The woman was taken aback. Jing Nian had always been proud and aloof; she had only asked on a whim, never expecting him to actually agree.
It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime sight, like an iron tree blooming.
She had often worried about her son's temperament—what kind of girl could ever put up with him in the future? Watching the two of them walk away side by side, Le Mei graceful and poised with gentle steps, Jing Nian tall and steady-paced, she thought they actually looked quite well-matched together!
And they were even studying at the same university...
The corners of the woman's mouth curved up slightly in the expression of a future mother-in-law, and she nodded in deep satisfaction.
Parked in the courtyard was a black Range Rover, which belonged to Jing Nian. Compared to the flashy sports cars driven by Huo Qi and Ji Rao, he preferred a more understated and comfortable Land Rover.
Once the car door closed, the atmosphere inside the cabin instantly turned subtle. A crisp, cool vanilla scent filled Le Mei's nostrils—the exact same scent that lingered on Jing Nian.
"Do you live on campus?" Jing Nian broke the silence first, his voice echoing in the quiet cabin with a hint of chill.
"No..." Le Mei's eyelashes fluttered like a startled butterfly's wings. She lowered her gaze and replied softly, "I live off-campus."
"Living alone?"
"Mm, I live at Aixin Apartment near the university." Le Mei nodded slightly.
Hearing this, a flash of subtle, imperceptible shock crossed Jing Nian's deep eyes.
Aixin Apartment was located near the Medical University. With cheap rent, complete facilities, and cleanliness, it was wildly popular among college students. Especially for young couples madly in love, it was practically the top choice for cohabitation—much cheaper than getting a room at a hotel.
That apartment complex was a notoriously couple-friendly place; singles like Le Mei who lived there were exceedingly rare.
"Did you go to the High School Affiliated to the University before?"
Jing Nian's dark eyes looked straight ahead. The streetlights flashing past outside the car window cast mottled shadows across his stern face. Amidst the shifting light and shadow, the contours of his profile were sharply defined, with a smooth jawline and a sexy, slightly protruding Adam's apple...
It was still a profile view that could make anyone's heart skip a beat.
On the rooftop of the affiliated high school, there was a graffiti wall covered in the little secrets of every student. Against the mottled wall, colors and lines intertwined to tell the stories of youth.
Among them was a medium-sized chalk-drawn portrait of a profile, so lifelike it looked as though a boy had stepped right out of a manga. Everyone in that year group knew who the portrait depicted—it was the school hunk, Jing Nian.
Yet no one knew who drew it; the artist had only left a single letter at the bottom: M.
Some guessed it was drawn by the campus belle, Su Qimeng. After all, she came from a family of scholars, was pretty, excelled in her studies, and was proficient in all the traditional arts. Her ink paintings won municipal awards every year. Since her name contained the character for "meng", which matched the letter M.
Someone had once asked Su Qimeng outright if the drawing on the graffiti wall was hers. She had merely smiled gently, neither confirming nor denying it. Later on, everyone simply acted as if it was tacitly understood that she had drawn it.
And later still, rumors of a romance between Su Qimeng and Jing Nian began to circulate. People often saw them walking side by side across campus. At the high school, the two of them were recognized by all as the golden boy and girl.
Everyone only noticed the letter M at the bottom of the portrait, forgetting that Su Qimeng specialized in brush painting, whereas the graffiti wall clearly featured a sketch.
Because that drawing was the work of Le Mei.
She didn't need to look at Jing Nian in person to draw his likeness. She also had a special sketchbook locked away, every single page filled with drawings of the boy: him playing basketball, him standing on the assembly stage to give a speech, him studying with intense concentration...
Jing Nian's appearance had long been deeply carved into her heart. Hand her any pen, and Le Mei could sketch his portrait right on the spot.
Pulling her thoughts back, Le Mei snapped out of her reverie.
"Uh... I was in Class Nine."
Her voice carried a trace of panic, as if she had been abruptly yanked back to reality from a distant memory.
"No wonder you looked familiar. I was in Class One." Jing Nian's voice remained cool.
"I know. You were very popular; a lot of girls in my class liked you." Le Mei secretly curved the corners of her lips. A lot of girls—naturally including herself.
Jing Nian's expression paused slightly. As if recalling something, he spoke with indifference:
"Le Mei?"
Suddenly called by name, Le Mei turned her head and plunged straight into the boy's glowing, starlit eyes. His full-face view always made her blush and her heart race. That was why her sketchbook only contained profile shots of him.
Le Mei's breath hitched, and her voice trembled slightly:
"Huh?"
"Do you know how to draw?"
Feeling like she had been caught red-handed while up to no good, Le Mei turned away in a panic, lowered her eyes, and stammered incoherently:
"No... um... I know a little!"
"What are you nervous about?"
"Nothing..."
Right then, Jing Nian's phone suddenly rang. The screen displayed the name "Su Qimeng." Le Mei glanced at it out of the corner of her eye, then pretended not to see, fixing her gaze out the car window as an obscure, uneasy feeling crept into her heart.
"Anian... I'm drunk. Can you come pick me up?"
Through the earpiece came the intoxicated, coquettish voice of a drunken girl. In the enclosed space, that seductive tone was exceptionally clear and particularly grating.
Jing Nian's brow furrowed slightly as he asked coldly, "Where are you?"
"I'm at Poison."
Poison—Didu's most upscale nightclub.
"Alright." Jing Nian's tone remained flat, just a single simple word that betrayed no emotion whatsoever.
He hung up the phone.
Looking at the buildings of the Medical University not far outside the car window, and thinking that he would surely have to go to Poison to find Su Qimeng now, Le Mei tactfully spoke up:
"Just drop me off right here! I can walk the rest of the way to the apartment. You go ahead and take care of your business!"
Jing Nian didn't stop the car. Instead, he picked up on the subtext in her words.
"What business do I have?"
Le Mei's lips moved, a lump rising in her throat as if something were stuck there, but she couldn't get a single word out. Wasn't he going to pick someone up?
"My mom gave instructions to drop you off right at your destination!"
The car stopped at the entrance of Aixin Apartment.
"Thank you." Le Mei offered a polite farewell to Jing Nian before getting out of the car.
"You're welcome."
Jing Nian's gaze closely followed Le Mei's figure as she gradually disappeared through the apartment doorway.
Only when she was completely out of sight did he lower his head and gently swipe his finger across his phone screen. His contacts list scrolled past rapidly until his gaze finally settled on the name "Su Qimeng."
Su Qimeng had called him; he couldn't just sit back and ignore it. But if she needed to be picked up, it should be her family members who went. He and Su Qimeng were nothing more than acquaintances, and a place like a nightclub was a mixed bag of riffraff. Judging by how she sounded earlier, she was clearly dead drunk, and Jing Nian had no desire to get tangled up in unnecessary trouble.
Little did he know, because Jing Nian failed to pick up Su Qimeng, she ended up being taken advantage of by a group of punks.
When Su Qimeng rushed to the nightclub private room in a state of frantic anxiety, the sight before him was like a lightning bolt striking straight into his heart, freezing him instantly in his tracks.
There sat his sister, clothes disheveled, hair a mess scattered across the sofa, completely unconscious.
The air in the private room seemed shrouded in a thick, impenetrable gloom, heavy with a nauseating, sticky, fishy stench. Scattered across the floor were various used drinking glasses, crumpled tissues, and other unsightly things in total disarray.
Judging by the quantity of those items, it was clearly the work of more than one person.
"Which bastards did this?!"
Su Qimeng roared with bloodshot eyes, veins bulging on his forehead as he clenched his fists tightly.
***
Back at her apartment, Le Mei changed into a loose white T-shirt and a pair of denim shorts. Next, she had to head to the billiard hall for her part-time job; wearing a dress would make it far too inconvenient to move around.
Slinging a small crossbody bag over her shoulder, Le Mei scanned a shared bicycle outside the apartment entrance. Listening to Jay Chou's "Starry Mood" through her earphones, she pedaled off.
The trip took about ten minutes. After returning the bike to the designated parking spot, Zero Billiards Club was right across the street.
While waiting for the traffic light to change, a black Bugatti La Voiture Noire pulled up in the lane. The man inside the car instantly spotted Le Mei as she crossed the street on the pedestrian walkway.
When the green light turned on, Huo Qi turned the steering wheel and drove off in the opposite direction.
"What the hell! Weren't we going to bowl?"
Ji Rao followed close behind in his Lamborghini. Seeing Huo Qi's car head down a different street, he hurriedly dialed his phone.
"Not going bowling anymore?"
Huo Qi's gaze followed that familiar figure as she entered the billiard hall. He narrowed his eyes and said with meaningful implication:
"I feel like playing billiards today!"