Jiang Zhi’s voice was cold. “The paparazzi have already caught you entangled with Wen Nian. If news of my relationship with you gets out, what kind of storm do you think will hit the internet?”
Jiang Qinian had only recently won the “Best Actor” award—one could say he hadn’t even warmed the seat yet.
If it were exposed that he had “cheated” and had been secretly dating her for three years, it would undoubtedly be a massive blow to his career.
But if his relationship with Wen Nian were revealed, it could still generate buzz for the new drama—more benefit than harm.
Jiang Qinian gritted his teeth. “Do you want to leave that badly? Enough to threaten me?!”
Jiang Zhi smiled. “It’s not that I want to leave—it’s that you forced me to. Isn’t that right?”
Even as Jiang Zhi said this, Jiang Qinian’s grip didn’t loosen in the slightest. Instead, he held on tighter, his force seemingly intent on crushing her wrist.
Jiang Zhi acted as if she felt no pain, staring straight at Jiang Qinian, who was glaring at her with deadly intensity. She said coldly, “Let go.”
The Jiang Zhi before him felt utterly unfamiliar to Jiang Qinian, and the strange, uneasy feeling in his heart swelled without limit.
He didn’t dare let go.
It was as if, once he released his grip this time, she would no longer belong to him, and he would lose her forever.
The air churned with undercurrents, thick with the tension of a standoff.
“Brother Qinian, didn’t you say the one you love is me? Let her go!”
Just as the two were locked in confrontation, Wen Nian ran out from who knows when, appearing at Jiang Qinian’s other side and tugging at his arm.
From the very beginning—the moment Jiang Qinian pushed her onto the bed—Wen Nian had noticed the movement from the wardrobe.
A woman’s sixth sense was sharp; she had always known that Jiang Qinian’s relationship with his ugly duckling of a manager was anything but ordinary.
That was why she deliberately asked that question, to make that ugly duckling recognize her place.
But what she didn’t know was that the woman she’d always considered an ugly duckling had been deliberately playing ugly!
The moment she saw Jiang Zhi’s true face, her confidence instantly crumbled. What the man had just said and what he had just done contradicted each other.
Jiang Qinian was a man Wen Nian had set her sights on, and she had just given him her first time.
There was no way she would let Jiang Zhi destroy the happiness she had fought so hard to snatch!
Wen Nian’s words struck Jiang Qinian’s heart directly, filling him with unbearable irritation.
He glared at Wen Nian, all trace of the tenderness he’d shown in bed gone. “Shut up!”
Wen Nian flinched at Jiang Qinian’s sudden roar.
In her heart, Jiang Qinian had always been gentle as water. She had never seen him so dark and menacing as he was now.
Jiang Zhi had witnessed firsthand today what it meant to be “cold after the deed.”
At the same time, she finally saw clearly just how hypocritical the man she had loved for five years truly was.
Jiang Zhi struggled against his grip. “Jiang Qinian, I’ll say this one last time—let go!”
Then she glanced at her phone. “Otherwise, don’t blame me for being rude.”
Seeing that Jiang Qinian still wouldn’t release her, Wen Nian picked up where Jiang Zhi left off, fanning the flames. “Brother Qinian, she doesn’t love you at all. If she had you in her heart, how could she bear to hurt you and leave you?”
“I’m different. My heart only has you. No matter what, I would never leave you or betray you.”
Jiang Qinian’s jaw clenched tight. Looking at Wen Nian, who bore a faint resemblance to Jiang Zhi, he was dazed for a moment.
Seeing the man and Wen Nian locked in a “passionate” gaze, Jiang Zhi curled her lips coldly. Seizing the moment he was off guard, she wrenched her hand free with force, opened the door, and strode out.
Behind her came the sound of a man and woman grappling, but Jiang Zhi had no interest in the details. She only wanted to leave this suffocating place.
The upscale residential complex where celebrities lived had excellent privacy and didn’t allow outside vehicles to come and go freely.
Jiang Zhi could only walk to the gate of the complex to hail a cab.
It was past two in the morning now. Apart from the streetlights, everything around was pitch black, with not a single soul in sight.
She didn’t notice that not far away, beneath the dark of night, a Rolls-Royce sat parked, blending seamlessly into the shadows.
Jiang Zhi walked quickly in her high heels. In the still of the night, the clack of her heels against the ground was especially loud.
When it rains, it pours.
The heel of her shoe happened to land on a small pebble by the roadside. Her ankle twisted, and a searing pain shot through her foot instantly.
It hurt so much she could barely breathe.
It hurt so much she gasped sharply.
It hurt so much she had to bend over.
The nerves Jiang Zhi had been holding taut all along suddenly snapped.
She could no longer hold it together. Tears burst from her eyes, blurring her vision, falling in large droplets to the ground.
There was no such thing as falling out of love in an instant.
It was merely years of accumulated disappointment colliding with the truth—heart death giving way to release.
She didn’t know how long she cried. When her tear ducts could no longer squeeze out a single drop, she finally stood up.
But perhaps it was because she had rushed to make the cake and forgotten to eat, causing low blood sugar—or because she had crouched too long, leaving her brain short on oxygen.
The moment Jiang Zhi stood up, the world spun, darkness flooded her vision, and her body pitched straight toward the ground!
The ground wasn’t as cold and hard as she’d expected. The landing was firm, but warm.
A crisp, pleasant masculine fragrance filled her nostrils.
Her eyelids were heavy. No matter how hard she tried, Jiang Zhi couldn’t open her eyes. Her consciousness was hazy, her mind in a fog.
She couldn’t quite tell if this was reality or a dream.
A pair of strong arms seemed to lift her up.
The person walked quickly, yet steadily enough to inexplicably put her at ease.
When she woke, it was already noon the next day.
The scent of disinfectant lingered in the air.
The clean, sparse furnishings, the iron-framed bed, the blue-and-white bedsheets washed pale—all told her exactly where she was—
A hospital.
Jiang Zhi vaguely remembered having a dream.
In the dream, a man sat beside her, his warm, dry palm gently stroking one side of her face.
She could feel his careful tenderness, as if cradling a precious treasure, his fingertips tracing her skin in fine, delicate motions.
His deep, magnetic voice—unfamiliar yet strangely familiar—drifted into her ear. “Do you like him that much?”
Listening closely, his pleasant voice carried a hint of desolation.
Somehow, hearing his words, Jiang Zhi’s grievances swelled, and her tear ducts, which had long since run dry, once again secreted physiological tears.
The man’s slightly rough fingertip landed at the corner of her eye, wiping away a tear and bringing it to his lips. “Too bitter.”
“He’s not worth your tears.”
“From now on, let me love you.”
The man spoke to her unprompted, his final words tender and lingering, carrying a barely perceptible plea and—
Like a child who had always been overlooked, yearning for her to spare him a little attention.
So humble it made one’s heart ache to hear it.
“Click—”
The door pushed open, interrupting Jiang Zhi’s thoughts.
A young nurse walked in holding a meal box, approached her, a flicker of admiration passing through her eyes, and asked with a polite smile, “You’re awake? Is there anywhere you feel uncomfortable?”
Jiang Zhi only felt a little weak, with no actual discomfort, so she shook her head.
After the nurse finished checking her vitals, she opened the meal box and set it on the bedside table, reminding her, “You fainted from malnutrition. Remember to eat on time from now on.”
Malnutrition?
Ever since Jiang Qinian won the “Best Actor” award, Jiang Zhi’s workload had multiplied several times over, and she often forgot to eat when she got busy.
Or she’d just grab something quick to get by. She supposed last night, skipping dinner combined with emotional instability, had pushed her body over the edge.
Jiang Zhi nodded, then thinking of something, asked, “Is the person who brought me to the hospital still here? I’d like to thank him.”
Hearing this, the nurse blurted out, “The one who brought you here is your boyf—”