Early morning!
The sound of the door closing reached his ears.
Long Aotian groggily sat up and walked outside, only to find the old man no longer in the room.
The world of adults is not easy for anyone.
Thinking about his life as a corporate drone before transmigrating, he couldn't help but sigh softly.
He turned back to the room, changed his clothes, but then quickly took them off again.
"I worked hard and struggled for half my life in my previous world. What's wrong with slacking off for a day?"
With that, he threw himself back onto the bed, wrapped himself in the blanket, and fell asleep again.
Ten minutes later, Long Aotian put down his bowl at the breakfast shop and let out a satisfied breath: "As expected, morning porridge is the best for the stomach."
He then packed another breakfast to take to the old man at the vegetable market.
......
Li Qingxue was stunned when she saw the message from Gao Quan.
It said that Ye Liangchen had been beaten up.
The moment she saw the news, Li Qingxue instinctively searched for Ye Liangchen's QQ account.
But she noticed that Ye Liangchen's profile picture had been changed, and his signature was different too.
Even all the messages related to her in his space had been cleared out.
Frowning slightly, she felt a pang of confusion at this sight.
After all, they had known each other for nine years, not nine days.
Ye Liangchen was right—she had been a part of his entire adolescence, just as he had been a part of hers.
Despite her frustration, Li Qingxue decided to send Ye Liangchen a message right away, asking him what had happened and why he had been beaten.
The moment she sent the message, she also sent one to Gao Quan.
But at this hour, Gao Quan was clearly still asleep, and her message seemed to vanish into the void.
After some thought, Li Qingxue got up, got dressed, washed up, and left the house.
Soon, her phone buzzed with a reply.
It was from Ye Liangchen.
"Sorry, Gao Quan must have been blabbing again, right? I'm fine. Let's leave it at that."
Reading Ye Liangchen's message, Li Qingxue's mood grew even more agitated.
She had been worried sick, but his reply was so casual and indifferent.
What on earth was going on with him?
In his room, Ye Liangchen looked at the message from Li Qingxue and couldn't help but smile.
Her instinctive concern was impossible to hide.
Even though Li Qingxue's message was just text, Ye Liangchen could still sense her worry and urgency from the words.
By replying in such a detached tone, he was creating a sense of distance.
With Li Qingxue's way with words, she would definitely pick up on it.
The more she worried about him, the more it proved that she cared about him.
This was how it had started in his dream.
The more Li Qingxue worried, the more he needed to remain calm and indifferent.
Think about it—if someone who usually cared about you suddenly became cold and distant, wouldn't you feel anxious? Wouldn't you wonder why they had suddenly changed?
And in that moment of reflection, she would deeply realize how much care, love, and joy he had brought her when he was by her side.
This stark contrast would quickly make her aware that she might be losing a boy who had once been completely devoted to her.
At that point, regret would come flooding in like a tide.
Thinking back to the dream, where Li Qingxue had lowered her pride to chase after him, cried for him, and made efforts to reconcile, Ye Liangchen felt an overwhelming sense of satisfaction.
"Why didn't you cherish it when you had it? Why do you only regret it after losing it?"
"Do you even realize whose love you're rejecting? It's the love of a boy who had you in his heart and eyes at all times."
With that, Ye Liangchen sighed softly and looked at the new message on his phone.
"Come out. I think we need to have a proper talk."
Li Qingxue felt that Ye Liangchen's sudden change in behavior was likely due to her previous rejection of him.
She could explain her life plans to him properly.
There was no need for this to affect their friendship.
And wasn't this all just too strange?
Everything had been fine before, so why had it suddenly turned out like this?
With these thoughts in mind, Li Qingxue decided to go and clarify things with Ye Liangchen.
Nine years—even a dog would have developed feelings by then.
Let alone a person.
Although she didn't have any intention of dating Ye Liangchen, if they didn't clear this up, she would always feel uneasy, with an inexplicable sense of irritation.
When Ye Liangchen saw Li Qingxue's message, he couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"I didn't expect you to be even more anxious than in the dream. It's only been two days since I started ignoring you, and now you're coming to my house?"
"But this still isn't enough."
Right now, Li Qingxue was probably just feeling uncomfortable because of his absence.
She hadn't yet reached the point of true regret and heartache.
If he gave in now, he would still be at her mercy in the future.
They had spent nine years together.
They had formed a deep bond.
So why had she rejected him?
She didn't even want to keep him as a backup—if she found someone better, she would have mercilessly discarded him.
Just like Li Qingxue had said when she rejected him, she only saw him as an older brother—nothing more!
How ironic!
Now that he had ignored her for just two days, she wanted to have a proper talk with him.
Ye Liangchen even knew exactly what Li Qingxue would say when they met.
She would angrily scold him for suddenly ignoring her.
She would demand to know why he had given up so easily.
She would feel wronged and think his behavior was completely unreasonable.
Finally, she would say that she wasn't against dating him, but she needed to focus on her studies first.
Once they were in university, she would consider dating, and she had never explicitly said she disliked him or told him to stop pursuing her. So why had he given up so easily?
Ye Liangchen sighed softly. Although Li Qingxue might not yet realize the true nature of her feelings for him, if he showed even the slightest weakness now, all his efforts would be wasted.
With that in mind, Ye Liangchen replied directly on QQ: "You don't need to come see me. I don't want to see you right now. What I said in the classroom last time was serious."
"I think we both need some space. Let's leave it at that."
After sending the message, he turned off his phone.
He didn't bother to check if Li Qingxue had replied.
It was better to let her worry, to make her truly understand that he wasn't just talking.
Only then would she start to take him seriously.
Only then would he regain the upper hand.
As the saying goes, what comes too easily is rarely cherished.
He had exposed too many weaknesses in front of Li Qingxue in the past. Now it was time for her weaknesses to be exposed in front of him...