My Dearest General: It Has Always Been You

"No, you fool! Didn\'t you hear him? He said that Qing Si has slandered Jiang Jinyan!"

"Hmm, now that I think about it, every time Jiang Jinyan\'s advertisement starts to get popular, Qing Si\'s fans would comment with especially harsh and demeaning words. It\'s inconceivable for both of them to be good friends!"

"There\'s no true friendship in every competition, only pure rivalry!"

"Hah, why didn\'t you say this a few minutes ago? Who was it that said that Jiang Jinyan was nothing good?"

"That…aiyah, am I not following the public opinion?!"

Beside the heated discussion, there were also some who had slightly gone off the track. They couldn\'t help it! What to do? President Jia was just so mighty when he defended Jiang Jinyan!

"Aww, I have never seen President Jia so aggressive before. Cool, he\'s too cool! Usually, he\'s just like a piece of rock but just then, he\'s like a blazing fire!"

"Don\'t say it, I have already imagined 10000 words of fanfic between President Jia and Jiang Jinyan. The genius and sharp tongued student council president gong x wronged, pitiful white lotus ex-athlete shou. Even if the whole world is against you, I will always have your back. What do you think?"

"Aaaaah, sister! Don\'t forget to share it after you finish writing!"

In short, today\'s seminar was really exciting, even more than a scandalous reality talk show. Some stood on Qing Si\'s side, but there\'s also no shortage of people who started to see clearly because of Jia Ming\'en\'s wake up calls and defended Jiang Jinyan\'s innocence. However, one certain thing was that President Jia had succeeded in diverting their attention so that they couldn\'t dig out Jiang Jinyan\'s identity otherwise it would just be a matter of time until he was exposed in public.

So, was Jia Ming\'en Jiang Jinyan\'s fan or not?

In regard to that matter, Jiang Jinyan also wanted to know. After all, Jia Ming\'en was especially...harsh and ruthless. Judging from how petty Qing Si was, he wouldn\'t have let the matter go easily.

Back then, he had been ready to forsake everything to bring Qing Si down with him. He had been ready to accept that he wouldn\'t have a peaceful university life anymore. Now that everything ended before he could even comprehend it, he belatedly realized how impulsive he was. 

Was confronting Qing Si worth the peaceful life he had worked so hard to build? No, of course he wasn\'t.

It must be the severe cold which had impacted his judgement.

Jiang Jinyan leaned on the empty pathway behind a building which led to the dean\'s office. Practically no one would walk around here except for those who were called in. Now that all the related parties had already gone inside, Jiang Jinyan didn\'t have to worry about being discovered.

He closed his eyes to stabilize his breathing. The faint sound of conversation drifted to his ear, seemingly like it came from another space and dimension. His whole body was aching and his head throbbed like it was being smashed by a hammer.

It wasn\'t until the sound of light, steady footsteps came closer to his direction did he snap out of his reverie. He lifted his eyelids to find Jia Ming\'en looking at him too. 

"What are you doing here, student?" the latter asked.

Jiang Jinyan cleared his throat, his voice raspy and muffled under the mask. "President Jia, thank you for stopping me just now."

"Don\'t mention it." Jia Ming\'en nodded. "I just don\'t want to see blood in today\'s seminar." He stopped squarely in front of Jiang Jinyan. Their heights were almost the same, enabling them to look at each other\'s eyes directly. Only then did Jiang Jinyan find that Jia Ming\'en was wearing black ear stud with longer tips that hung from the back of his ear. Somehow, it fitted him perfectly, making him look fiercer.  "You\'re too impulsive, Mr. Jiang. Anger will not take you anywhere."

Jiang Jinyan frowned. "What about you? Did you…get into trouble because of this?"

"Trouble?" Jia Ming\'en scoffed. "What trouble can he bring me? Expel me? Fine me?"

Jiang Jinyan was rendered speechless by his audacity. True to Jia Ming\'en\'s words, the university wouldn\'t expel him. Instead, it was them who should feel thankful that he had enrolled into Sangzhe and lifted its prestige, otherwise there were tons of other universities who would gladly offer him an olive branch. As for the fines…Jiang Jinyan looked at the watch adorning Jia Ming\'en\'s wrist and decided to stay silent.

Jia Ming\'en took off his glasses and wiped them slowly. His eyes lowered as he continued, "They only lectured me a bit and asked me to apologize to Mr. Qing." He shrugged nonchalantly. "Sure, what\'s difficult about that? I am not a public figure anyway so I don\'t have any reputation to lose. As for my words, they all came from the bottom of my heart. I didn\'t do it to defend you so don\'t let it get into your head."

Jiang Jinyan was once again rendered speechless. This man, he was lowkey yet brazen, withdrawn yet unabashed at the same time. If he stayed silent—just like how he did in the auditorium—no one would discover his presence but if he wished to, he could stand in the middle of the crowd and still be the center of attention.

It wasn\'t the matter of humility and modesty, but it\'s a kind of lazy nonchalance which came from deep within his bones. It was no wonder that he was the chosen student council president with more than 90% of votes even though he seldom attended any social events.

Jiang Jinyan chuckled quietly. "Still, thank you—cough, cough!"

"There\'s something I actually want to ask you." Jia Ming\'en slipped on the glasses and raised his brow. "Isn\'t your face a little too red than average?"

"I—" Jia Ming\'en\'s head suddenly split into three in front of Jiang Jinyan\'s eyes. He shut his eyes and shook his head twice, but the more he did, the dizzier he became. In the end, all voices vanished around him and all he could hear was a noisy and annoying buzz. "I am not—"

"Hey!" Jia Ming\'en caught Jiang Jinyan\'s arm before the man could fall on his face, his hands making contact with Jiang Jinyan\'s burning skin. Black lines covered Jia Ming\'en\'s forehead. "You have such a high fever. How can you even drag yourself here to wait for me?"

"Sorry, I—" Jiang Jinyan tried to speak but his throat felt like it was lit up in flame, excruciatingly painful and dry. He couldn\'t help but cough again, so hard that it looked like he was going to cough his gut out.

Jia Ming\'en looked around but saw not a single soul. After much consideration, he resigned himself to fate and asked dryly. "…Where\'s your address?"

Jiang Jinyan wasn\'t sure whether he actually blurted out the name of the apartment district vocally or only inside his mind. His whole body felt like lead, so heavy and uncomfortable.. He was no match against the strong force that pulled his eyelids shut and in the end, he surrendered and let himself be submerged into the whirlpool of darkness.