Chapter 363: Silent Love

“I was a little worried at first, and I even mentioned it to Weiyi. But he’s very sure about our relationship, and seeing how his parents treat me, I’m not worried about it anymore.”

At this point, Zhou Ruoyu’s face flushed inexplicably. She leaned close to Jiang Ruan’s ear and whispered, “Sis, we’re each other’s first love, and we both gave each other our first time. I believe he’ll cherish me.”

Hearing Zhou Ruoyu’s words, Jiang Ruan froze for a moment. Then, unbidden, her mind drifted to her own first time.

To be honest, her experience that night was hard to put into words. As her heart had gradually been filled by Gu Heng, every time she recalled that night, it brought a completely new feeling.

‘It’s just…’

‘I wonder how many times he’d done it before that night.’

Jiang Ruan’s mind raced, and she felt an inexplicable pang of jealousy.

“Sis?”

“What are you thinking about?”

Seeing that her cousin had zoned out mid-conversation, Zhou Ruoyu couldn’t help but wave a hand in front of Jiang Ruan’s eyes.

“Nothing.”

Jiang Ruan snapped out of it and shook her head gently.

“Hehe…”

“So, have you and your boyfriend…”

Zhou Ruoyu winked at Jiang Ruan, her expression full of gossip.

“That’s grown-up business. Kids shouldn’t ask.”

Jiang Ruan pursed her pink lips, not answering Zhou Ruoyu’s nosy question.

“I’m not Jiang Xinjie!”

“I’m not a kid! You’re only a few months older than me!”

Zhou Ruoyu’s cheeks puffed out. “Come on, Sis, don’t be stingy. I just shared with you. I promise I won’t tell Uncle and Aunt!”

“Hey…”

“I didn’t ask you, you know~”

“You were the one who wanted to tell me~”

A small smile played on Jiang Ruan’s lips, and a laugh danced in her cool eyes.

“Sis, did you just call me?”

Just then, Jiang Xinjie came trotting over. He looked at Jiang Ruan with hopeful eyes. “Big Sis, that case of pineapple juice you bought looks super tasty. Can I open one to try later?”

“Jiang Xinjie!”

“How old are you?!”

“Why are you still acting like a child!”

Zhou Ruoyu was right in the middle of gossiping when Jiang Xinjie interrupted her, and she fumed. “All you do for the New Year is eat and drink, you greedy little brat!”

“Isn’t the New Year all about eating and drinking?”

“If I can’t have any, then I can’t have any. No need to be so mean.”

Jiang Xinjie pouted, looking a little hurt.

“Go ahead and have some.”

“You can open anything in the trunk.”

“Drink what you want, eat what you want.”

Seeing Jiang Xinjie’s kicked-puppy expression, Jiang Ruan smiled and shook her head. “Big Sis gave you permission. If anyone tries to stop you, just tell them I said it was okay.”

“Oh yeah!”

“Big Sis rules!”

With Jiang Ruan’s approval, Jiang Xinjie grinned from ear to ear. Before trotting off, he made a face at Zhou Ruoyu.

“You little brat!”

“You’re already 17! How are you still acting like a little kid!”

Furious, Zhou Ruoyu scooped up a handful of snow and threw it at Jiang Xinjie. But he dodged it with a nimble leap, looking even more smug.

“Boys mature later.”

Jiang Ruan said, but her thoughts drifted back to Gu Heng.

She remembered when they first met. Gu Heng was only 18, but his every move exuded a mature air. That contradictory blend of boyishness and maturity had utterly captivated her at the time.

CRACKLE-POP-POP…

Just as Jiang Ruan’s thoughts began to wander, Jiang Xinjie lit the fuse of a string of firecrackers.

In an instant, a continuous chain of flashes and bangs erupted. Countless pieces of red firecracker paper scattered across the ground, forming a natural red carpet for New Year’s Eve.

The whole 10,000-cracker string went on for more than thirty seconds before it finally stopped.

“Let’s move the stuff.”

“Can the four of us carry all this up?”

Jiang Ruan walked over to the Maybach GLS 600. Jiang Xinjie and Zheng Weiyi had already moved everything from the trunk onto the ground, where it formed a small mountain.

“No way the four of us can do it alone.”

Jiang Xinjie said in a mock-serious tone, “Our only option now is to call for backup from the old folks at home!”

“Have some respect!”

The moment the words left Jiang Xinjie’s mouth, Zhou Ruoyu smacked him on the head.

“Good hit.”

“So rude.”

This time, Jiang Ruan didn’t protect Jiang Xinjie, offering a word of encouragement in a soft voice.

“My bad, my bad.”

Seeing his two sisters form an alliance, Jiang Xinjie instantly backed down with an apologetic smile. “So, should I call my dad and the others to come down now?”

“Don’t bother them.”

Zheng Weiyi chimed in at the right moment. “Let’s just take what we can and come back for another trip.”

“So we just leave the rest here?”

Jiang Xinjie looked around. “Should I move some of it back into the trunk?”

“Just call Third Aunt and ask her to keep an eye on it from the window.”

“We’ve all been neighbors here for years. No one’s going to mess with something that obviously belongs to someone and looks this expensive.”

Gazing at the small mountain of New Year’s goods, Jiang Ruan finally realized just how thoroughly Gu Heng had prepared. When she had opened the trunk at the mountaintop villa, she had only seen the top layer, forgetting just how cavernous the trunk of a Maybach GLS 600 really was.

Libyan Ham, Luxury Dried Abalone, Instant Bird’s Nest Soup, a Buddha Jumps Over the Wall Pot Dish…

Cases of Maotai, cases of Rafael, cases of Zhonghua.

All sorts of expensive health supplements, and all kinds of high-end skincare products.

Putting aside the things whose value she couldn’t guess, just the items she could recognize added up to a rough estimate of several hundred thousand yuan.

As Jiang Ruan, her brother, and her cousin carried the items into the house, they quickly drew a crowd of astonished elders.

“Ruan Ruan, did you buy all this?”

Jiang Dong stood at the door with his hands on his hips, his eyes wide. “How much did all this cost? You earn a little money and spend it like there’s no tomorrow. Are we not planning for the future anymore?”

“This is all…”

“…from my boyfriend. He asked me to bring it all back.”

Jiang Ruan hadn’t planned on revealing Gu Heng’s existence to her family. She was afraid that once they knew about him, they would grill her with questions, and she didn’t know how to explain her relationship with him. After all, even she couldn’t clearly define what they were to each other right now.

But now, with all these New Year’s goods laid out before her family, she had no choice but to bring out the big gun—Gu Heng. The total value of these gifts was simply far beyond what she could afford.

“Ruan Ruan has a boyfriend?”

Jiang Ruan’s third aunt asked curiously, “So that Mercedes downstairs belongs to your boyfriend?”

“Mom, that’s a Maybach!”

“A Mercedes is just a little brother next to a Maybach!”

Jiang Xinjie, with his typical teenage mentality, couldn’t resist showing off. “They’re both the GLS model, but a Maybach costs almost as much as two Benzes!”

“You know everything, don’t you!”

“You don’t know what you’re supposed to know, but you know everything you’re not supposed to!”

Hearing Jiang Xinjie’s interruption, his mother shot him a fierce glare. He instinctively ducked his head and hid behind Jiang Ruan.

“My boyfriend lent it to me.”

Jiang Ruan nodded, admitting it openly.

“When did you start dating?”

“How old is he?”

“What’s his personality like?”

“Is he good to you?”

Hearing that his precious daughter had quietly started dating, her father, Jiang Dong, unleashed a barrage of questions like cannonballs.

“We started dating six months ago. He’s about my age.”

“He has a good personality, and he treats me very well.”

Jiang Ruan answered quickly. Seeing her father was about to ask more, she immediately said, “I’m hungry. Everyone’s hungry. Let’s get ready to eat.”

Seeing his daughter forcibly end the conversation, Jiang Dong looked a little disgruntled.

“Brother-in-law, who was it that was laughing at me for being a chatterbox earlier?”

“Now that it’s your turn, I see you’re even chattier than me.”

Jiang Ruan’s uncle slung an arm around Jiang Dong’s shoulder, a gloating look on his face. “Now you know what it feels like to powerlessly watch the little cabbage you spent so many years painstakingly raising get dug up by a pig, huh?”

“Don’t feel bad!”

“Let’s open a bottle of Maotai! I’ll help you drink your sorrows away today!”

As Jiang Ruan’s uncle spoke, his hands naturally reached for the case of Maotai, but Jiang Dong slapped them away halfway there.

“Drink Maotai?”

“Would you even know how to appreciate it?”

Jiang Dong rolled his eyes at him, then turned to open the liquor cabinet. He took out a single bottle of Flying Fairy Maotai. Walking back slowly, he said, “But since Ruoyu’s boyfriend is here, we can drink this tonight.”

“Well now!”

“So generous, brother-in-law!”

Seeing this, Jiang Ruan’s uncle was all smiles again.

Everyone chatted and laughed, and the atmosphere grew even more lively.

Jiang Ruan came out of the bathroom after washing her hands. Looking at the lively and harmonious scene before her, a hint of warmth bloomed in her eyes.

At the same time, she thought about how all of this was thanks to Gu Heng’s quiet efforts, and her heart ached with longing for him even more…