After The Honest Person Was Discovered For Simultaneously Pursuing Three People - Chapter 93

Chapter 93: Icy Kiss

Less than half a month at home, the New Year arrived quietly. Song Yucong still had no intention of returning, and Tao Ning let him be. However, the fact that “he wasn’t the first man brought home” still bothered him intensely. It wasn’t until the night of the Lunar New Year’s Eve that his grumpy expression finally looked better.

Tao Ning said, “You are the first… man to spend the Spring Festival with me.” His voice trailed off at the last two words, his cheeks, tucked into the fuzzy collar, were slightly red, like a small, white, fluffy animal lured out of its burrow in winter.

Although it was the truth, saying it out loud felt somewhat embarrassing.

The self-built house’s insulation was poor, especially in the mountains. Even with a warm charcoal fire burning inside, it was still a bit cold. Song Yucong, standing in front of Tao Ning, heard this and felt a blush travel from the tips of his ears all the way down to the base of his neck. He stared intently at Tao Ning’s face. When he realized what he was doing, he quickly turned his head and snorted, “Smooth talker.”

He then pretended to be disgusted and said, “It’s freezing in this countryside house, my face is turning red… Country bumpkin, go find me another piece of clothing to wear.”

Tao Ning smiled, placing a bowl of cabbage stewed with glass noodles on the table. “Mhm, I’ll get it for you later. Sit down first. It’s time for the New Year’s Eve dinner.”

“Coming, coming, the Snowball Meatballs are here.” Tao Yuan came out of the kitchen quickly with the last dish. The snowball meatballs, symbolizing reunion, were placed right in the center of the dining table. She beamed, “Why are you all standing around dumbfounded? Hurry up and sit down to eat. I bought a lot of firecrackers for the Spring Festival this year. After dinner, you, Ning Ning, take Little Song and Xiao Meng to play with them. Your second aunt called me to play cards. You little stinker, don’t you dare call me back on this festive day!”

“Okay.”

Song Yucong scoffed softly, “Him, looking all sickly, taking me to set off firecrackers? Tsk, I bet he’ll be scared to tears by the noise.”

But after a second thought, he imagined the boy sweetly begging him to light the sparkler he held, calling him “Young Master” in a soft voice, with a beautiful and sweet smile. Or perhaps hugging him, complaining tearfully, “The firecrackers are so scary,” and actively burying himself in his arms—things like that.

Song Yucong’s heart fluttered slightly, and he decided that setting off firecrackers, a boring activity, wasn’t so bad after all.

However, Tao Yuan heard his remark and immediately burst into laughter. She clapped her hands and said, “Our Ning Ning dared to set off torpedoes to bomb fish in the lake when he was eight. He kept playing even after scaring the other kids into crying, ha ha ha ha. He’s very bold, Little Song. Just relax and play with Ning Ning.”

Song Yucong: “…”

His fantasy was shattered. Sure enough, that blockhead Tao Ning didn’t know what fear was.

At six o’clock on New Year’s Eve, an overwhelming sound of firecrackers began on time outside, and the television was showing the prelude to the Spring Festival Gala. Laughter and cheer filled the air. Inside the small, self-built house in the deep mountains, “Happy New Year” blessings were exchanged one after another.

Happiness turned out to be so simple.

But the moment a person realizes they are in a whirlwind of happiness usually means the time for parting has arrived. Tao Ning gave Tao Yuan and Xiao Meng the valuable gifts that Song Yucong had asked him to pass on, saying he had carried them back with great difficulty in three suitcases.

Tao Yuan smiled widely and accepted them without hesitation.

Afterward, she pulled Tao Ning aside to nag him about taking good care of himself, slipped him some money, and finally let him go reluctantly.

“Ning Ning, your sister and Xiao Meng will always be your backup. We only want you to be happy. Whatever you want to do in the future, whether it’s staying in the city or coming back to sell lemons with your sister, your sister will support you.”

“Okay.”

On the bus back, Tao Ning handed Song Yucong a wooden box.

“What is it?” Song Yucong was feeling nauseous from the smell inside the bus. He took the box with a frown. When he opened it, inside was a delicate gold bracelet. Pressed underneath the bracelet was a red envelope.

“This is the bracelet that Madam Song gave me when I first visited your home. I gave it to my sister, and she thought it was too valuable and kept it. I’m returning it to you now… Keep it as a memento.” Tao Ning paused. “Below that is the New Year’s money I’m giving you. Song Yucong, Happy New Year.”

“May you be safe and sound every year, and may everything go well.”

Tao Ning smiled slightly. The light from outside the car window shone on him, seemingly melting away the cold of winter. Song Yucong stared at the bracelet and the New Year’s red envelope in his palm, his expression obscured by his lowered head.

Just then, the bus passed through a tunnel, and the surroundings instantly darkened. The person beside him unexpectedly leaned closer, and a slightly icy kiss landed on Tao Ning’s cheek.

The entire process lasted only two or three seconds, too fast for Tao Ning to even react.

“Ahem,” after the stolen kiss, Song Yucong quickly straightened up, turning his head to look at the scenery reappearing outside the window. He coughed a few times awkwardly, his ears flushed red like cooked shrimp or crab. “Then I’ll reluctantly accept it.”

So, he didn’t see the person behind him cover the kissed spot in astonishment, his expression lost in thought, as if remembering something.

Later, Song Yucong often wore a gold necklace, a rather thick one, which made him look less like a young master from a wealthy family and more like a flashy nouveau riche showing off his wealth. If others tried to touch it, he would frighten them into retracting their hand with an icy glare. But these were all later stories.

After returning to school, Tao Ning’s life was completely back on track. His daily routine was a straight line between the classroom and the dormitory, occasionally going to the Olympiad training camp to practice problems. Because he was the only one left in his dormitory, the school arranged for him to move to a new one. Coincidentally, his new roommate was Lu Jue. However, Lu Jue seemed to have lost his former sunny and cheerful demeanor, looking instead full of melancholy.

Tao Ning asked him what had happened. Lu Jue sighed, saying his older brother had been hit by a falling object from a height and was currently in the hospital, unconscious, which worried him greatly.

Recalling the confident and dazzling black-haired young man at the biology lecture that day, Tao Ning also felt concerned and comforted him, saying he would definitely get better.

Lu Jue forced a bitter smile and changed the subject. “Oh, right, Ning Ning, do you know Xu Jun? The former poker-faced student council president who was in our class. After taking a leave of absence, he started his own business and is doing incredibly well now, becoming the boss of a financial company. Alas, people comparing people is truly infuriating. The principal personally invited him from No. 1 High School to our school when he was in his first year of high school. Since then, he’s dominated the top position in the grade for almost three years, and he went from a transfer student to a student council president with real power, meeting many people in high society. Now he’s taken a leave of absence and become a big boss. Alas, Ning Ning, doesn’t that make you angry?”

“Damn it, I forgot, Ning Ning, you’re the first in the grade now! All you top students are infuriating! Let me tell you…”

Tao Ning nodded absentmindedly.

Since returning to school, he had neither heard from Zhao Jingqun nor seen Xu Jun again. These two seemed to have completely vanished from his life. Only occasionally would he hear some news about Xu Jun. Just as Lu Jue said, he was now spirited and likely very successful.

Zhao Jingqun, however, was completely missing in action. Only Sun Lao Er occasionally took him to the hospital for a check-up, but every time they left the hospital, Sun Lao Er’s expression was somewhat heavy. Song Yucong also rarely said unpleasant things recently. On weekends, he would half-threaten and half-negotiate with Tao Ning to take all sorts of supplements.

He seemed to be very busy, and Tao Ning rarely saw him.

Until one day, Tao Ning accidentally saw Song Yucong in the newspaper. The media headline read, “The sudden emergence of a musical prodigy,” “Controversial wealthy singer,” and so on. Later, Tao Ning even saw Song Yucong on television.

On the liquid crystal screen, Song Yucong still maintained a cold expression, dressed in a black, British-style suit with a red tie, with countless camera flashes focused on him. Tao Ning felt as if he was back to the first time he met Song Yucong, indeed arrogant like a peacock.

So, Song Yucong had become a singer. Tao Ning thought. No wonder he had been appearing with a black mask recently, and their meals together were always very discreet and secretive, with more and more bodyguards following him.

“Ning Ning, are you listening?” Lu Jue’s voice rang in his ears. A hand waved in front of him. Tao Ning came back to his senses and slowly nodded.

Lu Jue’s expression had changed from initial melancholy to relief. “Especially that Liu Yuliang. He spread rumors that you cheated back then, fanning the flames and inciting people to curse you. Fortunately, Ning Ning, you were proven innocent, and Liu Yuliang suffered the consequences, getting cursed like a hornet’s nest on the forum. I thought he would be honest after that, but you wouldn’t believe how annoying Liu Yuliang is. He started speaking ill of you again when you were unwell and not at school. Luckily, bad guys get what they deserve. He was recently expelled from school, ha ha ha, and for cheating! It’s so satisfying!”

Hearing this, Tao Ning finally remembered who Liu Yuliang was. He didn’t have much of a reaction to him ultimately being expelled for cheating. After all, to Tao Ning, Liu Yuliang was an insignificant person.

If Lu Jue hadn’t brought it up, he would never have remembered who Liu Yuliang was.

“Damn it, if I don’t leave now, it’ll be dark. Ning Ning, I’m heading off. My brother is still in the hospital…”

It was Friday after school. After packing his bag, Lu Jue said goodbye to Tao Ning and rushed out of the dormitory. After watching him leave, Tao Ning also started packing his clothes to return to the apartment.

He hadn’t forgotten his promise to Zhao Jingqun. He stayed in the dorm from Monday to Friday, and on Saturday and Sunday, he would return to the apartment. Occasionally, when Song Yucong called, he would send a car to pick him up to rest at the Song family’s residence.

Days passed by like this, seemingly very peaceful, but Tao Ning always felt a sense of unease because he had been without any news of the system and Zhao Jingqun for a long time. When he asked Sun Lao Er about the latter, Sun Lao Er was always evasive and unclear.

Gradually, Tao Ning stopped asking.

Until this day, Tao Ning remembered his two phones, turned them on, and was stunned.

On the phone Zhao Jingqun gave him, there was a text message from an unknown number with just two words: Happy New Year. On the phone Xu Jun gave him, he received a message about a change in his bank account balance. A large sum of money, a full two hundred thousand, had suddenly appeared in Tao Ning’s account.

Because of these two text messages, Tao Ning was preoccupied as he walked and almost crashed into a van in front of him.

“Are you blind? How are you looking at the road! If you crash into it, will you pay?!” A few tall, muscular men suddenly got out of the van, their tone very aggressive.

Snapping back to his senses, Tao Ning quickly apologized, “I’m sorry, I didn’t do it on purpose.” He looked down at the taillight of the van, which had no scratches. Thinking about it, he only touched it with his body. The elasticity and softness of human skin and flesh couldn’t possibly damage this kind of metal vehicle.

He was about to point it out to them, but he suddenly realized that these men were surrounding him. Tao Ning then noticed that all of them were wearing masks, their clothing was uniform, they all had fierce tattoos on their wrists, and their expressions were hostile. They glanced at each other and all looked at him.

These people… didn’t seem to be here to hold him accountable for hitting the car!

Without hesitation, Tao Ning immediately turned and ran.

“Damn it! This kid is too sharp! Chase him!”

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