In the end, Chen Yuan decided not to tell anyone what Jiangg Ruxue had done.

He didn’t know how to bring it up with Jiangg Ning. Should he tell her he’d run into Jiangg Ruxue, who then got drunk and insisted on giving him an unspeakable gift?

‘What did she mean by giving me that gift?’

He was afraid that within five minutes of him saying anything, Jiangg Ning would be on the phone, arguing with her mother.

No one could accept something so outrageous and absurd. Before meeting Jiangg Ruxue, Chen Yuan never could have imagined his mother-in-law was this kind of person.

‘A normal person her age, hitting on a guy almost twenty years younger!?’

‘This mother-in-law is a real piece of work…’

Chen Yuan was in a daze as he walked back to the restaurant. He couldn’t wrap his head around it, and a sour bile churned in his stomach. He felt like grabbing the nearest trash can and throwing up.

He felt humiliated.

But he had to swallow this grievance.

And so, the two sisters only knew the first half of Chen Yuan’s encounter with Jiangg Ruxue. As for the second half, Chen Yuan forced himself to forget it.

After returning to Qishui County from Lanjing, his days passed as placidly as a tranquil well.

For Chen Yuan, it was a long winter break. He’d never thought there was anything wrong with vacations before; they were the freest of times. If he was bored, he could play video games at home until his head spun. When he got tired of games, he could meet up with his childhood friends to break holes in the ice for fishing. If all else failed, he could shed his down jacket and run a few laps on the court.

The vacation would always end in a daze, gone in the blink of an eye.

But this winter break was completely different.

He found himself counting the days, one by one.

When he played video games, Jiangg Yao was there to keep him company.

When he went out with his friends, he’d find himself wanting to pull out his phone to take a picture and share it with her.

When he went to play basketball, he’d run a few laps around the court before needing to pick up his phone and reply to her messages.

It wasn’t that he had to reply, but she was always on his mind.

Chen Yuan wasn’t exactly love-struck, he just felt like something was suddenly missing. He hadn’t noticed it right after leaving Lanjing, but as the days went by, the feeling of emptiness grew more and more pronounced.

Whenever he was doing something, he kept expecting to turn his head and see Jiangg Ning there.

He remembered her standing in the room, her long hair casually tied up. When their eyes met, she would offer him the fruit platter in her hands. “It’s really sweet. Have a bite.”

The image was still so vivid in his mind.

Every time Chen Yuan recalled it, the corners of his mouth would turn up in a smile.

But now, those images were gone. When Chen Yuan turned his head, all he saw was a bare, empty wall.

‘But would it sound childish to tell Jiangg Ning I miss her? She won’t think I’m just some love-struck fool, will she?’ After all, Jiangg Ning’s age was a fact. She had so many things to do every day, as if she could never finish it all. In contrast, Chen Yuan’s life was carefree and easy. When it was time to eat, he would just plop himself down in a chair in the living room and call out, “Mom, what’s for dinner?” then wait for the food to be served from the kitchen.

‘Wouldn’t saying that just remind her of our age gap again? That’s what it’s like when an older woman dates a younger guy—one already knows the cruelty of the world, while the other is still as green as a fledgling. I’m not that much of a fledgling, though,’ Chen Yuan thought. He really didn’t want Jiangg Ning to see him that way, whether it was because of his male pride or for some other reason.

‘Is this considered a long-distance relationship? Not really. It shouldn’t count.’

Chen Yuan would mull over these things while spacing out during the day. His thoughts would be interrupted by someone, and he’d move on to other tasks, but they would always return in the quiet of the night.

He had to admit it: he had fallen completely into the beautiful trap of love.

And he was unable to pull himself out.

He even started to worry about the “age issue,” something he hadn’t thought much about before.

Love had always been like this. When you weren’t that into someone, you couldn’t care less what they thought of you. The moment you realized you had feelings for them, you would subconsciously adjust yourself. But when you were truly in love, the longing for that person would grow like wild vines inside you, spreading from your veins to every part of your body. When you looked at them, the branches and leaves would practically crawl out from the corners of your eyes.

Love was so terrifying.

It imperceptibly filled every corner of a person’s existence.

For the first time, Chen Yuan began to dream of a future with her.

「One day.」

On the old, chilly basketball court, a puddle of water spilled by some unknown person had frozen into a sheet of ice. When they played, Chen Yuan and his friends made sure to avoid it, otherwise they would slip, fall flat on their backs, and end up with a huge lump on their head.

The group of young men panted, their breath forming hot, white clouds of mist in the cold air.

But their feet never stopped moving.

“Over here, over here!”

The basketball passed between them, the THUMP, THUMP of it dribbling echoing across the empty court.

Chen Yuan, wearing only a thin shirt with steam rising from his head, caught a pass from a friend. The player behind him chased him like a mad dog. Chen Yuan dribbled between his legs, neared the basket, and faked out the defender in front of him with a beautiful move. He took a step with his right foot, pushed off hard with his left, and went up for a hook shot layup!

“Nice shot~”

Even in the dead of winter, these guys were addicted to basketball. They had practically dragged Chen Yuan out. They’d asked him to come out yesterday, but he’d refused, so this morning they showed up right at his doorstep.

In any case, they were just playing at the school, and the faculty housing was only separated from the court by two walls.

There were six of them in total: one fat, one skinny, and the rest with builds similar to Chen Yuan’s. They were his closest friends in the small town.

“Let’s take a break, take a break.”

They played for an hour, and Chen Yuan was drenched in sweat. He found a random spot to sit under the basketball hoop and started chugging a bottle of mineral water.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep