Time passed quickly in their endeavors, and in the blink of an eye, seven years had gone by. Jiang Jingyu had finally emerged from the shadow of that accident.
However, his personality was no longer as flamboyant and mischievous as before; he had become very taciturn.
He kept everything to himself, and his smiles never reached his eyes, as if nothing in the world could make him happy anymore.
Except for the company developing new products, sales performance reaching new heights, and his sisters achieving good results again.
To make their parents and brother happy, the two of them had unreservedly chosen to pursue postgraduate studies.
During their internships, they had gone to Gery Electric and Zhan's Real Estate respectively.
The Zhan family was still very united and loving.
Although the two girls were usually carefree and thoughtless, when faced with real problems, they were quite capable of empathizing with their parents and helping their brother overcome difficulties.
They had considered the family's situation a lot, making Zhan Jingrui seem particularly selfish.
In these years, he had lived the most leisurely life.
Not only had he applied to a university that everyone admired, studied cutting-edge intelligent product knowledge, and had a girlfriend who stayed by his side, but he could be considered the most successful among his siblings.
Ge'er and Tiantian joked privately that they were afraid he would continue to live so freely abroad and not want to return to China.
They were giving him a preemptive warning.
He had to return after graduation, regardless of which company, and choose one to serve the family, or his living expenses would be cut off.
Fortunately, Zhan Jingrui had never thought of settling abroad and readily agreed.
Today was the day of his return.
Ge'er's company had something to attend to, so she went to meet clients, and Tiantian drove alone to pick him up.
After waiting for less than ten minutes, a young, handsome man in black casual wear, black sunglasses, with headphones around his neck, tall and with long legs, pushing a suitcase, appeared in the crowd, like a walking model.
Beside him walked a woman with fair skin and beautiful features, wearing a light coffee-colored trench coat, with flowing long hair that matched his temperament.
Although the two of them did not have overly intimate actions or ambiguous eye contact, just walking side by side, their innate sense of being a perfect match still attracted a lot of attention.
Even Tiantian couldn't help but take out her phone to take a few photos of them together.
When they finally came out, she rushed up and hugged Chu Xi.
"You're finally back, thank you for your hard work. Sister-in-law is getting more beautiful, and today's happiness comes from hugging a beauty."
Zhan Jingrui had been dating Chu Xi since their third year of high school, and by now, the entire family knew of Chu Xi's existence.
Although Tiantian and Chu Xi did not contact each other much, a relationship that could last for so many years meant that Chu Xi had long become the tacitly acknowledged daughter-in-law of the Zhan family. Whenever they returned to China during holidays, Tiantian and Ge'er would call her sister-in-law.
At first, Chu Xi was unaccustomed to being called that and would blush, but now she was very comfortable with it.
She smiled and cupped Tiantian's face, saying.
"How dare I claim to be beautiful in front of you? You're getting more and more radiant. I had to stay up many nights working on my graduation thesis recently, so my skin is terrible. How is your skin so good? Teach me your skincare secrets when you have time."
"Okay, okay."
The two girls walked forward, arm in arm, as if he had come to pick up only Chu Xi, and did not say much to Zhan Jingrui throughout the entire process.
When they reached the car, the two of them even directly got into the back seat, leaving the long-traveled Zhan Jingrui to drive.
Because the two were only in a dating relationship, and they were still young, to avoid affecting Chu Xi's reputation, they always booked a hotel for her outside of Nan City whenever they came.
Although they were not young anymore and could even get married, Zhan Jingrui still instructed Tiantian to book a hotel in advance.
They would first drive her to the hotel, settle her in, and then return home.
Only then did Tiantian start chatting with Zhan Jingrui.
"I say, you've been dating for so many years, why haven't you let her stay at your house? Are you that afraid of affecting her reputation? Are you that unconfident about marrying her? Don't you want to marry her?"
"After so many years, are you two still so pure? You wouldn't happen to..."
This question was not only asked by her but also by Ge'er and Jiang Nan Fang.
Although Zhan Jingrui was tired of hearing it, he still had to explain.
He said with little patience, "How can it be that you women cannot put yourselves in her shoes and think from her perspective?"
"If you were dating a boyfriend, and before your parents had discussed the marriage details, you went to live at his house, do you think Daddy and Mommy would be happy?"
"..." Tiantian pouted, choked by him.
"I just thought you two would definitely get married, so I was thinking of you, afraid you'd suffer from lovesickness if you were apart. Good intentions are not rewarded."
"Speaking of which. You two have been together for so many years, and it was fine before graduation, but now that you've both graduated with master's degrees, when exactly do you plan to get married?"
Zhan Jingrui found her to be quite hypocritical and couldn't help but glance at her in the rearview mirror.
"Am I that old? So old that I have to get married and have children as soon as I graduate?"
"If I remember correctly, we are the same age. You haven't even had a boyfriend yet, so what right do you have to ask me such questions?"
Tiantian: "Hey, Zhan Jingrui, I realize you're ungrateful. What do you mean by 'such questions'? It's as if I'm deliberately belittling you. Aren't I just concerned about you?"
"Thank you, but I don't need it. When you have time, focus more on yourself. You've graduated with a master's degree, and you haven't even dated a boyfriend. Could it be that there's something wrong with you?"
"Just because you've dated two more girlfriends than me, look at you! If they have problems, then you don't! If it weren't for your and Jingyu's failed relationships, would I and Ge'er have to..."
Seeing his expression change and his face quickly fall, Tiantian, who had learned to read people's expressions over the years, quickly shut her mouth.
Zhan Jingrui had a brief episode with a girl named He Yao when he was studying in Sucheng.
Although the specifics of how it happened were unknown, his siblings all knew that he had lied to his parents to return to school early to see her, but they broke up later.
Whether it was because of Chu Xi or something else, he forbade anyone from mentioning that past.
Like Jiang Jingyu, his relationships were mysterious, as if the whole family owed them something, and they had to constantly consider their feelings and live by their expressions.
If it weren't for the failed relationships of the two older brothers, would she and Ge'er have been so scared that they had no illusions about dating?
They were afraid of hurting any man's heart, which would lead them to become neurotic as well.
Seeing that she had wisely shut her mouth, Jiang Jingyu paused for a moment, then felt guilty and proactively brought up the topic.
"Did Daddy and Mommy say anything to you?"
Tiantian truthfully replied, "No. Are Daddy and Mommy the type of people to do that? It's just that the cooperation with the Chu family has become more and more public and transparent in the past two years. Everyone knows about your situation, and others will talk."