Unable to forget him

"Oh, sure." Li Yichen glanced at Ouyang Xuanxuan and smiled. "You really are a lucky cat. Business came knocking as soon as you arrived."

"Of course." Ouyang Xuanxuan lifted her chin smugly. "Who do you think I am?"

For some reason, hearing that Li Yichen struggled to make ends meet made her heart ache. Seeing him happy made her happy, too. She simply had yet to realize it herself.

Li Yichen had just pulled a shipping form from the counter when Ouyang Xuanxuan snatched it out of his hand.

"Leave it to me." Holding the form, Ouyang Xuanxuan said proudly, "I'm one of the owners here now, too. This is my first order, so it's worth commemorating."

Seeing how serious she was, Li Yichen gestured for her to go ahead. "All right, take it away, my co-owner."

"Hmph, that's more like it." Ouyang Xuanxuan waved the form in her hand and walked outside, swaying her slender waist.

Outside stood a girl in a white dress, carefully cradling a small cardboard box.

She looked only a year or two older than Ouyang Xuanxuan and was exceptionally beautiful. Her delicate, dark brows in particular gave her the same fragile beauty as Lin Daiyu.

The girl visibly froze when such a stunning beauty emerged from an ordinary Courier Station.

Ouyang Xuanxuan froze at the sight of her, too, then could not help exclaiming, "Wow, you're so beautiful!"

Being complimented, especially by a beauty who was every bit her equal, brought a smile to the girl's face. "You're very beautiful, too."

"Why does she look so familiar?" Standing behind them, Li Yichen pondered.

"Oh, right." Ouyang Xuanxuan tapped her forehead and handed over the shipping form. "If you'd like to send a package, please fill this out."

"Oh." The girl took the form, looking briefly dazed. She accepted the pen from Ouyang Xuanxuan and wrote her name in the sender field: "Zhou Tingting."

"Zhou Tingting..." Li Yichen had excellent eyesight, and seeing the name jogged his memory.

Wasn't there a girl named Zhou Tingting on the list of Jinling University's Top Ten Campus Beauties that my roommate put together?

The girl filled out the form carefully, but when she reached the recipient field, a mist seemed to cloud her eyes.

In the end, she gritted her teeth and wrote a name: "Zhou Yixuan."

But when she moved on to the delivery address, she froze, unable to put pen to paper for a long while.

Ouyang Xuanxuan gave her a puzzled look, then turned toward Li Yichen.

Li Yichen shrugged. I'm not all-knowing. What are you looking at me for?

After hesitating over and over, the girl could only raise her head. Her eyes were red as she said apologetically, "Sorry, I don't know his address."

Ouyang Xuanxuan said awkwardly, "But... without an address, we can't send it."

"I..." The girl was just about to say something when an anxious male voice came from a distance. "Tingting, what are you doing here?"

"Duan Mingyu, why are you here?" The girl froze at the sight of him, then smiled. "I wanted to send something to Yixuan, but... but..."

Her eyes suddenly reddened, and tears began falling one after another. "But I don't know where he is. I can't find him anymore."

The young man hesitated for a second, then suddenly stepped forward, snatched the box from her hands, and tossed it to the ground. Gripping her shoulders, he shouted, "Tingting, snap out of it! He's not coming back!"

"No, no, no..." The girl shook her head desperately, disbelief filling her eyes as her tears flowed without stopping. "He'll come back. He promised me. He'll definitely come back."

"He's dead... we saw it with our own eyes... please stop lying to yourself." The young man's eyes were full of tears as well, and he choked up until he could barely speak.

Men did not shed tears easily; they simply had yet to feel true heartbreak.

"Sob... I can't accept it. I just dreamed about him yesterday..." The girl covered her face, tears spilling between her fingers.

"I know you can't forget him. Neither can I." The young man spoke through his tears. "He was my best friend. Do you think losing him didn't break my heart, too?"

"But I miss him so much. I really do. I'll never forget him as long as I live." The girl shook her head desperately.

The young man slowly stepped closer and gently pulled her into his arms. A glint of spite flashed through his eyes, then vanished.

Then he patted her shoulder and said gently, "Tingting, let me take you home. Seeing you like this really worries me."

"Okay..." The girl nodded faintly.

"Um... what should we do with your package?" Watching the young man support the girl as they slowly walked away, Li Yichen could not help asking.

Without looking back, the young man replied, "We don't want it anymore. Do whatever you like with it."

Li Yichen picked the package up off the ground. After looking it over, he could not help frowning.

"Do you know her?" Ouyang Xuanxuan suddenly asked. "She's so beautiful. She must be pretty well-known, right?"

"Yes." Li Yichen nodded. "She's had a hard life, actually."

"You know her?" Ouyang Xuanxuan looked surprised. She had only asked out of habit, never expecting Li Yichen to surprise her with an answer.

Then she pressed him. "With how heartbroken she looked, there must be a story. Hurry up and tell me."

"It's already so late. You still want to hear a story?" Li Yichen asked with a wry smile.

"Come on, tell me." Ouyang Xuanxuan even began wheedling, pouting as she said, "I won't be able to sleep tonight if I don't hear it."

"All right, then." Li Yichen smiled wryly. After a moment's thought, he began, "Her name is Zhou Tingting. She's a third-year music student and one of the Top Ten Campus Beauties, just like you."

Ouyang Xuanxuan blushed and swatted his arm. "No getting sidetracked. Keep going."

"This all started a year ago."

"She had a handsome boyfriend named Zhou Yixuan. He was supposedly a gifted musician, and they were very close."

"Unfortunately, the heavens envy the talented. Once, on his way to a singing competition, her boyfriend was killed in a car accident. Death separated them forever."

"Apparently, plenty of outstanding men have pursued her since her boyfriend died, but no one's heard of her accepting any of them."

Li Yichen slowly recounted what he knew. By the time he finished, Ouyang Xuanxuan was crying her eyes out.

"Look at you, crying like this. If I'd known, I wouldn't have told you," Li Yichen said helplessly. This girl cries far too easily. No wonder people say young girls are easy to win over. She's so gullible.

He could not help thinking, If I made up a few touching stories and told them to girls every day, could I be a groom every single day?

Oh, come on, Li Yichen. What are you thinking? That's way too wicked. I'm starting to despise myself. Li Yichen shook his head, quickly banishing the thought.

"Do you have any conscience?" Still crying, Ouyang Xuanxuan lightly pinched his arm. "I'm crying this hard, and you don't even think to comfort me?"

Li Yichen could not help rolling his eyes, utterly speechless.

Then Ouyang Xuanxuan seemed to remember something. She wiped her tears away, sniffled twice, and looked toward the box before asking hesitantly, "Do you want to know what's inside?"