This version of Su Zhinian appeared so normal that he was no different from how he usually was.
Even Cheng Qingchong could not detect anything weird about him, much less anyone else. She sensed something off about him, but when she looked closer, she could not find any obvious flaw.
During a dinner that Friday night, one of the guests was Su Zhinian’s high-school friend, who had received a wedding invitation from Qin Yinan. He even brought up the wedding between Song Qingchun and Qin Yinan before Su Zhinian.
Cheng Qingchong, who sat beside Su Zhinian when his high-school friend brought up the wedding, kept a close eye on the man. He had his eyes lowered and spun the chopstick in his hands. His expression was blank and calm like he was thinking about something else. However, when the person asked Su Zhinian directly if he had received the invitation, the man raised his eyes slowly and nodded. “I have received an invitation, yes.”
Then, the person asked, “Will you be going?”
To which Su Zhinian replied, “Of course, why not?”
Then they continued to talk about topics like how much the red envelope should contain and what kind of wedding present would be suitable, and Su Zhinian answered everything. Su Zhinian was being so genial that it did not seem like he was hurt by Miss Song’s wedding announcement.
There was no darkness in his eyes; there was not even a noticeable trace of sadness in his dark eyes. However, for some reason, this Su Zhinian who was as dull as a pool of dead water made her heart scrunched intensely with pain.
It was then that she realized he was not in pain, nor had he walked out from the pain. He had lost his will to live and had become nothing more than a walking dead. He might have looked glamourous and lively on the surface, but his heart was already dead.
…
Cheng Qingchong’s observation was not wrong. Su Zhinian did not change much on the surface, but deep within, the change was undeniable.
Su Zhinian was a naturally reticent man. When he was with Tang Nuo, it was like he was mute. They might be together for hours, but the total number of words out of Su Zhinian’s mouth would be less than ten.
He preferred his own company, but now that he had become a hermit, he would use go to the market alone, eat alone, and when he was on the street, remain far away the crowd. He had built himself a world, and he was determined to lock himself in it.
…
There were thirty days between the announcement of the wedding to the actual wedding itself.
Fate was a curious thing; sometimes, the day before, two individuals were just hashing it out, and the next day, they would cross each other’s path on the street. Sometimes, fate would pull people apart as randomly as it pushed them together. In those thirty days, it was like Su Zhinian and Song Qingchun were like living in parallel universes; their paths had not crossed once.
Ever since the moment the hope died in Song Qingchun’s heart, she had forced herself to not think about anything related to Su Zhinian. Her work originally had nothing to do with his career, so after she forced herself to draw the line in the sand, she had never heard even a mention of the name ‘Su Zhinian’ in the past thirty days.
Certain people and certain events, if you tried hard enough, they would stop appearing in your mind. However, this did not mean that they were forever gone from your heart.
Song Qingchun really thought that she would never pull that part of her heart out again, but on the day she was scheduled to take wedding pictures with Qin Yinan, she still managed to run into Su Zhinian.