SYLM Chapter 61

Chapter 61: Was the Diary Placed Like This Before?

Chapter 61 Was the Diary Placed Like This Before?

To coincidentally meet at the cinema on the first day of the Lunar New Year, logically speaking, is an event with a very small probability, but unfortunately, Ningcheng is a small county town with only one small cinema.

Across the crowd, gazes met, and varying degrees of shock appeared on the faces of the four people.

However, it wasn’t until they had their tickets checked and entered that Chen Lu realized there was more to the coincidence.

Facing the cinema screen, starting from a certain position in the middle of the fifth row, from left to right were Tang Ying, Fu Yi Wen, Chen Lu, and Gu Wan Jun.

The seats the four of them had chosen were actually right next to each other.

Before the movie started, Fu Yi Wen used the excuse of going to the restroom and dragged Chen Lu along.

“Chen Lu, what’s going on with you!?”

Fu Yi Wen was so excited that she stomped her feet and gestured wildly, which only left Chen Lu confused:

“What’s going on with what?”

“Why did you come to the cinema with Gu Wan Jun?”

“What about it? What’s wrong with watching a movie? Didn’t you come with Tang Ying too?”

“I asked Tang Ying to watch a movie because I have a crush on her, but how did you and Gu Wan Jun get to–”

“Wait a minute…”

The huge amount of information caused Chen Lu’s eyes to blink rapidly, comparable to hazard lights. She raised her hand to interrupt Fu Yi Wen, her gaze fixed on her friend’s eyes:

“Are you saying you have a crush on Tang Ying?”

“…”

—

The movie was about to start, but the two children still hadn’t returned.

Other audience members were successively having their tickets checked and entering the theater. Those who had already found their seats and sat down would occasionally meet the meaningful gazes of others, which made Tang Ying feel irritable from the bottom of her heart.

Before choosing an outfit to go out, she considered fur coats with bags, fur coats with cars, and fur coats with sunglasses, but she never considered that fur coats would also have to go with this damn popcorn…

Not knowing for the umpteenth time, she met the gaze of someone who was looking for a seat or probing. Tang Ying couldn’t stand it anymore. She got up and walked to Gu Wan Jun, who was two empty seats to her right, and stuffed the two large buckets of popcorn directly into her hands.

The sudden action startled Gu Wan Jun, who was hesitating whether to send Chen Lu a message. She already had a bucket of popcorn in her hand, but now Tang Ying had forced two more buckets on her…

Gu Wan Jun smiled helplessly and looked up at Tang Ying. The latter’s face was icy, and her hair seemed to be filled with unwillingness. Her fingertips, adorned with wine-red and gilded patterns, pulled the cat-eye sunglasses off her head and onto the bridge of her nose. The leopard-print fur coat inadvertently brushed against the armrest of the seat, and then she settled down in the seat next to Gu Wan Jun with peace of mind.

“You want to sit here?”

“Can’t I?”

“This is Chen Lu’s seat.”

“I’ll switch with her.”

Hearing this, Gu Wan Jun was about to say no, but Tang Ying crossed her legs, dusted off her leopard-print fur coat, and said with a tone that was somewhat cold but not malicious:

“Spending New Year’s Eve together, and now wanting to sit together while watching a movie, are you that inseparable from your little follower?”

Gu Wan Jun sized Tang Ying up and down and chuckled: “The way you talk just doesn’t sound right.”

Tang Ying crossed her arms and harrumphed twice: “You’re quite the friend, aren’t you? You couldn’t think of me at all during the New Year, but you can think of going out to see a movie with a student, and you didn’t think to call me.”

Gu Wan Jun carefully placed the three large buckets of popcorn on her lap and defended herself in a good-tempered manner:

“My conscience is clear, Teacher Tang Ying. What are you talking about? Didn’t I send you a message yesterday on New Year’s Eve? You said you were in Yunjiang City…”

Halfway through her sentence, Gu Wan Jun’s expression changed, and she realized something wasn’t right:

“Hey, that’s not right. Didn’t you say before that you were going back to Yunjiang City for the New Year because Ningcheng was too small and not lively enough? You were still in Yunjiang City yesterday, so how did you get back today?”

Tang Ying didn’t hold back: “Fu Yi Wen asked me to watch a movie to thank me for my tutoring.”

“She asked you?”

Her gaze sweeping over the drink in Tang Ying’s hand, Gu Wan Jun’s tone was somewhat hesitant: “You didn’t drive for several hours overnight to get back, did you?”

When Gu Wan Jun sent Tang Ying New Year’s greetings, it was fifteen minutes before midnight, and Tang Ying was still in Yunjiang City.

Faced with Gu Wan Jun’s question, Tang Ying didn’t say anything. She stirred the ice cubes in her iced Americano with her straw and took a big gulp with a tense expression, taking it as an admission of Gu Wan Jun’s words.

New Year’s Eve, the so-called family reunion, was not possible in Tang Ying’s special family. Her dad was lingering in some drinking party, and her mom was following a group of nodding and bowing old-timers to do superficial work and send warmth to the grassroots. Whether in Ningcheng or Yunjiang City, Tang Ying was alone, so why wouldn’t she choose the lively Yunjiang City?

But what Tang Ying didn’t expect was that on New Year’s Eve, a certain chubby girl would call her at midnight to send her blessings and stammeringly ask her if she wanted to go see a movie together on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

The tiny cinema in Ningcheng?

When she received the call last night, the scattered and flickering neon lights fell into those sharp and beautiful phoenix eyes. Tang Ying raised an eyebrow in disdain, with no intention of agreeing at all.

After hanging up the phone, the cold and bitter liquid in the cup was drunk in one gulp. Tang Ying swiped her card to pay the bill and left the brightly lit bar in high heels, thinking about which outfit to change into while estimating what time she would arrive in Ningcheng if she left now.

After several hours of driving, after meeting up, fatigue and sleepiness made Tang Ying a little irritable. She bought herself two cups of iced Americano to reduce swelling and refresh herself.

Fu Yi Wen, who was following her side, was unaware. Since they met, her mouth had been chattering non-stop. Tang Ying couldn’t count how many times she had rolled her eyes at Fu Yi Wen in annoyance, but the latter wasn’t angry and still grinned happily, tugging at her arm and chattering in her ear about those questions that seemed very boring to her.

The bar was obviously much livelier, but Tang Ying only felt less lonely when Fu Yi Wen was by her side.

…

The cat-eye sunglasses blocked Tang Ying’s eyes, and Gu Wan Jun didn’t know what she was thinking. She just felt that something was wrong with the teacher driving for several hours overnight to fulfill a student’s appointment.

But if she put herself in her shoes, if Gu Wan Jun was in Yunjiang City and Chen Lu asked her to return to Ningcheng to watch a movie, then driving for a few hours overnight didn’t seem impossible.

Time passed by, and the lights around the cinema flickered off. People moved around in front and behind, the sounds were noisy, and as the movie was about to start, Chen Lu and Fu Yi Wen finally returned, back to the screen’s light.

Noticing that Chen Lu had returned, Gu Wan Jun stood up holding the popcorn, planning to switch seats.

Tang Ying quickly grabbed someone’s wrist: “Where are you going?”

Gu Wan Jun glanced around, lowered her voice, and tried not to disturb others: “I’ll switch with Fu Yi Wen and let her sit next to you.”

Tang Ying didn’t budge: “She can sit next to me in her original seat.”

Gu Wan Jun chuckled helplessly: “I want to sit next to Chen Lu.”

Tang Ying raised an eyebrow, with an expression as if she had expected it long ago.

Why didn’t you say that earlier? All that other stuff was useless.

Taking the two large buckets of popcorn from Gu Wan Jun’s arms, Tang Ying got up and returned to her original seat.

Chen Lu and Fu Yi Wen, who had returned to the cinema later, used the light from the screen to bend over and pass several people before finally finding their seats.

The two were completely unaware of Tang Ying and Gu Wan Jun’s previous conversation.

As soon as Chen Lu sat down, Gu Wan Jun’s gentle voice floated over: “Why did you take so long?”

The warm breath brushed lightly on Chen Lu’s ear as Gu Wan Jun turned her head closer. The body that had been sitting upright tensed even more. Chen Lu pursed her lips, silently apologizing to her friend in her heart while whispering to Gu Wan Jun:

“Fu Yi Wen had a stomachache, so the time–”

“Oh, Chen Lu seems to have eaten something bad. I’ve been waiting for her!”

“…”

Fu Yi Wen’s loud voice was no joke. Even the two large buckets of popcorn couldn’t block her. Her intonated words were not only explaining to Tang Ying, but even Chen Lu and Gu Wan Jun, who were sitting on her right, could hear them clearly without any effort.

It’s over, she was too hasty when she came back and forgot to coordinate their stories.

A feeling of panic and fear, as if sitting on a roller coaster without a seatbelt, instantly crept up Chen Lu’s spine. She didn’t dare to look into Gu Wan Jun’s eyes, but she was still pale and quietly explaining, for fear that Gu Wan Jun would misunderstand her:

“We both felt a little uncomfortable in our stomachs, so we didn’t say anything just now because we were afraid you’d worry.”

After making up this lie, Chen Lu was breaking out in a cold sweat. She was extremely grateful that the lights were all off, otherwise Gu Wan Jun would definitely have found out that she was talking nonsense.

The prologue was rolling on the big screen. In order not to affect other people’s viewing experience, Gu Wan Jun whispered a few words of concern, and then the topic was dropped.

Turning her gaze to face the big screen, her fingers unconsciously tapped her knee as she sat on her lap. The smile on Gu Wan Jun’s face disappeared completely.

Chen Lu wasn’t telling the truth just now.

Why could she tell Fu Yi Wen something but not her?

How did she have secrets from her?

What was there that she couldn’t tell her?

Gu Wan Jun licked her back teeth, and a inexplicable sourness welled up in her heart. She didn’t realize that she was actually jealous of Chen Lu’s best friend.

After the prologue, the movie officially started.

Interlocking foreshadowing, well-placed background music, superb acting by the actors, and a fast-paced, mind-burning plot, the movie drew everyone into the movie within the first ten minutes.

A top-notch team and an award-winning actor at the helm, the audience fully expected the film to have this kind of effect.

But what was a little unexpected was that the newcomer actress Li Xianjing, who had always been said to be “unworthy of her position” and a “vase with only a pretty face,” actually completely caught the opposing scenes with the award-winning actor Liang Binbiao, without losing out at all.

Even in several extremely demanding scenes for the actors’ acting skills, Li Xianjing’s subversive acting made the audience completely forget that she was the “vase” who had relied on a pretty face to dominate the red carpet at the Tokyo Film Festival some time ago.

With a face, a figure, and strength, as long as such an actor works hard and doesn’t go astray or do anything wrong, it’s only a matter of time before she becomes popular.

This actress named Li Xianjing will definitely be a big hit.

After watching the movie’s end credits, Chen Lu and Gu Wan Jun both thought so.

Fu Yi Wen had the same opinion as the two of them.

Unlike Chen Lu and Gu Wan Jun’s silent recognition in their hearts, on the way out of the cinema, Fu Yi Wen kept saying how there could be such a good-looking and talented actress. As she spoke, she took out her phone and angrily sent more than twenty Weibo posts praising and recommending Li Xianjing. Immersed in chasing stars, she didn’t notice that Tang Ying, who was holding a coffee cup next to her, was almost biting her straw apart.

It wasn’t until Chen Lu, who was clear-headed, noticed that Tang Ying was holding a coffee cup with only ice cubes left and kept sucking on it, and realized that something was wrong, that she stopped Fu Yi Wen’s crazy Weibo call behavior for the first time and took the initiative to start a topic to ask what everyone was planning to do after the movie.

There really wasn’t anything to see in the small county town. Near noon, the four of them found a hot pot restaurant to eat hot pot. Tang Ying was paying.

In the afternoon, the four of them went to a nearby chain shopping mall to stroll around casually. Coincidentally, there was an arcade on the third floor, and the childish Fu Yi Wen insisted on dragging the other three in to play several games.

When playing the claw machine, Chen Lu was gifted, catching five or six small toys in a row, making Fu Yi Wen, who had tried more than a dozen times but still got nothing, envious. In the end, Chen Lu took out a small rabbit and gave it to Gu Wan Jun alone, and let Fu Yi Wen choose what she liked from the rest.

Fu Yi Wen chose for a long time, and in the end, she didn’t forget to choose one for Tang Ying.

“Cats and dogs are the cutest. Here, which one do you want?”

“I don’t want any of them.”

“Don’t do that. You spent all the game coins. Just pick one.”

“I said I don’t want it. Take it away.”

“How about this cat for you? I feel like it suits you so well!”

“Isn’t that a little tiger?”

Gu Wan Jun, who had been paying attention to the conversation between the two, smiled and interjected. Hearing this, Tang Ying immediately turned her head and glared at Fu Yi Wen, her eyes narrowed with a dangerous glint:

“What do you mean? Are you saying I’m a tigress?”

“…”

—

The dark night of winter always comes early, even in the New Year.

The four had been eating, drinking, and playing all day. Gu Wan Jun, who was the only one who knew that Tang Ying hadn’t slept last night, suggested that they end it there and go home.

At first, Tang Ying said she would send the three of them home, but Gu Wan Jun said that she and Chen Lu could take a taxi. Although Fu Yi Wen wanted to spend more time with Tang Ying, looking at the weariness and fatigue between the latter’s eyebrows and eyes, she knew that she was probably very tired, so she also responded that she could take a taxi back home.

Tang Ying gladly accepted Gu Wan Jun’s kindness, but she pretended not to have heard Fu Yi Wen and pointed at someone with her wine-red and gilded nail polish, her tone leaving no room for refusal: “Get in the car, I’ll take you home.”

—

Chen Lu and Gu Wan Jun, sitting in the back seat of the taxi, listened to the sound of firecrackers all the way.

Getting out of the car and entering the residential area, the two saw that it was still early, and Gu Wan Jun took the initiative to ask Chen Lu if she wanted to play chess for a while.

Not to mention chess, what would Chen Lu not agree to if Gu Wan Jun said it?

The two agreed immediately, and they discussed going home to change their clothes first and then going to Chen Lu’s house to play chess.

Ten minutes later, Gu Wan Jun, who had changed her clothes nimbly, knocked on the door of Chen Lu’s house across the street.

“The door isn’t closed tightly, come in. Wait for me in the living room.”

Chen Lu’s voice floated out of the inner bedroom. Gu Wan Jun’s heart fluttered, and her eyes were tinged with a smile. After entering, she closed the door casually.

The living room was filled with a faint scent of pine wood, warm and deep, which should be the smell from the clothes drying on the balcony.

Withdrawing her probing gaze, on the coffee table near the sofa was a box of chess, which Chen Lu had probably just found.

Taking advantage of the fact that the girl hadn’t come out of the bedroom yet, Gu Wan Jun thought about setting up the chess first. She walked to the sofa and was about to sit down when a burst of crackling fireworks outside the balcony window attracted her attention. She withdrew her hand that was about to set up the chess and walked straight to the balcony.

The lit fireworks soared into the sky, bursting out with colorful lights in the vast night sky. They were beautiful, dazzling, and fleeting, but there were so many of them, one after another. Without having to get completely close to the balcony, those beautiful fireworks went straight into Gu Wan Jun’s eyes, dazzling her.

Chen Lu’s usual white square table for writing was placed in front of the balcony window. Gu Wan Jun wanted to walk into the gap between the balcony window and the white square table to better enjoy the fireworks outside the window, but the space was a bit small. When passing the white square table, even though Gu Wan Jun was already very careful, she still knocked off the brown diary on the table when she turned around.

The White Rabbit candy wrapper clipped in the diary fell out and landed at Gu Wan Jun’s feet, and the brown diary was lying quietly on the floor, open to a certain page.

Gu Wan Jun apologized in her heart and immediately bent down to pick it up.

This squat was the crucial point. The neat and elegant handwriting on the diary crashed into the unprepared peach blossom eyes. In just a few seconds, the fingertips that had just touched the notebook withdrew as if electrocuted, Gu Wan Jun’s expression froze, and she was immediately stunned in place.

…

On the other side, in the bedroom.

Chen Lu, who had been struggling with whether to wear the newly bought pajamas out, finally made up her mind with Gu Wan Jun’s arrival. After changing her clothes, she came to the living room for the first time, but saw Gu Wan Jun standing at the door with her back to her, looking like she was about to leave.

“Teacher, I’m ready. What are you…”

“Ah, well, my sister just suddenly called me and said she needed me for something. I have to call her back. Let’s play chess next time when we have the chance. It’s getting late, so get some rest.”

Chen Lu heard Gu Wan Jun, who was always facing away from her, say this in a hurry, and then Gu Wan Jun pushed the door and left without giving her a chance to answer at all.

She didn’t even have time to take a look at Chen Lu’s newly bought bunny pajamas that she had just put on.

Her sister called.

So suddenly?

Could something have happened?

Could it be about the child?

But according to the date, the due date hasn’t arrived yet.

An ominous premonition swirled in Chen Lu’s heart, but at this moment, all she could think about was whether something had happened to Gu Wan Jun’s sister, Gu Wanrong, and the child in Gu Wanrong’s stomach. Chen Lu didn’t expect the source of this ominous premonition to be related to her at all.

Recalling the urgent tone when Gu Wan Jun left, Chen Lu paced back and forth in the living room for nearly ten minutes, feeling restless. Just as she was hesitating whether to send Gu Wan Jun a message to ask what had happened, Fu Yi Wen’s phone call came in first.

“Hello, what’s wrong?”

“Chen Lu! The sky is falling! I just found out that I seem to have a strong rival in love! When Tang Ying was taking me home just now, someone suddenly called her. At first, Tang Ying glanced at the caller ID and didn’t answer, but the other party kept calling. Tang Ying later became a little impatient and picked up the phone in annoyance. After picking it up, I overheard a few sentences. The other party was a man, and that man even said that he was waiting for her at Tang Ying’s door! Chen Lu! What should I do!”

“…”

Why are all these things happening at the same time?

Chen Lu frowned slightly. Fu Yi Wen’s almost collapsing wail came from her ear. Her originally uneasy footsteps stopped in place. Just as she was about to open her mouth to comfort her friend, her gaze inadvertently caught sight of her own diary on the white square table, which was close at hand.

Wait, was her diary placed like this before?

……