Watching Gao Quan happily enjoying the food and his joyful demeanor upon arriving in Kyoto, Ye Liangchen couldn’t help but feel uplifted as well. In his previous life, Gao Quan had been his closest brother, and even after his rebirth, Gao Quan still trusted him unconditionally. In this life, having such a loyal brother was truly enough.
"Take your time eating. I’ll take you to try more delicious food later—don’t fill up too quickly," Ye Liangchen said with a light chuckle, noticing the crumbs at the corner of Gao Quan’s mouth. He reached out and wiped them away.
Gao Quan froze for a moment at Ye Liangchen’s gesture, then quickly wiped his mouth himself. "Heh, it’s fine. I can eat a lot," he replied, rubbing the spot where Ye Liangchen had touched without giving it much thought. He assumed Ye Liangchen was just overly excited after not seeing him for so long.
As they ate, Gao Quan began sharing updates about his life after starting university.
"By the way, Brother Chen, didn’t you used to love posting on QQ Moments? Why haven’t I seen any updates from you lately?"
Ye Liangchen flicked his hair and smiled faintly. "What I post isn’t just updates—it’s life itself."
"Do you know what a knight’s life is? It’s about staying resolute, charging forward without hesitation, and protecting what matters, even if it means breaking your sword!"
At this point, Ye Liangchen let out a self-deprecating laugh. A knight protects his princess, but his princess had been stolen by a scoundrel. He had wanted to guard her, only to be misunderstood. The light of the knight had dimmed—how could he possibly muster the mood to post on QQ Moments now?
Seeing Ye Liangchen suddenly fall silent, even Gao Quan, who usually missed subtle cues, couldn’t help but ask, "Brother Chen, did you and the class monitor have a really big fight this time?"
Ye Liangchen pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and offered one to Gao Quan, who shook his head in refusal. Lighting one for himself, Ye Liangchen sighed in melancholy. "There was a misunderstanding, and things turned unpleasant."
In front of his brother, Ye Liangchen saw no reason to hide his unhappiness.
Across two lifetimes, no one understood Gao Quan’s character and loyalty better than he did. Gao Quan would risk his life for him—that was the depth of their bond. So there was nothing he couldn’t say to him.
"Do you remember what Qingxue said back in high school?"
"You mean when the class monitor said she wanted to wait until university to start dating?" Gao Quan ventured cautiously.
Ye Liangchen nodded heavily. "Exactly. At the time, Qingxue even promised me that she had no intention of dating in high school and wanted to wait until university to try being in a relationship."
"I’m such a devoted person—if she said that, I was willing to wait. But guess what?" His voice trembled with the urge to cry from the injustice of it all.
"What happened?"
"Hah!" Ye Liangchen let out a bitter laugh. "She said she wanted to wait until university to date, so I waited until then to pursue her. But she betrayed her own promise—she still didn’t date me in university!"
Gao Quan could only reply, "Could there be a misunderstanding here? I don’t think the class monitor is that kind of person. Maybe there’s more to it?"
He spoke objectively—after all, he had a decent understanding of what kind of person Li Qingxue was.
"You don’t understand. People change."
"Qingxue is different now—so different that I barely recognize her. We had ten years of friendship!" The words reopened the wounds in Ye Liangchen’s fragile heart.
He remembered how hard he had tried to save them, to redeem them.
And yet, not only did they fail to appreciate his efforts, but that slap had severed all the years of camaraderie between them.
Gao Quan set down his food. Matters like this were truly hard to swallow.
"Brother Chen, if Qingxue really doesn’t have any..."
Gao Quan wanted to say that if the class monitor truly didn’t harbor romantic feelings and only saw him as a friend, then perhaps it was better to just remain friends.
But before he could finish, Ye Liangchen cut him off. "No, you don’t get it. Qingxue definitely has feelings for me deep down—it’s just..."
"It’s just that she hasn’t realized it yet!"
Ye Liangchen was confident about this. After all, the memories of her chasing him relentlessly in his past life were still vivid in his mind.
If she didn’t have feelings for him, why would she have pursued him so fiercely in his previous life?
So Qingxue absolutely had feelings for him—she just hadn’t come to terms with them yet!
Gao Quan was momentarily at a loss for words, unsure how to respond.
Just then, Gao Quan’s phone rang. Seeing the caller ID, he smiled. "It’s the class monitor."
Hearing this, Ye Liangchen’s eyes lit up. Silently, he mouthed to Gao Quan: "Invite her to eat!"
Gao Quan nodded and gave him an OK sign.
......
After stepping out of the subway station, Li Qingxue noticed a missed call on her phone.
The subway’s poor signal must have prevented her from answering.
But when she saw that the caller was Gao Quan, she frowned slightly.
The reason was simple—having spent three years in the same class, she knew how close Gao Quan and Ye Liangchen were.
Noticing her expression, Hu Yuying reached over and gently smoothed the crease between her brows. "What’s wrong?"
"Nothing, just an old classmate reaching out."
"That’s nice, isn’t it? It means you left a good impression—even after starting university, your high school classmates still think of you."
Li Qingxue shrugged. "This person is Gao Quan. He’s very close to Ye Liangchen. Do you think he’s contacting me because of him?"
"You have no idea—there were several times before when Gao Quan told one of my friends, Wang Rui—the one who helped us with the shop design—that I was crying or sick. But it was all orchestrated by Ye Liangchen behind the scenes."
"If that’s the case, call him back and hear what he has to say. If it’s about Ye Liangchen again, then just stop answering his calls in the future."
"That’s what I was thinking too."
With that, Li Qingxue dialed Gao Quan’s number.
"Hello? Gao Quan?"
"Yeah, it’s me. Class monitor, I’m visiting Kyoto and heard you’re here too. I was hoping to grab a meal and maybe get some recommendations for fun places to check out!"
"Ye Liangchen is with you, isn’t he?" Li Qingxue stated firmly.
Given their relationship, if Gao Quan was calling her, he must have already contacted Ye Liangchen too.
Sure enough, Gao Quan hesitated after her question.
Li Qingxue said, "Gao Quan, put me on speaker."
"Class monitor, it’s on."
"Ye Liangchen, you’re really annoying." With that, she hung up.
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