Chen Lu smiled.

It seemed as if he was mocking his own past, or perhaps he was mocking the girl's obtuseness.

"I've never been angry with you from beginning to end," he said calmly.

"Then why...?"

He interrupted Mo Yuqing halfway through her sentence, saying, "I just don't want to like you anymore."

The girl stood there, speechless for a long time, her eyes reddening, which looked as if she had applied eyeshadow under the pale light.

After a moment of silence, she spoke again slowly, her voice trembling slightly, "I'm sorry... I know I was wrong. I won't be like that again, I swear!"

“I’ve been thinking about this for the past few days, reminiscing about everything we’ve done since we were little. I know I’ve been really mean to you all this time… but I really won’t do it again.”

"Chen Lu, please... please give me back the love that was rightfully mine, okay?"

This was the first time in Chen Lu's life that he had ever seen Mo Yuqing speak in a pleading tone.

Even counting from before starting kindergarten, this was the first time.

She has never asked anyone for help since she was a child.

Although her parents were divorced, she still received love from them and had an excellent upbringing. Her family's financial situation was far beyond what most people could achieve, so she never needed to ask for favors.

Money alone cannot accomplish everything, but with power, much can be achieved.

But this time, Mo Yuqing was truly pleading.

Even with all this in mind, Chen Lu still stared coldly at her and said in a deep voice, "Not good."

Upon hearing this, the tears that had been welling up in Mo Yuqing's eyes instantly flowed down her delicate cheeks, dripping onto the ground.

One after another, flowers of despair and regret bloomed.

"Why? Didn't you like me for seven years? You used to like me so much..." Mo Yuqing cried, her face streaked with tears. This girl was so beautiful that even when she cried, she was incredibly moving and endearing.

Her heart trembled with cold, as if she had fallen into an ice cave.

Chen Lu clearly couldn't stand seeing himself cry.

To avoid crying, he got into fights in elementary school, skipped classes in middle school, and stayed by his parents' side day and night when they were getting a divorce.

When he got chickenpox, he would lean against the other side of the bedroom door, write on a piece of paper, and then slip it through the crack in the door.

The two of them would write for an entire afternoon, and Chen Lu would stay for several days at a time.

Childhood sweethearts, innocent and carefree, a perfect match... what a beautiful love story!

But he rewrote it himself, turning it into an ending that was anything but beautiful.

The boy is now so disheartened that he doesn't care about his own crying.

Thinking about these things made her increasingly sad and regretful. Being easily embarrassed, she finally couldn't help but cry out loud outside.

"Yes, I've liked you for seven years. But you yourself said that was in the past," Chen Lu smiled calmly. "What makes you think I'll always like you?"

Seeing Mo Yuqing unable to stop crying, Chen Lu's feelings became increasingly complicated, and he could only continue:

"I don't regret being so good to you in the past, and I've never regretted what I did for you, but like I said that day..."

It won't happen again.

"To be honest, I really liked you before, so much... I liked you so much that even now I don't want to hurt you, but I really don't want to go back to you."

Do you know what I mean?

I hope you're happy, and then we can each live our own lives.

Chen Lu has always been a rational person, but he never thought that he would be so rational towards Mo Yuqing one day.

He then added, "It makes no sense for you to bring me back to you. The past is there, and I will never forget it."

"You might think that everything is fine now that you accepted my confession that day, but that's not the case."

"No, that confession was just me putting a period to this relationship."

"My feelings for you have long been shattered by your own hands. So even if you accept me that day, we can never go back to the way things were."

These words struck Mo Yuqing like a bolt from the blue, leaving her stunned.

For a moment, she even forgot to breathe, her whole being overwhelmed by endless regret.

Beautiful memories of the past are like quicksand; the more you think about them, the deeper you sink.

Mo Yuqing suddenly felt a little ridiculous. Just a few minutes ago, she felt that she had just failed to seize the opportunity.

She never imagined that the harm she had done to Chen Lu was the result of accumulated over time.

"I'm just used to it... I really..."

She wanted to continue explaining, but then she saw Chen Lu put his index finger to his lips.

The meaning was quite clear: he wouldn't listen if she continued talking...

She understood that Chen Lu was preserving the last vestige of dignity for her and for this relationship.

Mo Yuqing wiped away her tears with the back of her hand and whispered, "I'll leave after you take a picture..."

Seeing that Chen Lu seemed puzzled, she continued, "You used to love taking pictures of me so much."

"That is..."

"I know that was in the past, and I don't care who you take the photos for in the future, just take one, okay? I'll leave right after you take it." Mo Yuqing clenched her hands tightly and looked at Chen Lu seriously.

Chen Lu found a girl who was jogging at night and asked her to take a photo of the two of them together.

"Go find a place, you're so knowledgeable about photography." While Chen Lu was away, Mo Yuqing wiped her face with a wet wipe.

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