SSB – Chapter 44.3

　”I heard from Yuan Lang that you’re pursuing a girl… Is it true or not?”

　　Duan Jiaxu’s tone was devoid of emotion: “Do you have something to say?”

　　”After everything that’s happened, how can you act like nothing’s occurred?” Jiang Ying said, “I… Can I forgive you? The two of us, the two of us…”

　　”Let me ask you something. Yuan Lang informed me we’re getting married. Did you spread that?” Duan Jiaxu interrupted her and continued nonchalantly, “Do you want me to marry you?”

　　Silence followed, and a few seconds later, Jiang Ying softly uttered, “Is it not possible?”

　　The curve of Duan Jiaxu’s lips tightened, and he hung up the phone without a word. He stood up, found a tool to remove the SIM card from his phone, snapped it in half, and tossed it into the trash bin.

　　His temples throbbed, and his stomach began to ache.

　　Duan Jiaxu entered the restroom.

　　As if feeling extremely disgusted, he bent over and inexplicably spat out a few mouthfuls of sour liquid. Duan Jiaxu turned on the faucet, rinsed his mouth, and splashed cold water on his face.

　　After a while, he raised his eyes and looked at himself in the mirror.

　　Suddenly, he smiled.

　　Can you believe it?

　　In this day and age, there are still people who think that way.

　　The concept of guilt should lead to collective responsibility…

　　The courses in the second semester of freshman year were noticeably more numerous. Sang Zhi’s schedule was packed, with hardly any free time during the week except for weekends.

　　After the New Year, it seemed that Duan Jiaxu’s work became busier, and he started working overtime day and night.

　　Both of them had their own matters to attend to, and communication was mostly done through WeChat.

　　Although Ning Wei advised her, Sang Zhi’s interactions with him hadn’t undergone significant changes compared to before. Perhaps due to the barrier of a screen, he hadn’t been saying inexplicable things like before.

　　In the blink of an eye, March came to an end.

　　The two of them agreed to have dinner together on Friday night. After class, Sang Zhi returned to her dorm to put her things away. Just as she was about to leave, Duan Jiaxu called her.

　　She answered the call while taking out lipstick from her bag and lightly applying it to her lips.

　　”Where are you now?” Duan Jiaxu said. “The group suddenly decided to have a gathering.”

　　Sang Zhi paused her actions and guessed, “So, do I not need to go out then?”

　　Duan Jiaxu replied casually, “I’m not asking for your opinion. If you don’t want to eat with them, then don’t go. We’ll eat something else.” 

　　”It’s fine.” Sang Zhi didn’t mind too much about what to eat. “I’ll go.”

　　”Then come out.” Duan Jiaxu said, “I’m at the entrance.”

　　Sang Zhi hung up the phone and tidied her hair. She took a few more glances at herself in the mirror, then quickly left her dorm and headed towards the school entrance.

　　Duan Jiaxu’s car was parked outside the campus.

　　Sang Zhi got in and greeted him, “Jiaxu-ge.”

　　After not seeing each other for a month, Duan Jiaxu’s hair had grown longer, slightly covering his eyebrows. His complexion was pale, with a faint grayish shade under his eyes. It seemed he had been burning the midnight oil quite a bit, lacking some sleep.

　　Duan Jiaxu made a sound of acknowledgement, glanced at her, and then started the car.

　　Sang Zhi: “Have you decided on a location for the gathering?”

　　Duan Jiaxu: “The same hot pot restaurant as last time.”

　　Sang Zhi nodded.

　　She didn’t know what to say, so she simply lowered her head and started playing with her phone. After a while, Duan Jiaxu took the initiative to speak, “Do you have a lot of classes recently?”

　　”Yes,” Sang Zhi said, “My schedule from Monday to Friday is packed.”

　　”Take care of yourself.”

　　”Oh.”

　　A little while later, Duan Jiaxu asked in a leisurely manner, “Are you still planning to look for that male ‘fox spirit’?”

　　”…” Sang Zhi didn’t know how to respond. “Why are you asking about that?”

　　Duan Jiaxu chuckled: “I’m just making conversation.”

　　Sang Zhi remained silent and continued playing with her phone.

　　Duan Jiaxu: “Is the person you mentioned from your school?”

　　Sang Zhi honestly replied, “No.”

　　”Then who else could you possibly know?”

　　”…” Seeing that he wouldn’t stop, Sang Zhi was afraid she might reveal a flaw, so she turned off her screen, stuttered and stumbled as she fabricated a lie, “Well, I met him outside the campus.”

　　Duan Jiaxu: “I see.”

　　Sang Zhi breathed a sigh of relief and looked out the window.

　　Duan Jiaxu asked again, “How did you meet?”

　　”…”

　　How suffocating.

　　Where did he get all these questions?

　　Sang Zhi gritted her teeth and replied cautiously, “We met while going out to have fun.”

　　Duan Jiaxu: “Where did you meet?”

　　”Um, I think, it was, well, a bar maybe,” Sang Zhi hesitated, “A bar near my school…”

　　Duan Jiaxu looked ahead, recalling that they had met again outside the small door of a KTV. He suddenly curled his lips and slowly dangled a bait, “Is that so? How come I remember you saying you met at a KTV when you were drunk?”

　　”…” Sang Zhi was stunned.

　　Did I really say that?

　　Me?! I actually said that?!!!

　　Sang Zhi was so scared that she could hardly speak. She didn’t dare look at him, licked her lips, and changed her statement, “Oh, it does seem like it was a KTV. I remembered it wrong.”

　　There was silence for several seconds.

　　Then, Sang Zhi heard Duan Jiaxu suddenly burst into laughter.

　　Sang Zhi immediately looked at him, feeling a bit guilty: “What’s so funny?”

　　Duan Jiaxu was still laughing, with a faint breath in his voice. His mood seemed extremely good, his eyes shining brightly, and he raised an eyebrow slightly, “Nothing much.”

　　”…”

　　”I just suddenly realized,” Duan Jiaxu suppressed his laughter and whispered, “Your Qian Fei-ge is quite clever.”

　　”…”