My Online Girlfriend Has a Twin Sister

Chapter 494: Chapter 316: Chen Yuan, Who Will You Choose in the End?

The riverside was free of that nauseating, fishy smell. Here, there was only the vast expanse of water and a large bridge spanning the river in the distance. Aside from that, there were no other buildings. The wind was also stronger than in the park, blowing with a steady WHOOSH. An occasional strong gust forced Chen Yuan to squint.

The wind pressed Jiangg Ning’s loose-fitting pants tightly against her body, revealing all her curves. Her slightly curly, tied-up ponytail swayed gently. At first glance, the whole scene was absolutely perfect.

"It’s much quieter here."

She leaned against the railing, her voice full of enjoyment.

"Definitely. It’s much more pleasant than being in the park, watching old folks follow their dogs around to scoop up poop. Just thinking about that poodle’s droppings makes me feel like I can still smell it."

"That’s how it is in the mornings and evenings. We can’t just stop the elderly from going out. Besides..." Jiangg Ning suddenly smiled at Chen Yuan. "We’ll get old one day, too. Who knows, maybe then we’ll be the ones young people like you complain about."

"I can’t imagine myself ever getting old," Chen Yuan said with a shrug.

He walked over to Jiangg Ning, took her hand, and they began to walk. It was over three thousand steps to the distant bridge, so a round trip took quite a while.

Jiangg Ning was the one who told him that; she used to come here all the time, so she knew from experience.

When she was troubled, she needed a quiet place to be alone. Jiangg Ning wasn’t the type of girl who vented to her friends, and she didn’t want to burden Jiangg Yao with family matters. So, she would come here by herself to watch the moon reflecting on the shimmering surface of the river.

She had rarely come here since she started dating Chen Yuan. It was strange—most of the resentment and sorrow from the past few years had been slowly dissolving. Obstacles she once thought insurmountable now felt resolved, and she even thought it was a bit silly to have worried so much about such small things.

Everything was moving in the right direction.

At this thought, Jiangg Ning couldn’t help but turn and glance at Chen Yuan beside her.

’Maybe this good fortune is just an illusion,’ she thought. ’Perhaps being in love has just shifted my focus, leaving me no time to dwell on other worries.’

It made sense that Chen Yuan couldn’t imagine himself getting old. He was just too young. He was at that age where his cheeks were still full of collagen, where no matter how exhausted he was, a single night’s sleep could leave him feeling full of life. For him, growing old was even more unrealistic than the end of the world.

"If that day ever comes, I’ll probably age faster than you. By then, my eyes will be full of wrinkles, and my skin will be saggy. I’ll definitely be ugly."

"It’s fine. We’ll definitely be retired by then. Even if you get ugly, we won’t have to go out much. It’ll just be the two of us, every day. We can get a little yard, plant lots of fruit trees, raise some pets... Now that I say it, that sounds pretty nice. Hey, Ningning, do you think you lose that sense of urgency when you get old? All those old men in the park seem so relaxed, like they don’t feel any pressure to make the most of their time."

"Do you feel that pressured?"

"Not really. The pace of life is pretty good right now. I go from school to the company, and the thing I look forward to most is coming home. Every day feels full. I’d say I’m very happy." A smile spread across Chen Yuan’s cheeks.

He was speaking from the heart.

Everyone experiences beautiful, indescribable moments in their life. It’s these experiences that give people the strength to carry on.

He added, "Lanjing is a great place. I’m so glad I came here for college. In high school, I considered applying to Huake University or Nankai, but in the end, I chose Landa University."

"If you hadn’t chosen to come here, you might never have met me," Jiangg Ning said with a small smile.

"That’s not true," Chen Yuan said, slipping one hand into his pocket and seemingly tightening his grip on something. "I’m a staunch materialist, but sometimes, fate is a strange thing. It feels like it was predestined, as if I would have met you no matter what."

"That would be for the best. Saves us a lot of trouble. Luckily, I’m only twenty-six now, though I’ll be twenty-seven in half a year. If you’d shown up any later, we’d be having a twilight romance."

"Don’t be so dramatic."

Chen Yuan let out a laugh. He looked at Jiangg Ning, and after a moment, she started laughing, too.

The two of them stood in the vast, open wind by the river, laughing like a couple of fools.

He stood still, watching her steps grow light and playful. She had lost her usual dignified composure. It was only when she was truly happy that she revealed this unguarded, girlish side of herself.

"You made the right choice. Lanjing really is a great city. After being here for a few years, I’ve come to think of it as my second home. It feels much more like home than my actual house in Mingzhu City," Jiangg Ning said, a rare desire to confide in him surfacing. Chen Yuan listened intently as she continued. "I went back to Mingzhu City a few days ago, right? But after that whole long trip, I didn’t feel relaxed when I got home. It was only when I came back to Fengting District that I felt a sense of relief. It’s like..."

She thought for a moment before saying, "It’s like the difference between wearing high heels and taking them off. You can clearly feel that switch from being tense to being relaxed."

"Then you should stay here. I can stay after I graduate, too."

"I’ve been thinking about buying the house Yaoyao and I are living in now."

"Buy it! You have to buy it. I can help out, too. We could even knock down the wall between the apartments and live in one huge, single-floor place." Chen Yuan grew excited at the thought.

’Now that would be true happiness. I can’t wait.’

’In other words, I could have my own ’home’ too. A family with Ningning and Yaoyao.’

’It would be too perfect...’

"No, you don’t have to. I have plenty of savings, I have my own money. Buying the house now is a bit too hasty. After all... the future is still uncertain."

"What’s uncertain about it?"

"This is the very thing I was hesitating about when I agreed to work at your Bauhinia Company today, isn’t it?"

Jiangg Ning, who had been walking a few steps ahead while talking, suddenly turned her head. She had to speak loudly, or her voice would be swallowed by the roaring river wind.

"What thing?" Chen Yuan stopped.

"I don’t know who you’re going to choose," she said, spreading her arms wide. Her loose clothes billowed in the wind. A sudden seriousness washed over her face as she said earnestly, "Chen, think about it. If I come work at your company, and you end up choosing Yaoyao to be your future wife... how am I supposed to keep on being around you? To hastily accept such an important role, only to hastily leave... It would break my heart."

Chen Yuan said nothing. He stood rooted to the spot, a few steps away from Jiangg Ning. With his hands in his pockets and his head lowered, he listened in silence.

"Let me describe how I feel. It’s like I’ve built my home at the foot of a mountain, knowing full well that the rainy season is about to arrive. The downpour will create a mudslide, washing away every house in its path. In a situation like that, I don’t dare put my heart into building my home. The more beautiful I make it, the more I’d fear it being destroyed in an instant. I think about planting a lychee tree in the yard because I love lychees. It would mature in seven or eight years, and I have the patience to wait for it. I think about clearing the patch of weeds on the right side of the yard to plant vegetables and flowers, because tending to them would make me happy."

"But the moment I think about the coming rainy season, I stop in my tracks..."

Chen Yuan couldn’t bring himself to look at Jiangg Ning’s expression. Flustered and anxious, he couldn’t stop himself from cutting in to protest, "I would never abandon you! These worries are all for nothing. It could never happen."

"So," Jiangg Ning’s eyes flashed as she stared into his, "you’re thinking of choosing me and abandoning Yaoyao. Is that right?"

For a moment.

He was silent.