Desperate Pretense At Being Poor

Chapter 90 – Fu Mingheng vs Jiang Qingxu (2)

After the college entrance examination was over.

Jiang Qingxu went to Tong University.

The choice was based on a decision made after considering various aspects.

Tong University is one of the top universities in the country situated in the local district and is convenient in every way.  Based on her results in the examination, she could give it a try.

With this thought, Jiang Qingxu put Tong University as her first choice.

Then she successfully received the admission letter.

And she knew Fu Mingheng also studied there.

Back then, the news report of him being recommended for admission by the school to Tong University was hung for a long time on the bulletin board at the school gate as a celebration announcement.

Moreover, people like Fu Mingheng have a shining presence no matter where they are.

The year that Jiang Qingxu entered university as a first-year student, Fu Mingheng was already a Junior.

Using the money that his parents gave him as the start-up capital, he set up his own business and had already achieved some success.  The returns earned were enough to cover the start-up capital long ago and he was even able to purchase a few apartments for himself.

The distance between the two people was getting wider and wider.

“Qingxu, I heard that you and Fu Mingheng attended the same high school.  Do you know each other?”

“We’re not familiar with each other.”

At that time, Jiang Qingxu replied with a smile.

It was indeed the truth.

The truth without any personal feelings.

At the end of the first year in university, Jiang Qingxu’s department gathered for a meal.

During dinner, someone brought over a senior from another department and he was called Chen Zizhuo.

As soon as Chen Zizhuo entered through the door, he heard a loud noise in the KTV private room.  Then someone pulled him over to sit next to Jiang Qingxu.  Then the teasing and joking started.

It is not a secret that Chen Zizhuo likes Jiang Qingxu.

His family is considered quite rich and he is high-profile when pursuing girls.  The gifts he sends out are generous and basically, most of the people in the department were bought over by him.

The dinner was also a deliberate arrangement made by him.

Jiang Qingxu was not interested in Chen Zizhuo and after several clear rejections, she realized it was still useless.

Although she did not like this kind of matchmaking, she did not want to spoil today’s dinner party.  So after drinking a few glasses of wine, she made an excuse to leave.

Even though everyone did not look very happy, they could not do anything if she wanted to leave.

After saying a few polite words, Jiang Qingxu left.

In order to leave early, she had to drink a lot of wine to placate the others and her head started to feel a little dizzy and a nauseous feeling rose from time to time.

She went to the bathroom to wash her hands and rinse her mouth.  After the side effects had finally subsided a lot, she straightened up to leave.

At this moment, someone suddenly embraced her from behind.  Then a strong stench of alcohol overpowered her and fiery fingers gripped her waist tightly.

Chen Zizhuo had drunk a lot and slurred as he spoke.

“I’ve been pursuing you for a long time.  If you continue putting on such a pure and noble pretense, it won’t be fun any longer.”

Disgusting!

A strong sense of disgust surged and Jiang Qingxu felt her whole body fill up with fiery repulsiveness.

She turned around abruptly, stretched out her hand, and tried to push him away.  Her tone sounded furious.

“Please have some self-respect!”

But this kind of drunk who felt good about himself probably did not understand the word ‘self-respect’ at all.

It seemed he still saw the situation as fun and exciting and his hands tightened further.  With red cheeks and a ruffian-like smile on his face, he started to spout nonsense.

“What is the matter?  If you wanted to refuse, why come to this dinner party?  Don’t you know that I was the one who organized this dinner?”

Jiang Qingxu truly did not know.

Perhaps most of the people in the department did not know about it as well.  Those people who knew about it probably sided with the powerful senior, Chen Zizhuo, who comes from a rich family, so Jiang Qingxu was kept in the dark.

With this thought, her mood turned bad and anger surged up.

Her anger came from many aspects.

From Chen Zizhuo……

From the students in the department who have yet to set foot in society and had already learned to submit to bureaucracy….…..

And also from herself……..

Just at this moment, Chen Zizhuo’s back collar was suddenly grabbed from behind.

The next second, he was forcefully pulled away and stumbled back a few steps.

Chen Zizhuo lifted his head and before he could show his anger, he was kicked in the abdomen and fell to the ground clutching his stomach and moaning in pain.

With one hand resting on the wash basin to support herself, Jiang Qingxu placed the other hand on her stuffy chest and lifted her head.

And then she saw Fu Mingheng’s side profile with a glance.

It was just like many years ago when she first saw Fu Mingheng.  The old and current images overlapped.

It was still that angular jaw and the dark and deep pupils under the narrow and long eyes.  However, the eyes seemed to be much calmer and more profound than when they were young.

He pursed his lips and his whole body was shrouded in anger.

Fu Mingheng glared at Chen Zizhuo and then spat out a word coldly.

“Scram!”

By now Chen Zizhuo’s muddled mind had cleared by more than half and he was about to curse.  However, when he saw Fu Mingheng’s face, all the words became stuck in his throat.

Although Chen Zizhuo plays around, he knew very well who could be provoked and who could not be provoked.

After Chen Zizhuo left, Fu Mingheng turned around to look at Jiang Qingxu in front of him.  A while later, he asked.  “Are you alright?”

It could be because he did not get a reply from her immediately, so he slowed down his tone and called out.

“Jiang Qingxu?”

She was taken aback.

Fu Mingheng knows her name……

***☆☆☆***

Do you really don’t like that person anymore?

Do you really think you can so easily give up on the love that chain-linked your entire youth period just because you don’t think about it or don’t make any effort to remember?

It was when the two people meet again, only then would one realize that those carefree and calm appearances were delusive.

“Do you have your ID card with you?”  Fu Mingheng asked and then explained.  “By now the campus should be locked and if you go back, your name will be recorded.  I remember that Tong University seems to be carrying out strict investigations on late returns recently.  Since you’re a student, you will be given a severe lecture.”

Jiang Qingxu was wearing a coat……..and it belonged to Fu Mingheng.

It was colder at night as compared to daytime.  She only realized that the dress that she wore for the dinner party could not protect her from the cold winds after walking outside for a while.

When she heard Fu Mingheng’s question, she shook her head.

""

“No.  I should have been able to make it back on time if I didn’t encounter the incident today.”

Fu Mingheng stopped, turned around to look at her, and asked in a low voice.

“How about going to my house?’

In his first year at the university, he rented a house nearby the school and moved out to live alone.

Fu Mingheng’s house was very clean.

There were not many things in the house and the décor was very decent.  It was obviously just an ordinary residential building near the school but it was designed to feel like a high-end apartment.

“The bedroom is over there.”

Fu Mingheng took out a bunch of keys from the drawer and threw them over to Jiang Qingxu.  Then he put his hands into his pockets and said casually.

“Don’t worry.  This is the only set of keys to that bedroom.  If you’re worried, you can just lock the door when you go to sleep.”

“What about you?”

‘My sofa is quite big and I have documents to go through tonight.  I’m afraid I have to work through the night.”

The balcony of Fu Mingheng’s bedroom and the balcony of the living room were only separated by a wall.

Jiang Qingxu could not sleep, so she got up and walked to the balcony to enjoy the breeze.

The coolness of the night breeze was just right but it could not suppress the resurgence of feelings in her heart and instead fuelled the fire more and more.

She could not deny the fact that she likes Fu Mingheng.

They met once again like the story of a hero saving the beauty.

It seemed they would be drawn into future interactions because of this incident.

Jiang Qingxu had already long passed the age of harboring secret loves but she knew that this was a very, very good opportunity for her.

However, she was not happy at all.

On the contrary, she felt a little unbearable.

Why does she feel unbearable?

She turned and leaned against the wall with her arms resting on the balcony railing.  She closed her eyes and became thoughtful.

At this moment, a voice floated over from the other side of the wall.

It was Fu Mingheng talking on the phone.

It sounded like work.

He was speaking skilfully on some work terms that Jiang Qingxu was unable to understand.  The tone was decent, and the wordings were appropriate.  Now and then he would speak a few uncommon English words.

It was obvious he had yet to graduate from university but it seemed he is no different from those skilled elites in the workforce.

Speaking of this, Fu Mingheng has always seemed to be such a person.

After hanging up the call, he made another call.

“Ah Lu?”

“Um, I know.”

“Why should we meet?  I’m only 20.  It’s useless to arrange a blind date for me so early.”

“Um, it has been hard on you these days.”

After the call ended, there was the sound of the door being pushed and pulled and then there was silence.

Fu Mingheng should have already gone back to the living room.

She opened her eyes, turned around, and put both hands on the railing as she looked out at the entire city that was covered by the night’s darkness.

The years had been gentle and long.

She suddenly realized what she had been holding on to.

Just like today, when she felt helpless facing Chen Zizhuo’s arrogant attitude and the helplessness she had when the group of people in the department were jeering.

All these were telling her that her strength was not powerful enough.

Regardless of the unsolvable math problem or the plight she faced tonight.

Why is she always the one who needed help from others?

While Fu Mingheng, who was only separated from her by a wall, could already run a company and deal with its business efficiently, she still had no clear plans for her future.

She is indeed secretly in love with Fu Mingheng.

But what is more important is her self-esteem.

She doesn’t want to just yearn for Fu Mingheng.

She wants to be able to stay beside him and stand next to him, shoulder to shoulder.

To Jiang Qingxu, in face of these things, a girl’s love meant nothing.

***☆☆☆***

Because of the incident during the dinner party, there were rumors of Jiang Qingxu and Fu Mingheng spreading around the university.  Some people even speculated that the both of them must have been together a long ago.

But that was not the case.

Although she exchanged contact information with Fu Mingheng after that incident, there was, in fact, very little communication between them except for a few simple polite greetings.

It was like everything had returned to the point where they had not reunited again.

However, the rumors about them intensified.

It even came to the point where it was said that ‘Jiang Qingxu was the selected daughter-in-law of the Fu Family.”

Every day, there would be curious people who secretly inquired about Jiang Qingxu’s class schedule so they could sneak a peek at the rumored person to check out what she looks like.

However, she was not affected by it.

Finally, in the second half of the school year, after passing several qualifying exams and because of her excellent academic performance, she was recommended by the university to study abroad.

On the day she was to fly away, Fu Mingheng, who had never contacted her, sent her a message.

It was only one word……..

“Congratulations.”

Jiang Qingxu suddenly felt like crying.

Fu Mingheng would be graduating soon.

Perhaps when she comes back a few years later, he would have already married.

But she knew that if she stayed behind, even if she could stay by his side, she would always be a little bird hiding under his wings.

If that happens then Jiang Qingxu will regret it for the rest of her life.

She loves this young man and yearns for this young man…….and it has never changed.

Just like the time when she was a freshman year, she watched Fu Mingheng, the outstanding student representative, walked onto the stage to give a speech.

And then, in her junior year, at the same opening ceremony, she also became an outstanding student representative and stood in the same position as Fu Mingheng to give a speech.

Some things never change.

Jiang Qingxu understood what she wanted more.