Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows of the milk tea shop, it was a vast expanse of white. The trees, stripped of their finery by the cold winter, stood bare, enduring the howling chill.
Song Xiangyi still had a smile on her lips. She turned her head and quietly watched the passers-by.
Actually, she had lied to Jiang Yuan. She and Chi Xu would never get engaged after graduation.
During their high - school years, their parents had such an idea. Chi Xu was good - looking and motivated. His parents had gone bankrupt due to being framed, but with help, they quickly resolved this crisis. He had a bright future.
So during family gatherings, the two families once joked about becoming in - laws in the future. Unexpectedly, she and Chi Xu both objected in unison.
Chi Xu had privately told her that he had someone he liked. Coincidentally, she, Song Xiangyi, also had someone she liked. The two of them didn't interfere with each other and addressed each other as siblings. This was exactly what their parents wanted to see.
After entering university, Chi Xu was at Jing University while she was at Jing Normal University. They both graduated from high school in the same year and became college students. Their parents asked them to help each other.
Although the schools were close, Song Xiangyi rarely bothered to understand Chi Xu's life. Occasionally, she heard about him from her friends and just took it as a piece of gossip.
Song Xiangyi was quite surprised that in nearly two years of college, Chi Xu had never been in a relationship. It seemed as if he was keeping himself pure for someone.
She vaguely remembered that Chi Xu had said that he wanted to get into Jing University because he had made an agreement with his childhood sweetheart.
At that time, she didn't take it seriously. Three years could change a lot. Everyone knew how difficult it was to get into Jing University. Did he really believe that his childhood sweetheart would be admitted?
Was he so sure that after three years, there wouldn't be other boys around his childhood sweetheart?
But Song Xiangyi only thought about these things in her mind and didn't say them out loud.
As the minister of a club in school, Song Xiangyi interacted a lot with the freshmen this year. With her lively and cheerful personality, she quickly got along well with them.
The person she liked in high school had long been forgotten. She had boyfriends one after another, enjoying the carefree life.
Later, she heard that there was a boy in her school who had saved a little girl while playing at Jing University. She was intrigued because he was good - looking and to her taste, so she actively pursued him.
She didn't succeed in getting him, but she found out that he was from Haining City and already had a girl he liked.
Haining City? Wasn't that where Chi Xu used to live? Song Xiangyi started to pay attention to this boy named Lu Zhen.
Coincidentally, when she went to the night market near Jing University and Jing Normal University, she saw Lu Zhen and a girl chatting happily.
So Song Xiangyi gave up the idea of pursuing Lu Zhen.
Later, Chi Xu's parents called her and said they couldn't get in touch with Chi Xu. They asked her to go and check what was going on.
Song Xiangyi remembered that she had classes later. So she got up early in the morning and went straight to Jing University to find him. She found Jia Fang and, according to the address he gave, went to the hospital.
At the entrance of the first floor of the hospital, she saw Lu Zhen and that familiar - looking girl again.
Song Xiangyi originally wanted to go and say hello before looking for Chi Xu. But then she caught a glimpse of Chi Xu in a hospital gown, looking dejected in the stairwell.
Chi Xu stared at the girl beside Lu Zhen with a desolate look in his eyes.
He didn't look for long and then turned around and went upstairs.
What was going on?
Song Xiangyi was interested. If she remembered correctly, both Chi Xu and Lu Zhen were from Haining City. She seemed to remember that Lu Zhen had once said that he had someone he liked in high school, who must also be from Haining City.
Could the girl beside Lu Zhen be the childhood sweetheart Chi Xu had been thinking about for three years?
It was really interesting.
Song Xiangyi didn't say hello to Lu Zhen. She walked around from another place, went upstairs, and came to Chi Xu's ward. She comforted him as his parents had instructed.
Chi Xu was listless. Song Xiangyi had never seen him like this. Without knowing the whole story, she inferred that it was because of Lu Zhen and that girl that Chi Xu was so affected.
After knowing Chi Xu for nearly three years, Song Xiangyi didn't have a good impression of that girl. She seemed to be leading Chi Xu on while being ambiguous with Lu Zhen.
Song Xiangyi had had many boyfriends, but she had always taken her relationships seriously. When she got tired of a relationship, she would tell the other person and break up peacefully.
She would never play two men at the same time.
Chi Xu was still sick, but that girl was downstairs with Lu Zhen early in the morning?
From afar, they seemed to be chatting happily.
Chi Xu's love had gone to waste. Song Xiangyi felt indignant for him.
Those with ulterior motives must not be with Chi Xu.
It would be best if she withdrew on her own.
Song Xiangyi was also worried that her speculation was wrong, so she actively invited Jiang Yuan to meet here and deliberately provoked her.
Jiang Yuan's reaction disappointed her.
She was just a bit cold, nothing special.
In this situation, shouldn't the main character, Jiang Yuan, say that she believed in Chi Xu? Or should she refute her angrily?
Jiang Yuan's reaction was too cold. Song Xiangyi guessed that actually Jiang Yuan didn't like Chi Xu that much, which was why she was playing two men at the same time, leading Chi Xu and Lu Zhen on.
"Brother Chi Xu, I hope you can see clearly. Jiang Yuan doesn't like you that much. Don't waste your efforts on her," Song Xiangyi murmured to herself and took a sip of the warm milk tea.
She wouldn't tell Chi Xu about these things. It was easy to damage their relationship, and she was worried that Chi Xu would think she had ulterior motives.
Even if Chi Xu was going to know, it shouldn't be from her mouth. Song Xiangyi finished the cup of milk tea, completed today's task, and got up to leave.
...
Jiang Yuan walked alone in the snow - covered world. The cold wind slipped into her neck and then into her body through a small gap, making her shiver.
"Song Xiangyi must be lying. I should believe in Chi Xu," Jiang Yuan recalled the photo album she had collected. A warm current welled up in her heart, dispelling the cold.
"Chi Xu never said anything because he had his own difficulties and didn't know how to tell me," Jiang Yuan comforted herself and made excuses for Chi Xu.
A hint of doubt flashed in her eyes. "Did Chi Xu's family go bankrupt before?"
Was that why he left without saying goodbye?
But even if his family went bankrupt, why didn't he even say hello and just left? He even had time to pack his clothes but didn't want to find a way to tell her.
She wouldn't despise Chi Xu because of this.
She wasn't a vain person.
Moreover, Chi Xu had a phone, and there must have been her parents' contact information in his call records back then.
In these three years, Chi Xu had never looked for her, not even sent a text message.
Jiang Yuan shivered in the icy world, her heart full of wounds.