The room fell silent again.
Su Yuqing glanced down at her phone. It was four in the morning.
She let out a bitter laugh.
See? If it was Ruan Qingqing, no matter how late it was or what he was doing, he would always choose her without hesitation.
In Huo Peiyan’s heart, Ruan Qingqing would always be the most special.
One phone call was all it took to summon him away.
What chance did Su Yuqing have against that?
She lowered her eyes to the bruises mottling her skin and remembered the filthy measures she had resorted to that night to keep him there.
Bitterness welled up inside her.
As far as Huo Peiyan was concerned, someone like her had already lost utterly and completely.
Su Yuqing sat there in a daze. The sky began to lighten.
The bed still bore traces of the intimacy they had shared, but she couldn’t bear to stay there another moment.
As if determined to torment herself, Su Yuqing kept imagining Huo Peiyan and Ruan Qingqing together—holding hands, embracing…
And even…
Frustrated, she buried her head in the covers. At last, she couldn’t hold back her tears.
All the emotions she had accumulated over seven years—
the hurt, the restraint, the pain—
came pouring out, sweeping over her like a tidal wave and drowning her.
She had tried so hard, loved him with all her might, done everything she could to warm his heart. Why, after all that, couldn’t she win his love?
He had already promised to marry her!
She couldn’t accept it.
She wanted an answer from him.
After an unknown length of time, Su Yuqing wiped away her tears.
She cleaned herself up, grabbed her keys, and drove out.
She was going to find Huo Peiyan. She needed to see him with Ruan Qingqing with her own eyes.
Only then would she give up.
Her black Mercedes sped out of the villa and raced along the mountain road.
Su Yuqing kept accelerating.
Faster and faster.
The sun rose, and the morning light fell through the window onto the side of her face. Her exquisite features were set in determination, her red lips pressed tight. Her tear-reddened eyes, usually bright as peach blossoms, were fixed firmly on the road ahead.
An answer.
All I need is one answer,
and then I’ll let go.
I’ll never cling to you again.
As Su Yuqing thought this, she suddenly saw a large truck stopped ahead.
She couldn’t swerve in time.
With a crash, she slammed into it. At the instant of impact, she stamped on the brakes and gripped the steering wheel with both hands.
She closed her eyes in despair.
Huo Peiyan, if I die,
will you come to see me, even once?
…
Everything around her fell silent.
When Su Yuqing woke again,
she was lying in a hospital bed.
A young nurse stood beside it, watching the monitor at her side.
Su Yuqing had just started to sit up when a stabbing pain shot through her head.
Only then did she notice that both her hands and her head were wrapped in bandages.
“Hey, don’t move. Don’t move.”
The nurse turned and hurried to stop her. “You’ve been unconscious for three days. You just woke up, and the injury to your head is still under observation. Don’t move around.”
Su Yuqing frowned and hissed in pain, drawing in a sharp breath.
She didn’t dare move, only rolling her eyes from side to side as she looked around.
“I… didn’t die?”
The nurse laughed in exasperation. “We fought like mad to snatch you from the King of Hell, and you ask if you’re dead? Were you that eager to die?”
When Su Yuqing said nothing, the nurse seemed to think of something. “Oh, right. While you were unconscious, we tried calling your husband. He… may have been busy. He hung up right away.”
The nurse hesitated, seeing Su Yuqing’s face grow paler.
“Maybe we didn’t explain who we were clearly, and he misunderstood. Now that you’re awake, try contacting him again and ask him to come stay with you for a few days. Your family needs to sign off on the rest of your treatment.”
“Or… you could ask another family member.”
The nurse finished speaking and saw Su Yuqing’s face grow even more stricken. She understood at once.
They saw this sort of thing all the time at the hospital.
Parents who didn’t care. Husbands who didn’t love their wives.
She was a poor soul, too.
“Thank you.”
In the end, Su Yuqing said nothing more. She only nodded and thanked her.
Her beautiful, peach-blossom eyes were clouded with tears, as if she might burst into tears at any moment.
The nurse nodded.
Before leaving, she kindly turned on the television in Su Yuqing’s room, then closed the door behind her.
She was alone in the room.
Su Yuqing picked up her phone and looked at the call log. There were five outgoing calls, all unanswered.
The last call had connected for only three seconds.
Clearly, the nurse had been hung up on before she could even introduce herself.
Su Yuqing smiled bitterly.
Her gaze swept across the home screen and fell on an unread text:
【Su Yuqing, I’m busy. I don’t have time to play your stupid games. I’ve already agreed to marry you. What more do you want?】
It must have taken quite an effort for him to type so many words at once.
Su Yuqing could picture Huo Peiyan’s brows drawn together, his face full of impatience.
He really thought she was faking her injuries?
Her chest turned sour, as if someone had stuffed a lemon into it.
She should never have expected anything from him in the first place.
His heart had never belonged to her.
Now that Ruan Qingqing was back, what was she still hoping for?
As for his promise to marry her that night—
she’d treat it like a fart.
Just then, an entertainment news report came on the television.
“HQ Group CEO Huo Peiyan buys the naming rights to an asteroid to win a smile from his beloved, rising star Ruan Qingqing.”
Buying an asteroid for Ruan Qingqing—
what a romantic gesture.
On screen, Ruan Qingqing’s eyes sparkled, her fair little face radiant with a dazzling smile.
“Brother Peiyan said ages ago that he’d give me a mysterious birthday present. I’ve been looking forward to it for so long. I love it so, so much. It’s such a wonderful surprise.”
Her eyes shining, Ruan Qingqing tilted her head and looked slyly at Huo Peiyan.
“Brother Peiyan, can I name the asteroid HQ?”
Take your surname and make it my name.
H: Huo Peiyan.
Q: Ruan Qingqing.
The reporters seized on the moment, and everyone suddenly understood.
HQ?
So that was what the headquarters of Huo Group meant!
It all made sense now.
People suddenly recalled what Huo Peiyan had said seven years ago, when he founded HQ Group:
“HQ is a gift for the person I love.”
The group had made its fortune in jewelry, then expanded into fashion, luxury goods, real estate, and new energy.
It had caused a huge sensation at the time.
Now it was the hottest group in Jing City, a symbol of wealth and status.
People had always wondered who Huo Peiyan’s beloved had been back then.
Now the truth was clear.
Ruan Qingqing stood beside Huo Peiyan, smiling shyly.
Huo Peiyan still wore that cool, distinguished expression, his eyes deep and his lips curved in the faintest hint of a smile.
Click.
Su Yuqing switched off the television, expressionless.
It was as if a piece of her heart had gone missing. She felt numb, no longer able to feel the pain.
So her car accident, the fact she had nearly been killed and lain unconscious in a hospital bed for three days and three nights, meant less than giving Ruan Qingqing a star.
Su Yuqing smiled bitterly.
Enough.
Seven years—she might as well have fed them to a dog. Who hadn’t run into a few scumbags when they were young?
Things had come to this. Was she really going to keep clinging to him and wait for him to humiliate her?
Su Yuqing smiled bitterly.
Let go.
Let Huo Peiyan go, and let herself go, too.
She picked up her phone. Her fingertips felt cold.
【Huo Peiyan, let’s break up.】
Then she blocked him.