After Fu Sinian came out, he was called over for drinks by Lu Yan.
The bar was hidden deep in an alley, with no signboard. Its entrance was as small as the security door of an ordinary residence—you’d never know what lay beyond until you pushed it open.
The private room Zhou Shixu had booked wasn’t large. Sofas formed a circle around a coffee table set with liquor and a fruit platter. The lighting was dim, with only a few tiny spotlights embedded in the ceiling—just enough to make out the contours of the person across from you.
By the time Fu Sinian arrived, they were already halfway through their first drink.
When he pushed the door open, the chill of the night wind still clung to his coat, and his hair was slightly tousled.
He didn’t take off his coat. He sat down beside Lu Yan and took a sip from the whiskey that had already been poured for him.
The ice ball was so cold it made him frown slightly.
With all three of them present, a brief silence fell like some kind of ritual. Outside the window, the night was too thick to dissolve.
Zhou Shixu spoke first, leaning back into the sofa, tilting his head to look at him.
“Sinian, didn’t you say last time that you didn’t care about her anymore? Then why did you bring her into the company?”
“What did you say? You brought Xia Ran into your company?”
Lu Yan’s hand holding the glass froze, nearly spilling it. “That Xia Ran who dumped you five years ago?”
“Shut up. No need for such a dramatic reaction.”
Fu Sinian held his glass, casting a look of pure impatience at Lu Yan.
“Didn’t you say yourself that you didn’t care anymore?” Lu Yan raised an eyebrow.
Before the words even faded, Fu Sinian shot him a cold glare, forcing him to swallow the rest of his sentence.
Zhou Shixu looked at Fu Sinian and smiled. “What, is this about to be a slap in the face?”
Fu Sinian gently swirled his glass. “It’s business.”
“Business, and you still gave her your own apartment?” Zhou Shixu shook his head helplessly.
Slightly tipsy, Fu Sinian admitted in a hoarse voice: “Yes. I can’t let her go.”
Hearing his frank admission, the expressions on both men’s faces froze instantly.
“Especially after what happened to her family—she carried everything on her own…”
Fu Sinian’s eyes darkened. “My heart felt like it was being crushed, aching so much I could barely breathe.”
“Whether she’s willing or not, I will never let go of her in this lifetime.”
Zhou Shixu was stunned by his words.
He remembered how, when they broke up five years ago, Fu Sinian had drunk himself into gastric bleeding, utterly devastated.
He knew exactly what Xia Ran meant to this man.
Zhou Shixu and Lu Yan raised their glasses, clinking them gently against Fu Sinian’s with a crisp sound.
“Then take good care of her. Don’t let her suffer any more grievances.” Zhou Shixu softened his voice.
Fu Sinian gave a low “Mm” in response.
But the gloom between his brows lingered, refusing to lift.
After the drinking session ended, he sat in his car, picked up his phone, and dialed his special assistant, Shen Che.
His voice had returned to its usual calm, his gaze sharp. “Investigate everything about Xia Ran’s maternal uncle’s family.”
“And everything Xia Ran has been through in the past five years—all of it. I need to know.”
His little girl had no idea how much grievance she’d been bearing alone…
“Yes, President.” Shen Che acknowledged.
…
Shen Che’s efficiency had always been high.
By the next morning, five years’ worth of information had been transmitted in dense detail to the private computer in the office.
Fu Sinian’s fingertips pressed against the mouse, his knuckles pale with cold. A heavy, suffocating pressure radiated from him.
He was afraid of finding out the truth, and even more afraid of not finding the answers he wanted.
A knock came at the door again—this time measured, light, and restrained.
Shen Che entered, standing straight with a solemn expression, holding a complete printed paper file in his hands.
Fu Sinian finally looked up. His pitch-black eyes were deep as a cold pool, betraying not a single ripple, yet they inspired inexplicable fear.
“Speak.”
One word, low and hoarse.
Shen Che took a deep breath, doing his best to report in the most plain, unembellished, and emotionless language possible.
He knew that any ornamentation would be cruel to his boss at this moment:
“Miss Xia’s parents were on a business trip by car five years ago when they were involved in a major car accident. They died on the spot.”
“That accident was extremely tragic. Mr. Xia and Ms. Xu were critically injured and rushed to the ICU. Hospital regulations require that major surgeries and critical rescue procedures must be signed off by a direct relative.”
“That day, all the distant relatives went missing, made excuses, or distanced themselves. Not a single one dared to show up.”
“Her uncle was still on his way, but the distance was too far—he couldn’t make it in time for the hospital’s deadline.”
Fu Sinian’s breath stopped for half a beat.
Shen Che’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he delivered the most gut-wrenching line:
“Of all the relatives present, no one dared to sign. No one dared to take responsibility.”
“She waited outside the ICU for thirty-six straight hours.”
“She didn’t eat. Didn’t drink. Didn’t sleep. She knelt outside the operating room, praying over and over, breaking down again and again, and forcing herself to pull it together each time.”
“In the end, the rescue failed.”
“She watched with her own eyes as the doctors wheeled out the bed draped in white cloth. She personally confirmed her parents’ deaths, personally handled the funeral arrangements, dealt with the compensation, and packed up their belongings.”
“Through it all, she was completely alone.”
“Her parents passed away suddenly, leaving her only direct relative an uncle. With no one to entrust her to, no one to rely on, Xia Ran was brought to the capital by her uncle’s family to live.”
The moment those words fell, the office fell into complete silence.
After they broke up.
He had never known that the girl with such unyielding pride had lost her parents and her home that year.
Shen Che watched Fu Sinian’s face suddenly turn deathly pale and steeled himself to continue.
“Her uncle’s family took her in when she first arrived in the capital, initially out of familial obligation. But Miss Xia’s parents passed away suddenly—their assets were frozen, insurance payouts delayed—and since she was always studying and never knew how to please her elders, life under someone else’s roof was miserable.”
“Her aunt was extremely harsh, treating her like a freeloading burden. She subjected her to constant cold indifference and verbal belittlement. Almost all the household chores fell on her shoulders. She got the worst food and lodging, and not a single cent of allowance.”
“She also had a cousin two years older, spoiled rotten and willful, who constantly took her things and twisted the truth, blaming every mistake on Xia Ran. If Miss Xia dared to talk back, the whole family would accuse her of being ungrateful—a thankless wolf.”
Her uncle, caught in the middle, secretly urged her to leave, to go out and build a life for herself, rather than waste away among toxic people and situations.
It was only after listening to her uncle’s advice that she finally left the capital for New York to study design.”
“These past two years, she returned to China and established herself, with a stable income and career. Her aunt immediately came knocking to manipulate her. Using ‘the kindness of raising you’ and ‘your uncle doted on you’ as leverage, she kept making demands and forcing her to compromise.”
“Miss Xia knew full well that her aunt was doing all this for the bride price and to pave the way for her cousin—that’s why she kept forcing unsuitable blind dates on her. The men were either from ordinary families trying to marry above themselves, or oily and calculating in personality. None of them were genuinely right for her.”
“Everyone could see it was a trap. She knew it perfectly well herself.”
“But as long as her aunt invoked her uncle’s name, saying ‘your uncle hopes you’ll settle down and marry someone who’ll take care of you,’ Miss Xia couldn’t refuse.”
Fu Sinian closed his eyes, a storm of bitterness, obsession, and protectiveness surging beneath his lids.
His mind was filled with those cold words Shen Che had reported.
If only he had been more steadfast back then, hadn’t let that so-called “your skills are terrible, I’m bored of you” get to his head, hadn’t let his pride get the better of him…
He really…
How could he have let her face all of this alone?
Five years.
He couldn’t imagine how she had endured it.
And him? He was abroad, drowning in the pain of betrayal, busy making himself stronger, planning to return in triumph…
Little did he know, he had let the woman he loved most suffer such injustice all alone…
“Ranran, I’m sorry.” His voice was hoarse as he called her name, choked with tears and unrelenting self-reproach. “I’m sorry…”