On the afternoon of the sixth day of *Crazy Crush*, the six guests took the crush bus to the city center.
Today was a free - travel day. Each guest needed to pick a gift for another. The seventh day, tomorrow evening, would be the confession night.
"Wow~ I want to take photos, all kinds of nice ones." He Jiao cheered, looking at the scenery flashing by outside the window.
Lin Jinran turned her head. The earphone cord by her ear suddenly came loose, tugging at the earphone on Su Qinian's other side. She apologized with a smile, then shouted to He Jiao, "I also want to take photos. How about we take pictures of each other?"
He Jiao agreed with a beaming smile.
Sitting next to her was Xie Yun.
Jiang Yaoguang and Gu Huai were sitting together.
Now on the sixth day, all the pairings were clear.
"Jinran, I can take group photos of you." The man's fringe was bathed in the bright spring light. He was sitting by the window, looking lazy and nonchalant.
"That's a great idea." As if the heaviness of last night had been left behind, Lin Jinran pursed her lips, smiling and nodding.
"I just didn't expect it to end so soon. It's only seven days, and we'll be saying goodbye tomorrow." He Jiao shook her head sadly.
Xie Yun beside her said calmly, "It's okay. We're all in the industry. We have each other's contact information. We can hang out anytime."
He Jiao still smiled carelessly, "Our dating show would have been a flop if it weren't for this cute couple, Su Qinian and Lin Jinran. Without them, we wouldn't have become so popular."
Jiang Yaoguang in the back row kept silent, while Gu Huai looked at He Jiao disdainfully.
...
An hour later, the crush bus arrived at the city center smoothly.
Since gifts were involved, they discussed and split into two groups of three, with the female guests and male guests going their separate ways.
He Jiao affectionately hooked her arms with Jiang Yaoguang and Lin Jinran. "Let's go. Let's buy gifts first, and then we can go play. Have you decided what gifts to buy for whom?"
Lin Jinran frowned in distress. "I'm buying for Su Qinian, but I have no idea what to get. It's so annoying."
Jiang Yaoguang shook her head and said nothing.
Near the end of the show, the director had forced her to be paired with Gu Huai, so the gift she was buying this time was definitely for him.
"Don't worry. We have an afternoon to shop. Let's go into the stores and take a look." He Jiao pulled the two of them to start looking for gifts.
The three girls wore masks and chatted merrily as they window - shopped. After nearly two hours, Lin Jinran finally bought a fascia gun, packed it in a gift box, and handed it to the staff. The other two girls also bought their gifts.
On the other side, the three boys had also bought their gifts and handed them to the staff for safekeeping.
Then everyone got together.
Lin Jinran and Su Qinian wanted to act alone, so they said goodbye to the others and left. The filming staff followed closely behind, with the camera focused on them.
"Are you hungry? Do you want something to drink?" When they passed a milk - tea shop, Su Qinian asked in a low voice.
Lin Jinran couldn't help but laugh. "No, I'll get fat if I drink more. I can't handle two cups of milk tea in a week."
"Then... shall we go eat something? It's almost five o'clock." Su Qinian asked again.
Lin Jinran raised her eyebrows. "No, I can't have dinner at this time."
Su Qinian hesitated. "Then... what do you want to eat now?"
Lin Jinran was speechless. "I don't want to eat anything now, Su Qinian! I'm not a pig!"
[Hahaha, I'm dying of laughter. I never thought I'd see someone pursue someone so naively. I don't know whether to praise his sincerity or his lack of experience.]
[Our Teacher Su is such a pure - hearted boy. There have been zero scandals around him since he entered the industry. Lin Jinran, you're so lucky. You've caught the greatest fortune.]
[I watched Lin Jinran's movie some time ago. It was really good. I haven't seen such a talented actress in a long time.]
As if sensing Su Qinian's concern, Lin Jinran spread her hands helplessly. "I really don't want to eat anything. Let's just take a walk in the park over there."
Then she turned to the cameraman following them. "We have something private to talk about later. Could you please stay a bit farther away?"
The cameraman hesitated and looked at Su Qinian.
Su Qinian said, "Do as she says. Just film our backs later."
The cameraman had no choice but to agree and stood far away.
Lin Jinran and Su Qinian took off their radio microphones and temporarily handed them to other staff for safekeeping.
They walked into the park. Maybe because of a ten - year - old matter on their minds, both were thinking about how to start the conversation.
"Su Qinian."
"Jinran."
Unexpectedly, they spoke at the same time.
Lin Jinran hooked her lips, her eyes bright. "Let me speak first. I wronged you back then."
"Actually, I was really happy about your confession after the college entrance examination. It's just that I didn't do well in the exam and was in a bad state at that time."
"After I ran away from the confession scene, I immediately regretted it and wanted to come back to explain. I didn't mean to reject your confession on purpose. But when I got back, I met my step - mother. They forced me back to the imperial capital."
"My phone was taken away by my step - sister, and my phone card was cancelled. By the time I broke free, I had lost everyone's contact information, including yours."
"Maybe because we had been separated for so long, I was really scared. Your advertisements were everywhere. I was just a coward and didn't dare to look for you. That's the whole story, Su Qinian."
Lin Jinran told the story simply, her tone calm. She looked indifferently at a family of three in the distance, showing no emotion.
She only told the important parts. She didn't mention that her mother had passed away before the college entrance examination and that she had suffered from depression. She also didn't mention that she had been locked in a depression rehabilitation center after being forcibly taken away, nor that she had gone to Peking University to look for him a year after graduating from high school and had seen him with another girl.
Those... were just side stories. Lin Jinran thought there was no need to talk about them. The past was the past. There was no point in bringing them up and worrying others.
It wasn't worth it.
Su Qinian quietly looked at the girl beside him. The dappled sunlight fell on her face as she casually told the story as if it had happened to someone else.
She had hidden herself behind the toughest shell.
This was the whole story, but also just a part of it. There must be other stories he didn't know about.
For example... depression.
Last night, when he heard her mention the depression rehabilitation center, Su Qinian finally realized what had been bothering him.
Before the college entrance examination, Lin Jinran had lost a lot of weight. There were always big dark circles under her eyes, and she often lost focus in class and was silent during breaks.
At that time, he thought it was because of the high - pressure of the college entrance examination and didn't think about depression.
Now, looking back, he realized how naive and stupid he had been. He had lost Lin Jinran. All the signs had been so obvious. Why hadn't he thought in that direction?
Maybe it was because he had never met a depression patient before.