Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The crowd receded like an ebbing tide, and the venue was filled with gasps and hushed whispers. I was no longer a bride standing in a wedding hall; instead, I faced the predatory Lu Jingchuan without a shred of fear. The end of the video wasn’t the conclusion-it was the starting point of my counterattack. His face looked like a torn piece of cloth, a messy tangle of rage, panic, and confusion, revealing his utter helplessness.

“If you keep this up, you’ll only suffer more!” He stepped toward me, his voice low and laced with a threat, as if trying to awaken the dormant terror in my heart.

“I’m not the one who will suffer; you are,” I responded coldly, refusing to back down. Behind me, my relatives watched uneasily, seemingly reflecting on what my supposed intimacy with him and this empty marriage-where I had gained nothing-actually meant.

“I’ll make you pay for what you’ve done today!” The corners of his mouth curled slightly into a distorted sneer. This time, however, his threat had no foundation. I was no longer the girl who looked at him with expectation; I was a woman clear-headedly standing against him.

“Oh, really? I look forward to it,” I shot back, feeling a surge of courage I had never known before. All the pain of the past seemed to transform into a powerful energy at this moment. I was no longer a passive victim, but a combatant, growing firmer by the second.

“I was only thinking about your father’s surgery! Why do you have to make things so irredeemable?” He tried to cast himself as an innocent savior, but in my eyes, any effort he made appeared pale and pathetic.

“What exactly did you do to me and my father? You know perfectly well I never borrowed a single cent from you!” I enunciated every word, each one stabbing at his heart like a blade. The entire hall fell silent; the oppressive atmosphere felt like it could explode at any second.

“How do you think you managed it? All your friends and relatives taking your side? You don’t understand the rules of this game at all!” His voice rose steadily, anger and anxiety intertwining like an out-of-control bull.

“Not everyone is as easily fooled as I was!” I turned around to face the gazes of the crowd, my heart feeling bright and clear. “I have my own choices. Seeing the truth is the only thing that gives me the strength to survive.” My voice rang out, its clarity and confidence sounding like a warrior’s horn, calling everyone’s focus to me.

At that moment, the whispers in my ears surged back like waves. Discussions began to rise about me, about Lu Jingchuan, and about our former friendship. In this precious moment, those once-intimate memories felt like a dream-fragile and quietly shattering.

“You have no right to strip me of my choices or my explanation!” I hadn’t expected the hidden scars in my heart to be exposed so completely, venting out in an even more intense fashion. My anger wasn’t enough to destroy him, but it was enough to tear our relationship apart, making the reality visible to all.

Just then, a relative in the front row stood up, looking shocked. “Nianhe, is it all true? Does the content of these videos mean your relationship with Lin Qingyue is finally over?” His voice was like a horizontal blade, piercing straight into the ache deep in my heart.

“It’s more than just an end. Our friendship has become worthless in the face of these lies.” My suppressed emotions surged up in that instant, impossible to hide any longer. I spoke the words flatly, as if violently severing another piece of my memory.
“Auntie Li, perhaps our friendship was always this fragile.” The image of Lin Qingyue flickered in my mind, but I quickly realized she was no longer the person I once knew.

“Your explanation seems far too weak to me.” Lu Jingchuan seemed to sense my vulnerability, seizing upon it to press where it hurt most. His smile was like a dagger to the back, dripping with contempt. “This affectation of yours reminds me of your friendship with Lin Qingyue-it’s already been severed.”

My heart wrenched suddenly, as if stripped of all warmth in a freezing instant. He ruthlessly tore through my precious memories; flashes of the moments we had laughed and cried together crossed my mind, only for their masks of falsehood to be ripped away. I sank deeper into doubt and pain.

“If our friendship was nothing more than a transaction, I’d rather not have it at all,” I said decisively, taking a deep breath to steady my internal turmoil. At this moment, I had to take responsibility for my own future.

“Can’t you be any clearer? This isn’t at all what I imagined!” he hissed, pressing me for a further explanation. My words were like oil cast onto hot coals, igniting the fear within him.

“We both know the truth now. All that’s left is the ending-and I hold the ending in my hands.” My voice grew steady. I told myself this was my counterattack, the first ray of spring sunlight.

“Utterly meaningless,” he said, his voice full of disdain.

“And you are no longer the one who can control me.” I looked at him coldly, a newfound strength rising within me, as if I could lift a weight of ten thousand tons.

“I hope you’ll look back and think about whether we ever truly had a friendship.” My voice rang out clearly for everyone present to hear, seemingly deciding the course of the future.

Lu Jingchuan’s expression shifted as he looked for an opening, his fury intensifying. The surrounding guests stared at him, their gazes filled with intense interest and unease.

“I’ll make you pay for this, Nianhe.” His lip twitched, betraying a deep sense of resentment. “You know who I am!”

“I don’t care who you are, Lu Jingchuan! I just want to tell you that I will protect my choices and decisions at any cost!” Facing him, I refused to compromise. My voice was resonant and powerful, as if striking back at his snapping teeth.

The crowd’s gaze gradually focused on me, growing more fervent. My heart, however, grew increasingly still as I stepped into this life-and-death struggle. This was my moment of transformation, the critical moment to reclaim my life.

When I turned around again, the people below the stage were whispering among themselves, as if I had successfully become a voice for fairness and justice. In that moment, I emphasized my resolve. “I will ensure the truth is known to more people. I will speak for all the victims, and I will never let this farce continue!”

A tangle of fear and anger played across Lu Jingchuan’s face. His eyes flickered like a searing blaze, burning toward me. Perhaps he realized that things were now irreversible.

I was the blade, marching toward him in the name of justice; my courage would endure from here on. No matter how he roared, the rest of my life would begin to shimmer with new hope. Intimate relationships can turn fragile in an instant. Could I still find a true friend? In this moment, time seemed to freeze.