Chapter 1315 - 866: She Wants Love, Not a Marriage Cloaked in Love

Sichuan people love mahjong, and aside from his high skills in gardening, Su Chengji also considers himself somewhat proficient at mahjong.

Playing mahjong might really be related to talent. Su Chengji doesn’t particularly enjoy playing, but when he does, it goes smoothly. Yin Shixiu sits upstream from Su Chengji, watching his father effortlessly take the upstream cards from Yin Shixiu. It makes him anxious; he wants to stretch his neck and peek at Su Chengji’s cards to then warn Yin Shixiu to be cautious.

As Su Chengji gets better at playing cards, Bai Fengmao’s face gets increasingly darker at the table.

Bai Fengmao is losing badly. Bai Sixian, watching him, feels a bit pitiful and mumbles to Su Chengji to take it easy, which gives Su Chengji a headache. He leans over to Bai Sixian’s ear and whispers, "I don’t know how to take it easy... How do I do it?"

This makes Bai Sixian rather anxious...

The only ones who could help Bai Fengmao are the upstream players, but Bai Sidong and his wife, who are sitting across, have such good luck that there’s really no controlling it. Even if Bai Sidong wanted to help Bai Fengmao, there’s still Yin Shixiu and Su Chengji between them.

Yet Bai Fengmao never thought of asking those below him to take it easy. He’s been honest his entire political career. Ending up in such a situation just to play mahjong would surely be embarrassing if word got out!

Yin Shixiu, on the other hand, is not a mahjong veteran, but he can play a few rounds. He’s always in a neither winning nor losing state, which Su Xiaomeng finds quite amazing. She even praises Yin Shixiu, "Not bad, big boss."

"Why not play a couple of rounds yourself?"

Su Xiaomeng grins at Yin Shixiu, showing her teeth, "I’ll pass."

Yin Shixiu presses his lips together and continues to accompany the elder players for a few rounds.

Initially, Su Xiaomeng didn’t quite understand, but after standing to the side for over half an hour, she figured it out.

Yin Shixiu is new to mahjong, but he’s no dull brain; he’s an old hand when it comes to strategy.

In mahjong, luck is important, but the experts don’t rely on luck to win in the end. It all boils down to "strategy."

Fortunately, Yin Shixiu is always very gentle with his family, not a superficial gentleness but genuine care.

He played strategically to help Su Chengji.

When a son-in-law and father-in-law sit at the same mahjong table, they can treat each other equally, just like Su Chengji and Bai Fengmao, or they can be like Yin Shixiu, using a little strategy to win the elders’ favor.

What he did... should be perfectly seamless.

Anyway, Xiao Meng couldn’t quite tell he was playing strategically.

After finishing the mahjong game, Bai Sidong leisurely approached Yin Shixiu, "How much did you lose?"

"Not much, just under three hundred."

"Tsk, tsk, how much did you lose by helping?"

"Uncle, what are you talking about? If my father-in-law hears it, it would be so awkward."

Bai Sidong gave Yin Shixiu a light pat on the shoulder and chuckled, "I believe you, Yin Shixiu, don’t win much playing mahjong, but losing money... come on, sometimes business deals in the business world are way more complex than mahjong, aren’t they?"

"They can’t be compared."

Yin Shixiu humbly replied.

Su Xiaomeng popped her head in, "Uncle, look... what’s cousin doing sitting there alone?"

Bai Sidong looked over and saw Bai Shunyuan sitting alone by the floor-to-ceiling window, seemingly lost...

"Where’s Xiao Jin?" Bai Sidong asked.

Xiao Meng blinked her eyes and learned from Bai Shunyuan after a few people went downstairs that Xiao Jin had already left.

Su Jin rented a small apartment downtown on her own, neatly and cleanly maintained. When Xiao Meng asked Bai Sixian if Su Jin had found a job yet, Bai Sixian also didn’t know because, according to Su Jin’s plans, she apparently hadn’t decided to settle down and find a job yet.

Before Xiao Meng left the Su family, she kept pestering Bai Shunyuan, trying to extract some gossip about him and Su Jin from his mouth, but unfortunately... it wasn’t very successful; Bai Shunyuan left even earlier than she did.

When returning in the afternoon, Su Xiaomeng suggested to Yin Shixiu,

"Let Xiao Jin work at your company. With talents like Xiao Jin, surely your company can’t say you’re not in need?"

"Hmm..."

Seeing Yin Shixiu still wavering and considering, Su Xiaomeng squinted her eyes, "What’s your deal? I remember you said before, didn’t you? First-class elites, the Yin Family always needs, that’s why you hold campus recruitment every year..."

Yin Shixiu suddenly laughed.

"What’s so funny?"

"I remembered when you traded Ren Yixuan to me for sponsorship of your dance club’s campus performance."

Su Xiaomeng gave him a cold look, seeing him helplessly lost in memory, she raised her hand and smacked him hard,

"I’m talking business, stop laughing! Isn’t someone like Xiao Jin outstanding? Or are you saying you have some prejudice against Xiao Jin?"

"I’d never dare have prejudice; she’s indeed excellent. But what is the relationship between her and Bai Shunyuan? What’s the issue there? This should be clarified. Otherwise, putting them in the same company... Are they both willing?"

Yin Shixiu remarked.

Su Xiaomeng thought about it and it seemed to have some truth, so Xiaomeng could only touch her chin, speculating on her own,

"They dated, broke up, met again, and then parted on bad terms again... Based on what I know about Su Jin and the circumstances when Su Jin and Bai Shunyuan met years ago, Xiao Jin shouldn’t like Bai Shunyuan’s type... Bai Shunyuan is bossy and childish..."

"Hiss... Could it be that Bai Shunyuan is really a romantic? Went through countless trials we know nothing of and softened the heart of our pure-hearted Xiao Jin?"

"No no no, then why didn’t they get along again... Our Xiao Jin is definitely not someone who’s fickle in love..."

"Oh! Oh oh oh oh oh! I know!" Su Xiaomeng quickly said to Yin Shixiu, "Bai Shunyuan must have done something bad again! My cousin is a fickle person! What romantic... Maybe—"

"Stop, stop, stop!"

Yin Shixiu hurriedly stopped Su Xiaomeng’s wild imagination, taking a deep breath, "Speak, but don’t distract me, I’m driving."

"Oh oh, sorry."

Su Xiaomeng touched her chin and kept pestering Su Jin on the phone after getting home, but Su Jin’s lips couldn’t be pried open by just anyone; a few words from her would make you embarrassed to ask more.

This matter between the two of them had been clawing at Su Xiaomeng’s curiosity for a long time.

She thought most love in this world was like hers with Yin Shixiu, sparks flying under chance circumstances, a pot of drama catching people off guard.

Little did she know, there is also a kind of love filled with rationality and wisdom, growing slowly over meticulously calculated time, shaped by repeated violent collisions, and that was Su Jin’s love...

She wanted love, not a marriage cloaked with the robe of love.

————

After the New Year’s Day holiday, as the Spring Festival approached, most companies began their busiest period of the year, but universities were different; this was when teachers were supposed to be more relaxed.

Outlining the scope of final exams for everyone seemed like a very serious matter, but according to the grade group’s exam scope given to students, Su Xiaomeng laughed first.

"Teacher, what kind of key points are you outlining? Isn’t this the entire book!"

Su Xiaomeng touched her nose, cleared her throat, and earnestly told them, "Yes! So everyone, do your best!"

"..."

The whole classroom was filled with waves of lamentations from students.

Su Xiaomeng found it amusing, remembering her own time at A University as a student, where at the end of the semester, the scope given by teachers was basically like giving nothing, and she had to start reviewing and preparing for exams, only to tragically find that this wasn’t reviewing, it was more like previewing plus self-study.

During the two-week examination period, Su Xiaomeng was free; aside from invigilation duties, she was basically just joking around in the office.

Chi Lun, however, was the exact opposite; at the semester’s end, before the Chinese New Year, the professor had endless seminars to attend. Not to exaggerate, Su Xiaomeng hadn’t seen Chi Lun for a whole week...

In fact, Su Xiaomeng truly envied other teaching assistants. Their professors would generally arrange tasks for them well in advance before getting busy ...

Her professor, however, once busy, completely forgot about her existence; when she messaged to ask about work, he would reply half a day later, finally getting a reply from this big professor, with just two words: anything.

Anything? Anything!

What kind of nonsense is anything!

Su Xiaomeng returned home and complained to Yin Shixiu, "I feel like our professor doesn’t value me; will I not have the chance to get promoted in the future?"

Yin Shixiu leisurely said,

"How about I find a way to move Chi Lun from above you?"

"You have a way?"

Yin Shixiu looked at her with a slight smile, that expression...

"I’ve long thought about removing him from above you."

"Cough cough..." Xiao Meng instantly felt a chill down her back and quickly waved her hand, "Well, well, I think he’s just busy for a while; it’s actually quite relaxed working under him, yes."

"Tsk tsk, but seeing how much you want to be his assistant, I feel even more uneasy and think maybe it’s best to replace him."

Su Xiaomeng immediately glared at him fiercely, "Yin Shixiu, try touching him and see!"

Yin Shixiu raised his eyebrows immediately upon hearing this.

"Haha, just kidding, just kidding."

Xiao Meng hurriedly tried to appease Yin Shixiu, thinking it not worth causing discord between them over a momentary quip on a perfectly good weekend.

Sitting beside Yin Shixiu, just about to enjoy some afternoon sunlight, Xiao Meng’s phone inconveniently rang, and upon looking—Xiao Yan.

She picked up the phone,

"Xiao Yan? What’s up?"

As soon as Xiao Meng spoke, Yin Shixiu immediately got alert in his heart, though his face remained unchanged, but his ears were upright.