Chapter 37 You can't love someone so humbly...

Chapter 37

The middle-aged men looked displeased and, without even checking next door, picked up their wine glasses and prepared to leave.

Wen Yining stood at the door watching their departing figures. Just as she was about to go in, she saw Li Changjing coming out of the elevator and walking towards her with the others.

Looking at Li Changjing, Wen Yining smiled unconsciously, her clear eyes curving into crescents, and she subconsciously prepared to wave to him.

Looking at the scene before her, Wen Yining's gaze sharpened, and the smile on her face froze.

Then she saw the man she had known for almost a year, the one she had called "Li Changjing" for a year, seem quite used to this scene. With a polite, warm smile on his face, he extended one hand to shake hands with the middle-aged man opposite him who had extended both hands.

The expression on her face slowly faded, and her hand, which had been frozen in mid-air, fell limply to her side.

Staring blankly at the scene before her, Wen Yining finally understood.

It wasn't because of Aunt Liu and Fang Qi's accents, nor the dialect of Beicheng, nor that they went to the wrong door; it was because she was wrong.

She looked at Li Changjing, or rather, Li Zeqing, as if she were seeing him for the first time.

Li Changjing was chatting and laughing with someone when she seemed to sense something and looked up from the crowd. The two looked at each other across the crowd, and when Li Changjing saw her, the polite smile on his face disappeared instantly.

Wen Yining turned and went inside.

"Oh, Mr. Li?!"

With a cold face, Li Changjing left the crowd and quickly chased after them inside, closing the door to shut out the people outside.

"Ningning."

Wen Yining stopped because of the force with which he gripped her arm. She slowly turned around and looked up at Li Changjing.

He frowned, his gaze sweeping over her face. "What's wrong?"

Wen Yining forced a smile at him, but a tear rolled down her cheek. Her voice was soft and gentle: "Mr. Li Zeqing, hello."

Li Changjing's expression changed, and he immediately loosened his grip on her arm.

Wen Yining turned around and continued walking forward, picking up her clothes and the phone on the table to leave. Her arm was grabbed by Li Changjing again. Wen Yining paused, but did not struggle or speak.

Li Changjing also remained silent; neither of them spoke.

After a brief standoff, he led her to the sofa. Wen Yining did not struggle and sat down on the sofa with his help.

Li Changjing stood in front of her, looking down at her. This time, he unusually did not try to coax her as casually as before, but remained silent.

Because he knew that she was like this not just because of a simple name.

He was good at glossing over problems, but now, facing her, who was as pure as clear water, he couldn't utter a single word.

He's not that shameless.

The soundproofing in the private room was excellent; you couldn't hear anything outside, only complete silence.

Wen Yining looked at the carpet at her feet.

In the past, when she was angry, she always hoped that Li Changjing would be serious and not pretend to be stupid. But now, he was indeed serious.

So he fell silent, because he had nothing to say.

"Li Zeqing." Wen Yining looked up and called him softly and calmly, "So your real name is Li Zeqing."

Li Changjing twitched his fingers, his dark and unfathomable gaze falling on her face, but he remained silent.

From the moment she met him until now, she has been overwhelmed by the name, with one unforeseen event after another.

Wen Yining has never wanted to give up as much as she does now.

The road to loving him was visibly long, muddy, and dark. She walked alone on this road with difficulty, the light in her palm dim, and the road ahead endless.

She never expected to be so calm, and even felt a sense of desolation. "I know that your family and identity make you not like to expose too much to the outside world, but what about me? Just because of that, do I have to bear all this?"

"You know what? Sometimes when I look at you, I often feel like you're very, very far away from me."

Tears welled up in her eyes, and her vision blurred. Wen Yining choked out in a low voice, "Actually, I don't want to know any of your secrets. I just want you to be honest with me, to feel comfortable showing your true feelings. I just want your sincerity. I want to know if you're happy, why you're happy, and why you're unhappy. I don't want to have to think over every word I say anymore, wondering if I'm crossing your boundaries or making you feel uncomfortable. Li Changjing, I don't want to be so humble."

Her voice was very soft, not like she was throwing a tantrum, but like a young girl experiencing her first love, tearfully expressing her feelings.

In the quiet winter night, a girl eight years younger than him whispered to him, word by word, that she just wanted to know if he was happy.

The statement was calm, but Li Changjing suddenly felt as if he were being choked, making it hard to breathe. His heart ached so much that it almost clenched. He looked away, raised his hand to loosen the tie around his neck, and unbuttoned his tightly fastened shirt.

He wanted to say something to salvage the situation; he felt he should say something, but he had nothing to say.

For the first time, countless conspiracies and schemes were rendered speechless.

The facts are clear, and any half-hearted apologies are unnecessary because they solve nothing. What she wants is absolute honesty and sincerity, which someone like him cannot provide.

What others can say so easily is something he, someone who has been used to hiding himself since childhood, finds most taboo.

Exposing those conspiracies and schemes, those intricate and dirty dark sides to another person is no less than tearing their skin off in broad daylight and exposing their bloody heart to the world.

Wen Yining's heart grew colder and colder with his silence. She suddenly felt very tired, a kind of exhaustion that came from the inside out. She stood up, smiled at Li Changjing, and said softly, "Let's call it quits."

She didn't look at his reaction; after speaking, she walked past him and left.

But Li Changjing didn't say anything, nor did he stop her.

It was already pitch black outside, and the cold wind was bitingly penetrating. Wen Yining easily flagged down a car at the entrance and gave the school's address.

Sitting in the back, I stared blankly at the neon lights and traffic outside.

The sky outside was a damp, thick black, but there was still no snow.

He's right, only kids believe the weather forecast.

Wen Yining didn't want to cry; she just felt exhausted. Even though she hadn't done anything, she felt a deep-seated weariness.

She parked the car at the school gate, closed the door, and looked at the school gate illuminated by lights in the distance, and the campus bustling with people wrapped in down jackets in the cold wind.

It's only a little past 8 o'clock now, and if she goes back now, neither of them will be asleep.

She'll definitely be questioned by them when she gets back looking like this.

But she was so tired that she didn't even have the strength to answer.

Wen Yining didn't know how to tell her friends, so she just sat on the cold bench outside, letting the wind blow on her.

The students passing by hurried along, their steps quickened by the cold wind. As they passed her, they all turned their heads in surprise to look at the person sitting on the bench in the biting cold.

It was strange; she should have been sad, she should have been thinking a lot, but when she looked up at the dark night above, her mind was completely blank.

She knew that his failure to stop her this time meant he had tacitly agreed to their breakup.

Before she knew it, no one was passing by anymore. Wen Yining stood up, feeling cold all over, and walked stiffly back to her dormitory step by step.

The lights in the room were indeed turned off, with only a faint light coming from the two beds. Wen Yining didn't have the energy to wash up, and her mood didn't seem to be as miserable and sleepless as the internet had described. She climbed into bed and fell asleep.

Wen Yining had a dream in which Li Changjing grabbed her arm as she left and said, "Wen Ningning, I won't hide anything from you anymore."

In her dream, she seemed very excited, and then, because she was too excited, Wen Yining woke up. When she woke up, the bright private room and Li Changjing had disappeared, and she was in a dark dormitory. Only then did she realize that it was just a dream.

The calm emotions suddenly erupted in the middle of the night.

Wen Yining thought of her subconscious mind projected in her dream just now, and felt both hate and anger towards herself.

Is it true that not being in love with someone is such an anti-human emotion that it makes you become unlike yourself?

Wen Yining, you can't love someone so humbly.

She didn't delete Li Changjing's contact information because there was no need; it didn't seem to have reached the point where they hated each other to the core and would never speak to each other again.

The next day was still a gloomy, overcast day, and the wind was just as strong. After the night, Wen Yining returned to normal during the day, showing no signs of weakness, but her face was pale, as if she had not yet recovered from a serious illness.

Gu Lingling and Jiang Fengqing were going shopping, and for some reason, she offered to go with them.

In the shopping malls located in the prime area of ​​Beicheng, where every inch of land is precious, they could only browse around. After finishing shopping and going downstairs, just as they were about to go out to find a place to eat, Wen Yining met an unexpected person.

Perhaps because Beicheng was too big, and because they were not from the same circle, Wen Yining never met Li Changjing or his friends anywhere except when Li Changjing specifically brought her along.

So when Wen Yining encountered Fang Qi, dressed in a suit and carrying a luxury bag, on the first floor of the commercial building, she didn't recognize him at first glance because she was so surprised.

Fang Qi stared at her, raised an eyebrow, and called out, "Sister Juan!" Then he walked straight over.

I've never met them before, but we just broke up yesterday, and today I ran into that person's friend. This coincidence is rather inappropriate.

Seeing his friend immediately reminded Wen Yining of him, and a wave of deep, stabbing pain washed over her.

"Who is this?" Gu Lingling tugged at her and asked in a low voice.

Wen Yining pursed her dry lips and said in a hoarse voice, "...His friend."

Without mentioning a name, close friends all know that when a girl says "he" without any prefix, she's only referring to that one person.

As they were talking, Fang Qi had already arrived in front of them. "I saw three youthful and beautiful girls from afar and couldn't help but take a few more glances. When I looked, oh, isn't this our Juan sister?"

Even though he was her ex-boyfriend's best friend, Fang Qi was someone you just couldn't bring yourself to dislike.

She just didn't know how to talk to Fang Qi. Without Li Changjing as a link, it seemed there was no need for them to exchange pleasantries anymore, but Fang Qi was still unaware that they had broken up.

"Why do you call her 'Sister Juan'?" Gu Lingling asked Fang Qi with bright, sparkling eyes, showing no shyness whatsoever.

Fang Qi smiled at Gu Lingling as if meeting an old friend, his peach blossom eyes slightly smiling, but he didn't answer her question. His tone was both questioning and flirting, "I wonder what this young lady's name is?"

Gu Lingling blushed instantly, revealing a rare girlish side of herself.

Wen Yining cautiously pulled Gu Lingling behind her and looked at Fang Qi, "Well, we have something to do, so we're going back now."

Fang Qi was amused by her expression. "Why are you guarding against me like I'm a thief?"

Wen Yining wasn't good at responding to such playful teasing, but she was very good at refusing. She firmly made the other party nod, unable to even smile, and pulled Gu Lingling and Jiang Fengqing out.

Fang Qi followed behind, amused. "I'll take you home. Otherwise, if you complain to your boyfriend later, he'll think I'm mistreating you."

Hearing this, Wen Yining, who was walking forward with her neck stiff, suddenly stopped, exhaled, and turned to look at Fang Qi. "I won't tell on him. I broke up with him."

As soon as he finished speaking, the three people around him were stunned.

Gu Lingling blurted out, "What? Didn't you treat him to dinner yesterday?!"

Fang Qi stared intently at her, something seemed to be in his eyes, and his expression seemed a little unpleasant. She had never seen the usually nonchalant Fang Qi show such a complicated and hesitant expression. "Did you bring it up? Or did he?"

I don't know why he cares so much about this.

Wen Yining turned her head to look at a shop next door, her throat suddenly feeling tight, and she didn't want to bring up the topic.

Just then, her phone rang in her pocket. She had nothing to say, so she picked up the phone to change the subject. When her eyes fell on the caller ID, she was stunned.

It was Li Changjing.

Fang Qi also saw the note on her screen, narrowed his eyes, raised an eyebrow at her, and snatched her phone without warning. He answered it with lightning speed, put it on speakerphone, and said into the phone, "Li Er, your girlfriend, oh no, your ex-girlfriend is at Gate 1 of the Commercial Building."

There was a moment of silence on the other end, then Li Changjing's voice came through, "Fang Qi?"

Even though it had only been a day since they last met, and even though they often went days without hearing each other's voices, Wen Yining felt a sudden sense of déjà vu as she heard Li Changjing's deep and pleasant voice ringing out through the receiver in the bustling shopping mall. Her throat tightened.

I suddenly regretted not blocking him.

She instinctively reached for her phone to hang up, but Fang Qi immediately stepped back to avoid her.

"Yeah, are you here to get back together? Come on, I'll keep an eye on her and not let her run away. After this is done, call me 'Dad'."

No, he wouldn't come to get back together with her. Li Changjing is a very guarded person; how could he do something like that for her?

Wen Yining looked at the screen next to Fang Qi's ear, which showed that he was on a call. Fang Qi's presumptuous decision would put the two of them in an awkward and embarrassing situation.

Li Changjing's voice came through the phone, "Keep an eye on her, I'm coming over now."

Author's Note: There are only 20,000 words left before they officially break up. Does anyone understand why I'm a little hesitant to write about the moments when they hated each other so much they wanted the other dead?