第三章

"I want to make up with him."

Lin Qinghe said it very seriously.

She wasn't just talking casually. Recently, she really started thinking about marriage. Before, she thought work was the most important thing. But after being with Gu Yuanzhou for three years, she felt that if she were to marry someone, that person might be Gu Yuanzhou.

So the breakup a week ago made her very upset.

Ye Mingtang looked at her, then at Shi Yu.

"You should explain it to her first," Ye Mingtang said.

Shi Yu came out from behind the counter. Her voice was soft and calm.

"Please listen carefully. You can go back, indeed you can return to the past."

Lin Qinghe's eyes lit up.

But Shi Yu continued, "But even if you go back to the past, you can't change reality."

Lin Qinghe was stunned.

"What did you say?"

Shi Yu said, "If you go back a week ago and see Gu Yuanzhou, and tell him your true feelings, reality still won't change."

Lin Qinghe understood, but she didn't want to accept it.

She came precisely to change reality. She wanted to go back to that day, speak again, choose again. She thought that as long as she didn't say 'You go,' Gu Yuanzhou might not leave.

But Shi Yu said it was impossible.

"So he will still go to America?" Lin Qinghe asked.

"Yes."

"We will still break up?"

Shi Yu did not answer immediately.

But Lin Qinghe already understood.

Her expression changed.

"Then what's the point?" she asked.

Ye Mingtang sighed.

"That's why I said there's no such convenient thing in the world," she said. "If going back to the past could change your life, this shop would have been full long ago."

These words were direct and a bit harsh.

Lin Qinghe couldn't speak.

She remembered a report she had read before. The report said that people rumored this coffee shop could let you go back to the past. But there were many rules.

First, if that person has never come to this shop, you cannot see him.

Second, even if you go back to the past, you cannot change reality.

There were other rules, but the report didn't write them clearly.

Lin Qinghe lowered her head, looking at the sugar jar on the table. She felt she was too naive. She had rushed over, thinking she finally had a solution. But the most important outcome still wouldn't change.

Ye Mingtang sat across from her and continued, "The rules don't stop there."

Lin Qinghe looked up.

"You can only go back to the time when you yourself were in this shop," Ye Mingtang said. "After going back, you cannot leave your seat."

Shi Yu added, "And there is a time limit."

"Time limit?" Lin Qinghe asked.

Shi Yu nodded, but didn't explain immediately.

These rules made Lin Qinghe more and more disappointed.

So going back to the past was not starting over. She could only sit in this shop. She couldn't leave her seat, and couldn't change reality.

Ye Mingtang said, "Most people, upon hearing this, don't want to go back."

Lin Qinghe didn't answer.

The shop became quiet again. Someone ordered new coffee. The bell on the door rang, someone came in, and someone left. Shi Yu returned behind the counter and continued working.

Only Lin Qinghe was still lying by the table.

She was very disappointed.

But after a while, she thought of another thing.

If reality wouldn't change, did she still want to go back?

Gu Yuanzhou would still go to America. They would still break up. But that day, she didn't say her true feelings. She only said 'You go.'

Maybe she couldn't change the outcome.

But at least she could say what was in her heart.

Lin Qinghe slowly sat up straight.

She looked at Shi Yu, her voice not loud but firm.

"Then I still want to go back to the past."

Shi Yu looked at her.

Lin Qinghe said again, "Even if nothing can be changed, I still want to go back to a week ago."