The story of Rose starts with being a brother

Chapter 504 Hey, your Extra gum!

Early spring weather is always unpredictable. After the sudden shower in Shanghai in the afternoon, the sky had just cleared up when a light drizzle started again in the evening.

The fine, dense rain fell silently from the gray-white sky, like an endless, damp veil that gently enveloped the entire city.

The sky was not yet completely dark; it was a hazy, ambiguous gray-blue.

The taxi waded through the puddle that was just above the soles of its shoes and stopped in front of a sycamore tree in front of the residential area.

The newly sprouted buds of the sycamore tree were washed clean by the rain and shimmered under the dim streetlights. Water droplets slid off the leaves and dripped onto the umbrella that Jian Ning held up as she got out of the taxi.

Finally, the water droplets fell down the umbrella and splashed onto the already turbulent surface of the puddles, shattering the reflection of the lone man in the water with ripples.

"Zhang Wei? What are you doing here?"

Jian Ning, who had just returned from Xin Ling's place, was surprised to see Zhang Wei with his hair and trouser legs slightly damp.

"I...I have something I want to tell you."

Zhang Wei forced a smile and then said, "I thought you were at home. I was just about to call you after I got off the bus, but I didn't expect you to be back from outside."

"I went out to take care of some things."

Jian Ning looked at Zhang Wei in front of her. When she came from the other side of the road in the taxi, she saw Zhang Wei pacing back and forth under the tree with an umbrella. He didn't even react when he stepped into the drainage ditch. He didn't seem like he had just come here.

But she didn't expose him. After nodding slightly, she asked, "What do you want to say?"

"It's about... the matter of my friend Ziqiao harassing your mother."

……

Three minutes ago, in a Mercedes parked in the middle of a row of cars not far from here.

"Zhang Wei has been standing here for almost half an hour, why hasn't Jian Ning come down to see him yet?"

Qin Yumo frowned as she looked at Zhang Wei, who was running around like a headless fly under the sycamore tree, and couldn't help but ask Wen Sheng, who was standing next to her.

"I guess Zhang Wei didn't call Jian Ning to tell her he was coming." With his superhuman eyesight, Wen Sheng had already seen Zhang Wei's actions.

The other person was holding their phone, looking like they were about to dial a number but then gave up, clearly still undecided.

Hearing this, Qin Yumo sighed: "You know, Zhang Wei is really something. He decided to tell the truth, but now that we're here, he doesn't dare to anymore."

"Isn't this normal? Not everyone has the courage to confess that they have lied to their partner."

"It's not good for him to keep waiting outside like this!" Qin Yumo looked at the sky outside the window. "What if the rain gets heavier again later?"

"It's better if it rains harder. If it rains heavily and he gets soaked to the bone, it will show his sincerity even more," Wen Sheng said with a smile.

"Still laughing?!" Qin Yumo rolled her eyes at him, then thought for a moment and snorted, "Since when did you start supporting this kind of feigned pitifulness?"

"I've always been a supporter!"

Wen Sheng turned to look at her and laughed, "Actually, if you had locked the door from the inside that day, I was planning to stand at your door and freeze to death."

"..."

Qin Yumo was stunned upon hearing this, and then her face turned bright red.

Thinking about what happened that night, she rolled her eyes at the jerk and said, "I should have let you freeze to death outside back then!"

After finishing her tirade, Qin Yumo turned her gaze to Zhang Wei in the distance.

"Hey, are you just going to stand by and watch?"

"What else can we do? We followed him here secretly," Wen Sheng shrugged. "Besides, Zhang Wei has chosen to face his fear head-on. What can I do to help him?"

After a pause, Wen Sheng chuckled and said, "When Zhang Wei went on a date with that Officer Moran last time, wasn't it you who gave him the advice? So, what do you say? Shouldn't you, as his teacher, think of another way this time?"

Can the situations be the same?

Qin Yumo shook her head: "You just said that Zhang Wei wants to make this choice himself, what advice can I give?"

At this point, she looked somewhat worried: "I wonder if Zhang Wei's actions will be enough to make Jian Ning forgive him?"

"Forgive? Why should we forgive?"

Wen Sheng leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head and said calmly, "This is just a misunderstanding that has been cleared up and things have been discussed. Zhang Wei's deception was certainly problematic, but judging from his immediate explanation and their behavior in this matter, it's not enough for him to ask for forgiveness."

Qin Yumo looked astonished, not expecting Wen Sheng to say such a thing.

Wen Sheng smiled but then sighed and said, "The word 'forgiveness' can be used lightly or heavily, especially for someone like Zhang Wei who hasn't had many serious relationships. Bearing this attitude too early is not good for him to manage this relationship later."

Qin Yumo seemed to be deep in thought, but soon she suddenly noticed something.

"Hey, the person sitting in the back of that taxi that just passed by looked like Jian Ning."

"I saw it."

"Didn't she go home? Why is she back again?"

"Who knows?"

Seeing Jian Ning get out of the car and run into Zhang Wei, Qin Yumo remembered Wen Sheng's words and quickly said, "Didn't you just say that asking for forgiveness isn't a good thing for Zhang Wei? Don't you think of a way to remind him?"

"Um……"

Seeing that Zhang Wei quickly brought up Lu Ziqiao's matter to Jian Ning, Wen Sheng rubbed his chin and said, "It's time to think of a solution."

……

"So, Lu Ziqiao is actually Lu Xiaobu, and he even shaved his head to fool me?"

After listening to Zhang Wei's confession of what had happened, Jian Ning said expressionlessly.

"I didn't mean to lie to you, it's just a misunderstanding."

Zhang Wei explained, "They mistook your mother for my girlfriend before, and then they wanted to get Ziqiao to..."

Jian Ning listened quietly without interrupting Zhang Wei.

But she remembered that when she was about to leave Xinling's place, Xinling had stopped her and said that there might be some hidden story behind it, and hoped that she could have a good talk with Zhang Wei.

She had been restraining herself since she realized it was a scam in the apartment, just as Cyndi Wang later said.

Zhang Wei's friends didn't seem like bad people, whether in terms of their professions, appearances, or their conversations at meals.

Aside from Lu Ziqiao, whom she disliked, there was also Tang Youyou, whose exaggerated acting skills were truly befitting of her profession as an actress. Apart from these two, she thought everyone else was quite nice.

And Wen Sheng's cooking is indeed delicious.

Later, when Xinling advised her, she could tell that Xinling's feelings were partly due to Wensheng, and that she had extended her affection to him because of him.

This was actually somewhat unexpected for her, because when Xinling told her that the people in the apartment didn't seem to welcome her much when she first visited, it was quite unexpected.

Surprisingly, Cyndi is still willing to speak well of them.

But despite the hidden reasons, deception still happened.

Having just established a romantic relationship with Zhang Wei, she was immediately deceived by him. It's hard not to doubt that her interactions with Zhang Wei these past few days, and the lawyer she met, are also "fake."

But at this moment, when she saw Zhang Wei explaining the cause and effect to her, from hesitant to calm and fluent, she suddenly felt that Xinling's previous words were right.

"That's how it is. Because of that misunderstanding, everyone made up this lie for me."

Zhang Wei's eyes were full of guilt: "They are not bad people. Zi Qiao even had his hair shaved off because of this. He, Youyou, and Guangu all feel very sorry about what happened to your mother."

Jian Ning looked at him silently for a long time before finally speaking, "Then why did you come here to expose me?"

"Because I don't want to lie to you."

Zhang Wei answered without the slightest hesitation.

Seeing Jian Ning nod but remain silent, he gave a bitter smile and said, "I'm an orphan. I've hardly ever been in a relationship, and I don't know how to get along with girls. I told you about missing the wedding before. Actually, I'm quite glad I missed it. I don't know what I would have done if I had been there and seen my fiancée run away with another man. Passively missing the wedding is better than actively choosing to run away later."

"This misunderstanding is the same. My mind was in complete chaos yesterday after I found out about it. I didn't know how to face you today, so when my friends offered to help me lie to you, I subconsciously agreed to this way of escaping again..."

Under the cover of night, the fine rain was blown sideways by the wind. As the man under the tree raised his umbrella to make it easier to talk, the rain slipped in, wetting the stray hairs on his forehead. When it clung to his eyelashes, he subconsciously squinted, and water droplets trickled down from the corners of his eyes, bringing a cool, astringent feeling, like tears of love.

Zhang Wei didn't cry, of course; he just felt a bit of a stuffy nose. "Achoo!"

He turned his head just in time to avoid sneezing Jian Ning in the face before the sneeze could come out, but the sneeze also interrupted his speech.

"Don't stand here, come upstairs and have a cup of ginger tea, so you don't catch a cold," Jian Ning said upon seeing this.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Wei's eyes lit up, and he looked at the other person and said, "You're not angry anymore?"

"Angry? I haven't shown any signs of being angry."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Wei was delighted, but then Jian Ning said, "I'm just thinking of reconsidering our relationship."

"..."

Zhang Wei's face froze. Looking at Jian Ning, whose attitude he couldn't discern, he asked nervously, "You...you still want to break up with me?"

"It was before."

Jian Ning reached out and covered him with the umbrella again before smiling faintly and saying, "Now I need to ask my mother's opinion."

"Your mother? Ms. Lu..."

Zhang Wei didn't quite understand what she meant.

"Regardless of the reason for the misunderstanding, it was my mother who felt harassed, so of course I had to ask for her opinion."

Jian Ning gently brushed her hair back and said matter-of-factly.

Hearing this, Zhang Wei nodded: "That makes sense."

But he quickly added with concern, "What if your mother won't forgive me?"

Jian Ning smiled but didn't answer the question. Instead, she said, "Speaking of which, my mother has always met you as her client, not as my boyfriend!"

"makes sense."

"Then come upstairs with me and sit for a while?"

"Okay...no way!"

Zhang Wei initially agreed, but then immediately refused.

"I..." Zhang Wei looked down at his somewhat disheveled appearance, "Is this the right time to formally meet your mother? What if she gets angry and thinks I've dirtied your floor and kicks me out?"

"..."

'You have no idea how much my mom loves you!'

Hearing him say that, Jian Ning couldn't help but mentally complain.

She hadn't told her mother about her relationship with Zhang Wei these past few days, but because of the case she was handling, her mother had mentioned Zhang Wei, the lawyer, to her quite a few times.

The most outrageous thing is that I heard her own mother say that Zhang Wei looked like her father, which is completely contrary to the natural order.

"So you're not going up?"

"Um... could you wait until I'm all packed up before you go see your mother?"

Hearing Zhang Wei's discussion, Jian Ning didn't say much. After glancing at the supermarket next to the community, she said, "Then will you come with me to the supermarket?"

"supermarket?"

"Buy some cold medicine and towels."

As soon as she finished speaking, Jian Ning, holding an umbrella, took the lead and walked towards the supermarket. Zhang Wei, who was behind her, stood there for two seconds before quickly following her.

Pushing open the supermarket door, Jian Ning asked the clerk at the counter before heading straight to get what she wanted to buy. Zhang Wei, following behind her, had a look that alternated between happiness and confusion.

Jian Ning, who had grabbed a dry towel and cold medicine, turned to look at him and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Oh, it's nothing, I just don't quite understand..." Zhang Wei hesitated for a moment before continuing, "You just said you'd consider your mother's opinion, so what's your own opinion? Also, we're still... boyfriend and girlfriend, right?"

"..."

Jian Ning raised an eyebrow, glanced at the lawyer in front of her whose mind was sometimes sharp and sometimes not, and replied as she walked past him, "I don't know."

"..."

Zhang Wei frowned, becoming increasingly confused.

As he turned and followed the other person to the counter to pay, he came to his senses and was about to ask for more details when he saw Jian Ning pick up a bottle of chewing gum from the counter, hand it to the clerk, and then turn to him and say, "This is good for your teeth."

"Huh? Oh."

Zhang Wei, who had been interrupted, stared blankly as Jian Ning finished paying the bill and then handed him the plastic bag containing the items.

"gone."

"Ah good."

After leaving the supermarket, Jian Ning turned back and took a dry towel from the bag in his hand.

"Then I'll head back. You should dry your hair and go home to take a shower as soon as possible. Also, take your cold medicine, or not, depending on how you feel."

Hearing Jian Ning's words of advice, Zhang Wei felt a warmth in his heart, and his doubts from before disappeared.

"I see."

Jian Ning glanced at the somewhat foolish-looking man again, then waved her hand, opened her umbrella, and walked towards the gate of the residential area.

Zhang Wei stood on the steps in front of the supermarket, gazing at the other person like a statue waiting for its husband. After a few seconds, he realized what was happening and quickly took out the bottle of chewing gum from the bag.

Hey, here's your Extra gum!

Hearing the voice, Jian Ning turned around and looked at him, smiling as she said, "It's your Extra gum!"

"..."

Under the dim yellow streetlights and the incandescent lights at the supermarket entrance, swarms of moths fluttered about. The drizzling rain made their wings heavy, but it did nothing to diminish their enthusiasm for rushing toward the bright and scorching light source.

A woman, holding an umbrella and wading through puddles in her boots, walked towards the gate of the residential compound. The murky water, after washing over her, made her high-heeled boots shine. A man standing at the supermarket entrance, chewing gum in hand, watched her retreating figure without blinking, a smile playing on his lips as he muttered to himself:

"My Extra gum, my Extra gum..."

"Boom!"

The thunder of early spring arrived in an instant, only to disappear in the blink of an eye. The long street in the rain, bathed in a dark blue hue, appeared hazy as if filtered through a lens, or stretched out in slow motion.

Yu Mo suddenly felt helpless, while Wen Sheng, who had been scheming, suddenly relaxed.

"Let's go back too."

……

Night had fallen, and Jian Ning was at home.

It was nearly midnight when Jian Ning leaned against the headboard in her bedroom, unable to fall asleep.

The small desk lamp beside her emitted a soft glow. She stared at the notebook on the quilt for a long time without moving, but from her absent-minded gaze, it was clear that her mind was not on it.

"Ugh!"

A soft sigh echoed in the quiet bedroom. Coming back to her senses, Jian Ning gently brushed a few strands of hair that were hanging in front of her eyes and opened her email.

Even though she had already read the emails in her inbox, her gaze was still somewhat dazed when she saw them again.

The last few sentences of the email that was sent this morning made her emotions even more complicated.

[Senior sister, the news from Changbai Mountain has been confirmed; we've already set off.]

The teacher speculated that there might be a massive tomb below that would astound the entire archaeological world.

【Wait for you.】

(End of this chapter)