C26

By the time he got back to the editorial office, most of the staff were already off duty. Shi Xingcan hurriedly ran back to his station and turned on his computer.

"Shi Xingcan, just wait for it to fire you." The female colleague sitting at the next table shook her hair and arrogantly said, "To be able to make the editor angry like that, you sure are amazing." She shook her hair again. "But don't worry, there won't be any problems with the magazine. I already have a copy for the editor."

"Shi Xingcan, are you sick? Put this thing in a magazine? What's your mind thinking? " The door to the editor's office was open and a man's growl could be heard from inside.

When Shi Xingcan returned home, it was already late in the night. The inside of the house was still the same as when she left in the morning. Shi Xingcan switched on the light, she was too lazy to cook, so she casually ate some bread, intending to take a bath and sleep.

Just as she was taking off her clothes, she remembered Qin Yanmo telling her to put the bath towel and the other things in the neighboring room. So she went in and turned on the light and looked in the closet. After picking up the towel, a photo album under the towel caught her attention.

Shi Xingcan felt that she had seen the cover of the album before. She picked it up and opened it.

The picture inside was very low in pixels, probably taken seven or eight years ago. Shi Xingcan flipped through them one by one, those memories suddenly flooded into her mind. was jealous of her beauty. She often tortured Shi Xingcan and her mother to death with Su Qing. Her best memories were high school, the place where she could laugh with the rest of her classmates when she was bullied at home. She stayed there often and didn't come home until late.

But why did Qin Yanmo have her high school yearbook?

Shi Xingcan looked at it, and the page with the year written on it had been torn. She had searched through the photo for a long time, but she did not see Qin Yanmo's face. She took out her phone and took a few pictures, planning to ask Qin Yanmo about it when she had the chance.

"Eh? Shi Xingcan? "

On the second day, when Shi Xingcan was waiting for the car to return home after work, a well-dressed woman ran towards her excitedly, "Shi Xingcan! "Why are you here!"

"Song Xiaoxiao?" Shi Xingcan recognized her, she was her university classmate, Song Xiaoxiao.

"Didn't you go back to F City?"

"I'm back to work here again." Shi Xingcan laughed. Her classmates all knew that her family lived in F city and had gone to N city's university.

"Then why didn't you tell me earlier!" Song Xiaoxiao's exaggerated red lips moved one another in front of Shi Xingcan's eyes, "We have gathered for so many meals, you're the only one who's missing!"

"Oh …" Didn't you already know? "My contact details haven't changed, let's meet again when there's a chance in the future."

"Alright, alright, alright. I'll drag you into our group of classmates …" Song Xiaoxiao happily pulled on Shi Xingcan's sleeve and took out her phone, "Is this your WeChat signal?"

After they finished adding each other, they exchanged a few more pleasantries, but Song Xiaoxiao still didn't seem to want to let her go.

"Where do you live now? Are you renting a house? "

"More or less. I live at the house of a friend of mine."

"Of course not." Shi Xingcan laughed awkwardly and responded half-heartedly. She did not tell her classmates about the news of her marriage, and those who came to the wedding ceremony were all relatives in the business arena in time home.

She didn't want the time home's ugly expressions and dirty actions to be compared to her beautiful university life.

She didn't know how to describe it. She had married a husband that she hadn't even seen ten times a year.

"Tomorrow is the weekend! It just so happens that we can have dinner together tomorrow. Do you want to come along? " Song Xiaoxiao invited him enthusiastically, "Ever since you graduated, you haven't seen us for a long time. You have to come this time!"

Shi Xingcan could not resist Song Xiaoxiao's passionate advice and agreed. Song Xiaoxiao happily sent the time and place of the party to her cell phone. The two talked for a while more before Shi Xingcan got on the carriage going home.

She lay in bed, recalling her college life.

At that time, she would finally be able to leave the time home, break free from their control, and live in a brand-new place. Yang Qi risked his life to earn money for her and also gave her living expenses. Occasionally, he would even send a portion of the money to her in order to torture her. Shi Xingcan also used her studies to earn scholarships, to save on food and money. After four years of hard work and freedom, she had found a job in N City and worked as an editor in a magazine. Although her salary wasn't too much, there was still a lot of room for improvement. Just when she thought that her real life was about to unfold, Yang Qi actually found out about the cancer.

Her father's threats, the strange Qu Family — were like a bucket of cold water that doused the flames of life. Shi Xingcan had no choice but to marry an unfamiliar man. On the night of their wedding, he was disdained and ridiculed by others.

After that, disheartened, she never contacted her former classmates. They all had their own colorful and wonderful lives, and only they themselves sank into endless darkness.

On Saturday, Shi Xingcan arrived at the meeting place on time, at a hotel that she had never heard of before. The students that hadn't seen her for many years all asked Shi Xingcan various questions. Some passionate boys even went forward to hug her and greet her.

Shi Xingcan happily chatted with everyone. No one noticed that there was a man wearing black sunglasses at the corner of the street who was quietly observing them. He raised the camera in his hand and adjusted the lens, causing cracking sounds to ring out.

"Is Xing Can still working at the magazine?" A classmate who wasn't very familiar with Shi Xingcan during their school-time asked.

"Well, yes, at the magazine." Shi Xingcan laughed.

"You've been working for two or three years, haven't you been promoted to editor?" The student asked again, "What car are you driving?"

"No, he's still an editor and didn't buy a car."

"Ah, how could that be? Another friend of mine was in the magazine. He became editor in chief in a year, even though he married the president. " These words drew the laughter of the crowd of students.

"We, Xing Can, have our principles!" A classmate answered.

Everyone laughed again.

"Where's Xingcan now?"

"South of the city. A friend's house."

"Oh wow, living with friends? "Boyfriend?" The girls all had the same gossipy look in their eyes.

Shi Xingcan had no choice but to explain, "No, my friend doesn't live here, so he lent me his house. When I find a place to live, I will move out."

"Tsk …" Everyone immediately lost their interest. Everyone started to talk about other topics at once, Shi Xingcan was sipping the soup alone. When they were in university, they had a good relationship with each other. However, after graduation, they gradually drifted further away from each other, so they didn't have many common topics to talk about.

"Does Xing Can have a boyfriend?"

It was unknown when the topic of conversation had reached to love, but there were also people who looked at Shi Xingcan with gossipy eyes.

Shi Xingcan paused. Or not?

"Boyfriend..." "Not yet." Shi Xingcan lowered her head and laughed.

"Why haven't any males chased you yet? Or are you thinking too highly of yourself? " A female classmate interjected, "If we don't look for her now, after two years, she'll become an old woman, so it'll be even more difficult to find her."

"Not necessarily!" Another boy said, "Xingcan's dad is the president of a big company, so how could Xingcan not marry him?"

Shi Xingcan stared blankly for a moment, then raised her head to realize that the boy was their class's Shi Qiang. When he was in school, he was unknown and did not interact much with Shi Xingcan. How did he know about his own time home?

"Of course not, I can't borrow Daddy's light either." Shi Xingcan smiled bitterly, and was being squeezed out by his family.

Everyone only said that Shi Xingcan was modest and started to discuss about time home's company at the same time. The table was filled with praises, most of them from the man called Shi Qiang.

"How do you know so much about my family?" Shi Xingcan said in a joking tone, "Your side business is a private detective?"

"Where …" The man blushed and stammered. Shi Xingcan also didn't want to ask any more questions, and even more so didn't want to joke around with him. If the other party was interested in him, wouldn't that be harming him?

Deep into the night, someone suggested to go to the KTV to sing. Shi Xingcan said that she was tired and prepared to go home. The other students did not try to persuade him, but Shi Qiang walked over and requested to see him off.

"No need …" "I really don't need to …" Shi Xingcan rejected them, but to no avail. He insisted on sending them off, and the other students all followed suit. With no other choice, Shi Xingcan got into the taxi with him.

"I didn't buy a car either. All the money I made in the past few years has been taken away by my family to pay off their debts. Now that I've finally gotten rid of my family, my business is still a waste. "

Shi Xingcan did not know what to say, and wanted to console him, but the other party spoke up again, "Why don't you go work at your family's company?"

"My dad's company doesn't have a job for me." Shi Xingcan held back for a long time as he thought of an excuse.

"Oh …" "Then does your dad's company have an estate in N City?"

Shi Xingcan seemed to understand the meaning behind this man's words. "My father prohibited his family from interfering with his company, so I couldn't say anything."

"Oh …" The man seemed to be regretful and did not say anything more. When he arrived at Shi Xingcan's residence, the man did not react at all. Shi Xingcan then quietly took out her wallet to pay the fare.

"You live in this neighborhood?" the man suddenly asked.

"Yeah, what's wrong?"

"I'll pay!" The man's attitude took another 180 degree turn. He forcefully stopped Shi Xingcan, and after paying the fare, the boy looked like he wanted to say something but stopped himself.

"Thank you for bringing me back, I …"

"Since I'm here, why don't you invite me up to take a seat?"