A Cold and Aloof Top Student Is Relied Upon - Chapter 65

Chapter 65: Do You Still Like It?

◎Do You Still Like Me?◎

All reunions are unexpected.

This phrase suddenly flashed through Gu Zhu’s mind. It wasn’t that she had never thought about meeting Bai Tan. In the first few years of university, she would go home every year. The road back to town always passed through the county seat, and in those moments, she would wonder if Bai Tan had ever come back.

After all, this was Bai Tan’s hometown. According to their local customs, people would return to the ancestral hall for festivals and holidays.

She had run into Lin Ye several times. While leaving the high-speed rail station, Lin Ye would be pulling his suitcase, getting on the bus back to the county seat. His silent demeanor was completely different from his previous arrogant and flashy self.

That year in her senior year, Lin Ye wanted to continue down the path of a student athlete. He led his team to another competition, but that match was particularly brutal. He had been a provincial runner-up before, yet he was crushed by an obscure, unknown team. In the game, he was hit and fell, and his hand was directly crushed, which caused nerve damage. The word was that he could never play basketball again, and in the end, he only went to a regular vocational school.

At the time, some people at school were discussing it, and Gu Zhu happened to overhear a few sentences as she passed by.

Did it make her happy? There was a little bit of satisfaction.

She still remembered the messages he sent to Gu Baozhi and how Gu Baozhi had run to Bai Tan’s house because of them. She never knew what was said in that conversation, but after it, she never saw Bai Tan again.

For nine whole years, whether in the familiar places of the past, the bustling and lively capital, or the cities she occasionally traveled to in the north and south, she never ran into the person she wanted to see.

She thought perhaps they were destined to meet but not destined to be together.

Time had run forward, leaving her memories and emotions from her youth almost entirely behind. So much so that she almost convinced herself that she no longer missed a certain person, and perhaps, no longer liked a certain person.

That feeling of having her revenge come true had long since faded away in her tedious and boring life, unable to cause any ripples.

“Dr. Gu and Dr. Meng are young and promising. At such a young age, you’ve already published so many core papers and have countless patents. It’s truly admirable. I’d like to toast you both. Please drink as you wish, I’ll finish mine!”

From the moment she saw Bai Tan to the moment she sat at the dinner table, Gu Zhu’s thoughts had wandered far away. She was nudged by Meng Yuanyi’s hand and snapped out of her daze. She raised her glass and clinked it against the other person’s. “You’re too kind,” she said before downing the drink in one gulp.

Meng Yuanyi quickly swapped her own shot glass with Gu Zhu’s. She had already secretly switched to bottled water when no one was looking and was about to do the same for Gu Zhu. But Gu Zhu was lost in thought and didn’t catch her hint. Someone had moved the lazy Susan, and another full shot glass of liquor was poured for her.

Meng Yuanyi leaned in and whispered, “Drink less. The general manager just said that the alcohol is just to liven things up, and it’s okay if you can’t drink. Don’t be so sincere.”

Gu Zhu drank the water from her teacup to wash away the spicy taste of the liquor in her mouth. Hearing that, she was stunned for a moment and subconsciously looked at the woman sitting next to the head of the table. To her surprise, the other person was also looking at her. Their eyes met, and she felt a little dazed again, as if the effects of the liquor she had just drunk were washing over her.

She groggily wondered if Bai Tan remembered her.

Had she thought about her all these years? Did she want to see her too?

After all this time, did she still like her?

Gu Zhu didn’t want to admit it, but she was a little resentful. In high school, they had agreed to go to university together. She still went to that city they had planned, holding onto a feeling of “maybe” and “perhaps,” but it turned out to be an empty dream from beginning to end.

But she thought, what right did she have to resent her?

She was the one who had first suggested they break up, and she was the one who had run away first. When she was found out, she was still the one who was powerless.

And what about Bai Tan? She had to bear the blame that they should have shared, and she was forced to transfer schools again during the most crucial year of high school.

For a cowardly and timid person like her, being disliked was probably normal, right?

What right did she have to ask someone else to remember her or think about her?

Someone poured her another drink. Without realizing it, she had another few glasses, which even Meng Yuanyi couldn’t stop.

When the banquet ended, she stood up and stumbled. Luckily, Meng Yuanyi caught her. Gu Zhu’s mind was still somewhat conscious. She tried to hold on, forcing herself not to look so disheveled. With her practiced smile, she said goodbye to the others in a gentle tone.

By then, she couldn’t clearly see Bai Tan’s expression. As she left, she said in a polite but distant tone, “Thank you for the hospitality, General Manager Bai.”

Once in the elevator, Gu Zhu’s shoulders finally slumped. Meng Yuanyi carried her, muttering all the way, back to the hotel room.

“Is your brain still working? Do you want to throw up? Do you need some water?”

“I’m fine. I just need some water.”

After putting her on the hotel sofa, Meng Yuanyi shook her sore arms. Even though Gu Zhu was thin, she still had some weight. She went to pour her a glass of water and felt relieved only after watching her slowly drink it.

Looking at her rare drunken state, Meng Yuanyi sighed with emotion. In the past, it was always the two of them who got drunk together, or she was the one who got more drunk. This time, she was still sober. With a turn of her mind, Meng Yuanyi took out her phone. “Ms. Gu Zhu, we are now entering the interrogation phase. I will ask, and you will answer. You must be completely honest, or you will face cruel punishment. Do you understand?”

Gu Zhu pushed the loose strands of hair from her forehead back and covered her eyes with her palm. Under the influence of alcohol, her thoughts were slow. She spoke, her tone drawn out. “I’m just drunk, not dumb.”

Okay, she could still think logically. It seemed she was just dizzy, not completely drunk.

Meng Yuanyi had to put away her phone, but her curiosity still got the better of her. “Do you know that General Manager Bai?” Gu Zhu might have been able to hide it from others, but she and Gu Zhu had known each other for nine years. Plus, she was close by. Gu Zhu’s momentary shock and subsequent daze at the dinner table were not lost on her. Meng Yuanyi had almost never seen anyone affect Gu Zhu’s emotions like this.

As she had said, Gu Zhu, who had thrown herself into her studies and research, was like a robot whose emotions were always difficult to show.

Suddenly, there was a person like this, and she couldn’t help but be curious.

“Who?” Gu Zhu seemed to not immediately understand who she meant by “General Manager Bai” and asked subconsciously. After a moment of delayed processing, the information came back, and she answered her own question. “Oh, you mean Bai Tan?”

“I know her. I used to like her.”

Meng Yuanyi: “!” For a moment, she didn’t know whether to be more shocked that Gu Zhu liked someone or that she had just come out to her like that. In the end, she stammered, “You won’t try to assassinate me after you wake up tomorrow, right?”

Gu Zhu didn’t make a sound, still leaning back against the sofa. The light from a small lamp on the hotel ceiling fell on her, but her expression was hidden in the dark, covered by her hand. All that could be seen was the straight line of her mouth.

Meng Yuanyi quietly went to pour her another glass of warm water. Just as she put it down, Gu Zhu seemed to have composed herself and lowered her hand. The light in her eyes flickered as she looked at Meng Yuanyi.

“Yuanyi, would you get back together with an ex you broke up with nine years ago?”

Meng Yuanyi subconsciously thought about it. Just thinking about a certain person’s arrogant face saying, “Let’s get back together,” made her heart seize up, and she wanted to punch him. Even though she was the one who initiated the breakup back then, she wouldn’t allow her prime years to be tainted again.

So she choked a little and said, “Uh… you don’t have to be so hard on yourself.”

Seeing Gu Zhu’s lowered eyelids, Meng Yuanyi’s heart softened for a moment. Not all exes are insignificant, right? A person who could still hold a place in Gu Zhu’s heart must be very outstanding. And the person at the banquet tonight was indeed worthy of that praise.

A 27-year-old general manager of a company, rumored to have a good family background but who had worked her way up one step at a time. She had a great appearance and was polite and measured in her speech. In the conversations tonight, when some professional terms were mentioned, she was able to keep up, which showed that her title wasn’t just for show and that she truly understood the project they were discussing.

“Zhu, when it comes to love, you have to ask your own heart. You have to think, do you really still like her? Or does she still like you?”

So much time had passed. Meng Yuanyi was a realist and wasn’t optimistic, but this was Gu Zhu’s business. She couldn’t interfere and could only offer her own opinion. “Get some rest early. We have to go to the company for a site visit and discussion tomorrow.”

“Okay.” She got up to see her off. As she closed the door, she said softly, “Thank you.”

Perhaps it was the effect of the alcohol, but Gu Zhu quickly finished tidying up and closed her eyes on the bed, only to fall into a long dream.

She dreamed of them meeting.

She dreamed of them performing together.

She dreamed of them saying they would go to university together and live together.

She dreamed of that afternoon on her birthday when they did something bold.

She also dreamed of… that winter when she said they should break up.

That lingering, unyielding winter was always raining, wrapped in a cold wind, as if it wanted to drown her in the cold.

Gu Zhu was woken up by the cold and realized that the air conditioning in the hotel room was too cold. She had forgotten to turn it up.

At this moment, she suddenly remembered the time she went to see the psychologist. When the doctor asked her, “Why are you so afraid of the rain?” her long-thought-out answer was:

“Probably because every time it rains, I feel very ugly.”

She could never forget the version of herself that day who had said they should break up.

On one side was Gu Baozhi, whom she couldn’t leave behind, and on the other was the person she couldn’t let go of but had to break up with.

Not only had she said they should break up, but she had also wanted Bai Tan to wait for her.

She was like a greedy clown who wanted to have her cake and eat it too, unable to make a promise yet wanting to remain connected.

So she thought that when Bai Tan came to her senses, she would probably also dislike the person she was.

She would hate this insatiable person, hate this person who only brought her misfortune.

It was only normal to pretend not to know a person you disliked, or to simply forget them.

She clutched her chest and began to feel the lingering pain again, like an old illness recurring, and her suffering became uncontrollable.

She struggled to take out the medicine from her bag that she hadn’t taken in a while and swallowed it with the cold water on the table. Inadvertently, she caught a glimpse of herself in the full-length mirror in the living room. A pale woman with long hair down to her waist stood there in a disheveled state.

Gu Zhu slowly touched her face and belatedly thought:

That seventeen-year-old me was already gone.

…

The next morning, when Meng Yuanyi left her room, she saw a person who had already packed up and was just leaving as well. She saw that the corners of Gu Zhu’s eyes were a little red, guessing that she hadn’t slept well last night. She didn’t mention what had happened and greeted her naturally. “I ordered an iced Americano. Want one?”

“Okay, thank you.”

After breakfast, they took the special car provided by Xingning to their destination.

This time, only two people from the project and R&D departments were there to greet them. The person who had appeared yesterday was like a fleeting moment, like a dream she had by chance.

For the whole morning, they discussed the project’s application, technical support, and future prospects. They also went to the company to inspect the current R&D progress and investment status. The whole day passed by in a blur.

When Gu Zhu returned to the hotel, she couldn’t help but feel a little relieved. This business trip was mainly to understand the situation of the company. Whether they would purchase the patent or renegotiate the terms of cooperation was not something that would happen overnight. It would probably be something they would have to discuss further after they got back.

If all went well, this business trip could end early. She looked at the train tickets back to her hometown. With Meng Yuanyi there for the next few days, it wouldn’t be a problem for her to leave early.

She could go back and see her Auntie and Chang Xiling. Since Gu Baozhi had transferred to the hospital in the capital, they hadn’t been back. So, it had been over two years since they had seen each other.

Then, she also had to go and visit Su Li. She wondered if she would be mad that she hadn’t been to see her in so long.

Every year, she would save up some words, important or not, and say them to her.

It was as if it was compensation for her negligence all those years ago.

Her thoughts were aimlessly wandering when the doorbell suddenly rang. Thinking it was Meng Yuanyi, she slowly got up from the sofa. When she opened the door, she found it wasn’t the person she had expected.

Bai Tan stood at the door, holding a takeout box from somewhere. Seeing her frozen at the door, she curved her eyebrows and smiled at her. “You haven’t eaten yet, have you? Let’s eat together.”

Unconsciously, she let go of the door handle, allowing the person at the door to come in.

“I brought a few dishes. They should be to your liking.”

The person who had pretended not to know her yesterday was now walking into her room and acting as familiar as if they had never been apart, which made Gu Zhu feel confused. She watched Bai Tan naturally set the food on the coffee table and invite her to come and eat. She wanted to ask her something but didn’t dare to speak.

Gu Zhu sat on the sofa, watching the person with a light smile on her face describe the dishes she had brought. For a moment, it felt like she was back in Shanghai during the summer camp when she was seventeen, and Bai Tan had taken her out to eat. It was just like this.

She gripped the chopsticks that had been placed in her hand. Under the other person’s expectant gaze, she lowered her eyelids and took a bite of the fried spring roll that she had picked up for her.

Coconut chicken soup, clay pot stew, fried spring rolls. The flavors were still so familiar.

If she remembered correctly, driving from Yue City to Shanghai would take at least two hours.

She was still in a confused daze, thinking about something, when the person across from her spoke softly. “I remember you used to really like eating…”

Seeing her look over, the person speaking paused subconsciously. Under her gaze, Bai Tan continued the words she hadn’t finished. “Do you still like it?”

It was as if she wasn’t asking about the dishes but was asking her:

—Do you still like me?

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