Until she watched her close friends get up and leave, Chi Qingya finally let out a slow breath.
Although she felt a little sad inside, she still tried her best to adjust her emotions.
Caicai and the others, maybe they just didn’t see her?
Chi Qingya thought this, turning her gaze to the other students in the restaurant who were walking together in small groups, then lowered her head again.
She took out her phone, originally wanting to check if anyone had sent messages in the Sister Group.
She glanced over it, but found nothing.
Her close friends didn’t care about her.
Maybe it was because everyone was laid-back and didn’t care about these things.
That’s what Chi Qingya told herself.
She felt she still shouldn’t judge the people around her with the worst intentions.
Especially her best friends.
Maybe she was just overthinking it.
Chi Qingya glanced at the messages in the group, and before she realized it, she was looking at her Friend Requests again.
But she still didn’t see Su Li accepting her as a friend.
Was it because Su Li was still unwilling to forgive her?
Or had Su Li already left here, gone somewhere no one knew her, wanting to start over?
Or perhaps…
The backer behind Su Li, just like herself, had grown tired and disgusted with Su Li.
After Su Li became homeless, did she end up wandering the streets again?
One thought after another surfaced in Chi Qingya’s mind.
But no matter which possibility it was, right now she had no way to successfully add Su Li as a friend and establish contact.
Chi Qingya opened the Class Group chat, her heart full of nerves.
Her gaze swept over the names of her classmates one by one, searching for Su Li’s name.
She remembered that Su Li used to be in the group.
Back then, Caicai was still Xixi, asking classmates in the group for help with a price cut, and even requested Su Li’s help.
After being refused by Su Li, they even complained to her about it.
Saying Su Li took the hongbao but didn’t do the task.
And even insulted them.
Even though she tried hard to help Su Li apologize to several people, even offering to find someone to help in Su Li’s place, she was still disliked by her close friends.
They thought she wasn’t a new user, not the same as Su Li.
Thinking of this, Chi Qingya grew even more anxious inside.
She hoped Su Li was still in the group.
That way…
That way she could try using an alt account to quietly add Su Li as a friend.
Once they chatted and things eased between them, she could reconcile with Su Li.
She could let Su Li feel her sincerity and earnestness!
But as Chi Qingya’s eyes scanned the list of group members, seeing fewer and fewer names, her heartbeat quickened.
Su Li’s name wasn’t there. Her heart ached.
Unwilling to believe it, she mechanically swiped her finger across the phone screen, scrolling through the class group member list over and over more than a dozen times.
Each time, her fingernail unconsciously left a white scratch on the corner of the table.
She remembered Su Li’s avatar—a simple sketch of a cat.
But there were so many cat avatars in the group chat, yet she couldn’t find Su Li’s unique sketch cat.
The noisy sound in the Dining Hall suddenly felt piercing.
She bit her lower lip hard, her thumb jabbing the names on the screen, as if tapping a few more times could somehow make “Su Li” appear.
Chi Qingya felt as if her throat was stuffed with a wad of soaked cotton, her chest aching every time she breathed.
She was sure she’d seen Su Li talking in the group before, so why couldn’t she even find the chat record now?
She clearly remembered having a brief quarrel with Caicai and the others in the group back then.
She suddenly recalled how Caixiangxiang had mockingly said, “That pauper doesn’t even want to help bargain,” and at the time, Su Li’s name was still on the member list.
Suddenly, her phone became too hot to hold, and her hand trembled, nearly knocking over her tray.
As the fish soup splashed onto her screen, she seemed to see, through the soup stain, Su Li huddled alone in a classroom corner doing homework.
But when she blinked, there was only a drop of soup mixed with chili oil, sliding down toward the “Leave Group Chat” button.
Chi Qingya gasped for air, finally accepting the fact that Su Li had already left the group.
She didn’t know what this meant.
Perhaps it meant that, in this class, there was no one left for her to care about or hold onto.
Maybe it meant their relationship was beyond repair.
Just like how she chose to push Su Li out, Su Li left her life.
She didn’t want this!
She didn’t want this!
Chi Qingya was a little panicked.
Her fingers trembling, she opened the previous chat history with Su Li.
She suddenly felt lucky—lucky she hadn’t impulsively deleted all traces of contact with Su Li.
She was glad she hadn’t wiped the chat records clean; at least it proved Su Li really existed in her life.
It meant there was still hope.
Chi Qingya pulled herself together.
She took out an old alternate account she hadn’t used in years, and nervously changed to a new avatar.
Knowing Su Li liked cats, Chi Qingya deliberately found a cute Ragdoll Cat online to use as her avatar, just so she’d have something to talk about with Su Li.
Then she randomly picked a new personalized status online.
After nervously double-checking her other profile information to make sure Su Li couldn’t recognize her from it, she finally sent a Friend Request to the person she thought about day and night.
And once again, she fell into endless waiting.
Would Su Li add her as a friend?
If she searched for Su Li by QQ number, what if Su Li figured it out? How would she explain it then?
Holding her phone, her mind was already picturing chatting happily with Su Li after becoming friends again.
The corners of Chi Qingya’s lips lifted slightly. She didn’t even realize when the boiled fish in her bowl had gone cold.
She even began to hope Su Li would have a falling out with the Landlord—then she’d have a reason to step in.
Once again, she could offer Su Li a place to stay, let Su Li move into her home.
This time, she wouldn’t push Su Li away!
She’d let Su Li see her sincerity.
“Su Li…”
Chi Qingya murmured softly. Thinking of this, she suddenly started to look forward to it.
Very soon, Chi Qingya remembered something—she knew how to look for news about Su Li now.
Even though doing this made her feel a little unwilling,
For Su Li’s sake, she felt enduring this grievance was nothing.
So Chi Qingya opened her Friends list and sent a message to someone she really disliked.
[Are you there?]