The Healing Sunshine (一厘米的阳光)

Chapter 9.3 - Inch After Inch of Time (3)

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The two men had originally made no mention of what had occurred in the early hours of this morning, and it was actually Su Yan who turned a solemn look on Jǐ Yi and began lecturing. "From what I saw, those boys who were with the two of you aren't good people of any sort. Jǐ Yi, when you were a kid, you seemed like you were a really good girl. How come now that you've grown up—"

"Hey! What are you saying?" Wang Haoran actually grew displeased first. "It's obvious that Xixi was brought there by someone."

Su Yan had an expression of "I cannot even be bothered to say any more."

The two of them were in the same orchestra, so naturally much of their schedules were the same. Wang Haoran was intentionally trying to guide the topic of discussion, and he transitioned the subject from the incident at the nightclub to going to Russia to perform.

Fearful that Jì Chengyang would be angry again after hearing this dialogue, Jǐ Yi gripped her half a tangsanjiao, stealing glances at him as she ate it.

Jì Chengyang did not eat anything. In front of him was still that same glass of warm water. When she peeked at him, he happened to be feeling at his pants pocket. It was such a subtle action, but Su Yan had already detected it. Her brows creased. "Why is it you just can't be away from your smokes? Where'd the tri-merit student of the past, that morally-lofty and gifted student, go?"

He did not answer. Standing, he strode over to the couch, picked up his down jacket, and pulled out his cigarettes from its pocket. Then stepping out onto the balcony, he closed the door behind him and, alone, began to smoke.

"I don't get it. It's not like smoking is anything good," Su Yan grumbled as she drank her soybean milk.

"Of course you don't get it. When you were a kid, you just went from this rehearsal hall to that rehearsal hall. Now that you've grown up, all you do is go from this concert hall to another theater hall." With a smile, Wang Haoran glanced out onto the balcony at Jì Chengyang. "I think that everyone subconsciously has something that they give their psychological burdens to. For example, I have to drink water. At any time, any place, I need to have a glass of water on hand. Once I have water, my heart will feel settled. Him? I'm guessing at any time, any place, he needs to have a cigarette on him, and when he sees any death or bodies blown to pieces, it can help him keep his emotions relatively stable. It's a sense of security, get it? It can be classified as a dependence on a physical item or substance."

"All right, all right. I don't even need to eat my breakfast now." Su Yan's stomach was turning after hearing "bodies blown to pieces," and setting down the steamed, red-bean-paste bun she had been holding, she picked up her soybean milk and left the table.

Su Yan pushed open the balcony door and gave a greeting of "Chengyang," but then soon, she had closed the door behind her again.

She continued speaking to Jì Chengyang, but where Jǐ Yi was, their dialogue could not be heard at all. Jǐ Yi very much minded this and wanted to know what the two would talk about, but she could not walk over and blatantly eavesdrop on the conversation, either. And so, she could only take bite after bite from her tangsanjiao, her heart in a complete mess.

Today was Friday and should normally have had classes, but because Fuzhong was participating in an event put on by the Bureau of Education, all teachers of senior-year high school classes had been summoned to accompany the higher-ups from the bureau, and therefore, all the senior-year high school students had a day off.