Chapter 27: The Weight of Silence

While Zhou Ruoyu and Gu Jiachen had been consumed by work all week, Gu Xue appeared to be the one with the most leisure.

After taking a nasty fall and scraping her knee outside the coffee shop on a summer night, Gu Xue had spent several days at home.

She had been brimming with anticipation, waiting for Zhou Ruoyu to contact her. She expected him to come to his senses, to realize the utter folly of abandoning a perfect, exceptional goddess like her.

Then, he would surely come back, weeping profusely, begging for reconciliation and offering her everything he had.

Hmph. Even then, Gu Xue had decided she wouldn’t let him off so easily. This time, Zhou Ruoyu would have to prove just how much he loved her before she would even consider forgiving him, depending on his performance.

Yet…

The truth was, after several days, her ex-boyfriend, Zhou Ruoyu, still hadn’t contacted her. In fact, he had become completely unreachable.

Gu Xue suddenly felt a profound sense of bewilderment. What did it feel like to lose a boyfriend?

It was probably… no one calling on time to wake her up anymore. No one proactively delivering her breakfast. No one patiently answering her questions on WeChat and offering comfort the moment she encountered a problem.

The young woman’s life seemed to have become incredibly hollow all at once. A feeling of loneliness clung to her like a shadow.

Yet, whenever Gu Xue realized how lonely she felt, she would quickly shake her head, then frantically deny Zhou Ruoyu’s importance in her heart.

‘How could it be? How could I possibly be unable to manage without him?’

Frustrated and exasperated, Gu Xue even slammed her mouse onto the desk with an irritable thud! But, a moment later, when she picked the mouse back up, the young woman was surprised to discover… it was unresponsive.

No matter how she moved the little gadget Zhou Ruoyu had given her, the small white cursor on the computer screen remained completely still.

Even after she irritably yanked out the power cord and restarted the computer, this time… she couldn’t even reach the desktop.

Wh-what should I do?

Gu Xue, a complete computer novice, stared at the system interface she had accidentally brought up. Immediately, she pulled out her phone, instinctively wanting to ask her boyfriend…

No, that wasn’t right…

A little while later, Gu Xue suddenly snapped back to reality. Looking at her phone screen, where her contacts were already open, she fell into deep indecision.

‘Should I… should I call?’

Turning back to her intractable computer, Gu Xue suddenly felt so wronged, so sad… She couldn’t even manage a simple computer.

Previously, whenever she encountered such a situation, Zhou Ruoyu would patiently listen to her agitated words, then guide her step-by-step on what to do.

Even if she truly broke something, he would immediately buy her a replacement. But now…

Nothing could be fixed. Nothing at all…

Gu Xue’s emotions finally gave way. She quickly picked up her phone, no longer caring about pride or appearances. She had only one thought:

She wanted Zhou Ruoyu to come back, for that boyfriend who had been so meticulous in his care, to return to her side quickly.

After all… besides him, who else could be so good to her? Not even her father… her father was… very busy.

Taking a deep breath, Gu Xue dialed Zhou Ruoyu’s number… But, for some reason, at first, Gu Xue’s call went straight to a busy signal.

The young woman’s heart felt as if it had been violently clenched. She couldn’t quite understand why, as Zhou Ruoyu rarely spoke to others on the phone, unless she herself insisted he chat with her daily.

But who… who was he talking to now? Why… couldn’t she get through?

Gu Xue had no idea. Unable to connect, she could only redial again and again until, finally, it no longer indicated a busy line. Instead, it directly became… “Sorry, the subscriber you dialed is temporarily unreachable…”

Re… rejected?

Listening to the mechanical electronic voice, Gu Xue froze on the spot. She had never imagined that one day, Zhou Ruoyu would reject her call.

In the past, no matter how fiercely they argued, he would never reject her calls, never!

But now, why…

It had been the same these past few days; Ruoyu had never sought her out. Could it be that… he had truly given up?

No, it couldn’t be. There must have just been some misunderstanding between them. Ruoyu was just… still angry.

Alright, alright… There was no other way. If absolutely necessary, she would coax him. As long as that idiot could come back to her, she would make him return to her side.

And so, with this mindset, Gu Xue continued to make calls. She had already resolved herself, but to coax someone, Zhou Ruoyu had to give her a chance. Gu Xue made a string of calls, but the result was always rejection, rejection, and more rejection…

Gradually, even Gu Xue herself couldn’t hold on. Constantly being rejected, she could only frantically send him text messages, hoping Zhou Ruoyu would reply.

[Gu Xue: Ruoyu, why aren’t you answering my calls?]

[Gu Xue: I understand… You must have been busy just now, I’m sorry… I was too impatient.]

[Gu Xue: Are you free now? Please tell me when you can answer the phone, okay? I’m begging you, reply to me, reply to me…]

Watching the three sudden text messages pop up, Zhou Ruoyu frowned. After hesitating for a moment between replying or not, Zhou Ruoyu finally sighed, then coldly typed:

[Zhou Ruoyu: It’s not that I’m busy, it’s that I don’t want to answer. Gu Xue, please stop calling me. We’ve already broken up.]

Boom—!

Gu Xue waited anxiously in front of her phone screen for his reply… But when she actually saw the message from Zhou Ruoyu, the young woman froze completely, as if struck by lightning.

She couldn’t believe it… She couldn’t believe his answer would be so cold, just like that night when he told her they were breaking up…

No, that wasn’t right!

He… he was definitely angry, but it could still be salvaged, it definitely could!

[Gu Xue: Ruoyu, don’t be like this, don’t scare me, okay?]

[Gu Xue: I’ve figured it out, it’s all my fault. I must have put too much pressure on you about getting your doctorate, right? I won’t make you do it. You can just enroll in graduate school with me normally, okay?]

[Gu Xue: Please come back to me. I… without you, I can’t handle many things. Today, I broke the mouse, and the computer won’t turn on… That night you left, I went to chase you and scraped my knee outside the coffee shop… I can’t even find any medicine, boo hoo…]

[Gu Xue: Hurry, come back, please, Ruoyu… Come back… I’ll never force you to get your doctorate again—]