Chapter 10.2: If You Don’t Want to Hurt Me Then Don’t Hurt Me
At night, she chatted like usual with her cousin. They talked about a friend of her cousin whose spouse was recovering from amnesia …… a great love story. An Ning was a little moved, so she wanted to have a heartfelt chat with Xu Mo Ting in MSN. He had sent over his number in a text message last week without any explanation. At that time, An Ning thought it was a secret code —— after an arduous task to crack the code, she sent back a decipher.
Shortly after, the other side asked: What?
An Ning retained her equilibrium and generously replied back: The Da Vinci Code.
Mo Ting: …… MSN.
An Ning: Huh? Oh ……
Aiya, cannot keep up with the man of G.o.d’s train of thought.
At the moment, An Ning was not sure if he was online, yet she still sent out the message: “Mo Ting, if, I mean if, you lost your memory, will you still remember me?” After getting to know him for a long time, inevitably she became a little more courageous. Some jokes also can be casually tossed out.
He was actually online, quite rational and objective in his response: “Since I’ve amnesia, of course, I will not remember.”
An Ning was not satisfied with his standard answer which deviated too far from her expectation. She said earnestly: “Well …… in fact, the most common kind is dissociative amnesia. This illness usually is the lost of personal memory but can remember about other information.”
He very patiently replied: “So?”
“So, you might remember me, but forget about yourself.”
He did not disagree: “Very good point of view.”
“Thank you.” After saying that, she faintly felt something was wrong. He seemed a bit …… indulging her ah? Everything that is unusual is abnormal. An Ning quickly changed the topic: “Did you come to the university today?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t you come to look for me ah?” Well, the guilty party filed the suit first.
He did not reply for a long time. The person who acted evil for the first time slowly felt ashamed, guilty and nervous. When she wanted to come clean so she will be treated with leniency, the phone unexpectedly rang. An Ning saw the caller was precisely the implicated party so she carefully answered: “h.e.l.lo.”
“An Ning, I’ve arrived at your downstairs.”
An Ning really jumped up this time: “Aren’t you online?”
“Mobile phone.”
Uh ……
An Ning put on her coat and walked out of her room. Mrs. Li who was knitting in the living room, frowned and said: “Why are you in a hurry?”
“Mom, I go out for a while.”
“This late?” Mrs. Li looked up at the clock: “It is already past eight o’clock.”
“Well …… hungry, I am going to buy baked sweet potatoes from Uncle w.a.n.g.”
Mrs. Li smiled and said: “Since you brought it up, I am also feeling a little hungry. So buy one back for me.”
“…… Okay.”
When Li An Ning went downstairs, she saw Xu Mo Ting sitting with his slender legs intertwined at the side of the flower bed. The street light shone on his handsome and elegant figure. Indeed, he really has powerful connections ah ……
An Ning tidied up before coming over. “Hi.”
Mo Ting lightly patted the seat on his left side to motion her to sit next to him. An Ning casually sat down as if nothing had happened. She has reached the stage where she will not ask how he knew her home address. However, she asked, “Why did you come over?”
“Don’t you want to see me?” He spoke slowly.
Leader Xu, you are definitely always victorious.
“Cold?” He asked.
“Okay.” She did not even feel cold because she was running too fast.
“Then keep me company for a moment.” His voice was a little hoa.r.s.e and his demeanour revealed a bit of his tiredness.
On this day, Xu Mo Ting merely sat at the side of the flower bed, leaning lightly against her shoulder and closed his eyes for ten minutes.
In the end, An Ning felt a bit sore on her shoulder, so she coughed softly to break the silent first: “Mo Ting?”
“Yes?”
“Let’s go and eat supper?”
“Your treat?”
An Ning thought unkindly in her mind: Usually the girlfriend will lean on the boyfriend’s shoulder. Usually the boyfriend will give the treat ……
Xu Mo Ting: “I did not bring any money.”
“……”
Mo Ting straightened up. An Ning was about to get up but he pulled her back down. Then he slid his fingers around her fingers and wrapped around them tightly: “Keep me company and sit here for a while longer.”
An Ning asked cautiously: “Mo Ting, are you angry?”
Suddenly he smiled and exerted some strength on the entwined fingers, “Why would I?”
He was really angry! An Ning’s thought was stormy like the sea. It is said that this type of calm and collected, low profile and proud man is a very vengeful person ah!
“Then, do you want me to give you a kiss?” This was judgement from heaven?!
Mo Ting chuckled and did not speak for a short while. After a while, he took her wrist and fiddled with the string of red-purple beads on her right hand. When Xu Mo Ting did not show his feeling, he seemed a bit profound and often made An Ning struggled to cope. Moreover she “spoke out of line” just now, so inevitably she was at the losing end. Thus she did not dare to make any move, let him …… the stroking of the fingertips left tingling numbness behind. Finally he took her hand and bit it ……
Consequently, An Ning was waken up by the nightmare at seven plus on a rare rest day. In fact, it cannot be considered a nightmare. It was just a small white rabbit dreamed of the big bad wolf …… she sat up and looked at the bright sunshine outside the window. It was really a dream ah. An Ning wiped her sweat. Then she saw the teeth marks that were still visible at the back of her hand.
“……” He came just to bite her?
Her mind was still preoccupied when she changed her clothes. After washing her face and rinsing her mouth, she opened the door and went out. For a split second, An Ning was stunned because the person sitting on the sofa was none other than Zhou Jin Cheng. Oh, there was also elder aunt.
When the two in the living room heard some noise, they turned around. Elder aunt was already smiling and got up: “Ning Ning, already woke up!”
An Ning coughed: “Aunt, where is my mother?”
“When I arrived here, I didn’t see her. She has probably gone to the supermarket. Oh, I met Mr Zhou downstairs. He said he is looking for your mother, so I came up with him.”
An Ning casually looked at him and nodded her head. He stared at her and it was rare for his face to show a hint of a smile.
Elder aunt walked over to her side and tapped gently on her shoulder: “I am going to the kitchen to get you a bowl of porridge, so you chat with Mr Zhou.”
An Ning has no choice but she also cannot blame her aunt since she only knew Zhou Jin Cheng is her father’s relative and not the details. In addition, when her parents divorced, both sides of the family were also considered reasonable, so there was not much hatred and desire for revenge.
As for that accident, even her mother did not know about it.
An Ning walked to the sofa furthest away from him and sat down, “Uncle, why are you looking for my mother?” She wanted to behave a bit more appropriately.
“Nothing important. Just —— come for a visit on behalf of your father.” he said in a tolerant and reasonable manner. His expression was also frank and without any taboo word.
She has learnt more or less how to see innate character through appearance. Perhaps this senior is better than others in many aspects. His behavioural patterns are well-organized and clearly stated but he is also ruthless and cold. An Ning will not deny that her opinion on Zhou Jin Cheng from the start maybe bias.
This unexpected meeting, she vaguely knew a little of his purpose in coming, so she thought for a while and said: “My mother and I are both very well.”
The room was very quiet, only some sound coming from the kitchen. Zhou Jin Cheng spoke again, but he has changed to another topic. “How are you getting along with Xu Mo Ting?”
An Ning did not understand why he would care so much about her relationship. She only replied with an ‘okay’ because she did not want to talk about it.
Zhou Jin Cheng unhurriedly said: “An Ning, have you thought about the Xu family’s status …… to be able to accept single-parent family?”
After a while, she spoke in a natural and candid tone, “Actually …… Zhou Jin Cheng, no matter what, you also don’t have the right to meddle in my life.”
Although she talked tough, she has to admit some of his words stung her and set off great waves in her heart. When she was shopping with her mother in the afternoon, she felt rather ill-at-ease.
When she was pa.s.sing by a clothing store, she absent mindedly saw two poodles looking at each other through the gla.s.s door. Their eyes revealed their deep affection and they gave a weak cry. She took pity on them and immediately stepped forward to open the door for them. She looked forward to their encounter but the outcome was …… a fight. An Ning was stunned. At that time, Mrs. Li has already gone to the shop next door to look at the shoes …… the pa.s.sers-by started laughing so An Ning felt utterly humiliated. When she was about to pretend as if nothing had happened and walked away, someone in the crowd called her.
“You are also out shopping ah?” Cheng Yu was smiling while walking over. She was holding a few bags of clothes. The two girls standing next to her must be her cla.s.smates.
An Ning was pondering if she can pretend not to know her? “Yes.”
Xu Cheng Yu cannot help but complained, “Big Brother is too lacking common basic respect for others because every time I wanted to ask you out, he will also say you are not free!” After saying that, she seemed fearful of the consequences and looked around, “My big brother is not around, right?”
An Ning black line (was annoyed): “No.”
Cheng Yu clapped her hands: “OK, then let’s go and have tea together?”
An Ning was about to decline, when Mrs. Li came out from the store, saw her daughter and said, “Ning Ning, your cla.s.smates ah? Then you go and play with them. Your second aunt is inside the silver shop in front so I’ll go and look for her——”
As a result, An Ning inexplicably ended up sitting in the teahouse with an acquaintance and two strangers …… drinking tea.
An Ning rarely goes to the teahouse, but the other three seem like regular customers. That fellow student with a haughty att.i.tude called the waiter to serve the tea. She turned around and asked An Ning for her order. An Ning has no preference, so she smiled and said: “Then Tieguanyin, the tea here is all top quality high-end tea.”
“……”
After hanging up the phone, Xu Cheng Yu said, “Liang Zi and others have also finished their shopping and will be coming over soon.” Thus more chairs were added, becoming a tea party of six. One of the guys was Miss Haughty’s boyfriend who served her enthusiastically with tea and water the moment he arrived. He has taken over almost all the tasks of the waiter.
An Ning was drinking, uh, the top quality high-end Tieguanyin, and at the same time thinking what was she doing here ……
That fellow student called Liang Zi seemed to be a bit interested in An Ning. He kept on chatting and jesting with An Ning until Miss Haughty said, “Don’t even think about it because she is Xu Mo Ting’s girlfriend.” Their conversation came to an abrupt end. An Ning sighed, this was really …… although the first emperor died, his power still controlled the whole land.
In order to alleviate the atmosphere, An Ning started to talk: “Well …… In fact, there are four cla.s.ses of Tieguanyin. The one here should be considered to be the worst because slightly curled, the color is a bit yellowish and the shape is not even and well-s.p.a.ced ……”
“……” Everyone was silent.
Uh, well, she made the atmosphere awkwardly silent again.