Why Did You Stop Pursuing Me?

"We're doing business!"

Guo Zihang was the kind of person who could greet anyone with a beaming smile. If he had been a little better-looking, he could definitely have counted as a Warm Man. Unfortunately, his looks didn't make the cut, so he could only barely be considered a fiery goblin.

So when Wang Huiru asked what they had been doing, Guo Zihang told her everything about selling boxed lunches that day, his words brimming with pride as if it were something truly worth boasting about.

In fact, Guo Zihang wasn't wrong. It really was pretty damn impressive when told out loud.

After all, high school students in this era were still rather shy. They could get nervous for ages just from being asked for directions by a stranger, let alone go out and make money.

Of course, there were indeed some high school students who wanted to experience life and had thoughts of earning money.

But at most, they would take on a part-time job or hand out flyers.

Yet Jiang Qin had made several hundred yuan through a clever empty-handed scheme, playing the middleman and pocketing the difference. Who wouldn't be stunned by that? Wang Huiru's Dad was an elementary school teacher and only earned three thousand yuan a month. After Five Insurances and One Fund were deducted, it averaged out to less than a hundred yuan a day.

Although earnings couldn't really be measured by averages, Jiang Qin making two hundred and seventy yuan in a single day was already a massive shock to their worldview.

Especially after hearing Guo Zihang vividly describe how Jiang Qin had casually tossed cigarettes to the Webmaster and made two hundred yuan using just one address, Jiang Qin's image instantly grew much taller in Wang Huiru's heart.

"Jiang Qin, why did you suddenly start learning how to do business?"

"Saving up to marry a wife," Jiang Qin casually made up an excuse.

Wang Huiru burst out laughing at that. "You're already saving from now? Just how precious a wife are you planning to marry?"

Jiang Qin's lips curved slightly. "That depends on how many I marry. The more I marry, the more money I'll need."

"You want to marry several? Dream on!"

After that, Wang Huiru and Guo Zihang chatted some more about filling out their college applications, their voices full of longing for university life.

Meanwhile, Jiang Qin remained an observer the whole time, a smile on his face, without saying anything else.

He had already experienced university once, so he didn't feel much anticipation toward it and had little desire to chime in.

Even though many of Guo Zihang and Wang Huiru's fantasies about university life were wildly off the mark, he didn't jump in to correct them like some smug know-it-all.

Life only had meaning when experienced firsthand. No one had the right to presumptuously shatter someone else's hopes, even if they truly knew a lot. They still had to consider whether the other person even wanted to know.

Throughout all this, Chu Siqi watched Jiang Qin with slightly cold eyes and a gloomy expression.

Ever since the moment she had rejected Jiang Qin's confession, she had felt as though he had become a completely different person.

He no longer messaged her on QQ, no longer sent her good morning or good night messages, no longer secretly left comments on her page. He had even changed his avatar and updated his signature.

It was as though they had become strangers.

Worst of all, yesterday, while she had been idly browsing his page, she had suddenly been forcibly kicked out. When she tried to enter again, she discovered that he had locked it.

It irritated her immensely. The more she thought about it, the more wronged she felt, so she pretended nothing was amiss and sent him a message asking why he had locked his page, whether he had locked it for everyone or just for her.

Yet even now, Jiang Qin hadn't replied with so much as half a symbol.

But why?

You were the one who liked me, not the other way around. What gave you the right to suddenly stop messaging me? What gave you the right to keep me out of your page?

I never clearly said I hated you, and I never told you to stop pursuing me. What gave you the right to decide on your own to give up? At that thought, Chu Siqi couldn't help recalling the afternoon when she had taken the bus home. She had run into Jiang Qin by the roadside and assumed he had come to apologize.

She had even thought it through at the time. If Jiang Qin's attitude was good enough and he admitted he had only been talking tough, then perhaps she would give him a little chance.

But unexpectedly, he had merely nodded slightly before riding away on his bicycle.

Teenage girls had sensitive hearts and proud self-esteem. Anyone would be filled with grievance after being treated that way by someone who had once pursued them so desperately.

So when Chu Siqi got home, she threw a fit and swore she would never say another word to Jiang Qin!

No matter how much Jiang Qin apologized or begged, she would not soften even a little.

But just now, when she ran into Jiang Qin on the street again, Chu Siqi couldn't help imagining things once more.

She secretly thought that as long as Jiang Qin took the initiative to greet her and humbly admitted he was wrong, she could respond to him with a few cold words.

But what she hadn't expected was that Jiang Qin had stood there calmly from beginning to end. Aside from chatting with Wang Huiru for a few sentences, he hadn't even looked at her.

The more Chu Siqi thought about it, the angrier she became. Her full chest rose and fell continuously as the arm she had linked with Wang Huiru's unconsciously tightened.

Wang Huiru snapped back to her senses from the pain. She looked at her best friend, then at Jiang Qin, and suddenly remembered the emotional entanglement between the two on the day of the National College Entrance Examination.

No wonder these two hadn't spoken the entire time.

Jiang Qin must have been too insecure to speak to the goddess who had rejected him, right? Actually, Wang Huiru had a fairly good impression of Jiang Qin.

Especially after hearing Guo Zihang praise him so highly, she felt that Jiang Qin possessed a maturity other boys lacked.

So she decided to help Jiang Qin. What if she could bring about a good match?

"Jiang Qin!"

"Yeah?"

A sly glint flashed through Wang Huiru's eyes. "You said you were making money to marry a wife. Were you hinting at our Siqi?"

Jiang Qin's face went pale, and even his right eyelid began twitching. "Big sis, please spare me."

"Wasn't that it?"

"This little temple can't accommodate such a great deity."

Upon hearing that, Chu Siqi completely lost her composure. She clenched her pearly teeth, a mist of tears rising in her eyes. "Jiang Qin, what exactly do you mean?"

Jiang Qin waved a hand. "Nothing. I'll be leaving first. You guys keep having fun."

"You're not allowed to leave! If I haven't told you to leave, then you're not allowed to leave!"

Pretending not to hear her, Jiang Qin waved his hand, rode his bicycle over from the roadside, and then merged into the crowds on the street without looking back.

Having been reborn, there was no need to explain too much to people who would no longer have anything to do with him in the future, so he couldn't even be bothered to speak.

Never forget the original intention; keep the mission firmly in mind. Did you think I was just saying it for fun?

Chu Siqi stood where she was, watching his retreating back and feeling utterly wronged as tears unwillingly spilled from her eyes.

She wasn't like those cliché novel heroines who suddenly realized they liked Jiang Qin and regretted it.

She simply felt as though Jiang Qin looked down on her, as though she were something disgusting that he couldn't avoid fast enough.

Seeing her best friend choke up speechlessly, Wang Huiru instantly panicked.

Hadn't her best friend rejected Jiang Qin's confession? So why was Jiang Qin the one who left, while her best friend was the one crying? What kind of scene was this supposed to be?

New author, new book. If you think it's decent, please be sure to add it to your favorites!