Chapter 4

The next morning.

Jiang Lai woke in a daze and, almost instinctively, reached for the space beside her. There was no warmth left there; it had already gone cold.

She gave a cold laugh and slowly sat up. As she moved, the quilt slid down from her shoulders, revealing her beautiful collarbones.

The smell of breakfast drifted in from the kitchen. At the same time, the bedroom door opened. Qin Huaicheng was dressed in a white shirt, hands in his pockets, his voice low. "You’re up? Wash up first; we can eat in a bit."

Jiang Lai yawned. "Thanks."

Qin Huaicheng unobtrusively took a small step back and continued tidying the kitchen. "I’m joining a production next month. It may be two or three months. Take good care of yourself."

"Why are you going on set again?"

The man’s hand paused. "Company arrangement."

"Does your company only have you as its male artist? Why is it always you? Aren’t the others getting any work?"

Qin Huaicheng sighed. "Just pretend I said the wrong thing."

"Stop right there!"

Jiang Lai blocked the man as he tried to leave. "So what’s written online—is it all true? You and Lin Wanqiu, what exactly is going on?"

"Didn’t we already agree not to interfere in each other’s social circles? What are you doing now?"

"I’m interfering with you? Qin, the great movie star, I’m your girlfriend. My boyfriend has a woman around him with ambiguous feelings, and I can’t even ask one question?"

The man frowned. "A-Lai, I don’t have time to argue semantics with you here. I still have things to do on set, so I’m leaving first."

With that, Qin Huaicheng reached for the door, but Jiang Lai’s next words froze him in place.

"Qin Huaicheng, choose. Marriage or breakup."

Qin Huaicheng looked back at her in disbelief. "Jiang Lai, are you crazy? Don’t you want your career anymore?"

"I’m not crazy. I’m serious."

Jiang Lai’s eyes were dull and empty; her tone was flat, as if she were commenting on how nice the weather was. "Actually, I wanted to say this yesterday. My work is already very stable now. And on your side, your agent never said you couldn’t get married, right? Besides, if we got married, you’d get even more attention. It wouldn’t hurt your acting career; it would only help. So, what do you think? Want to consider it?"

"Jiang Lai, I think you really are crazy."

"Crazy? Maybe. Qin Huaicheng, we both know very well why we got together in the first place."

"...When you got together with me back then, didn’t I tell you? My profession is special; I can’t accompany you the way ordinary people do. You said you didn’t mind at the time, didn’t you? So why did you change so much after you went to Yin Zheng’s wedding?"

"Yin Zheng is also in the circle, so why isn’t he afraid? Why can he still marry Xia Wanwan so openly and grandly!"

Qin Huaicheng was still as composed as ever, looking down at her. "Yin Zheng is Yin Zheng; I’m me. Why do you always have to compare me to other people?"

"Qin Huaicheng, we’ve been together for so many years. I’m only asking you one thing: what exactly did you take me for?"

"A-Lai, listen to me."

The man placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down.

"You don’t need to make so many excuses!"

Jiang Lai suddenly shoved him away, grabbed the pillow from the bed, and hurled it at him. "Qin Huaicheng, in the end, you’re just a coward. A spineless coward!"

Qin Huaicheng seemed unwilling to keep talking about this anymore. "We’re both not in a good state emotionally today. Let’s not continue this topic. You should rest first. I’ve already made breakfast; it’s on the table. Eat whenever you get hungry. I still have work. We can talk about anything else when I get back tonight."

"A-Cheng... tell me, when did we start drifting apart...?"

Qin Huaicheng stopped where he was, but he didn’t turn around, and he didn’t say anything, only leaving Jiang Lai with his back.

Jiang Lai let out a sneer, lifting her chin. There wasn’t a trace of emotion on her face. "Qin Huaicheng, why don’t we just end this? Stop tormenting each other, okay?"

The man went still, then turned around and looked straight at her. "Jiang Lai, stop making trouble."

"I’m not making trouble, Qin Huaicheng. I’m very serious."

"You won’t regret it?"

"I won’t."

"Fine. As long as you don’t regret it, then let’s break up."

Qin Huaicheng’s tone was calm, without the slightest reluctance. He turned and left the house.

Seeing this, Jiang Lai suddenly burst out laughing, as if mocking her own stupidity. But as she laughed, she began to cry.

She didn’t understand. What kind of person had she been with all this time...?

Her hand found the phone on the table. She opened Weibo, took a deep breath, edited a few lines, and sent them out.

@Jiang Lai

I liked it very much. It was very short, but... it’s a pity. May we each be well from now on; in the future... we’ll never meet again. @Qin Huaicheng

After sending it, Jiang Lai directly powered off her phone. She walked out of the room. The breakfast on the table was still steaming, as if reminding her of this cruel reality. She didn’t even look at it; she dumped everything straight into the trash. Along with that, all of Qin Huaicheng’s things were thrown out by Jiang Lai as well.

The news of their breakup spread, and immediately ignited a wildfire of discussion across the internet.

The names Jiang Lai and Qin Huaicheng were hanging at the very top of Weibo’s trending list, where they stayed for a long time.

Although Jiang Lai wasn’t in the entertainment industry, her face had attracted countless boyfriend fans and girlfriend fans. Add in her identity as a designer, and her fan count wasn’t at all less than Qin Huaicheng’s.

What’s more, Qin Huaicheng was the newly crowned movie emperor. Their relationship had always been under scrutiny. Now that the breakup was officially announced, netizens were suddenly all saying different things.

Netizen A: “Am I blind? The CP I shipped just broke up this easily? (crying emoji)”

Netizen B: “Mom, I’ll never believe in love again.”

Netizen C: “Looking at their old videos now, I feel all kinds of emotions! It really feels like Jiang Lai truly had Qin the movie star in her eyes.”

Netizen A replied to Netizen C: “(wild nodding) Really, really! Back when Qin the movie star was onstage accepting an award, Jiang Lai looked at him with stars in her eyes. Even as an outsider, I could feel the pink bubbles all around them.”

Netizen C replied to Netizen A: “As expected, even love can’t beat the seven-year itch! They must really have loved each other once!”

Netizen D: “Jiang Lai might really have loved him, but Qin the movie star? I really can’t tell.”

Netizen A: “Could it be... because of that scandal a few days ago?”

..............................

On the road, inside a low-key nanny van, Qin Huaicheng’s little assistant cried out in shock, waking him from his rest.

"What is it?"

Qin Huaicheng rubbed the space between his brows.

The assistant spoke cautiously, "Brother Qin, you and Sister Jiang broke up?"

Qin Huaicheng froze, then asked back, "How do you know?"

The assistant handed him the phone in his hand. "Look, Sister Jiang already made it official."

Qin Huaicheng glanced at it casually, a cold smile curling at the corner of his mouth. "That does sound like Jiang Lai; she doesn’t drag things out when she does something."

He took out his own phone and quickly typed a few lines.

@Qin Huaicheng

Sorry to take up public resources, but yes, we broke up. There was no cheating, no betrayal, and even less any so-called third party. I hope everyone won’t pay too much attention to us; in the future, we’ll still be friends. Thank you.

Just after he finished typing, his agent called right away. Qin Huaicheng motioned for the assistant to answer it for him.

"Sister Zhang, mm, Brother Qin is beside me. Please go ahead."

"Okay, I understand. I’ll tell Brother Qin."

Qin Huaicheng took back his phone and idly scrolled through the comments about him.

The assistant asked nervously, "Brother Qin, Sister Zhang said that since you and Sister Jiang have broken up, can the on-screen CP with Miss Lin be put together now?"

"...We’re still discussing that. I haven’t decided yet."

The assistant was close to bursting from holding it in, and in the end couldn’t help asking, "Brother Qin, Sister Jiang is such a good person. Why did you have to break up with her?"

Qin Huaicheng put away his phone and looked out the window, his tone flat. "It’s precisely because she’s too good that I have to pull away in time; I can’t really let myself fall in love with her..."

The assistant sat there, thoroughly confused, but didn’t dare ask more.

..............................

"Oh my god, this can’t be real!"

When Xia Wanwan saw the news, she jolted so hard she lost control of her grip, and her phone smacked straight into her face. She couldn’t help crying out in pain, "Ah, that hurts!"

Sitting beside her and reading a magazine, Cheng Shuyang seemed to have already anticipated this scene. She glanced at her daughter. "How many times have I told you not to lie down while looking at your phone? You’ll hit yourself in the face, and you never listen. Now look what happened."

"I was shocked, okay!"

Xia Wanwan sat up, rubbing her nose where the phone had hit her, and shoved the phone in front of Cheng Shuyang. "Mom, look for yourself. A-Lai actually broke up with Qin Huaicheng!"

Cheng Shuyang closed the magazine, her graceful brows knitting slightly. "Qin Huaicheng? That newly crowned movie emperor from a while back?"

"That’s him. A-Lai had been with him for seven years. I thought they’d end up getting married, but who knew they’d still break up in the end? No, I need to ask A-Lai what happened."

Xia Wanwan opened her contacts and dialed Jiang Lai’s number, but the prompt said the other phone was turned off. Xia Wanwan turned to Cheng Shuyang for help. "Mom, do you think something happened to A-Lai? She likes Qin Huaicheng so much..."

"Probably not."

Cheng Shuyang closed the magazine, analyzing it calmly. "I’ve only met her once, but from the way you described her before, she shouldn’t be the type to do anything reckless. Still, if you’re really worried, you can go see her."

"No, I still can’t relax. I’m going to check on her right now."

Xia Wanwan sprang to her feet, grabbed the car keys by the entrance, and rushed out.

"Wanwan, I know you’re worried; be careful when you drive in a bit."

"I know, Mom!"

The girl ran out in a hurry.

Cheng Shuyang stood at the doorway, all her concern plainly visible. She wasn’t only worried about Xia Wanwan; she was also worried about that bright, vivid girl. As a woman herself, she knew what time meant to a woman.

A relationship that had lasted so many years wasn’t something one could simply let go of just by saying so.

Leaning against the doorframe, she couldn’t hide the worry in her eyes.

Author’s Note:

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