Chapter 378
378 No one owes anyone anything
The two of them returned to the private room. Jiang che and Shi boyu looked up at the same time.
Shi Yan’s eyes met Shi boyu’s and then suddenly separated.
Seeing this, Jiang che sighed helplessly in his heart. His voice was a clear and warm one that Shi Yan was familiar with.”miss shi, are you done with your business?”
however, shi yan’s attention was drawn back to him with one sentence.
She looked up at him and saw his gentle face and his gentle eyes.
shi yan’s mood suddenly stabilized.
“yes, i’m done,” he nodded with a faint smile.
“then come and sit down. we can eat when the dishes are served.” shi yan pulled out the chair beside him and sat down.
“Please have a seat, Dr. Su,” Jiang che said to su chen.
his attitude was much better than before, and su chen found it awkward to hear him calling him doctor su.
he snorted in his heart.’he said he’s above the common populace, but he’s just a mortal after meeting a beautiful girl!’ Not only did she get jealous because of worldly desires, but she also learned to love her husband.
“this meal is on me. fifth lord jiang is the guest, so you don’t have to be so polite!”
Jiang che did not respond to him. He poured a cup of tea and placed it in front of him. Dr. Su, please, ” he said and poured another cup for Shi Yan.
“the tea here is not bad. miss shi, you can try it.” When he spoke to Shi Yan, Jiang Che’s tone was much gentler than when he was talking to su chen.
“the temperature is just right. it’s not hot.”
after he finished speaking, he handed the teacup to shi yan.
shi yan received it with a smile. their fingers touched, but this seemed to be a very normal thing for the two of them. neither of them felt unnatural.
that was not all. for the rest of the meal, jiang che was putting food in shi yan’s bowl, and shi yan would also put food in his bowl occasionally. With the good quality of “not speaking when eating,” no one spoke during the meal.
It was so quiet that the interaction between the two of them was even more conspicuous.
It was impossible to ignore.
shi boyu had seen everything.
Behind the frame, his eyelashes drooped slightly, and his emotions could not be seen.
when they were almost done eating, jiang che put down his bowl and chopsticks. shi yan grabbed a piece of tissue and handed it to him. he took it with a smile and gently wiped the corners of his lips and hands. he looked at shi yan and shi boyu and said to shi yan in a low voice, ” “i’m going to the washroom.”
less than half a minute after he left, su chen glanced at the two and stood up. ” ” i’m done. you guys take your time. i don’t have my phone with me recently and i’ve cut off all contact with the outside world. my assistant must be worried sick. i’ll call first to tell her that i’m safe. ”
after the two of them left, only shi yan and shi boyu were left in the private room.
It was very quiet in the private room, with only the sound of chopsticks hitting the wall of the bowl and the sound of eating.
it was so quiet that it was a little scary.
Shi boyu looked up and saw Shi Yan eating with her head down. She had no intention of speaking. She put down her chopsticks and made a slight sound.
“Yanyan, are you going to keep ignoring me like this?”
shi yan’s hand tightened around her chopsticks.
Her two older brothers did not let her down at all, but she had left without even saying goodbye to them because she did not want to be controlled. She had never thought about whether her two older brothers would be sad after she left.
When she left the Shi family, she was free and at ease alone. The people who stayed behind either blamed themselves or felt guilty, which was the real torture.
in this regard, she was actually very selfish.
he paused for a moment and restrained the emotions in his eyes. he looked up again with his usual expression and said with a smile, ” “No, I just didn’t find an opportunity.”
“third brother, what are you doing in qingcheng?”
Shi Yan might know why he was in Qingcheng.
she had received a call from her mother last night and told her that she was in qingcheng. qingcheng was very chaotic, so her mother must have been worried and called to tell the rest of the family about this.
Shi boyu didn’t answer immediately. His gaze fell on her face, and he stared at her calmly. shi yan subconsciously wanted to avoid his gaze.
But in the end, she did not.
She clenched the chopsticks in her hand and smiled calmly.
Shi boyu stared at her for a while before saying, ” mom couldn’t get through to dad and big brother, so she called me. She said you were in Qingcheng and asked me to come and take a look.
“i have something to do in qingcheng this weekend, so i dropped by.”
whether or not he came on the way, everyone actually knew in their hearts.
“i didn’t realize before that you were actually quite bold.” Shi boyu said, his meaning unclear.
she had never felt it before, but shi yan had been doing her own thing when she was at the shi family. most of the time, she would be reading quietly and had no chance to show her emotions. Or rather, before she opposed the marriage and resolutely left the family, she had never revealed her emotions.
she had never revealed it, so who knew if she was brave or timid?
However, she did not shed a single tear when she was forced to leave the Shi family at the age of ten. Was it not a display of courage?
but shi boyu didn’t get to see her like that with his own eyes.
Shi boyu had personally witnessed everything that had happened in Qingcheng and Yushi’s base camp. not only was she not afraid of danger, she even gave people the feeling that she did not care about the situation.
however, she did have the confidence to do so.
her confidence was not given by anyone, but by herself.
shi yan didn’t say much. she just looked at him and said,”I’ve caused third brother to worry.”
Shi boyu didn’t reply to her. Instead, he said, ” you left without a word back then. It’s been nine years. You didn’t even call me or my brother. Don’t you have anything to say? ”
“yanyan, you don’t want anyone else in the family, but don’t you want me and big brother too? we just need to wait a little longer and we’ll be back from school. why don’t you wait a little longer?”
As he spoke, he met Shi Yan’s eyes. Before Shi Yan could speak, he self-deprecatingly said, ” “that’s true. at that time, big brother and i had nothing, so what could we use to protect you? If you don’t believe that we’ve never thought of relying on us, then it’s only right.”
Shi Yan wanted to say that this was not the case.
But she couldn’t even convince herself.
Not to mention that time, even now, she didn’t believe in others and never thought of relying on others.
She could rely on Jiang che so easily because she had the confidence to do so even if she didn’t rely on him.
“but i don’t seem to have the right to criticize you. we’re useless, so you have no choice but to plan for yourself at such a young age. if we were reliable enough to give you a sense of security, you wouldn’t have been forced into such a situation.”
Shi Yan clenched her fists, pursed her lips, and said with a smile,”Third brother, you’re too kind. How can I blame you?”
“there’s no such thing as who owes who. you’re my brother and my family, but no one said that you have to be responsible for my life. everyone is an individual, and i can’t be protected by you just because you’re my brother.”
“And I’ve been living quite well these years. Third brother, don’t think too much and don’t blame yourself.”
“speaking of self-blame, i should be the one blaming myself. i didn’t even say goodbye before i left. i’m sorry for making you guys worry about me. ”
Shi boyu looked at her with a complicated expression and remained silent for a long time.
after a long while, he said,’i’m very pleased to see you and jiang che getting along. Yanyan, you have someone you care about. I’m very happy for you.”
apart from this, it seemed inappropriate for him to say anything else.
should he tell her loudly that she was his younger sister and that she could fool around and rely on them a little, instead of being so sensible?
if he couldn’t say such things, he wouldn’t have the face to say it.
why had she never been noisy and sensible since she was young? Wasn’t it because her family members were unreliable and couldn’t give her a sense of security?
The topic had changed so quickly that Shi Yan couldn’t react.
“thank you,” she said with a smile.
her thanks made shi boyu’s lips tighten even more. he picked up the tea and took a sip before saying, ” “i heard that you have a teacher?”
” yes, he’s a professor at the school of arts at haicheng university. ”
“i know. i’m in the same circle and i’ve heard of professor li bingfeng. Since you’ve acknowledged him as your master, you should learn from him. You can learn a lot.”
“i will,”
call me if you need anything, Wanwan. I’ve collected a lot of books over the years. Maybe there’ll be something you need.
although shi boyu also liked to read, shi yan was the one who liked to read.
when shi yan was a child, many of the books she read were collected from all over the world by her family. shi boyu had the habit of collecting books because shi yan liked to read.
shi yan looked up at him, paused, and said,”i’ll give third brother a call if i need anything.”
“it’s very stressful to study a master’s degree and phd in a row. don’t give yourself too much pressure. just try your best.”
“Yes, I know. Third brother, don’t worry.”
mom will probably be in Haicheng for a while. If you have time, go have dinner with her or visit the SU family more often.
“yes.”
“will you return to the capital in the future?” he spoke in a normal tone, but when he asked this question, shi boyu’s tone was full of seriousness.
“I think so.”
before shi boyu could be happy, he heard her say, ” ” jiang che is from the capital and he has business in the capital. even if he doesn’t go back to stay for a long time, we should go back occasionally. ”
“Yingluo, that’s good.”
As long as he was willing to go back, it didn’t matter who he was going back for!
“that tong yan is one of your people?”
” yes, i decided on it before i left the capital. after that, i paid some money to hire a few teachers to train me. ”
“there should be more than one person like tong yan under your command, right?”
Shi Yan nodded.
“that fifth lord jiang even knows about it?”
“No, he has only seen three of them.”
As she spoke, she looked up at Shi boyu with a serious expression.”Jiang che has never asked much about my matters. third brother doesn’t need to remind me to be on guard against him. jiang che has reminded me more than once not to tell him everything and to be on guard against him.”
“In fact, I don’t need to guard against him. I can tell him whatever he wants to know. however, in order to prevent him from nagging me, i went along with him and didn’t tell him everything.”
in fact, there was no need to say that they did not rely on these things to maintain their relationship.
when they first met, they didn’t even know who the other party was.
from the beginning to the end, they had only recognized the other party as a person.
shi yan didn’t know how different her expression was when she talked about jiang che, but shi boyu could see it clearly and didn’t say anything more.
He only said,”this is good.”