---

Chapter 25 – Wang Yuejin Appears Again

Xu Jingchu queued with the crowd, waiting for the bus. In this era, buses weren’t like thirty or forty years later when one would come every few minutes. The wait was long, and so the line stretched far.

“Comrade, do you know how to get to the Hongxing Garment Factory?”
A righteous-looking young man lightly tapped her shoulder.

Xu Jingchu turned her head—hah, wasn’t this an old acquaintance? Even the excuse for striking up conversation hadn’t changed.

From afar, Wang Yuejin had spotted a pretty girl standing among the crowd—fair neck, glossy black hair, tall figure, eyes like autumn water. This was exactly the kind of girl he liked.

What’s more, her clothes were exquisite, and the lunch box in her hand looked like it came straight out of the military compound’s kitchen. She must be some big official’s daughter.

Opportunities like this were rare—he had to make a move.

“Comrade, do you know the way to Hongxing Garment Factory?” Wang Yuejin asked again when Xu Jingchu only cast him a cold, disdainful glance from head to toe without replying.

He could see the scorn in her eyes, but that didn’t matter. Once she became his wife, she wouldn’t have a say.

“I don’t know. Ask someone else,” Xu Jingchu said flatly. She wanted nothing more than to avoid getting tangled with Wang Yuejin again. But after queuing for so long, it would be a real loss to give up her spot just to escape him.

“Oh, so comrade, you’re like me—don’t know the way either, huh?” Wang Yuejin grinned foolishly.

“I hear a bit of an accent in your Mandarin. Are you from out of town?” he pressed on.

Accent, my ass! Xu Jingchu thought. She almost wanted to smack him over the head with the lunch box. In her past life, she’d traveled all over the country—her Mandarin was ten times more standard than his.

Dealing with someone like Wang Yuejin, she felt like pulling out Zhang Guifen’s country-woman routine—crying, yelling, rolling around. Talking nicely to him was useless. He wouldn’t think she was polite; he’d just think she was easy to push around and try to take more advantage.

“Comrade, I don’t want to talk to strangers. Is that okay?” Xu Jingchu’s face hardened, her smile gone.

Her cold, sharp gaze sent a shiver down Wang Yuejin’s spine, as if there was deep enmity between them.

“Okay, okay.” He nodded and hunched his shoulders.

Just then, the bus arrived. Xu Jingchu boarded with the crowd, noticing Wang Yuejin still standing on the curb, staring after her with that silly look. Ugh, what bad luck!

Qin Yajuan really was incompetent—after all this time, she still hadn’t managed to find out that Wang Yuejin worked at Hongxing Garment Factory?

Yes, in her previous life, Xu Jingchu had worked at the paper mill. She and Wang Yuejin only met by chance when he struck up conversation on the street. But if she explained it that way now, the conservative Lin couple would never accept it.

So she had been vague, saying they met at the factory gates.

Qin Yajuan, though, must have taken it the same way the Lin couple did—assuming Wang Yuejin also worked at the paper mill. Otherwise, why would she be so desperate to get an opportunity there?

The scenery outside the bus window looked so different from twenty or thirty years later. To Xu Jingchu, it was full of opportunities—and full of memories.

By noon, she reached her destination, just in time to deliver the meal. Although it was already autumn, the midday sun still made her forehead bead with sweat as she walked from the bus stop to Lin Tingjun’s university.

At the school’s reception office, Xu Jingchu placed a call.
“Tingjun-ge, I came to bring you lunch.”

Her soft, lilting voice slipped into Lin Tingjun’s ear like a snake. Femme fatale—just like that.

Lin Tingjun warned himself to stay firm. Don’t be swayed by her little gestures. Everything she did was for the sole purpose of marrying him.

And it wasn’t love driving her.

“You can go back. The cafeteria has food,” he said curtly.

Xu Jingchu had anticipated resistance. She was fully prepared.
“If you don’t come out, I won’t go home. I’ll wait right here at your school gate. And if anyone asks, I’ll just tell them I came to see you.”

Unbelievable! Lin Tingjun rubbed his temples. How could a girl be so shameless? Normally, he never insulted others, but toward Xu Jingchu, he had no shred of goodwill left. Not just dislike—aversion. Nothing irritated him more than liars.

“Tingjun-ge, come, please. I only want to bring you lunch,” Xu Jingchu pleaded softly.

“Leave it at the gate.”

“If you don’t come out, then I’ll just go in and find you,” she countered, stubbornly relentless. The misunderstanding had to be cleared up. Otherwise, it would only get worse the next time she needed his help.

“I’ll come out after I finish my experiment,” Lin Tingjun finally muttered, pressing his hand against his forehead in exasperation. He couldn’t out-stubborn her. If she actually went through with her threat, he’d be the one humiliated.

After hanging up, he returned to his work. He’d meet her—but she needed to be taught a lesson.

Yet, the experiment that usually went smoothly refused to cooperate. His mind kept circling back to the thought of Xu Jingchu waiting outside, drawing attention from every passerby, telling anyone who asked that she was here for him.

The headache was unbearable. Forget it—before he could finish the experiment, he had to deal with this nuisance.

“You all keep working. I need to step out for a bit.”
Lin Tingjun leaving mid-experiment was nothing short of shocking.

Xu Jingchu was waiting under an old poplar tree near the gate, her graceful figure attracting plenty of stares. Lin Tingjun spotted her from afar.

“Here’s the food. Now you can leave,” his words cut like a bitter winter wind, even the way he snatched the lunch box from her hand was rough, as if tearing it away.

“Tingjun-ge, I need to talk to you,” Xu Jingchu said firmly. She hadn’t come just to deliver food—she wasn’t leaving until she cleared things up.

“I don’t have time. I still have experiments to do.” He refused point-blank.

“No. If you don’t listen, I’ll follow you right into the school, talking nonstop until you do.” She had made up her mind to push through. The misunderstanding had to be resolved here and now.

Lin Tingjun had never encountered anything like this. His rejection was clear, yet she still pressed on. His mind raced, but no solution came.

Xu Jingchu sensed his hesitation and immediately seized the chance, walking straight toward the school gate.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going?” he shouted helplessly after her.

“To wait outside your lab! Once you’re done, we’ll talk,” she answered with a triumphant smile.

“Damn it!” Lin Tingjun cursed under his breath and hurried after her. “Do you even know where the lab is?”

“Nope! I’m waiting for you to take me there!” Xu Jingchu’s smug grin practically glowed.

Lin Tingjun… sometimes really was easy to trick—especially when his pride was on the line. If she remembered this weakness, she could surely win every battle.

“You—!” He realized he’d been played, grinding his teeth in frustration but powerless. He couldn’t actually drag her to the lab. With his budding reputation and her eye-catching looks, within half an hour the whole campus would be buzzing with rumors.

“You, come with me.” He finally gave in, if only partially.

He led her to a small grove, a well-known spot for campus couples to meet. During the day, though, it was deserted.

“Say what you have to say, and make it quick!” Lin Tingjun snapped. The more smug Xu Jingchu looked, the angrier he became, as if she had been manipulating him all along.

“Alright. Tingjun-ge… did you read the letters in my drawer? The ones from my mother, and my replies?” Xu Jingchu asked directly.

---