Only after the lights in Xia Baozhu's house were turned off did the man sitting on the curb stand up and slowly go home.

I wonder if she read his love letter, and if she will reply to him?

When you like someone, you're happy just looking at her, and your heart will skip a beat even when you pass by her house.

Every time I go to the store and see her, and we talk for a few minutes, I feel happy for a long time afterward.

She disappeared for more than a month, and during that time he thought about her day and night, spending each day in a state of anticipation and despair.

The posters in his room were almost worn out from his constant touching, and the magazine he read so many times that the pages were worn out.

He went to many bookstalls and bought a new one, which he wrapped in kraft paper and treasured.

Today she finally came back. Overwhelmed with excitement and joy, he could no longer suppress his emotions and spent three hours writing his first love letter.

But he still couldn't muster the courage to give her the love letter in person; he was afraid of hearing a rejection.

He burys his head in the sand and asks his cousin to deliver the letter that is of great significance to him.

Even if there is no response, as long as it is not a direct rejection, there is still hope.

The next morning, Xia Baozhu received scar removal cream delivered by someone sent by Song Yaoyang.

The night before they returned, more than a dozen people, including Song Yaoyang, got drunk. She and three other sober companions helped these drunkards back to their rooms.

Song Yaoyang barely managed to stay conscious and didn't need anyone's help. Xia Baozhu escorted him to the door of his room.

Song Yaoyang, who had just opened the door, turned around and said to her earnestly, "Xia Baozhu, marry me."

Xia Baozhu was taken aback and refused without thinking.

"I'm sorry, I have no plans to remarry at the moment."

"Why don't you reconsider?" Song Yaoyang looked at Xia Baozhu in front of him, and the image of her overlapped with the one who had rejected him the first time.

Just when he was certain she would happily agree, reality taught him another lesson.

Meeting Song Yaoyang's earnest gaze, Xia Baozhu looked at the wall and shook her head again: "I'd rather not consider it."

Xia Baozhu trusts Song Yaoyang and has deep feelings for him, but these feelings are friendship, not romantic love.

Someone like Song Yaoyang, with his deep family background and connections, would definitely have arrangements made for his marriage by his family. Someone like her would not even be considered by them.

Song Yaoyang's insistence might even put her in a lot of trouble.

Therefore, during their time together, Xia Baozhu never considered romantic feelings between them.

"Why?" Song Yaoyang felt his voice was hoarse and he had difficulty speaking.

"We're not a good match."

"What's wrong with them?" Song Yaoyang couldn't think of anything that was wrong with them; in his opinion, they were a perfect match in every way.

"The identity is inappropriate."

“You’re unmarried and I’m unmarried, our statuses are quite compatible.” Song Yaoyang didn’t understand why she was making such a simple question so complicated.

“Your family won’t agree, and I don’t want to cause trouble for myself,” Xia Baozhu said bluntly, wanting to put an end to Song Yaoyang’s hopes as soon as possible.

"I don't need their approval to get married," Song Yaoyang said confidently.

"But I don't think so."

"You don't need their permission to get married, and they don't need your permission to cause trouble for me." Xia Baozhu thought to herself.

She had seen too many things like this, and very few of them ended well, let alone with happy endings.

She lacked confidence in such a future. Although she admired and liked Song Yaoyang, it didn't mean she had to spend a lot of time and energy dealing with the various difficulties caused by his family.

Song Yaoyang looked at Xia Baozhu with a deep gaze, and he could see her reluctance in her eyes.

"What if my family all agrees?"

"That's impossible." Xia Baozhu didn't want to brush off the issue or give anyone false hope.

Song Yaoyang really wanted to give her a firm reply, but in the end he only said, "Then we can only be ordinary friends?"

“Yes.” Xia Baozhu nodded.

"Alright then, let's pretend I didn't say anything tonight." Song Yaoyang turned around, opened the door, and went inside.

Xia Baozhu sighed as she walked back.

If she were truly twenty years old, she might have risked everything to overcome this emotional hurdle.

After all, Song Yaoyang was her ideal type in every way.

If she were still in the Xia family, her parents would be the first to agree, regardless of whether she agreed or not.

She can't do it now either.

Only those who have experienced it know that love is a matter between two people, but marriage is a matter between two families.

Most reckless love is like a beautiful and dazzling firework, lasting only a short time.

They met at the wrong time, and their attempt to persevere was destined to be fraught with difficulties.

It's better to give up completely from the start.

Xia Baozhu's self-perceived rationality caused her to miss the opportunity to become the wife of the richest man once again.

Every year a new richest person is born, and it's not uncommon for the richest person to go to jail. Even if Xia Baozhu knew she had missed an opportunity, she wouldn't care.

Moreover, in her view, being the richest person is not easy; it requires a lot of mental and physical effort, and a significant amount of time and energy is spent on work every day.

To be honest, even if you gave her a throne to sit on, she would feel like it was a hot potato.

Fortunately, the next day Song Yaoyang seemed to have truly forgotten what he said the night before, and treated her the same as before.

Xia Baozhu felt relieved.

After receiving the scar removal cream from Song Yaoyang, Xia Baozhu tried it on her arm first. She believed that Song Yaoyang would give this scar removal cream to all his companions who went with him.

"Sister Xia, are these injuries from over there?" San Gou asked with tears in his eyes as he watched Xia Baozhu apply ointment to her arm.

He saw on TV how difficult it was to fight floods and provide disaster relief, and when he thought of what Xia Baozhu had done, he felt heartbroken and shed tears.

Xia Baozhu was speechless at San Gou's tears. She was only slightly injured, not dead. Why was a grown man shedding tears?

"It was accidentally scratched by a tree branch," Xia Baozhu said casually.

"It must have hurt a lot." San Gou wiped away his tears sheepishly.

The injured person wasn't crying, so why is he crying? It's so embarrassing.

It must have hurt, but Xia Baozhu never mentioned it; that's how strong she was.

The main reason is that she feels that complaining about pain in front of others is like being a spoiled child, which makes her unable to say it out loud.

If you just keep enduring it, you'll become stronger.

Over the past month, she kept the pain inside and showed a relaxed expression on her face, trying her best not to bring negative emotions to others.

Everyone seemed to be like that, Xia Baozhu thought back to everyone in the team.

What she didn't know was that because she didn't complain about the pain or the fatigue, others didn't dare to complain either, for fear of being seen as inferior to even a weak woman.

One by one, they eventually became as hard as steel.