"Lizi, call him uncle."
"Wen Shaoyu!"
"You know that's not what I meant!"
Ji Shuhe was getting anxious, frowning, her tone growing impatient.
Of course Wen Shaoyu knew, but he couldn't help being petty, so he couldn't resist provoking her.
However, seeing this, he turned serious and stopped teasing Ji Shuhe. "I appreciate the gesture. Anything else?"
There was indeed something important, but when it came time to speak, Ji Shuhe was tongue-tied. "There is. I came to... talk to you..."
"Still not giving up?" Wen Shaoyu frowned, guessing the answer from her expression.
Ji Shuhe blinked, not understanding, but Wen Shaoyu had already turned to the desk by the bed and was writing something on a piece of paper. "So after weighing your friend and your neighbor these past two days, you decided to give up on me?"
He didn't even give Ji Shuhe time to think. Looking up, he pressed on, "Is that it?"
Ji Shuhe pursed her lips. She felt she wanted to fight for it, but what was more important was...
"Forget it. It doesn't matter. I don't care." Seeing Ji Shuhe hesitate, Wen Shaoyu continued writing. "For... Lizi's sake, I'll help you one more time."
He stopped writing, folded the paper in front of him, tore it along the crease, and handed it to Ji Shuhe. "Last time."
Ji Shuhe took it. The boy had pressed hard; the raised strokes were palpable on the back. Looking at the paper, there were two strings of numbers. By length, they should be a phone number and a QQ number.
The paper felt hot in her hand, and Ji Shuhe seemed even more guilty.
"I came to apologize."
"I've given you what I can. What else do you want?"
"I'm sorry. I didn't consider your wishes..."
"Sweet talk won't work. I'm not giving you my ID card."
Ji Shuhe couldn't help it. "Wen Shaoyu! Why won't you let me finish!"
"Ji Shuhe."
"After hearing your sincerity, you'll still find a way to fulfill your friend's request through me. So I'm helping you. You've already gotten what you wanted, haven't you?"
Yes, Ji Shuhe had come to solve all the problems, and the paper in her hand could help her do that.
Wen Shaoyu stared at Ji Shuhe, his tone still calm. "As for the apology you want me to hear, it's just an emotional card so I'll accept being abandoned in your choice and won't hold a grudge against you."
...Yes, Wen Shaoyu understood Ji Shuhe.
So Wen Shaoyu could even guess what she would say next, and he didn't want to hear any of it.
"Don't worry, I won't. You don't need to apologize to me."
"My feelings... actually don't matter. That's not something you have to consider. So you don't need to feel guilty, and you don't need to apologize to anyone."
Is that so?
Ji Shuhe opened her mouth but no sound came out. Her hand gripping the thin paper tightened. In the brief silence, there was an awkwardness she couldn't gloss over.
Wen Shaoyu saw through her tangled thoughts, but he couldn't fully understand her dilemma. Being torn between An Qing and Wen Shaoyu was only part of it. What bothered her more was why she couldn't have handled everything in advance.
It was simple: refuse An Qing, or completely disregard Wen Shaoyu's feelings.
But the key was that she couldn't let go of either side. Ji Shuhe didn't want to offend anyone—her friend, and... her neighbor. Neither.
So she had imagined countless possibilities, but Wen Shaoyu saw through what she thought was her best option, saw through her biased calculations.
But he didn't understand fully.
She, Ji Shuhe, didn't want to be the one that anyone she cared about spoke ill of.
What troubled her was something he couldn't understand: public opinion. She cared, and he didn't.
Wen Shaoyu took in all the changes in Ji Shuhe's expression. He tilted his head, still puzzled, and pressed on, "I'm curious, what's always on your mind that makes you torment yourself so much?"
Ji Shuhe couldn't answer, only mumbled her predicament to Wen Shaoyu. "But I only have a few friends here in Xinhai. If I don't help her and she breaks off our friendship, what do I do..."
"Then that means she doesn't deserve to be your friend," Wen Shaoyu said without hesitation, as if it were obvious. "Friends are like-minded companions, not targets for calculating benefits. Seeing someone clearly over a trivial matter—isn't that a good thing for you?"
That seemed right.
But Ji Shuhe was startled by Wen Shaoyu's assertiveness.
"Think more about yourself. Some so-called friends aren't sincere, and they're not worth going out of your way to help." Wen Shaoyu paused mid-sentence, then gave a bitter smile. "For example... my mother and I are a cautionary tale of ridiculous friendship turning into a bad ending."
Ji Shuhe thought Wen Shaoyu's expression was rare. His beautiful eyes swept over her, then he shook his head as if wanting to say something but stopping, then looked down.
She knew that was a scar that had never healed. He mentioned it now to make her realize that true friendship isn't about one side constantly compromising.
As for cutting off mid-sentence...
Wen Shaoyu felt he had said too much.
Ji Shuhe had her own way of surviving. He shouldn't interfere in the way he thought. This girl wasn't like her clueless brother.
He couldn't be too eager. Being too eager would make it seem... seem like he had some ulterior motive.
He just couldn't stand seeing Ji Shuhe so worried, to the point that even Lizi couldn't go find her. He wanted to give her a hint, nothing else.