SSB – Chapter 53.1

Sang Yan’s words, coupled with his blunt tone, clearly indicated that this approach was not going to work.

　　Sang Zhi felt somewhat annoyed by what he said. She initially thought of ignoring him altogether, but couldn’t resist the urge to argue with him. Feeling that text and voice messages lacked impact, she scrolled through her contacts and dialed his number directly.

　　Ring-ring.

　　Sang Zhi felt frustrated, her emotions brewing a few thousand words of a mini essay in her mind, and just as she was about to start speaking.

　　The call was abruptly ended from the other side.

　　”…”

　　In the next moment, Sang Yan sent a voice message: “Don’t call me if you have nothing important to talk about.”

　　Sang Zhi held back, then also started sending a voice message: “I was talking about an internship, not romance. What’s wrong with me dating someone older than you? I’m not trying to date someone older than dad.”

　　Her fourteen-second voice message had just been sent for a second. Sang Yan immediately replied: “Use text if it’s important.”

　　Clearly, he didn’t even bother listening to the message.

　　Sang Zhi was displeased, yet she continued with another voice message: “You use voice messages too, don’t you?”

　　After waiting for a while, there was no response from Sang Yan.

　　Sang Zhi continued, “You can’t be jealous and resentful just because you never dated in university or still don’t have a girlfriend now.”

　　Still no reply.

　　Sang Zhi was frustrated but didn’t want the conversation to end like this, leaving her with no valid argument. She clenched her lips and, reluctantly, sent a text message this time. Sang Yan responded quickly this time: “I took a moment to reply amid my busy schedule to reply to you, and you still want me to type for you. Keep dreaming.”

　　Sang Yan’s tone was quite cocky, “Also, what about me, your Gege? I have a girlfriend now.”

　　Sang Zhi: [?]

　　Sang Yan: “It can’t be helped. This girl has been pursuing me for a long time. If I don’t agree soon, she will…”

　　Sang Zhi didn’t want to listen to his self-absorbed talk, so she sent another voice message, forcefully interrupting him: “Enough.”

　　Sang Yan sent another message.

　　It was very short, just one second long.

　　Sang Zhi stared at it for a couple of seconds, hesitated, and then played the message. Sang Yan chuckled, “You little brat.”

　　Sang Zhi exploded.

　　Before she could reply, Sang Yan continued, “I’ll tell you one last time. Don’t act brainless just because you’re in love. The thing about meeting your online date when you were in high school at Yihe, I took it as you being young and rebellious.” 

　　Sang Zhi felt guilty about that incident and immediately cooled down.

　　Sang Yan’s tone turned casual, “This time, I can’t be bothered to explain other things to you. As for dating, that’s up to you. Try not going home during summer break and I’ll fly to Yihe to break your legs.” 

　　Sang Zhi decided not to push things further with Sang Yan. When she thought about it, she realized that throughout her life, the person who had managed her the most was actually Sang Yan.

　　Upon closer reflection, she couldn’t remember a single instance when Sang Yan had spoken up for her in front of their parents. He either bullied her or gave her lectures.

　　She felt she had started in the wrong direction from the beginning.

　　In any case, there were still two months left until summer vacation, so Sang Zhi wasn’t in a hurry.

　　Not long after the Labor Day holiday, it was soon time for Duan Jiaxu’s 26th birthday.

　　Their birthdays were close, with only half a month between them. So, shortly after Sang Zhi’s own birthday, she had already prepared the gift she planned to give to Duan Jiaxu.

　　After class, Sang Zhi didn’t return to her dormitory. Calculating the time, she figured that Duan Jiaxu probably hadn’t finished work yet. However, she still needed to pick up the cake, and factoring in the travel time, it should all work out.

　　Before Sang Zhi could even leave the school gate, she suddenly received a message from Liang Jun, asking her to go out and discuss something about their short film project.

　　Although Liang Jun was the team leader for this competition, Sang Zhi was generally more invested and spent more time on the project. Therefore, whenever someone in the team had a question, they would either ask in the group chat or reach out to Sang Zhi privately.

　　Glancing at the time, Sang Zhi replied, [I have something to do today. Can you discuss it on WeChat?]

　　Sang Zhi: [How about tomorrow?]

　　Liang Jun: [No problem, let’s discuss on WeChat then.]

　　As she chatted with him, Sang Zhi boarded the subway.

　　She had chosen a cake shop based on online recommendations. It wasn’t near Yihe University, nor was it close to Duan Jiaxu’s home or workplace. She had made a reservation online earlier, and now she needed to make a special trip to pick it up.

　　The cake shop was located inside a large shopping mall.

　　Sang Zhi wasn’t very familiar with the area, so she followed the signs for quite a while before finally finding the place and entering. The staff brought out the cake she had ordered and showed it to her.

　　On the sign was a line she had specially asked the staff to write. “Wishing Duan Jiaxu a happy 26th birthday.”

　　Sang Zhi’s lips curled into a smile, a playful glint in her eyes, tinged with a hint of childish mischief. She left the shop holding the cake box, contemplating whether to buy more things or perhaps go shopping with Duan Jiaxu later.

　　The last time she visited his place, she noticed that his refrigerator was practically empty, with nothing but drinks.

　　But carrying so many things with her didn’t seem like a good idea either.

　　Sang Zhi didn’t dwell on it for long and quickly decided to let it go. Since she still had some time, she entered a nearby boutique and window shopped around for a while. As she was about to leave, she faintly heard people arguing outside.

　　A few customers inside the shop also walked out curiously to see what was happening.

　　Sang Zhi wasn’t particularly interested in joining the commotion, so she left the shop with her newly purchased items. The voices of the argument outside grew louder and louder, sounding like a mother and daughter. The younger voice seemed somewhat familiar.

　　One person was yelling while the other was crying softly.

　　The older woman’s voice was sharp and piercing, full of anger: “You dare mention this to me one more time? Do you have a mental problem, acting crazy all day long? Do you want money from that scoundrel’s son and go bother him? It’s up to you. You want to marry him? Are you trying to infuriate me? Are you even worthy of your father?”

　　”I just want to torment him for a lifetime!” The younger woman’s words were tearful: “What’s wrong with that?”

　　Both of them had aggressive tones, and Sang Zhi found it a bit frightening. She didn’t look in their direction and walked silently towards the escalator.

　　The older woman continued to scold, “Are you trying to disgust me to death? Is there no other man in the world? If you really want to marry that Duan whatever, fine, I’ll treat you like you’re dead from now on!”

　　The younger woman cried out hysterically, “Then do you want to let Duan Jiaxu act like nothing happened? He wants to live happily with someone else. No way!” 

　　As Sang Zhi heard this, she happened to step onto the escalator. Her breath caught, and she instinctively looked in the direction of the voices. Immediately, she saw the young woman, the same one she had seen at the hot pot restaurant, Jiang Ying.

　　At that very moment, perhaps sensing her gaze, Jiang Ying’s eyes suddenly turned to meet hers.

　　They locked eyes.

　　Her eyes were red from tears, the sadness fading away. Her gaze shifted slightly downward, landing on the cake box in Sang Zhi’s hands.

　　The escalator continued its downward motion.

　　Sang Zhi didn’t have a favorable impression of this woman, so she averted her gaze. She descended to the second floor and continued walking downward. Listening to the sharp argument gradually faded until there was no sound left.

　　Her good mood dissipated in an instant. Sang Zhi recalled the words spoken by Jiang Ying’s mother.

　　“That scoundrel’s son.”

　　Coupled with Duan Jiaxu’s earlier revelation about Jiang Ying’s identity.

　　”My dad’s debtor.”

　　Sang Zhi had a vague idea of what might be going on.

　　Perhaps, Duan Jiaxu’s father had done something that harmed Jiang Ying’s father, and now they were taking their anger out on Duan Jiaxu?

　　But what does this have to do with him?

　　Sang Zhi couldn’t help muttering, “What’s wrong with them?” Her heart felt heavy in an instant.

　　Parent’s debt, child repays; the law doesn’t dictate that way.

　　Thinking back to the incident at the hot pot restaurant, when Jiang Ying splashed water on Duan Jiaxu, Sang Zhi pursed her lips and let out a frustrated breath.

　　Oh, well.

　　After all, she had splashed the water back at her.

　　She just wondered whether Jiang Ying had gone to bother Duan Jiaxu again. She had asked him before, but he said no.

　　So, that should be the case.

　　But Sang Zhi also felt that given Duan Jiaxu’s personality, even if Jiang Ying had gone to cause trouble again, he probably wouldn’t even acknowledge it. He would deal with this trouble on his own…

　　But she wondered if he would hold back.