Chapter 4

The cello music was still playing.

I asked, “Who is the boy Xingyue has a crush on?”

“I don’t know.”

“…I want that ring too.”

“A toy for little girls, and you want it too? Can you be a bit more mature?”

Zhou Xuan sat across from me, glanced at my leg, and asked, “Have you eaten? Do you want to take care of your wound first?”

I took a deep breath, trying hard to suppress the tremor in my voice. “Zhou Xuan, do you remember?”

“In high school, when I fell and hurt my leg during a relay race, you didn’t ask anything and just rushed to the infirmary to get medicine and bandages.”

His expression turned a bit cold. “Li Jiangjiang, what are you trying to say?”

What am I trying to say?

At sixteen, Zhou Xuan was indifferent by nature, yet when I got hurt, he was so anxious his face turned pale.

At twenty-six, Zhou Xuan was successful, but at this moment, he seemed like a stranger opposing me.

I clenched my palm, trying hard to keep my tone calm:

“Today is a holiday, and you had dinner alone with another woman and gave her a diamond ring. Can’t I ask about it?”

“Another woman?”

Zhou Xuan suddenly laughed, looking at me with a mocking expression.

“Back then, when I didn’t approve her resume, who was it that kept calling her Xingyue in front of me, insisting that I keep her as an intern in the company?”

“Now that she signed a contract, we just came to have a meal to celebrate, and you’re starting to make a fuss.”

“Li Jiangjiang, how did you become so hypocritical?”

I widened my eyes, looking at him in disbelief.

Tears blurred my vision almost instantly.

Eight years of dating, twenty-two years of childhood friendship.

The greatest upheavals in life, we went through them together.

At the funeral of Zhou Xuan’s parents, he hugged me with red eyes, unable to even cry out loud.

I stroked his hair, crying with him while racking my brain to comfort him.

“You still have me, you still have me.”

Later, when my parents divorced, my dad found a way to take most of the family’s money, leaving me without even tuition fees.

“Jiangjiang, just focus on school, I’ll take care of the tuition.”

He looked at me seriously, “I’ll make sure you have a good life.”

We went through such tough times together, and finally, we reached where we are now.

I never thought Zhou Xuan would evaluate me like this.

“We’ve been together for eight years, and you’ve never given me a ring, but you gave her one.”

“Can’t I ask about it?”

“Zhou Xuan, can’t I ask?!”

I cried and questioned, but he just looked at me with an indifferent expression.

In the corner of the restaurant, under the dim light.

I covered my face, crying so hard I couldn’t catch my breath.

When I looked up, I saw Zhou Xuan sitting across from me, glancing down at his phone, a dark emotion swirling in his eyes.

When I looked over, he quickly turned off the screen.

The next second, Zhou Xuan’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down, and he suddenly stood up.

Looking down at me, he said, “There’s something at the company, I need to go back.”

“If you’re not hungry, just take a cab home yourself.”