Lu Yiyi remained noncommittal about Shen Shi's words.

Seeing that there was nothing more to say, Chen Shi lifted his leg to leave, but what he heard next made him unable to believe his ears.

"Oh, right, I forgot to tell you earlier, Qi Xiao's fiancé is Jiang Qing."

Lu Yiyi's words were like a thunderclap.

"What did you say?" Shen Shi said in disbelief, "For the sake of our childhood friendship, I don't want to hold it against you, but you have to understand that there are limits to joking."

Almost subconsciously, without much thought, Shen Shi vehemently refuted Lu Yiyi's words.

Lu Yiyi stood straight, her slender figure so thin that a gust of wind could blow her away. She wore a pure white long dress, and her incredulous rebuttal only made her appear even more alone.

Looking at Shen Shi, who was still immersed in the shock of the incident and his excited expression, Lu Yiyi felt a sense of pleasure at uncovering the true face of her rival, but at the same time, she couldn't help but feel a little lost.

The anger on Shen Shi's face seemed genuine; he appeared to have truly fallen in love with Jiang Qing.

As this thought flashed through her mind, all the good things Shen Shi had done for her over the years seemed to be right before her eyes.

She bought roasted sweet potatoes to keep them warm, but worried they would get cold, so she wrapped them in her arms. She wanted the pretty floral dress that her classmates had, but her father said that was just mindless comparison. Even her mother was reluctant to spend the money, but Chen secretly bought it for her. Afraid that she wouldn't want it, she even made up an excuse, saying it was a birthday present given six months in advance.

From childhood, Yi Yi's impression of Shen Shi was that he was always gentle and good-tempered, and he would never say a harsh word to her.

If it were six months ago, before Shen Shi and Jiang Qing started dating, this kind of thing would have been absolutely impossible.

But reality is cruel. When Shen Shi's anxious expression was for another woman, Lu Yiyi realized in that instant: He no longer loves me.

"Do you love Jiang Qing?" After a long silence, Lu Yiyi asked lightly.

"What?" Shen Shi asked, not having heard clearly.

"Do I mean you love Jiang Qing?" Lu Yiyi repeated.

"You have to understand that these rich kids are fundamentally different from us. The environments they grew up in and the personalities they developed are worlds apart. We studied hard for ten years to get into university and leave our small county, but even so, even though we are so hardworking, when we enter the workforce, we still have to put in ten times the effort. On top of that, we also need good luck to perhaps reach their starting point..."

Lu Yiyi continued her long speech, perhaps to persuade Shen Shi, or perhaps to persuade herself; in any case, she showed no intention of stopping.

Chen Shi's already limited patience was completely worn away by her nonsensical remarks.

"Excuse me for interrupting, are you planning to talk to me about social issues?" Although it was a question, Shen Shi didn't give Lu Yiyi a chance to speak at all: "I'm sorry, I don't care about these things. The reason I'm still standing here is because I want to understand about my girlfriend."

Shen Shi spoke very politely, but behind that politeness lay an undeniable distance. Now Lu Yiyi finally understood the answer: Shen Shi had truly fallen in love with Jiang Qing.

It was lunchtime, and people were coming and going downstairs in the dormitory. The entanglement between the school's most handsome guy and the department's most beautiful girl attracted the attention of many people.

Shen Shi, who was already taken, naturally didn't want to get into trouble, but the anxious Lu Yiyi didn't care about that: "Shen Shi, you can't do this. You can't love Jiang Qing. This is wrong. You have to be fair."

"Fairness?" Shen Shi scoffed. "Lu Yiyi, you have the nerve to talk to me about fairness?"

Lu Yiyi looked up, her doe-like eyes slowly gathering tears, ready to spill over at any moment. Anyone could see that she was immersed in loss.

With her typical delicate and innocent appearance, Lu Yiyi, who was crying in the wind, looked like the heroine of a melodramatic youth novel. Anyone who saw this scene would feel heartache for her without exception.

Unfortunately, he wasn't among them when he was sunk.

Even in the most foolish circumstances, Shen Shi could realize that Lu Yiyi had feelings for him.

After processing the information in the current scene and drawing conclusions, Shen Shi was surprised to find that his mood was completely unmoved.

Even if he truly loved Lu Yiyi, even if he had suffered such painful unrequited love, when those wounds scabbed over and fell off, the ugly scars blossomed into vibrant flowers. All of this was because of Jiang Qing. Her appearance was like a brilliant sun shining into a once dark corner, and from then on, the place became a place of birdsong and lush grass, where everything revived, and the desert turned into an oasis.

When the topic of love comes up, only the name Jiang Qing comes to mind.

Lu Yiyi, who was born in the same place and had similar experiences, realized for the first time how different their thoughts and values ​​were.

She raised the issue of fairness, but after Shen Shi refuted it, Lu Yiyi did not respond.

She remained silent, just as she had every time in the past decade or so, but this time Shen Shi had no intention of compromising; he wanted to have a clear and logical discussion with Lu Yiyi.

"Lu Yiyi, get this straight. I'm the one who confessed my feelings to you multiple times and got rejected. I'm the one who pestered you and fawned over you every day, but you were the one who started dating a boyfriend first, not me!"

"This is unfair! I want to ask you, what kind of fairness are you talking about? In what way did I wrong you when I was in distress?"

As Chen Shi spoke, his eyes were fixed on Lu Yiyi, waiting to see how she would respond.

"No! You can't calculate it like that, feelings can't be calculated like that..." Lu Yiyi grabbed Chen Shi's sleeve, tears streaming down her face as she explained, "I rejected your confession and chose to date Qi Xiao, you can blame me..."

After a choked pause, Lu Yiyi wiped away her tears with the back of her hand and continued, "Similarly, from a fair perspective, you could also date Jiang Qing, but... how could you... actually fall in love with her..."

"We are clearly on the same path, we are!"

Lu Yiyi practically screamed those last words, as if she were truly a victim in a relationship, yelling at Shen Shi and loudly denouncing her dissatisfaction.

As the female lead, Lu Yiyi has her own unique way of thinking. Her so-called fairness sounds ridiculous to Shen Shi.

If this were fair, then there would be no pure love left in the world.

"You and I are just you and me. There has never been an 'us' between us." Shen Shi rescued the crumpled hem of his clothes from Lu Yiyi's grasp.

Lu Yiyi looked up, her expression cold and indifferent, seemingly unmoved by her words.

"And what about you and Jiang Qing?" she pressed.

Shen Shi's eyes finally looked over. He didn't speak, but his naked expression revealed his thoughts: Is there even a need to ask?