Chapter 238: Chapter 221: High School Reunion (Part 2)
"Senior, what kind of job do you have now?"
"HR at a foreign trade company... it’s really boring."
"Come on, how many people like you start earning over ten thousand a month right after graduation? And you say it’s boring!"
Huang Xinjue immediately chimed in.
"Do you know how exhausted I am? Have you seen me working overtime until the sky turns dark?"
The senior rebuffed immediately.
"I wouldn’t mind being exhausted, but no one wants to hire me."
Huang Xinjue shrugged helplessly.
The senior picked up a pitcher of beer and filled Huang Xinjue’s glass, "Shut up!"
"Haha!"
Huang Xinjue couldn’t stop laughing.
Su Xiaomeng knew about Huang Xinjue’s situation, starting his own business with a food delivery website. Though it was tough for two years, now the income is incredible.
These senior brothers and sisters seem glamorous, but behind the scenes, they’ve shed countless sweat and tears to establish themselves and find a place in Beijing.
She genuinely admired them.
"By the way, does Senior Brother Ren’s company need an HR? If Senior Brother Ren asks, I’ll switch jobs immediately!"
The senior joked.
They all knew that Ren Yixuan had his own company and also worked at the renowned Rong Group.
To these alumni, Ren Yixuan was like a legend. After he graduated, teachers always used him as an example for juniors.
"Sure, but I can’t offer a five-digit salary."
Ren Yixuan said calmly, "Still willing to come?"
"Hmm... I’ll have to think about it!"
"Does one have to be so realistic?"
Ren Yixuan smiled.
The senior immediately retorted, "In this day and age, how can a girl not be realistic? Men are unreliable; if you don’t earn more for yourself, what will you do in the future?"
Other women nodded in agreement.
Among them, only Su Xiaomeng and another girl were still college students, while the others had graduated and were facing the immense pressure of surviving in society. They probably felt it deeply.
"Men are unreliable... you’re painting everyone with the same brush!"
"Oh, Senior Brother Ren is an exception!"
The senior quickly added, then embraced Xiao Meng, "Our Xiao Meng is lucky! With a man like Senior Brother to rely on, she doesn’t have to struggle like us seniors, turning into guys."
Su Xiaomeng looked up at Ren Yixuan...
He still didn’t intend to deny it.
At that moment, Su Xiaomeng couldn’t understand Ren Yixuan anymore.
Pregnant out of wedlock, marrying because of a child... even if he thought it was disgraceful, it was her disgrace.
Letting them misunderstand like this...
Ren Yixuan raised his glass, nodding at Su Xiaomeng, "Did you hear what your senior said? They say you’re lucky."
Su Xiaomeng pressed her lips together, and as the bar lights dimmed a bit more, no one noticed the paleness on her face.
Ren Yixuan’s calm eyes quietly watched her. Amid the chaos and vibrant lights, his eyes were only on her...
For so many years...
He was resentful, truly resentful, of heaven’s injustice.
If she wasn’t meant for him, why arrange for her to be born upstairs, why arrange twenty years of morning and evening together, and why arrange for them to be fond of each other?
Such meticulous arrangements led him to undoubtedly believe she was the one for him in this life, only for it to be revealed that these arrangements actually had nothing to do with him.
He wanted to know what Su Xiaomeng was thinking upon hearing them say she was "lucky."
Was there regret in her heart? Any guilt? Did she realize how cruel she was...
She, who was pregnant with another man’s child, yet ultimately due to his drunken slip-up revealing her pregnancy, sentenced him to death.
She made him ashamed, guilty, and pained, feeling like the worst scum in the world, while she joyously married the man who got her pregnant.
Leaving him as a fool, sinking alone into despair.
How could there be such logic in this world? How could there be...
"Xiao Meng, no matter what, I’m two years older than you. Going out into society and finding someone as genuinely good to you as Senior Brother is too hard..."
"Men in this society, if they’re honest, they achieve nothing. If they’re successful, they don’t care about you at all!"
"Truly finding someone who cherishes you and treats you well for a lifetime is priceless... you have to find them in cracks between stones!"
The senior sighed and downed another drink.
"Senior, I’ve already found one."
Xiao Meng took a deep breath and then smiled slightly as she spoke.
Ren Yixuan squinted his eyes.
He saw her grab a tissue from the table to wipe her nose.
Xiao Meng’s cold hadn’t fully healed; one nostril was blocked, and the other was still runny.
"Yes, you found him!" The senior sister smiled, "You must hold onto Senior Brother Ren tightly, don’t let him slip away, okay? Senior Brother, Xiao Meng is really—"
"Senior sister, it’s not Ren Yixuan."
Su Xiaomeng said it so quickly that the senior sister beside her and the others present didn’t immediately react. The words spun in their heads, and only through their widened eyes could they express their shock and surprise.
Seeing them regain their composure and look at her, she said slowly, "Senior brothers and sisters, I am already married."
After Xiao Meng finished speaking, she extended her right hand, with a shiny ring on her ring finger.
It wasn’t that no one noticed the ring on her hand; some saw it but just assumed it was an accessory, or a token of love between her and Ren Yixuan.
The hand of the senior sister resting on Su Xiaomeng’s shoulder became a bit unnatural...
Stammering, she said, "Ma-married?!"
Xiao Meng nodded, then looked at Ren Yixuan and continued, "My husband and I also have two children, a boy and a girl. They were born in July."
The bar was so noisy, although the music at the moment was soothing, people immersed in entertainment were still noisy and wild.
Only this small corner suddenly fell into an extremely awkward silence.
Ren Yixuan stared fixedly at Su Xiaomeng, their gazes meeting in the air.
"He’s great, as a man, as a husband, as a father, I can’t find any fault in him, he’s almost unbearably perfect. Like any ordinary person, I couldn’t help but fall in love with him..."
"He’s thirteen years older than me, but still looks young. He likes my innocence, I like his maturity, he guides my life, I take him to have fun... we are a perfect match."
Word by word, she said it so meticulously and earnestly, her gaze never leaving Ren Yixuan.
Ren Yixuan’s eyes slowly became fierce...
Su Xiaomeng didn’t avert her eyes, even though she felt a bit of heartache.
"I know you have many questions to ask, don’t worry, I will tell you all..."
Ren Yixuan just watched her unabashedly confess her encounter and union with Yin Shixiu.
"Unmarried pregnancy and marrying because of the child might indeed be dishonorable, but I feel happy, for him, I think it’s worth it."
She feels happy, she thinks it’s worth it?!
Back then, when she got pregnant, it caused a huge commotion throughout the school, she had nowhere to hide, sobbing loudly, extremely angry...
At that time, why didn’t she stand up and say she felt happy?! Why didn’t she say she thought it was worth it?!
At that time, how could she execute him in the most ruthless way?!
Huang Xinjue also didn’t expect that Su Xiaomeng was already married and had two children, let alone that this girl didn’t tell him after getting married!
Now looking again at Ren Yixuan, recalling what was said just now...
Just feel... Oh my god!
The senior sister beside him had basically the same feeling... one word, painful!
"Cough, cough... you should have said it earlier..."
"Yixuan said it’s not something to be proud of, afraid you might think badly of me, so he told me not to say anything."
"Senior Brother, that’s really mean of you!"
The senior sister quickly pushed the responsibility onto Ren Yixuan, feeling awkward as she did until Xiao Meng continued to speak...
"He just wanted to tease you. Yixuan also has a super beautiful girlfriend, and they are very much in love."
Ren Yixuan’s eyes grew completely cold, an icy blue light crossing his pupils.
What he didn’t expect was that Su Xiaomeng wasn’t finished yet...
"Feelings cannot be predicted, and there’s no right or wrong, only when you meet the right person you realize all the previous ones were wrong. Even if it’s a twenty-year companionship. Senior Brother Ren Yixuan, am I right?"
Ren Yixuan’s expression turned cold and menacing.
Su Xiaomeng didn’t know what he would be thinking at this moment, she only knew...
It seemed she could no longer avoid it, as people continued to pair her with Ren Yixuan, as people continued to mistakenly think she would end up with Ren Yixuan...
She didn’t like the current Ren Yixuan either; actions he took, words he spoke, all made her uncomfortable inside.
No matter how deep the feelings, even if they can withstand changes over time, even if they can withstand changes in people... but they can’t withstand changes in everything including the people.
Be thorough, be decisive, she didn’t want Ren Yixuan to become a knot in her heart, nor did she want to be his lingering sentiment, not even a bit.
Since he already hated her, then let him hate thoroughly.
"You’re right."
Ren Yixuan responded, the wrong person... it turned out that to her, he was the wrong person!
Heh...
Ren Yixuan, oh Ren Yixuan, how pathetic you must be, to cling to a woman for twenty years, only to be told... that you are the wrong person?
To him, Su Xiaomeng’s words seemed purely targeted at him, but to others, they didn’t seem so hostile.
Companions for twenty years, neither was each other’s right person, both were wrong, now they each found their right person.
This is something to be happy about, so...
"Right! Well said!"
Huang Xinjue raised his glass in agreement!
This was probably the first time in Xiao Meng’s life that she felt... desolate.
What on earth brought them to this point?
It was so wonderful once, but unfortunately, the word "once" is used.
She poured a glass of fruit tea, also raised it to toast, celebrating the end of this innocent relationship.