Chapter 143: Chapter 143: I Feel Like You’re Treating Me Like Your Daughter

The night was still, the small lake at the school tranquil and serene.

Several young couples, hand in hand, headed towards the lake for a date, only to find a bench and sit down before they heard the soft sobs coming from nearby.

The sobbing was intermittent, sorrowful yet piercing.

Lin Xu watched as the couples around her hurried away, finding herself torn between laughter and tears.

She followed the sobs and, sure enough, found Ji Yuqiao under a tree.

Ji Yuqiao seemed to hear her approach, lifting her head from her knees. In the light by the lake, Lin Xu saw tears swirling in her swollen, red eyes, helpless and fragile.

Seeing Lin Xu’s figure, Ji Yuqiao clearly paused, “You, you really came?”

When she had called Lin Xu, it was already very late, and given the school’s remote location, she had asked for her location but had not really expected Lin Xu to come.

After all, even her roommate at the same school had only comforted her over the phone.

“I said I would come, so of course I followed through,” Lin Xu sat down beside her, pulling out a tissue from her bag, “Your snot has merged with your tears.”

Ji Yuqiao’s cheeks suddenly reddened, still carrying a bit of her vanity, she quickly took the tissue and wiped away.

“Is it still there?” she asked, embarrassed.

Lin Xu took another tissue and wiped away the remaining tears, softly saying, “There, now you’re our beautiful girl again.”

Ji Yuqiao’s lips just began to curve into a smile when they suddenly drooped again, and she murmured sadly, “What does it matter if I am beautiful? He still doesn’t like me.”

Because they were both attending the national competition, she had been seeing Xiao Yu more frequently.

Xiao Yu’s attitude towards her had softened a lot, especially when she solved some problems that even Xiao Yu could not, he would even praise her.

So, after she solved another competition question for Xiao Yu tonight and saw his smiling face, Ji Yuqiao’s heart fluttered once again, and carried away, she couldn’t help confessing her feelings to Xiao Yu again.

Ji Yuqiao thought, she was not the same as before now.

She had become more excellent and more attractive…

At least many classmates said she had become prettier.

Xiao Yu surely wouldn’t dislike her, reject her anymore, right?

Ji Yuqiao looked at him, full of joyous anticipation.

However, she saw the smile on Xiao Yu’s lips suddenly vanish.

He paused, as if remembering something, then his expression turned very serious, “Student Ji, I already have a girlfriend, no matter how hard you try, no matter how excellent you are, I still won’t like you.”

Ji Yuqiao’s hopeful face cracked bit by bit, the smile on her face slowly failing to hold.

Just as tears were about to burst forth, she abruptly left the classroom.

She hid by the lake and cried for a long time.

During that time, her roommate also called her, and upon hearing that she had been rejected by Xiao Yu again, showed an unsurprised attitude, casually comforting her not to be sad, and then hung up the phone.

Before the phone hung up, she clearly heard the jeering voices coming through the speaker.

“Ji Yuqiao has been rejected by Xiao Yu again, haha…”

“She still hasn’t given up, how could Xiao Yu possibly like her…”

Ji Yuqiao’s hand holding the phone trembled, as if a layer of salt was being sprinkled on an open wound, painful and unbearable.

Fingers sliding across the screen, her eyes brimming with tears paused when she saw Lin Xu’s name.

By the time she snapped back to reality, the call had already gone through.

Her intuition told her that Lin Xu wouldn’t laugh at her.

True to her instincts, Lin Xu not only didn’t laugh at her but had traveled from so far just to see her.

A warm surge seemed to flow through her chest.@@novelbin@@

The tears in Ji Yuqiao’s eyes swirled as she turned to hug Lin Xu’s body, breaking into loud sobs.

Seeing her cry so sadly, Lin Xu became flustered, her mind only recalling how she used to soothe babies. She rummaged through her bag and pulled out a little yellow duck to give to her.

“Little yellow duck, quack quack quack, wag your tail and sing cheerfully, please heal our lovely Yuqiao’s heart soon.”

Ji Yuqiao’s crying gradually subsided, and she looked at the little yellow duck in her hand with a puzzled expression, “What is this?”

“It was a free gift that came with the snacks at the supermarket,” Lin Xu said.

She and Ji Zeqiu had bought a lot of snacks at the supermarket yesterday, and the clerk had given her a little yellow duck as a freebie.

She had tossed it into her bag when checking out without giving it much thought, not expecting it to come in handy now.

“And what was that cheer you just said?” Ji Yuqiao asked.

“Just a little rhyme I made up on the spot when I used to soothe my daughter,” Lin Xu said with a smile.

As Ji Tingyang and Ji Zeqiu grew up, they seldom cried or fussed, only Lanyue, still in her crib, would cry and make a scene regardless of time.

Whenever that happened, she would pull out the little yellow duck and recite those few lines, and Lanyue would always burst into big laughter looking at the yellow duck.

A hint of nostalgia shone through Lin Xu’s curved eyes.

Hearing her say this, Ji Yuqiao was reminded that Lin Xu was married and had a child.

Because Lin Xu looked so young, she always subconsciously neglected this fact.

Hearing her mention her daughter with a tone filled with joy and happiness, a trace of envy flickered in Ji Yuqiao’s eyes, “Your daughter must be very happy and fortunate to have such a wonderful mother like you…”

Ji Yuqiao pinched the little yellow duck in her hand, the plastic toy squeaked in the quiet night, and she said softly, “I used to have a little yellow duck too, it was a gift from my mother, but then someone took it away.”

She had always carried that little duck with her since she was little, but then it was taken by Wu Yanghui.

He clearly had countless toys, his aunt would buy him new toys every day, which made her deeply envious.

Even so, he still snatched her only little duck.

Her aunt said it was just to let her cousin play with it for a while and would return it to her after a few days, but since that day, she had never seen her little duck again.

“Then, I’ll give you this little yellow duck. Although it can’t replace the one from your childhood, I hope it can also bring you some happiness,” Lin Xu said as she patted her head, “Don’t cry anymore.”

“Somehow it feels like you’re treating me like your daughter,” said Ji Yuqiao, playing with the little yellow duck in her hand and smiling shyly, “I wonder if my mother was as good as you.”

Lin Xu paused briefly, “Maybe even better.”

“Maybe,” said Ji Yuqiao.

If that weren’t the case, why would Ji Tingyang and Ji Zeqiu always cherish the memory of their mother?

When she was young, she would often hear them talking in their sleep, calling out for their mother…

Sometimes she envied them for having memories of their mother, unlike herself, who drew a blank whenever she thought of her mother and father.