Chapter 8 — Old Love Turns to Ashes

The next day, the court's subpoena was sent to Jiang Si Nian. When he opened the envelope, there were several friends standing next to him. They glanced at each other, stiff smiles on their lips.

“No, did To Mien really do it?”

"Wasn't that money voluntarily given by her? Now she's pretending to be a victim, what's with the lawsuit? None of that money was voluntarily given by her. No one put a knife to her throat to force her."

"To put it bluntly, I'm just not willing, that's how women are, breaking up means going over old debts, every penny has to be calculated clearly."

The friend patted Giang Tu Nien's shoulder:

"Tu Nien, leave her alone, that kind of sentimentality won't do anything, in a few days I'll withdraw the lawsuit myself."

Giang Tu Nien tightened his grip on the paper, his fingers gradually retracted. For the first time, he felt that these people's words were so harsh.

“A Mien is not the type to cling to love.”

The others were stunned:

“Tu Nien, what are you saying…”

Giang Tu Nien didn't say anything more, directly opened the door and pushed them out. Giang Tu Nien leaned his back against the door, his stomach suddenly cramping in severe pain. He blurted out and called out unconsciously:

“A Mien, my stomach hurts…”

As soon as the words left his mouth, he stopped. To Mien is no longer here. He held his stomach and pulled out the drawer to look for medicine, only to find an expired pack of stomach pills. His stomach felt like a hand was kneading it, and he curled up on the sofa in pain. This kind of thing happened often before. Being on a busy topic, eating one meal a day is normal, and the stomach is already damaged. Every time it hurts, To Mien is always the first to notice. Give him medicine, massage, cook porridge, don't care about sleeping clothes and stay to take care of him all night. She has always been such a person. That year, he had just come to Hong Kong to study for a master's degree, and something happened at home. Even though he was frugal and worked part-time everywhere, the money he earned was only enough to pay his tuition. Every day he only bought two dumplings from the canteen, struggling miserably for half a month. One day To Mien suddenly flew to Hong Kong, without saying a word, stuffed an envelope into his hand, inside was ten thousand yuan in cash. She said:

"You can rest assured to study, I'll take care of the money."

Later he learned that those ten thousand yuan was because she worked two jobs and saved money for half a year. During the day, she worked at a cafe, tutored elementary school students at night, and when she returned to her apartment, she often missed the last subway train and had to walk 40 minutes at night. He asked why he didn't call a taxi. She said:

"Taxis are very expensive, wouldn't it be better to save the money and send it to me?"

At that time he scolded her for being stupid. But actually my eye sockets are stinging. Giang Tu Nien picked up the phone and opened the chat box with To Mien. Most of them are messages she sent him. There are very long recordings, pictures of stray cats under the apartment complex, pictures of dusk, and even scenes of other people's weddings. She said:

"In the future, our wedding will also be held here, is that okay?"

He did not answer. What he sent her were mostly just superficial, perfunctory emoticons. His finger hovering over the screen, he typed a line:

“A Mien, thank you for all these years.”

But then I found it ungainly, so I deleted it. Type again:

“You Sorry."

Delete it. The phone screen goes dark and then lights up again. In the end he still said nothing, or rather, he didn't know where to start. Because he really betrayed their feelings. He thought of Van Van again. She is the type of girl who can see into other people's thoughts with just a glance. He frowned and she knew what he was thinking, always giving him the exact words he needed most at that moment. As for To Mien, she is always stupid and quiet.