Chapter 102: I Have Someone I Like

Chang Lingling chatted with Xu Heng for a long time, but noticing Jiang Mengyuan hadn't said a word, she gave her a nudge.

"Yuanyuan, say something too!"

"Huh?" Jiang Mengyuan was stunned. "Me? I don't really have anything to say."

Chang Lingling was speechless: "Your idol is right here, and you can't squeeze out a single word?"

Xu Heng didn't quite understand what "idol" meant.

But Chang Lingling soon explained to him: "Senior Xu, you don't know, Yuanyuan really loves your song 'The Wind Rises'; her ringtone and morning alarm are both this song."

"Is that so?" Xu Heng smiled.

"Yuanyuan, this is a great opportunity, hurry up and ask him in person how he created it."

Jiang Mengyuan stammered: "It... it's not an idol; I just think the lyrics to your song are very well written, Senior."

"How well?" Xu Heng teased.

Chang Lingling chimed in from the side: "This is the first time I've seen someone so shameless. Senior, you've successfully shattered my fantasy of the Piano Prince on stage."

Xu Heng shrugged indifferently: "I was never a refined person to begin with; I'll still feel proud when I hear someone praise me."

Chang Lingling was instantly rendered speechless.

Jiang Mengyuan racked her brain for a long time before finally using a string of complimentary adjectives to praise the lyrics of "The Wind Rises."

She said Xu Heng's lyrics were flowery but not gaudy, and very cinematic; just like the song he had just sung, "The Wind Rises" was also a song that easily evoked associations in others.

Unlike the story-based format of traditional love songs, the two songs Xu Heng had copied from the End of Dharma Era ten years later both focused on immersion.

The person listening to the song could be the youth in "The Wind Rises" feeling nostalgic for their prime, or a couple letting go with ease.

With excellent lyrics combined with a relatively prominent melody, these two songs could easily leave a deep impression in one's mind.

From this point of view, Jiang Mengyuan's evaluation was surprisingly flawless, and could even be called precise.

Xu Heng felt it was a bit of a waste of talent that she didn't study music but came to study Chinese instead.

Thinking of this, he smiled and patted Jiang Mengyuan on the head.

"Well said, but there's no reward."

The two of them—one over 1.8 meters tall, the other not even 1.6 meters—meant Xu Heng could reach her head easily; he performed the action subconsciously and felt nothing in his heart.

But in the young girl's eyes, she had experienced the feeling of a "head-pat kill" once again.

This feeling was a bit subtle.

It wasn't as comfortable as they said in anime; after all, humans aren't cats and don't have scent glands on their heads.

But Jiang Mengyuan didn't resist this somewhat intimate gesture.

Chang Lingling, watching from the side, thought that the couple she was shipping was surely set; after a while, she would set them up for a date, a meal, and a couple of outings, and they would be a proper couple.

Plan successful!

Chang Lingling raised the corners of her mouth, revealing a cunning smile of triumph.

Just then, a voice came from not far away.

"Xu Heng."

Two words, brief, yet filled with deep resentment.

Hearing this voice, Chang Lingling immediately looked toward the sound and found that by the flower bed at the corner ahead, a girl with long, flowing hair and extreme beauty was standing there, looking in their direction.

It was also clear who her target was.

Xu Heng...

Chang Lingling froze in place, not knowing what kind of relationship this girl had with Xu Heng.

Xu Heng himself was also stunned for a few seconds, then asked curiously: "What are you doing here?"

Ying Ziyun didn't reply to him, but looked at Jiang Mengyuan beside him, then looked at him, and said: "What do you mean by that song of yours?"

Xu Heng scratched his head: "I was inspired by Cheng Huaiyu and Dan Yuyue breaking up."

"Then what about us? What do you mean by me?"

"I don't mean anything; didn't we break up?" Xu Heng asked, feeling baffled.

Seeing his light and breezy attitude, the tears hanging in the corners of Ying Ziyun's eyes nearly fell.

That bitterness, regret, and sadness occupied her heart in an instant.

At the same time, Chang Lingling, who was watching the drama from the side, couldn't help but gasp.

What's the situation? Break up? Could it be an ex-girlfriend? Xu Heng has already been in a relationship? And it seems he is still entangled with this ex-girlfriend.

Doesn't that mean the couple she just started shipping is going to collapse before they even form?

Chang Lingling forcibly suppressed the doubts in her heart and warned Jiang Mengyuan in a low voice: "Don't say a word."

Jiang Mengyuan said "oh."

Actually, even if Chang Lingling hadn't reminded her, Jiang Mengyuan wouldn't have interrupted.

She was moderately socially anxious by nature; she didn't even know how to find topics to chat with normal friends, and usually only replied with a few simple words when others took the initiative to talk to her.

Now, the situation on the scene was clearly about to stage a major emotional drama between ex-boyfriend and ex-girlfriend.

In this situation, she would only feel awkward staying here; if it weren't for Chang Lingling pulling her, she would have wanted to leave the scene immediately.

"Fine." Ying Ziyun wiped the corners of her eyes, looked up, and said, "Then I'll ask you, do you still love me?"

The scene fell silent for a moment.

Xu Heng subconsciously touched the inside pocket of his suit, then remembered he had already quit smoking.

But this scene would be quite awkward even if he were smoking.

"Probably, I loved you once," he said slowly, withdrawing his hand.

"And now?" Ying Ziyun pursed her lips and stared at his face as she asked.

Xu Heng answered her question with a line from a song: "Respect the ending of the story."

"Can we still be as we were before?"

"We can be friends."

"Xu Heng!" Ying Ziyun said with a slight tremor in her voice.

In the dark of night, Xu Heng could not see her expression clearly.

But seeing her shoulders shaking, it seemed...

Was she crying?

Ying Ziyun wiped her tears incessantly, but the more she wiped, the more they flowed; the pent-up negative emotions erupted, pouring out like a flood.

Finally, she could no longer hold back and began to sob aloud.

Xu Heng thought for a moment, sighed helplessly, walked up to her, and held her slender shoulders: "Alright, stop crying."

Ying Ziyun said stubbornly: "I... I'm not crying."

"You're crying so much you look like a little tabby cat." Xu Heng helped her wipe the tears from her cheeks.

"Why... why can't we be together again?" Ying Ziyun's words were punctuated by sobs.

Her proud first twenty years were, at this moment, in front of Xu Heng, shattered to pieces.

She did not understand; clearly, she already regretted it and wanted to save the lost love, so why was it still impossible to salvage?

Xu Heng could only say earnestly: "Some things, you only want to get them because you have lost them, but whether it is what you truly want, you are not clear."

"Yunyun, love is never something that can be started over."

Ying Ziyun said while crying: "But I am not reconciled to this; will you give me one more chance? This time I definitely won't say we should break up."

Xu Heng was pestered by her with no way out, so he thought of finding an excuse to cut off her hopes.

"I'm sorry, I have someone else I like."

"Who is it?"

Ying Ziyun asked, still unwilling to give up.

Xu Heng gritted his teeth, thinking that at worst he would apologize later, and took the hand of Jiang Mengyuan beside him, saying: "Her."

This news was no less than a bolt from the blue for Ying Ziyun, and she ran away covering her tears.

Xu Heng did not chase after her, feeling that after a while she would figure it out and let go on her own.

As for Jiang Mengyuan, who had been unintentionally dragged into the turmoil, she looked completely bewildered, standing blankly on the spot like a marmot that had just woken up from hibernation, not moving at all.

Confirming that Ying Ziyun had left, just as Xu Heng was about to explain to her, another discordant voice suddenly sounded by the roadside.

"Young man, have you asked for my opinion on you liking Yuanyuan?"