Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The day we broke up was his twenty-seventh birthday.

It was also the night before he officially took over the Qi Family Hotel Business Division.

He had booked my favorite restaurant and hidden a ring in the dessert. He had even memorized his proposal speech three times over.

I didn’t know any of this at the time.

I only heard about it later from Ding Qichen.

That evening, the first person I met was his grandmother.

The old lady sat in a private club suite, dressed in a dark green cheongsam. Her fingertips rested on a teacup, and the look in her eyes was as cold and steady as an old blade.

She pushed a manila envelope toward me.

“Take a look.”

I opened it. Inside were investigation materials regarding a car accident from twenty years ago.

The victim was Qi Zhaoyuan’s father.

In the column for the driver at fault, my father’s name was written.

I stared at that paper for a long time.

So long that my fingers went numb.

My father died young.

My mother had only ever told me that he’d been in an accident while driving for someone else. He was gone, leaving behind a mountain of debt.

I never knew that he wasn’t the only one who died in that accident.

Even less did I know that the other person was Qi Zhaoyuan’s father.

The old lady pushed a bank card toward me.

“This is enough for your mother’s surgery.”

“What do you mean by this?”

“My meaning is simple. The two of you are not a match.”

Her voice wasn’t loud, but every word felt like it was boring into my bones.

“Qingchuan, you’re a smart girl. If you stay by Zhaoyuan’s side, he’ll find out about this sooner or later. When that time comes, will he look at you with love, or with hate?”

My throat tightened, and I couldn’t say a single word.

My mother was waiting for surgery.

I had only four digits left in my bank account.

And the man I loved was preparing to meet me with a ring.

The cruelest thing in this world isn’t someone forcing you to let go.

It’s realizing you don’t even have the right to take a gamble with him.

I took the card.

Not because money could buy off my feelings.

But because that night, my mother was in so much pain in her hospital room that she couldn’t even finish a sentence.

I couldn’t gamble her life on an uncertain tomorrow.

When Qi Zhaoyuan arrived, he was damp from the rain, but his eyes were startlingly bright.

He set down a cake box and gave me a hug, just like he always did.

“Why are you so quiet?”

I didn’t hug him back.

I placed the card on the table and smiled at him.

“Happy birthday. Also, I have something to tell you.”

The smile on his face faded bit by bit.

“I want to break up.”

He froze for a full three seconds.

“Why?”

“Because you’re not rich enough right now.”

Those words were hideous.

So hideous that I wanted to slap myself the moment I said them.

But I kept going.

“Qi Zhaoyuan, I dated you because you’re good-looking. You have a foul temper, but you had potential. I don’t know if that potential is still there now-your father is gone, and you can barely stand on your own two feet. I can’t be expected to suffer through the hard times with you, can I?”

I had never put on such a terrible performance in my life.

Every sentence felt like swallowing shards of glass.

Yet he didn’t interrupt once.

He just stared at me, his gaze so intense I could hardly keep standing.

Finally, he asked, “Peng Qingchuan, are you serious?”

I said, “Yes.”

“You never loved me?”

I gave a small smile.

“You could put it that way.”

In that instant, the light in his eyes went out completely.

He pulled a ring box from his pocket, set it on the table, and then pushed it back toward me.

“Fine.”

“Keep the card. Now get out.”

He turned and walked away.

The second the door slammed shut, I collapsed onto the floor, sobbing like a dog with a broken back.

But I didn’t chase after him.

Because I knew that once I ran out that door, everything would be over.