Living Together

“I’m thirsty. I’ll go grab a drink.” Jiang Wan quick-wittedly got up.

Wen Jin was about to follow her, but she stopped him with a wave of her hand. “I’ll go get it. You can stay here.”

“Jiang Wan, you are very weird.” Wen Jin looked at her seriously. “I read online that it’s always the boyfriends who go buy things while the girlfriends wait in place.”

Jiang Wan: “……”

She vaguely caught the key point in his sentence. “Online?”

Also, who was weird?

He was clearly the weirder one, okay?

“Before coming here, I have read: ‘Couples Travel Diary’, ‘Two-day Tour in Shanghai for Couples’, ‘Essential Guide for Traveling Couples’, ‘Must-Do for Couples on a Date-” Wen Jin flatly recounted.

“Wait a minute!” Jiang Wan couldn’t help interrupting him. “You don’t need to read all those. Let’s just……be normal.”

Wen Jin frowned. “I don’t know what normal is like.”

Jiang Wan: “……”

In the end, both of them went to get drinks together.

Jiang Wan took a bottle of orange juice and peach soda.

Wen Jin paid for them.

After exiting the store, Jiang Wan asked him, “You asked me for 25 yuan when you bought me chocolates before. Why didn’t you ask me to pay you back after buying me a drink this time?”

“At that time, we hadn’t had sex,” he actually said it in a serious way.

“……”

The subtext was that, after having sex, he could help her pay for things.

Jiang Wan had no idea how he arrived at that conclusion.

The two walked towards the college entrance while sipping their drinks. From a distance, they noticed a middle-aged man in a white coat and glasses standing at the entrance, with a very kind face.

Wen Jin stared steadily ahead, stopped in front of the man, and called out, “Dad.”

He then continued to walk forward with Jiang Wan.

Jiang Wan turned around and looked at the man in surprise. That was Wen Jin’s father?

Wen Guo’an took a few steps closer, greeted Jiang Wan, and asked Wen Jin, “You’re here for a competition?”

Wen Jin nodded his head and gave an “mhm”.

“When are you leaving?”

“Our flight is the day after tomorrow.”

“Come home for dinner tonight. The gifts your mother and I have given you over the past few years have piled up at home, and we’re almost running out of storage space, so come home and get them,” Wen Guo’an said with a smile.

Wen Jin’s face was still expressionless. “I received the shoes you sent.”

Wen Guo’an adjusted his glasses. “That is your birthday gift. These are New Year gifts. When you won the competition, your mother and I prepared gifts for you as well.”

Wen Jin frowned, obviously not wanting to talk any longer. “No need.”

Wen Guo’an turned to Jiang Wan. “You’re Jiang Wan, right? Come home with Wen Jin for dinner tonight. We haven’t had a meal together in quite a while.”

“……” Jiang Wan shook her head. “If he doesn’t want to go, then neither do I.”

She had suffered from her own family issues. Even if she did not understand why Wen Jin had a falling out with his family, she did not want to put him in an uncomfortable situation.

Wen Jin was a little surprised. Because his eyes were devoid of emotion as usual, no one noticed his reaction.

Wen Guo’an also didn’t seem to anticipate Jiang Wan’s blunt rejection of his invitation. He gave an awkward smile. “Fine, I respect the decision of you young people. If you change your mind, you can directly come to this address.”

He handed her a business card with his and his wife’s phone numbers on it and their address at the bottom.

Jiang Wan took it and nodded to him.

Wen Guo’an looked at her and said, “He might be a little different from other people. I hope you can take good care of him. Thank you.”

The phrase ‘he might be a little different from other people’ stabbed Jiang Wan like a knife.

Enraged, she said to Wen Guo’an, “I don’t know what happened between you and him, but if a child can’t even get recognition and affirmation from his parents, there is no need to remedy the situation between you.”

She was so angry that her eyes reddened.

“Is it the child’s fault?”

“No, it’s the parents’ fault!”

“You may have excelled in other areas, but you certainly sucked at nurturing your child.”

“Yes, he is not quite like other people, but that’s his strength, and that’s precisely what I liked about him!”