Chapter 131: 051 Young Master Jiang Comes Out to Save Someone (Part 2)_2
Chapter 131: 051 Young Master Jiang Comes Out to Save Someone (Part 2)_2
She wrapped her arms around her knees, and after a long while, she finally took out her phone.
On the phone was a photo she had sneakily taken at the dinner table just now.
It was of Ji Mulan.
She stared at the photo, her fingertips gently brushing over the face on the screen, and then she whispered very softly, “Mother…”
Ji Mulan.
She looked a lot like her mother.
Jiang Fulai had just returned; he originally planned to take Jiang He out for dinner first.
But while driving through the streets, he caught sight of a white figure squatting on the side of the road.
“Stop the car,” he said abruptly, sitting up.
The car slowly came to a halt.
Jiang Fulai, from across the street, silently gazed at Bai Lian through the window, past myriad lights, past a long river, just as the first time, she was looking at the moon, and he was quietly watching her.
She wore plain clothes, squatting with her back to the street light, her snow-colored skirt spreading on the ground, blooming like orchids.
She seemingly had no expression, just quietly looking at one place.
But Jiang Fulai always felt that at this moment, she was fragmented.
Shattered into pieces, scattered on the ground.
Jiang He also saw Bai Lian; he was about to get out of the car after climbing down from the chair.
But he was coldly seized by the back of the neck by Jiang Fulai.
Jiang He’s eyes widened, full of reproach.
Jiang Fulai glanced at him and casually pressed him back into his seat, “You can’t talk anyway, let’s go back.”
He got out of the car and then closed the door behind him.
Jiang He:
Is there really no police to deal with this?
Ming Dongheng in the driver’s seat glanced at the rearview mirror.
Indicating he was helpless to intervene.
Jiang Fulai walked up to Bai Lian; a person usually so alert at this moment didn’t sense his approach.
He squatted opposite Bai Lian, following her gaze to see a full moon.
After gazing for a while, Jiang Fulai commented, “Did you calculate that from this angle, the moon looks brighter?”
Bai Lian snapped back to reality, and upon lifting her eyes, she saw a face of extraordinary features; the sudden sight was impactful. The man’s pair of phoenix eyes were squinted lightly, his brow raised as he looked at her.
Even while squatting, his posture remained remarkably graceful.
“Ah,” Bai Lian thought he would return very late today; she turned off her phone, “Why would you say that?”
“I used to like sitting in the last row of the classroom, in one particular spot,” said Jiang Fulai, looking at her, his eyes exceptionally shallow and clear, “The school forum rumored that spot had the best study efficiency because I had calculated it.”
“But in fact,” Jiang Fulai continued leisurely, “The professor felt intimidated speaking with me in the front, so he asked the dean of the Ma Institute to have me sit at the back whenever possible.”
Bai Lian felt like laughing; she rested her chin on her arms.
She could imagine it; the professor not daring to speak, and not daring to find him directly.
He could only silently ask someone else to pass on the message.
“You came out early; have you eaten?” Jiang Fulai asked after seeing her expression before he stood up.
Bai Lian shook her head.
As expected.
He saw she was still reluctantly squatting on the ground, not very eager to move.
Jiang Fulai extended his hand, his gaze lowered, “Come on, I’ll take you to eat something that ordinary people can’t get.”
Bai Lian looked up with half-lifted eyes.
She stared at that glistening, slender hand for a long while; in the air, a faint scent of silvergrass seemed to flow, with continuous traffic on the road, and behind her were lights from a thousand homes.
She extended her hand.
And grasped that bit of warmth from Xiangcheng.
Jiang Fulai took Bai Lian out for a meal, not to Wanhe Building, but to a private residence in an alley.
When Ming Dongheng knocked on the door, a man inside came out cursing and holding a kitchen knife, “What are you knocking for? Do you need me to knock some sense into you with a hammer… hammer…”
“Creak”
The door opened.
The man’s gaze fell upon the tall figure in an ink-colored trench coat standing behind Ming Dongheng. The man’s light eyes, cold as a spring, swept over him dismissively.
The man’s machine-gun-like mouth seemed to be hit by a switch, instantly shutting.
He opened the door politely, a smile playing at his lips.
He stepped aside to let the line of people enter.
His eyes widened when they met Bai Lian’s gaze.
Then he grabbed hold of Ming Dongheng’s hem tightly, gesticulating with his eyes to Ming Dongheng—
[How come there’s a girl?]
Ming Dongheng looked at him in surprise, “Chi Lawyer, why are you grabbing me?”
Chi Yundai:
He tilted his chin slightly, his peripheral vision fixed on Bai Lian, gesturing fiercely with his eyes, as if they were about to spasm.
Ming Dongheng frowned, “Do your eyes hurt?”
Chi Yundai:
He was tired.
Suddenly, Chi Yundai let go, turned without expression, and closed the door.
He went to the kitchen with the knife.
Wanhe Building.
Ji Mulan re-entered the private dining room trying to suppress her anger; Ji Shaojun knew the moment he received the message from Bai Lian that the mother and daughter hadn’t come to an agreement.
He wasn’t surprised; Ji Mulan had a strong personality and a strong need for control.
Bai Lian was obedient but had her own thoughts, such as sitting by Ji Heng’s bedside every day.
“Brother, you help me persuade her,” Ji Mulan sat down, calmly speaking to Ji Shaojun, “I must take her with me.”
Ji Shaojun didn’t say a word.
So, Ji Mulan turned her gaze toward Xu En.
Xu En gave her a reassuring look and then said with a smile, throwing out the bait, “Mr. Ji, you know that Jiangjing Private School has strong faculty and international connections. It’s a breeding ground for diplomats in liberal arts. If she goes there to study, she will absolutely do better than anywhere else in the future.”
The position of a diplomat was an unattainable job for someone from Xiangcheng.
Ji Shaojun shook his head, “She wants to finish high school in Xiangcheng.”
Those were the exact words Bai Lian had texted to Ji Shaojun just now.
“Brother!” Ji Mulan frowned. She slammed down her chopsticks with a “snap,” “Don’t you want to leave this place, or do you want her to stay here forever?”
“Ji Mulan,” Ji Shaojun looked up, “How long have you been back, and have you ever asked what Alian is thinking? Do you know that she has now switched to science?”
“Switched to science?” Ji Mulan’s brows furrowed, “In her senior year? Switch to science?!”
She glanced at Xu En, holding back because he was present—
She didn’t mention that Bai Lian had been driven to switch from the science class to the humanities by her teachers in her first year of high school.
Xu En’s son was a junior at Jiangjing University, currently applying for graduate school.
For her to mention this in front of Xu En was something she simply couldn’t bring herself to say.
“Can you please stop making things worse?” Ji Mulan poured herself a glass of cold water, “She needs to suffer to know the value of hard work. Don’t you know that she can fall asleep while practicing the zither, frustrating her teacher to the point of leaving? If we don’t discipline her properly and just let her do as she pleases, how will she ever get by in society in the future?”
“Every child has a rebellious phase,” Xu En was surprised to find Bai Lian so rebellious; afraid that the siblings would start arguing, he consoled Ji Mulan, “Studying science is fine, too. Maybe the child likes science; it’s not like there are no opportunities.”
Xu En was just saying it casually.
Switching from humanities to science in her senior year… it must be rebellion, as Ji Mulan said.
What opportunities, he hadn’t really considered it.
Ji Shaojun didn’t answer Xu En.
Suppressing his anger, he pressed his hand on the table and stood up, “Ji Mulan, it was bad enough you left her alone with the Bai Family, but can you not impose your own ideas on her? Dad and I don’t care about her getting into Beicheng University or what grades she’ll get, so what’s wrong with letting her study science if she wants to?”
“Also, Alian has only been learning the zither for a year and she already plays so well; what more do you want from her?”