My Dearest General: It Has Always Been You

Jiang Jinyan would have never guessed that he would be gifted with such a surprise. Last night, Wei Xiameng had told him in advance that she was going to visit, that she missed him very much and also, she had cooked nutritional soup which took her a whole night to simmer.

Of course, he was happy. Then, who knew what ghost possessed him and Jiang Jinyan decided to go down and fetch her, only to be shoved with the sight of his girlfriend with another man.

And the man was also one that he couldn't be more familiar with; his rival for years, the one who had snatched his position and replaced him in the Olympics, the one who had come to visit and taunt him once in the hospital, Qing Si.

Jiang Jinyan saw with his own eyes as Wei Xiameng fluttered her eyelashes as she always did with him, smiled bashfully until her eyes crinkled as she always showed him. Then, Qing Si gave his own smile and kissed her on the cheek affectionately; a place which Jiang Jinyan himself had kissed in the past countless times before.

All of a sudden, unprecedented disgust welled up in his chest.

At the same time, he also wanted to laugh but he didn't know whether he was laughing at Wei Xiameng or himself. He was really such a fucking idiot. Just a few days ago, he had steeled himself that he would turn a blind eye, as long as Wei Xiameng remained the same, as long as she was still the Xiaxia that he knew. But now, all of those dreamy illusions were instantly poked by the harsh and bitter reality in front of him.

The two people in the parking lot separated and Jiang Jinyan pushed his wheelchair to turn back and rode the elevator. He returned to his room and staggered up the bed in difficulty. In the next second, his door was knocked and Nurse Zhang came in with a smile, within her arms was a bouquet of yellow flowers he had received before. "Mr. Jiang, there's a delivery for you again."

Jiang Jinyan stared at the bright yellow flowers that still contained fresh dew, swaying elegantly along with the nurse's movement, every petal was very glaring to his eyes. He sneered, feeling like everything he tried hard to maintain was such a joke.

Nurse Zhang asked amicably. "Do you want me to put it into a vase?" She eyed the vase that was filled with withered daffodils. Even then, Jiang Jinyan didn't want to throw it away and insisted on putting it beside his bed. Now that there's new flowers arriving, it's only right to throw away the old one.

But to her surprise, Jiang Jinyan rejected. "No, just put it on the nightstand."

Nurse Zhang only felt that the man was in a bad mood. Jiang Jinyan was indeed sporting a low spirit in these few days so she didn't find anything wrong about it. She just smiled and nodded, then told him to exercise moderately and not to force himself.

Jiang Jinyan replied with silence.

Nurse Zhang sighed inwardly and excused herself. At the door, she met Wei Xiameng. "Miss Wei," she greeted. "Are you here for Mr. Jiang?"

"Yes." Wei Xiameng was breathless and her cheeks were red, highlighting her upturned eyes and a beauty mole on the corner of her eyes. "I have been busy for a while. How is he?"

Nurse Zhang stepped aside and whispered in a low voice. "Mr. Jiang's mood isn't very good these few days. You should cheer him up!" She even pumped her fist to encourage her.

Wei Xiameng laughed cheerily and made a beeline to his side. "Jinyan, here I am! Look what I have brought! It's your favorite broth soup. I have simmered it for a night, it should be very good. Smell it, fragrant right?" As soon as Wei Xiameng opened the lid, the fresh scent of chicken broth wafted out.

In the past, Jiang Jinyan would be tempted and his stomach would gurgle hungrily. But now, he felt that he wouldn't be able to stomach anything again for the rest of the day. He didn't even turn his head to look at Wei Xiameng.

Wei Xiameng poured it onto the thermos cup and set up a table for him. She chatted along, "The nurse said that you're not in a good mood these past few days. What happened? Something is wrong with your body?"

Jiang Jinyan's fists clenched under the blanket. Something was wrong, no, everything felt wrong right now. The soup that always succeeded in warming his heart before now gave him chills, his whole body felt so cold even though the curtain was drawn and sunlight poured into the room.

Wei Xiameng handed him the spoon but he didn't receive it. She tilted her head, confused. "Jinyan, what's wrong?"

At that moment, inside Jiang Jinyan's mind, he was flipping the table and flung the soup away, roared, "You're asking me what's wrong?! Why don't you ask yourself whether there's something wrong or not?!" But of course, it was all on his head. In reality, Jiang Jinyan turned to her with a faint smile and received the spoon, even though the tip of his fingers were trembling and he didn't drink it for ages.

Wei Xiameng beamed brightly, her gaze trailed onto the nightstand, exclaiming. "Another daffodil bouquet? You really have a lot of fans huh?"

Before, when he first received the bouquet, he thought that Wei Xiameng was only playing coy so he played along with her. But now, he was suddenly enlightened and his mouth blurted out before his brain could process anything. "The sender is anonymous. Before…I thought that it's from you."

Wei Xiameng was taken aback for a moment before laughing. "No, I don't even have enough time to sleep these days due to homeworks and projects. Where do I go and search for flowers? Furthermore, there's no flower shop around here, so they must be travelling for quite a distance to buy it. Do you need me to ask the front receptionist to see where it came from? It's such a good bouquet…"

Jiang Jinyan's head was lowered all the time. But as he saw Wei Xiameng reached out to touch the petals, he spoke out, "Don't touch it."

Wei Xiameng froze. "Huh?" Thinking that she heard it wrong, she asked again. "What did you say just now?"

"I say, don't touch it." Jiang Jinyan replied calmly. All of the turbulent feelings inside his heart a moment ago calmed down and Jiang Jinyan felt that he had never been so sobered before in his life. His heart broke into pieces, but at the same time, overwhelming relief waved through him, as if he was finally free from the shackles that dragged him down.

Wei Xiameng's smile receded and anger filled her eyes. "What's wrong with you?!"

Jiang Jinyan smiled mockingly. She was always like this. Sweet, coquettish, with sky high pride. When Jiang Jinyan thought back, he was always the one who yielded. He never liked crowds, but when Wei Xiameng pleaded with him, he would be ready to take her shopping and watching movies, trying out numerous shops before dragging his tired body home to prepare for training the next day. He never liked sweets, but if Wei Xiameng liked it, he was willing to eat a few spoonfuls to please her. He was never a patient and good tempered man to begin with, but with her, surprisingly he could transform into anyone she wanted.

Jiang Jinyan never realized it, but in their relationship, it was always him who tried to change himself to suit the other person.

Until the end, he couldn't even recognize himself anymore.