Chapter 25: Habits Are a Terrible Thing
At this point, Long Aotian looked seriously at Li Qing Xue. “Seriously, don’t try to keep someone dangling forever, because your brain might not be fast enough to catch up.”
He finally saw through Li Qing Xue’s thinking pattern—brilliant in learning and business, no doubt about that.
But in love? She was toast.
Because if a person doesn’t awaken on their own by the end, they’ll never really experience what love is.
“I didn’t actually try to keep him hanging,” she said defensively. “When he confessed to me the first time, I rejected him right off the bat, because romance wasn’t part of my plan back in high school.”
This caught Long Aotian’s interest. He pushed aside the leaves covering his eyes. “He confessed more than once?”
“High school, a total of 98 times.”
“Holy cr*p!” Long Aotian nearly dropped his jaw. Not only a total puppy, but a super puppy. Luckily, he finally woke up and stopped himself just in time.
But Li Qing Xue was also impressive—she managed to get someone to confess 98 times, and after rejecting him 98 times in a row.
And she still couldn’t tell the difference between liking someone and friendship. That’s beyond dull; that’s just outright dumb.
“So now, his attitude towards me should be just friends’ attitude,” she explained. “I’ve gotten used to his favoritism, so when he suddenly changed, I felt uncomfortable.”
Long Aotian sat up.
The sun was shining brighter, and lying down anymore wasn’t appropriate.
“Yeah, that’s about right,” Li Qing Xue sighed. “But I still feel empty inside.”
Those who are loved always feel happy. You get used to having someone by your side, and that gap—yeah, it’s hard to adjust to all at once. Just gotta go with your heart.
Thanks. Talking to you made me feel a lot better.” She saw Long Aotian stand up and followed suit.
“You young kids always see problems in extremes—get a tiny bit upset and you wanna d*e or something.”
People who haven’t been beaten by society are like that.
In life, there’s always an unspeakable regret in your heart.
But what can you do?
You’ve gotta move forward. You can’t dwell forever on past regret.
Especially in the adult world—too many helpless moments. For the sake of life, liking or not liking doesn’t matter.
When you’re hurt, tired, you dry your tears and keep pushing through.
At this point, regrets are so insignificant.
No mood to get sad or annoyed because someone’s attitude changed, wasting your own pain.
Li Qing Xue admitted that what he said was very reasonable, and after hearing him, she felt a lot clearer.
But he’s only about her age—why does he always sound like an adult speaking?
Especially the last line—“You young ones.”
“You’re a young one too.”
“Exactly!” Long Aotian didn’t rebut, just waved his hand. “Bye.”
“Bye.” Li Qing Xue waved back and took a deep breath, heading home.
After hearing her classmate speak, Li Qing Xue finally realized where her problem lay.
She hadn’t kept the right attitude.
If she had just kept her initial rejection of Ye Liang Chen as a proper friend from the start,
then the 97 subsequent confessions wouldn’t have happened.
She had taken Ye Liang Chen’s kindness for granted.
Mistakenly thought his feelings were just friendship.
Which sent the wrong signals for so long.
That’s why he kept confessing over and over.
Now Ye Liang Chen had finally figured it out, and placed herself in the normal social friend zone.
She shouldn’t disturb him anymore; they needed to keep a healthy distance—like any normal friends do.
If she hadn’t met this classmate, she would’ve just gotten angrier with each passing day, probably showing up directly in front of Ye Liang Chen.
And subconsciously, she’d send him the wrong signals again.
If Ye Liang Chen still rejected her hints of affection, she’d probably have a rebellious reaction—just like the guy earlier.
She’d turn everything around, blaming Ye Liang Chen for liking her and her not liking him, saying he gave up their friendship and stopped caring.
And then she’d get more and more upset, more and more wronged—
Overthinking: does he like me? Do I have to like him for this friendship to last?
Under the weight of this rebellious psychology, she might even develop other feelings based on her need to continue enjoying his kindness unconditionally…
Not exactly liking him, but definitely an obsession—habit and possessiveness stirring up trouble.
Thinking about that gave Li Qing Xue a shiver.
Because that guy said that liking someone would show in what you do and feel—and she had to admit, till now, she never felt that way about Ye Liang Chen.
Habits truly are a terrifying thing.
Fortunately, she’s been enlightened now.
From this moment on, she’ll keep her attitude in check, placing her relationship with him in the proper friend zone.
She wouldn’t take his kindness or affection for granted anymore.
No one should just feel entitled to be kind or caring without effort.
With that resolve, Li Qing Xue pulled out her phone, found Ye Liang Chen’s Penguin Number, and sent a message.
She still kinda listened to advice.
At home, Ye Liang Chen was writhing inwardly, desperately wanting to check his phone.
But no message buzzed.
He was afraid to look, worried that he’d just end up wanting to text her again.
After all, in his dreams, Li Qing Xue was his bride.
His white moonlight.
Did he like her?
Thinking about their happy ending together—how could he not like it? How could he not be happy?
He hadn’t responded to Li Qing Xue for two days, only enduring it out of patience!
Because he still believed—patience is a virtue. For future pursuits, he could only endure now, even if it meant suffering.
Just then, his phone suddenly vibrated.
Seeing the notification, Ye Liang Chen took a deep breath and chose to answer.
The moment he saw the message—
He leapt out of bed: “Yes! That’s awesome!”
The message was from Li Qing Xue: Sorry Ye Liang Chen, it’s all my fault before. I’ll change. Are we still friends? [an apology with a smiling emoji]
“She already knows she was wrong. Looks like she remembers me now. Haha…”
Quickly, he typed a reply, then deleted everything, only sending two words: “Right.”
Now, he needed to stay aloof—quietly waiting for her to chase him down…
