Daily Life in the Pet Shop Ch. 191

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"I told her I liked her," Fang Yue said with a sigh. "There's always risk with meeting up, so I figured I'd just say it in the game. Once she rejects me, I'll stop playing and won't have to meet in real life either. Easier that way, less heartbreak later."

"And? What happened?" Fang Yi looked over at her screen. In the chat box were just a few lines from Fang Yue—a sincere-looking confession—but no reply. There was no one nearby either.

"She probably... rejected me," Fang Yue said sadly, glancing at the screen again.

"What do you mean probably rejected you? Why wouldn't she give you a straight answer? Yes or no, you gotta say something. Not cool." Fang Yi took the mouse and checked the profile of the person she'd confessed to. Her avatar was grayed out—offline.

"I said it, and she logged off right away. She probably didn't want to reject me directly, so she just disappeared," Fang Yue said, then snatched the mouse back from Fang Yi. She controlled her character to pack all the valuables in her inventory and mailed them to her disciple, left her a few lines, then deleted her character and logged off.

"Brother." Fang Yue grabbed Fang Yi's arm and said, "I feel terrible. Really terrible. I just got dumped."

"Yeah, I can tell." Fang Yi was honestly kind of glad things didn't work out, but seeing how upset Fang Yue looked, he couldn't exactly laugh about it.

"I need comfort. Treat me to dinner, let's get barbecue. I wanna eat a ton and get totally drunk. I'm not going to work tomorrow—I'm heading home to see my mom. I miss her." Her eyes were red as she spoke, which made Fang Yi feel a little bad too. Fang Yue was always cheerful—it was rare to see her like this.

"Alright, I'll call Qianze and we'll go get barbecue together. Having your idol eat with you—most people don't get that kind of luxury. Don't cry." Fang Yi pulled out a few tissues and handed them to Fang Yue, planning to call Fang Qian and the others later so their uncle and aunt could help comfort her properly.

"I'm not crying, I just... I just feel awful inside. I feel empty... like there's nothing left in there," Fang Yue said, pushing away the tissues and showing Fang Yi her face—she really hadn't cried.

"Alright, alright, no crying, no crying." Fang Yi called Du Qianze right away, quickly arranged things at the shop, and dragged Fang Yue off to the barbecue stand.

"Idol, y'know, if I'd fallen for you back then, maybe things would be easier. Sure, you wouldn't be with me, but at least we'd see each other every day. That'd be better than this," Fang Yue suddenly said, looking at Du Qianze.

"That would've been worse," Du Qianze replied. "The longer we spent together, the more you'd notice my bad habits. You might not even like me anymore. But that girl you like—you've never seen her, don't know what she really looks like, so you get to imagine her however you want. She's the most beautiful person in your heart."

"Can I really like someone else again?" Fang Yue looked lost.

"You can. Back in college, I really liked someone. I thought she was the most beautiful girl in the world. Whenever I had free time, I'd look for her around campus. After she left, I'd sit where she sat and try to feel the warmth she left behind. I'd walk the same paths she walked. I'd follow her to the restaurants she liked, and order the same dishes she did. Back then, I truly believed that without her, the world had no color."

"And then what, you fell for my brother?" Fang Yue had always thought Du Qianze liked Fang Yi a lot. The way he looked at Fang Yi—the feelings practically spilled out of his eyes. She didn't know he'd once liked someone that much.

"Then I graduated. She went abroad with her boyfriend, and I stayed to work here. At first, I still thought about her a lot. But over time, I thought about her less and less. Now when I think back, it feels like a dream. I can't believe I did so many crazy things. I don't even remember what she looks like anymore. Time really is the best medicine. All those things you think you'll never get over—they fade with time."

Du Qianze reached over to ruffle Fang Yue's hair and went on, "You'll be the same. Right now, you might think about her every day, miss her all the time. But when you meet someone new you really like, she'll just be a beautiful dream you had. Something you can smile about when you remember it, but not something that hurts anymore."

"Really?" Fang Yue asked, not quite convinced. "I like her so much. How could I forget her?"

"Give it a few years. You'll see." Du Qianze sat down and told Fang Yi to go grab a few bottles of beer. Then he asked Fang Yue to order all her favorite dishes. He stayed at the table, turning to explain to Fang Yi—but found Fang Yi staring at him in a weird way.

"What's wrong? Everything I said just now was to comfort Xiao Yue," Du Qianze said quickly, afraid Fang Yi would misunderstand. "You're the first person I ever liked."

"No wonder. I remembered you once said you didn't finish college, and now you're talking like you graduated. So that was just a lie for Xiao Yue." Fang Yi let out a chuckle.

Everyone had a past. If Du Qianze had really liked someone that much before, he didn't mind. What mattered was that Du Qianze liked him now. When Du Qianze was talking about that story, Fang Yi hadn't overthought it, but when he said "after graduation," it didn't add up. And seeing Du Qianze's expression, Fang Yi became even more sure that there was something fishy about that story.

"It's from a TV drama I acted in before. I played the second male lead, and I had that kind of one-sided love for the female lead. Did a bunch of stuff for her, but, y'know, second leads are always just backup. And to keep the female lead from feeling guilty, the writers even gave me a girlfriend at the end," Du Qianze said.

The fact that Fang Yi had even noticed that kind of detail made Du Qianze a little disappointed. He'd painted that old feeling as something really deep, but he'd also been testing Fang Yi, trying to see if he'd get jealous after hearing it. But apparently, nope. Not at all.

"Even if it were real, it wouldn't matter. You said it yourself—you're over them. We've got plenty of time ahead of us. I'll definitely push him out of your heart," Fang Yi said with confidence. No one could say for sure what someone else truly felt, but Fang Yi always believed that if you gave someone enough love, they'd give it back.

Just like animals did. As long as that person was decent—not like Hua Ziyi or Ling Chi.

"There's no pushing him out. The moment I saw you, he was already gone," Du Qianze said, taking the chance to bare his heart.

All credit goes to the original author
Feel free to pinpoint us if there are any grammar error or typos
Please don't use Guazi's translation to re-translate in other languages

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