Chapter 588: Burning

"—Her mother's illness came too suddenly, and it was a huge blow to her. And because of the complex family relationships, she was forced to take on the responsibility..."

Tang Song's hand helped the big sister massage her peach-like buttocks, his voice low and full of emotion.

【Remember the domain name of this site】

Wen Wen Ruan twisted her body, a moved expression also floating in her eyes.

She herself was an emotional person and could empathize with the heroine Tang Song described.

An introverted, sensitive, and timid girl, facing the sudden change in her family and the heavy pressure of reality, the kind of helpless despair.

"This girl is indeed too hard, with her personality, she will definitely be bullied."

Tang Song sighed, "Yeah, very pitiful."

Hearing his words and looking at his expression, Wen Wen Ruan's heart moved slightly, and she quickly sensed something wrong.

She narrowed her peach-blossom eyes slightly, her body leaning forward, "Wait a minute, Tang Song. How do you know about her family's affairs so clearly?

Do you know her?"

Tang Song's gaze dodged slightly, nodding, "She was my deskmate for 3 years in junior high."

"What? Junior high deskmate?" Wen Wen Ruan widened her eyes, suddenly standing up from him, "You've been acting mysterious these past few days, it wouldn't be for her, would it?!"

Tang Song's voice became much lower, "That is indeed the case."

Wen Wen Ruan stepped back vigilantly, her gaze somewhat dangerous, "So, don't tell me, this is another 'Liu Liu Qingning'!"

"That's not it." Tang Song smiled awkwardly, then tried his best to tell Zhang Yan's story over the years objectively and calmly.

High school, Liu Liu Qingning, QQ messages, Yannan Agricultural University, Tiantongyuan semi-basement... Wen Wen Ruan listened quietly, the expression on her face changing from initial anger to gradual surprise, and then to later complexity and silence.

This was no longer a simple crush; this was a kind of near-religious, self-constructed emotional sustenance.

In this regard, she could empathize even more.

Her and Tang Song's story wasn't smooth sailing either, with many twists and turns and heartaches in between.

Because of the age gap and the gap in wealth and status, she had also experienced avoidance, insecurity, and anticipation.

It was just that she was much braver and bolder, and also much stronger.

However, soon, she regained her vigilance, looking at Tang Song, her gaze burning, "So, buddy, you've paved the way for so long, what exactly do you mean?"

"She is currently working as a copy editor in book marketing." Tang Song finally said his purpose, "And the company she is in is a second-tier agent of Xingyun International Group. I want her to be able to work at Xingyun International."

"Arranging a job, that's a small matter." Wen Wen Ruan's eyes twitched, "Xingyun International is yours to decide now, I'm just a 'worker' helping you hold shares. This little thing, you decide yourself. Also, I have a video meeting to attend later, let's talk about these family matters when we have time."

"Wait a minute, Wen Ruan Wen Ruan." Tang Song hurriedly grabbed her arm and kissed the big sister on the face, "Besides this, I also need you to guide her, help her—do some ideological work..." Zhang Yan was really too fragile, and there were many things he didn't dare let the other party know.

But he definitely couldn't hide it forever. If it really exploded, with her personality, she really couldn't bear it.

Of course, it was also mainly because Zhang Yan had lived too miserably over the years, and he couldn't bear to let this junior high deskmate suffer again.

He needed a "buffer zone," someone who could gently and patiently help Zhang Yan build a strong psychological defense.

In this regard, the mature, steady, life-loving, and friend-filled Wen Wen Ruan was undoubtedly the best candidate.

He even hoped that in the future, Zhang Yan could grow up under Wen Wen Ruan's protection at Xingyun International.

However, there was another problem, which was that Zhang Yan might be resistant to this and would need a long psychological construction.

"Damn! Don't tell me you want me to take the blame again?!" Wen Wen Ruan's voice instantly rose, looking at him incredulously, "Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

Are you kidding?!

A "pure little white flower" with a ten-year crush history who is sensitive and introverted; a "fallen princess" who just experienced a family change and regards you as her only life-saving straw; plus a heaven-sent miracle of "hero saving beauty" led by you!

These buffs are almost stacked to the max!

This kind of girl has no resistance to Tang Song, this walking hormone!

But he is an out-and-out scumbag! If that girl finds out the truth, it's simply a walking bomb!

She already has Liu Liu Qingning's pot on her back, Jin Jin Dongshi and Su Yu's pot, and now another "first love white moonlight (reverse version)" pot?

Does she still want to live?!

Looking at the big sister's intense reaction, Tang Song could only smile awkwardly, biting the bullet and saying: "That—Wen Ruan Wen Ruan, you promised before, you can't go back on your word."

Wen Wen Ruan had a black question mark face, "When did I promise you such a thing?!"

"I have evidence." Tang Song took out his phone unhurriedly.

He clicked on a recording and pressed play. A lazy and blurred female voice, accompanied by suppressed panting, came out of the phone:

【"Mm-ah—**. —What? What talent—oh, Zhang Yan—you decide—Mm-ah—. Don't—faster—"】

Wen Wen Ruan's charming face instantly flushed red.

She widened her eyes, looking at this innocent-looking dog man in front of her, unable to believe her ears.

She grabbed a file and threw it fiercely at Tang Song, her voice both shy and angry, "Setting me up in this situation?! And you—you actually recorded it?! Shameless! Lewd! Pervert!"

Tang Song caught the file folder and took the opportunity to step forward and hug the big sister's plump body, pinning her against the wall.

He said righteously: "This is what you promised yourself, the evidence is solid, you can't deny it."

"You bastard!" Wen Wen Ruan began to resist violently.

However, all her struggles were soft and powerless in front of Tang Song's powerful physique, looking more like some kind of flirtatious pushing and pulling.

Tang Song kissed her directly and began to launch an attack.

In the hospital rest area.

"Zhang Yan? Zhang Yan! What's wrong with you? Why is your face so pale?"

Lulu finally noticed her good friend's abnormality, anxiously shaking her arm.

"I—I'm fine—" Zhang Yan suddenly came back to her senses, her body trembling like an electric shock.

Then she hurriedly pressed the phone screen off, as if she had been frightened.

Lulu took her phone concernedly, put it aside, and probed her forehead with the back of her hand, "Are you too tired? Is there anywhere you feel uncomfortable? Don't scare me."

"No, really fine." Zhang Yan lowered her head, her gaze looking straight at the ground.

Lulu looked at her lost soul appearance, thinking she was scared again because of her mother's affairs, and had to comfort her in a low voice on the side.

After a while.

Zhang Yan suddenly stood up and whispered: "My mom is about to have an examination, I'll go accompany her."

"Mm, okay, then I'll go back first."

Lulu stood up with her, and when leaving, couldn't help but continue to incite: "And about the work, with this relationship with Tang Song, you really should come to Xingyun International Group.

That Director Wen looks very good, and her aura is strong.

If we can go to the new company together, not only will there be no workplace oppression like the white fat guy, but we can also earn a lot of money, by then—"

She and Zhang Yan were both bottom-level social animals struggling and surviving with difficulty in this huge city.

They knew too well what a good job meant.

They had never thought in their lives that they would know a friend of Tang Song's level; this was simply a heaven-sent opportunity to change their destiny.

Of course, the core of all this was still Zhang Yan.

If she could go over with her, relying on this relationship, their lives would completely open a new chapter.

However, Zhang Yan was just silent.

After a long time, she shook her head gently, "No, Lulu—I—I want to try other industries—"

"Ah?" Lulu was stunned, "You this—"

This is Xingyun International! It's about to go public!

Before, it could be said that she was afraid of not finding a suitable job and the position being eliminated, so she changed industries,

but now, clearly a golden avenue was laid out in front of her, and she chose to give up?

She really couldn't understand.

However, seeing Zhang Yan's expression, she swallowed the words she hadn't said.

Better wait until her mother's matter is settled.

The entire afternoon that followed.

Zhang Yan was like a robot that had been wound up, her expression blank as she followed her mother, following along for examinations.

Fortunately, Zhao Fei had already arranged everything.

From the CT room to the ultrasound department, from MRI to blood tests—every link was seamlessly connected, unobstructed.

The only thing she needed to do was—wait.

And this leisure wrapped in "privilege" was more tormenting to her than any physical running around at this moment.

Because it gave her plenty of time to think, to let her imagination run wild, to face the most fundamental problem she had deliberately avoided—Liu Liu Qingning.

From the beginning of her reunion with Tang Song until now, she had been trying her best to avoid, and even her brain subconsciously didn't want to think of the name.

Sitting on the bench outside the CT room, Zhang Yan was silent for a long time, and finally took out her phone.

Her fingertips trembling, she entered "Liu Liu Qingning - Liu Qingning Technology" in the search box.

Soon, some scattered news reports appeared on the screen, and even a few photos.

It was the Liu Liu Qingning she knew.

Most of them were in reports related to "Qingmi AI."

"Qingmi AI," this App, could definitely be called resounding, and there were even many users around her.

Released for only half a year, the registered users had exceeded the 50 million mark, and it was also the most important product under Liu Qingning Technology, now it is said that the App

users were about to break 100 million.

And Liu Liu Qingning was actually the person in charge of this product.

The same age as her.

And what about herself?

An inconspicuous ordinary person who couldn't even keep her job, lived in a dilapidated rental house, and needed Tang Song to save her mother's life.

Since Tang Song was so closely related to Xingyun International Group, it was impossible for him not to know that Liu Liu Qingning had entered Liu Qingning Technology.

It might even be that they had always been in contact, and the relationship had always been the same.

Her fantasy that Liu Liu Qingning abandoned Tang Song to come to Shenzhen was just a delusion.

Tang Song, Liu Liu Qingning.

They were the ones who belonged to the same world.

A sense of insecurity deep into the bone marrow, like cold water, poured down from the top of her head.

She suddenly felt that the dream-like weekend of the past two days.

She was like a shameful thief, stealing the sunshine that didn't belong to her while the moon wasn't paying attention.

Tears slid down her cheeks unconsciously, dripping onto the phone screen, blurring the dazzling name into a blur.

Don't know how much time passed.

The heavy lead door of the CT room opened slowly, and the nursing assistant pushed her mother out.

Because Zhou Hui had been injected with sedatives and contrast agents, her face appeared a bit pale, and her expression was a bit listless.

Zhang Yan immediately put away her phone and walked up quickly, holding her mother's cold hand tightly.

Returning to the quiet special ward.

The nursing assistant skillfully helped her mother adjust the bed and covered her with the quilt.

Soon, the attending physician also walked in, holding a stack of examination schedule sheets that had just been transmitted from the laboratory department.

"Today's CT enhancement and ultrasound examinations are all done. From the preliminary images, the situation is a bit better than we predicted... —"

Zhang Yan nodded vigorously, recording every word the doctor said in her mind.

The doctor also gave a few more instructions about resting and relaxing her mind, then turned and left.

The ward returned to silence again, with only the subtle, rhythmic "beep-beep" sound emitted by the medical equipment.

The sky gradually turned pitch black.

Zhou Hui soon fell into a deep sleep.

Zhang Yan sat by the bed, looking at her mother without moving.

"Dong, dong dong."

A gentle knock sounded.

Zhang Yan raised her head, her eyes trembling fiercely, almost subconsciously standing up.

Tang Song walked in lightly, carrying a large bag, then revealed a warm smile at her, saying with his mouth shape silently: "Time to eat."

Subsequently, the two came to the quiet lounge next door.

The lunch boxes were opened one by one, all delicacies she had mentioned she liked to eat unintentionally during casual chats—honey-glazed char siu, steaming wonton noodles, and a bowl of iced mango pomelo sago...

"I didn't know what you wanted to eat, so I bought a bit of everything." Tang Song handed her the chopsticks.

"Thank you." Zhang Yan lowered her head, her eyes slightly moist, trying hard not to show any abnormality.

This dinner was unusually silent.

When Tang Song picked food for her, her body would tense up unconsciously, then she would say a small "thank you," but didn't pick food back for him like yesterday.

That newly sprouted intimacy and ambiguity seemed to have suddenly disappeared without a trace.

A flash of confusion passed through Tang Song's eyes, but he didn't ask much.

He just slowed down his eating speed so the silence wouldn't be too awkward.

After finishing dinner, the two packed up their things together.

Tang Song asked in a relaxed, joking tone: "Xingyun International Group is currently building a new AI marketing content team and is very short of talent, especially needing someone like you with traditional media experience and good writing skills. Now the combination of AI and content creation is the biggest trend. Lulu has already seized the opportunity, and you, this good friend, can't fall behind."

He had finally "convinced" the big sister's side, and next was to find a way to make Zhang Yan agree.

"Tang Song, you—you must be very busy, right?" Her voice was very light, carrying a trace of cautious probing, "Like you,

you must have many important things to handle every day."

Tang Song was stunned, not knowing why she suddenly said this.

Zhang Yan lowered her head and continued: "I'll take good care of my mom here. I'll also try hard to find work myself. You—you don't need to worry about me, really, I can't always let you worry about me. I'm sorry."

Her speaking speed was very, very slow, as if every sentence took a huge amount of effort.

"Zhang Yan." Tang Song sat up straight, looking at her, "Did you forget what I told you at noon?"

Hearing his words, her body shook, her long eyelashes trembling up and down, tears almost ready to burst out immediately.

"—I remember."

"So, don't say sorry to me again."

She bit her lower lip hard, stood up slowly, and said: "That—my mom should be waking up soon, I have to go take care of her. You—you are going back to Yancheng the day after tomorrow, you must have many things to handle, you go busy with yours first."

Tang Song frowned, wanting to say something, but looking at her eyes filled with pleading and avoidance, he didn't open his mouth in the end.

He could clearly feel that Zhang Yan's emotions were very wrong now.

That wasn't simple insecurity or shyness, but a deeper fear.

Combined with her personality, Tang Song had some guesses in his heart.

He couldn't help but sigh in his heart, somewhat helpless.

"Okay, then you go quickly, Auntie really needs someone to accompany her now."

Tang Song stood up, watching Zhang Yan's fleeing back disappear.

In the special ward, the light was soft.

Zhou Hui had just sat up, and the nursing assistant was carefully placing the dinner on the small table board. After a professional nursing and rest all afternoon, her complexion was obviously much better, no longer as gray and defeated as before.

"A-Yan, have you eaten?"

"... —I have."

"Did Tang Song bring you food?"

Zhang Yan was silent for a moment, said a light "Mm," and sat down on the chair beside her mother.

Began to repeat the doctor's instructions earlier.

Looking at her daughter's absent-minded appearance, a trace of undetectable worry flashed in Zhou Hui's eyes.

After 8 o'clock in the evening.

Zhou Hui finished the IV drip.

Zhang Yan stood up and said: "Mom, I have to go home, Orange still needs to be settled, and there are some things at the company that need to be handled."

"Mm, it's okay, you go ahead. There are Xiao Li and Xiao Zhang accompanying me here, they are very professional." Zhou Hui nodded, then asked cautiously, "Will Tang Song come to pick you up?"

Zhang Yan's expression tightened, taking a deep breath, "Mom, Tang Song is very busy, we have already troubled him enough, and—and he is just here in Yangcheng for a business trip and is leaving soon."

"Ah? This—" Zhou Hui's heart jumped, that ominous premonition surging again, "Then what about you two—"

"Mom." Zhang Yan's lips were tightly pursed, whispering: "I'm going back first."

Watching her daughter's obviously evasive expression and listening to her deliberately strong tone, Zhou Hui understood instantly.

The thing she feared most had happened after all.

"A-Yan." Zhou Hui suddenly reached out and grabbed her daughter's hand, "I have something I want to tell you."

That rough, large hand, carrying the calluses of years of labor, was unusually warm and powerful.

The familiar temperature made Zhang Yan's nose sore, and she sat down again.

Zhou Hui politely said to the two nursing assistants in the room, and they immediately understood and exited the ward, closing the door gently.

Only mother and daughter were left in the room.

Zhou Hui held Zhang Yan's hand, rubbing it gently and repeatedly.

"A-Yan," she looked at her daughter, a clarity in her turbid eyes, "Mom doesn't have much education, lived a failed life,

doesn't have any life experience worth learning from, to put it bluntly, I'm a useless person."

"Mom, you're not like that." Zhang Yan's lips moved, wanting to refute.

Zhou Hui shook her head, interrupting her, and started talking about her two marriages on her own.

"When I was young, to marry your dad, I broke off with your grandmother's family and ran to the rural area of Yan Province alone. I thought, as long as I kept the home, farmed the land, and served him well, that would be the greatest support for him—"

"Later, I followed your Uncle Chen—I worked my life away, didn't treat his children any worse than Chen Shuangshuang, let them handle all the big and small things in the family..."

Zhou Hui said this, wiped the corner of her eye, and smiled self-deprecatingly, full of bitterness and desolation.

Zhang Yan also learned her mother's stories completely for the first time.

Zhou Hui was indeed very unfortunate.

In one marriage, she gave everything for love, only to be wounded all over; in another marriage, she gave everything for family and children, only to be defeated by cold reality in the end.

And her whole life was spent in hardship, concession, and retreat.

After a long time, Zhou Hui stopped narrating.

Her gaze fell on her daughter's face, brighter than ever before.

"A-Yan, Mom doesn't want you to follow my old path. I hope you can be happy, and in the future, someone can truly cherish you and protect you."

"For a woman, it's really not easy to meet a man who treats you sincerely and has the ability to protect you in a lifetime!"

Her hand gripped her daughter's hand tightly, word by word,

"A steaming bowl of rice is placed on the table, if you don't pick up your chopsticks to eat, do you expect others to leave a bite for you? Don't be stupid!"

"You can meet Tang Song, and you were classmates since junior high, this is your blessing! It's the heavens not being able to bear watching you for so many years, feeling sorry for you, it's what you deserve!"

Tears blurred Zhang Yan's eyes, and she could no longer control herself, throwing herself into her mother's arms and starting to cry loudly.

Just like when she was a child, when she was wronged at school, she would throw herself into her mother's arms when she got home.

She cried while sobbing: "But I'm not worthy of him, he has other girls he likes, a hundred times, a thousand times better than me—"

Zhou Hui hugged her daughter's trembling body, listening to her heartbreaking crying, her own eyes also turning red.

She didn't speak immediately, just stretched out that rough hand, patting her daughter's back one by one, letting her vent all the grievances and insecurity.

After a long time, when Zhang Yan's crying gradually quieted down.

She said slowly: "Silly girl."

"If he really didn't have you in his heart, would he be full and have nothing to do to do so many things for you?"

"Since he doesn't feel you are 'unworthy,' why don't you go and fight for it?"

"You have to know, some people, once you avoid them, they are really gone."

On the way back, the night wind was cool.

Zhang Yan sat by the bus window, outside the window were the thousands of lights of Yangcheng, like flowing rivers of light, flickering in her pupils.

In her mind, her mother's words echoed repeatedly: "Once you avoid them, they are really gone."

She returned to the Lanxinyuan community in a daze, climbing that familiar six-story staircase.

With a "click," she pushed open the door.

"Meow—" Orange, like a warm cannonball, immediately darted out from the darkness, rubbing against her ankles affectionately, using all its strength to act spoiled.

Zhang Yan bent down to pick it up, burying her face in its soft fur, and took a deep breath.

The lights in the house were lit one by one by her. She stood in the middle of the living room, looking around.

After a whole day of drying and ventilation, those walls that were once mottled, damp, and made her ashamed to show, were now as clean as new, reflecting a soft, warm white halo under the light.

She couldn't help but walk forward, her fingers touching it gently.

Then, her gaze swept over the dilapidated sofa, the balcony, and the "Dragon Ball" on the simple bookshelf.

Her brain was a mess. One moment it was Liu Liu Qingning's confident and bright face that one didn't dare to look at directly, the next moment it was Tang Song's smiling side face stained with white paint while painting with her, as well as his kisses and hugs...

All the images intertwined and collided, making her gaze dazed.

The first time she heard the name "Liu Liu Qingning" was more than a month after the start of high school, on that same slightly cool autumn day.

At that time, she was at No. 2 High School.

In her heart, Tang Song was her best and only friend.

He said that even if they went to different high schools, they would always be friends.

She took it seriously and remembered it extra carefully.

But his QQ avatar never lit up again, and she lost all ways to contact him.

Finally, on a Friday afternoon, she mustered the greatest courage of her life and stepped into the gate of No. 1 High School for the first time, wanting to ask if he had changed to a new QQ number.

But she only saw him standing with that exquisite and beautiful girl who looked like a porcelain doll under the banyan tree sprinkled with golden sunlight,

laughing so brightly.

She instinctively hid in the crowd. Then she heard the discussions around her and heard the name "Liu Liu Qingning."

After that, this name followed her like a shadow, becoming louder and louder.

Every time she went to No. 1 High School, whether it was on the playground, in the cafeteria, or in the pedestrian street and book cafe opposite the school gate.

Most of the time, he had her presence by his side.

At that time, she also tried hard to become a top student beyond her ability.

But no matter how hard she tried, her grades could only be considered ordinary.

It was also because of having this dazzling reference object, Liu Liu Qingning, that she would become more and more insecure in every look up,

more and more timid.

In the end, she hid herself completely in that corner that no one cared about.

This hiding lasted for 10 years.

Finally, it was her ten years of watching and the wish of "Dragon Ball" that finally exchanged for such an incredible "miracle."

A miracle can be called a miracle precisely because it is incredible enough, and it might only happen once in a lifetime.

"Once you avoid them, they are really gone—Tang Song—Tang Song—"

She wiped away the tears that slid down at some point messily, repeating this name unconsciously.

An unprecedented unwillingness and agitation erupted from the bottom of her heart!

In those eyes that were always timid, a bright flame seemed to start burning bit by bit.

She took a deep breath, went to the bedroom, first changed into her "most decent" autumn clothes in a flurry.

Then, she took out the gift box she had carefully hidden from the bedside table.

Gently opening it, the pair of earrings shining with fine starlight under the light lay quietly on the soft velvet.

With trembling hands, she put them on her ears clumsily in front of the mirror.

The girl in the mirror seemed to start "glowing" along with the earrings.

Then, she dragged out a dusty cardboard box from under the bed and flipped out an exquisite hard-shell gift box she had prepared long ago.

She put the 34 comic books into it one by one in order, until the gift box was filled to the brim.

Holding the heavy box, she said goodbye to Orange.

Leaving home.

Heavy footsteps echoed in the dilapidated corridor.

She left the unit building, stepped into the cool night wind, and hailed a taxi by the roadside.

"Driver, go to the Four Seasons Hotel." ===== CHAPTER 589 =====