Gently

_

Everyone says Xu Mubai is thirty and unmarried, yet has a three-year-old daughter.

One day, a woman bundled up from head to toe in a mask and scarf in the middle of summer was photographed outside Star Kindergarten.

She wasn't photographed because she was behaving strangely, but because Xu Mubai's daughter was in her arms.

For a while, everyone speculated about who the woman was. Judging by her strange outfit, some thought she looked a little like Yu Qingci, the reclusive tailor who rarely appeared in public.

People who had seen Yu Qingci's real face came out to debunk the rumor.

"No way! Yu Qingci's face could make half the kids at kindergarten cry! Hahahaha!"

"I have a vested interest here: I've interacted with Miss Yu. If you'll excuse my bluntness, she's a monster."

"Damn! She was my classmate. Back then, no normal person at school liked her."

"If that's true, then she's a coward who knows she doesn't deserve him, which is why she still won't admit it."

"So what if she makes great clothes and is famous? She'll never dare live in the sunlight. People like her are so spineless, it's impossible to like them! She doesn't deserve to be loved! Just go die! Bleh!"

Sure enough, after the public discussion blew up, Yu Pian Studio posted a brief response on Weibo: You have the wrong person.

At home, Xu Mubai felt a jumble of emotions after seeing Yu Qingci's response.

The four words "doesn't deserve to be loved," which had been highlighted in the top-liked comment, stung especially badly.

Yu Qingci, by contrast, seemed much calmer. As she fed their daughter pear water with rock sugar, she gently coaxed Xu Mubai: "Just make up some excuse. Think of it as doing me a favor, okay?"

Xu Mubai was silent for a long time. His eyes gradually reddened, and a tremor of helplessness escaped his throat. "Okay."

Slowly and heavily, he pressed the delete key, erasing the five characters he had already written: "She deserves to be loved."

☆☆☆

Many years ago, after nearly losing Yu Qingci, Xu Mubai had said the most humble words of his life: "You can, you can stay in your comfort zone forever. It's okay if you don't want to come out. I only ask that there be a place for me in your world."

First loves on both sides | Slow burn | Secret crush | Healing | Sweet and angsty

biu, a very charming divider

Coming soon: Abandoning You. Please check out my author page!

That afternoon after school, a classmate saw Chen Jiujiu, the ultimate simp, sneakily getting into Pei Silu's car. Pei Silu was the aloof heartthrob at school.

During break the next day, a bunch of Chen Jiujiu's friends crowded around her, teasing her and demanding that she come clean.

Chen Jiujiu stammered, unable to say a word.

No one noticed that, from somewhere in the classroom, a cold gaze suddenly fell on Chen Jiujiu, at the center of the storm.

After that, they still went home together and were still seen by their classmates. But the more she stammered whenever anyone asked about it, the more people's imaginations ran wild.

Months later, their wild speculations came to an abrupt end when Pei Silu got into F University with top marks, while Chen Jiujiu failed miserably and had to repeat the year.

The gossipers all thought their lives had become parallel lines, never to intersect again.

But then, out of nowhere, came the startling news that the Chen and Pei families were going to become in-laws: Chen Jiujiu and Pei Silu would marry in three years!

Three years is neither a long nor a short time. It's long enough for someone to fall irrevocably in love with another person, and short enough for someone to feel time flying by before they've had their fill of love.

As it happens, Chen Jiujiu was both of those people.

For Pei Silu, those three years were an insult, a source of disgust, and a prison.

After learning the truth, Chen Jiujiu felt heartbroken and a little sorry for him. She had no idea he had endured her with such difficulty. But she finally decided to give up on him, so she used medical treatment to erase every memory of him.

She never expected it to bring an even worse nightmare.

One night, she felt someone pull her into their arms, squeezing her so tightly she couldn't breathe, yet no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't wake up. Someone murmured in her ear, tender and clinging: "Jiujiu, why don't you love me anymore?"

[A school-uniform-to-wedding-dress pursuit after the breakup]

_

Theme: You deserve to be loved. You deserve it even if you're timid, even if you're weak, even if you run away. No matter what, you deserve to be loved.