Those things that happened in those years

Chapter 65 A Glimmer of Hope

Hong Liguo was immediately stunned, his heart skipped a beat. Could it be that Sun Changlin... Hong Liguo stared at him, wide-eyed, waiting for him to continue.

"You guessed right, I liked Qiao Shuang back then too, and I liked her even earlier than you." Sun Changlin scratched his head a little embarrassedly.

"So you stole my love letter just to eliminate a competitor?" Hong Liguo said, seemingly enlightened.

Sun Changlin shook his head and said seriously, "You're wrong, brother. When I took your love letter, it wasn't because I was afraid you'd compete with me for Qiao Shuang. It was to protect Qiao Shuang. That's the point I want to make today. Although I've liked Qiao Shuang for a long time, since elementary school, I've secretly liked her. But I know myself. I know what kind of person I am, and I know what kind of person Qiao Shuang is. I'm not good enough for her. Therefore, I swear I'll only like her silently in my heart and will never bother her. She's good at studying, she's ambitious, and she deserves a better future. So, I beat Liu Guochen partly to get you to help me deal with the Longhu brothers, and partly because I've wanted to deal with him for a long time. I won't allow anyone who's not good enough for Qiao Shuang to harass her or affect her studies. Later, that Zou Jianmin was even more shameless, always trying to take advantage of Qiao Shuang. Do you think I could let him go?"

Hearing this, Hong Liguo seemed to understand the gist of it. Perhaps Sun Changlin's love for Qiao Shuang was truly a great love, a selfless love. Although he liked Qiao Shuang, he never thought of possessing her, but silently protected her and prevented her from being harmed in any way.

"Later I found out you were also after Qiao Shuang, but since we were allies, I didn't want to resort to violence. I wanted to find an opportunity to talk to you properly and get you to give up on Qiao Shuang. But then I saw you sneakily slipping love letters to Qiao Shuang. I saw an opportunity and secretly took your love letters away, making you think that Qiao Shuang didn't even like you, and that you would give up. Brother, you have no self-awareness. What kind of people are we? In today's terms, we're scum! Do you think you're good enough for Qiao Shuang? You weren't giving her love; you were ruining her. If she had actually read your love letters and accepted you, she would have been ruined," Sun Changlin said earnestly.

After hearing Sun Changlin's words, Hong Liguo silently lowered his head, his heart filled with guilt and self-reproach.

Hong Liguo knew he was absolutely right. If Hong Liguo's love letters had actually fallen into Qiao Shuang's hands, it wouldn't have been about loving her, but about ruining her. In this respect, Hong Liguo was truly inferior to Sun Changlin. Hong Liguo lacked self-awareness; he only thought of himself and never considered others. Meanwhile, Sun Changlin, a former villain, possessed such selfless love. Compared to him, Hong Liguo felt that his own actions made him the truly wicked, the most heinous villain.

Sun Changlin then said, "Xiao Guo, do you still hate me? Do you still want to hit me?"

洪立果还有恨他的理由吗？洪立果还有想揍他的理由吗？他的所作所为完全是为了保护乔爽，而洪立果的所作所为完全是在毁灭乔爽，毁灭她的爱情和美好的前程。洪立果轻轻地摇了摇头，叹了口气说：「哥，我不恨你了，也不想揍你了，我知道你是为了乔爽好。」

At this moment, Hong Liguo recalled the moment when he saw his middle school entrance exam scores, a moment that was both tense and full of anticipation.

Qiao Shuang stood there confidently, and when she saw her score, a bright smile spread across her face. She had successfully entered her dream school. Wang Yuxin, on the other hand, looked dejected; she had failed the exam.

At the time, Hong Liguo tried to comfort her, but Qiao Shuang's words instantly woke him up. Qiao Shuang said, "You still come here to play the good guy. Yu Xin didn't get into university entirely because of you. You're the one who ruined it. If you hadn't been fighting and distracting her all the time, with Yu Xin's grades and hard work, she wouldn't have failed."

Thinking about it carefully, if Sun Changlin hadn't secretly stopped Hong Liguo, Qiao Shuang might have been the one who failed the exam. In that case, she would definitely hate Hong Liguo to death.

"What are you thinking about?" Sun Changlin's words interrupted Hong Liguo's thoughts.

Hong Liguo snapped out of his reverie and said, "No, I wasn't thinking about anything. So, you've been secretly protecting Qiao Shuang all along, shielding her until she got into university?"

Sun Changlin let out a long sigh of relief, a hint of satisfaction in his eyes. He said, "Since I like her, I must protect her. For her sake, I am willing to become a villain and wipe out all those who have ill intentions towards her."

Hong Liguo gave him a thumbs up and said sincerely, "Brother, I admire you. You really are something else. You're loyal to your brothers, shouldering everything alone, even going to jail. You're also very considerate of the girl you like, knowing you're not good enough for her but still silently sacrificing for her. Compared to you, I feel so insignificant and even a bit selfish. For a long time, I hated Qiao Shuang because of love, and I didn't even want to see her happy. Brother, what you said today makes me feel ashamed and inferior."

Sun Changlin downed a glass of wine triumphantly, a proud smile on his face. He said, "If it weren't for protecting her, I would have dropped out of school long ago with my grades. My only purpose in going from the first year of junior high to the third year was to protect her and keep those unambitious scumbags away from her."

"Did Qiao Shuang know about all of this you did?"

Sun Changlin gave an awkward smile: "Why would I want her to know? I don't want my actions to affect anything about her. As long as she's safe and sound, I'm happy."

Sun Changlin was already somewhat drunk. These words had clearly been bottled up in his heart for a long time, and today he could finally let them out.

At this moment, Hong Liguo admired Sun Changlin even more; he truly deserved to be called a hero. A selfless, fearless, and desireless great hero.

They both got drunk that day, completely intoxicated. As they drank, they reminisced about the past, the laughter and tears, the youthful days of their youth, all of which became clearer and more precious in their drunken state.

The above is merely an explanation for Hong Liguo's unsuccessful attempt to send love letters to Qiao Shuang; we still need to return to the main text.

Ever since Hong Liguo secretly slipped a love letter to Qiao Shuang, Qiao Shuang hadn't reacted or made any move. Hong Liguo knew his love letter proposal had failed. He began to slowly adjust his mindset, trying hard to stop thinking about Qiao Shuang, even repeatedly telling himself: "There are millions of Chinese men and women, if this one doesn't work out, we'll find someone else!"

For a long time, Hong Liguo hated Qiao Shuang, his love turning into hatred. Hong Liguo felt she was too heartless, why she didn't react to his love letters at all, why she wouldn't accept him. Hong Liguo began to deliberately avoid her, feeling uncomfortable whenever he saw her.

One day after school, Wang Yuxin suddenly caught up with Hong Liguo from behind. Her face was beaming with a bright smile, and her eyes were sparkling, as if something happy had happened. They hadn't talked for a long time, and Hong Liguo didn't know why she was so happy that day. She took the initiative to find him and chatted with him all the way. They talked about everything from funny things at school to their dreams, and they talked about everything along the way.

They chatted all the way to her doorstep, and she was still reluctant to leave. However, in order not to be seen by her family, she had to say "See you tomorrow" with some reluctance.

Hong Liguo thought about it carefully for the rest of the journey. He suddenly realized that Wang Yuxin was also an extremely outstanding and lovely girl. Her smile was as warm as the spring sunshine, her eyes shone with liveliness and intelligence, and her personality was gentle, easy-going, and understanding. In every way, she was no less than Qiao Shuang. Perhaps in the past, they were too familiar with each other, and she always loved to chatter, so Hong Liguo hadn't discovered her lovely side.

Recalling the care Wang Yuxin had shown him since he first enrolled in junior high, Hong Liguo suddenly realized: could Wang Yuxin have feelings for him? Otherwise, why would she single him out among so many boys, and more than once? Was it all just out of friendship between classmates?

Suddenly, Hong Liguo recalled his failed pursuit of Qiao Shuang, as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over his head. "Hong Liguo, are you overthinking this? Wang Yuxin is just as outstanding as Qiao Shuang. How could she possibly be interested in someone like Hong Liguo? Hong Liguo was so immature and irresponsible back then, how could she possibly like him? Forget it, don't let your imagination run wild and humiliate yourself."

However, the story between Hong Liguo and Wang Yuxin begins at this very moment.