After the festival and her sudden bet with He Haotian, Shen Yi didn’t know what to make of her change in mood. Before their vacation, she seemed very relaxed and was floating in a cloud. Afterward, she looked like someone had eaten the last piece of cake she kept in the fridge.

He Haotian agreed to his request that he would only train Lu Xinyi after a week to give her time to recuperate from exhaustion. Since she applied for Silver Leaf, Lu Xinyi didn’t really have time to take a break from cooking.

Before leaving the inn, He Haotian also talked to him. The older man admitted that a reason why he wanted Lu Xinyi not to attend Silver Leaf was to avoid being targeted by her maternal family. Until Chairman Sun names an heir to his vast wealth and assets, his children would keep fighting and plotting against each other, something he believed Lu Xinyi should be spared from.

After reading an email he received from Shen Xue, Shen Yi gave a side glance to his sleeping wife, seeing that whatever troubled her wasn’t prominent on her face anymore. However, he was sure that something still bothered her, and she wasn’t telling him.

Back when she was struggling to study before the exams, passing it meant proving herself she was capable. At the time, he had not cared if she passed in the same way Lu Xinyi did. It was more like he didn’t mind if she lost because he would still have her.-.

Now, she was going away to seek her dream without him. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a way to keep her by his side and protect her if needed. He could only move closer to wherever she would stay.

He Haotian warned Lu Xinyi about the Sun family, and Shen Yi wasn’t certain what they were planning. It would be hard for him to keep an eye on his wife at all times.

He looked at her again, and something chilling ran through him as he imagined the emptiness of her eyes once her life ceased. He clenched his jaws and looked away, not knowing where the idea came from.

With a tired sigh, he pulled up the covers and his wife closer, wanting to feel her warmth. Maybe he was thinking too much; nevertheless, he should think of a plan to keep Lu Xinyi safe.

—

Tonight, the campaign that featured Lu Xinyi as a model would be revealed to the media. Yuan Jian and Lu Xiulan would be the presenters much to Lu Xiulan’s dismay. She hoped to be spared from all these formalities and for Yuan Jin to take over.

“I’m glad that we’re almost done.” Lu Xiulan picked up her wine glass and swirled her drink inside. Her eyes were almost misty, and her body tensed from the weeks of preparation for this event.

Yuan Jin, leaning on the wall beside her, laughed. “Right. I knew you’re ready to pack up your things and go to ‘hibernate’ again. Be prepared, Xiulan. After this, I’m sure you’ll get a lot of projects from those people.” He pointed at those men laughing with one another. They were businessmen ready to throw money and improve their sales.

“This would be my last project.” Lu Xiulan rasped and kept her head low.

Yuan Jin looked at her incredulously. She was one of the bests in her field, and she was just merely starting in her career.

“What do you mean this is your last? Tell me what’s happening, Xiulan!” he insisted, grabbing her arm.

“I’m getting married,” she confessed.

“You what?! I thought you said that you have no plans on getting married. What changed now? Did he know?”

“What for? There’s nothing between us. There’s no point telling him what’s happening in my life.” Lu Xiulan couldn’t hide the bitterness on her voice. She’d lost her vision in her life and had left her fate to the deities above, even if it meant being trapped in a loveless marriage.

She wasn’t supposed to be counting the days they were apart. Just like what he’d told her before, he couldn’t become hers. The weeks of separation had led her to move back to this country and focused on her work, but her parents’ request had been long overdue. She was supposed to get married last year, and she’d already used up all the possible reasons to delay the preparation.

Time was fleeting on her side; she couldn’t wait for too long. She was slowly regaining parts of herself that she’d lost since he left that day. It was still too early to say that he’d done her the favor of letting her go In reality, she was stuck in the same place he left her, just lonelier.

Too bad that her heart had stubbornly insisted on clinging onto stupid memories they had and to her pointless feelings that could never be returned. She also thought that she was seeing him everywhere she went, which was irritating and annoying. Remembering those only led her to feel sorry for herself.

Thankfully, the campaign was nice and steady that she ended up too exhausted at the end of the day to think and remember how miserable her life was. She was afraid of love; falling in love was like falling down. In the end, one’d be left hurt, scared—with a memory of it forever.

She thought fleetingly of him, and her heart clenched briefly as his image flickered on her mind. What would he say about her impending marriage? Would he be happy for her? No, she didn’t want to hear the answers.

Loving him wasn’t a mistake; thinking of the possibility of being together was.

“Then maybe you can tell him about it tonight personally.” Yuan Jin pulled out from her reverie.

“W-What?!” She frantically looked up to her friend and stopped dead, seeing a figure of a man appearing behind Yuan Jin.

“Xiulan.”