Chapter 559: Hope that you're well, and I oblivious
Xiang Ning was someone who always approached life with a pure, untainted mindset. She was also magnanimous, enthusiastic and direct. Whether in this life or the previous, Xu Tingsheng was deeply influenced by this personality of hers.
Xu Tingsheng had been in a painful relationship with his former girlfriend, Qiao Ying, back in university in his previous life as they had tortured each other for a full three years. After getting together with Xiang Ning, though, he had very seldom gotten angry, whether towards individuals or society itself.
She was his sunshine and his ocean.
Still, there were some things which a seventeen-year-old girl just could not help but worry about, such as relationships. That morning, ever since Xu Tingsheng had sent Wu Yuewei to Xihu City, Xiang Ning had felt rather perturbed and ill at ease.
At the end of the day, this was because Wu Yuewei was just too outstanding in her eyes, with the two of them also sharing a very good relationship. Outstanding people might not be good, and good people might not be outstanding, but Wu Yuewei was a mixture of both. Coming to this conclusion from within, Xiang Ning could not help but worry.
The result of her looking out of it the entire morning was that the female teacher who had suspected Xiang Ning of being in a relationship all along now finally felt certain of these suspicions. Having failed to properly engage Xu Tingsheng in a cooperative investigative relationship back then, much less having seen any results, she decided to employ her 'ultimate' move this time, inviting Mr and Mrs Xiang to the school.
This move virtually never failed her. She had already seen too many parents, especially those with daughters, getting all nervous, furious and even hysterical upon doing so. Having herself been single all these years, this female teacher had found herself taking quite some pleasure from this every time, thus always looking forward to it greatly.
In the office.
The female teacher said, "Let me tell you something. From my observations, Xiang Ning seems to be in a relationship in school."
Mr Xiang replied, "That's impossible. Her boyfriend is not from the school."
The female teacher, "...So she has one? You guys know about it?"
Mrs Xiang, "Yes, we have even met. He's pretty good. Rest assured, teacher, we definitely won't let Little Ning be in a relationship in school. We know that would be bad for her studies."
The female teacher was stumped.
There was already basically nothing more that could be said at this point. Being in a relationship was definitely not illegal. Moreover, it wasn't even happening in the school. So long as she was unable to instigate the parents, she as a teacher was basically helpless to do anything about it.
She definitely did not have anything out for Xiang Ning too. Xiang Ning was already likeable by nature. Xu Tingsheng had also casually taken a whole bunch of various supermarket cards, beauty parlour cards, you name it from Huang Yaming...and asked Xiang Ning's policewoman cousin to, unbeknownst to her, go to the school and give them out. The teachers had long since been battered silly by them.
The sole thing this caused was that in between classes that afternoon, a boy from the same class or a neighbouring one would intermittently walk over, either feigning nonchalance or exuding clear despondence as they probed, "Xiang Ning, are you really in a relationship?"
The shameless Xiang Ning would simply smile and nod happily.
If there were sounds of hearts shattering, the classroom should be like a frozen lake come spring that afternoon, crunching and cracking...
Du Jin would be making a simple report to Xu Tingsheng everyday. On this very first day, the contents were as follows:
As of now, I've discovered at least two groups of people with different origins observing as well as analysing Young Mistress. As they show no intention of harming her, I judge that their actual intention is to analyse you, Young Master, through her. I have not alerted them to knowing their presence for the time being. Besides that, there seems to be quite a few boys who like Young Mistress. Also, Young Mistress wasn't too good emotionally this morning. While it was better when afternoon came, she was still a bit out of sorts. You had best return earlier, Young Master.
After receiving the text, Xu Tingsheng had no time to worry about how Du Jin was referring to him as his thoughts were completely drawn by those two groups of people that she spoke of. One of them might be the Ling and Xiao families, their current opponents. What of the other then?
However he racked his brains, Xu Tingsheng could not find an answer to this. He posed this question to Fang Yuqing whom he was with the entire afternoon as well as Zhong Wusheng who had just rushed over from Yanzhou, asking them to help to analyse the problem.
Sadly, quantity alone could not overcome the height of the problem. They simply had no clue of who those people might be.
Helpless, they could only set this matter aside for the time being, calming themselves. As least, Du Jin had said that the two groups of people showed no intention of wanting to harm Xiang Ning for the time being. Thus, there was no need to speculate about very malicious intent.
After who knew how many cigarettes, the final packet was already empty. Xu Tingsheng crushed the box and accurately threw it into the dustbin a short distance away. Then, he unconsciously continued talking about matters of the past.
Those days seemed to have been much simpler than this. Fang Yuqing had still been a low-key wastrel at the time, enthusiastically learning boxing from Zhong Wusheng with the aspiration of being a policeman and upholder of justice in the future.
Later on, he had been led askew by Xu Tingsheng to become the boss of Zhicheng.
Right now, a forced departure to a faraway place was imminent for him, the return date unknown.
"Tingsheng, I have a favour to ask of you," Fang Yuqing suddenly requested very earnestly.
"Say it."
That afternoon, Xu Tingsheng and Zhong Wusheng had refrained from talking about Yuqing as much as possible while Fang Yuqing himself had not mentioned it as well. Now, however, Fang Yuqing who had tried to appear cool as much as possible was being earnest for once. With that, Xu Tingsheng knew that he was finally going to mention her.
"I want to say that if Yuqing gets married one day...and I haven't come back yet. I think she will definitely invite you guys. In that case, please don't tell me about it, but help me pack a big red packet for her."
"Alright."
"I don't want to cry alone in the streets of America like a fool."
"Find a Western chick to accompany you as you cry and tell her your story in Mandarin. She won't be able to understand it anyway."
"Yeah."
"Hey, don't you cry now. We aren't Western chicks."
"I'm not crying. What would I cry for? If anyone should cry, it's her. That future man will definitely not be as handsome, as skilled, as good at fighting as me anyway...she'll definitely cry to death, don't you guys say?"
"Right."
"But he'll definitely treat her better than me."Between lovers in a breakup, one might say: If in the future, I know that you're very happy and doing better than me, I'll be able to rest assured. This mostly only appeared in novels or television dramas. Otherwise, one was probably actually only feigning a brave front.
One really cannot be so big-hearted in relationships. If one truly loves another yet they have to split apart, the most they can do is: I hope that you'll have a good life, but that I'll never know of it.
......
At the same time, a plane from Tokyo to Shenghai had just landed. A luxuriously-dressed woman left the airport alongside an entourage of a dozen, getting on a car. Her secretary passed her a document.
"This is the analysis of that girl. Please look through it."
Swiftly scanning through it, the woman's lips curled as she wondered aloud in a low tone, "Really doesn't have any background, any unique point. Suddenly appeared when she was fourteen, staying steadfast regardless of the other's background and status. Unmoved by the beautiful celebrity, the competent career woman, the gentle first love...doting to the point of extremity. Do you all think that there can truly be such love in this world that comes out of nowhere?"
The others in the car all looked around nervously, unsure how to answer that question.
Fortunately, the woman seemed not to require an answer as she mused aloud in amusement, "Deep love from a previous life? It's getting more and more interesting."