When Will My Childhood Sweetheart Marry Me?-Chapter 154: Stay in Rong City

Pei Yan lowered his gaze, flicked ash from his cigarette at the edge of the pool table; his face was calm, without a ripple.

Seeing him not speak, He Qingzhou, knowing how to read the room, didn’t bring it up again. After playing four games, Chen Jin complained that the smell of roast whole lamb wafting over from the opposite side was making his heart flutter.

Seaside City was bustling because it had everything one could enjoy—food, drinks, and entertainment.

However, the consumption here was on the higher side, and students generally seldom came.

Once the college entrance examination ended, the group hardly considered themselves students anymore.

July and August truly were a high school graduate’s paradise time. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Xu Kanfeng teased, "Eating whole lamb in such hot weather, aren’t you afraid even your piss will smell rank?"

Chen Jin retorted, "If it’s not rank, is it supposed to smell sweet?"

"Hey hey hey, can you two not be so disgusting," He Qingzhou threw away his cue stick and went to get his phone, saying as he walked, "If we’re going to eat, let’s go, no dawdling."

This season wasn’t really the time for eating roast whole lamb.

The business was sparse in the shop, so the food was served quite quickly.

The four of them sat in a private room, behind a carved hollow wooden window, where there seemed to be another table of people.

Among them was a familiar voice; they all recognized it.

It was Principal Lu.

Excited about discovering something fun, Chen Jin happily threw a peanut into his mouth, his words teasing the brothers, "Should we go over to say hi and see what kind of reaction we get from the upright and incorruptible Principal Lu?"

Xu Kanfeng’s eyes lit up, eager to try, but was scoffed at and interrupted by He Qingzhou.

"In this day and age, who still takes cash? Even mobile transfers leave a trail. Do you think they’d let you see?"

The three discussed the matter in hushed tones. Chen Jin looked up and glanced at Brother Yan across from him, noticing he was blandly listening, his eyes bottomlessly dark, unknowingly lost in thought.

After the whole lamb was served, everyone started to cut into it.

Next door, as things were wrapping up, someone began to flatter, "Yunzhong directly produced two top scholars this year. Principal Lu truly deserves considerable credit. Come on, let’s all toast to Principal Lu again."

"Principal Lu’s son has brought glory to the school; we should have thrown several tables in celebration, but given the current circumstances, we dare not hold a grand banquet."

As soon as the middle-aged man started, others chimed in, "Although it lacks the formality, we uncles can’t skimp on our well wishes."

"Sure, sure, sure, Principal Lu, you must accept it as a token of encouragement for the child."

Listening to the commotion next door, Chen Jin carved off a large piece of leg meat, stuffed it into his mouth, and vigorously chewed, his cheek muscles bulging, his expression fierce.

Xu Kanfeng couldn’t stand it anymore and kicked him in the leg.

"Damn, it’s ruining my appetite."

Chen Jin ignored him and kept chewing.

After finishing his last bite, a conversation began to carry over from the other side.

"I heard the other top scholar is a girl. I know a deputy dean from Capital University of Technology. He said that eighty percent of their students each year are boys; girls are rare, and those who get in are very well treated in all aspects."

Unexpectedly, a bunch of old farts could end up talking about Sister Yao.

They all pricked up their ears, their gazes subconsciously looking towards Pei Yan.

Under the glaring lights, the roast whole lamb was still steaming hot.

Mentioning this, Principal Lu feigned regret with a sigh, "If only you’d mentioned this earlier, I could have helped. But as of noon today, all Yunzhong graduate students have completely filled out their university applications. Wait for next year, I’ll keep an eye out next time."

It was all a joke, and the group laughed it off as they talked.

A glass of wine down, the speaker casually asked, "Which university did she end up choosing? I bet it’s Tsinghua."

With a high score of 720, getting into Tsinghua wouldn’t be a problem.

Principal Lu waved his hand and said, "It’s not Tsinghua, but it’s still within the top fifteen nationally. Perhaps she didn’t want to stray too far from home, so she stayed in Rong City."

Behind them, the neighboring table said something, but Chen Jin and the others had no mind to listen anymore.

They were closely watching Brother Yan’s expression, which had been calm and steady at first, but when they heard Principal Lu’s last sentence, a startling chill flickered in the depths of his eyes.

Having eaten about half of the mutton, Pei Yan stood up from his seat, grabbed his car keys, and walked out of the private room.

"Hey, where’s Brother Yan off to?"

Three pairs of eyes peered through the window, watching that silhouette turn a corner, go downstairs, and vanish from their view.

Chen Jin slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, "He’s probably gone to find Sister Yao."

"Not necessarily," He Qingzhou shook his head, turning to Xu Kanfeng and asked, "How long did it take for you to get your passport last time?"

"If you follow the normal process, about fifteen days."

What ’normal process’ referred to was something everyone tacitly understood.

At best, it would still take at least a week.

Last year, He Qingzhou happened to see Brother Yan’s passport and, upon careful recollection, found a particular detail quite intriguing.

But, it might also be that he was overthinking it.

With the boss gone, the few of them continued to eat without much interest. Chen Jin rolled up his sleeves and said he would take care of the bill tonight. While paying at the counter, he glanced at the wall clock—it was still half an hour to midnight.

They had talked about partying all night, but this couldn’t even count as half a night.

That night, a silver-grey supercar sped from Seaside City toward the Zhizhen Villas.

Along Jiannan Avenue, road surveillance captured the sports car in no fewer than twenty speeding incidents.

Given the seriousness of the traffic violations, the car owner could likely expect at least a six-month driving hiatus.

...

The news of Jiang Shuyao applying to Rongcheng University soon spread throughout the senior class six’s group chat.

There were not a few who inquired about her reason, after all, she could’ve been 100% admitted by top institutions like Tsinghua or Capital University, so why stay local.

Having spent eighteen whole years here, wasn’t she tired of it? Didn’t she want to go see the outside world?

Many people felt sorry for her, including the class advisor, Yu Zhengqing.

Her decision to apply to a certain university caused a ripple effect among her peers, which Jiang Shuyao had not anticipated.

She was a Rong City native. Staying in Rong City to strive, learn, and later contribute her intelligence and skills to her hometown—what was wrong with that?

Of course, she hadn’t always thought this way.

At that time, Jiang Shuyao was determined to get into Capital, to get into Yangjin.

But when exactly she had changed her mind, she couldn’t even articulate clearly herself.

All she knew was that at the moment she was filling out her college preferences, as her mouse clicked on Rongcheng University and she submitted it, all she could think about was Pei Yan.

Rong City held too many memories between her and him.

She didn’t want those memories to fade with time, even if they had broken up and had no relationship with each other anymore, she wanted to stay here and wait for his return.

Wait for him to come back, even if he no longer liked her, or even hated her.

She accepted that.

July 5th, Rong City was still a sunny day, with temperatures rising to thirty-four degrees Celsius.

Zhu Yun got up early in the morning, left a post-it on the fridge to remind her daughter to eat on time before leaving the house.

Today was the day Lin Zhen and Pei Yan were returning to Los Angeles, with an eleven o’clock flight; there was plenty of time to drive there.

Jiang Shuyao’s bedroom door was tightly closed, her head buried under the quilt, breathing long and steady. Hearing the sound of the door closing outside, she slowly opened her eyes.

In fact, she’d already been awake; her sleep had grown lighter and lighter recently, barely managing to slumber before the slightest noise would wake her, making it hard to fall back asleep.