Chapter 57.2

When Jiang Rou went to school on Monday, she told Dong Mingming about it.

Dong Mingming thought Jiang Rou was referring to a failed match for Fu Fei, and she had almost forgotten about it.

Recently, when looking for a boyfriend for her friend, she had even made friends with some of the people she had met.

Dong Mingming asked her, “I told you, she’s really nice, straightforward, and honest. I like her quite a bit. If you meet her, you’ll definitely like her. By the way, is the person you mentioned reliable? My boyfriend said that finding a partner in their line of work is very difficult, and if the person isn’t reliable, don’t introduce him to her.”

Jiang Rou agreed with Dong Mingming’s boyfriend. In her previous life, she had also found it hard to find a partner, as she was busy with school and training during her four years of college.

There was no time for dating. During her internship, when her parents wanted to introduce her to someone, the men would hesitate upon hearing she was a police officer. They felt that police work was too demanding and couldn’t support a family. Teachers and government workers were the popular choices in blind dates.

Her parents had complained more than once that she was disobedient and that she should have studied to become a teacher.

Jiang Rou hesitated, “Well, maybe we should forget about it?”

Dong Mingming nodded, not wanting to let her friend down.

However, she had a big mouth and, the next day, told Jiang Rou that she had accidentally mentioned the matter to her boyfriend the previous afternoon. The female police officer wanted to meet Jiang Rou and asked if she was free for lunch to go out and eat.

Jiang Rou didn’t think much of it and saw it as an opportunity to make a new friend. She was quite happy to join Dong Mingming in choosing a good restaurant.

As soon as they had just ordered their food, the person arrived. Dong Mingming was facing the restaurant’s entrance, and when she looked up, she saw the person and waved with a smile, “Over here.”

Jiang Rou instinctively turned her head and saw the woman approaching the door. She gasped in surprise and almost stood up subconsciously. She almost saluted and loudly shout, “Instructor,” if she hadn’t still had some composure.

Seeing Jiang Rou stand up, Dong Mingming also got up and said, “Come and sit. Let me introduce you. This is Jiang Rou, my best friend, and this is Lin Shujun, my new friend.”

Lin Shujun extended her hand to Jiang Rou with a bright smile, “Hello.”

Jiang Rou was slightly dazed. She had never expected that the female police officer Dong Mingming had introduced to her was actually her instructor from her previous life.

In her previous life, their school organized a multi-school joint training every year, and their instructor was an experienced and professional criminal police officer. The instructor for their class was Lin Shujun, who was extremely strict. Jiang Rou had performed quite well in class, but she still got scolded thoroughly.

Behind the scenes, everyone nicknamed her “Empress Dowager” because they thought she resembled the old version of Wu Zetian—cold and stern, never seen smiling. While other instructors were strict during training but friendly outside the training, she always had a stern face, leading everyone to wonder if she had ever smiled.

Seeing this familiar yet much younger face, and receiving a smile from her, Jiang Rou was suddenly stunned.

Dong Mingming guided her, “Come, sit here.”

Lin Shujun sat down next to her without hesitation.

Jiang Rou also took a seat.

Lin Shujun, looking much more cheerful and lively than Jiang Rou remembered from twenty years ago, directly asked with a smile, “I heard from Mingming that you wanted to introduce me to someone?”

Jiang Rou glanced at Dong Mingming, who averted her gaze, feeling guilty. She had really let it slip accidentally and hadn’t expected the other person to take it seriously.

Lin Shujun continued straightforwardly, “My family’s conditions aren’t very good. I’m from a rural area and have a younger brother. Although I don’t need to take care of him as he’s already in college, I still want to help my family. So, I send half of my salary home every month. Once he graduates from college, I won’t need to support him anymore. If the other party doesn’t mind, we can meet up.”

Jiang Rou was speechless. ‘…So straightforward?’

It was indeed a familiar style.

Jiang Rou sat quietly, looking at Lin Shujun’s familiar features. It felt like she had been transported back twenty years in the future….  She couldn’t help but feel emotional. This was the first time she had seen someone she knew from her previous life.

As she thought about this, she suddenly remembered something. Not long before she had transmigrated, a roommate had called her one night, saying that Instructor Lin had been injured during a mission. She had been stabbed dozens of times by assailants and was left in the mountains. Though she had been rescued, it seemed she could no longer work as a criminal police officer. Her roommate also mentioned that someone betrayed her as someone had leaked her whereabouts. Her roommate didn’t know the specifics but wanted to visit her during the holidays and asked Jiang Rou if she wanted to go.

Jiang Rou had agreed, but before she could visit, she had her own accident.

After reflecting on this, Jiang Rou felt a complex mix of emotions. When her roommate mentioned the incident, Jiang Rou foolishly asked, “What about Instructor Lin’s husband? How come it was only the child who was mentioned and not him?”

The roommate had replied, puzzled, “Don’t you know she’s been divorced for a long time? Her husband felt she was too busy with work to take care of the family, so he asked for a divorce.”

At that time, Jiang Rou had a vivid memory of an incident during their training. One day, when she had her period, she had gone to the supermarket to buy sanitary pads. On the way, she had coincidentally met Instructor Lin, who had taken her to her dormitory and made her a cup of brown sugar water. There, Jiang Rou had seen a photo on the table showing Lin Shujun holding her child with a smile, but there was no sign of her husband.

She had found it odd at the time, as her own family’s desks were filled with family photos.

Jiang Rou looked up at Lin Shujun and relayed the information about Fu Fei that Li Xiao had mentioned. She added, “His father died early, and his mother remarried quickly. So, he has not been very trusting of women since childhood. Now that he’s older, he seems to want to get married and have children.”

“I think you’re both very outstanding young people. It’s good to have the opportunity to meet. Whether you end up together or not depends on whether you hit it off.”

“It’s okay; twenty-eight isn’t too old.”

Lin Shujun nodded, understanding, and asked, “When can we meet?”

Jiang Rou was taken aback. “Ah? Don’t you have any requirements?”

Lin Shujun replied, “I don’t have many requirements. As long as he isn’t a police officer, it’s fine. It’s not ideal for both spouses to have dangerous jobs. Also, it’s better if he’s somewhat good-looking, has a good personality, and is family-oriented.”

Jiang Rou agreed, “Okay, I’ll ask him and find out when he’s available to meet.”

Lin Shujun nodded, “Alright, then. I have other matters to attend to. You two continue chatting.”

After speaking, Lin Shujun briskly left.

Once she was gone, Dong Mingming finally dared to take a breath. “Impressive, right? I’m so scared of saying the wrong thing in front of her. I thought I was pretty direct, but she’s even more straightforward. I mentioned it casually last night, and she immediately asked about the guy and wanted to meet him.”

Seeing Jiang Rou silent for a long time, Dong Mingming couldn’t help but ask, “What’s wrong?”

Jiang Rou, irritated, said, “Why didn’t you tell me her name was Lin Shujun?”

She had ended up playing matchmaker for Instructor Lin. If their classmates found out, they’d probably tease her about plucking fur from a tiger’s head.

Dong Mingming was puzzled. “What? Do you know her? But she didn’t seem to recognize you earlier.”

Jiang Rou sighed deeply, unsure how to explain.

Dong Mingming tried to comfort her. “It’s nothing major. It’s just a meeting over a meal. It’s not like they’re getting married right away. Don’t worry, I’ll talk to her about it.”

In the end, they scheduled a meeting for Thursday afternoon. Jiang Rou didn’t attend, as she had to go to the lab. She only informed both parties of the time and place, leaving the specifics to Dong Mingming’s description. “They had a pretty good chat. They had two cups of coffee and a piece of cake while they talked. They hadn’t finished their conversation when the guy, Fu Fei, drove her home.”

“You wouldn’t believe it. Yesterday afternoon, when I went to see my boyfriend, a senior at the bureau wanted to introduce Shujun to someone. The guy is local, owns two properties, is a civil servant, and is quite successful. He’d previously dated a girl, but it didn’t work out due to some issues. But he’s a really nice guy and looks decent. Shujun turned him down on the spot, saying she already had someone.”

“I told her not to reject directly; if things don’t work out with Fu Fei, she could consider this other guy. But she was stubborn, saying Fu Fei was good enough, so she doesn’t need to look further.”

“I used to have my own thoughts, but seeing her like this now, I’m really a bit worried.”

Jiang Rou was speechless.

It seemed Lin Shujun’s temper hadn’t changed.

Watching Dong Mingming’s helpless expression, Jiang Rou reflected on how strange fate could be. She didn’t know what Dong Mingming’s situation had been in her previous life. Perhaps she had been deceived into marriage by her father or would eventually discover his true nature and fight back. But certainly, it wasn’t like now—dating a police officer, being patient and enduring while enjoying a sweet relationship. Thus, she would never cross paths with Lin Shujun in this manner.

Was it possible that Lin Shujun would have a different outcome in this lifetime?

However, Dong Mingming’s concerns soon turned into envy. She noticed that Lin Shujun had become increasingly beautiful. Not only did she have more clothes, but her neck and wrists were also adorned with jewelry. When asked, she learned that it was all bought by Fu Fei.

Fu Fei frequently came over to bring Lin Shujun food, sometimes enough to fill the entire office.

Dong Mingming’s boyfriend also gave gifts, but they were all quite unattractive compared to Fu Fei’s offerings. Fu Fei’s gifts were subtle but of high quality, clearly expensive to those who knew their worth.

Jiang Rou couldn’t help much in this regard. After all, Fu Fei had previously worked with Chang Yong and must have had plenty of experience in choosing gifts for women.

Jiang Rou was surprised, though. She had heard from Li Xiao that Fu Fei was quite frugal with money, but he seemed unusually generous after entering into a relationship.

—o—o—o—

Jiang Rou’s birthday was on November 22. On her birthday, Li Xiao made a special effort to return home early. Although he never remembered dates, recently, he had been checking the calendar daily to avoid forgetting Jiang Rou’s birthday.

He first picked up An An and then drove to the school to wait for Jiang Rou.

When Jiang Rou came out of the school, she saw father and daughter squatting by the roadside, talking about who knows what. As soon as An An saw Jiang Rou, she immediately jumped up and ran over, shouting, “Mommy—”

Jiang Rou bent down to pick her up and asked if she had fun at school that day.

An An smiled and said, “Yes.”

Then she hugged Jiang Rou’s face and planted a kiss on her, saying, “Happy birthday, Mommy.”

Jiang Rou’s heart softened, and she kissed An An’s forehead in return.

Suddenly, Li Xiao walked over and took An An from Jiang Rou’s arms. “Alright, let’s get in the car.”

He placed An An into the car seat without any fuss, and surprisingly, An An didn’t protest.

Jiang Rou was momentarily stunned.

Seeing that Li Xiao had already opened the driver’s side door, Jiang Rou had no choice but to walk to the passenger side, open the door, and then she saw a bouquet of roses on the seat.

Jiang Rou looked at the man with some disbelief. “Did you send these?”

‘He actually knew to send flowers.’

Li Xiao rubbed his nose, looking slightly awkward. Clearing his throat, he said, “Fu Fei said women like this kind of thing. Personally, I’d rather buy a gold ring or something. These flowers will wilt in a few days, and they still sell them so expensively?”

Jiang Rou: “……” There was romance, but not much.

She thought, with Li Xiao’s mindset, how could he possibly think of buying flowers? To him, nothing compared to food and gold. Food goes into his own stomach, and gold is valuable.

Despite this, Jiang Rou was very pleased. She smiled, picked up the flowers, and sat in the passenger seat.

She even leaned down to smell them several times.

Seeing her happy expression, Li Xiao couldn’t help but smile. “You really like them?”

Jiang Rou smiled at him. “Of course. It’s the first time I’ve received flowers from someone. They’re very beautiful.”

Then she added, “When they start to wilt in a few days, I’m going to turn them into a keepsake.”

Li Xiao chuckled lightly. “You don’t need to go to such lengths. If you like them, I’ll get you more in the future.”

Despite his words, the smile on his lips didn’t fade.

An An, sitting in the back, looked longingly at the flowers in her mother’s hands and said, “Mommy, I want some too.”

Jiang Rou was about to pull out a flower for her, but Li Xiao, keeping his eyes on the road, said without turning his head, “Today is Mommy’s birthday, so she gets to keep them. I’ll get you some tomorrow.”

He then added to Jiang Rou, “Don’t give her any now; she’ll just pull them apart in no time.”

An An obediently replied, “Okay.”

Seeing this, Jiang Rou simply smiled and withdrew her hand but turned to An An with a grin. “Mommy will arrange the flowers when we get home, and we can look at them together.”

An An’s face immediately lit up with a smile. “Okay!”

Li Xiao, glancing at his daughter’s smiling face in the rearview mirror and then at Jiang Rou’s gentle expression, felt a warmth in his eyes.

—o—o—o—

That evening, the family of three had a sumptuous dinner at a restaurant. After the meal, Li Xiao handed Jiang Rou a box. When Jiang Rou opened it, she discovered three pairs of earrings.

The style of the earrings seemed somewhat…

Li Xiao explained, “I didn’t know which ones would look good, so I took three from your jewelry box and had them copied. Wear these from now on, and don’t use those cheap ones; they’re not good for your ears.”

Earlier, Jiang Rou had mentioned that her ears turned red when she wore earrings, attributing it to the recent piercing. Later, Li Xiao noticed that her ears were still reddened with other earrings.

Jiang Rou: “……”

She had wondered why her earrings were always missing one piece recently and had thought that An An might have played with them and lost them.

Hearing Li Xiao’s explanation, she looked up at the handsome man under the light, feeling a soft tingle in her heart. She hadn’t expected him to remember such a small detail.