In the phone store, the clerk assessed the damage, and the old lady took out the cash as if it were cutting into her flesh.
The clerk reached for it but found it hard to take.
The old lady still held tightly onto the money and looked at Jiang Yuan and Chi Xu in confusion.
"Alas, it seems there's no other way but to..." Chi Xu sighed and took out his phone to open the call log.
The old lady almost jumped up and quickly stopped Chi Xu. She forced a wrinkled smile and said, "I'm just old and my hands and feet aren't as nimble."
The clerk quickly took the cash and counted it, while Jiang Yuan handed over her phone.
Basically, the matter was settled. Jiang Yuan asked curiously, "Chi Xu, why are you here?"
She still remembered that since the snoring incident last time, she felt so embarrassed that she hadn't talked to him, let alone met him.
"It's almost the end of the year. The school is going to shoot a documentary. Jia Fang, the photographer, had something to do and asked me to help. Coincidentally, I just happened to capture you outside the school."
At first, he wasn't sure. But when Chi Xu opened the video he had just shot, he found that the person being scammed was really Jiang Yuan.
He couldn't hold back any longer and rushed up to stand up for her.
"What? You two know each other!" a shrill voice rang in their ears. The old lady rolled her eyes quickly, put her hands on her hips, and shouted aggressively, "You two are in cahoots to deceive me?"
Jiang Yuan corrected her, "Ma'am, it's you and your grandson who scammed me."
Well, anyway, with Chi Xu around, she wasn't afraid of what tricks the old lady and her grandson could pull. She might as well forgive Chi Xu for now.
Chi Xu's eyebrows twitched, and he said slowly, "So what if we know each other? Even if we didn't, I would still help her."
"Ma'am, you and your grandson have scammed people near our school more than once or twice. You're quite famous on the school's confession wall."
People in the school would avoid them when they saw them.
It was just that Jiang Yuan was unlucky and was targeted by these two.
The old lady's face turned red, blue, and purple, looking like a打翻了的顏料盒, simply colorful.
The grandson might be too young to understand. Seeing his grandma being "bullied", he shouted angrily, "You're too much! It's not manly to bully my grandma!"
It was really funny. He must have been influenced by his family.
Jiang Yuan was extremely speechless. She was so unlucky that she was targeted by these two when she went out to buy medicine. She usually didn't check the school's confession wall, so she didn't know about this.
That's why. There were many schoolmates around at that time, but no one stood up for her.
It turned out that they all didn't want to get involved in such a big trouble.
It was all her fault for being ill - informed.
Seeing that no one paid attention to her and her true face had been exposed, the old lady dragged her grandson away while they weren't paying attention.
The clerk was fixing the phone. Jiang Yuan had no phone, while Chi Xu had a phone and a camera.
So Jiang Yuan turned her head, blinked her eyes, and looked at Chi Xu pitifully. Chi Xu's heart softened, as if it was filled with soft and light cotton, full to the brim.
"Here, you can play with it." As he handed over the phone, he glanced down and noticed the pharmacy bag in Jiang Yuan's hand. "What's wrong with you?"
"I receive the order, Your Majesty." Jiang Yuan happily took the phone and started swiping videos on the video app. After swiping a few videos, she realized belatedly that she hadn't answered Chi Xu's second question. She said casually,
"It's getting colder recently. You know I like to kick the quilt when I sleep, so I caught a cold. It's a minor problem."
Chi Xu didn't answer. He fiddled with the camera and secretly glanced at Jiang Yuan.
She was concentrating on swiping videos.
Good. Chi Xu gently pressed the camera's power button, pointed the camera at Jiang Yuan, and slowly zoomed in.
The girl was looking down at the phone, her skin as fair and delicate as porcelain. Her black hair was tucked behind her ears, revealing a slender neck like a swan's. Suddenly, she seemed to see a funny video. Her eyelashes fluttered a few times, and her light - colored pupils were filled with tears from laughing, like clear glass.
His heart, filled with cotton, was very calm, and he enjoyed this moment that belonged only to the two of them.
Chi Xu curved his lips and quietly controlled the camera.
Suddenly, he remembered that before leaving Haining City, such a peaceful life was quite normal.
Without any accidents, it would have been peaceful until the end of the college entrance examination.
He had an impulse to ask, "Yuan Yuan, how have you been in the past three years? Have you encountered anything unhappy?"
Similarly, those three years were not only difficult for her but also for himself.
In two years, almost all his pride had faded away, and his confidence had been almost completely destroyed.
He was like a rat that was beaten and despised by others, not knowing when he could finally settle down.
He wanted to ask but didn't dare to. He was afraid that if he asked, Jiang Yuan would in turn ask how he had been in those three years. He was afraid that he was no longer the Chi Xu in her memory.
What if Jiang Yuan disliked him?
Moreover, she... was just playing around now.
The impulse that welled up in his heart was instantly extinguished by reason.
Chi Xu could only secretly clench the camera in his hand, his fingertips turning white from the force.
He looked at Jiang Yuan in the camera, laughing uncontrollably, and gave a bitter smile. He quietly turned off the camera and put it away.
After Jiang Yuan finished swiping a funny video, she turned her head and glanced at Chi Xu. She found that he looked a bit lost, so she couldn't help but wave her hand in front of his eyes.
"Chi Xu, what's wrong with you? You look listless." Suddenly, she realized something. She moved her stool closer, put the phone between them, and said, "I know. You must be bored too. Let's swipe videos together."
A fluffy head popped up in front of him. Chi Xu reached out his hand and gently placed it on her head, rubbing it, and agreed with a smile.
It was an hour later when Jiang Yuan got the phone back. She turned it on, and one message after another popped up. Most of them were from Lin Suye.
She remembered that when she asked Chi Xu what elective courses to choose last time, her good friend Lin Suye also sent so many messages. She felt a sense of uneasiness in her heart.
With trembling fingers, she opened the messages. Lin Suye had sent several messages, all about her skipping the evening self - study.
[Yezi: It's almost time for class. Where are you, Yuan Yuan?]
[Yezi: Sister, you can't be skipping class, right? Did you run off with some jerk?]
[Yezi: Oh no, the student union members came to check. I said you went to the toilet.]
[Yezi: It's over, Yuan Yuan. They're so过分. They directly wrote down your name and said you skipped class!!!]
OMG. So many things had happened, and she had even forgotten that there was evening self - study tonight.
No, who on earth came up with the idea of evening self - study in college? Didn't they say that no one would care about you in college?
As for the "jerk" ... Jiang Yuan quickly glanced at Chi Xu and then quietly looked away.
That jerk was Chi Xu.
"It's okay. It's a minor problem." Just as she sent the message, Jiang Yuan suddenly remembered that she still wanted to get a scholarship. There seemed to be a rule in the student handbook that those who skipped classes were not eligible for a scholarship.
Oh no. This time, it was really over.