Push Me Away When I Come, Don't Hold Me Back When I Leave - Chapter 5

Chapter 5: It’s Better If We Never Meet Again

***

“The cafeteria food is still as terrible as ever, so terrible it’s almost touching.” Xia Ruoming complained, but her chopsticks never stopped moving. In 2014, the food in this cafeteria was really bad, with boiled pork slices swimming in fat, stir-fried wood ear mushrooms and cucumber with barely any meat that disappeared with one shake of the cafeteria lady’s hand, and even savory dishes made with sweet ingredients. But ten years after graduation, she heard the food had really improved a lot. Who knows which idiot had the contract back then.

“Tsk, why do you always talk like an old woman who’s lived for decades? Don’t tell me you actually dreamed about being decades older when you were sleeping yesterday?” Ji Chuan looked at her suspiciously. If this wasn’t the real world but some fantasy novel, he would have suspected Xia Ruoming had been possessed.

“Yeah, I really did live for decades in my dream.” Xia Ruoming rested her chin on her left hand, aimlessly stirring the soybean braised pork in her plate with her chopsticks.

“Really? That’s quite…” Before Ji Chuan could finish speaking, he caught sight of Xu Fengwu at the entrance from the corner of his eye. He gently poked Xia Ruoming’s waist as she was lost in thought, and before she could get angry, he jerked his chin toward the entrance, gesturing for her to look that way. “Hey, look, Xu Fengwu is here. Should I leave to make room for you?”

“Just sit here, why leave? Didn’t I tell you? If I still like her, I’ll wash my hair with cola while doing a handstand.” Xia Ruoming was somewhat helpless, he really thought she was still a love-struck fool.

Xu Fengwu and her “best friend” Li Jing walked directly to Xia Ruoming’s table. Xia Ruoming hadn’t spared them a single glance except when Ji Chuan reminded her.

“Hey, Xia Ruoming, where’s our seats?” Before Xu Fengwu could speak, Li Jing jumped in, questioning Xia Ruoming in an interrogating tone. In her memory, throughout these three years of high school, Xia Ruoming would always come to the cafeteria early to save seats for Xu Fengwu, and as Xu Fengwu’s best friend, she naturally enjoyed this treatment too.

“Did you hurt your leg, Miss Li?” Xia Ruoming looked at the arrogant Li Jing, finding it somewhat amusing.

“What? What injury to my leg? I’m asking you a question, don’t try to hit on me like this, it’s really disgusting.” Li Jing replied with a look of disgust. In her mind, Xia Ruoming was no different from those male admirers.

“Oh, so your legs are fine? Then with perfectly working hands and feet, you don’t know how to save seats yourself, so why are you asking me? If you hadn’t spoken up, I would have thought you were an 80-year-old with disabilities, speaking so self-righteously.” Xia Ruoming turned her head away and continued enjoying her terribly unpalatable lunch.

“You!” Li Jing was immediately flushed with anger. “Don’t you know Fengwu hates rude people like you the most? With your attitude, you want to pursue her? Keep dreaming!”

Hearing these words, Xia Ruoming’s gaze lingered on Xu Fengwu for a moment. Actually, in her previous life, she later learned that the reason for her failed confession wasn’t unrelated to the villains by her side.

Xu Fengwu didn’t show any particular reaction, just looking at Xia Ruoming indifferently. She had harbored a slight hope, wanting to know what Xu Fengwu really thought, and wanting to see Xu Fengwu’s reaction.

When Xia Ruoming saw that Xu Fengwu had no intention of stopping Li Jing, perhaps not even having the thought of stopping her, Xia Ruoming truly let go. At that moment, she also understood just how much of a clown her past self had been, how ridiculous she had been.

“Goodbye, Xu Fengwu. No, it’s better if we never meet again.” Xia Ruoming stood up and walked towards the cafeteria exit. Those words were extremely faint, Li Jing couldn’t hear clearly what she was saying, but Xu Fengwu heard it.

The melancholic tone seemed to genuinely bid her farewell, and also seemed like, saying goodbye to the past.

“Hey! Sis, what are you doing? I haven’t finished eating!” Ji Chuan’s carefree voice came from behind, but Xia Ruoming never stopped her steps. Ji Chuan could only helplessly put down his plate and chase after her.

Li Jing watched Xia Ruoming’s departing figure with a contemptuous expression.

“Did Xia Ruoming confess to you again? Tsk, now the whole school knows about it.” She looked at Xu Fengwu beside her, who seemed somewhat confused, and asked.

“Mm.”

“You must have rejected her again, right? Did you do as I taught you?”

Xu Fengwu narrowed her phoenix eyes and nodded slightly.

“That’s good. She doesn’t understand personal space at all, just keeps pestering people. You’d be so unlucky if you got together with her.” Li Jing clearly hadn’t forgotten about being humiliated earlier and decided to badmouth Xia Ruoming thoroughly behind her back. “She’s not worthy of you at all. Such cheap affection, you must never accept it.”

When she heard these words, Xu Fengwu didn’t respond anymore. She was just thinking about what Xia Ruoming had said before leaving.

“Goodbye, Xu Fengwu. No, it’s better if we never meet again.”

In these five years, no matter how hurtful the words she said to Xia Ruoming were, how many times she rejected her confessions, she would still tirelessly hover around her, never showing any dissatisfaction towards her, and never saying such words to her.

That might be words spoken in anger, is she going to give up on her? Probably not possible, after all, besides herself, who else could Xia Ruoming fall for? Previously, Xia Ruoming had said that she was her entire world, where could she go without her.

The slightly cool breeze caught the tail end of mid-spring, filling the entire campus with spring’s breath, also taking away winter’s frost.

Walking on campus after leaving the cafeteria, Xia Ruoming suddenly felt very satisfied with herself.

Seeing Xu Fengwu again, she was still as stunning as ever.

At 170cm tall with perfect proportions, skin fair and delicate without a single flaw, eyes bright and spirited like black diamonds, seemingly reflecting the entire Milky Way. Neatly trimmed eyebrows and thick curled eyelashes paired with those phoenix eyes were also impeccable, the high bridge of her nose rose like a small hill on her face, red lips like blooming flowers, long black hair like a waterfall falling on her shoulders. When cold, she was like an otherworldly fairy, when coquettish, every smile and frown could captivate souls. No wonder the Xia Ruoming of the previous life had fallen so deeply, even in the future, Xia Ruoming hadn’t found anyone whose beauty could compare to hers.

But Xia Ruoming could ignore her now. Although she couldn’t completely avoid being moved when seeing her, it was just like spotting a stunning beauty while walking down the street, her heart might skip half a beat, but she no longer hoped for any special development.

Walking out of the cafeteria, Xia Ruoming had already drawn a clear line with her in her heart.

Goodbye, never meet again. That was Xia Ruoming’s favorite song in her previous life.