CHAPTER 457: CHAPTER 457: PERSEVERE

"How long I can hold on isn’t for you to worry about. I just know what I want right now, and I absolutely won’t let go." Ji Yu would never vanish from Gu Qixiao’s world for no reason.

Two people who clearly love each other but can’t be together—this feeling makes the heart ache unbearably.

Lin Zhao looked at her like this and suddenly grew curious about what she was like when she fell in love with him.

"President Ji, since you’re not ready for my help yet, I won’t force you. I just hope that when the time comes, I’ll see a vibrant and lively you."

The intention behind all this from the beginning was simply to make her happy.

Ji Yu didn’t say anything more—she just asked him to leave the office first.

These past days hadn’t been particularly kind to her either. She knew that she had been numbing herself, making herself feel less of the pain.

Now the wound lay completely bare, exposed for all to see. How could her heart not ache beneath the surface?

She simply called Feng Qinqin out to drink with her.

"Yuyu, the past is the past. If you’re feeling off, just talk to me," Feng Qinqin said, her heart aching as she watched her. She couldn’t help but feel some regret for not opposing their relationship back then.

"It’s not that I’m particularly uncomfortable. It’s just that this blade feels dull—it cuts me piece by piece, but it never takes all the flesh at once." Ji Yu loathed the feeling of being sliced with a dull blade, a sensation like falling into an ice pit, and she found the current situation utterly unbearable.

"Yuyu, if it’s that unbearable, why don’t the two of you just be together? Even if it means exhausting whatever little time is left, don’t leave any regrets behind. I believe he’d think the same," Feng Qinqin said without hesitation. She had witnessed their journey and wished for them to continue despite everything.

"Qinqin, I can’t be that selfish. I want to protect his life. If something were to happen to him, I could never find peace in this lifetime. I know what I’m doing."

She knew everything but could not so easily let it go.

Feng Qinqin’s gaze grew even more heartbroken, feeling that her dear friend had endured far too much suffering lately.

"Since no decision can be made yet, let’s at least have a proper drink. Maybe after getting drunk, you’ll finally make a choice for yourself."

They say alcohol brings out the truth. In moments like this, every word might either be the truth or complete nonsense.

Ji Yu drank glass after glass of wine, her whole body growing warmer.

"Qinqin, why does it seem like all the unlucky things in this world fall upon the two of us? And I still don’t understand what that lunatic Jiang Huai is so obsessed with."

She hadn’t been able to figure it out. Their relationship wasn’t anything close to a deep bond—they had merely known each other briefly as kids.

How had she become tethered to him like a lingering shadow?

"I know what you mean by saying that, and I know you’ve endured so much lately. But think about it—this matter is also incredibly significant to Jiang Huai," Feng Qinqin said, partially able to understand him.

People like him had lived their whole lives in disarray, uncared for by anyone. Yet in his childhood, he had encountered the warmest presence he’d ever know.

"To him, you’re like the sun in winter, irreplaceably important. His relentless approach is simply his attempt to recapture his sun."

What he did might have crossed the line, but those actions were the choices he made to reach that goal.

"Qinqin, you’re not suggesting I should sympathize with him, are you? How could I possibly care about his feelings? If not for him, I wouldn’t have ended up like this."

Ji Yu didn’t want to discuss Jiang Huai anymore because, in her mind, Jiang Huai was nothing short of a madman.

"Yuyu, I know what he did was unforgivable, but his feelings for you are real." No matter how despicable he might be, every move he made was for the two of them to have a future.

"Maybe he is truly awful, but if you showed him even a sliver of kindness, he would help you unconditionally," Feng Qinqin suggested, hoping to offer a way out of her turmoil.

"There’s no way we can coexist anymore. The next time we meet, who knows—it could very well be a fight to the death. How could I ever have such a bond with him? I cannot and will not care about him."

She would never forget the harm he had inflicted upon her.

No one had forgotten what had happened back then.

Ji Yu didn’t consider those times to be beautiful memories. Besides, hadn’t they already been through so much before?

"Those memories are nothing but agony for me. Maybe, in his eyes, they’re something precious."

A child who had witnessed someone commit murder with their own eyes.

The psychological trauma of that was almost unfathomable, and it was only because Ji Yu had a resilient mind that she hadn’t been utterly shattered.

"Yuyu, you’re right. Given how much he’s hurt you, there’s no reason to forgive him or do anything for him." From the start, Jiang Huai had chosen the wrong path, which led to this.

Ji Yu didn’t know what else she could say.

"Yuyu, everyone has limits, and I believe yours have already been stretched thin. It’s not that you didn’t try—he’s simply failed to reach them. I’ve always been on your side," Feng Qinqin said, having thought of many scenarios.

But their friendship had never wavered.

"Qinqin, I have a terrible sense of foreboding in my heart. Recently, you should be careful too. Who knows what that lunatic Jiang Huai might do next?"

They could roughly guess what Jiang Huai was capable of.

"Don’t worry. There’s still some semblance of a bond between us. If he even dares to lay a hand on me, then it would mean he’s truly lost his mind."

Feng Qinqin remained optimistic about the situation. After all, they had known each other before.

"That’s not what I mean. I just feel like he’s already started losing his grip and is muddled over what happened before." Ji Yu’s expression was filled with a helpless frustration as she spoke.

Anyone faced with something like this would feel exasperated.

"I’ll be careful."