"Jiang Che is ignoring you?"

Xu Jingjie sat beside her daughter and gently comforted her, "How could Little Che ignore you? Didn't he just come over to tutor you?"

Su Rongyin choked up and said, "That was an assignment from Teacher Gu, otherwise he wouldn't have come... He's already ignoring me. The day before yesterday, I fell, and he didn't even help me home. Before, he would have carried my backpack, and I wouldn't have fallen... Boohoo..."

The proud white swan seemed to have fallen into the lake, soaking its feathers and turning into a drenched chicken.

Xu Jingjie gently hugged Su Rongyin's shoulders and comforted her, "Alright, stop crying for now. Tell me, what exactly happened? Why is Little Che ignoring you? Did you two have a fight?"

"No, we didn't fight, it's just, just..."

Su Rongyin pouted, feeling wronged, "He confessed to me that day, and I rejected him. After that, he started ignoring me..."

"He stopped talking to you after you rejected his confession?" Xu Jingjie's eyebrows furrowed. Jiang Che had been following Su Rongyin around for years, and she knew his character well enough to see that he liked her daughter. But this didn't seem like the kind of thing that would make him act like this after a rejection...

She asked again, "What happened exactly? Tell me the details."

"Well..." Even though she was so upset, Su Rongyin felt a bit embarrassed to talk about it, sobbing, "A few days ago, at our class gathering before the final sprint for the College Entrance Examination, Jiang Che, for some reason, asked for a bottle of beer. After drinking it, he suddenly said he liked me, and then I rejected him."

"Did he say it quietly?" Xu Jingjie asked.

"Mm..." Su Rongyin replied.

"How did you reject him?" Xu Jingjie asked again.

"I... I was..." Su Rongyin's face turned pale.

No one knows a daughter better than her mother. Xu Jingjie instantly had a guess from Su Rongyin's reaction and sighed deeply.

"Mom, I... I was startled by him, that's why I accidentally shouted, I didn't mean to..." Su Rongyin's eyes overflowed with tears as big as beans.

"Startled... Everyone could see that Little Che liked you, except you." Xu Jingjie shook her head and said, "Whether you meant it or not, he drank a bottle of beer to muster the courage to quietly confess to you, and you made your rejection known to everyone... Did many people laugh at Little Che afterward?"

"Mm..." Su Rongyin nodded deeply.

"You, you! It's also Mom's fault for protecting you too much since you were young, making you not know how to interact with others or consider their feelings..."

Xu Jingjie sighed with helplessness and self-blame.

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Su Rongyin also lowered her head in self-reproach.

"And then what happened?"

"Then, the next day at noon, Grandfather and Grandmother were coming over for lunch, and you asked me to buy groceries..."

Su Rongyin said between sobs, "At that time, I was carrying a lot of things with Gao Yun, and I couldn't walk anymore. We happened to run into Jiang Che. Before, he would have immediately taken the things from my hands when he saw the situation, but that time, he didn't even look and just walked away..."

"And, and! The next day at school, he had cut his hair and wasn't wearing glasses. I knew he might be angry with me, so I approached him to study together, but he refused me in front of the whole class..."

"Later... After school, I was so tired, and Jiang Che didn't come to help me with my backpack. The backpack was so heavy, and when I was riding my bike uphill, I didn't have the strength and fell. Jiang Che happened to pass by, but when he saw me fall, he didn't help me, he just walked away... Boohoo..."

At this point.

Su Rongyin burst into tears again, unable to control her sobbing.

Xu Jingjie was puzzled, "Didn't you say it was Little Che who helped you with your sprained ankle?"

"Mm... He left and then came back, but after helping with my ankle, he just left again without taking me home..."

Su Rongyin sobbed, "I said, rejecting him is my right, why is he treating me like this, can't we just stay friends? He said, he said we're friends now, but we weren't before... How is this being friends, he's completely ignoring me... Boohoo..."

Xu Jingjie fully understood and sighed again, shaking her head, as she gently rubbed her daughter's head, speaking softly, "Silly girl. Jiang Che's behavior towards you before was definitely not that of a friend. Friends don't take care of you meticulously, friends don't always consider your needs."

"How Little Che treated you before, Mom saw it all. He truly liked you, wholeheartedly wanting to protect you from any hardship or grievance."

"How you treated Little Che before, Mom also saw it all. You took his kindness for granted, as something you didn't care about, even unintentionally trampling on his sincere heart. But Little Che kept giving silently, never caring about these things. Now, he's changed his hairstyle, taken off his glasses, and told you that you're just friends. This means... his heart has grown cold! He wants to change, to completely give up on you, to give up on this one-sided relationship with no return..."

Listening to her mother's words.

Su Rongyin's pretty face turned instantly pale.

She felt her heart being squeezed tightly.

Jiang Che... is going to completely give up on her?

Unbidden, memories of the past Jiang Che flooded her mind.

He always smiled at her so gently, even though he wore glasses and had that mushroom haircut that was so stiff.

He never let her endure any hardship. From junior high to now, for six whole years, she never carried her own backpack, he always brought her meals, all she had to do was sit and wait...

There were countless things, all without exception, done by him alone, while she just sat there, enjoying his kindness without cherishing it at all...

Yes!

If they were just friends, what right did she have for him to treat her so well?

That wasn't friendship.

Now, just greeting each other and living their own lives, that's what friends do!

Tears as big as beans flowed like broken pearls from Su Rongyin's reddened eyes, her mouth open but inexplicably struggling to breathe:

Jiang Che has given up on me!

He will never be good to me again!

From now on, we are just friends!

Xu Jingjie originally wanted to ask Su Rongyin if she valued this relationship.

Actually, she already saw it. If she didn't care, Su Rongyin wouldn't have cried just now.

And seeing Su Rongyin so upset now, Xu Jingjie realized that her daughter's concern was far greater than she had imagined!