Three Years and Three Years

Chapter 113: New friend

Jin Yuan’s life was really as good as he had said, despite not seeing him for about ten days. He looked much better and not as worn-out as before. With some good rest, he could be even healthier and more refreshed.

Although he had a healthy blush on his cheeks, he still looked a bit thin, as men usually are. Without any wrinkles yet, he looked slightly younger.

“What brings you here this time?” Jin Yuan’s expression was calm and composed, as if he were not the same person who had several books on the table for preparing for the college entrance examination.

“I came to see you,” he said, struggling to find the right words. It seemed that nothing he said would be appropriate at the moment.

Jin Yuan smiled and asked, “When will you be going back?”

“Huh?”

“Xiao Yang said that you have been working abroad all these years, so you probably can’t stay for too long. When are you going to the airport? I’ll drive you,” Jin Yuan said.

Before entering the door, Chen Sheng had already thought that if he was refused again this time, it would not be unexpected, so he could only force a bitter smile.

“The reason I went abroad before was because there was nothing for me to cling onto in China,” he said.

Jin Yuan took a sip of water, nodded, and said, “Oh, after so many years abroad, you must have gotten used to it. It’s not easy to slowly accumulate your own network, circle of friends, and work in one place.”

He was actually very smart and skillfully danced around the subject with Chen Sheng, as if easily retreating to a position of mere acquaintances.

They talked for a long time, but the more they talked, the more Chen Sheng began to doubt himself and everything in front of him.

Jin Yuan was still Jin Yuan, but he no longer seemed like the person he once was. Besides his estrangement from society after he was released from prison, the current Jin Yuan was trying very hard to embrace everything. He was no longer the silly boy who stumbled around with a straight face, but had become a smart, well-planned person who worked hard in life.

This new Jin Yuan made him feel strange, but then he realized that people can’t stay the same after twelve years.

In so many days and nights, it is enough to make a person completely transformed.

Chen Sheng appreciates intelligent people, but he will not fall in love with someone who is too intelligent and knows too much. As for Zhou Muxian…

They have been living under the same roof for so long that he actually had the idea of being with Zhou Muxian. However, that seed is always crushed as soon as it sprouts.

The reason is simple: Zhou Muxian is intelligent, has independent thoughts, and has excellent abilities. More importantly, he does not need him. If Zhou Muxian leaves him, he will still live a good life and shine in countless places.

What Chen Sheng wants is someone who can root with him, and regard him as someone as important as their own life. He is afraid that he is just an optional person for others. He wants to be absolutely indispensable in someone’s life. He thought Jin Yuan would be that person, but now it seems that it was just his wishful thinking.

He really… really has faded out of Jin Yuan’s life, no longer the most cherished thing in his heart.

“What are your plans for the future?” Chen Sheng asked him.

Jin Yuan played with the edge of the pillow in his hand and said, “The current social environment is good, and being thirty years old is not considered old. It’s an age where you can allow yourself to wander for a few more years. I plan to take the university entrance exam next year, and when I have some free time, I will travel with Ranran. Maybe I will choose to buy a house abroad and spend more time with Ranran during the summer. It’s good for learning English.”

Later, he said something else, but Chen Sheng didn’t remember it very well. He only knew that he had lost the person who was willing to protect him wholeheartedly forever.

In the end, he didn’t notify Jin Yuan when he went to the airport. Some words are just polite between Chinese people. You can take it seriously, but it’s better not to take it too seriously. Since it’s impossible, why bother to entangle?

After Chen Sheng left, Ranran came out of the room and saw her dad sitting in a corner of the sofa, looking out the window in a daze.

“Daddy, who is that uncle?” the little girl asked in confusion. She actually wanted to know what happened that made her dad look so sad.

Jin Yuan tried to control his expression and moved his eyes away from the window to his daughter, saying, “He’s a very, very important friend of daddy’s.”

“Will that uncle come to our house often in the future?”

Jin Yuan shook his head. “No, he won’t.”

The little girl couldn’t figure it out. “Why? Don’t good friends play together often?”

“Because during the time dad was away, he made new friends and played better with them. Now that dad is back, everything has changed.”

Ranran patted her father’s shoulder and encouraged him, “It’s okay, dad. You can find new friends to play with.”

Jin Yuan smiled at Ranran. “You’re right. I can find new friends to play with.”

. . . . .

Jin Yang always seemed to bump into Wang Xijie at the hospital, as if the young man was coming to the hospital more frequently these days.

This time, they met in the restroom, both trying to use the same stall.

“You go ahead.”

“No, you go ahead. I’m not in a rush.”

Having met twice at the hospital, and having learned from insider information that the other person was a representative with whom he was about to establish a business partnership, it seemed like a waste of fate not to have a meal together.

However, there were no good restaurants near the hospital, mostly just small storefronts.

Inviting a business partner to eat at such a place would clearly be an insult to the person’s status. But for the moment, they couldn’t find a better option and had to settle for second best.

It wasn’t until they were sitting together in a beef noodle restaurant, sleeves rolled up and eating, that they realized they were both the same type of person, not caring about fancy hotels or high-end restaurants.

Wang Xijie seemed to have a good appetite, as if he had been hungry before, and he didn’t stop at just one bowl of noodles, insisting on ordering a second one.

“You’re too kind, Director Jin,” he said, while adding a large spoonful of chili oil to his bowl. His smiling expression was particularly pleasing to the eye.

Jin Yang replied, “No need to be polite. I can tell that Mr. Wang is someone who is not bound by small details. I’m sure our cooperation this time will go smoothly.”

Wang Xijie said, “I’m someone who gets things done. You don’t have to call me Mr. Wang, it sounds awkward. Just call me Xiao Wang.”

End of Chapter 113