Chapter 43

Chapter 43: You Absolutely Can’t Lie to Me

On two fronts, Mei Fang dashed through the streets with Lin You Xi’s shoes in hand, chasing after her all the way, but he was always left behind as she continued to evade him. No matter how much he called out to her, she didn’t respond.

How could she run so fast in flip-flops? Is this the advantage of having long legs? Where’s my dignity as someone who has lived before? Why isn’t there even a single buff added for me?

Fortunately, Lin You Xi finally slowed down at the end.

She had tripped and fallen.

Mei Fang hurriedly caught up and carefully helped Lin You Xi to her feet. She kept sobbing, whether from the pain of falling or because of his moving away, it was hard to tell.

“Are you okay, Lin You Xi? Did you hurt anywhere? Let me see…”

As soon as Mei Fang spoke, Lin You Xi suddenly hit him angrily.

“You got my name wrong!”

Despite still sniffling, she fiercely hit Mei Fang’s head, “Call me You Xi!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, You Xi, stop hitting me.”

After taking a beating, Mei Fang led Lin You Xi to sit on a nearby step and changed her shoes, tying the laces for her.

Lin You Xi sniffled and said, “After you leave, only Yuan Yuan will help me tie my shoelaces…”

“You can’t always rely on others. You should learn to tie your own shoelaces too.”

“But I want to rely on others!”

“…”

She started being unreasonable again.

Mei Fang didn’t really get angry at Lin You Xi, especially since she was sad because of his moving away.

It feels good to be cared about.

In his previous life, only his parents cared about him.

“Can’t you stay… Can you talk to Uncle Mei and Aunt Mei? Please?”

Lin You Xi rubbed her eyes, “I don’t want you to go… And if Yuan Yuan knew, she would be even more upset.”

Mei Fang found it hard to imagine what Xia Yuan’s expression would be like if she knew.

In his memory, Xia Yuan was always a crybaby, either crying softly or bawling loudly.

She cried when she fell and hurt herself;

She cried when she didn’t do well on exams;

She cried when she was teased by mischievous students while enforcing discipline;

She cried even when the national team lost;

Although she was now in fourth grade and cried less often, she still cried several times during her recent runaway incident.

It was really unimaginable…

Mei Fang gazed at Lin You Xi, who was hugging her knees and deep in thought, tears streaming down her face.

Just at dinner, she hadn’t been crying, but now she was sobbing uncontrollably beside Mei Fang.

Mei Fang took a deep breath and gently squeezed Lin You Xi’s shoulders.

“I promise you, I won’t leave.”

“I’ll find a way to stay in Bai Mei County.”

Lin You Xi instinctively widened her eyes.

“You’re not lying?”

“Not lying.”

“Really not lying?”

“Lying is like a puppy.”

“And swallow a thousand needles! Be thrown into a pot of oil! Become an ugly monster! And…”

“Not… That curse is too much and too harsh!”

Lin You Xi stood up suddenly as she was speaking.

She stood in front of Mei Fang, clenching her small fists.

Mei Fang thought she was going to hit him, but instead, she tightly hugged him.

“From childhood to now, you’ve always lied to me…”

“You can lie to me in the future.”

“But this time, this one time, you absolutely can’t lie to me.”

“Mmm… I promise you.”

Mei Fang gently patted Lin You Xi’s back, calming her down.

“Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely not lie to you.”

Moving is considered the lifelong enemy of childhood friends.

Countless beautiful encounters that could have happened between childhood friends often turn into illusions because of the word “moving.”

Even if they meet again many years later, unless you can ensure you are the protagonist of a shoujo manga or novel, or both of you are handsome enough or beautiful enough to perform a grand reunion, those once close childhood friends might have married others, changed their personalities drastically, or become too awkward to talk to, losing the innocence of their youth.

As Lu Xun put it—

“We are already separated by a layer of tragic thick barrier.”

Growing up happens in an instant; whoever misses that moment of shared growth can no longer be a close friend who knows each other inside out.

You don’t know what the other person has experienced, so it’s hard to empathize with them.

In Mei Fang’s view, returning to 20 years ago, if it’s just for money, it’s not interesting.

Mei Fang, Mei Fang…

You should seriously question your heart.

What kind of feelings do you have towards Xia Yuan and Lin You Xi? How do you interact with them?

Are you only making friends with her out of pity for Xia Yuan’s tragedy?

Are you only making friends with her out of sympathy for Lin You Xi’s lack of a mother?

No, it’s not.

Ever since Xia Yuan started insisting on making a pinky promise with you, you’ve already fallen for them.

You were deeply attracted by their personalities, appearances, and every smile and frown.

You felt that the bond between you could last a long time;

And you have been working hard to maintain this precious friendship.

Of course, at this stage, it’s a very pure and innocent friendship…

Even so, it’s already enough to make many envious.

You know, some people can’t even feel the most easily obtainable familial love.

“I don’t want to lose it.”

After sending Lin You Xi home, Mei Fang kept thinking about how to stay in Bai Mei County and protect this bond.

He currently only had a very immature plan.

That was using his beloved sister Mei Ya’s special identity to help Mei Fang achieve his father’s goal of not going to Baizhou City.

But regardless of whether his father would eventually find out if it was him, giving up his father’s future in the system would contradict his original intention of wanting the whole family to live better after rebirth.

After some thought, he ultimately abandoned this idea.

Could he abandon family ties for friendship and become a filial son who sacrifices family for justice?

To be honest, moving, selling the house, and buying a new one is still far from certain and won’t happen so quickly; it’s something that will only take place next year.

There’s still plenty of time before then.

Well, let’s leave it at that for now…

As Mei Fang lay in bed preparing to sleep, images of Lin You Xi hugging him involuntarily surfaced in his mind.

He could feel Lin You Xi’s deep reluctance to let him go, even feeling her heart pounding, as if it was still trembling in his chest.

Tsk…

Damn it!

Why am I acting like a worm thrashing around in bed just because a girl hugged me? I must be living in vain!

It must be due to this body, yes!

Mei Fang was desperately looking for excuses.

Early the next morning, just as Mei Fang stepped out of his house, he saw a petite figure standing at the entrance of the neighborhood.

She wore a backpack with a character from “Chibi Maruko-chan” and stared at the direction where Mei Fang appeared.

Mei Fang was still thinking about how to explain things to Xia Yuan properly when he wondered if Lin You Xi had called Xia Yuan’s house last night and told her everything.

Just as Mei Fang was worried, Xia Yuan made cute grabbing motions at him and waved.

“Afang!”

Mei Fang walked closer to Xia Yuan, “Were you waiting for me?”

“Let’s go to school together, Afang!”

“Isn’t your dad taking you to school anymore?”

Xia Yuan nodded, “I discussed it with my dad. He’s been busy with selling the hotel, so he agreed.”

She shook her bag and then pulled on its strap, smiling at Mei Fang.

“Afang, can we go to school together every day?”

“Huh? Why so sudden…”

“It’s not sudden at all,” Xia Yuan pouted, “This is what childhood friends usually do!”

Tonight at 6:30 PM, there will be another chapter!

(End of Chapter)