After AFK for five years, I returned to be number one in the entire server.

Shen Yi's eyes reflected the colorful lights rising in the sky, a beautiful sight, but her cheeks were bloodless and her eyes were filled with a layer of red moisture.

She stared blankly for a long time, watching the newlyweds embracing tightly, and listening to the sincere blessings around them.

The surrounding noise seemed to fade into a muffled echo. Shen Yi turned her head and her gaze fell on Lin Ye's face.

"I thought that one day we would be like them."

Shen Yi's voice was very soft, carried gently into Lin Ye's ears by the night breeze.

"It might be in a bustling square, or in a quiet room just for the two of us, that you'll kneel down and propose to me. Or maybe you're just too reserved, and I'll be the one to propose first."

"Especially during the Spring Festival, you took me back to Linhai to meet your uncle and aunt. They didn't look down on me at all. Your aunt held my hand, flipped through your old photo album from when you were little, and kept laughing at the photo of you falling into a mud puddle when you were five years old and being chased half a block by the neighbor's big yellow dog. Your uncle gave me a red envelope and said that you've always been a quiet person, and that finding me must have been a great blessing for the Lin family ancestors."

At this point, Shen Yi managed a slight smile, a smile more poignant than the bitterest gall bladder.

"They take good care of me and love me very much. I feel that I have a complete family again in this world, and that they have completely treated me as their daughter-in-law."

Lin Ye's Adam's apple bobbed slightly, and his heart felt as if it were being squeezed by something.

Heavy emotions surged within his usually calm eyes.

He didn't know when it started, but he no longer wanted to see Shen Yi with such a sorrowful expression.

Shen Yi tilted her head back, as if trying to force back the tears that were about to spill from her eyes, and turned her gaze back to the dark night sky.

"I've imagined our future many times. We'll buy a house in Ningchuan with a large balcony. Every day after get off work, we'll go to the supermarket. You'll push the shopping cart while I compare prices on the shelves to see which vegetables are the best deal. On weekend mornings, the sun will be shining brightly, and we'll be busy together in the kitchen. Maybe we'll even adopt a kitten."

"Just like that day when it snowed heavily by the river, and you carried me on your back through the swirling snowflakes. In the future, we will walk slowly like that, walking on and on, watching the wrinkles creep up at the corners of each other's eyes, watching our faces gradually fade, until our hair turns white."

As the last four words fell, tears finally slid down Shen Yi's fair cheeks and dripped onto the cold pavement.

She turned her gaze back to Lin Ye, looked directly into his eyes, and said the next sentence.

"Let's break up, Lin Ye."

This short sentence severed all the tenderness and bond that the two had built up over the past few months.

A fleeting hint of panic flashed in Lin Ye's eyes. He had anticipated many possible outcomes before coming, but when Shen Yi actually uttered those two words, he realized that he couldn't remain indifferent at all.

His memories of Gu Qingxin are still limited to those few images.

But Shen Yi was different. The girl in front of him was someone who had been by his side for nearly half a year.

Lin couldn't help but consider her feelings, nor could he calmly watch her leave.

Shen Yi looked at the uncertainty in Lin Ye's eyes. If Lin Ye was just having a normal affair, or just having some unofficial entanglements with other girls outside, she wondered if he was just cheating on her.

She thought she would hide under the covers and cry for a long time, and then the next day, she would pretend not to care, give Lin Ye a sweet smile and say, "It's okay, I'll forgive you this time, but don't do it again next time."

If things went any further, she could even imagine herself begging in an even more subservient manner, asking that if she really couldn't control herself, at least she shouldn't bring other women in front of her, and that she shouldn't find out.

But reality played a cruel joke on her. Gu Qingxin hadn't crossed any lines at all. Gu Qingxin was the one who married Lin Ye and stood shoulder to shoulder in the unknown world.

In this relationship, she was the one who interfered and ruined the other person's relationship.

Shen Yi closed her eyes, tears streaming down her face. She couldn't accept being someone who had usurped her place, nor could she take it for granted that she could stay by Lin Ye's side and steal the position that should have belonged to Gu Qingxin.

She took a deep breath, wiped away the tears on her cheeks, and regained her composure.

"I won't do anything foolish again. You don't need to feel guilty, and don't come looking for me out of worry."

After saying this, Shen Yi did not give Lin Ye any further chance to speak.

She turned around, took a step, and walked without hesitation toward the exit of the park trail.

The night breeze tousled her slightly disheveled long hair, and her slender figure quickly disappeared into the dim light of the street lamps.

Lin Ye stood still, fireworks still exploding into the night sky from time to time, their light and shadows flickering and falling on Lin Ye's calm but unfocused face.

His mind was uncontrollably flooded with memories of the past six months.

On those days walking along the bustling commercial street, Shen Yi always liked to hold his arm tightly. When Lin Ye was completely unprepared, she would suddenly tiptoe and, with a pleasant fragrance, place a soft kiss on his cheek.

Then she would turn her captivating eyes into two crescent moons and say to him in an incredibly earnest and joyful tone, "I like you, Lin Ye."

Or perhaps on those cold, windy winter nights, in that cramped rented room, the two of them squeezed onto the sofa.

Shen Yi excitedly played the romantic love DVD she had carefully selected, but the unscrupulous merchant had replaced it with a blush-inducing adult film.

Shen Yi blushed so much that her neck turned pink. Instead of jumping up to turn off the TV, she curled up into a small ball and leaned on Lin Ye's shoulder. The two of them watched the whole movie in a daze.

Or perhaps it's a lazy weekend afternoon when sunlight streams through the window, casting shadows on the floor of the rented room.

Lin leaned against the headboard of the lower bunk, looking at the comics on her phone.

Shen Yi never hid her desire to get closer to him. She would climb into bed and lie obediently next to him, keeping him company as he looked at those black and white drawings that she wasn't actually that interested in.

She held Lin Ye's arm tightly with both hands and gently rested her cheek near his shoulder.

Their cheeks were almost touching, and they could clearly hear each other's steady breathing and even the faint scent of shampoo in her hair.

During a brief pause between page turns, Lin subconsciously turned his head.

Because the distance was so close, the moment he turned his head, his lips unexpectedly touched Shen Yi's soft lips.

Time seemed to slow down dramatically during that tiny pause.

Shen Yi slightly widened her eyes, and a glint quickly appeared in them.

She gazed intently into Lin Ye's eyes, a slight smile playing on her lips, and spoke to him in a soft, sweet tone.

"That was someone's first kiss."