Chapter 40: Realization

The rain continued to fall, bringing a chill with the cold wind.

Two girls with charming appearances huddled together at the dormitory door, wrapped in their coats.

Especially the girl with the ponytail, she was incredibly endearing.

But for some reason, her face looked a bit haggard.

Mo Yuqing had cried dry her tears and had entered a more calm state.

Liu Yan looked at her best friend, whose eyes were red from crying, with a sense of helplessness.

She felt sorry for her misfortune, but also hated her for not taking action.

Because… she had really advised her so many times.

Mo Yuqing had had so many opportunities, but she had let them slip through her fingers.

“I really forgot everything before,” Mo Yuqing murmured, gazing at the rain curtain under the distant streetlight.

She slowly stretched out her hand in the darkness, suspended in mid-air, as if she wanted to catch the falling cold raindrops, or as if she wanted the familiar boy to pull her up as usual.

But there was nothing.

Neither the rain nor the boy was close enough.

“What did you forget?” Liu Yan asked, confused.

“I forgot how good Chen Lu was to me,” Mo Yuqing pursed her lips, her expression wistful. “Those things became part of my life, and I completely ignored them…

Only now, after he left my side, did I realize it.”

Liu Yan listened silently, without arguing.

Many people are like this, taking the kindness of those closest to them for granted, while being grateful and remembering even the smallest favors from outsiders.

The most obvious example is many rebellious people and their parents.

No matter how much they fight with their families, when they look back, they will realize that the only people in the world who truly care for them unconditionally are their parents.

Only after they enter society and get beaten up will they understand that besides their parents, no one else will always indulge them.

Mo Yuqing suddenly smiled slightly, as if remembering something, and laughed softly, but then tears slid down her cheeks again. “If he was a bad person, it would be better. If he had argued with me more, maybe I would have realized how much I had been overstepping the line.”

Liu Yan was speechless, frowning and saying, “You mean if Chen Lu wasn’t a good guy, you would have chased after him?”

Mo Yuqing shook her head, her long ponytail swaying.

“You and Jiang Chao also know him.

Chen Lu is so smart, he actually knows everything… He just loves me too much. He loves me so much that he only wants to be good to me, he doesn’t bother with things like giving a slap and then a sweet date.

He never wanted me to suffer.”

As she spoke, her smile became more pronounced, but when she realized that these good things no longer belonged to her, her smile suddenly froze.

Her tears had dried up completely, and she could only look blankly at the distance.

“Let’s go back to sleep.”

After a long time, Mo Yuqing slowly got up and reached out to pull Liu Yan up.

That night, Mo Yuqing listened quietly to the rain outside the window, unable to sleep all night.

No one knew what she was thinking.

…

The next day at noon.

Chen Lu was woken up by his phone ringing.

“Miaomiao asked if we’re going to dinner tonight, she said it’s the drama club’s celebration dinner…”

Although Liang Zhirou was pouting angrily because Chen Lu hadn’t had breakfast that morning, her tone was still incredibly gentle.

It was just that there seemed to be a hint of shyness in her words.

Chen Lu thought for a moment, yawning and asking, “Do you want to go?”

He knew that this silly girl was extremely shy and didn’t know how to refuse.

If Liang Zhirou didn’t want to go, he planned to decline the dinner and invite Lin Miaomiao and the three of them to eat together another day.

Without other people around, Liang Zhirou wouldn’t be so nervous.

Some things couldn’t be rushed.

The girl on the other end of the phone obviously hadn’t thought about being asked this question, and didn’t know how to answer for a moment.

Seeing that Liang Zhirou hadn’t spoken for a long time, he patiently explained, “Don’t be embarrassed to refuse, this dinner is different from what you think. We’re not the main characters of this dinner, it’s fine whether we go or not.”

“If you feel uncomfortable with so many people, just say you don’t want to go, and then tell Lin Miaomiao that you’ll invite her and you to eat together another day.

Don’t worry, it won’t hurt anyone’s feelings if you don’t go, and we won’t feel bad about it.”

Liang Zhirou didn’t know if she understood or not, she kept replaying the meaning of the word “we.”

“Do you want to go?” Chen Lu asked softly again.

The girl paused for a moment and slowly said, “No…”

Being in an environment with strangers really made her feel suffocated.

“That’s right, just say it directly if you don’t want to do something in the future.” Chen Lu was very satisfied, and as he spoke, he continued to lie back on the bed. “It’s okay, I’ll hang up now, I’m going back to sleep, I’m so tired.”

The voice of the girl on the other end of the phone suddenly became urgent. “There’s one more thing…”

“What?”

Liang Zhirou took a deep breath and finally mustered up her courage to say, “I’m inviting you to dinner.”

Her voice was very small, even a little trembling, but her tone was very firm.

This sentence used all her strength.

“Hello？Can you hear me… After all, I haven’t thanked you for helping me find a job…” After a few seconds, she cautiously probed again.

Chen Lu finally came to his senses, not noticing the smile on his face. “I can hear you.”

This silly girl who only dared to eat stir-fried potato shreds, was actually inviting me to dinner?

Then she added, “Just you.”

Chen Lu was stunned.

Wow, she’s learning as she goes.

He didn’t know whether he was happy that Liang Zhirou was inviting him to dinner, or happy that she was seriously learning to get better.

After they agreed on a time to meet in the afternoon, Chen Lu was about to go back to sleep when Liang Zhirou called again.

“Is there anything else?” Chen Lu seemed to have endless patience for Liang Zhirou.

“Miaomiao said… she moved the drama club’s celebration dinner to tomorrow, and she wants to invite just the two of us to dinner tonight.”

“Cool.” Chen Lu commented very readily.

He suddenly wondered if Lin Miaomiao’s brain wasn’t working at first.

Just going on the school website, was it really that exciting?

This time, Chen Lu didn’t ask Liang Zhirou if she wanted to go, but agreed directly. “I can eat anything, you two can decide slowly, remember to choose a good place, after all, we’ve been working so hard for her lately.”

“Okay.”

Going back and forth, Chen Lu was completely awake, so he simply got out of bed and prepared to wash up.

He didn’t know when he fell asleep last night, but he had slept until now.

At this time, after washing up and killing some time, it would be time to go out and have dinner with Liang Zhirou.

Seeing that Jiang Chao was still asleep, Chen Lu became even more angry and kicked him awake.

“What the hell is wrong with you!” Jiang Chao was startled and sat up straight.

He saw Chen Lu staring coldly at him. “Have you been brainwashed by your girlfriend?”

“How is that possible! My brother will always be on your side.” Jiang Chao said seriously, as if it was something natural.

Seeing Jiang Chao putting on a serious face, unaware of anything, Chen Lu was even more speechless.

He sighed. “You might as well admit that you’ve been brainwashed by her.”

Jiang Chao was stunned, forgetting for a moment that he had been kicked. “Why?”

Chen Lu slowly explained the ins and outs of last night, then kicked him again.

Although there was no harm in making things clear with Mo Yuqing, he was still angry when he was inexplicably played.

“Are you telling the truth? Did you really do that?” After he realized what was going on, he leaned close to Chen Lu and asked.

Chen Lu nodded expressionlessly.

“…You little…” Jiang Chao suddenly didn’t know what to say. As the witness of Chen Lu’s pursuit for the past three years since entering university, he felt a little complicated at this moment.

“Then congratulations on your liberation.”