In her nearly thirty years of life, Cen Jin had experienced numerous confessions, but none had ever made her feel as panicked, helpless, and incredulous as now.

She was caught completely off guard, blood surging through her body, all invisible thorns bursting forth at once.

Desperate to set everything back on track, her lips moved, almost unconsciously uttering two words: “Not allowed.”

Absolutely not allowed.

The sharp light in Li Wu’s eyes suddenly dimmed: “What’s not allowed?”

Cen Jin’s spine unconsciously straightened, her posture as if ready to enter combat at any moment. She stared at him intently, as if looking at an adversary who had caused her to lose control and made her angry: “You cannot like me.”

It felt as if his heart had been torn open slightly, pain slowly seeping in.

The tenacity and courage he had been desperately maintaining were instantly shattered. Li Wu’s brows furrowed slightly, his face showing traces of hurt: “Why?”

Cen Jin’s chest heaved once as she asked him: “What do you think you are?”

Li Wu looked at her: “What can I be? I am myself.”

“Is that so,” Cen Jin’s lips twitched slightly, as if not knowing what expression would be appropriate: “If you saw yourself as yourself, you wouldn’t like me.”

Li Wu was stunned, speaking softly: “Why?”

He wanted to ask if it was because he wasn’t worthy, but he feared hearing the answer. This answer they both knew, and it had been written from the beginning.

Inferiority and pride, extravagant wishes and disappointment violently mixed, his heart twisted in pain, regretting to death.

He hadn’t wanted her to know so soon.

Cen Jin’s emotions were equally complex, unable to answer immediately.

“Why can’t I like you?”

Seeing her silence, he pressed further, stepping half a step forward, the pressure from their size difference becoming increasingly intense.

Cen Jin’s heart skipped anxiously, she remained silent for a while, standing firm: “Tell me, why do you like me?”

Li Wu felt as if something was stuck in his throat, unable to give specific reasons, “I liked you from the day you came to pick me up.”

“Then your liking isn’t true liking.” For some reason, the woman gave him an illusion of relief.

She spoke slowly and decisively, brooking no argument as if reading a judgment from on high: “Your feelings aren’t pure, there are many other things mixed in—gratitude, attachment, dependence… These emotions confuse your judgment and perception. If you try to process these muddled feelings from a different perspective, like benefactor and beneficiary, parent and child, sister and brother, your emotions would make sense, and none of these count as romantic love. I suggest you reconsider and judge again, rather than rushing to impose them on me.”

As she spoke, the young man stared at her without blinking, his face suddenly turning blood-red, then slowly turning pale, as if his emotions had rushed to a peak, then plummeted to the bottom.

When he spoke again, his voice was as lifeless as ashes: “Are you making excuses for yourself?” As if struck, Cen Jin’s pupils contracted: “What am I making excuses for?”

“Aren’t you? What is like, I know very well, I don’t need you to teach me!” he shouted, becoming agitated again until his face was crimson.

He didn’t want to talk like this either, but he really couldn’t stand it. She could belittle him however she wanted, it didn’t matter, but he absolutely couldn’t accept her questioning his feelings for her.

She acted like a rational observer, like a sharp blade, nearly piercing through his entire being.

Cen Jin found it unbelievable, her tone condescending: “Then I’ll tell you, I’m not making excuses for myself but for you.”

“I don’t need it.” The moment he admitted it, he never thought of turning back.

The young man’s eyes were like bright mirrors, Cen Jin shifted her gaze slightly: “The day I went to pick you up in Shengzhou, I wasn’t divorced yet. What if I had never gotten divorced? What would you do?”

Li Wu’s eyes instantly turned red, as if this hypothesis alone was enough to make him panic and weak.

He sniffed hard: “I would silently like you forever, I wouldn’t get a girlfriend, wouldn’t get married, would only like you until death, but I wouldn’t disturb you, I wouldn’t say a word.”

His answer, like a vow of poison, seemed like a thin thread that instantly strangled Cen Jin’s heart.

She bit her cheek, taking two seconds to compose herself before saying: “Ten years from now you won’t say such things.”

Li Wu said: “How do you know I won’t?”

Cen Jin was extremely certain: “Because I’m more than ten years older than you, I know how time can overturn a person. When you reach my stage and look back, these words will serve no purpose except to vent emotions and prove immaturity.”

“You’re not me, what right do you have to judge me like this?” He stared at her intently, trying to find any crack in her facade, any flaw that would keep him from giving up too early, but he found nothing.

His sister was flawless.

Cen Jin’s face was like frost: “I don’t want to judge anyone, but I won’t give you any answer you want, this is my attitude as a twenty-nine-year-old.”

“What answer did I ask for, did I force you to answer me now?” Li Wu’s breathing became rapid: “I just wanted to tell you I like you, do I not even have the right to like you?”

He clenched one fist, pressing it hard against his chest, as if venting his anger on himself: “Me, and my feelings, why do you get to easily dismiss them? I’m telling you, I’ll still be like this in ten years, what right do you have to decide for me, just because you’re eleven years older? I know I’m not worthy of you, let alone having ten years to prove myself, but is one month, one day, one minute not allowed? You won’t even give me the chance to like you.”

The young man’s eyes were wet and red, nearly choking: “What did I do wrong, that you won’t even let me like you!” His tone wasn’t fierce, but it carried a desperate hysteria.

Cen Jin’s heart trembled violently, frozen by his intensity, temporarily losing the ability to speak.

Was it fear, rage, or perhaps being moved? She couldn’t tell. But she had to lightly grip the chair back beside her, using it as an anchor to regain the upper hand.

“Because your liking won’t have any outcome,” Cen Jin’s lips curved mockingly: “How old will I be in ten years? Do you think I’ll stay twenty-nine forever?”

Li Wu inhaled sharply, tilting his head back, his Adam’s apple bobbing as if struggling to endure.

He looked again at her eyes, already filled with distortion and absurdity: “Then will I stay eighteen forever? I’ll also become a man you can rely on, I’ll study hard, I’ll pay you back, and I’ll have a job. Your colleagues also like you, you can still talk to them normally, why can’t I? You look at me like I’m a monster, won’t even let me speak, is my liking so unbearable, so shameful to you?”

Cen Jin exhaled, instantly suppressing her emotions: “Fine, let me ask you, how old will I be by then?”

She raised her chin, looking at him straight on, mockingly floating: “Since you say you like me so much, how can you bear to make me wait for you? I’ve already done enough for you.”

Li Wu’s eyes suddenly widened, his emotions that had barely stabilized instantly crumbling like being shot.

His internal organs were all crushed, and shattered, the pain unbearable. The veins in his neck stood out as he began an uncontrollable suicidal outburst: “Then why were you so good to me? Why did you take care of me so much? If you weren’t good to me, I wouldn’t be like this, if you hadn’t come to Shengzhou this wouldn’t have happened, now you want to cut ties with me? Just because I said I like you?”

The woman seemed to have been waiting for this, answering without hesitation: “I told you before, I’m only sending you to university. You probably don’t know why I wanted to bring you here to study back then, it was mainly to win over my ex-husband, to prove my choice wasn’t wrong.”

She was as calm as a pre-programmed machine: “I wanted to help you, but more so I wanted to help myself. I was separating from my husband then, in a terrible state, so I wanted something to do, something to focus on, wanted to use you to divert my attention. I believe my interactions with you over the past year and more have been very measured, if any of my actions caused you misunderstandings, I apologize. But without me, you wouldn’t have been able to study properly, wouldn’t have your current grades, and you don’t need to think about paying me back anymore, we each got what we needed, nothing more.”

Cen Jin’s entire body went cold, regaining sensation in the young man’s completely lifeless eyes. She stepped back weakly, pointing at the bed: “Now go up and pack your things, come back with me, and we’ll discuss what to do next.”