“You are great. It’s just that he doesn’t know how to appreciate or cherish you. You don’t need to blame yourself for it.”

Luo Yifan comforted him, saying that he believed the Chen Jing he saw was the same Chen Jing he had always known.

Chen Jing met his gaze deeply. "No, Brother Luo, you're wrong. If you were to put me from five or six years ago in front of you, you probably wouldn't even give me a second glance."

For Chen Jing, Zhu Zhizhou was the man she had spent twenty years pursuing and was willing to sacrifice everything to win over.

Back then, she seemed to have been brainwashed. Looking back now, she only feels that she was incredibly stupid.

Most importantly, she also sacrificed her family's affection and her two daughters' happy childhood for this foolishness.

She is not worthy of admiration, much less love.

"Ah Jing, you're overthinking it!" Luo Yifan dismissed her as being unduly humble. "You're great, really!"

Chen Jing placed the second plate of stir-fried meat on the table and rinsed the pan under the tap.

As Chen Jing relit the fire with a "snap," she said, "Brother Luo, what you see is me now. The me before wasn't good. The me I am now is actually the result of Ying'er's enormous sacrifice."

Luo Yifan had always known that Zhu Qianying had a great influence on Chen Jing, and he also knew that Chen Jing doted on Zhu Qianying and listened to her very much.

The reason, he assumed, was that Zhu Qianying was a person with her own opinions, while Chen Jing was an indecisive person.

But now it seems that it's not just because of those reasons.

“I go out every afternoon, do you know what I do there?”

Chen Jing seemed to suddenly change the subject, and this was a topic that Luo Yifan had been concerned about.

"I don't know, but I care a lot."

Since she was willing to lay things out on the table, he didn't mind telling her his true thoughts: "I always thought you went on a blind date."

Chen Jing burst out laughing. She never imagined that her daily afternoon outings would be such a torment for him.

"Sorry, you were overthinking it!"

At first, she hadn't figured out how to handle her relationship with him, so she felt it was her own business and there was no need to explain it to him.

After she had already made up her mind in the past two or three days, she was waiting for him to ask.

She would answer truthfully whenever he asked.

But he still acted as if he didn't see her going out every afternoon.

She herself naturally couldn't bring it up on purpose.

Hearing him say that now, she couldn't help but laugh.

This man has been jealous all this time.

When Luo Yifan learned that she wasn't going on a blind date, and saw her laughing so freely, which was a rare sight, he felt that all the frustration he had been feeling lately had been worth it.

Chen Jing finally stopped laughing, straightened her expression, and told Luo Yifan the truth.

“Every afternoon when I go out, it’s not to go on blind dates, but to visit my brother and apologize.”

Chen Jing briefly recounted how she had fallen out with her family and severed ties with them for twenty years because of Zhu Zhizhou, and how her family was forced away by the Zhu family.

Luo Yifan only knew that she had no name or status in the Zhu family before, but he never knew that she was not only nameless and without status, but also had no position.

He had to admit that he couldn't confuse the Chen Jing in front of him with the Chen Jing of the past that she herself described.

In his view, if both of them are Chen Jing, then it is not a simple change, but a complete rebirth.

After listening to Chen Jing's account, Luo Yifan didn't know how to describe the shock he felt.

"Ah Jing, I really didn't expect this..."

"You never imagined I was so humble and pathetic before, did you?"

Chen Jing thought she wouldn't have the courage to face her former self in front of Luo Yifan.

Little did she know that when she recounted these old stories, she felt much lighter.

She can even laugh and joke about herself.

Luo Yifan met her smiling eyes and wanted to shake his head, but in the end, he nodded.

Because he saw relief and liberation in her eyes.

In other words, the old her is long gone. The one now is the reborn Chen Jing.

"It's really pathetic! A man like that can't even be called a man."

Zhu Zhizhou has truly redefined the lowest standard of scumbags in Luo Yifan's mind.

"Yes, back then I couldn't see through it at all, probably because I was in it."

To be honest, Chen Jing had been considering for several days whether or not to bring up these old stories.

She had been hesitant. But just now, she blurted it out almost without thinking.

Perhaps the timing was right, or perhaps it was because she didn't want him to think too highly of her.

He would find out about those things someday. But she preferred to tell those old stories herself rather than hear embellished versions from others.

The reason is probably that she actually cares about him more than she thinks.

Luo Yifan seemed to accept her past very quickly. Although he couldn't agree with Chen Jing's past actions, everyone makes mistakes sometimes, right?

Including himself, hadn't he been making foolish mistakes all along?

The difference is that the person he was foolish for was someone worthwhile, while the person she was foolish for was just a scumbag.

"Forget it, it's all in the past. Let's just treat them as historical stories!"

He likes Chen Jing now, and the Chen Jing he will face in the future is the one in front of him. As for the past, let it be like turning the pages of a book; once it's over, it's over.

After Chen Jing confessed everything, it would be a lie to say she wasn't nervous.

After all, as long as you care, you will feel uneasy and anxious. This is an almost constant cause-and-effect relationship when it comes to relationships.

The two stopped talking about the past at this point.

Firstly, Chen Jing had prepared dinner and it was time to eat.

Secondly, both sides felt that this was a thing of the past, and once it was explained clearly, it was over.

Luo Yifan was not a good cook, and he hardly helped Chen Jing at all while she was cooking.

But at this moment, they helped carry the food out and took out the bowls and chopsticks.

After Chen Jing took off her apron, washed her hands, and went outside, Luo Yifan had already served the soup and pulled out a chair for her to sit down.

After Chen Jing sat down, Luo Yifan picked up his bowl and took a sip of the soup. The delicious taste of the chicken instantly won over his taste buds.

"It tastes so good!"

Luo Yifan himself is not skilled in cooking, but he has always been very picky about taste; otherwise, Fanxin Restaurant would not have been able to thrive under his management.