Chapter 113. Shi An POV
Arc E : Extra 2
Shi An smiled and rejected the girl in front of him: “Sorry, I have to go to the airport to pick up a friend today, so I can’t participate in the group activities today.”
The girl was a little puzzled: “Friend, who came to Pingcheng to play?”
“No, he is a native of Pingcheng and is studying abroad.”
“Then you don’t need to pick him up, right? How can a local get lost on his way home?”
Shi An still had a smile on his face and looked very happy: “He is my most important friend, I hope to see him as soon as possible.”
Shi An arrived at the airport an hour early. Thinking of Du Yan, whom he had not seen for a long time, the waiting time became beautiful. Du Yan’s return this time was somewhat unexpected. He was supposed to return to China a month later.
Du Yan had been on vacation a long time ago, but Zhang Jing’s research project had not yet been completed, so the two decided to return to China together after Zhang Jing’s project was completed.
When Shi An talked to Du Yan on the phone a few days ago, he was planning to ask about their specific time to return home. This would allow him to stagger his internship schedule so that when his friends who had not returned home for a long time came back, he would not be unable to accompany them because of work.
Unexpectedly, Du Yan directly said on the phone that he had booked a flight for three days later. Shi An asked about Zhang Jing, but got an unexpected answer.
Du Yan said: “I don’t recognise any Zhang Jing.”
After hanging up the phone, Shi An felt puzzled. Did Du Yan run away and return to the country because of a temper tantrum?
Having grown up together, Shi An knows Du Yan very well. Du Yan is actually a very generous person who does not bear grudges. Although he seems to be a bit free-spirited, he is actually a very transparent person.
Du Yan never makes things difficult for himself or others. He has his own set of rules.
When Shi An first moved to Zhang Jing’s house, he thought Du Yan was like those kids in his hometown who liked to bully him, or like Lin Hu, who liked to find fun in showing off his superiority.
The children in his hometown felt that Shi An had no father, so they bullied him to show their superiority; Lin Hu at the entrance of the alley felt that Shi An was an outsider, so he also bullied him to show his superiority.
Although Du Yan asked Shi An to pay protection fees, he was very particular about the spirit of the trading and would not do anything excessive.
In the subsequent interactions, Shi An discovered that in Du Yan’s eyes, he was Shi An, and it had nothing to do with his background and his mother.
Even when Shi An was depressed, Du Yan never comforted him. He just felt strange why Shi An feels different from others and gets depressed because he was from another place or was a child from a single-parent family.
At that time, Du Yan said: “Everyone is different. Why should you be unhappy because of something like this?”
Shi An originally thought that Du Yan could not understand his troubles because his life was too smooth. On the surface, Du Yan’s family was wealthy, and Grandpa Du and his family were all intellectuals who would listen to their children’s ideas instead of just making demands.
Later, Shi An discovered that Du Yan’s parents were almost completely absent during his growth.
Du Yan’s parents only come back to China during the Spring Festival every year, and they are nowhere to be seen at other times. Even when Du Yan lived abroad, he almost grew up with a nanny.
At that time, Shi An asked Du Yan if he had ever blamed his parents for this.
Du Yan said in a very open-minded way: “They have their own way of life. Although they are busy with work, they also fulfill their responsibilities as parents when they are free. I am also an independent individual. Why should I entirely place the focus on how my parents treat me?”
From that day on, Shi An knew that people are independent individuals and should always learn to be responsible for themselves, not to hurt others, but also not to rely on others.
Perhaps it was because of this conversation with Du Yan that when Shi An discovered his sexual orientation, the struggle and hesitation did not last too long. After discovering the matter between Zhang Jing and Du Yan, Shi An was a little disappointed but was not too seriously affected.
Because Shi An knows that his love for Du Yan is his own business, and Du Yan has no obligation to be responsible for his life. This is the extremely carefree attitude towards life that he learned from Du Yan.
That’s why Shi An felt strange, because running back to China alone in anger was not Du Yan’s attitude towards life. Out of worry and longing, Shi An wanted to see Du Yan as soon as possible no matter what.
The broadcast echoed, and the flight arrived.
Shi An stood up and walked to the entrance to wait for the person.
Du Yan came out quickly, carrying only a backpack, and his expression looked very relaxed and comfortable, not like he left in a bad mood at all.
Du Yan saw Shi An waiting at the arrival gate and came over to give him a hug: “You really came. I haven’t been back for more than a year, it’s not like I would forget the way.”
Shi An smiled and said: “I have nothing to do anyway, so of course I have to welcome my best friend home. I’ll treat you to a meal, what would you like to eat?”
Du Yan laughed and said: “Eat skewers, we must go eat skewers!”
So, the two of them didn’t even go home, but went straight to the food stall to eat skewers.
Du Yan’s alcohol tolerance has improved in the past two years. The two of them drank and ate skewers while casually chatting about their recent situation.
Shi An mentioned Zhang Jing several times, but Du Yan changed the subject directly, which made him feel more and more strange. However, since Du Yan was unwilling to talk about it, Shi An would not ask any more questions.
However, although Du Yan was no longer the Du Yan who got drunk after one glass of beer, he still had a low alcohol tolerance. After a few glasses of beer, he began to feel a little tipsy, and his speech became incoherent.
“Shi An, do you know why I ran back first?” Du Yan gritted his teeth and ate a bunch of crispy chicken wings, making a crunching sound.
“Ah? Why?” Shi An had a good alcohol tolerance, so a few beers had no effect on him at all. He knew very well that he needed to be gentle with drunkards, so he followed Du Yan’s words and asked.
“He cheated.”
“Did you misunderstand something?” Shi An’s eyes widened, unable to believe what he heard.
Although he and Zhang Jing are rivals in love, he knows that Zhang Jing is a very serious and rigid person, and he values Du Yan very much, so it is absolutely impossible for Zhang Jing to cheat on him.
Even if Du Yan and Zhang Jing could not be together in the future, Shi An could only imagine reasons such as incompatibility of personalities. Cheating or something was completely out of consideration.
Du Yan’s eyes were already a little dazed, and he answered almost everything he was asked: “In the past, even if he was busy with his studies, he would come back to sleep every day. But during this period, he slept in the laboratory. When I went to find him, he just said a few perfunctory words and sent me away.”
“Oh, and he actually stood up and turned his back to me when he was on the phone. That’s unusual, isn’t it?” Du Yan said: “Isn’t that what they say on the Internet? Oh, that’s right, these are the ten signs that a man is cheating.”
After hearing this, Shi An felt that Zhang Jing’s behavior was indeed a little abnormal, but he had no experience of relationships, and his feelings for Du Yan were not pure, so he had no idea what to do.
“Zhang Jing, you bastard!” Du Yan cursed angrily and then fell headfirst onto Shi An.
“……”
In the end, Shi An could only send the drunkard home, thinking about having a good chat with Du Yan tomorrow.
However, the next day, Du Yan disappeared.
When Shi An went to look for him, Grandpa Du said he was out traveling. Du Yan decided to turn off his phone and enjoy the trip, but he would call back every day to report that he was safe.
Du Yan also left a letter for Shi An, asking his Yeye to pass it on.
Shi An took the letter home, and after reading it, he felt a bit amused.
It turned out that Du Yan remembered what he said last night after getting drunk and wrote it down almost verbatim on the first page. But the second page of the letter contained a shocking reversal.
The first sentence on the second page was: “Shi An, do you think that after Zhang Jing reads this first page, he will stop coming to see me because of guilt and remorse?”
It turns out that Du Yan made such a fuss just to go backpacking alone.
Zhang Jing may have been used to cleaning up the mess for Du Yan since he was a child, and he was always worried about his impetuous temper, so he didn’t quite agree with Du Yan traveling alone. Du Yan took into account his worrying personality and rarely made this request.
This time, it’s a Godsend.
Zhang Jing’s abnormal behavior was true, but Du Yan did not take it to heart. He knew that Zhang Jing was a man with a deep mind and would sometimes bash his head against a brick wall.
Du Yan knew his own low EQ. If he tried to comfort Zhang Jing, it would probably make him so angry that he would have a heart attack. So he just let Zhang Jing figure it out on his own.
However, after watching for a while, he found that Zhang Jing didn’t seem to have figured it out yet, so he decided to give him some catalyst to help him figure it out.
So Du Yan patted his butt and ran back to the home country. After sobering up today, he thought that this was a rare opportunity, and he just took this opportunity to walk the path of the wandering hero that he had longed to do since he was a child.
Even Grandpa Du and the others didn’t know where Du Yan was going yet, so Shi An could only wait in Pingcheng, as Du Yan said in the letter.
The day after Du Yan left, Zhang Jing returned.
When he got home, it was already midnight. Shi An slept late, and when he heard some noise outside, he got up to check.
As soon as he went out, he saw Zhang Jing standing in the yard, carrying a suitcase, and covered in dust.
Zhang Jing must have been waiting for him. When he saw Shi An coming out, he nodded and sat down on a stone bench nearby.
“I saw the light was on in your room, so I guessed you were still awake and would come out.” Zhang Jing’s face didn’t look good, with some stubble on his chin, and he looked a little decadent.
Shi An said: “I know what you want to ask. Du Yan talked to me about it yesterday.”
Zhang Jing looked in the direction of Du Yan’s house but did not respond: “Hmm.”
Shi An saw him staring at the wall in a daze and teased him: “Why, do you want to climb over the wall to find Du Yan?”
Zhang Jing said: “I just suddenly remembered the scene when Du Yan climbed over the wall and hit me with peanut shells on the first day he moved in.”
“In fact, I have always been thinking, if we hadn’t been drunk at that time, would my relationship with Du Yan have always been limited to friends?” Zhang Jing was a little melancholy: “A few days ago, Du Yan got drunk again.”
“He suddenly called me Xiao Lang, and I remembered that he also called me by this name the night after the college entrance examination.”
“……”
Shi An was somewhat speechless. Was he now considered a close friend? He was clearly here as a love rival. Was it because he usually acted too harmless that Zhang Jing had completely forgotten about it?
“If you’re angry, break up right away. I’m already preparing to apply to studying abroad.”
“…” Zhang Jing seemed to be choked by Shi An’s shameless remarks and did not speak for a long time.
“How about it?” Shi An added maliciously.
“It’s not a big deal. You don’t have to add fuel to the fire. I’m not a fool.” Zhang Jing said: “No matter how it started, Du Yan is with me now, and I won’t let go.”
“Then what are you tangled up with?”
“Maybe it’s because I hate myself. I know Du Yan probably just treats me as a friend, but I still want to pretend to know nothing. I just want to continue like this. As long as he stays by my side, it’s enough.” Zhang Jing wiped his face, his expression becoming more and more decadent.
“I even secretly went to see a psychiatrist without telling Du Yan, hoping to learn to be more generous and not care about these things…”
Shi An finally couldn’t stand these two people anymore. He felt like he was choking on dog food. He got up and went back to the house, took the letter, and threw it at Zhang Jing.
After Shi An returned to his room, he saw through the window that Zhang Jing’s eyes suddenly lit up, and his expression finally relaxed after reading the letter. He turned off the light and lay down on the bed with a lot of dissatisfaction.
“Shi An, Shi An, are you stupid…”
A strange couple quarrel just passed by like that. Shi An didn’t know the follow-up of this incident until he went abroad.
At that time, the three of them were drinking tea in the garden, and Shi An casually mentioned the incident two years ago.
Zhang Jing showed a rare shy expression on his face, while Du Yan laughed and said: “Because Xiao Lang is him!”
Shi An asked in confusion: “What is that mean?”
Du Yan explained: “I once had a dream. I dreamed that Zhang Jing and I were lovers. At that time, he was called Xiao Lang. Later, he died and staged a love story between a human and a ghost with me. I personally think that was our past life.”
Zhang Jing nodded: “After Du Yan mentioned it, I also had a sense of déjà vu. It must be from our previous life.”
Shi An looked at the two people in front of him. Du Yan had such a fantastic idea, but Zhang Jing, who was extremely rigorous in thinking and was still engaged in scientific research, actually believed in such past and present lives.
Sure enough, love makes people blind and stupid.
Including Shi An, who was so stupid that he could laugh out loud from the bottom of his heart when he saw the two people in front of him being so happy.
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