Yun Sisi found it inconvenient to visit Mu Chengzhu now because her new home was quite far from her old one, and they were in opposite directions.
So, she decided to look for Mu Chengzhu directly at school.
She had already given up caring; more rumors didn’t matter to her anymore.
After class, she went to the door of Mu Chengzhu’s classroom and finally waited for him.
But when Mu Chengzhu saw her, there was no longer the gentle expression he used to have; instead, he looked distant.
"Brother Mu, you know everything that’s happened to me recently, don’t you?" Yun Sisi pretended not to notice Mu Chengzhu’s expression and looked at him pitifully.
Yun Sisi waited for Mu Chengzhu to say something, but after waiting for a long time, he said nothing.
Unable to hold back, Yun Sisi asked, "Don’t you have anything to say to me?"
Mu Chengzhu looked quietly at Yun Sisi. The girl’s face was still as beautiful as ever.
He admitted that in the past, he had liked her.
And precisely because he had liked her, now with the truth revealed, he felt a sense of awkwardness.
"I hope you take care of yourself."
Yun Sisi’s eyes widened in surprise, but she stubbornly asked, "Is there anything else?"
Mu Chengzhu shook his head.
How could there be nothing else? That’s impossible!
Yun Sisi felt her heart grow colder and colder.
Why was it this way? Didn’t Mu Chengzhu like her?
She had confirmed it before; Mu Chengzhu’s actions back then meant he liked her.
But how had things turned out ? Yun Sisi couldn’t figure it out.
Was it because of Yun Shifei?
Did he stop liking her because he found Yun Shifei prettier than her?
Yun Shifei was so cruel. She took away her family’s love and now even her romance.
She didn’t leave anything for her.
Yun Sisi thought she was utterly pitiful—probably the most pitiful girl in the whole world.
She had nothing left.
And her current situation was deeply troubling.
Though she and Xu Ya had moved out to live together, her biological parents still came to visit her every few days.
Their pestering drove her to the brink of madness.
What could she do? Right now, she didn’t dare confront Yun Shifei, afraid that some sort of retribution might fall upon her. She was truly scared.
School days passed quickly, and Yun Shifei made a new friend in the new science class.
Her name was Sun Xiaoqi, a particularly outgoing girl.
They met during PE class. At the time, they were practicing volleyball. Sun Xiaoqi was right across from her; a volleyball came flying her way, and Yun Shifei missed it. The ball hit her directly in the face.
Although she wasn’t hurt and only had a small red mark, Sun Xiaoqi felt extremely guilty. She immediately took Yun Shifei to the school clinic and insisted on finding ice to apply to the bruise.
Meanwhile, she kept repeating, "I’m so sorry, really! I didn’t mean it. How about you throw the ball at my face as payback?"
She felt deeply remorseful. Yun Shifei was so beautiful; if her face had really been injured because of her, she would have felt terrible.
Yun Shifei wasn’t angry in the slightest—it had been an accident, after all. When she heard Sun Xiaoqi say this, she even chuckled.
She playfully pressed the volleyball against her own face and said, "Alright, now we’re even."
The two girls exchanged smiles, and their bond grew closer.
Yun Shifei later learned that Sun Xiaoqi lived in a neighborhood just across the street from hers.
After school, Yun Shifei decided to go home with Sun Xiaoqi.
She even told Cheng Lie, "Cheng Lie, I’ll be walking home with Xiaoqi from now on."
The boy frowned immediately, clearly unhappy.
"You’re going to ditch me?"
Yun Shifei paused, then quickly explained, "No, no! You want me to keep walking home with you?"
Seeing his gloomy expression, she could tell he was extremely upset.
Yun Shifei thought, maybe it was because she often walked home with Cheng Lie that he had grown accustomed to it.
This was a habit she couldn’t lightly take away.
After all, there probably weren’t many things Cheng Lie had formed habits around.
She felt honored to be someone who had become part of his routine.
Yun Shifei couldn’t help but smile. "Alright, if you don’t want me to stop, we’ll continue walking home together."
But Cheng Lie didn’t seem especially happy about that.
Ever since Sun Xiaoqi had appeared, Yun Shifei’s attention wasn’t solely on him anymore.
She now spent time with Sun Xiaoqi, often talking to her more than to him.
They laughed and played together.
What Cheng Lie couldn’t accept the most was that Yun Shifei had started sharing her candies with Sun Xiaoqi!
In the past, she had only ever given candies to him, but now, she split them with Sun Xiaoqi.
Cheng Lie felt that what was being taken away wasn’t just candies but also Yun Shifei’s attention.
The space in someone’s heart was limited. If you gave some of it to one person, there would naturally be less for another.
Thinking about this made Cheng Lie inexplicably uncomfortable.
He didn’t like it when the things he cared about were distracted by others. He wanted her attention to be entirely on him, not shared with anyone else.
Should he plan to create a rift between Sun Xiaoqi and Yun Shifei?
That wouldn’t be too hard.
After all, they were just new friends; their friendship wasn’t that strong yet.
But doing so would make Yun Shifei sad, wouldn’t it?
Cheng Lie lifted his gaze and looked into the distance. Yun Shifei and Sun Xiaoqi were chatting, and something Sun Xiaoqi said made Yun Shifei laugh brightly.
He couldn’t bear to make her sad.
But she didn’t know—he was the one feeling hurt.
Some things, once divided, could never be the same as before.
Yun Shifei could clearly sense that Cheng Lie was colder than he used to be.
In the past, even when he didn’t respond to her, she could tell he was listening.
He didn’t seem as indifferent as he did now.
Now, Cheng Lie was visibly more aloof than before.
She had no idea what was wrong. When she gave him candy, he wouldn’t take it immediately like before but would leave it aside for a while before picking it up.
Yun Shifei had never been able to understand Cheng Lie’s thoughts, so she didn’t realize he was upset with her at the moment.
Part of him wanted to stop paying attention to Yun Shifei altogether, to go back to how things used to be.
But another part of him couldn’t let go of how good Yun Shifei was to him. This habit wasn’t something he could easily change.
The weather grew colder by the day, and soon, winter arrived.
In these past few months, Yun Shifei hadn’t heard a single thing about Xu Ya.
As for Yun Sisi, even though they were at the same school, as long as she deliberately avoided her, they never ran into each other.
Yun Shifei didn’t care.
She had given up on Xu Ya. When Xu Ya chose Yun Sisi back then, it shattered the last bit of hope she had for her.
As for Yun Sisi, as long as she didn’t provoke her, Yun Shifei couldn’t be bothered to deal with her.
When Yun Shifei returned home, she saw the couch was piled with bags of purchases.
"Shifei, these are new clothes Dad bought for you. Try them on."