That evening, as I left the company, someone grabbed me from behind, covering my nose and mouth. When I came to, I was tied up and brought to a cliff’s edge. I didn’t struggle at all.
The kidnappers called Li Zhenyu, demanding a ransom. He raced over, desperate.
The wind whipped around us on the cliff. My dress fluttered as I smiled at Li Zhenyu.
“Li Zhenyu, don’t bother saving me.”
His eyes were red, and for the first time, I saw a look of utter humility and fear on his face.
“Please, let her go. I’ll pay whatever you want. Please!”
I quietly slipped the razor blade from my sleeve and cut the ropes.
“Li Zhenyu, living is just too exhausting. Goodbye.”
I glanced at the churning waves below, spread my arms, and leapt.
As I fell, I tucked my head, one hand over my stomach, and spun twice and a half before slicing into the sea in a perfect dive, barely a splash.
From a distance, Lin Zeyan gave me a thumbs-up. “Yan Qian, you really are the most talented diver I’ve ever taught.”
I rolled my eyes, swimming forward. “I’m the only student you’ve ever had.”
Ahead, the ocean was a vast, dazzling blue—a promise of freedom.
Three years later, I returned to China.
I ran into Li Zhenyu at a gala. He stared at me, stunned, his wine glass slipping from his hand. His gaze was wild, desperate, as he rushed over and grabbed my arm.
“Yan Qian—”
“It’s you?”
I patted the arm of the young man beside me and introduced him. “This is your predecessor—my ex-husband.”
The young man, a fresh-faced up-and-comer named Zhou Yichen, politely shook Li Zhenyu’s hand. “Nice to meet you, senior. I hope to learn a lot from you.”
I waved my hand, shaking my head. “No need to learn from him. His skills are… well, let’s just say, learn the good stuff, not the bad.”
Li Zhenyu stood there, fists clenched, face alternating between red and white, unable to believe his eyes. His lips trembled as he looked at me, almost pleading.
“Yan Qian, what are you doing? Is this all just to get back at me? Everything back then was a misunderstanding—it was all my fault.”
During the past three years, Li Zhenyu had gone mad searching for me, investigating the collapse of the Li Group. He discovered that all the evidence that made him think I’d schemed to get close to him was forged by Bai Yuhan. He’d never even known about my father’s heart surgery.
Enraged, Li Zhenyu took his revenge on Bai Yuhan, nearly bankrupting the Lin family with the Li family’s power.
But what he didn’t know was that Lin Zeyan had used the chaos to transfer most of the Lin family’s assets overseas, leaving the rest of the family with nothing but a mess. The Lin family’s internal strife was far more complicated than I’d imagined.
As I left the gala, Li Zhenyu chased after me.
“I’m sorry, Yan Qian. I love you. I was just too scared to admit it. I used Bai Yuhan to provoke you, to make you jealous, to see you go crazy for me. Yan Qian, I’ve always loved you—I just used the wrong methods. Please, give me another chance.”
I rolled up the car window impatiently. “Li Zhenyu, I’m really not interested in you. Can you stop pestering me? Isn’t this a little pathetic?”
He stood in front of my car, refusing to let me leave. I had an idea, flashed the high beams at him, and stuck my head out the window to shout, “What are you doing? Security! Someone’s blocking my car!”
Security guards quickly dragged Li Zhenyu away as I drove off, my new life waiting ahead.
It took a long time for Li Zhenyu to realize that the opposite of love wasn’t hate—it was indifference.
He might have thought I was his whole world, but to me, he was just a stranger now. The calm in my eyes finally broke him.
Bai Yuhan, watching Li Zhenyu obsess over me every day, was driven mad with jealousy. One day, she finally snapped and stabbed Li Zhenyu with a knife.
The two families settled things privately. Lin Zeyan took Bai Yuhan abroad, leaving the Lin family’s troubles behind.
Li Zhenyu spent a long time in the hospital. I went to see him once.
His eyes lit up with hope as he struggled to sit up, gaze fixed on me.
“Yan Qian—”
I handed him a stack of documents. “When I disappeared, you had my household registration canceled. I need it restored. Sign here.”
He agreed without hesitation.
After signing, Li Zhenyu seemed to regain some of his old spirit. He sat up, looking out the window at the gentle April breeze, hope flickering in his heart.
“With your registration restored, Yan Qian, we never actually divorced. You’re still my wife, aren’t you?”
I nodded. “Of course.”
After all, the doctor said you don’t have much time left. Once you’re gone, I’ll inherit everything—and live happily ever after.
The End
Chapter 07
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