Chapter 362: Unspoken Love

A biting wind swept past, carrying the smell of gunpowder from firecrackers.

From an environmental standpoint, it was air pollution.

But from an emotional one, it was the warmth and bustle of countless families celebrating their reunion.

Jiang Ruan stepped out of the building’s entrance. She pulled her long down jacket tighter around herself, then took a car key from her pocket and unlocked the Maybach GLS600 parked nearby at the curb.

As the brilliant headlights flashed on, Jiang Xinjie, Zhou Ruoyu, and Zheng Weiyi all instinctively looked over. When they saw that Jiang Ruan had driven back in such a car, their faces filled with shock.

“Sis!”

“Is this your car?”

Jiang Xinjie was seventeen, that prime age for loving cars. The moment he saw the Maybach GLS600’s headlights flash on, his eyes lit up and he trotted over to the car. “Sis, can I open the door and take a look?”

“Go ahead.”

Jiang Ruan was six years older than Jiang Xinjie. When she had gotten into college, he had still been a little brat clinging to her leg, pestering her every day to buy him toys.

“It’s not my car.”

“A friend lent it to me.”

Jiang Ruan glanced at Zhou Ruoyu and Zheng Weiyi beside her and briefly explained where the car came from.

“Boyfriend?”

Zhou Ruoyu asked, a hint of gossip in her expression.

“You could say that.”

Jiang Ruan smiled, giving a vague answer.

Zheng Weiyi stood to one side, his eyes on the imposingly powerful Maybach GLS600, then at the blue license plate on the front with its four consecutive sevens. A few theories began to form in his mind about how Jiang Ruan had managed to become the Deputy Director of Ruyi Airlines’ Cabin Department at the young age of twenty-three.

“You two chat. I’m going to help your brother lay out the firecrackers.”

After speaking to Jiang Ruan and Zhou Ruoyu, Zheng Weiyi took the long string of firecrackers over to an open area, then bent down to unroll it.

“Ruan…”

“I’m so sorry I embarrassed you in front of the family just now.”

As soon as Zheng Weiyi had walked away, Zhou Ruoyu linked her arm through Jiang Ruan’s and said quickly, “You know what Grandma is like. One thing just led to another, and she kept bringing it up, deliberately or not. And since this is Weiyi’s first time visiting our family, he couldn’t bring himself to refuse.”

Zhou Ruoyu looked very guilty as she explained the situation to Jiang Ruan all over again.

Even though the cousins were only a few months apart in age, they had always been very close. Zhou Ruoyu deeply admired and respected her older cousin, Jiang Ruan.

Back when they were in school, whether in middle school or high school, Jiang Ruan had been the undisputed School Goddess. She had countless admirers and received all sorts of gifts nearly every day.

Things like bubble tea, fruit juices, sodas, desserts, and cakes arrived almost nonstop from morning till night. Back then, Zhou Ruoyu was like a little sidekick; Jiang Ruan never touched any of it, so it all ended up in her stomach.

As a result, even though her allowance was very limited back in school, she lived comfortably under her cousin’s care. Life back then was wonderfully sweet.

Over the years, the idea that “sticking with her cousin meant a good life” had become deeply ingrained in her, forging an unbreakable and profound bond between them.

Just a moment ago, when she’d heard back in the house how her cousin had been scammed out of 250,000 yuan after graduation and had tragically missed her chance to join the Southern Airlines Pearl Blue program, she had almost burst into tears listening to her cousin’s story of her struggle to survive.

“It’s okay.”

“I know Weiyi meant well.”

Jiang Ruan wasn’t the type of woman to blame people indiscriminately. She was well aware of their grandmother’s desire to protect her grandchildren, and she understood that for Zheng Weiyi to swallow his pride and make that call meant owing a huge favor. Ultimately, she felt the fault was her own.

“Weiyi seems nice.”

“Refined and polite, simple and sincere.”

“He’s good-looking and tall, too. And he clearly adores you.”

Jiang Ruan watched Zheng Weiyi. After he finished unrolling the long string of firecrackers, he hurried over to help Jiang Xinjie get things out of the trunk. A hint of admiration flickered in her eyes. “How old is he? How long have you two been dating?”

“He’s three years older than me. He’s 26,”

Zhou Ruoyu answered in a low voice. “We’ve been together for four years.”

“Four years?”

“You started dating right after you started college?”

Jiang Ruan looked a little surprised.

“Mhm.”

“He had just started his senior year and was the president of our school’s Student Union.”

A sweet look filled Zhou Ruoyu’s eyes as she recalled the beginning of their romance. “That guy is so sly. I originally thought we met by chance, but it turns out he’d had a secret crush on me for a while. Our ‘chance encounter’ was completely staged by him.”

Seeing the unconcealable sweetness and happiness on Zhou Ruoyu’s face, Jiang Ruan couldn’t help but smile faintly.

With a cousin as beautiful as Jiang Ruan, it was natural that Zhou Ruoyu would be pretty too.

If Jiang Ruan was a cool, unattainable beauty, then Zhou Ruoyu was the sweet, girl-next-door type. Her eyes curved into crescents when she smiled, and her skin was milky-white.

She only seemed to pale in comparison when standing next to Jiang Ruan. In any crowd, she was also a great beauty who would turn many heads.

“What does his family do?”

Jiang Ruan continued to ask, “He came home with you this year, so have you met his parents?”

“His father is a high-level executive at the Yanjing Energy Bureau, and his mother is a professor at Yanjing University of Science and Technology. I met his parents and the rest of his family last year during the Mid-Autumn Festival. They were all very warm and welcoming.”

Zhou Ruoyu didn’t hide anything, telling Jiang Ruan the whole truth.

“His family is that well-off?”

Jiang Ruan paused, her brow furrowing slightly. “And he works for an agency directly under a central ministry… Ruoyu, even though you managed to land a job at the Yanjing tax bureau this year, isn’t the gap between your families a little too wide?”