“I’ve heard of that one too. And guess what? Liang Zhiyi, the girl who transferred to our neighboring class last semester, has a role in it.”
“She’s acted before. Her uncle is the director of “Not Sure If It’s You”, and she’s really beautiful, so she looks great on camera…”
Hearing this, Pei Chen’s eyes flashed with surprise.
He then remembered that last semester, Liang Zhiyi had mentioned she was in a movie that was set to be released soon.
Back in the classroom, he took out his phone and opened the movie ticketing page, his lips pressed together in thought.
The next day, Saturday, after getting up and having breakfast at home, he left around eight in the morning.
After nearly an hour-long bus ride, he arrived at the mall.
He had booked a ticket for the early showing of “Not Sure If It’s You” and arrived about half an hour before the screening.
As he walked to the cinema, he looked around and eventually found the self-service ticket machine.
Pei Chen rarely went to the movies, so he wasn’t familiar with the place. To him, a movie ticket wasn’t cheap; saving that money could buy him several sets of worksheets or school supplies.
Following the instructions, he collected his ticket and sat in the lobby to wait. When the time came, he entered the theater. The movie had been popular, so many people had bought tickets in advance, leaving him with a seat off to the side.
He found his seat and sat down. A short while later, the film began.
Pei Chen kept his eyes fixed on the screen, afraid to miss any of her scenes.
Near the end of the movie, she finally appeared.
Liang Zhiyi wore very light makeup, her skin smooth and pure, with a fresh, pretty appearance. She had her hair in braids and was dressed in a blue school uniform from the 90s, carrying a bag as she walked out of the school building, smiling alongside the main characters.
She stepped into the bright sunlight, the rays casting a radiant glow over her, and her smile lit up her face.
Pei Chen’s gaze suddenly froze.
His mind went blank as he stared intently at the screen, captivated by the energetic and lively girl.
It had been over two months since he last saw her.
In that moment, it felt as though she was really there in front of him.
While the theater was filled with laughter from a humorous scene, Pei Chen just stared at the screen, his eyes welling with emotion.
Liang Zhiyi’s scenes were brief.
Only a few short minutes.
After the movie ended, as the audience gradually left the theater, Pei Chen remained seated, watching the screen until the very last scene played out.
Finally, he stood up and slowly walked out of the cinema.
Late into the night, Pei Chen found himself replaying the scene in his mind—Liang Zhiyi’s joyful expression as she retrieved her gift from the locker.
He let out a bitter smile, mocking himself.
If only he had been brave enough to approach her back then, how different things might have been.
Maybe then, he wouldn’t have left her with so many regrets.
As Pei Chen walked out of the mall, his heart felt hollow. He didn’t want to go home. For some reason, he thought of Lin Noodle Shop, a place he hadn’t visited in a long time.
After a while, he found himself heading towards the noodle shop.
When he walked in, it was still early, and the shop was quiet, with only the owner inside. The owner looked up and smiled, “Pei, you’re here?”
“Hello, Uncle Lin.”
“It’s been a while. The usual, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, by the way, Liang was here a couple of weeks ago.”
Pei Chen froze.
“She… she was here?”
The owner pointed to a spot beneath the TV. “She sat at the table you usually sit at.”
In an instant, a sharp pain pierced Pei Chen’s heart, and his thoughts were thrown into disarray.
So, she had been back, and he hadn’t even known.
It was as if she had completely withdrawn from his world, without leaving even a trace of contact.
He sat down at the table opposite where she had once sat, and memories of their times together in the shop flooded his mind.
He looked across the table, and for a brief moment, it was as if he could see her smiling back at him, her eyes curved in that familiar way.
His eyes stung with the overwhelming surge of longing.
The feeling of missing her hit him like a tidal wave, crashing over him with full force.
He missed her so much.
So much that it was driving him crazy.
After quietly finishing his noodles, Pei Chen left the shop and pulled out his phone, searching for tickets to W Province.
A week passed, and it was Saturday once again. Early in the morning, Pei Chen was already up and preparing for the day.
After finishing his preparations, Pei Chen left home and headed to the train station.
Yesterday, he had already arranged for a community volunteer to check in on Pei Yongxia while he was away. He also gave a spare key to Xuan Xia, informing him that he would be going to W Province for a few days and asking him to take care of his father if any urgent situation arose.
When Xuan Xia heard about it, he was surprised. “W Province? Are you going to see Liang Zhiyi?”
Pei Chen lowered his eyes. “I just want to see her.”
After watching the movie last week and visiting the noodle shop, he felt like he was being torn apart by his emotions.
He just wanted to catch a glimpse of her—just one look would be enough.
The train ticket to W Province wasn’t cheap, and Pei Chen was not someone who could spend money carelessly. Given that the high-speed train was too expensive, he opted for the regular train instead.
However, the train journey was long and tiring. After spending more than ten hours in a hard seat, he finally arrived in the city where Liang Zhiyi was now living.
By then, it was already evening. He took a bus to her high school.
W Province was further south, and the weather was colder. He wasn’t dressed warmly enough, and the cold wind cut through him, sending a chill down his spine.
In the afternoon, he had called Liang Tongzhou, who told him that Liang Zhiyi had extra classes on Saturdays and wouldn’t be done until six o’clock.
So, he waited quietly.
At six o’clock, the sky turned a deep sea-blue.
The school gates opened, and students poured out. Pei Chen stood across the street, his eyes scanning the crowd quickly.
But in the bustling crowd, finding someone felt like searching for a needle in a haystack.
As he searched, a figure suddenly appeared in his field of vision—
Liang Zhiyi was wearing a simple, clean hoodie, her black hair framing her delicate features. She was holding a vocabulary book, walking alone as she read.
For a moment, Pei Chen’s mind went blank, and he stood there, staring at her in a daze.
She looked much thinner.
Her hair had been cut slightly shorter, her ponytail falling softly over her shoulder.
Every detail of her face was etched into his heart, impossible to forget.
Everything around him seemed to lose its color and sound. Pei Chen’s gaze was fixed solely on her, his heart pounding wildly. The guilt from not seeing her that day welled up inside him, making his eyes burn with emotion.
He watched as she walked into a bakery near the school gate, bought a cream bun, and came out. She unwrapped it and began eating, her cheeks puffing up as she chewed. A bit of cream stuck to the corner of her mouth, making her look like a playful little cat.
Pei Chen crossed the street, his eyes full of longing and tenderness as they followed her every move.
Finally, he saw her enter a bookstore.
Pei Chen hesitated, standing at the entrance of the bookstore without going in.
Through the glass window, he saw Liang Zhiyi putting on a bookstore staff uniform and tying up her hair as she began helping to organize the books.
He was stunned.
She carried stacks of books, placing them on a cart and arranging them on the shelves. The light above illuminated her delicate profile, casting a soft glow on her face as she worked.
After a while, Liang Tongzhou called him and then came over to find him.
When Liang Tongzhou arrived and saw Pei Chen, he teased, “Coming all the way here wasn’t easy, huh?”
Pei Chen responded with a nod. Liang Tongzhou patted him on the shoulder and sighed with a smile, “You know, I haven’t even settled the score with you for what you did to my sister back then.”
Pei Chen lowered his eyes. Liang Tongzhou wasn’t really angry, though, and he smirked, “My sister is inside the bookstore. Why didn’t you go in?”
Pei Chen’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he replied in a hoarse voice, “I just wanted to see her.”
He didn’t dare disturb her, and he was too consumed with guilt to face her.
He couldn’t help but ask, “How has she been?”
“She’s been studying really hard, aiming for C University. She’s focused on her studies all the time now.”
“Why is she working at the bookstore?”
Pei Chen was puzzled. Why would Liang Zhiyi need money?
Liang Tongzhou looked at him for a few seconds before saying, “Because of you.”
Pei Chen was taken aback. Liang Tongzhou continued, “She canceled her credit card and only takes a small allowance each month. She works here every week because she wants to be like you.”
This girl, who could have lived a life of luxury, was willing to give up everything just to live a simple, ordinary life like his.
Hearing this, Pei Chen’s mind was overwhelmed.
He hadn’t expected that she would sacrifice her comfortable life just to prove her love for him—just because he was Pei Chen, with no regard for anything else.
And what had he done?
Just as Ji Fei’er had said, he had pushed her away because of his ridiculous pride.
He turned to look at Liang Zhiyi, who was busy inside the bookstore, his eyes growing red.
The next day, Pei Chen returned from W Province.
Before leaving, he asked Liang Tongzhou to give Liang Zhiyi some snacks and a gift—a beautifully crafted ceramic cup with a gardenia flower design that he had bought at the beginning of the semester.
Back in Lincheng, Pei Chen resumed his busy academic life, but he felt like he had lost his soul.
A few days later, after school, Pei Chen went to Lin Noodle Shop.
The owner and his wife were both there, and after Pei Chen walked in, he ordered a bowl of pork trotter noodles and sat down.
Before the noodles were served, the owner’s wife, while wiping a bowl, noticed the troubled look on Pei Chen’s face and asked, “Pei, are you feeling down?”
Pei Chen remained silent for a couple of seconds before replying, “Yes.”
“It’s because of Liang, isn’t it?”
Pei Chen lowered his eyes, and then he heard her speak gently, “Pei Chen, in my eyes, you’re like one of my own children. If you trust me, you can talk to me about what’s bothering you. I’m more than willing to listen.”
In the end, Pei Chen told the couple about everything that had happened between him and Liang Zhiyi. “I went to W Province last weekend to see her. I realized that I don’t deserve her love.”
He was lost, unsure of what he should do.
He desperately wanted to love her without reservation, but the external pressures made him feel torn.
After listening to his story, the owner sat down across from him and smiled, “Pei Chen, would you like to hear the story of how your Auntie and I got together?”
“Yes.”
“In the 1980s, I was just in my twenties, and she was the daughter of a wealthy family, while I was just a laborer. After we met, we quickly fell in love, but at first, I felt the same way you do now—I didn’t think I was good enough for her, so I didn’t dare to promise her a future.”
Later, he told her that he would leave her to go to another city to work hard for a couple of years and asked her to wait for him. He promised to return in two years and marry her in grand style.
But while he was away, her family’s business suffered major losses, and overnight, they went bankrupt. The family business collapsed.
Her father couldn’t handle the pressure and, in despair, decided to take the entire family’s lives. That night, he secretly gave sleeping pills to his wife, daughter, and himself.
Fortunately, they were discovered in time and taken to the hospital. Her parents didn’t survive, but she was saved, although the trauma left her unable to have children.
When he heard the news, he rushed back overnight, using all the money he had earned to beg the doctors to save her life.
He deeply regretted not being by her side, nearly losing her forever.
She wanted to break up with him afterward, not wanting to burden him with her situation, but he insisted on marrying her.
The owner looked at his wife with a smile. “After that, I took what little savings I had left, moved with her to this city, and opened this noodle shop, planning to live a simple life together for the rest of our days. The reason we never adopted a child is that I once left her for what I thought was a good reason, almost causing a lifelong regret. Now, I don’t want anything to distract me from loving her wholeheartedly.”
The owner’s wife added, “In truth, I didn’t care about the wealth or the gossip. I only wanted to be with the person I loved. I believe that Liang loves you in the same way.”
The owner continued, “Pei, I understand your concerns because I used to worry about not being able to give her a future. But as the saying goes, you never know which will come first—tomorrow or an accident. What’s important is to cherish the present and the people in front of you.”
The owner looked at Pei Chen and said, “As long as she loves you, and you love her, any challenges in front of you can be overcome. Love requires courage and persistence. Don’t wait until it’s too late and you’ve truly lost her before realizing your regret.”