Chapter 100 I Asked Him to Get Back Together

Chapter 100: I Pleaded with Him to Take Me Back

The proprietress was kind of weird, but her cooking skills were top-notch.

After drinking the delicious, steaming hot chicken soup, everyone was in an even better mood.

But not everyone was feeling good.

Ji Xiuhang sipped soup made from chicken scraps, muttering gloomily. "Some women, even when dating other men, can get a bowl of lovingly prepared, rich, hearty broth. While some brothers, who've gone through thick and thin with someone, lit stoves and watched the pots, don't even deserve a chicken wing. Ah, life... the world... brotherhood..."

Xie Muchen silently nodded in agreement, giving a wordless thumbs-up.

Ling Jue: "..."

"As if you two weren't the ones who just swept the whole table clean."

They must have bottomless pits for stomachs to manage that soup after all they ate.

"One more word and I'm taking it back."

Ji Xiuhang mimed zipping his lips shut.

This was the first time they had tasted his skills at anything other than grilling.

Gotta admit, Ling Jue was a real jerk, but his culinary skills were pretty damn good.

Who would have thought that a year ago, this guy was a spoiled young master who never lifted a finger.

Who wouldn't admire Qin Shuyi's knack for domesticating him?

If they had known Ling Jue had been playing personal chef for someone during his relationship, back when he claimed it was just a fling, they should have thrown a drink in his face to sober him up.

Was this "just for fun"?

To be so clueless about his own role as her devoted servant to this extent, he had it coming.

Ji Xiuhang enjoyed the chicken soup while deftly snatching two skewers from Ling Jue, who was guarding his food.

"Can you even finish all that?"

Offering a hundred grand for Qin Shuyi's skewers, no wonder the landlady's smile never faded.

A fool with money to burn; what merchant wouldn't love a customer like that?

Ling Jue, "Hope you choke on it."

Taking advantage of their bickering, Xie Muchen also grabbed a skewer. After eating it, he smacked his lips. "Qin Shuyi's skewers taste familiar, a bit like yours."

He added for emphasis, "No wonder they're so popular. Bringing a girlfriend who's both beautiful and capable, that orthopedic doctor must be feeling pretty smug, huh?"

Arrow after arrow.

Ling Jue's heart was riddled with them.

Of course they were familiar.

She was the one he taught.

He kept saying he wouldn't teach her, but she insisted on sweet-talking him into it. And now that she's learned, she's making it for other men.

Just thinking about it made Ling Jue sick with frustration.

"Shut up, both of you. Mind your own business." Stop saying things that annoy people.

Then he added through gritted teeth, emphasizing again, "They are not boyfriend and girlfriend. Watch your mouth."

Xie Muchen smiled, "Not now, but who knows about the future? I think they're making good progress. I even invited her to my engagement party. Maybe when she gets married, she won't hold my connection to you, her ex-boyfriend, against me, and shoot me an invite. That wedding might not be too far off."

Ling Jue sneered, "If you want to toast her marriage to someone else, you'll have to wait for your next life."

Now, that man's funeral... he might drink to that.

He was willing to tie on an apron and make soup for Qin Shuyi, to do things that didn't quite fit, because it was for Qin Shuyi.

But was he really such a good-natured person?

He let Qin Shuyi meet new people, only because he knew interfering would provoke her rebellious side.

But how could he really watch her walk into marriage with another man?

If it ever came to that, he would rather kill Chi Yu than let them have a happy union for a hundred years.

He was an unscrupulous villain from the start.

...

Qin Shuyi felt the chicken soup in her bowl tasted familiar.

It reminded her of someone from her memory.

But seeing everyone around her praising the soup, she could only convince herself that tastes can be similar.

After all, how could that person's soup be willingly shared with so many people?

Ling Jue's sense of boundaries was clear and strong. His kindness was reserved only for those closest to him; outsiders couldn't get a shred of it.

He didn't mind if she ate or threw away the meals he made for her. He'd even cook eight or ten dishes if she asked, but he wouldn't let her share them with others.

Domineering and overbearing, but as a lover, it truly made her feel her specialness to him at all times.

The smile on Qin Shuyi's face faded a little.

...

After finishing the generous extra meal from the landlady, everyone started cleaning up, returning the grill, and so on. Qin Shuyi went to the edge of a nearby small grove to gather more dry firewood for the bonfire they would light later for games.

Jiang Tingyu glanced at Chi Yu, who was setting up the tent, said something to Keke, and hurried after Qin Shuyi.

Qin Shuyi, holding some dry branches, bent down to pick up a stick, but a hand reached it faster and handed it to her.

Qin Shuyi looked up in surprise at the newcomer.

Jiang Tingyu smiled, "I haven't done anything today. Let me help you."

Qin Shuyi nodded, "Is your leg better?"

"It's fine now."

So the two of them began working together, heads bowed.

Qin Shuyi had, in fact, noticed that Jiang Tingyu was somewhat avoiding her, and she could understand why. So aside from necessary communication, she hadn't gone out of her way to engage with her today.

She hadn't expected Jiang Tingyu to follow her out.

The other woman clearly had something on her mind.

Qin Shuyi patiently waited for her to speak.

“I asked Chi Yu to get back together,” Jiang Tingyu dropped a bombshell right from the start.

Qin Shuyi’s expression didn’t change much; she simply waited for her to continue.

Jiang Tingyu let out a bitter laugh. “He refused.”

She looked at Qin Shuyi. “I’m sorry. Even though I knew you two were seeing each other, I still spoke up.”

Outsiders thought she was cheerful and optimistic, but in relationships, she was anything but carefree.

She just couldn't let it go.

They had loved each other once, after all. She was the one who let go first out of pride, and it's only been a year, so why has everything changed?

She had never loved anyone so deeply in her life. It was love at first sight, and it grew over time. Before they even became a couple, she wanted to try one more time.

But as soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted it.

Chi Yu had always been someone who never looked back after making a move.

His answer didn’t surprise her.

The truth was, she had lied today.

She knew Chi Yu would come, and she knew he would bring Qin Shuyi.

She had only met her once. She wanted to know how they interacted, what the person he'd come to like again was like.

She felt like a despicable voyeur.

The more she spent time with Qin Shuyi, the more she understood Chi Yu.

When you meet someone good, you want to hold on to them.

It was a pity—he had learned how to love better, but the object of that love wasn’t her.

Time had passed, and they were no longer the people they once were.

Watching how he and Qin Shuyi interacted, she suddenly felt at peace.

The issue between them had nothing to do with who Qin Shuyi was; it was that he had completely moved on, while she was stuck clinging to the past.

Love is a timeline that never stops. Once you miss it, it’s gone.

For someone who had already moved on, even without Qin Shuyi, there would have been someone else.

It was time for her to let go.

“I’m sorry. I know I've caused you a lot of trouble,” she said sincerely.

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