Chapter 266: Mutual Understanding

The snow of Jiang Nan fell without a sound; upon waking, the world had changed color—as if a skillfully adorned beauty had come deliberately to dress this lovely, gentle, and sentimental woman in fresh makeup and new robes, bringing joy.

The ancient city's white walls and black tiles were now one uniform hue; the bare branches that once pierced the clear sky were now wrapped in frost. Snow fell from a misty, dim sky, dissolving upon the ground and merging with the water. Snow-covered black-canopied boats drifted upon the lake, their passengers unseen—only their conical hats and straw capes visible, wandering through the hazy world.

The streetlights went out, the sky brightened, cars multiplied, and people filled the streets. Unlike usual, today's cars moved slowly, people moved slowly, the entire city seemed slow—everyone savoring the charm of Jiang Nan, savoring this great joy.

The alarm by her pillow rang; Su Mingyu quickly rolled over and turned it off, then cautiously observed her roommates' reactions, confirming they weren't disturbed before quietly getting out of bed. She couldn't help shivering, then let out a huge yawn, before grabbing a basin and a thermos to head to the water room to wash up.

Dragging herself to the water room, Su Mingyu first washed her face with cold water to wake up, then filled her basin with lukewarm water to wash. She had studied until past three in the morning, and woke at just past six—exhausted.

After washing up, the refreshed Su Mingyu returned to her dorm, dressed, and left for the cafeteria to eat breakfast. The snow still falling from the sky, the campus's snowy scenery—she had no heart to appreciate them.

The student dormitory was some distance from the cafeteria; she carried her bag, pulled her coat tight, and walked with her head down.

The person she had often thought of lately appeared once more in her mind; she irritably shook her head, trying to banish that figure.

Since she had refused his dinner invitation last time, he had never appeared before her again, never shown his face. She couldn't accept such special kindness, couldn't feel unfamiliar warmth, and couldn't bear a man's unhidden, visible affection—couldn't bear that heat.

That day, she had watched from the corner for a long time, originally not planning to step out. But wasting his time demanded a face-to-face explanation. All the accumulated hope she had built up was met with rejection—it hurt. She should have stepped out sooner—or not at all.

He hadn't come; she should have been relieved, should have been happy—relieved and happy that the entanglement was finally over, that she had peace, free from mental burdens, focused only on studying and making money. Yet she felt no relief, no happiness—only added sorrow.

He wasn't handsome, but he was pleasant to look at. Unless his height stood out in a crowd, he'd be unrecognizable among people. Yet his lively eyes, unlike ordinary ones, and his ever-present gentle smile made him unforgettable.

It was already early January; she calculated it had been a full month since she'd seen him.

The figure in her mind smiled at her; as she walked with her head down, she couldn't help smiling too. Sensing her mistake, she blushed, then fell into melancholy and turmoil—thoughts clashed and flashed, until finally she shook her head fiercely, suppressing that figure—yet she couldn't banish him.

She began thinking about last night's studies, wondering how much she had understood, shifting her focus, pushing forward through the playful, dancing snowflakes...

But she hadn't walked far when, distracted and not watching her step, she suddenly bumped into someone. Snow had fallen, melted into water on the ground, making it slippery. She stumbled, lost her balance, her foot slid—and she was about to fall backward.

She instinctively cried, "Ah!" and shut her eyes, bracing for her skull to meet the ground, for the unknown outcome.

But halfway down, she felt her neck tighten suddenly—someone grabbed her collar and yanked her upright, back onto her feet, as a familiar voice sounded beside her: "You're this big, and you still don't watch where you're going?"

She opened her eyes, steadied herself, and looked at the familiar yet strange figure before her. She meant to thank him, but the words turned into a lie: "It's you blocking the path, not me not watching! Let go of my collar!"

Wang Yan smiled and released her collar, then gently smoothed out the wrinkles: "I remember you never eat breakfast—why are you here today?"

Su Mingyu turned and walked away: "Mind your own business."

"You still need to eat breakfast. Skipping it long-term makes you sick, especially someone who stays up every night," Wang Yan followed her, nagging: "Your body will break down."

Su Mingyu shot him a sideways glance, not slowing: "How do you know I stay up every night?"

"Don't you look in the mirror? Can't you see those huge dark circles? And I know a bit of TCM—your skin is dull, your eyes are bloodshot, your complexion terrible—clearly from chronic sleep deprivation."

Su Mingyu sneered: "Why are you up so early?"

"Do you have to ask? Can't you see the steam? Obviously, I'm exercising. What about you? What are you doing? I know you only have your second class this morning."

It was precisely this kind of awareness, this subtle concern, that mattered—Wang Mou understood perfectly.

Hearing Wang Yan knew her schedule, Su Mingyu said nothing, only rolled her eyes: "What's it to you?" Then she quickened her pace into the cafeteria.

Wang Yan naturally followed behind, eating breakfast.

In the cafeteria, he lined up behind Su Mingyu, got his food, then followed her to a table and sat opposite.

Seeing Wang Yan seated across from her, Su Mingyu rolled her eyes again—but didn't move.

Wang Yan cracked an egg into Su Mingyu's tray: "Here, add an egg."

"No, give it back," Su Mingyu returned the egg to his plate.

"Hey, Mingyu, got any plans today?" Wang Yan peeled his egg casually, asking a question to which he already knew the answer.

"What for?"

"I'll treat you to dinner. The first snow of Suzhou—on a day like this, hot pot would be perfect."

"Are you blind? Can't you see?" Su Mingyu snapped: "You're asking on purpose."

"What about tonight? Still five?"

"No time, I'm busy. Thanks."

Wang Yan nodded: "Alright, it's settled. Five tonight, outside the school gate—don't be late."

"Hey, I said I'm busy."

"I said don't be late. What's the problem?"

"You—"

Wang Yan waved him off: "Enough. Eat your food. Aren't you busy? Don't dawdle."

"I never agreed."

Wang Yan didn't even look at her, lifted his bowl, and slurped his scalding hot porridge in loud, rhythmic gulps.

Su Mingyu, annoyed by the noise, tapped her chopsticks against her bowl: "Hey, can you eat quieter? It's annoying, you know?"

Wang Yan laughed heartily, returned to normal quiet eating—he was just having fun, teasing this little firecracker.

As for why Su Mingyu was out so early—he could guess with his foot. She was accompanying her sales supervisor to meet clients in a neighboring city; normal Suzhou clients wouldn't require such an early start. As for classes—Su Mingyu didn't care. If not for this normal university being a second-tier school, she'd have dropped out long ago.

And since receiving Meng Zhiyuan's "golden finger," "grandpa's" help, her financial situation had improved greatly. But since the money wasn't earned by her own hands, she still lived frugally.

"I'm off. See you tonight."

Wang Yan quickly finished breakfast, dropped a line, and walked off, tray in hand, strolling lazily.

Su Mingyu still wanted to refuse, but the words died on her lips. Watching his back, she unconsciously smiled—until she caught his glance back, then hastily lowered her head.

Wang Yan smiled faintly, returned to his dorm, washed up, packed, and joined his late-rising roommate for class. Today only had two morning classes; he had no other plans and didn't intend to skip, so he picked up a book he hadn't read.

He had read books for over three hundred years. Though compared to all human civilization's accumulated knowledge—vast oceans of texts spanning millennia—this was negligible, it was far beyond the simple phrase "learned enough to fill five carts."

In the past, he read with methods, focusing only on core ideas. Now, reading was a habit—not goal-oriented, simply for the sake of reading. So now he read word by word, even if the book was terrible, he finished every single character.

Of course, this was mainly because his spirit had grown stronger, his mind's processing speed faster. "Reading ten lines at a glance" was exaggeration—he could easily read four, five, or six lines at once. So now, reading word by word was actually faster than his old method.

As for professors—though it was 2008, universities were all much the same: "Learn if you want, don't if you don't…" Only now did professors truly embody the phrase: "You study not for me." No one cared—as long as you didn't cause trouble for the school.

This past month, Long Teng's progress had been decent. The sales manager and the master he brought in had real skill—they successfully held several health lectures and sold over a thousand bottles of product—a good start.

Due to funding constraints, the third-stage R&D hadn't begun; only a few people were studying theory, following Wang Yan's outlined direction. Yet artificial intelligence research had begun again.

Over these past few months, he had rewritten the code and had others continue researching it. Actually, rewriting the code wasn't easy at all, because many theories, papers, and so on hadn't been published yet, and even programming languages hadn't reached that level of development—he had to go through great effort.

As for the rest, nothing much. One hundred million, though a huge sum—beyond what most people could ever hope to achieve in a lifetime—still wasn't enough to cover even basic expenses. His money could only sustain things to this extent and keep the company running normally; to get more, he'd have to rely on Qiang Shen Wan to make money.

Of course, this was only possible now that he had Qiang Shen Wan; before, when he didn't have these, he mostly played capital games, funneling profits back into R&D projects...

After finishing the morning classes, Wang Yan ate lunch in the cafeteria, then put on a baseball cap and rode his bicycle around aimlessly.

The small snowflakes hadn't stopped falling. The partially melted snow had become sticky; new snow clung to it and wouldn't fall off, accumulating in layers on eaves, trees, bridgeheads, and lakesides.

Wang Yan rode his bike, passed a puddle, watched the snow melt into it, and suddenly felt the urge to row on the lake. He acted on the impulse immediately, pedaling straight to Taihu, found a boatman, lit a warming stove to brew tea, set off onto the lake, then took out a fishing rod, sat down, chatted and drank tea with the boatman, and began fishing.

Snow still fell; mist still clung to the lake. Though a boatman sat beside him, once you ignored the hired helper, from afar it almost felt like "fishing alone in the cold river snow."

Thus, Wang Yan fished on Taihu all afternoon, playing the part of a man whose only witnesses were heaven, earth, and the boatman.

Speaking of fishing, his skill was quite Gao Chao, and Taihu held no shortage of fish, so his catch was substantial. But apart from giving the boatman one large fish, he released all the rest—he was fishing for the feeling, after all.

The boat docked just after four. Wang Yan rode his bike back toward school. The distance wasn't far—just over twenty kilometers. Though the road had some puddles, it didn't slow him down. When he reached the school gate, there were still six minutes until the agreed five o'clock—he'd misjudged the timing.

From afar, Wang Yan saw Su Mingyu standing across from the school gate, hands tucked into the pockets of her cotton coat, idly kicking pebbles beside a tree pit. Why wasn't she standing at the gate? Naturally, because rumors had caused some trouble—but she was strong enough to ignore them.

Wang Yan rode across the road and stopped before her: "Sorry I'm late. Did you wait long?"

Su Mingyu looked up at the sound, then lowered her head again—remembering what she'd said that morning, "I didn't agree." She mumbled: "I just got here myself."

Wang Yan nodded: "Get on. I'll take you."

At this moment, he couldn't tease. After all, this girl had mustered tremendous courage to come out. If he scared her off with a few words, it would be too careless. Actually, he wasn't surprised she'd come at all—because that fleeting glimmer in her eyes when they met that morning—who among young girls doesn't harbor springtime feelings? Even if she felt unworthy of kindness, she couldn't help letting her cold heart draw closer, tentatively seeking warmth.

Su Mingyu hesitated, then nodded and sat sideways on the back of the bike, gripping the hem of Wang Yan's coat.

"Ready?"

"Mm."

Wang Yan kicked off hard. Su Mingyu, unprepared, instinctively wrapped her arms around his waist. Then she realized: "You did that on purpose?" She jumped off the bike and started hitting him.

"Hey, stop, stop!" Wang Yan called out. "What's the point of holding onto your sleeve? Even if nothing happened just now, what if something went wrong on the road? Whose fault would that be—yours or mine? Get back on."

"I'm not going." Su Mingyu thought Wang Yan had bad intentions and turned to leave.

Wang Yan grabbed her arm: "Don't act up. I really didn't do it on purpose. Get on."

She stared at him skeptically, saw nothing but sincerity in his eyes, and sat back on the bike: "Last time." This time, however, she straddled the seat in an unladylike way, reaching her hands behind to grip the seat beneath her.

"Ready?"

"Oh, just go already—everyone's watching…"

Wang Yan smiled faintly: "Let's go…"

Laughing and chatting, they rode slowly for about twenty minutes, locked their bike outside a Sichuan-Chongqing restaurant buzzing with voices, and walked in—one ahead, one behind.

They chose a window seat, sat facing each other. Wang Yan took the order sheet the server handed him, then passed it to Su Mingyu: "Go ahead, order whatever you want. Eat your fill."

Su Mingyu waved her hand: "I'll eat anything. You order."

Wang Yan didn't press. He asked her while checking items, but every time he asked, she just said "yes," which made it useless. So he stopped asking and ordered freely: ordered a split pot, drinks, and finished the ordering perfectly.

The hot pot arrived quickly—everything was raw. Wang Yan and Su Mingyu mixed their dipping sauces. Before they'd exchanged more than a few words, dish after dish was brought to the table.

Su Mingyu stared at the overflowing table, then at the shelves beside it, also piled high: "Did you order all this? Can we even finish it?"

"Don't worry—I have a great appetite. Nothing will be left." Wang Yan waved his hand. "Just eat. Whatever's left is mine. I guarantee no waste."

Su Mingyu still doubted, but said nothing more. She silently watched the pot heat up, waiting for it to boil.

"Hey, Mingyu? What did you do today?"

"Went to Liangxi to meet a client."

Wang Yan asked knowingly: "That job the man introduced you to?"

"Mm."

Sensing her impatience, Wang Yan tactfully changed the subject: "We're only a week and a half from break. What are your plans?"

"What plans do I have? Of course I'm going back…" Su Mingyu realized—she'd cut ties with her family. She looked at the pot now bubbling: "Alright, we can start cooking."

"What? It's just going home. Why can't you say it?"

Wang Yan dropped two plates of meat into the pot, stirring them back and forth.

"Why are you talking so much?"

Wang Yan silently apologized to his parents in his heart, then pretended indifference: "Isn't it good to have a home to return to? I don't even have one."

True to form, these words caught Su Mingyu's attention: "What happened to you?"

"Here, eat some meat."

After three dips and three boils, Wang Yan picked up a chopstick of meat and placed it on her plate: "My parents died in a car crash two years ago. No relatives or friends left. Now I'm alone. These past two years…"

After rambling on, Wang Yan smiled carefree: "I used to do well in school. If not for that incident, maybe I could've gotten into Tsinghua, Peking, or Zhejiang University."

Su Mingyu stared blankly at Wang Yan's flawless performance. After a long silence, she said the most clichéd line: "I'm sorry."

"It's fine. Why apologize for that?" Wang Yan shook his head, took a bite of meat, and asked: "What about you? What happened?"

"Same as you." Su Mingyu gave a bitter smile. "I cut ties with my parents."

"Why?"

"My family has three children. I'm the youngest. I have two older brothers…"

Su Mingyu opened up. Wang Yan wisely ordered beer and poured her a glass.

She wasn't afraid. Having worked in sales for months, she'd wanted desperately to seize this opportunity she saw as her chance to rise—how could she avoid alcohol? She drank cup after cup, tears streaming as she poured out years of bitterness.

She'd never told anyone this before. Today, perhaps because they shared the same pain—after all, her parents, though alive, were no better than dead, and had only added to her lifelong suffering.

"My eldest brother went to college—we sold the pots and pans to pay for Tsinghua… Then he got into an American university—we sold the house to fund him… My second brother… we sold another house… Then it came to me…"

Su Mingyu recounted every small hardship from childhood, then slammed her cup down: "Tell me—what's different between you and me? Aren't we both without a home?"

Beyond the major events she portrayed, she also spoke of many minor, everyday details.

Zhao Meilan's preference for sons was undeniable. Su Mingzhe had a daughter, yet even though she was his own granddaughter, he never even looked at her. But for his two sons, he granted every request. For Su Mingyu, it was two extremes. He'd even said outright: he'd only support her until eighteen. But for Su Mingcheng, he kept giving money even after marriage. Perhaps in this new society, if it had been a century ago, Su Mingyu might've been drowned at birth.

As for Su Daqiang, there's not much to say — a simple "I wouldn't dare" stripped away so much of a man's sense of responsibility. The last few episodes of the show were more about forcibly tying things up neatly.

If one wanted to ease the mother-daughter relationship between Su Mingyu and Zhao Meilan, although it would be very, very difficult, there would still be a certain chance of pulling it off. However, that didn't align with Wang Yan's mission; his understanding of "venting" was very simple — just make the rest of the Su family miserable. So let things take their natural course; if Zhao Meilan was meant to die, then let her die.

He glanced at the five or six empty bottles on the floor, took a look at Su Mingyu's state, and Wang Yan nodded tactfully: "Right, we're not that different. Come on, don't just drink — have some food."

Su Mingyu burped, fished out a meatball: "So yeah, I have no idea what to do over the break. Our school dorm only stays open for seven days after the break starts, and I still don't know where to go."

"No worries — I'll just take you in, how about that?"

"You?" Su Mingyu waved her hand: "Forget it."

"What's wrong with me?"

"You're just harboring ill intentions toward me."

"And you figured that out?" Wang Yan put on a look of surprise: "Since you already knew, you still dared to come out with me, and dared to drink this much?"

"Me drinking a lot? This is nothing." Su Mingyu said with a look of disdain, pointing at the bottles at Wang Yan's feet: "You still owe me one bottle — can you handle it or not?"

Wang Yan **poured a full glass: "Of course I can."

Su Mingyu shot Wang Yan a look, refilled her glass: "Come on, let's drink one together."

"Cheers." Wang Yan raised his glass, clinked it against hers, and downed it in one gulp.

Once Su Mingyu had drunk her fill, she no longer needed him to make conversation — she just chattered away on her own. Wang Yan, meanwhile, listened to Su Mingyu's nagging and ate heartily; whenever she raised her glass, he drank along, and before he knew it, he'd had quite a lot himself.

Seeing that the food was gone and the wine was gone, and Su Mingyu was already bleary-eyed, she still fished a few hundred-yuan bills from her pocket and slapped them on the table: "Waiter, check please."

She even knew to stop Wang Yan: "This one's on me, you're not allowed to fight me for it."

Wang Yan smiled, picked up a bill from the table, and waved it in front of her eyes: "Split it."

After saying that, regardless of Su Mingyu's reaction, he followed the waiter to the bar to settle the bill.

Then, he came back and watched the dazed Su Mingyu slowly put on her clothes, and only then supported her as they walked out...