Chapter 22 Deleting Friends Already Spilt Water That Can’t Be Retrieved…

Chapter 22: Deleting a Friend — Spilled water is hard to retrieve...

"Mom..." Yu Kui hung her head, tears welling up. She embraced her mother, her heart overflowing with unspoken words, yet she couldn't utter a sound.

She simply felt incredibly fortunate.

To have loving parents who would stand by her, no matter what.

In their presence, she would always be their child, needing protection.

Yu's mother gently stroked her daughter's hair. "Let's go home."

"What exactly happened between you and Yu Kui?" Qin's mother asked her son with a grave expression once they were inside. "How could you speak to Yu Kui like that today? Your Aunt Yu and her family must have noticed."

"If they noticed, then so be it," Qin You said, his face devoid of emotion. "This is between Yu Kui and me. It has nothing to do with them."

"How can it have nothing to do with them?" Qin's mother found his attitude incredibly naive. "Yu Kui is their daughter. How do you expect me to face your Aunt Yu after this?"

Qin You's eyes flickered, but he still insisted, "Matters between us youngsters shouldn't affect you."

Qin's mother was at a loss for words. Qin You was so naive—how could Aunt Yu not mind after he had upset Yu Kui so deeply?

He always assumed everything would unfold as he expected, oblivious to what he might lose by acting this way.

"If you keep this up, I won't be able to maintain contact with the Yu family anymore," Qin's mother sighed heavily. She knew Yu's mother well, and cutting ties was the last thing she wanted.

Qin You remained silent. He was extremely agitated and blurted out thoughtlessly, "Do you have to interact with their family? Don't you have any other friends?"

Qin's mother stood frozen, staring at her son's cold expression, unable to believe what she had just heard.

"I'm tired," Qin You said. "Don't invite me to gatherings like this anymore."

With that, he turned and walked into his bedroom without a backward glance.

Qin's mother remained motionless for a long time, stunned. She hadn't expected her son to become like this and couldn't understand where things had gone wrong.

The moment he closed the door, a hint of self-blame, unnoticed even by himself, crossed Qin You's face. He hadn't wanted to say those things, but he couldn't help it.

Whether it was Yu Kui questioning him about his grades or his mother urging him to get along with Yu Kui, he felt provoked.

He was a free individual. He had the right to choose his friends, not to be constantly pressured into making decisions by others.

He despised his life beyond his control and longed to break free from the whirlpool.

Back home, Yu's mother told her daughter to change clothes while she went to the kitchen.

After changing, Yu Kui sat beside her mother. The family of three chose a comedy to watch, enjoying themselves cheerfully.

They didn’t press Yu Kui about what had happened with Qin You, simply preparing her favorite snacks and drinks.

The room was warm. Yu Kui looked at her chat history with Qin You, her fingers trembling as she clicked on his profile. Taking a deep breath, she deleted him from her friends list.

That's it.

Yu Kui silently told herself that only by doing this could she gradually break free from the memories of the past.

After the New Year, the second year of high school resumed.

Yu Kui walked into the classroom with her new backpack. Sun Shuya was already there and waved, asking how Yu Kui’s New Year had been.

Yu Kui briefly shared her experiences from visiting her hometown.

"I’m so jealous," Sun Shuya sighed. "My house was so chaotic and noisy all the time, I almost wanted to run away from home."

Yu Kui couldn’t help but laugh. "Is school any quieter?"

"Much more peaceful than home," Sun Shuya said, asking to copy her winter break homework. "I stayed up late last night and still didn’t finish. I’m really scared the English teacher will call on me."

Like Yu Kui, Sun Shuya was most afraid of their English teacher. Despite her fashionable style and gentle voice, they were both terrified of her; their hearts would pound with fear every time they were called on.

The two exchanged a look and laughed.

Tao Jiang hadn’t finished her winter break homework either. While the other assignments were relatively straightforward, the English teacher’s grammar exercises were more complex. Without good notes, it was nearly impossible to complete them.

She had asked Qin You to help her review the key points the previous day and spent most of the night catching up on homework, but there was still a small portion left unfinished.

As she worked, she sent messages to Qin You.

Qin You had long finished his homework and was now reviewing in class. He read her messages carefully and answered each one in detail.

Tao Jiang’s academic performance was weak, something Qin You had known for a while. Concepts that others grasped easily were particularly challenging for her.

During the winter break, Qin You had spent a lot of time helping her. He wanted to attend the same university as Tao Jiang so they could continue seeing each other every day.

He had even planned which city they would go to and what they would do together in college.

After the semester started, the coursework became more intense than before.

Yu Kui devoted most of her time to studying, only allowing herself to relax during breaks.

Her grades ranked at the top in her grade, and she had placed in the top three in several monthly exams. Her homeroom teacher had high hopes for her, often praising her hard work in class and encouraging other students to follow her example.

Tao Jiang watched Yu Kui’s calm profile, feeling a pang of discomfort.

Lately, she had been trying to win Yu Kui over, hoping to regain the obedience Yu Kui had once shown her. But no matter what she did, Yu Kui remained indifferent. She was like a river flowing relentlessly toward the sea—passing by her briefly but never looking back, focused only on her destination.

Tao Jiang had met many girls, but few were as stubborn as Yu Kui.

At times, she even regretted her earlier self-centeredness. Otherwise, both Qin You and Yu Kui would still be under her control.

She enjoyed the vanity of being held in the palm of her hand but hated situations beyond her control.

It was so irritating.

Seeing Yu Kui stand like an unshakable mountain before her, Tao Jiang often felt defeated, wishing she could trample over her and prove that good grades meant nothing—after all, the person Yu Kui liked had been easily drawn to her.

But she couldn’t say it aloud.

To say it would mean she had lost.

When Yu Kui went to the cafeteria for lunch, she ran into Qin You at the school building entrance. He was walking quickly toward the tree-lined path, his slender figure straight as a tree, just like before.

But this time, Yu Kui didn’t need to jog to catch up with him.

Sensing someone’s gaze, Qin You instinctively turned around. Yu Kui had already averted her eyes and was discussing that morning’s math problems with Sun Shuya.

Looking at her pale profile, Qin You’s pupils contracted slightly. His fists unconsciously clenched, and a tension he hadn’t even noticed stirred within him.

But Yu Kui didn't look at him again, as if that look had just been his imagination. Qin You turned his head back, suppressing the irritation in his heart, and picked up his pace.

Since that dinner gathering, he and Yu Kui had not spoken again. On the Lantern Festival, when Qin’s mother brought gifts upstairs to visit, Aunt Yu was noticeably less warm than before. His behavior had actually affected the relationship between the two families.

After returning home, Qin’s mother sighed heavily. Though she didn’t blame her son, her eyes were filled with disappointment.

Qin You felt awful. He instinctively sent a message to Yu Kui, hoping she could smooth things over between their families. The issues between them shouldn’t affect the elders’ feelings.

Perhaps out of habit, whenever something made him uncomfortable, he would always turn to Yu Kui for help. He knew very well that even if they were no longer friends, Yu Kui would still see things from his point of view.

It was a habit he had developed over more than ten years.

However, when he sent that message, a notification popped up in the chat box that made his blood freeze—

"Yu Kui has enabled friend verification. You are not currently her friend. Please send a friend request first."

Qin You stared at the notification, stunned for what felt like forever.

Yu Kui had deleted him as a friend.

Now, any message he sent would never reach her.

After a brief moment of shock, an uncontrollable anger surged in Qin You’s heart—

How could she do this?

What gave her the right to do this?

Qin You stared fixedly at the chat box, his heart clenching painfully.

His mind went blank, and a strange sense of panic made him feel unlike himself.

Qin You sat there stunned for a long time, until his mother called him for dinner. Only then did he close his eyes like he was waking from a daze.

That short notification had sent ripples through him, and only he knew how deeply it affected him.

He was distracted all day, ignoring both his mother and Tao Jiang, just staring blankly at Yu Kui’s profile picture.

He had been the one who'd coldly cut ties with her, but now that she had cut off their last connection, what rose in his heart was not relief but a vague unease.

It shouldn’t be like this.

Qin You kept telling himself inwardly—Yu Kui shouldn’t treat him this way.

But if asked why it shouldn’t be this way, he couldn’t give a clear reason.

It was as if he had gotten used to her always being there when he turned around, to her waiting for him in the same place.

But in this world, who stays the same forever? Especially when he was the one who had walked away first.

Qin You didn’t re-add Yu Kui as a friend, nor did he have any further interaction with her.

Time would heal everything.

He told himself that since he had made his choice, he shouldn’t regret it.

Yet late at night, he would occasionally click on Yu Kui’s profile picture, only to find that her moments were no longer visible to him. Not even a glimpse into her life remained.

Qin You walked quickly, as if by doing so, he could truly convince himself he had no regrets.

When he reached the cafeteria, he subconsciously bought a plate of ribs and sat by the window. Yu Kui and Sun Shuya were sitting in a far corner, chatting and laughing about something.

She was doing just fine without him.

Only then did Qin You realize that no one is irreplaceable. The things he had taken for granted had long since changed completely.

This realization suddenly made him aware that what he'd lost mattered. Even if he wanted to turn back now, it was too late—there was no going back.

He looked at the sweet and sour ribs on his plate and suddenly didn't feel hungry anymore.