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Ye Wenyu nodded, "I see."

Cai Wenchuan smiled and summarized, "In short, from then on, Madam and Master treated me differently. Madam knew I had kept her secret wholeheartedly and was grateful. As for Master, at first, I didn't know why he was so good to me, but now I understand. It's because he loves Madam so deeply. When Lin Tingfeng spoke ill of Madam about her affair in front of him, he refused to believe it. Therefore, when I denied Madam's affair, he took me to heart and regarded me as his good friend. Thus, he was unwilling to accept the cruel truth; he believed that children don't lie. For a long time, I even became his belief."

Ye Wenyu nodded, thought for a moment, and said, "You did the right thing. It's better to avoid trouble."

Cai Wenchuan nodded, looking tired, and fell silent.

Ye Wenyu glanced at him and thought, "So, how did Lin Tingyue's mother get divorced after her affair went undetected, and how did Lin Tingyue's mother end up living abroad for so many years?"

Countless questions swirled in my mind. The Lin family's affairs couldn't be that simple.

But it was obvious that Cai Wenchuan was unwilling to say, so Ye Wenyu figured he would tell him eventually, and wisely refrained from asking any further questions.

The two sat in the car, slowly driving home along the ribbon-like winding mountain road.

For the next few days, everything was calm and peaceful. Ye Wenyu and Cai Wenchuan continued to live on campus; she studied, and he attended classes.

On the surface, everything seems the same as before, calm and peaceful, but things have changed inside. Just like an apple, sometimes it looks shiny and bright on the outside, but in fact, the core has begun to become infested with insects and die.

Ye Wenyu remained silent, but she noticed, intentionally or unintentionally, that Cai Wenchuan was gradually becoming different from before. When the two of them were together, he would often fall silent mid-conversation. Ye Wenyu sensed something was wrong and, when she looked at him, she discovered that he had been staring blankly into the distance, as if his soul had already left his body.

She tried calling him, but he didn't respond, as if he were a wooden figure. Ye Wenyu then knew that Cai Wenchuan had something on his mind.

Sometimes, when the two of them were taking a walk, he would become very quiet. When Ye Wenyu looked back, she would find that he had fallen far behind. Sometimes, she would even lose sight of him completely, and she would have to go back to look for him. Only after searching would she find that he had wandered off to another road and walked a long way with his head down. If she hadn't raised her voice to call him, he wouldn't have even noticed.

He was distracted and preoccupied, to an exaggerated degree. Even with the patience of a cicada growing underground for fifteen years, Ye Wenyu began to feel angry.

Sometimes when the two of them ate together in the cafeteria, she would find him lost in thought again, holding his chopsticks and picking up food again and again, but each time the chopsticks were empty. Yet he would put the empty chopsticks into his mouth again and again, as if that was the food he was eating.

Sometimes when drinking porridge, Cai Wenchuan's absent-mindedness is particularly obvious. He will hold a spoon and keep making scooping motions, but he never manages to get the porridge into his mouth.

This was the first time Ye Wenyu had ever seen Cai Wenchuan so distracted. He seemed preoccupied, as if he had something very important on his mind, as if he were engaged in a fierce struggle, his heart filled with turmoil.

After this happened many times, Ye Wenyu became somewhat saddened. One time, she couldn't bear it any longer and asked him, "Wenchuan, what are you thinking about?" Ever since Lin Tingyue had a talk with him at the Lin family's old house, he had become the way he is now.

She strongly suspected that he was thinking about Lin Tingyue, and that those dreams of the past that he had given up, whether nightmares or beautiful dreams, had returned to his heart.

The past surges like an undercurrent.

It was as if the camphor tree that Uncle Cai had cut down had been magically revived and grown back in his heart, taking root and flourishing.

Cai Wenchuan didn't react at first, so Ye Wenyu had to raise her voice and call him before he would say "oh" and pull his thoughts back from their kite-like flight. Then Ye Wenyu would repeat the question she had just asked, and Cai Wenchuan would turn pale, tense, and ashamed, as if she already knew his unspeakable secret.

Seeing her boyfriend like this, Ye Wenyu was very angry and heartbroken. She gently asked him, "Do you remember what you promised your parents? What did you promise me?" Her voice was not loud, but it was sharp like a whip. She wanted to wake him up. If everything in the past was right, he and his family would not have tried so hard to end it, to change it, and to start over. Since they knew it was wrong, why did they continue down the wrong path?

Cai Wenchuan's face turned as red as if he had been burned, and he could no longer utter a word.

For a while, after the two established a romantic relationship, Cai Wenchuan mustered up the courage to hold her hand and gently hug her.

However, since Lin Tingyue spoke with him last time, the two have had almost no intimate contact.

He seemed to have lost all desire for her, even though she was so young and beautiful.

Ye Wenyu also disliked Cai Wenchuan getting close to her. Up to now, she didn't love him, but out of a desire not to let him fall into the abyss again and return to the pain of the past, she still wanted to persuade him.

She calmly advised him, "Wenchuan, was the past always better? Don't look back, don't think about going back to the past." The past is gone.

Cai Wenchuan immediately denied it, saying, "I know, I didn't, don't worry." But his handsome face couldn't help but turn a deep red, like a prawn.

Then, day after day, his absent-minded state remained unchanged.

A few days later, Cai Wenchuan received another phone call. After hanging up, he said to Ye Wenyu, who was sitting across from him, "Xiaoyu, my dad is back. He's at the Lin family's house now. Let's go there."

Ye Wenyu then understood that Lin Tingfeng had brought Uncle Cai back. She nodded and followed Cai Wenchuan to the Lin family again.

When the two arrived at the Lin family home in their car, Uncle Cai and Aunt Cai were standing in the living room. They looked travel-worn and tired, as if they had just gotten off a plane and rushed back from abroad. They were waiting for Old Master Lin to show up.

Cai Wenchuan went to greet him. Uncle Cai glanced at Ye Wenyu, who smiled and nodded at him, but Uncle Cai did not smile; his expression was not pleasant.

A moment later, upon hearing a woman's laughter, the group looked up and saw Zhang Yingzi pushing Old Master Lin, with Lin Tingyue and Lin Tingxuan following behind them. The one who uttered the silvery laughter was none other than Lin Tingyue.

Upon seeing Cai Wenchuan, Lin Tingyue immediately moved like a purple butterfly, gracefully approaching and warmly greeting him, "Little Wenzi, you've arrived?"