Chapter 325: Chapter 325: Being with You
After hanging up the phone, Mrs. Wan looked at An Mi with a face full of affection.
“Mimi, have you been troubled by anything lately?”
She asked with concern.
Mrs. Wan knew that her son had done something foolish.
He actually went on a blind date with another woman, which just infuriated her.
If it hadn’t been for a friend who saw it and told her, she would still have no clue.
She had no idea what that blockhead was thinking; his brain must have been caught in a door!
She did hope before that her good-for-nothing son would soon win over An Mi, but now, forget it, she’d let him fend for himself.
Whether he could win An Mi’s heart or not, it wouldn’t affect her relationship with An Mi.
“Aunt Ling, I’m not, really.”
“That’s good. If anything makes you unhappy or someone angers you, just tell Aunt Ling. I’ve got your back,” Aunt Ling assured her.
But Mrs. Wan didn’t directly confront the issue.
Since she didn’t want to talk about it, Mrs. Wan didn’t press further.
An Mi felt a warmth inside upon hearing this.
“Thank you, Aunt Ling.”
“You don’t need to be polite with Aunt Ling.”
As the two were halfway through their meal.
Suddenly someone sat down next to An Mi.
Without even turning to look, she knew who it was.
The familiar faint scent of cedarwood instantly invaded her olfactory senses.
“How come you’re here?”
Mrs. Wan looked at her son sitting across from her with undisguised discontent.
Wan Muqi automatically ignored her mood.
“Oh, just passing by and saw you guys here, so I thought I’d join in on the meal since I haven’t eaten yet,” he said very naturally and seriously.
Mrs. Wan rolled her eyes, as if it were a coincidence that he was passing by!
When An Mi saw that he had arrived, she suddenly felt that the meat in her mouth wasn’t tasty anymore.
Seeing that An Mi’s expression was off, Mrs. Wan immediately said to her, “Mimi, Aunt Ling really didn’t know he would come here. If I knew he was coming, I definitely wouldn’t have brought you to this restaurant.”
She couldn’t let An Mi mistake this for an intentional setup on her part.
Wan Muqi, seeing his mother’s hurry to dissociate herself from him, felt very helpless.
“Aunt Ling, the meat’s ready, let’s eat,” An Mi said, using tongs to place some freshly grilled beef in her bowl.
An Mi was not curious about whether the man just happened to pass by coincidentally or did it on purpose.
She continued to concentrate on eating her meat.
Mrs. Wan, following suit, also directly ignored him.
Even when a waiter asked if they needed extra cutlery, Mrs. Wan said, “No need, he’s not hungry, thank you.”
Wan Muqi: “…”
Mrs. Wan gave her son a look and said, “If you want to eat, go and get your own table, the meat here is only enough for me and Mimi.”
After saying that, Mrs. Wan paid him no more attention.
He sat there, as if he were an invisible man.
The two women in front of him didn’t seem to see him at all, and they enjoyed their meal a lot.
And he really didn’t dare to interrupt the two queens eating, so he could only silently sit there and watch.
“…”
He thought An Mi might soften, but from the moment he sat down, An Mi hadn’t said a single word to him.
After the two finished eating, an hour had already passed.
Mrs. Wan very naturally instructed him to pay the bill.
“Since you’re here, we can’t let you waste the effort of coming all this way, go and settle the bill,” Mrs. Wan said.
An Mi sat there, not looking up, listening quietly.
Wan Muqi glanced at her, and then at Mrs. Wan, and reluctantly got up to go to the cashier to pay.
After all, he dared not provoke either of them.
If he disobeyed, the consequences would be even worse.
“Mimi, take advantage of the time while that brat is paying the bill, let’s get going. We can take a walk to help digest, and then I’ll send you home,” Mrs. Wan said.
An Mi whispered a puzzled “Huh?” softly.
Mrs. Wan got up and pulled her away.
When Wan Muqi, who had finished paying, returned to find the seats empty, he was speechless.
Sneaking off like that was indeed something his mother would do.
He sighed helplessly and chased after them.
“Aunt Ling, doing this, won’t Mr. Wan get angry?”
“Don’t worry, he wouldn’t dare to be angry with us.”
“…”
Mrs. Wan didn’t walk far away with An Mi; when Wan Muqi stepped out, he saw the two of them walking arm in arm ahead.
From behind, the two looked just like sisters.
He didn’t dare to walk too close and followed them from a reasonable distance.
If he hadn’t been handsome and well-dressed, people might have mistook him for a stalker.
“Aunt Ling, it’s getting late, shall we head back?” An Mi suggested.
Mrs. Wan glanced at the time, “Oh, it’s almost nine o’clock; indeed, it’s not early. I’ll take you back then.”
At this moment, Wan Muqi saw his chance and said, “Mom, dad is urging you to come home. It’s not on your way back, I can take her. It’s on my way.”
An Mi: “…”
Mrs. Wan: “What ‘on your way’? You don’t live at school.”
Wan Muqi: “I’m now living in the teacher’s apartment at school.”
Mrs. Wan: “…”
Clever boy, he actually moved to live at the school.
An Mi was also stunned. When did he move into the school?
An Mi wanted to refuse, but it didn’t seem appropriate to do so in front of Mrs. Wan.
Moreover, Mrs. Wan asked for her preference: “Mimi, if you don’t want to ride in his car, I can take you instead. It’s not much of a difference in time for me.”
She didn’t really want to trouble Mrs. Wan, “Aunt Ling, it’s okay, I’ll just take Mr. Wan’s car. You should go back early, otherwise Uncle Wan will be looking for you everywhere again.”
“…”
After Mrs. Wan’s car left, Wan Muqi saw An Mi still standing still and said, “Let’s go, I’ll take you back.”
With no other choice, An Mi turned and followed him towards his car.
But this time, she did not sit in the passenger seat.
She directly opened the rear door and got in.
The man in the driver’s seat turned around and glanced at her, “Come to the front seat.”
An Mi: “I don’t want to, I’ll just sit here.”
“An Mi!”
The man’s voice suddenly became very stern.
But An Mi turned her head towards the window, staying put.
Eventually, Wan Muqi compromised.
This was the first time he realized that An Mi could be so stubborn.
He was completely out of ideas with her.
Back at the school, as soon as the car stopped, An Mi tried to get out.
But the door was locked.
She looked at the man in the driver’s seat, “Mr. Wan, could you please unlock the door? Thank you for the ride back.”
Wan Muqi glanced at her in the rearview mirror. He had intended to have a chat with her, but after thinking it over, he felt there wasn’t much to talk about.
After a standoff for a while, he still let her get out of the car.
–
“Mimi, Mr. Wan sent you a cake.”
Chen Jin had just met Wan Muqi downstairs of the dormitory building, and he had asked her to bring the cake up.
An Mi was sitting at her desk reading.
She turned her head to glance at the bag in Chen Jin’s hand.
The logo on the bag was from the cake shop she liked.
“Mimi, Mr. Wan even knows which cake you like. Looks like he did his homework pretty well,” Chen Jin said.
An Mi: “…”
He’s known it for a long time.
Like this, for an entire week, Wan Muqi continued to send her delicious food.
And each item was something she loved.
This time, he didn’t pester her, but he made his presence known to her in various ways. Even though he wasn’t physically there, she would always hear his name around her.
On Saturday.
An Mi went to the Yang Family to find Yang Jie.
She went directly to the Yang Family’s home.
Father Yang and Yang Mu were very warm and welcoming to her.
“Mimi, you’ve come! Stay for dinner today,” Yang Mu said, “I’ll ask your Uncle An to go buy some groceries later.”
“Uncle and Auntie, there’s no need to go through the trouble. I came today to take Yang Jie out for a walk,” An Mi responded.
Upon hearing this, Yang Mu smiled and said, “That’s great, she doesn’t like to go out much during the day. Moreover, we don’t really know where to take her for walks. We’re relieved if you’re with her.”
Soon after, An Mi took Yang Jie out.
“Mimi, how has your studying been going recently?”
An Mi, pushing the wheelchair from behind, listened as Yang Jie turned around to speak with her.
“Um, it’s okay, it just requires a lot of brainpower. There are so many professional terms to remember, and they’re all in English. But I really enjoy the practical classes.”
“You’re not talking about dissection class, are you?”
“Yeah.”
Yang Jie suddenly felt a chill run down her spine.
Despite An Mi’s demure appearance, she wasn’t the least bit afraid of these classes.
“This interest of yours, really is…” Yang Jie suddenly remembered something: “Right, Mimi, did anything happen between you and Mr. Wan, the lawyer who helped me with my lawsuit before?”
An Mi didn’t expect to hear Wan Muqi’s name from Yang Jie.
“Why do you ask?” An Mi inquired.
Yang Jie said, “Just a while ago, he suddenly added me on WeChat, I don’t know how he got my contact, and then he inquired about some stuff about you. He seemed decent, so I just answered whatever he asked.”
An Mi: “…”
Then, Yang Jie opened her phone’s chat records and handed them to her to see.
After An Mi had seen them, she was speechless.
Turns out, he knew all her hobbies from asking Yang Jie.
No wonder he seemed to understand so well.
“Mimi, does Mr. Wan like you?”
Although Yang Jie asked this, she actually already had an answer in her heart.
But she didn’t quite understand how these two could be together.
After all, there’s an age difference between them as well as different social circles.
An Mi didn’t know how to respond for a moment.
“Well… I don’t know how to explain this to you…”
An Mi then found a spot to sit down in the residential area, and recounted all the recent events to Yang Jie.
These were things Yang Jie didn’t know before.
“That’s what happened.”
After listening, Yang Jie didn’t know what to say either.
But listening to it, she noticed a problem.
“Mimi, you actually like Mr. Wan, don’t you?”
Although Yang Jie spoke with a tone of doubt, there was also a certainty in her voice.
This time, An Mi didn’t immediately refute, but fell silent instead.
Did she like him?
Yang Jie could see from her furrowed brow that she didn’t even know her own feelings.
“Mimi, there’s an old saying that the onlooker sees more of the game. You probably understand this,” Yang Jie stated. “Right now you don’t want to admit it because your feeling of liking him isn’t strong enough, or maybe because you’re scared.”
An Mi looked at her, puzzled. Scared?
Yang Jie: “You’re afraid that once you admit your feelings for him, things won’t turn out the way you imagine, so you’d rather stay on this edge, unwilling to give it a try.”
“If you didn’t like him, then you wouldn’t be sulking, unhappy, or annoyed after hearing the conversation between Uncle An and him. All these are signs of jealousy. And these days, your actions have been showing one thing; you’re jealous.”
An Mi listened to her very seriously.
Was she jealous?
She didn’t think so…
Even if she was, she was unaware, after all, she had never experienced these emotions before.
“So Xiao Jie, what do you think I should do now?” An Mi asked.
Yang Jie: “Well, I’m not sure what the best course of action is. Maybe just take a bold step and try, or continue not to respond—the choice is in your own hands, after all, we’re outsiders, we can’t make decisions for you.”
An Mi let out a deep sigh, “Let it be, then. Let’s not talk about my troubles today. I came mainly to accompany you. Where do you want to go today? Tell me, I’ll accompany you wherever.”
An Mi was well aware that ever since her accident, she rarely went out because she was in a wheelchair.
At first, she was very resistant to other people’s stares, feeling as if everyone was mocking her disability.
In reality, it was all psychological. She was very fragile during that period.
But fortunately, she pulled through.
Yang Jie bit her lip and said, “Mimi, I saw online that there’s a dance performance at the opera house tonight, I want to go see it, but it seems there are no tickets left online.”
An Mi was startled: “You want to watch a dance performance?”
Dancing had always been Yang Jie’s dream. She started building her dance foundation from a very young age, with the goal of becoming a dancer one day, but now…
Since the accident, nobody dared to mention the word ‘dance’ in front of her.
In the Yang Family, both Father Yang and Yang Mu had even hidden away anything related to dance so she wouldn’t see it.
But now she was the one who broached the topic of going to a dance performance.
Since she was able to confront this matter head-on, how could An Mi not fulfill her wish?
“Wait here, I’m going to make a call.”
After saying that, An Mi pulled out her phone. She initially wanted to call her father, but after some thought, she decided to call her sister instead.
After hearing her out, Su He said, “Wait for me, I’ll have a look and get back to you.”
At that moment, Su He was with Jiang Yan, so she asked Jiang Feng to make the arrangements.
“There’s still time now, let’s go for a walk first,” An Mi suggested to Yang Jie after hanging up the phone.
“Thank you, Mimi.”
“Xiao Jie, you don’t need to thank me. This is what I should do. If it weren’t for you, I would be the one sitting here now.”
An Mi has always felt that she owed Yang Jie, so she would try to fulfill her wishes, whatever she asked for.
Yang Jie held her hand and said, “Mimi, this has nothing to do with you, you don’t owe me anything. It was my choice, and I don’t regret it, because you are my best friend. Besides, I’ve realized that even if I can’t stand up anymore, at least I’m still alive, and as long as I’m alive, there is hope. Who knows, maybe one day a miracle will happen to me, right?”
Seeing her so optimistic now, An Mi was genuinely happy.
“Right, miracles will definitely happen.”
“…”
It took less than half an hour for her sister to reply to her.
Su He told her to bring Yang Jie with her directly, and someone would meet them at the entrance.
“Xiao Jie, my sister said she has taken care of it.”
“I’m so jealous you have such a capable sister.”
“My sister said, you can also call her sister; you’re her sister too.”
Yang Jie knew that when she was hospitalized, Su He often came to visit her and chatted with her.
Moreover, Su He was the one who found her rehabilitation hospital for her.
Even more, Su He took care of all her medical and rehabilitation expenses.
Not just that, all of her treatment expenses were paid for by Su He.
She wasn’t aware of these things at first, but she accidentally overheard her parents’ conversation once. They tried to return the money to Su He, but she refused to accept it.
…
Six o’clock in the evening.
An Mi took Yang Jie to the opera house.
As soon as they got out of the car, a man wearing a work badge came up to greet them.
“Ladies, are you An Mi and Yang Jie?”
“Yes, that’s us,” An Mi replied.
The man politely smiled and said, “Good, hello, I am Jiang Ming. You can just call me Jiang. President Jiang has given specific instructions, you can follow me without going through the checking tickets channel.”
An Mi: “Oh, okay, thank you, Mr. Jiang.”
Jiang Ming took the initiative to push the wheelchair for her: “I’ll do it.”
Yang Jie also thanked him.
Not long after the two entered, a Porsche stopped at the entrance of the opera house.
“Alright, we’re here, get out. I’m not going in to watch, you go by yourself!” The man said coldly and indifferently.
The woman in the back seat was balking, “No way, you have to accompany me. I’ve bought the tickets, and since you’re already at the entrance, it’s not like you lack a couple of hours, right?”
Wan Muqi glanced at her indifferently: “I’m not going. Get out!”
With a pout and clear displeasure on her face, the woman countered, “If I have to get out, you have to come with me.”
Wan Muqi: “Fine, then let’s leave.”
As he said this, he prepared to start the car and drive away.
Seeing his actions, the woman quickly opened the car door and stuck one foot outside, but her body remained seated in the car.
It was obvious that she intended to drag this out, to see who would last longer.
Anyway, there was still time before the performance started, she wasn’t in a hurry.
“Guo Xuyan!”
The man’s deep voice held a hint of chill.
Unmoved, the woman even retorted: “Calling my mom won’t do you any good!”
Wan Muqi sighed deeply: “Your mother should not have given you such an elegant and ladylike name. Look at your behavior; does it have anything to do with your name?”
Guo Xuyan: “…I am not listening to nonsense.”
Wan Muqi: “…”
Fine, if she wanted to drag this out, they would drag it out.
All of a sudden, he thought of An Mi and picked up his phone, wanting to ask her what she was doing.
Just as he opened WeChat, he saw a red dot on Discover. He was slightly obsessive-compulsive, even if he didn’t look at Moments, he wanted to clear it.
But as soon as he tapped it, he saw An Mi’s profile picture.
She posted a Moment one minute ago.
It was a sentence accompanied by a heart-shaped gesture made with two hands against the backdrop of a huge stage.
The sentence made him quite uncomfortable.
The content was: [Being with you, I am very happy❤️]
Wan Muqi originally wanted to ask where she was, but with a swipe, he saw that she replied to someone in the comments section.
And wouldn’t you know it, it was right at this opera house.
Guo Xuyan was just about to speak when she heard him say, “Close the door, I’m going to park!”
She was stunned, thinking she had heard him wrong.
“Can I take it as you parking means you’ve agreed to accompany me in there?”
“…”