“Love what? This lousy man—even if you married him, he’d chase other women the moment you turned around.” She grabbed her wrist and dragged her out of bed. “Get up!”
“Why? Just let me die here.”
“Not a chance!” Qing Yan had a plan. “How much pocket money do you have left?”
“I don’t want to calculate.”
“You must calculate.” She forcefully handed her paper and pen.
Then sat down to calculate. “Give me the final bill. I need to convert it.”
“Convert what?” Yu Jingwei was confused, her tears forgotten.
Qing Yan spoke with determination, then grabbed the indoor phone. “Our shared money can cover a three-hour international call. We’ll call to curse him out! After that, we’ll forget about it.”
Under her coercion, Yu Jingwei made the call. Initially pleading for her boyfriend to reconsider, when he became impatient, she also erupted, hurling every insult she knew, screaming about his heartlessness, cursing him to be bald, crooked-mouthed, and ear-rotted. She called back repeatedly, only stopping after six hours of cathartic cursing.
The next week, Qing Yan dragged her to work as a café waitress and dishwasher at a Chinese restaurant, working so hard they were sore, finally earning back the phone money.
“Come to think of it, we should thank that lousy man. If not for him, we wouldn’t have become friends.”
Yu Jingwei might have recovered from her pain, but Qing Yan was still indignant.
“Never be fooled by those lousy men again!”
During those four years, they never returned to Taiwan, studying thick books daily, wandering libraries, researching international situations with diplomats, reading numerous newspapers and publications, expanding their professional knowledge. Every holiday, they had to intern at news centers.
That kind of busy was extremely busy—so busy it was suffocating.
She had no extra time or energy to think about people back in Taiwan, including the one she loved and the one who loved her.
They never exchanged phone numbers, and she naturally never called. Gratifyingly, she had achieved her initial goal of participating in the scholarship program. She learned to be patient, feeling herself improving daily, her perspective broadening, her heart becoming more expansive, and her temper smoothed by challenges.
Coming to the United States for the third Valentine’s Day, Yu Jingwei suddenly asked:
“Don’t you want to see Wei Zhanyi?”
“Wei who?” At that time, she was tracking drug smuggling news and didn’t hear clearly.
“Wei Zhanyi.”
Her fingertips hovering over the keyboard suddenly trembled.
“Oh, Wei Zhanyi.” She whispered softly, her heart aching.
Yu Jingwei’s question was like forcibly pulling memories from the depths of her mind.
“You two didn’t break up, right?” She asked strangely.
“Me and him? Break up?” She turned around. “How could you connect me with Wei Zhanyi?”
“Because he was the one who nominated you initially! He used a series of interviews to exchange for your qualification to take the exam.”
She was stunned. “Are you saying this overseas study opportunity was arranged by him?”
“No, no, no. He nominated you to take the exam, but he had no right to influence the results. In fact, you scored first in the written exam, but looked too fierce during the oral exam and dropped to fourth place. Your coming here has nothing to do with him.”
She slowly turned back to her desk, hearing this news with surprising calmness.
Calculating the time, when he proposed the nomination, she hadn’t even awakened yet, not knowing how to move forward together. But he had already insightfully laid the groundwork for everything she needed.
While wanting to protect her with domineering means, he also recognized he couldn’t keep her by his side, so he made this arrangement.
Using his interviews to exchange her exam opportunity. For her, he was willing to sell himself out…
“What’s wrong?” Yu Jingwei saw her in a daze and asked nervously.
“Nothing.” She smiled. “After all, Wei Zhanyi understands me best! If you’d told me this in my first year in America, I would have rushed back to argue with him, loudly telling him I don’t want his charity.”
The first year was the hardest, with various life setbacks almost crushing her, grinding away her edges.
“If you’d told me this in my second year, I wouldn’t have immediately flown back to protest, but I would have resented him for life.”
Yu Jingwei nervously asked, “And now?”
“Not angry, not resentful. Here, I’ve found my career ideal.”
“But I’ve never heard you two communicating.”
“Because we never communicated! I love him, he loves me, but we’re not dating.”
Yu Jingwei was extremely surprised. “Letting go of someone you love isn’t easy, especially for a man like Wei Zhanyi who would tightly guard his treasure.”
“Yes!” She knew best his domineering nature. Letting her go abroad must have been incredibly difficult for him.
But he truly loved her, willing to let her fly away on the wings of her dreams!
This warm feeling accompanied her through her fourth year in America. Among those who initially went abroad on government scholarships, many had decided to stay in the United States, but she grew more eager each day, working harder, hoping to spread her mature wings and return to him sooner.
Drinking orange juice, looking at her large suitcase, Yu Jingwei asked:
“What would you think if Wei Zhanyi came to the airport to meet you?”
She curved a slight smile. “No thoughts.”
“Do you still love him?”
“I’ll only know for sure when I see him. This kind of longing has only wandered in her dreams during her busy life; she didn’t even have extra time to think about him. She couldn’t be sure about love right now.
But during this period, no other man had entered her heart. She couldn’t help but compare men around her to Wei Zhanyi, and any comparison would leave other men in complete defeat.
“Are you looking for a beating?” Ni Hua said fiercely. “Your own sister was suffering terribly on the delivery table, yet you were studying in America, not even thinking about coming back to help me share the burden.”
“I wasn’t the one who caused it, so I shouldn’t need to be there for the ‘warm welcome’, right?”
Yun Rou brewed a pot of cherry jam tea and poured it for her sisters. “How was everything in America?”
“Hard to describe.” She was now calm and collected. “At first, I thought I would die from culture shock and severe depression.”
“You?” Both sisters looked at her skeptically, full of doubt.
Qing Yan was indeed the most fierce member of the Ding family! When she was about to go abroad, they had been worried about American men thinking she was an easy target, afraid she would be taught a lesson.
“That’s right. Surviving alone in a foreign land, I couldn’t get used to the greasy fried chicken, couldn’t cook for myself, studied all day long to the point of forgetting hunger, and had to work part-time because of financial constraints…”
Ni Hua was both angry and heartbroken. “Why didn’t you tell me? I could have sent you money.”
“Are you satisfied with dinner? Shall I make you some fried sauce noodles?” Yun Rou was equally concerned.
“I went to learn how to endure hardship!” Qing Yan clapped her hands, signaling mission accomplished. “Anyway, I made it through.”
“Our little sister has finally grown up,” Ni Hua said with a smile.
Look at her, her eyes brimming with confidence, her movements elegant. When she talked about work, her ambition was still strong, but no longer impulsively hot-headed. Her drive had transformed into depth and contemplation in her eyes, learning to think before acting.
“So… what about that man?” Yun Rou broke the silence first.
“Who?”
“Wei Zhan Yi.”
She smiled. “Oh, I’ll go see him in a couple of days.”
“Just see him?” Her sisters teased.
