Chapter Seventeen

  "She didn't not want to make friends with others, it's just that she couldn't adapt to having another person suddenly appear by her side. Her world was simple, and the sudden appearance of each new person would attract her attention. She wasn't cold towards people, but rather she didn't know how to face a stranger's arrival. She didn't not want to be friends with you, it's just that psychologically, she had an aversion to people."

  "I don't know what it is that makes her so guarded against the outside world, but I understand one thing - apart from over-protecting herself, she will hurt others' self-esteem and never go out of her way to harm anyone."

  "What exactly happened to her?" Yang Rui shook his head, "Not even you, did she say?" Li Huan heard this and became even more curious about what had hurt her. He thought she would tell Yang Rui, but she didn't. How deep a scar that incident left on her heart.

  "Perhaps one day she might tell you." Looking at Li Hui, thinking that Wang Zhiqiao would actually let him help her, Yang Rui suddenly felt that perhaps she might tell him.

  "Why would you say that?" Li Hui was particularly surprised to hear Yang Rui say this, even a good friend for so long hadn't said it, let alone tell herself.

  "When she tells you herself that day, you'll know why." Yang Rui thought it was better not to tell him about his special existence with Wang Zijiao for the time being. Otherwise, Li Miao might use this as a pretext to play tricks on Wang Zijiao and turn her around in circles. Even if he told some of the things that had happened between him and Wang Zijiao before, it was still better to remain vigilant. After all, people's hearts are hidden behind their faces, and you can never see through to the essence like X-rays penetrating solid objects.

  "Alright! So how did she adapt to you later on? It seems like she wouldn't easily accept someone." Seeing that Yang Rui didn't plan on telling him, Li Miao also didn't ask further. When others don't want to tell you something, no matter how much you press them, they won't say another word. Asking too many questions is pointless, so why bother speaking up?

  "That was the period of time I most wanted to forget, but now that I think about it, I still wonder how I endured back then. You can imagine no matter what you did, she just didn't care, ignoring you, besides ignoring you, still ignoring you, yet you couldn't not respond to her, you still had to put on a face and talk to her." Thinking of that period of time when he had thick skin, Yang Rui was still discontentedly sighing in amazement, back then he really did have perseverance, however, this also made him admire Wang Zhi Jiao, the special qualities she emitted, after making you understand her cold exterior, attracted you to want to understand her inner heart.

  "How could this be, she said that, yet you can't easily accept it?" Li Hui couldn't believe it at first, Wang Zhiqiao had treated Yang Rui like that before, Yang Rui just smiled indifferently, Wang Zhiqiao was a person who wouldn't do anything, only what you couldn't think of, there's nothing she can't do, absolutely breaking your bottom line.

  "She can't easily accept someone from the bottom of her heart, it's like she has become allergic to strangers. As soon as someone tries to appear in her world, her brain starts to sound the alarm system, resisting outsiders. Every cell in her body resists that person, treating him like a pathogen and rejecting him with pure instinct." Yang Rui looked at Li Huan and said, "Do you know how much Wang Zhiqiao rejects someone?"

  Li Hui thought for a moment and still felt that she should shake her head. Her understanding of Wang Zijiao was only a tiny fraction, and what Wang Zijiao had said made it impossible for her to imagine the world in which Wang Zijiao lived. Suddenly, she felt extremely fortunate not to have been treated like that.

  "She can't even stand being in the same space as you, it's like someone is choking her throat, making it hard to breathe. She can't hear your voice, and when she does, her heart becomes extremely agitated, wanting to go over and shut that person up, telling them not to be so noisy." Li Hui was shocked, his mouth wide open in disbelief. It's simply unbelievable, she would have such a strong aversion to others.

  "Don't be too surprised, she's never done that before, even if she did, she wouldn't show it, she can endure especially well. She won't react so obviously. So she just stays very quietly."

  Li Hui stared intently at Yang Rui, trying to see if she was deceiving him from her eyes, but actually hoping that she was deceiving him. It seemed that he had thought too simply about Wang Zhiqiao's everything, and the more he understood, the more confused he became. He suddenly lost confidence in whether he could help Wang Zhiqiao. Feeling that he had boasted too much, after making a fuss for half a day, he found that he was blindly confident.

  "At that time, I almost couldn't hold on anymore, but every time I saw her alone by herself, I felt a pang in my heart and told myself to endure it a bit longer."

  "When she slowly adapted to herself, I finally let out a sigh of relief, and it was like the clouds had parted to reveal a clear moon. After that, she became very tolerant of me, probably because she felt sorry for herself at the time and treated herself with kindness multiplied by a thousand times. She started taking good care of herself. It's like how many friends care about each other, I feel like our relationship has finally taken the right path, perhaps after being tempered, we cherish each other more than others do, and understand how to be considerate of each other."

  "Don't you think that being with her, you're putting in more effort and it's inevitable to feel a bit unbalanced?" Li Hui asked bluntly, feeling like she was complaining a little.

  "No, she deserves me to be good to her. And she's also exceptionally good to me, it's not something you can imagine on your own, she overcame all sorts of psychological resistance, forcing herself to ignore the physical protests caused by my closeness, my grievances and sacrifices are tangible, hers are intangible, she even has to pay more, it's just that you haven't seen it." Yang Ruiyi rebutted Li Huan's judgment with righteous words.

  "As someone who has been through it, why don't you help her break out of her closed world and interact with others more?" Li Hui was very curious, Wang Zijiao had asked for his help before, so why didn't she ask Yang Rui for help instead? Wouldn't that be a quicker way to solve the problem? Why did she end up asking someone like him who wasn't even that familiar with her?

  You either follow closely behind me, until in the end, only a few people can be friends with her. I can only solve the superficial problems, but I have no way to deeply solve her inherent problems. Every time I see her forcing herself to resist her own psychological resistance, I also feel extremely heartbroken, but I am powerless.

  Yang Rui looked straight at Li Huan and said, "I know she came to you for help. I thought maybe you could help her get out of this." Li Huan pointed at himself in disbelief.

  "You're sure you didn't mistake me for someone else, I'm at a loss now, I've even started to regret agreeing to help her, I don't know how I can believe in my own abilities." Li Miao was extremely frustrated, feeling like he had spoken out of turn.

  "No, you are a special existence for Wang Zhiqiao. If you can't either, then I don't know who can," Yang Rui said, looking at Li Huan's loss of confidence, immediately encouraging him to continue persevering. She said these things in order to help him, rather than making him give up on Wang Zhiqiao. He is now a ray of hope for Wang Zhiqiao.

  "What's so special about me to her, I hope you can tell me." Li Miao curiously asked. She had already said several times that she was special.

  "This matter, you should wait for her to tell you herself. If she tells you now, it won't help you and might even become an obstacle for you to get close to her." Yang Rui couldn't tell her that this shouldn't be something he reveals himself. He felt like he had already said too much about Wang Zijiao to Li Miao. He couldn't say any more, so he immediately stopped.

  "I saw you make her cry that day." Yang Rui thought he should still give him a slight hint.

  "Hmm, that day she did cry, but it wasn't me who made her cry. She was reading and got infected by the plot inside, feeling sad for the female lead in the novel." Li Miao hurriedly defended himself, not wanting to be misunderstood as bullying Wang Zijiao and making her cry.

  "Haha...... She explained it to you like that and you actually believed her. What can I say, such a terrible excuse, and you fell for it. I was often deceived by her excuses in the past, she's really good at being hypocritical."

  "So it was really me who made her cry." Li Hui felt that she was too stupid, she had found such a bad excuse and believed it herself. She didn't know whether to say that she was foolish or naive. Probably Yang Rui was laughing at herself in her heart right now.

  "She didn't say it, but I won't leave you alone. That day, I saw her and was about to rush over and scold you. Before she could finish speaking, Li Miao looked up at herself and immediately changed her tone. However, seeing that you've been coaxing her all along, I knew you weren't bullying her. What were you saying to make her cry?"

  She asked me for help but didn't take the initiative to talk to others herself. So I just said a few words to her.

  "No wonder, and it can't be said that you made her cry. She's probably anxious herself, but timid, and with the discomfort in her heart, she feels useless. If you don't tell her what to do, she won't know how to handle it. She's like a child, completely inexperienced, and was probably scolded by you until she cried anxiously." Yang Rui knew why she cried that day and felt a bit more at ease.

  "I've said enough, saying more won't help. The rest is up to you, let's talk again if there's anything else!" Yang Rui finished speaking and left, leaving only Li Huan standing there, looking into the distance with a solemn expression.