Chapter 249: I Won’t Break My Word This Time
After walking a few steps, Jiang Ning switched back to the black long straight hair.
She stuffed the pink wig to Xie Jingyan.
“Wait, give me the keys to your apartment.” Xie Jingyan spoke up.
Jiang Ning looked at him puzzledly: “What do you need the keys for?”
Xie Jingyan said straightforwardly: “I’ll take Yuan Yuan to buy some groceries. We’ll eat at your place tonight. Yuan Yuan has been clamoring to see you these past couple of days.”
“You’ve just come back from seeing Wei Jin, and my dinner is almost ready too.”
He reached out to Jiang Ning, looking like he wouldn’t let Jiang Ning leave without giving him the keys.
Jiang Ning was in a hurry, so she could only toss the keys to him: “Alright, I’ll head out first.”
Xie Jingyan caught the keys and spun the keyring around his index finger once, watching Jiang Ning leave.
……
Lake Heart Park
Jiang Ning arrived here right at four o’clock.
Today was a workday, so there were very few people strolling in the park.
By rights, Jiang Ning should be going to work too.
But a few days ago, that group of directors got busted. They played dirty, exposed too much scandalous information, had a terribly bad influence, and all got banned.
As a result, the drama Wei Jin was filming directly halted production. The film crew’s director is still in the detention center right now. Rumor has it he’s pulling strings but still can’t get out.
Jiang Ning figured Xie Jingyan must have gotten involved.
For example, those suddenly exposed bombshells—all the directors present at the time were implicated.
And Director Hu, who yanked off Jiang Ning’s wig, is said to be facing a fixed-term imprisonment of more than five years but less than ten……
Her gaze shifted, and she spotted Wei Jin wearing black cotton-padded clothes on a long bench.
He was wearing a hat and mask, gazing calmly at the lake surface.
No one knew what he was thinking.
Jiang Ning walked up.
She lightly patted his shoulder, a smile rising on her face: “Teacher Wei.”
Wei Jin turned around. Seeing Jiang Ning, he took off his mask, revealing a complete handsome face, his lips unconsciously curving into a smile: “You’re here.”
Jiang Ning nodded and sat down beside him: “Of course. You asked me to come—how could I not? This is the best opportunity to get close to you. Others beg for it and can’t get it.”
Wei Jin chuckled amusedly, then took off his hat, revealing fiery red hair underneath, exceptionally passionate and flamboyant.
Jiang Ning’s eyes widened in surprise: “You dyed your hair back red?”
Originally, for the film crew’s shoot, to fit the character setting, Wei Jin had dyed it black.
Now it was back to a flamboyant red head, somewhat overlapping with his eighteen-year-old self.
Wei Jin ran his fingers through his hair and smiled at Jiang Ning: “Doesn’t red look good?”
Jiang Ning looked at his face and couldn’t find any flaw, nodding honestly: “It looks good. You were suited for red to begin with.”
Jiang Ning rubbed her chin, thinking of a descriptor: “Like the sun, always seeming full of vitality.”
Wei Jin couldn’t help but laugh, though a closer look showed his smile was somewhat bitter.
The Wei Jin from ten years ago was indeed always full of vitality, but the Wei Jin after ten years had a heart that had rotted and twisted.
Only with Jiang Ning could he get a moment of peace.
“Miss Tan, do you believe in love at first sight?” Wei Jin asked.
He turned his head, the cold wind tousling his red hair, as if veiling his misty eyes.
Jiang Ning narrowed her eyes, finding she couldn’t see him clearly. The current Wei Jin seemed wrapped in a layer of fog, nothing like the him from before.
Jiang Ning withdrew her gaze, her tone serious: “No, so-called love at first sight is just lust at first sight.”
Wei Jin narrowed his eyes and rubbed his somewhat numb face from the cold with his hand, his lips slightly quirked: “No, the first time I saw you, my heart moved with you. You might have forgotten—we met when we were kids.”
Confusion surfaced in Jiang Ning’s eyes: “We met as kids?”
Wei Jin nodded: “Yeah, your childhood was my childhood too. But… you probably forgot me already. Yet when you passed that alley, I recognized you at a glance.”
The confusion in Jiang Ning’s eyes turned to shock: “You…”
“Tan Qing… oh no, Jiang Ning, the moment we met at the film crew, I knew it was you. Whether you’re alive or dead, whether you’re still in this skin, or even if you’ve changed your name, my heart still beats fiercely for you.” After Wei Jin finished, he let out a long breath.
After a long while, Jiang Ning chuckled: “Thanks for liking me, but I already have someone I like in my heart. I know you’re not stupid, so you should know why I’m approaching you. Wei Jin, turn back—it’s the shore. I don’t want us to end up on opposite sides as enemies.”
Jiang Ning cherished every friendship. Even if they couldn’t be lovers, Jiang Ning didn’t want to fall out with Wei Jin.
Wei Jin smiled bitterly: “You’re still as direct as ever in refusing, huh, Jiang Ning. If who came first matters that much, then I should…”
At this point, Wei Jin paused.
He seemed to see that former grubby little boy standing by the roadside, looking enviously at the little girl in a pretty princess dress sitting in a luxury car.
He swallowed the words alive.
Even with time passing, it seemed he still had a world of difference from Jiang Ning.
He could only cling to this pathetic affection.
Even thinking of fighting for power afterward to give himself a chance to compete.
But no one told him.
Why the entertainment industry was so filthy.
Why people’s hearts were so filthy.
He’d been in the industry for ten years.
Every step was so exhausting.
Wei Jin turned to meet Jiang Ning’s clean eyes.
All those words turned into a heavy sigh, scattering with the cold wind.
He stood up and walked a few steps forward.
Jiang Ning immediately followed: “Wei Jin, you haven’t given me the answer yet. Continuing to work for the tiger will have no good end. I hope you can help me get the evidence of Sui Youran harming others. I…”
She hadn’t finished speaking.
Wei Jin, standing in front of her, suddenly turned around and reached out to hug her.
Jiang Ning froze in place, her hands hanging at her sides, making no move.
“Okay.”
He agreed.
Jiang Ning pursed her lips and struggled a bit: “Since you promised, let me go.”
“As a friend, can’t you let me hug you? This might be the closest I’ll ever get to you in this lifetime.” Wei Jin said.
Jiang Ning sighed helplessly: “Wei Jin, the girl right for you just hasn’t appeared yet. And it’s been so many years. I’m not as good as you think. Don’t be so obsessed—it puts a lot of pressure on me.”
Wei Jin chuckled lightly and released Jiang Ning. The fog between his brows seemed to dissipate a bit, his eyes exceptionally bright. He shook his head gently, his smile as flamboyant as ever: “You don’t understand the feeling of love at first sight. I don’t even know where this obsession to have no one but you from the first sight came from. So the eighteen-year-old Wei Jin swore he’d never marry if he couldn’t marry Jiang Ning, that he’d stay pure for Jiang Ning his whole life.
But the twenty-eight-year-old Wei Jin has become stained by the dye vat. He didn’t keep the promise, didn’t keep his original intent. Jiang Ning, the old vows don’t count. I’ll make you a new one.”
Jiang Ning looked up, and Wei Jin slowly leaned in. By her ear, he said solemnly word by word: “No matter what happens, I’ll protect you with my life. This time, I won’t break my word again.”
Wei Jin has become my unresolved regret in my heart. I cried.
