Chapter 71

Chapter 71

“Wen Tangtang, do you want some fruit? Why don’t the two of us go buy some?”

Wen Tangtang looked up at Wang Zheng, who was winking and gesturing at her. She understood instantly. “Oh, sure, sure! Wen Miao, you and Nan Mu go on ahead. Wang Zheng and I are going to grab some fruit first.”

Before Wen Miao or Nan Mu could say a word, the two of them quickly slipped through the crowd and vanished, leaving the other two staring at each other in silence.

“Wang Zheng… he just has that kind of noisy personality. Don’t mind him.”

Wen Miao smiled. “I don’t. That kind of personality is actually quite nice… it’s lively.”

“Yes.”

After Nan Mu spoke, the conversation died again. Looking at him now, Wen Miao found it hard to believe that ten years later, he would become such a talkative man.

“By the way, is your arm feeling better?” Wen Miao pointed to his arm, which was still in a sling around his neck.

“Much better.”

The two of them walked aimlessly until they reached the lakeside near the dormitories.

Wen Miao suddenly remembered the last time she was here, when Nan Mu had invited her to see a movie. She had been overjoyed at the time, even fantasizing that Nan Mu might have feelings for her that went beyond the ordinary. Unfortunately…

He had only been trying to get close to her to investigate whether she was involved in the Gu Zhishu murder case.

===

Nan Mu stood under the osmanthus tree, watching Wen Miao enter the dormitory building.

He felt a wave of frustration at his performance just now… it had been terrible.

He had actually been wanting to ask why, half a month ago, Wen Miao had suddenly invited him to have breakfast with her…

But even after agonizing over it for so long, he couldn’t bring himself to ask. He was afraid… afraid that her answer wouldn’t be the one he hoped for. If he didn’t ask, he could keep deceiving himself, but if he did…

It felt like he had ruined the opportunity Wang Zheng had gone to such great lengths to set up.

He and Wang Zheng were college classmates, but because their roommate was Qiu Ziyu-a friend Nan Mu had grown up with-Nan Mu and Wang Zheng hadn’t been particularly close at first. Whenever Nan Mu needed something, he was used to asking Qiu Ziyu to join him.

The fact that he eventually became close friends with Wang Zheng was entirely due to Wang Zheng’s sharp eyes.

Since starting university, Nan Mu had been secretly paying attention to Wen Miao.

Of course, Wen Miao wasn’t nearly as famous then as she would later become. At that time, most people who encountered her would probably only notice her beautiful face.

Although Nan Mu paid attention to her, he wasn’t obvious about it. He never pried into her business or followed her around. Most of the time, Nan Mu would simply spend the entire day in the library.

If he was lucky, he would run into Wen Miao when she came to read.

Nan Mu always sat in the furthest corner of the library-a remote spot where it wasn’t easy for other girls to approach him. Most importantly, whenever he looked up, he could see the seat Wen Miao frequently occupied.

He couldn’t see her face from there, but he could see the afternoon sunlight streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows, favoring Wen Miao’s silk-textured black hair. Like the girl herself, it was gentle and radiant.

“Looking ten thousand times isn’t as effective as walking over and saying ‘Hi.'”

One afternoon, after Nan Mu had been watching her for three years, Wang Zheng suddenly appeared beside him and uttered those words in a low voice. Startled, Nan Mu frantically flipped open the book in his hands, instinctively pretending to read.

“Self-deception,” Wang Zheng muttered with a look of disdain at his lack of initiative. He sat down beside him. “No backbone, truly no backbone. You’ve been hiding behind her back watching from freshman year to junior year. In another year, everyone will graduate… If you don’t go to her while she’s right in front of you, are you planning to have us help you find a needle in a haystack after graduation?”

Nan Mu felt both embarrassed and a flash of defensive anger at having his secret exposed.

Regrettably, he wasn’t yet close enough with Wang Zheng to be casual, so he could only suppress his temper and turn his back to him.

“Do you want your brother here to show you a clear path?”

Seeing no reaction, Wang Zheng wasn’t bothered. He grinningly spread open his copy of *Cell Biology*, timing his wait while he read.

Sure enough, after only reading a paragraph, he heard Nan Mu grit out through clenched teeth, “What clear path?”

Wang Zheng raised his book to hide the smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth, intentionally playing hard to get by refusing to answer immediately.

It wasn’t until Nan Mu asked again that Wang Zheng finally looked up from his book. “Sorry, I was so engrossed in my reading just now. What did you say? I didn’t hear you.”

Nan Mu had never met someone so deserving of a punch. He pointed out indignantly, “You’re holding your book upside down. What could you possibly be reading?”

Wang Zheng remained unfazed, saying smugly, “You don’t understand. I’m watching a play. And the name of this play is ‘Jiang Taigong fishes for those who are willing to be caught.'”
Nan Mu knew that Wang Zheng was teasing him for being the fish that had willingly taken the bait, but since he had already “bitten the hook,” he could only endure it.

Wang Zheng hadn’t actually intended to torment Nan Mu; he just felt that Nan Mu was put on too high a pedestal by everyone, which naturally made one want to knock him down a peg just to see what would happen. Seeing that the joking had gone far enough and that the other man’s patience was likely at its limit, he finally relented.

“You know Wen Tangtang from our class, right?”

“Hmm?” Nan Mu was puzzled. He had heard the name, but he couldn’t quite place the person.

Looking at the expression in Nan Mu’s eyes, Wang Zheng knew that despite being classmates with Wen Tangtang for three years, he probably hadn’t even memorized her face.

It was somewhat inevitable. With Nan Mu’s looks, it was as if he were a magnet for women; anyone who saw him couldn’t help but like him. Consequently, he tended to keep his distance from girls, terrified of being clung to.

Wang Zheng used to think that if Nan Mu ever got a girlfriend, she would have to be incredibly broad-minded. Aside from her, Nan Mu wouldn’t spare a single glance for any other woman.

It wasn’t until Nan Mu watched Wen Miao for three years without ever finding the courage to say a single word that Wang Zheng realized it wasn’t even a guarantee that Nan Mu would ever get a girlfriend. It was a total waste of the face God had blessed him with.

Wang Zheng sighed. “You didn’t know that Wen Tangtang and Wen Miao are sisters, did you?”

That was when Nan Mu first learned about Wen Miao’s background. He learned that she, Wen Tangtang, and Wen Xin were all orphans who had grown up together at Happiness Orphanage. The three of them had relied on each other since they were children.

Only then did he realize that the boy who always sat with her at meals, the one who walked to and from class with her and spent hours with her in the library, wasn’t her boyfriend-he was her brother.

Later, with Wang Zheng’s help, he became friends with Wen Tangtang, which eventually led to him successfully getting to know Wen Miao…

***

Standing on the dormitory balcony, Wen Miao’s gaze unexpectedly fell upon Nan Mu, who was still downstairs.

Why hasn’t he left yet?

Wen Miao’s heart suddenly began to race.

She leaned over, wanting to see more clearly. Just then, Nan Mu looked up in her direction. Under the sunlight, their eyes met from a distance.

She thought Nan Mu would look away again, but this time, he unexpectedly reached out and waved at her.

In that instant, Wen Miao felt as if she had been transported back to the night of the 8th, to the moment Nan Mu had suddenly embraced her. After she had returned to her dorm that night, he had also stood beneath that osmanthus tree, waving at her and telling her to get some rest…

If it weren’t for the fact that the Nan Mu standing under the tree had his left arm in a cast, she might have actually believed the man below was the Nan Mu from the future.

She suddenly remembered that he hadn’t sent her a single message all day.

Refusing to give up, Wen Miao pulled out her phone and scrolled through their chat history.

There really wasn’t a single message.

She suddenly felt a surge of irritation. He had done something so hurtful yesterday, and today he had just vanished… Even as an ordinary friend, he should at least check in on her or ask if she was safe, shouldn’t he?

Wen Miao didn’t know why she was feeling so stubborn, but she swore she would absolutely not be the first one to message him. She wanted to see just how long he could hold out!

***

Wen Miao’s entire afternoon was spent in a state of extreme restlessness. To use her roommate’s description, it was as if “there was a fire burning under her chair.”

Around five-thirty, while Wen Xin was still busy gathering information on Xu Lei, Wen Miao found she couldn’t focus on her books anyway. She volunteered to go get food for him to save him some time.

For some reason, there were an unusual number of people at the school gates today. She and Wen Tangtang waited for a long time before they finally got to eat. Once they finished their meal, the owner admitted he had forgotten to stir-fry the portion they wanted to take to go, forcing them to wait another twenty minutes.

By the time the two of them returned, it was already six-thirty. Wen Xin had sent “I’m starving” messages three times.

Wen Tangtang had an evening class, so she parted ways with Wen Miao to head to the classroom.

Wen Miao went alone to deliver the food to Wen Xin’s dormitory. Just as she reached the building, Wen Xin rushed down in a hurry. The moment he saw Wen Miao, he demanded, “Where is that friend of yours who was at the hospital yesterday? Call him, now!”

“What’s wrong?” Wen Miao asked, bewildered, as Wen Xin nudged her to pull out her phone. “What’s going on?”

“Tell him to leave the hospital immediately! Xu Lei is going to kill him to keep him quiet!”

*Clatter-*

The food in Wen Miao’s hands crashed to the ground as a look of pure terror washed over her face.