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Cai Wenchuan took Ye Wenyu's hand and shook it, then smiled and asked her, "I missed you so much that I took a few days off and flew back. What, aren't you happy that I suddenly came back to China?"

Ye Wenyu forced a smile and said softly, "I'm happy."

But she really couldn't be happy.

At this point, it's almost impossible for her to trust Cai Wenchuan as before. Since she wasn't the first person he met upon his sudden return to the country, and since he was hiding something from her, she couldn't possibly be foolish enough to trust him as before.

Ye Wenyu seemed to hear the sound of her own heart breaking. The person who ranked first in her heart did not rank her first. She felt cold, lonely and desperate surrounding her.

Of course, she wouldn't reveal what she had just witnessed in the bamboo forest and then force him to talk about his relationship with Lin Tingyue. If he really wanted to tell her, he would do so on his own initiative someday.

Ye Wenyu only felt sad and lonely. She originally thought that even if the whole world treated her harshly, she had Cai Wenchuan, so she would not be afraid.

But now, she realized that Cai Wenchuan seemed to have more than just her in his heart—could one person hold so many people at the same time? Could one person like two or more people at the same time? She didn't know.

At this moment, Ye Wenyu's heart felt like a dried seashell on the beach, empty and filled with unbearable sorrow.

Cai Wenchuan smiled at her and asked, "Have you missed me?"

Ye Wenyu nodded, indicating that she had thought about it. She raised her head and looked carefully into his eyes, trying to find the same amount of warmth, but there was none. Before, when he gazed at Lin Tingyue, his eyes shone like stars.

Cai Wenchuan then asked her gently, "How are your studies?"

"It's alright."

He seemed distracted, as if he were tormented by something terrible, so he couldn't concentrate when he was with her. When he asked about her homework, it was just a routine matter, like an older brother caring for a younger sister. But in reality, he didn't care about her homework as much as before, because his energy was occupied by other, more important things.

Are you still working away from home?

Ye Wenyu nodded, then shook his head. In the past, he would have been very concerned about her unusual reaction, but today, he simply nodded slightly and did not ask any further questions.

He has changed. When Ye Wenyu saw Cai Wenchuan like this, she missed the Cai Wenchuan who used to be like a headmaster.

Are you sick?

Ye Wenyu shook her head. She no longer felt like telling him about her injured foot and hospitalization. Before, she thought that if she met him, she would definitely tell him about her injured foot as soon as possible, and then cry loudly in his arms. But now, she had no desire to say it.

A woman cannot act coquettishly or capriciously in front of a man who does not love her.

Because he doesn't seem to care about her as much as he used to.

Cai Wenchuan looked around and said to her, "Come on, I'll treat you to dinner."

Ye Wenyu nodded.

The two did not walk side by side, but one in front of the other, without talking or laughing. Both were preoccupied with their own thoughts and remained silent.

Time and distance are truly the biggest killers of love.

During the meal, Cai Wenchuan kept putting food on her plate, but he was clearly preoccupied. The food piled up in her rice bowl into a small mountain. When the mountain got too big, the food he added to it would slide off and fall onto the table. He didn't even notice and continued to put food on her plate like a robot.

Ye Wenyu stared blankly at him, feeling an indescribable sadness and exhaustion. Ever since he first met Lin Tingyue at school, he seemed to have become a different person.

She suddenly asked him, "Is there anything you want to say to me?"

Cai Wenchuan froze for a moment, then realized that all the food had fallen onto the table. His face immediately flushed, and he stopped picking up food. He remained silent for a while, then lowered his head, avoiding eye contact with Ye Wenyu. He said evasively, "No."

Ye Wenyu gave a wry smile. She wondered how long it would take him to notice that the birthmark on her face was gone. The male classmates who rarely spoke noticed her beauty on the very first day she stopped applying makeup to her birthmark, but Cai Wenchuan had been back in China for several hours and still seemed blind, not noticing that the birthmark on her face was gone.

After finishing the meal, Ye Wenyu looked up at Cai Wenchuan and slowly asked him, "You seem to have lost even more weight after being abroad for most of the semester." She carefully examined his face.

Cai Wenchuan smiled, thinking that being controlled by his inner demons, how could he not lose weight? He looked at her and noticed that her face seemed different from before. He hesitated and asked her, "You're not wearing a mask anymore?"

Ye Wenyu nodded.

Only then did they notice the abnormality on her face; she was no longer happy.

Cai Wenchuan reached out and touched her unusually fair cheek, asking her, "Where's that birthmark on your face?"

Ye Wenyu had no choice but to turn her face to the side to avoid his touch, and said incoherently, "I had cosmetic surgery to remove it." If she said that her previous birthmark was just painted on, it would seem very insincere, so it was better to say that she removed it through cosmetic surgery.

Cai Wenchuan nodded and said to her, "Yes, Xiaoyu, you've become more beautiful, just like when you were little." He seemed pleased, but not as overjoyed as she had imagined.

Ye Wenyu looked at him and suddenly asked, "When you were little, besides me, was there another beautiful girl?" She couldn't hold back any longer.

Cai Wenchuan froze, feeling as if an earthquake and tsunami had struck his heart. A little girl in a purple dress was leaping on a tree branch, like a light and agile bird. She was a friend he had met when he moved to a new home at the age of fifteen.

But could he tell Ye Wenyu the truth? At this moment, in his heart, he didn't know which of the two girls was more important. Sometimes, he felt more familial affection for Wenyu, but for Tingyue, it was a different kind of feeling. His heart was tied to her, and the other end of that thread was in the hand of that girl in purple. She was his inner demon.

Cai Wenchuan remained silent.

Ye Wenyu then realized that his sudden return to China this time was probably not for her. Everyone says that long-distance relationships are terrible, and it seems to be true. All love can't withstand time and distance. Or perhaps, his love for her was ultimately not deep enough.

She suddenly felt extremely tired and said softly, "It's getting cold, let's go back. I have class tonight." With that, she walked out of the restaurant, and Cai Wenchuan nodded and followed her.