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墨書 Inktalez
Apart from silently staying by her side and taking good care of her, Xu Wen didn't know what else he could do.
As the days passed, Qinglan remained unchanged, stubbornly silent, rejecting all of Xu Wen's well-meaning arrangements and suggestions. She even said, "You live your life, and don't worry about my matters. I can handle whatever comes my way."
Handle it herself? Hearing those words made even the heavens laugh. Only the heavens knew if one day in the future, when she truly faced something, Xu Wen would be able to remain indifferent, standing by without intervening. Could he really abandon her?
She continued her routine as before—going to work, coming home, busily organizing various materials at the office from morning till night, just like a normal person. To others, she was no different from the other interns—serious and hardworking.
But Xu Wen knew she was not like everyone else; the child in her womb was growing day by day, crying out to the world about how it would come into existence.
Poor child, it had no idea of all the darkness and misfortune in this world. Yet even before its birth, darkness and misfortune were slowly spreading and enveloping it like morning mist.
By the end of August, they were facing another round of new students entering school. For Qinglan and her peers, entering their senior year meant the start of a new semester while also marking the end of a certain journey in life.
Qinglan's child had grown significantly; her belly was slightly rounded. Those who didn’t know wouldn’t notice because it was still summer. She wore loose dresses every day in an attempt to conceal her gradually protruding belly.
But Xu Wen knew that concealment could only go so far. During work hours, he often watched her walk with a gradually unsteady gait, observing her increasingly swollen body and the belly that was becoming more pronounced, all while she maintained a calm expression.
After work, he quietly sat in her dormitory, watching her struggle to wash her hands and face with her now much bulkier body. She draped a towel over a line and then picked up a basin to wash clothes at the sink. Xu Wen would take the basin from her and say, "How many times have I told you? You can't bend over for long now."
"Well, someone has to wash my underwear," she replied without any sense of shyness.
She had changed a lot; she was no longer that shy girl who would blush at even slightly inappropriate comments. She had truly become like those married women with children in society—discussing any topic with calmness and even managing to smile lightly.
Xu Wen felt a deep pain, but then again, what could be done? In fact, seeing her like this made him feel much more at ease.
More importantly, her lack of shyness did not repulse Xu Wen; instead, it gave her a mature charm that made him feel even more pity and affection for her.
Once she finished everything, she would go with him to the cafeteria or a restaurant outside for meals. She no longer rejected his care and was no longer afraid of the gazes of others watching them together. They chatted and laughed; even when he sometimes fell silent, unsure of what to say to make her happy, she would turn around and put in effort to tell him jokes, making him laugh.
People in the office began to look at them differently. As they passed by, they joked, "Xu Wen, don’t take too good care of Qinglan; look at her, she’s gained a lot of weight now."
Assistant Li also said, "Isn't Qinglan's nutrition a bit too much?"
Others remarked, "The food in our office is definitely better than what you have at school; it really nourishes people."
Xu Wen smiled and nodded in response to each comment, saying, "Yes."
Of course, there were some older individuals, born in the sixties, both men and women, who did not say such things. They often looked at Qinglan with suspicion, scrutinizing her from head to toe and then from toe to head, their gazes pricking her like thorns and making her uncomfortable.
One time, an older sister pulled Xu Wen onto the balcony on the rooftop and asked mysteriously, "Is Qinglan okay?"
"What do you mean?" Xu Wen pretended to be mysterious as well, lowering his head and leaning closer to her ear to ask back.
"Has she really gained weight?" she looked at Xu Wen with the knowing eyes of someone who had been through it all.
"Yes, otherwise would you really think she was sick? If she were sick, I would have definitely sent her to the hospital for treatment," Xu Wen replied.
Women enjoy spreading gossip, and Xu Wen didn't want to say much to her, so he tried to brush it off as much as possible. If there were any doubts later, he could explain then, or perhaps by that time, the matter would have been forgotten. For now, it was best to avoid trouble.
Now everyone in the office regarded Xu Wen as Qinglan's boyfriend. Who could argue otherwise? They had already found out that Xu Wen's initial internship unit was not this one; it was because Qinglan was assigned here that he had his mother use her connections to move his internship to this office, all to be with Qinglan.
If anyone claimed that Xu Wen was not Qinglan's boyfriend, no one in the office would believe them. Even Xu Wen himself found it hard to deny his identity as Qinglan's boyfriend.
So when Xu Wen responded to the older sister, she believed him and nodded, saying, "That's right; if you're sick, you should treat it early. If you're not sick, that's good. Taking care of your girlfriend so well makes you a good man." The older sister even gave him a thumbs up, saying, "Keep up the good work."
At the beginning of September, school started, and many students gradually returned. In fact, the graduation internship officially began after the semester started. Qinglan, Xu Wen, and a few classmates had started their internships early; those who did not intern early returned to school after the semester began before going to their internship units.
Therefore, at the start of the semester, the school required all students to go to School Newspaper Avenue and then gather to report to their internship units.
Qinglan and Xu Wen had a valid reason to ask for leave from the office to go to School Newspaper Avenue.
On the first night back at school, the class was buzzing with excitement. News about An Shaojie going abroad before summer vacation spread like wildfire; almost everyone knew. Groups of three or five gathered together discussing everything they had heard about An Shaojie from various sources. Some said he went to America, while others claimed he went to Australia. There were rumors that a certain girl from another department left around the same time as him; they must have gone together. Others speculated that another girl from yet another department also went abroad at the same time and that she had long admired An Shaojie's cool demeanor and extraordinary intelligence, as well as his tall and handsome appearance. This girl came from a wealthy family; her mother had already made it clear that when looking for a boyfriend, she didn't care about family background but prioritized looks—he had to be tall and handsome because it concerned their family's image for future generations.
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