It Was All Sunk Cost

Meanwhile.

Mo Yuqing drew countless gazes as she walked down the street.

Unlike Liang Zhirou, she wore a different outfit every day. Even with a light rain falling outside, she wore a close-fitting, light camel-colored mock-neck sweater and a long black skirt.

The outfit showed off her nearly perfect leg-to-body ratio to the fullest, and combined with her long, straight black hair, it gave her an inexplicably mature, commanding air.

Even though her shoes were a little muddy, no one bothered looking at them with her slender waist on display.

More observant people, however, might have noticed that this young lady had hardly been caught in the rain and had rarely gone out on rainy days.

Liu Yan, walking beside her, had sensibly put on a thicker jacket and jeans. Even so, the clothes did nothing to conceal her considerable beauty, but with Mo Yuqing beside her, no one had any attention to spare for her.

Mo Yuqing was a little nervous today.

She wanted to prove to Liu Yan that she could live just as well without Chen Lu.

But as soon as she entered the cafeteria and saw the rows of long lines, she frowned.

Did Chen Lu have to stand in lines this long when he bought my meals for me?

Mo Yuqing didn't think too deeply about it. In truth, she could easily afford to order delivery every day, but as if determined to prove a point, she insisted on buying her own meals at the cafeteria.

She also had to pick up her own packages, sign up for her own classes, and handle class affairs herself...

She had felt a little ashamed while listing out her plans, because these seemed to be things everyone else had always been able to do on their own.

Mo Yuqing dabbed Liu Yan's hair with a tissue as she led her slowly out of the school gates.

If the cafeteria was crowded, they simply wouldn't eat there.

Liu Yan didn't mind much, but Mo Yuqing had come to loathe the thought of standing in line. She felt like she was going to lose her mind.

There were people everywhere. On top of all the commotion, plenty of inconsiderate people were blasting tacky videos out loud.

The noise made her ears ache.

Just as she was about to reach a familiar restaurant, she suddenly spotted Chen Lu.

But... there was a girl sitting across from him.

A girl completely different from herself.

She wasn't complaining to Chen Lu about all the unpleasant things she'd run into. She simply ate in silence, occasionally looking up to steal a glance at him.

Chen Lu, meanwhile, rested his chin on his hand and watched her the whole time. The two barely said a word, but...

Why did they look so close?

Why was Chen Lu eating with a girl other than me?

He had only ever spent time with me...

Mo Yuqing stood there in a daze for a long time, a heavy feeling pressing down on her heart.

She was both angry and upset.

I should be the one Chen Lu looked at like that!

All these years, his tenderness had belonged to me alone!!

Liu Yan noticed him a little later than Mo Yuqing, so by the time she tried to stop her, Mo Yuqing had already walked over.

The girl was still eating with her head down. Mo Yuqing simply met Chen Lu's gaze.

"What are you doing?" she asked irritably.

Chen Lu saw that Liu Yan wore an expression that said, "I did my best to stop her."

Although Chen Lu didn't think it had been necessary at all, he was still grateful that she'd wanted to help him.

Even if someone had started from the wrong premise, one thing still had to be judged separately from another.

"As you can see. Is there a problem?" Chen Lu asked, somewhat baffled.

"Didn't you like me? Then why are you eating with another girl?

Is this what you call liking someone?"

Since they were out in public, Mo Yuqing kept her voice low, but the anger in her tone was still audible.

"It's true that I liked you, but when I confessed, I also said I wouldn't anymore." Chen Lu's tone was a little cold, even to his own surprise.

Normally, meeting Mo Yuqing's eyes at such close range would have made his heart beat a little faster, but right now he felt nothing of the sort.

So this was what it meant for a heart to turn to dead ashes...

"You're the one who rejected me. You only gave me two choices: either keep being your simp, or not even be friends anymore."

"As you can see, I chose the latter, because I was tired." Chen Lu gave a self-mocking smile. "I'm no saint. Once I knew it wouldn't lead anywhere, there was no reason for me to keep treating you well."

His cold tone struck a nerve, and for some reason she felt like crying.

She didn't understand why, but her vision suddenly blurred, and tears kept circling in her eyes.

Mo Yuqing had wanted to hold back her tears and put on a disdainful smile, but ever since she was little, she'd always let her feelings out without restraint and waited for others to comfort her, so she botched the act.

In the end, she could only pretend not to care as tears streamed down her face. "Fine, no problem. Even if you eat with ten girls, it has nothing to do with me, as long as you're happy."

Then she lifted a slender finger and brushed the strands of hair stuck to her cheeks by tears back behind her ears. "Since you won't answer my calls, don't expect to get through when you call me from now on.

I won't answer a single time."

"Mm, okay. So, what reason did you have to come reproach me?" Chen Lu asked, tilting his head.

"You can't come up with one yourself, can you? We're not even friends now. You're sticking your nose in a little too far."

Mo Yuqing was a little stunned by this string of words.

Suddenly, Chen Lu felt like a stranger to her.

So much so that it was as if she had only met him that day.

Seven years had passed since Chen Lu gave her his first bouquet of flowers.

If she counted from when she'd first met him, they'd known each other for over a decade.

But no matter how far back she thought, Chen Lu had never looked at her like this.

There wasn't even a glimmer in his eyes as he looked at her.

Why? Why was he looking at me like that?

Where had the Chen Lu who would smile and comfort me no matter how angry I got gone?

"You weren't like this before..."

Before Mo Yuqing realized it, the words had already slipped from her lips.

"Mo Yuqing, if you want to talk about before, then let's talk about it properly."

Chen Lu gazed at the girl he had loved deeply for seven years. "What were you like before?"

"Back then, I asked you out to dinner, and you agreed. That evening, I waited for three hours, until the place closed, and you never showed up.

When I asked you later, you said you'd forgotten.

Do you remember that?

Maybe you don't, but I remember the mocking looks those people gave me."

"Before, I humbled myself like a dog, always trying to please you. What did I get in return? Nothing but two rejections."

"I wanted to be your boyfriend, not a dog at your side. Now... I don't want anything anymore. I just want to keep my distance from you."

Perhaps Mo Yuqing was shocked by how indifferent Chen Lu looked, or perhaps she simply didn't know how to answer back.

In any case, she said nothing and merely wiped away her tears.

Chen Lu didn't move. He sat there, silently watching her.

A pear blossom bathed in rain... So this really was what a beautiful girl looked like when she cried.

Of course, it felt uncomfortable to see the girl he'd loved for seven years crying in front of him like this, but Chen Lu held himself back in the end.

"Yanyan, we're not eating here. Let's go get fish with pickled mustard greens." Mo Yuqing turned her face away, her eyes red and her voice choked with tears.

"The fish with pickled mustard greens is at the east cafeteria. We just came from there..."

Liu Yan leaned close to Mo Yuqing's ear, a little embarrassed, and spoke as quietly as she could.

"Then we'll go back!"

"Don't rush. The oden you like is around here."

Mo Yuqing froze.

Had Chen Lu always run back and forth like this when he brought me meals?

Liu Yan seemed to see what Mo Yuqing was thinking. She merely looked at her and shrugged.

Although Liu Yan had guessed what was on Mo Yuqing's mind,

She hadn't expected that, even with another girl at Chen Lu's side and after noticing a tiny part of how hard things had been for him, Mo Yuqing still had no intention of being the first to back down.

She hadn't expected Mo Yuqing to turn and walk away all the same.

"You're going the wrong way! We need to head east!"

Liu Yan stood where she was and looked at Chen Lu, who hadn't moved, then at Mo Yuqing, who was storming off in the wrong direction.

She heaved a deep sigh, then hurried after her.

Chen Lu had seen that gesture before. It was the expression his mother wore when the male and female leads in a drama walked right past each other.

Watching the girl leave while wiping her tears, Chen Lu had mixed feelings.

This was the first time he'd ever made Mo Yuqing cry.

So she could shed tears because of me after all?

But it didn't matter anymore.

I wanted to let go...

After repeating that silently to himself several times, Chen Lu continued sitting there, playing on his phone.

Only this time, he was opening random apps and closing them again.

After all, seven years was a long time, not something he could let go of so easily.

Though the process would be painful, even if the pangs lasted another seven years...

I didn't want to turn back anymore.

I really never expected that the youth I spent on you would turn out to be nothing but sunk cost.