1987 My Era

Chapter 670, What is Foresight? This is...
Room 303, Girls' Dormitory Building No. 9.

When Mai Sui pushed open the door to enter the dormitory, there was no one inside.

She first tidied up her bed and desk, then stood in front of Shihe's bed for a while, and finally picked up her books and went to the library.

I searched the study room but couldn't find anyone.

Then I went to the reading room, and this time I was finally not disappointed. In the corner by the window, I saw a frail figure staring blankly out the window.

Who else could it be but Zhou Shihe?
Mai Sui looked around and, seeing that there was no one around, walked over and stood side by side with Zhou Shihe, looking out the window.

Perhaps because she was lost in thought, Zhou Shihe reacted a beat slower than usual, and it took her a while to turn her head and look to her right.

Upon seeing her best friend Sui Sui, she asked gently, "When did you get back?"

Maisui said, "Yesterday afternoon, around dinnertime..."

After a moment's thought, Zhou Shihe asked, "Song Yu is gone?"

“They left this morning; I just saw them off at the airport,” Mai Sui said.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Shihe turned and walked towards the exit of the reading room.

Mai Sui followed suit, leaving the library one after the other. The reading room was too quiet; it wasn't a place for conversation or catching up.

Upon reaching the intersection, Zhou Shihe stopped and asked gently, "Where are you going?"

Wheat said, "Either is fine."

Zhou Shihe glanced at her watch, then went straight outside the school, bought some vegetables and beer, and returned to Lushan Village.

After going around in circles, she returned to Lushan Village. Mai Sui was both amused and exasperated, but she did not go to the small building next door at number 26 to call the man over.

Enter, close the door, and bolt.

The two women went up to the second floor.

After the dishes and wine were laid out, Mai Sui broke the silence: "How long has it been since I've stayed here?"

Zhou Shihe said, "Today is exactly the 10th day."

As she spoke, she opened two bottles of beer, placed one in front of the wheat stalk, and poured herself a full glass, which she then drank alone.

He then poured himself a second glass and drank it all by himself.

As Zhou Shihe prepared to drink her third glass, Mai Sui asked softly, "What? You've grown distant after I've been gone for 11 days? Are you drinking alone in front of me?"

Zhou Shihe smiled knowingly, paused, and then drank her third cup.

After finishing her third glass, Zhou Shihe slowly spoke, looking at the empty glass in her hand, "I'll ask you three questions, and you'll answer yes or no."

Wheat said, "Okay."

Zhou Shihe asked, "You understand?"

The question is abrupt and doesn't seem to have a clear beginning or end, but it asks: Sui Sui, do you know about me and Li Heng?

Mai Sui understood immediately, "Yes."

Zhou Shihe asked, "Was that unexpected?"

After thinking for a moment, Mai Sui said, "The two answer options you gave me are not enough to express my feelings."

Zhou Shihe lifted her eyelids slightly and glanced at her.

Mai Sui said calmly, "Unexpected, yet not unexpected."

Zhou Shihe asked one last question: "Do you think we look like a married couple?"

This question immediately stumped Mai Sui.

For a moment, she didn't know how to answer.
Do Shihe and Li Heng look like a married couple? If you put the two of them together, there is no doubt that they are a perfect match, both handsome and beautiful.

But if you put him and Song Yu together, they would be a perfect match.

Put Li Heng and Teacher Yu together, and they'll build it just the same.

Xiao Han is a good match for him.

Zijing was his first love and his first wife.

Moreover, Mai Sui herself had examined this question: was she worthy of Li Heng?

Having lived for 20 years and traveled to many places, Mai Sui considers herself second only to Song Yu and Shi He among all the women she has met. She feels confident in facing Li Heng's other female confidantes.

A jumble of thoughts flashed through her mind. Meeting her best friend's gaze, Mai Sui finally spoke: "You two look like a couple. From appearance, temperament, personality to talent, you are perfectly matched, and you are also soulmates in music. Moreover, putting aside personal factors, Li Heng needs your family."

In the past, the two best friends never brought up this topic.

But a lack of foresight will inevitably lead to immediate troubles, and today the words have been spoken particularly clearly. There's an old saying that goes: Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

Teacher Yu now controls almost half of Li Heng's businesses, and the Yu family is so powerful. If everything goes smoothly, that's fine. But if something changes in the future, Song Yu, Xiao Han, Zi Jin, and Mai Sui alone won't be able to resist.

Therefore, Mai Sui directly points out that Li Heng's weakness lies in his family background, while Shi He's family background can complement it, thus subtly restraining Teacher Yu.

After listening, Zhou Shihe did not make any statement. Instead, she refilled her empty glass with beer and said quietly, "You came to see me because you must have a lot of questions. Go ahead and ask."

Mai Sui asked, "Before we talk privately, I'd like to ask you three questions, and I hope you can answer them truthfully."

Zhou Shihe remained silent.

Maisui stirred, straightened up, and asked, "Do you love Li Heng?"

Zhou Shihe paused for a moment, then gave a low "hmm".

Wheat Ear stared relentlessly into her eyes.

After being stared at for a few seconds, Zhou Shihe parted her red lips slightly and said, "Love."

Upon hearing the word "love," Mai Sui, despite being mentally prepared, still couldn't suppress her emotions, her face filled with a complex mix of feelings.

Zhou Shihe took in Sui Sui's series of changing expressions, but remained unmoved and made no attempt to explain herself.

The two sisters stared at each other for a while before Mai Sui asked her second question: "Do you know how many female confidantes he has?"

Zhou Shihe said calmly, "I know."

Then, without any joy or sorrow, Miss Zhou quoted the opening lines of "White Deer Plain": "What Bai Jiaxuan later took pride in was that he had married seven women in his life."

Mai Sui was stunned for a moment. She had read "White Deer Plain" before, even three times, but only today did she belatedly realize the profound meaning of this sentence.

Mai Sui counted: "Chen Zijin, Xiao Han, Song Yu, Huang Zhaoyi, and Teacher Yu, that's 5."

Having said that, she stopped counting and instead looked at her best friend with a dazed expression, the unspoken meaning clear: including you and me, there are exactly seven.

Zhou Shihe twirled the wine glass in her hand, placed it on the coffee table, picked it up again after a while, then put it down again, finally sitting up gracefully and asking, "Is Chen Zijin, his first woman, very beautiful? How does she compare to Xiao Han?"

Miss Zhou had met everyone else, but he was only slightly curious about Chen Zijin, whom he had never met before but was his first love.

After thinking for a while, Mai Sui found a reference point: "Back then, there was a rumor in our school that there were two beauties, referring to Song Yu and Xiao Han, who outshone me and Zi Jin and the other girls."

So although Zijing is very beautiful, she is slightly inferior to Xiaohan, and should be about the same as Xiaozhu.

After listening, Zhou Shihe said, "Chen Zijin is still very beautiful. His taste is as accurate as ever."

Mai Sui agreed with this statement, and then asked her third question: "You probably want to marry Li Heng, right?"

She didn't ask this question out of the blue; she had a specific purpose in mind.

She remembered asking Shihe: If you were me, in my position, what would you do?
Shihe's answer at the time was: If I were you, Li Heng would have to marry me.

So now she really wants to know if Shihe, who has fallen in love, will make a different choice?

Without any hesitation, Zhou Shihe replied directly, "I haven't thought about it yet."

Wheat Ear was taken aback: "Haven't thought it through? This isn't like you."

Faced with the questions, Zhou Shihe calmly replied, "Bai Jiaxuan married seven women, one after another, until one of them died. Do you think it's realistic for him to want to marry seven at the same time?"

Mai Sui was stunned, and after a long while, she said, "Shi He, I just want to hear the most primal voice from the depths of your heart."

Zhou Shihe said softly, "It's so romantic to fall in love at first sight, and the beauty in your heart will never fade."

After saying that, she stretched out her right hand and slowly poured the fourth glass of beer into her mouth.

After pondering those words for a moment, Mai Sui suddenly felt a mix of relief and sadness, and picked up her glass, saying, "I'll drink with you."

Zhou Shihe agreed. The two women then each drank a bottle of beer, enjoying their drinks without making a sound, until they finished their second bottle.

Zhou Shihe put down the empty wine bottle. "Sui Sui, tell me about Chen Zijin."

Mai Sui asked, "Since you've heard of Zi Jin, surely he can offer an explanation?"

Zhou Shihe said, "We didn't have much time that day, and I wasn't in a particularly good mood, so he spoke very quickly and in a very general way."

"I see," Mai Sui confessed frankly. "I only spent two years with her, so I wouldn't dare say I truly understand her."

Zhou Shihe nodded and waited for the next part.

Mai Sui recalled: "According to what I know, Zi Jin's hometown is Shangwan Village in Qianzhen Town, which is just across the road from Li Heng's home. The two grew up together and were good friends since childhood."

In the first year of junior high school, Li Heng, along with Zhang Zhiyong and a few others, often got into fights with other boys and didn't study well. At that time, many classmates disliked, feared, and avoided Li Heng, but Chen Zijin was an exception.

Well, Xiao Han is an exception too.

Chen Zijin often showed him concern and care, frequently spending money on him—groceries, pens, snacks—and occasionally even giving him pocket money. Have you seen the C-shaped mark on his hand?
The "C" was carved in by hand with a pencil sharpener. Zhang Zhiyong said that a lot of blood was drawn at the time. The pinyin for "Chen" starts with "C," and "C" represents Chen Zijin.

Zhou Shihe asked, "How did Xiao Han lose back then? Was it because she was too late?"

Wheat Ear nodded: "That should be it."

Zhou Shihe asked, "Why would Chen Zijin go to Beijing in her senior year of high school? Does the Chen family disapprove of their relationship?"

Mai Sui hesitated for a moment, but still chose to tell this secret: "It's possible that the Chen family's disagreement is not as simple as it seems. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been Song Yu who came to Lushan Village this time, but Chen Zijin."

Or rather, Li Heng won't come to Shanghai to pursue Xiao Han after the college entrance exam; instead, he'll go to Beijing.

Zhou Shihe took half a minute to process the message, and before leaving, asked, "Are you saying that after Li Heng and Chen Zijin had a relationship, the Chen family looked down on Li Heng and the Li family, and the Li family was humiliated?"

Mai Sui said softly, "This is a private guess that Song Yu and I have made. It is said that every time Li Heng goes to the capital in the past two years, he asks Chen Zijin to stay overnight in the courtyard house he bought in Gulou. His parents and second sister live there. He has never visited the Chen family."

Zhou Shihe asked, "You've never been to the Chen family even once?"

Maisui shook her head: "No."

Zhou Shihe said, "It's a pity. Song Yu came this time. It seems that Chen Zijin has given up on the idea of ​​marrying him."

Mai asked, "Why do you think that?"

Zhou Shihe explained in detail: "You and Song Yu are the same kind of people. Because of your guilt towards Song Yu, you have been reluctant to have a relationship with him."

If I'm not mistaken, since Li Heng fell in love with Song Yu at first sight, he must have confessed to her in high school, but Song Yu rejected him because of Chen Zijin's presence.

Now that Song Yu has come to Shanghai and dared to see me, Xiao Han, and Teacher Yu, she must have overcome her psychological barriers. And the one who tied the knot must untie it; Chen Zijin has most likely had a heart-to-heart talk with Song Yu, and Song Yu has received her forgiveness.

Mai Sui asked, "Are you saying that Chen Zijin, knowing that her marriage to Li Heng was hopeless, turned her support to Song Yu?"

Zhou Shihe said, "Li Heng hasn't visited the Chen family for two years, which is tantamount to a death sentence. Chen Zijin is probably already disheartened, so she wisely didn't try to exhaust Li Heng's enthusiasm and love."

Mai Sui thought for a moment and asked, "What benefits will Chen Zijin get from supporting Song Yu?"

Zhou Shihe countered, "Don't you also support Song Yu?"

Seeing her best friend staring at her intently, Mai Sui sighed, "Don't look at me like that. I admit, I didn't come to you right away when I got back yesterday, and I'm only coming to find you now because I'm a little confused, and also because Song Yu is in Lushan Village."

But to be honest, if you and Song Yu have a conflict, I won't take sides excessively.

Zhou Shihe was very perceptive. She smiled and asked, "Why use the word 'excessive'? Doesn't that still show bias?"

Mai Sui retorted, "Song Yu will tolerate me. If you marry him, will you tolerate me?"

This problem seems to have suddenly surfaced in a seemingly casual manner.

In fact, this is the core of the conversation between the two women today, and also the source of their conflict.

Having spent so much time together, Zhou Shihe understood Mai Sui, and Mai Sui understood her best friend just as well.
Before coming, Mai Sui had already mentally rehearsed the situation: given Shi He's personality and pride, she probably wouldn't want to share something as sacred as love with anyone else; she was probably thinking about how to monopolize Li Heng.

This question, this general's words, left Zhou Shihe speechless.

During this period, Zhou Shihe not only thought about this issue, but also thought about it many times over. She knew clearly that the next time she faced wheat ears, this was an obstacle that the two best friends could not get around.

If this hurdle isn't overcome, the friendship between the two women will only fade further.

After all, the wheat stalks would never leave Li Heng, nor could they be separated from him.

Sharing a man with other women was something Zhou Shihe had never considered before. Given her own circumstances and family background, she never imagined that one day she would come to this point.

Faced with Mai Sui's core interests, Zhou Shihe remained silent for a long time before reaching into his pocket with his right hand, taking out two tokens, and placing them on the coffee table.

She said gently, "You can have one."

Mai Sui lowered her gaze and asked, "What does the fortune teller say?"

Zhou Shihe said, "One of the fortune slips says 'permanent departure.' If you draw it, I will leave Li Heng forever, without making things difficult for you or for myself."

Mai Sui's heart skipped a beat, and she quickly asked, "What about the other one?"

Zhou Shihe said, "You already know the answer in your heart."

Mai Sui's gaze shifted back and forth between the two sticky notes. Suddenly remembering something, she looked up and asked, "You knew I would ask this question, so you wrote the notes a long time ago, waiting for me to come?"

Zhou Shihe tacitly agreed: "Sui Sui, do you know why I like being with you the most? It's because you are kind-hearted, honest enough, and won't beat around the bush or trip me up."

Faced with this emotional dilemma, you might subconsciously favor Song Yu because you knew her three years earlier, but not too much, and would limit it to the scope of "fairness".

If I'm not mistaken, Song Yu must have asked you a similar question. And your answer to Song Yu was probably something like that.

"You came here not only to get a clear answer from me, but also to comfort and console me because you felt I hadn't won against Song Yu."

Mai Sui exclaimed, "Shi He, you are so intelligent."

Zhou Shihe smiled gently and said, "I'll be modest this time and accept your praise, but I don't entirely agree. None of the women around him are kind-hearted; truly foolish women would never get close to him."

Even the intellectual Ms. Yu you know might already be teaming up with Song Yu to get rid of me.

Mai Sui's eyes widened in disbelief: "Why would you guess that? Song Yu and Teacher Yu, these...them?"

Zhou Shihe reopened a bottle of beer and filled two empty glasses. "Sui Sui, I know perfectly well that I have unknowingly become the target of everyone's criticism."

Xiao Han is wary of me, and Song Yu's visit to Fudan University was also mainly aimed at me.
Let's not even talk about Teacher Yu; we've had a falling out for ages. Do you think Teacher Yu and I are the aggressive type? Have you ever seen Teacher Yu be so rude to anyone? Yet we still broke up, and the reason is simply because of "affection."

Mai Sui was still not quite incredulous: "But, but Song Yu and Teacher Yu."

Zhou Shihe smiled knowingly, a smile as warm as a spring breeze, and asked a question: "Have you ever thought about whether Li Heng could resist if Teacher Yu, with her beauty and strong scholarly aura, used a little bit of her charm? Could he refrain from having a relationship with her?"

Mai Sui pondered for a moment, then shook her head: "It's difficult. If Teacher Yu is really keen on getting together with him, Li Heng will find it hard to refuse."

Zhou Shihe asked, "Then why hasn't Teacher Yu had a romantic relationship with him yet?"

Maisui shook her head again. "I haven't thought about it."

Zhou Shihe gave the answer: "The ambition is very grand."

Mai Sui pondered for a long time, then suddenly realized: "He wants to replace Song Yu in his heart and become the mistress of the Li family on the household register."

Zhou Shihe nodded. "Aunt Shen Xin's methods are quite decisive and ruthless, but as for Li Heng, I admire Teacher Yu's style of doing things more. She is open and honest, which is the way a first lady of the ancient times should act."

Comparing Shen Xin's and Teacher Yu's usual speaking styles, Mai Sui agreed.

Zhou Shihe continued, "Throughout the entire birthday banquet, Teacher Yu remained uninvolved and did not get involved in the conflict between me, Song Yu, and Xiao Han."

I suspect that besides wanting to sit back and watch the fight, Teacher Yu also wanted to test Song Yu's abilities.

What Song Yu and I have in common is that Li Heng actively pursued her.

The difference between me and Song Yu is that my family cannot allow Teacher Yu's family to have absolute power.

In the long run, I will pose a greater threat to Teacher Yu.

So, putting myself in Teacher Yu's shoes, I wouldn't immediately engage in a life-or-death struggle with Song Yu, who currently has the upper hand. Instead, I would try to win Song Yu over and eliminate the one I'm least confident I can handle first.

Mai Sui asked, "Even if that's the case, even if they push you out, what then? Won't they still fight each other?"

Zhou Shihe said, "In order to completely win Li Heng's heart, Teacher Yu always acted like a gentleman and didn't even use some of the basic survival skills of a large family."

As for Song Yu, her mindset should have changed after meeting me, and she will most likely accept Teacher Yu's suggestion to rule me out first.

As for the future, they might have a gentleman's agreement, or they might fight even more fiercely, but that's a matter for later.

(End of this chapter)