I held the wine glass and looked at Xiaowen in confusion.

"Did I say that?"

Xiaowen looked at me with red eyes and nodded.

"It was that sentence that inspired her. Qiuge studied day and night just to get into the same school as you."

I kept my head down and didn't speak for a while.

Xiaowen continued:

"After failing the exam, Qiuge secretly wrote several letters to you and asked me to send them. Why didn't you reply to her?"

I was shocked because I had never received any letters from her.

Xiaowen smiled helplessly:

"It's useless to talk about it now."

"She shouldn't have listened to you in the first place."

"Originally, she could have gotten married and had children in the village, but you told her about life in the city, about how great university is, and gave her aspirations she shouldn't have had.

She put all her effort into trying to pass the exam."

"But not everything can be achieved through sheer effort."

"You have the gift of literary talent, so you made it, but not everyone can."

Xiaowen almost cried as she said to me:

"You ruined Qiuge!"

Xiaowen cried with her head on the table.

I looked at the photos on the wall again.

I stood in the middle, Xiaowen and Qiuge stood on both sides. Xiaowen's eyes were not looking at the camera, but at her.

Xiaowen liked Qiuge.