Read Novel Full Chapter 148 Part 2 – There Are Some Things I Want to Say to Her (II)
Chapter 148 Part 2 – There Are Some Things I Want to Say to Her (II)
Tong Yi tapped his fingers on the table. “I’ve heard private coaches are expensive. And if you want to reserve the whole pool for yourself, it’ll cost even more.”
Wen Wan looked shocked. “Tong Yi, are you seriously complaining about Jiang Li spending money? That’s so unlike you—what are you scheming?”
Tong Yi: “…”
‘Wen Busybee, are you sent by the heavens to mess with me?’
Lin Zhao picked up a slice of sausage and put it in Wen Wan’s bowl, smiling. “You know, you don’t have to get a coach to learn to swim. Tong Yi’s actually really good—he’s one of the key members of our school’s swim team. If you really want to learn, you could ask him to teach you.”
Tong Yi: “…”
‘Since when am I a key member of the swim team?’
Still, Lin Zhao clearly read the situation better than his girlfriend. Even if what he said wasn’t entirely true, it wasn’t like he’d taken a vow of honesty. A little white lie here and there never hurts anyone.
Jiang Li looked at Tong Yi, surprised. “You’re actually good at swimming?”
Tong Yi cleared his throat and replied modestly, “I wouldn’t say I’m some swimming expert, but coaching a beginner? That’s no problem at all.”
Before Jiang Li could refuse, he quickly added, “And the best part? I guarantee you’ll learn, and I won’t charge a cent. Tempted yet?”
Jiang Li stared at him. “If you’re teaching me, we probably won’t be able to avoid physical contact, right?”
Tong Yi nodded with a perfectly serious expression. “Yeah, that’s unavoidable. If you don’t trust me and think I might take advantage of you, then you can totally hire a female coach instead—I’ll help you find one.”
When he said that, there was a slight note of sadness in his voice, as if her mistrust was deeply wounding.
Jiang Li looked away a little awkwardly. After a few seconds, she said, “Then I guess you can teach me. If you do try anything, you’d better be prepared to get punched.”
She thought back to that time at the hot spring when she saw Tong Yi shirtless in the lounge. She had to admit—his figure was pretty perfect, especially those not-too-obvious but well-defined abs. They were unexpectedly nice.
Tong Yi’s eyes lit up instantly. “Then it’s settled! Next Sunday, we’ll go to the heated pool. I promise I’ll be a qualified instructor.”
Seeing how eager he looked, Jiang Li couldn’t help but laugh. “Talk big all you want now. If you turn out to be unqualified, I’m going to charge you for wasting my time.”
Once everything was decided and they were ready to continue eating, Wen Wan suddenly had a realization and said, “So you’re not trying to save money—you just want to see Jiang Li in a swimsuit!”
Now that his goal had been achieved, Tong Yi was in a great mood. He turned to Wen Wan with a grin. “I’m thinking about introducing a girlfriend to Lin Zhao. What kind of girl do you think would suit him?”
Wen Wan reflexively frowned, but then gave a mischievous smile. She tugged Jiang Li’s sleeve and whispered, “If Tong Yi’s talking about setting Lin Zhao up with a girl, that means he must know a lot of them. Do you think he might be one of those ‘we’re just besties’ all those girls talk about?”
Tong Yi: “…”
‘This Wen Busybee is getting bolder by the day! Gone was the sweet, innocent girl she’d been when we first met!’
Jiang Li laughed and looked at Tong Yi. “Why aren’t you defending yourself?”
Tong Yi quickly said, “Someone like me doesn’t have much appeal to girls. How could I be anyone’s bestie? But if you need one, I’ll do my best to fit the role.”
Jiang Li picked up a meatball and dropped it into his bowl. “Just eat, bestie.”
Having a male best friend and a boyfriend be the same person… wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
…
After hotpot, Jiang Li and Wen Wan headed back to their campus, while Tong Yi and Lin Zhao returned to Capital University.
Once through the campus gates, Wen Wan looked at Jiang Li. “Are we going to the library again this afternoon?”
Jiang Li shook her head. “Let’s just relax in the dorm for a bit. Didn’t your anime get a new episode today? You can catch up.”
Wen Wan immediately nodded. “Not just anime—I’ve got a whole pile of novels I haven’t touched. Perfect time to dive in.”
After returning to the dorm and freshening up, Wen Wan grabbed her tablet and started binge-watching, while Jiang Li pulled out her phone to contact her grandfather.
She’d felt something strange about him lately. In the past, he’d always answer her calls quickly—he kept his ringtone loud and rarely missed them.
But lately, he hadn’t been picking up right away.
Sure, he would call back later and sound totally normal, but she still found it odd.
Before dialing, she already had a feeling that he wouldn’t answer this time either. And when that instinct proved correct, she couldn’t help but furrow her brows.
To ease her concerns, she called Feng Bai, who answered quickly. After a bit of small talk, she got straight to the point.
“Third Brother, what’s Grandpa been up to lately?” Jiang Li asked casually, trying to sound offhand.
Feng Bai paused for a few seconds before answering, “Not much. He’s just doing the same things as always—either inviting some old friends over to fish and drink tea, or getting invited out to play chess. He’s been like that for years.”
Feng Bai was never good at lying—especially to family. His pause and the overly detailed explanation afterward immediately told Jiang Li that he wasn’t being honest.
But she didn’t confront him just yet. Instead, she followed up with, “Did Grandpa’s phone break? He’s been missing a lot of my calls lately.”
Feng Bai answered a little too smoothly, “I’m not too sure. But I’ll remind him to keep an eye on it—and maybe get him a new phone while I’m at it, so he won’t miss your calls anymore.”
Jiang Li sighed. “Third Brother, you’ve changed.”
Feng Bai: “…”
That was a heavy accusation—he didn’t even know how to respond.
Seeing that he still wouldn’t tell the truth, Jiang Li decided to use her trump card. “If you won’t tell me the truth, then I’ll just take a few days off and come home. My workload isn’t that heavy right now, anyway. It’s fine if I miss a few classes.”
Feng Bai immediately tried to stop her. “What would you come back for? Grandpa’s really fine. I swear!”
“I don’t trust it,” Jiang Li replied calmly. “You were obviously dodging the question earlier—it’s clear you’re lying. I’m going to talk to my counselor right now and ask for leave. And if Third Uncle asks why I’m coming back, I’ll just tell him it’s because you gave me half-answers on the phone and made me worry. So I had no choice.”
Feng Bai: “…”？
‘What kind of threat is this?!’
After a few seconds of silence, he finally sighed, helpless, “Grandpa really is fine. It’s just that something happened at home, but it has nothing to do with any of us. If you don’t believe me, you can call Third Uncle—he wouldn’t lie to you, right?”
Jiang Li snorted. “I actually think you’re all conspiring to lie to me. If I’m not mistaken, Third Uncle is the mastermind, and you, Third Brother, are just his accomplice.”
“Why would you say that?” Feng Bai was startled. The words “mastermind” and “accomplice” sounded too serious—but honestly, they weren’t far off.
Jiang Li smiled. “You’re usually the most afraid of Third Uncle, but now you’re telling me to call him? That only means you’ve already coordinated your stories. There’s no way Third Uncle would take your advice, so if this was all arranged by him, then how is he not the mastermind?”
Feng Bai: “…”
It was kind of stressful when your little sister was too smart!
Knowing he couldn’t keep it from her any longer, Feng Bai had no choice but to tell her what Feng Yun had done to Jiang Huai, and then explained her current condition.
He sighed and said helplessly, “Aunt made a lot of mistakes in the past, but now she’s having mental health issues, Grandpa just can’t let go of his daughter. He’s been staying with her at the hospital lately. The doctors said Aunt can’t take any emotional stress, so Grandpa doesn’t even raise his voice around her. And he’s turned his phone on silent, which is why he keeps missing your calls.”
The rest of the family contacted Grandpa through the housekeeper’s phone. But Xiao Jiang Li didn’t know that, so she had been calling Grandpa’s personal number directly.
Even though he always returned her calls, Xiao Jiang Li was sharp—she’d naturally notice something was off.
Unexpectedly, she’d still catch on this fast.
After learning about Feng Yun’s situation, Jiang Li was silent for a while before softly saying, “Grandpa must be really heartbroken.”
And yet, despite that, he still pretended everything was fine when he called her back, just so she wouldn’t worry.
Feng Bai had been worried she would be upset too, so he quickly added, “Aunt is Grandpa’s daughter—there’s no way he can just abandon her. But this has nothing to do with us. There’s no need for us to get involved.”
Leaning against the wall outside her dorm balcony, Jiang Li said quietly, “You shouldn’t have kept it from me.”
They hid it from her because they were worried she’d feel conflicted.
But the truth was, she didn’t care about Feng Yun at all.
She was never Feng Yun’s biological daughter from begin with. So even when Feng Yun once came to her to ask for her kidney, she hadn’t felt hurt, and even relieved that one burden was finally dealt with.
Because once Feng Yun made that choice, no one could ever force her to forgive a so-called “biological mother” again.
Jiang Li felt nothing for Feng Yun, so when she heard about Feng Yun’s mental breakdown, the only person she was concerned about was Grandpa. She feared the weight of it all might eventually break him too.
After hanging up, Jiang Li immediately went to her counselor and requested leave. She booked a flight to Minjiang, and upon arrival, went straight to the psychiatric hospital where Feng Yun was staying.
Standing at the entrance, she didn’t call her grandfather and dialed the old housekeeper instead.
When the housekeeper picked up and heard that Miss Jiang Li was already at the hospital entrance, he was taken aback—but he instantly realized the family could no longer keep this matter under wraps.
He found Old Master Feng on the hospital lawn and told him the situation. The old man’s expression changed instantly. He asked the nurses to look after Feng Yun and went out himself to meet Jiang Li, ready to try to convince her to return to school.
But before he could say a word, Jiang Li spoke first.
“Grandpa, let me see her. There are some things I want to say to her.”
From what Feng Bai had told her, Jiang Li had learned that Feng Yun’s condition was unlike typical mental illness. She hadn’t had a breakdown or psychotic episode—she’d simply shut herself off, choosing to disconnect from the outside world entirely.
Jiang Li had no affection for Feng Yun, nor any intention of forgiving her on behalf of the original “Jiang Li.”
But for her grandfather’s sake, she wanted to try—to see if she could help untie the knot in Feng Yun’s heart.