Ten Years of Warm Words

Chapter 45

Tang Yongzi.

You Ran instinctively wanted to dodge, but Tang Yongzi stopped her.

Unable to reveal her secret, You Ran replied in a very relaxed tone, "Hey, what a coincidence, what are you doing here?"

"I've come to have dinner with Qu Yun." Tang Yongzi's long, alluring eyes seemed to fly into her temples.

Then, as if she wanted You Ran to die quickly enough, she added a sentence: "Qu Yun told me about your breakup with him right away... Thank you for letting him go."

Upon hearing this, You Ran felt a slight pang in her heart.

“Qu Yun has always felt indebted to you, so he would never have suggested breaking up. Now that you've brought it up first, it's for the best.” Tang Yongzi’s lips were full and moist. She glanced at You Ran and said softly, “If I were with Qu Yun, would you mind? I mean, Qu Yun and I are a better match, aren’t we?”

"Of course not." You Ran shrugged. "After all, if someone wants to pick up what I've thrown away and treat it like a treasure, I can't really say anything, right?"

Tang Yongzi was no slouch either, and immediately retorted, "Back then, didn't you pick up Qu Yun, whom I had abandoned?"

“That’s different.” You Ran waved her finger: “Your health is relatively weak, so the Qu Yun that came into my hands was still brand new. But a few days ago, after being handled by this fierce and savage girl, your Qu Yun was badly worn out. You won’t be very comfortable using it in the future.”

After saying that, before Tang Yongzi could speak, You Ran took out a 100-yuan bill from her scholarship money, stuffed it into Tang Yongzi's shirt pocket, and said casually, "Consider this Qu Yun's depreciation fee. Keep the change, enjoy."

Then, she turned around leisurely and left in her snow boots.

Back in her dorm room, she leisurely drew the curtains and lay on her back.

She remained in that position until her roommate in the next bed finished watching a comedy movie from beginning to end.

"You Ran, what are you doing?" Roommate A felt that she had been acting strangely lately.

Long after the words had faded, You Ran finally spoke: "I want to cry... but I can't."

For some reason, when You Ran returned from the academy, she felt something blocking her chest. She wanted to cry, but her eyes were so dry they could start a fire.

"Isn't crying easy?" Roommate B said while wiping away tears and watching a Korean drama.

"If you can make me cry, I'll treat her to Pizza Hut and foreign flatbread." You Ran waved the scholarship in her hand temptingly.

Ten seconds later, the bed curtains were ripped open with a "whoosh," revealing six pairs of eyes—those of roommates A, B, and C—flashing green light.

For the sake of foreign profits, the three roommates have forcibly forgotten the fact that You Ran is a human being.

First, they played a series of tearjerker movies, including "Mom, Love Me Again," "My Ten Promises with My Dog," and "Artificial Intelligence." By the end, I was sound asleep without shedding a single tear.

Then Rong Momo came back to life. Her two roommates grabbed You Ran's hands, while the other began to grin maliciously as he stabbed the innocent finger with a glittering needle... You Ran paused for a second, then kicked her roommates violently with both feet, knocking them over without shedding a single tear.

Then, the dark cockroach was placed in front of her. Its six thin legs kept wriggling, getting closer and closer to You Ran's face... You Ran's eyes rolled back, and she fainted without shedding a single tear.

Despite trying countless methods, You Ran's eyes remained dry.

My roommate was exhausted and gave up.

Chairman Mao once said, "Self-reliance leads to abundance."

You Ran started to torture herself by buying terrifyingly spicy chicken wings, but after eating five skewers, apart from her mouth being swollen and numb, there was no light in her eyes.

Since this trick doesn't work, then we won't eat it.

You Ran started a hunger strike, and she stood outside the busiest snack shop outside the school to fast—watching others enjoy their food on an empty stomach, plus the cold wind, made her think that the little match girl died of anger. You Ran thought that she would probably cry from anger.

But after several days of fighting, the tears still didn't fall.

However, the snack shop was much quieter—just as we were enjoying our meal, we saw a woman with a dazed look and an occasional oily green glow swallowing her saliva next to us, which was really creepy.

Finally, the snack shop owner offered two days' worth of profits and tearfully begged You Ran not to come any closer.

Next, You Ran tortured herself in a series of ways: wearing the most uncomfortable colored contact lenses, cutting onions, applying chili water...

I've tried everything, but not a single tear has come out.

"Why are you crying?" my roommate asked, puzzled.

You Ran was also puzzled as to why she was crying.

Maybe I just want to cry.

On this day, You Ran was on duty at the drama club forum. After everyone left, You Ran turned off all the lights and drew the curtains tightly, immediately dimming the light in the activity room, where only the blurry shadows of objects could be seen.

Recently, someone bought a fish tank and kept it in the activity room. He leisurely placed the fish tank on the stage, held it in his hands, and watched it quietly.

Two goldfish were swimming leisurely inside, oblivious to everything, happy and carefree.

Some say that goldfish only have a seven-second memory.

You Ran thought that perhaps that was why they were so happy; even the greatest pain could be completely forgotten in just seven seconds.

That's wonderful...it makes me so jealous.

She was engrossed in watching when she was suddenly flicked hard on the head, making her wince in pain.

Looking up, through the dim light, Yu Ran realized that it was Shin-chan who had attacked her.

Never mind, it's karma.

You Ran glanced at Shin-chan gently, then continued to look down at the goldfish with envy.

"Click!" Another flick of the finger, needless to say, the attacker.

She took a deep breath and endured it.

With another snap of his fingers, Shin-chan seemed to have gotten hooked on the game.

Watching the fish in quiet contemplation, like an old monk in deep meditation.

"Click" again, accompanied by Xiaoxin's cool words: "Li Youran, why haven't you been with your tutor lately? Did you get dumped?"

Her leisurely gaze remained fixed on the goldfish.

"It seems it's true. So he'll never come to protect you again?!"

"That's why I say, no one likes a wicked woman."

"That's terrible. You went to all those different ways to pursue him, and you still got dumped."

"So, I did see him walking with a stunningly beautiful woman recently. Tsk tsk tsk, compared to others, you're really far inferior. If I had to choose, I wouldn't want you either."

"Li Youran, you..."

Long Xiang wanted to continue his sarcastic remarks, but looking at the person in front of him, he swallowed his words.

The surface of the fish tank was calm until a drop of water suddenly fell in, creating ripples. Before the ripples subsided, many more droplets fell in one after another, robbing the original tranquility.

Those were gentle tears, falling one by one into the fish tank.

The goldfish's tranquility was shattered, and they swam restlessly close to the tank.

But it's okay, they'll forget the panic in seven seconds.

People aren't so lucky.

The woman whose face was as lonely as fireworks once said that the greatest trouble for people is having too good a memory.

Perhaps, the "people" here refers only to women.

Tears fell drop by drop into the fish tank, but the small tank could not contain so much sorrow.

"Hey, you...you're not going to cry, are you?" Long Xiang looked flustered. He raised his hand, but didn't know what to do.

Tears flowed silently and gently.

"I'm scared of you, stop... stop crying. At worst, I won't bother you anymore, okay?" Long Xiang hesitated for a long time before finally placing his hand on You Ran's back and patting her awkwardly.

You Ran, like a lonely animal that automatically seeks the warmth of its kind, picked up Shin-chan's sleeve and covered his eyes with it.

She cried slowly.

This was the seventeenth lesson Qu Yun taught her—a man's resilience is excellent.

So good, I quickly forgot everything.

[Lesson 18] Drinking is the easiest way to develop feelings.

In the dimly lit activity room, You Ran was quietly crying.

"I said... don't do this," Shin-chan advised.

You Ran still buried her head in his arm, and Xiao Xin's hoodie cuffs were already soaked through.

"Actually, you...you're not so bad." Shin-chan began to clean up the mess he had made.

Without looking up, Xiaoxin felt as if the tears had soaked through his skin.

"Well, you should be able to get married... I mean, if your family is rich." Shin-chan's skills at comforting people are indeed not very good.

Unexpectedly, these words seemed to have some effect; he leisurely looked up, and then—

She put her nose close to Shin-chan's sleeve and gave it a quick prick.

The next second.

"Li! Youran! I take back what I said, you'll never be wanted by anyone in your life!!!"

The next second.

"Um... I was just saying that in anger, you don't need to... cry until your eyes are about to spill out... um, you can borrow this sleeve to wipe them."

The next second.

You Ran put her nose close to her son Xiao Xin's other sleeve and gave it a quick prick.

The next second.

Shin-chan: "..."

As a result, by the time You Ran finished crying, Xiao Xin's clothes were also ruined. He was certain that if it weren't for the dirt, Li You Ran would have pulled down his pants to wipe his nose as well.

I originally thought that once Li Youran finished crying, that would be the end of it, and everyone could go home and find their own mothers.

Unexpectedly, You Ran made a request: "Come drink with me."

Shin-chan raised his eyebrows, about to refuse sternly, but when he saw the tears welling up in Yu-ran's eyes as she looked at his tattered hoodie, Shin-chan gave in to her for the first time.

The two went to a night beer stall not far from the school and ordered a case of beer.

With her eyes swollen, You Ran, acting like a bold and unrestrained woman, opened the bottle cap and poured it directly down her throat, all the while talking about her innermost thoughts.

"I'm so naive and silly."

"Honestly, I was so stupid. How could I have thought that if I kept pestering him, he would fall in love with me?"