Chapter 20: Chapter 20: The Pain of Memories (Page 1/2)
Su Ran came to the company and opened his computer to browse social news as usual. Then he browsed through his friends' Weibo, trying to find some interesting jokes to amuse himself.
Inadvertently, he found that Yan Yan had posted a Weibo two days ago, the main content of which was her wedding photos with Fang Yuan. In this Weibo, Yan Yan tagged many people, but not Su Ran. Su Ran knew that she was worried that when she saw Fang Yuan and her getting married, she would think of the miserable ending between her and Lin Yue. In fact, Yan Yan didn't have to do this. Su Ran could still give blessings with pain.
Their wedding photos have multiple themes, one of which is called "Silent Joy". In this group of photos, Fang Yuan and Yan Yan hold hands, their faces are calm and silent, and the background is a sunflower with a smile, which cleverly points out the theme.
This is actually a great idea, but it didn't belong to Fang Yuan and Yan Yan at first. More than three years ago, when Lin Yue was very forward-looking and discussed the idea of taking wedding photos in the future with Su Ran, Su Ran suddenly came up with this theme. He believes that the joy in silence can best withstand the test of time and the erosion of years, and thus last for a long time.
Su Ran sighed softly, his heart aching slightly because of the ruthless changes of time. After a long silence, he smiled bitterly and left a message under Yan Yan's Weibo: "Two shameless thieves, I wish you happiness forever."
He lit a cigarette, took a deep puff, and slowly exhaled. But the diffuse smoke was instantly shattered by the wind blowing in, just like his broken heart at this moment. In the hazy smoke, he seemed to see the scene in the past: Lin Yue nestled in his arms, still in love with him three years ago, and praised the theme of "silent joy" he proposed. At that time, they were full of joy and looked forward to taking a set of wedding photos with this theme when they got married in the future.
But now, everything has changed. After all, they were unable to use this theme, but were "stolen" by their friends Fang Yuan and Yan Yan. Haha, Su Ran laughed at himself in his heart. He told himself that he was not sad, really not sad, but he could not help but think of the happiness and joy they were filled with because of their longing for marriage at that dusk.
At noon, Su Ran and Fang Yuan had dinner in the company restaurant. Starting from this afternoon, Fang Yuan started to take a two-week wedding leave, and some work needed to be temporarily transferred to Su Ran.
They spent ten minutes discussing the handover of work, and the topic turned to the upcoming wedding.
Su Ran asked Fang Yuan: "Have you found Yan Yan's bridesmaid?"
Fang Yuan nodded and said: "Originally, Yan Yan planned to find a female colleague in the company, but Lin Yue came back, so she naturally found her."
Su Ran did not react for a while, and was stunned for a long time before asking: "Then your best man is me?"
"Why, do you want to escape at the last minute?" Fang Yuan's face sank.
"What are you two thinking? Have you and Yan Yan not considered how awkward it would be to arrange this for Lin Yue and me?"
After a moment, Fang Yuan realized the problem and said, "Oh, Yan Yan and I really didn't think about it. You will really feel awkward with this arrangement."
"That's right, and Lin Yue and I have broken up, so it's unlucky for us to be best men and bridesmaids." Su Ran added.
"Now that you mention it, I'm really a little worried." Fang Yuan paused and asked again, "Then who will withdraw between you and Lin Yue?"
"You're on wedding leave, and the work is all on me. I don't have much time to deal with the best man thing, so I'll withdraw." Su Ran said after thinking for a moment.
"Okay, there's really no way to have the best of both worlds." Fang Yuan's words were a little regretful.
How could Su Ran not feel regretful? According to the custom of marriage, it is indeed unlucky for a newlywed couple to let a man and a woman who have broken up serve as best men and bridesmaids.
After a moment of silence, Su Ran asked Fang Yuan: "Do you have any other candidates for best man?"
Fang Yuan made a reassuring expression and said: "Don't worry, there are ready-made ones, just find Lu Chen."
Yes, Lu Chen is indeed a suitable candidate. During college, the three of them had the best relationship in the class. It was just that after graduation, Lu Chen returned to Nanjing and did not stay in Suzhou, but their friendship has always been there.
Su Ran nodded and asked, "I haven't contacted him for a while. What has this guy been busy with recently?" Fang Yuan sighed, "Their tobacco and liquor store has developed very well in the past two years. I heard that they opened several branches in Nanjing. Recently, they are preparing to operate as a company. They also set up an 800-square-meter flagship store. The image design fee alone cost more than 300,000 yuan, which is quite classy." Su Ran also sighed, "His father is really amazing. He made his son a rich second-generation in his old age." Fang Yuan shrugged and said, "This matter has little to do with his father. You know that his third uncle works in the Commerce Bureau and is a powerful person. It is only a matter of time for their tobacco and liquor store to become bigger and stronger." Su Ran agreed with Fang Yuan's point of view. In this society, the gap between having connections and not having connections is really too big, just like him and Lu Chen, which is a sharp contrast. In the afternoon, Fang Yuan left the company, and Su Ran's work became busy all of a sudden. He was busy until eight o'clock in the evening before he got off work. The next day, although it was Saturday, he still spent the whole day working overtime, mainly to handle the project of setting up GI counters in shopping malls on behalf of Fang Yuan. In the past two days, he kept communicating with GI's inspection team and modified the project plan according to their requirements.
In just two days, Su Ran felt overwhelmed and bored. This made him clearly realize that compared with Fang Yuan, there was indeed a gap in his work ability. At least Fang Yuan was always at ease when handling these matters.
At nine o'clock on Saturday night, Su Ran dragged his tired body and took the last bus home. But his mood did not relax because he could rest tomorrow. His mind was full of the scenes at Fang Yuan and Yan Yan's wedding. He was happy for their union, but he really didn't want to meet Lin Yue on this festive occasion. Moreover, this resistance became stronger as the wedding date approached. In his opinion, this wedding was like a cruel test and torture for him and Lin Yue.
Maybe Lin Yue didn't care, but he really cared.
It was already half past nine when he returned to his residence. Su Ran did not wash and rest immediately, but sat on the sofa in the living room as usual and lit a cigarette. He was so anxious that he could not extricate himself and even forgot to play the guitar to relieve his mood.
He drank a glass of cold water and just lay on the sofa staring at the ceiling. After a while, he heard the door open and knew that Xu Tianna was back. She came back later than him these two days. Maybe she also has her own social life, but it has nothing to do with Su Ran.
The smell of smoke in the house made Xu Tianna frown. She walked to Su Ran and said, "Can you not smoke in the living room?"
Su Ran didn't care about Xu Tianna's dissatisfaction and said indifferently, "What's wrong with smoking in the living room? I didn't go to your room to smoke."
"The living room is not okay either. I don't want to come back every day and enter the house full of smoke." Xu Tianna said in a tough tone.
"Then I will open the window next time I smoke, okay? The wind will blow it away." Su Ran responded patiently in his anxious mood.
"That won't work either. You can only smoke outside from now on. You are not allowed to smoke in this room." Su Ran sat up from the sofa and frowned, saying, "You are not allowed to do this or that. You are treating me like a child, right? I have lived in this room for more than two years. Which corner have I not smoked in? Including the room you are living in now and the toilet in the bathroom."