MNL Chapter 90

Chapter 90: Scars. Still Can’t Tell Me.

Following that, Xu Jing sent another question mark, but received no further response.

The more Xu Jing looked at the last two sentences, the more they felt off. He was about to go next door to ask Shen Yan if it was a prank when a celebrity news alert popped up on his phone, sent by Yan Zhe.

“Breaking! Popular Female Singer Suspected of Dating Model Boyfriend, Sweet Smiles and Great Affection!”

[Zhe God]: Jing Ge!!!

[Zhe God]: Huge news, you have to see this!

Xu Jing suddenly had a premonition that something was up and clicked on the link. The leading paragraph read: Recently, a netizen revealed that on November 15th, the new generation’s little diva, Jiang Pei, drove her luxury car to pick up her model boyfriend for a date. In the picture, Jiang Pei was dressed casually, and she flashed a sweet smile when she saw her boyfriend, leading to speculation that the two are in a passionate relationship.

Further down was the accompanying photo: Jiang Pei was sitting in the driver’s seat, her cheeks radiant with smiles, while the “model boyfriend” was outside the car, only his back visible.

Others might not recognize him, but Xu Jing recognized him immediately.

It was Shen Yan.

Xu Jing frowned. Shen Yan should have been at the interview that day. How could he be with Jiang Pei?

The shadow of doubt in his heart grew larger. Fortunately, he didn’t refuse when Jiang Pei asked to exchange numbers last time. Xu Jing dialed her number, failing to get through on the first try. She answered the second call just before it was about to end.

The background was noisy, sounding like a film set. Jiang Pei’s tone was a little annoyed. “Who is this?”

“It’s me, Xu Jing.”

Jiang Pei made an “oh” sound and said, “It’s you. Sorry, I forgot to save your contact information.”

Xu Jing asked, “Did you meet with Shen Yan on the fifteenth of last month?”

“Yeah, why?” Jiang Pei chuckled twice and said, “Don’t tell me you’re that possessive, little brother. Can’t I even meet with him?”

Xu Jing wasn’t in the mood for jokes. He asked, “What did he do then?”

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the line, followed by Jiang Pei’s somewhat agitated voice, “Did you see that stupid report? Damn, that’s pure bullshit. I was just passing by that day and happened to see Shen Yan coming out of the hospital. Then the two of us had dinner together. I originally wanted to take him somewhere else, but he seemed distracted, so I sent him back.”

“What time?”

“I don’t remember the exact time, probably around the evening rush hour.” Hearing Xu Jing’s icy tone, Jiang Pei emphasized again, “Little brother, I’m Shen Yan’s sister. Even if he was the last man on earth, I wouldn’t be interested. The entertainment reporters these days are all brain-dead, treating every chicken feather as an imperial decree. Don’t overthink it.”

The other side of the phone went silent. Jiang Pei said “hello” twice, followed by a series of beeping sounds.

“Rude kid.” Jiang Pei curled her lips and turned to continue filming her album promotional video.

Xu Jing stood rooted to the spot. The confused thoughts in his mind gradually became clear. He gripped his phone tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force.

Shen Yan’s interview was in the afternoon. It was clearly impossible for him to come out of the hospital after seeing a doctor during the evening rush hour. So there was only one possibility: Shen Yan didn’t go to the interview that day at all.

So from beginning to end, he was the only one worrying needlessly. He went to great lengths to prepare all of this, but the other party already had a plan and kept it completely hidden. The most ridiculous thing was that he had even asked beforehand, but that person had answered firmly that he would definitely go.

If it weren’t for this photo, he might have been kept in the dark until the very end.

With a “creak,” the door was suddenly pushed open at this moment. Shen Yan, who still didn’t know what had happened, smiled when he saw the motionless Xu Jing. “Taking so long to shower?”

Xu Jing turned around, his gaze fixed on Shen Yan’s face.

Shen Yan froze for a moment, the smile in his eyes slowly fading.

“What’s wrong?”

Xu Jing’s eyes were calm and without waves, but his cold and clear voice was like a heavy hammer, smashing Shen Yan’s heart to the bottom of the valley.

“You didn’t go to the interview that day, did you?”

Shen Yan’s Adam’s apple bobbed slightly, his tone a little light. “How could that be? Who told you that?”

“Stop pretending! Look for yourself!” Xu Jing finally couldn’t suppress his emotions. He rushed forward and shoved the phone in front of Shen Yan’s eyes, his face sharp, and forced his voice out word by word. “You clearly went to the hospital that day, and you still want to hide it from me? If I hadn’t found out today, were you planning to say you didn’t get selected when the results came out?”

Xu Jing’s unsuppressed emotions were like an invisible storm, raging wildly in the room. A voice in his heart kept screaming for him to stop, but the anger after being deceived was like a flood released from a dam, completely out of control.

“Giving up your own future for someone else, do you think you’re so great? How am I supposed to face you in the future, with gratitude or tears? Do you think I’ll be touched if you do this? I’m telling you, I wish I could get away from you right now.”

When the last sentence came out, the entire room went silent. Xu Jing’s shoulders trembled slightly, forcefully suppressing his unsteady breath. He clearly didn’t mean it that way, he only felt regret and unwillingness, how could he say that, how could he say that.

Shen Yan’s always-straight back bent slightly at this moment. His entire person was shrouded in shadow. He stood there, silently accepting all these hurtful words.

His voice was very soft, he only said one sentence, “I’m sorry.”

Xu Jing sat down on the sofa, his faintly visible profile more indifferent than usual, exuding an almost desperate strangeness. It was as if in that moment, a huge crack had been split between them. Perhaps it was just the distance between him and the sofa, but Shen Yan felt that he could never cross it.

The room fell into an oppressive silence. Xu Jing forced himself to calm down, lowered his voice, as if giving one last chance, “Is there anything else?”

Waves of dull pain swept through his heart, constantly reminding him of the correct answer he should say. Shen Yan’s back was stretched into a straight line, the fingers of his clenched hand embedded in his palm, yet he still didn’t answer.

Xu Jing gave a self-deprecating laugh. “I guess there is, but you still can’t tell me.”

Shen Yan’s whole body was drenched in cold sweat, his eyes a little red.

“Forget it.” Xu Jing turned his head and said softly, “Go out, I want to be alone for a while.”

This kind of calmness carried an invisible force, slowly draining the remaining hope in Shen Yan’s heart. The person standing there moved his lips, always wanting to say something more, even though his brain was blank, he didn’t want to leave like this.

However, the pain in his heart was about to tear him in two. If Xu Jing saw him in this state, all the efforts he had made to weave the lie would be in vain.

Shen Yan took a deep look at the seated figure, and finally left without saying a word.

Hearing the soft closing of the door, Xu Jing’s emotions erupted again. The water glass next to him was smashed out violently, instantly shattering into pieces.

Shen Yan returned to his room trembling, swallowing the medicine with difficulty. He had no strength left, sliding down in front of the door, his face pale, his empty eyes staring almost blankly at the scar on his hand that he didn’t know when he had scratched out.

Shocking and pitiful.

Shen Yan closed his eyes, something unfamiliar slid down,Smash toward that hideous scar, and finally disappeared.

·

Because they lived so close, running into each other became an unavoidable awkwardness. In the end, Xu Jing still went home.

Qin Xin was startled by Xu Jing’s sudden return late at night and asked the reason. Xu Jing only said that he had taken a leave of absence. This had happened before, so Qin Xin didn’t think much about it. It wasn’t until she got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night that she vaguely heard two soft sobs from Xu Jing’s room.

Qin Xin instantly woke up.

Her son was crying?

Her son, who hadn’t shed a tear since kindergarten, was actually crying???

Because of this, Qin Xin didn’t sleep all night.

Qin Xin had just finished cooking lunch when Xu Jing got up the next day.

“You’re up, son.”

Xu Jing hummed in response and went to the kitchen to help serve the dishes after washing up.

Everything seemed normal. Qin Xin’s decades of teaching experience didn’t detect anything unusual. In the end, she couldn’t help but ask directly, “Son, have you encountered anything unhappy at school recently?”

Xu Jing paused with the chopsticks in his hand and replied, “No.”

“Then why did you suddenly take a leave of absence?”

“A little tired.”

Qin Xin softened her voice, “Xiao Jing, you know I never object to you taking a leave of absence, and it’s the same this time. But what Mom wants to say is, if you have something on your mind, you might as well say it, maybe I can give you some feasible advice?”

Xu Jing just buried his head in his food and didn’t say anything, so Qin Xin began to sigh one after another, looking worried.

Facts proved that this trick worked well.

Xu Jing finally put down his chopsticks and opened his mouth, “Mom, if someone had to go against your wishes, would you choose to forgive them?”

Qin Xin hesitated for a moment, then smiled and replied, “What is my relationship with this person? Are they a stranger, a relative, or someone I like?”

Xu Jing’s body stiffened, but he didn’t answer.

“Let’s assume it’s someone you like.” Qin Xin asked again, “Does this person like me?”

Obviously, for Xu Jing, silence was the best answer. Qin Xin’s smile deepened when she saw this and said, “If it’s a person like that, I think my first reaction would be to feel sorry for them.”

Xu Jing frowned, “Why?”

“Because having to hurt someone you like for some unavoidable reason is painful in itself for the other person. Since you like them too, how can you not feel sorry for them?”

Xu Jing fell into deep thought, but his first reaction that night was only anger. Didn’t he like Shen Yan?

No, he felt sorry for him. He felt angry, guilty, resentful, and disappointed, all with this emotion. Because he was overwhelmed with emotions, he felt lost, so much so that he didn’t know who to blame.

Qin Xin looked at Xu Jing’s expression and said, “Does our Xiao Jing have a girl he likes too?”

“No.” Xu Jing said casually, “Just asking.”

Could asking casually be so meaningful? Qin Xin didn’t believe it. She eagerly inquired about her son’s gossip, “Is she in your class? Long hair or short hair? How are her grades?”

Xu Jing: “… I’m done eating.”

Looking at the figure that hurried away, Qin Xin couldn’t stop smiling. She immediately called Xu Huaiyang.

“Lao Xu, I’ll tell you a huge news, our son seems to have a girl he likes.”

Xu Huaiyang had just finished a board meeting and raised an eyebrow after hearing this. “Wife, are you sure this time it’s not a boy?”

“Absolutely impossible, Xiao Jing is a normal person.”

Xu Huaiyang breathed a sigh of relief and said, “That’s good, where is that girl from? I’ll prepare a few villas as a meeting gift.”

“…” Qin Xin couldn’t help but scold, “Just has someone he likes, do you think your son is getting married?”

“Is there a difference? The group of young men I knew back then liked only one person their whole lives. If you like someone, you have to pursue them. Isn’t pursuing them and getting them your rightful wife?” After saying that, Xu Huaiyang solemnly added, “It seems it’s time to prepare the bride price for my son.”

Qin Xin rolled her eyes and hung up the phone with a snap.

Xu Huaiyang felt that there was nothing wrong with his logic and even began to imagine the scene of him holding his grandson.

Xu Jing returned to school on Friday.

On the way, he thought of many ways to word things, including what attitude to take when facing Shen Yan, and what opening remarks wouldn’t seem too awkward. He rehearsed it countless times in his mind.

However, when he entered the classroom, the corner was empty.

After the morning self-study ended, Xu Jing finally couldn’t help but ask Cha Fei’ang.

Cha Fei’ang looked confused after hearing this. “Yan Shen? He’s on leave for several days, just like you. I thought you two were together.”

Xu Jing suddenly froze.