"

  "Tortured by love."

  "Really?!" Jiang Zuo was so shocked that he almost spat out the milk tea in his mouth. After thinking about it, he felt that it was indeed possible, and asked softly: "Is Jiang Fengchen bothering you again?"

  "Hmm..."

  "Su Yisu!" Jiang Zhan's emotions suddenly became agitated, "You must think clearly, emotional matters are not something you can easily control! Especially when it comes to someone like Jiang Fengchen!"

  "What kind of person is Jiang Fengchen?"

  "This... I also can't say clearly..." Mentioning this issue, Jiang Zuo suddenly felt disheartened and thought to himself: What does it have to do with me?

  "Hmph..." Chen Jie Rui listened from the side and couldn't help but lightly laugh, "You can't even explain clearly, yet you still dare to be so self-righteous."

  Jiang Yaoting stood up straight and said with a smile, "A woman's intuition is always accurate!"

  "Alright, very accurate..." Chen Jie Rui didn't argue with her.

  "Ahem, ahem," Jiang Mo said, clearing his throat before speaking into the receiver. "Su Yisou, it's not that I have an opinion about Jiang Fengchen. You need to distinguish between the two: you're used to him always being around you, so you've grown accustomed to his presence and mistakenly think you like him. But is it really just a misconception or have you truly fallen for him? Misconceptions can be beautiful, but reality can be cruel."

  Su Yisou was slow to respond, seemingly deep in thought. It wasn't until Jiang Zuo had almost suspected that she had fallen asleep that Su Yisou suddenly spoke up: "I don't know."

  "Su Yisu!" Jiang Zhan was almost out of breath with anger, "You've thought for so long and this is the answer you give me?!"

  "Well, I really don't know..."

  "Alright," Jiang Zhe Lin compromised, "I'll tell you, in this world there aren't that many cases of two people being mutually in love..."

  Upon hearing this, Chen Jie Rui became displeased again, interrupting her words and saying: "Are you questioning my feelings for you or doubting your feelings for me?"

  Jiang Zuo smiled and looked at him with a smile, saying: "This can't be compared..."

  "Hmm."

  "I won't tell you, goodbye." Su Yisu hung up the phone again with a huff.

  "Hello!" Jiang Xiao Ling shouted into the receiver, only to find that she had really hung up the phone. She couldn't help but curse, "This scoundrel!"

  Chen Jierui slowly sipped her milk tea, "She was already very confused, and you still told her these things. It's strange that she didn't hang up on you."

  "It's all for her!"

  "But you've actually made her even more confused."

  Su Yisu lay on the bed in a daze, staring at the ceiling without blinking.

  This world doesn't have so many perfect matches... the words Jiang Zhe said still linger in my ears, but my mind is desperately trying to ignore them.

  Habits are truly a terrifying thing, they seep into your bones, merge with your blood, and when you become aware of their existence, you'll find that they have already thoroughly merged with you without you noticing, becoming inseparable.

  For example, Jiang Fengchen's existence.

  So it's hard to tell whether this is a habit or a love.

  But Jiang Fengchen, no matter what, you are still lingering in my mind...

  She picked up her phone, opened the inbox, and Jiang Fengchen's message was still quietly lying there, waiting for her reply. Su Yisu let out another sigh, suddenly cursing: "To hell with love!"

  She slammed down her phone and ran downstairs in a huff. In the courtyard, a group of people had gathered at some point, setting up tables to play mahjong, and Su Yu was among them, while Shen Xiulan sat aside, smiling and watching with amusement.

  Su Yisu was so shocked that her eyeballs almost fell out. When did Dad and Mom become so fashionable and learn to play mahjong like others?

  The onlookers were excited, the fighters even more so, and no one noticed Su Yisuo's presence. Su Yisuo felt suffocated and walked forward, standing beside Shen Xiulan, saying loudly: "Mother!"

  Shen Xiulan was startled and turned around to see Su Yisou, a loving smile on her face. "Awake? Hungry?"

  Su Yisu shook her head. Even on New Year's Day, she still didn't have the habit of eating lunch. Shen Xiulan also understood her well, so she didn't call her to get up and eat lunch either.

  Su Yisu looked up and saw that everyone here was at the uncle and aunt level, so she politely greeted them and also pulled over a stool to sit down.

  Su Yu looked at other open cards while talking to Su Yisuo, but Su Yisuo was not in the mood and answered perfunctorily.

  Su Yu looked puzzled and asked: "How did you sleep for a while and wake up with a bad mood?"

  Su Yisuo suddenly cracked a thick smile and pretended to be full of energy, replying: "Just got out of bed, isn't it always like this?"

  Su Yu saw through her trick at a glance, "You're guilty!"

  Su Yisuo smiled and said, "Dad, you always understand what I'm thinking."

  Su Yu hummed a sentence with a smile that was not quite a smile.

  Su Yisu chuckled and changed the subject, asking Shen Xiulan, "Where's your brother?"

  As soon as the two words "brother" were spoken, Su Yisu was depressed. Even if she called out randomly at ordinary times, she still didn't dare to be presumptuous in front of her parents and had to call out "brother" obediently. Of course, many times she directly blurted out "Su Yixin".

  "He's been running around all day, you know it."

  Su Yi pouted, "And you didn't bring me along."

  Shen Xiulan smiled slightly, "You wouldn't want to go even if I took you along, would you?"

  "Same here." Su Yisu nodded and leaned in to watch her father play mahjong, although... she couldn't understand it! At least it was better than having nothing to do.

  As for Jiang Fengchen? A person who has gotten himself into such trouble on the first day of the new year, why should he care whether he's happy or worried?!

  But, hibiscus, big red hibiscus, have you bloomed?

  My mind involuntarily flashed back to Jiang Zhenyu's words: Pretending to understand love when you don't will kill you!

  Jiang Fengchen, I once thought I understood, but now it seems like I really don't. Su Yisu sat there, lost in thought, her entire mind filled with thoughts of Jiang Fengchen and that unreturned message, uncontrollable.

  Until Su Yu laughed loudly, Su Yi Su finally came back to her senses. Su Yu turned around excitedly and said to Su Yi Su: "Su Su, your dad won again!"

  Su Yisu forced a smile.

  The other three tables exclaimed: "Old Su, your luck is too strong!"

  In the midst of this bustle, Su Yisou looked up at the sky. The weather on New Year's Day was exceptionally good, with a clear blue sky and white clouds floating by, while the green bamboo branches stretched across the low sky, complementing each other, what a peaceful world!

  But why does it always feel like there's a gloomy presence?

  Looking at the same sky, treading on different lands, Jiang Fengchen, what are you doing?

  Su Yisu recalled her thoughts, silently sighed, and constantly scolded herself: Su Yisu, why are you so stubbornly self-inflicted.