Chapter 199: Aren’t All Love Problems The Same, Though?

Li Caiyi sent another message to Dai Zhiqiang at nighttime, asking him if he had eaten. However, he still hadn't replied until the next day. However, this time she wasn't that anxious any more since he had confirmed his safety. 

"Haa…" Li Caiyi sighed heavily, catching the attention of her three friends.

Chen Ruolan scooted closer to Feng Nian and asked in a low voice. "What happened to her? She kept checking on her phone."

"I have an idea, but better not disturb her for now," Feng Nian whispered back.

"Caiyi, is everything alright? Why aren't you eating your lunch?" Zhou Ya asked worriedly.

"Huh? Oh yeah. Sorry, I'm daydreaming. What are you guys talking about?"

"Nobody said anything, but you are still as absentminded as yesterday. Has that friend of yours contacted you yet?" 

"He sent me a message and told me not to worry about him. I replied, but there are still no words from him again." Li Caiyi couldn't hide the dejection in her voice, making the other three exchange glances with a knowing look. 

"Hey Caiyi, can you tell me a bit about that friend of yours?" Chen Ruolan asked with a glint of excitement in her eyes, clearly craving for gossip.

"Don't bother her, Lan Lan," Zhou Ya reprimanded her softly.

"But aren't you curious as well? What kind of friend can make our Caiyi lose her mind?" 

Li Caiyi grimaced and said in a wronged tone. "I'm not losing my mind."

"Sure. You just submitted your math homework to a history teacher earlier, totally not losing your mind at all," Feng Nian commented sarcastically, and Li Caiyi pursed her lips. 

"Well, he is a quiet and diligent person. He looks cold and aloof from outside, but he is actually very caring once you know him. Once I got into trouble, he helped me even without me asking. He is very knowledgeable about many things, so I always go to him whenever I have something I don't understand. Looking from any side, it feels like I'm the one benefitting from being friends with him. That's why when he is in trouble, I want to help him with anything I can..."

"But being friends is not about giving you benefit or not," Zhou Ya consoled gently. "As long as you are there when he needs you, you ARE his friend, Caiyi."

"I guess…. But I want to do more for him. This is just my selfish wish, but I hope he can rely on and confide in me more. It feels lonely knowing he is struggling alone right now." Li Caiyi said gloomily.

"Are you saying you want to be the one to help him?" Feng Nian asked.

Li Caiyi contemplated a bit before slowly nodding her head. "I know there is not much I can do to help him, but I want to be his strength."

"Oh my…" Zhou Ya exclaimed while smiling fondly at her confession. "It seems you care about him a lot. I wonder if you have fallen for him?"

"Ya Ya, you steal my line! I want to ask that too!" Chen Ruolan protested.

"Huh?" Li Caiyi raised her head, only to find her three friends were waiting expectantly for her answers. At first, she was hesitant but later felt that it was probably okay to let her friends know about this.

"I'm actually unsure. I used to know someone, and I liked him a lot. Then, he disappeared, and I still couldn't find him until now. This friend of mine is really similar to that person."

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Zhou Ya quickly connected the dot in her head. "A person you used to like… do you mean the one you are looking for? Shen Qiang?"

Li Caiyi nodded. "That's why I don't know if my attraction towards my friend stems from my feeling for that person, or it's genuinely my feeling for my friend…."

"Well, that is…complicated…." Zhou Ya commented, unsure of how to respond.

"What's so complicated about it? If you don't know, then you only have to find out," Chen Ruolan said nonchalantly. "I think Caiyi will understand her feeling more clearly once she takes the initiative first."

"Take the initiative?"

Chen Ruolan nodded. "In every romance movie, the heroine always has a period where she is unsure about her feelings. Some of them act passively like you, due to fear of rejection, and end up missing their best chance, but some proactively dive their head straight to the core of the problem."

"Why are you talking about movies again? And their situation isn't even the same," Feng Nian sighed.

"Eh? It isn't? Aren't all love problems the same, though? The 'I love you, but you don't love me fear'?" Chen Ruolan scratched her cheeks in confusion.

Feng Nian sighed helplessly. "Where did you even get that idea? And you are being a little rude again." 

"No, I think she is correct," Li Caiyi said with a smile. "Thank you, Ruolan. As you said, I'm too worried about everything, so I unconsciously limit my own options."

"Yeah, you shouldn't worry about anything because I doubt any guy would reject you!" Chen Ruolan gave a thumbs up. "Simply out, you only need to wink and smile to conquer a guy."

Zhou Ya quickly interjected before Chen Ruolan could continue with her nonsense. "Well, I can't say I like how Lan Lan put it, but I have to agree with her this time. You need to tell him that sincere feeling of yours, Caiyi. When the time comes, you will know whether or not your feelings are real."

"What I don't understand is, so what if your feelings initially stem from your love towards another guy? Isn't it a fact now that you sincerely want to do your best to help that friend of yours? That much alone already proves something. Perhaps along the way, you can actually like your friend more than the guy who leaves." Feng Nian added.

Li Caiyi fell into deep thought, listening to her friend's advice. She couldn't tell them the entire story, but she felt like she could finally see a tiny ray of light inside her murky mind. 

Maybe she should give herself a chance to act more freely and not be too fixated on Shen Qiang's shadow. That way, probably a new option would arise for her.

'I should call Zhiqiang after this,' Li Caiyi decided inwardly. 

"Hey, Li Caiyi, someone is looking for you!"

The sudden call of her name made her turn her head to the voice source. That was when her gaze fell to a face she didn't want to see, smiling at her from the class entrance.

Noticing her frown, Meng Renshu smiled in amusement as he waved his hand, utterly oblivious to the fact that he just made a lot of girls in the perimeter swoon and blushed.

"Xiaoyi, I come for you," He said in an intentionally loud voice. Many girls looked at Li Caiyi with envy, but they reluctantly accepted it because everyone had already known about their relationship as childhood friends. That was why Meng Renshu's following sentence took everyone aback.

"I came here to check on you. Did you fall asleep thinking about me last night?"

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