Chapter 47 He was too tired, he desperately needed a good night's sleep...
"I almost didn't recognize her when I first saw her," the boy said softly. "If I hadn't seen the comments, I wouldn't have known she was doing so well now."
"Wasn't she good before?" Qin You handed the phone back to the boy. "You only see that she's doing well now?"
"I..." The boy was his high school classmate, and they usually got along quite well. But now he felt very ashamed by what he said. "Didn't I value my studies more before?"
"Since you value your studies more, why bother her?" Qin You's expression was somewhat cold. "Do you think she'll even bother with you?"
The boy, feeling embarrassed by what he'd said, couldn't help but retort, "I haven't even spoken to her yet, how do you know she won't talk to me?"
Qin You didn't speak, but his eyes were sharp.
"You don't not have Yu Kui's contact information, do you?" the boy asked suspiciously. "In the second semester of your junior year, Yu Kui rarely came to see you. Did you have a falling out with her?"
"What's it to you?" Qin You ignored his words.
"I think it's because you've changed your mind, isn't it?" the boy sneered. "No wonder she wanted to apply to Yanning University; it was to get away from you, wasn't it?"
"Shut up!" Qin You sat up in bed and looked at the boy expressionlessly. "What I have to do with her is none of your business."
"Pretentious." The boy returned to his seat. "He probably regrets it now."
Do you regret it?
Qin You took out his phone, found the video, and watched it repeatedly, admiring Yu Kui's poised and graceful demeanor.
In the past, he wouldn't have believed that Yu Kui could be as outstanding as she is today. In his memory, Yu Kui was like a lively little bird, always following behind him, always there whenever he turned around.
Even if he hates her, she won't leave.
To be precise, she was like a dull, gray sparrow, dependent on him while always failing to reveal her bright side to him.
So when Qin You broke up with her, although she felt reluctant, she wasn't that heartbroken.
He knew perfectly well that if he left her, he would meet someone better, someone who would be more suitable to be by his side than she was.
So he didn't hesitate to say so many hurtful things to her, leaving her standing there.
But at this moment, seeing her radiant appearance, he felt incredibly conflicted.
He knew she had gone to a better university, and he knew they could never go back to the way things were before.
But he never expected to see her in the video. She was beautiful, gentle, and her eyes shone when she smiled.
It was as if she had been reborn after leaving him, completely different from before.
Her changes were so drastic that they startled Qin You.
He couldn't quite explain what he was thinking, but it felt like a thorn had been plunged deep into his heart.
"Did you see that video?" Tao Jiang messaged him. "Knowing how successful she is now, don't you regret it?"
Qin You blinked. "Don't talk nonsense. I can't possibly regret it."
"Really?" Tao Jiang didn't believe it. "If I were you, I would definitely feel very sad."
Qin Zhou took a deep breath. "She has already gone to another city and left our lives. Can we please stop mentioning her?"
"What, getting impatient?" Tao Jiang sneered. "You didn't have this attitude when I talked about her before. You hated her back then."
“I haven’t been in contact with her for a long time,” Qin You said. “I hope we won’t mention her again.”
“But I felt uncomfortable,” Tao Jiang said. “When I saw her, so glamorous and beautiful like a swan, I felt disgusted.”
Yu Kui is nothing but her defeated foe, so why is she always living a better life than her?
Tao Jiang's jealousy made her expression somewhat distorted.
"She left the city, but news of her is everywhere."
"What does her news have to do with us?" Qin You said, "Can we stop paying attention to her? Wouldn't it be better if we just stayed together and only cared about each other?"
Tao Jiang looked up at the ceiling, her eyes appearing exceptionally deep.
"I don't care about her, but how can you not care about her?"
“I don’t care,” Qin You said. “I don’t care at all.”
Tao Jiang felt a little better. "Qin You, my birthday is coming up soon. Let's go on a trip."
Where would you like to go?
“The beach,” Tao Jiang said. “I’ve never been to the beach in my life.”
Upon hearing this, Qin You checked his bank account balance. Holidays are peak travel season, and airfares and train tickets are not cheap. The beach that Tao Jiang mentioned was not an ordinary coastline, but the most popular tourist attraction.
With Qin You's current capabilities, he simply cannot afford it.
"Can I go during winter break?" He planned to discuss it with Tao Jiang.
“If I can’t go on my birthday, what’s the point of going at another time?” Tao Jiang said firmly. “If you don’t want to go, you can just say so.”
Qin You paused, the unbearable financial pressure making his heart heavy. "It's not that I don't want to celebrate your birthday."
"What else do you mean?" Tao Jiang was used to suppressing Qin You emotionally, and she spoke without any mercy. "I have a lot of people pursuing me. If you don't cherish me, there are plenty of people who like me."
Qin You lowered her eyelashes. "If we can't go to the beach, you're going to break up with me?"
"I want to tell you that I'm not dating you to suffer, and I hope you will respect my wishes."
Qin You didn't know how to tell her that the crystal necklace, the cell phone and other gifts he later gave her were all earned through his own hard work, part-time jobs and asking his mother for money.
He simply did not have the financial means to support her various demands.
He was exhausted from dating her; he was constantly anxious and wanted to have a serious talk with her.
He can try his best to fulfill her wishes, but if he can't fulfill them for the time being, can they wait until she graduates from university and he has a job before they go out and have fun together?
Qin You took a deep breath and slowly typed out a line of text: "Sorry, I don't have money to take you to the beach right now."
The moment the message was sent, Qin You locked his phone. He didn't want to see Tao Jiang's reply, but he had placed his dignity beneath her.
Admitting that he couldn't give her the life she wanted was perhaps the hardest decision he ever made.
But the moment he said it, he suddenly felt a sense of relief and breathed a sigh of relief.
Tao Jiang didn't reply to him for a long time. Qin You closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep, but he felt anxious as soon as he closed his eyes.
He opened his phone, found Yu Kui's video, and looked at her smiling face. It was as if he had returned to high school, when she followed him closely, telling him what her mother was cooking for dinner and asking him to come home with her for dinner.
"Don't you like sweet and sour fish? I specially asked my mom to make it. Eat more tonight."
"Hmm." Although his attitude was indifferent, he felt comforted inside.
Yu Kui never made any demands on him. The only thing that bothered him was that she always had endless things to say, such as trivial matters at school, the cartoons she watched yesterday, and other random little troubles.
Although he felt troubled, he would still listen to her finish.
"Qin You, what gift do you want for your birthday? I don't know what to get you."
"Whatever." He didn't have any particular expectations for his birthday, but Yu Kui would always give him gifts that perfectly suited his taste.
For example, his favorite sneakers, the comic books he wants to collect, and the exquisite figurines he's interested in...
Although she was noisy, she always managed to notice what he liked and quietly fulfill his wishes.
Qin You didn't know why he was thinking about such distant past events. Those things were no longer worth mentioning to him, but thinking about them now made him feel incredibly bitter on this winter night.
The next morning, Qin You received a reply from Tao Jiang: "If you don't have money, you don't have money. Just say so. I'm not an unreasonable girl."
She replied to him, but didn't directly say she wasn't going to the beach.
Qin You: "Is it okay if we go to the city center for my birthday?"
"Forget it, I don't want to go anywhere. I'm not celebrating my birthday this year."
"Birthdays are such an important occasion, we can't skip them."
"You've already said you have no money, what else can I do? Force you to sell your blood?"
Upon seeing this sentence, Qin You knew she was angry.
He had a feeling that he had expected this, and he didn't know what he had been hoping for.
"Although I don't have the money to take you to the beach, I can still take you out to eat and buy you a birthday present."
“I told you I don’t want to go,” Tao Jiang said, unmoved. “Keep the money for yourself.”
After saying that, she ignored Qin You.
Qin You stood there, stunned, unable to come to his senses for a long time. If it were any other time, he would have apologized to Tao Jiang long ago and couldn't wait to go find her.
But today, he didn't have that thought. He felt like he was stuck in a vast swamp, trying to get ashore but unable to find the right direction.
He was too tired.
It's not physical exhaustion, but rather profound mental fatigue.
Qin You put her phone down and closed her eyes to continue sleeping.
He felt he desperately needed a good night's sleep.
Yu Kui put on her down jacket, found a fluffy scarf, put it on, and was about to go out.
"Wait a minute," Shu Jia called out to her. "What are you doing? You don't even bother to dress up properly before going on a date. Come here, I'll do your makeup."
“I don’t want to wear makeup,” Yu Kui shook her head and retorted, “I’m not going out on a date.”
"Okay, okay, even if it's not a date, you should still put on some makeup and look pretty," Shu Jia insisted. "I won't let you do it yourself, I'll arrange it for you."
"Never mind." Yu Kui didn't think she needed to put on makeup to see Xie Xingzhi. They were old friends, so there was no need to be so particular.
Shu Jia: "You really don't have any inhibitions at all."
Yu Kui waved her hand. "I'm leaving."
"Let's go, let's go." Shu Jia glanced at the time. Although it was already noon, she still wanted to continue sleeping.
Without even thinking, Yu Kui knew that Xie Xingzhi was waiting for her at the door.
She walked over quickly, "How long have you been waiting?"
"Less than five minutes," Xie Xingzhi said, pretending to check the time. "You came out pretty quickly."
"Where should we eat today?" She searched for food streets around the city center. "Is there anything you'd like to try?"
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