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The campus was on winter break, and it was also during the Spring Festival. There were hardly any people on campus, and everything was quiet. You could even clearly hear the "crunch" sound of your feet stepping on the fallen leaves.
During the holidays, the university campus was like a ghost town, and Ye Wenyu was living alone in this ghost town because she had nowhere to go.
He walked straight to the girls' dormitory and sent Ye Wenyu a private message saying "I've arrived." He recalled that a year ago, he had personally come to celebrate the Spring Festival with her. The two of them chatted and laughed, showing deep affection. Now, thinking about it, it felt as distant as a past life.
Whenever Lin Tingyue appears, all the beauty shatters like fragile glass.
That's terrifying—
Cai Wenchuan closed his eyes in anguish. In the darkness, he saw his own life. If he didn't wake up and turn back, all the effort he had put into the first half of his life would one day collapse like an avalanche.
Ye Wenyu didn't keep Cai Wenchuan waiting long and came down quickly, carrying two bags.
She stood in front of him, smiled slightly, and called out gently, "Wen Chuan—" She no longer called him Brother Wen.
Cai Wenchuan opened his eyes, composed himself, and looked at her with a sorrowful expression.
She was his lifeline, but now that lifeline was leaving him. The north wind blew from afar, as cold as ice and snow, and Cai Wenchuan felt as if he were in a cellar.
Ye Wenyu waited silently for him to speak. Having experienced too many vicissitudes of life, she had become increasingly silent, like a "gentleman who does not ring unless struck."
After living most of your life, you'll find that saying a lot of things won't change anything, so in the end, you just stop saying anything altogether. For example, what's the point of crying and complaining to Cai Wenchuan like a wronged woman, accusing him of being unfaithful and heartless?
She gained nothing but the loss of her dignity, so she remained silent.
Looking at Ye Wenyu, Cai Wenchuan immediately felt nervous, uneasy, and guilty. Various emotions surged through his heart like a giant dragon. Recalling the scenes that happened at the hospital yesterday, his face turned red, and he felt extremely embarrassed.
He stammered, "Come on, come on, let me treat you to dinner."
He could hardly breathe, and his heart burned with guilt. He was blind; he was the biggest fool in the world.
Ye Wenyu smiled slightly and looked calmly at Cai Wenchuan. Compared to his nervousness and embarrassment, she appeared much more composed and at ease. She said softly, "I just had breakfast and I'm not hungry at all, so let's just take a walk around the campus."
Facing him now, and remembering him from the past, even the most exquisite dishes placed before her would be impossible for her to swallow.
The winter sunlight is thin, like a pale white mist. The two people standing in such sunlight felt extremely cold in each other's hearts.
Cai Wenchuan probably also had trouble swallowing his food, so he nodded, which was taken as agreement.
The two walked slowly along the tree-lined avenue leading to the girls' dormitory. The once lush sycamore trees had all lost their leaves, like naked men stretching their branches toward the pale blue sky.
Occasionally, Ye Wenyu would run into a few school janitors working overtime. They didn't avoid her; they seemed perfectly calm. Ye Wenyu couldn't help but smile when she recalled how nervous she and her boyfriend were a year ago, afraid of being discovered. It was a bitter smile, really.
This composure and tranquility now is actually a kind of sadness.
Her mouth tasted inexplicably bitter, as if she had just drunk a large bowl of Chinese medicine.
Because the two people no longer have feelings for each other, they no longer need to worry about others gossiping behind their backs.
Ye Wenyu thought painfully, "How strange. Cai Wenchuan must have loved me, otherwise, his affection back then would have moved me so deeply. Such thoughtfulness and consideration couldn't have been faked. It's just that he doesn't love me anymore."
He truly loved her back then, and he truly doesn't love her anymore now.
The Bible says, "Love is like chasing the wind," and feelings are like flowing water and floating lanterns, changing at any time. So, he might change his mind. Just like her, in her previous life, she loved Lin Tingfeng; in this life, she chose to love him.
So there's no point in adding more criticism, is there? It's better to part ways amicably, each find our own happiness, and set each other free.
Both of them were preoccupied and silent. Cai Wenchuan, feeling guilty, took the initiative to start a conversation. He forced a smile and said hoarsely to Ye Wenyu, "You saw my parents yesterday." His throat felt like it had just been rubbed with steel wool, and it hurt terribly.
When Ye Wenyu heard Cai Wenchuan say this, she looked up at him and slowly nodded.
Cai Wenchuan's face flushed red, but he said quickly as if torturing himself, "Now you know, right? Back then, after our family moved, we became servants at the Lin family's house. My dad started as an ordinary driver, but because of his loyalty, he was promoted to butler by Old Master Lin. He worked as a butler for many years, while my mom worked as a cleaner at the Lin family's house."
So that's how it is. Ye Wenyu lowered her head, thinking to herself, "Cai Wenchuan, is this why you worked so hard to get into Q University as a professor? You had to get rid of this shameful family of origin, you had to work incredibly hard to become someone superior, just to wash away the deep humiliation your family of origin gave you? Is this why you don't want to mention your parents? Is this why you don't want to go home for the Spring Festival?"
So that's how it is; now she understands everything.
The image of the older brother who was once a pillar of strength in her heart, who could shelter her from the wind and rain, began to crumble in that instant. She looked at Cai Wenchuan quietly, as if looking at a three-year-old child. She suddenly realized that his mind was not as mature as hers.
In that instant, Ye Wenyu became much more forgiving.
She said calmly, "Wenchuan, I think there's nothing shameful about earning money through your own abilities. I have great respect for Uncle Cai and Aunt Cai."
Cai Wenchuan blushed. She stopped calling him Professor and Brother Wen.
He suddenly felt a void in his heart, like a broken eggshell, and a deep sense of unease.
Seeing Cai Wenchuan's silence, Ye Wenyu continued slowly, "Your parents didn't divorce. They earned money through honest labor, raised you, and supported your postgraduate and doctoral studies, enabling you to become a professor at one of China's best universities. They raised you so well; I think parents like that should be grateful. So, Wenchuan, you should open your heart—"
Cai Wenchuan's face flushed even more. He knew Ye Wenyu was right, but he couldn't resolve the knot in his heart—
Having been trapped in a cocoon for many years, it cannot be freed with just a few words.
"And this, here you go—" Ye Wenyu looked at the bags in her hand. One bag contained the Canada Goose down jacket he had given her, and a small bag contained the various watches and necklaces he had given her. Inside the small bag were three small velvet boxes, two red and one blue, all in their original packaging. She had always been reluctant to throw them away, but now she was returning them all to him.
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