Back then, Yi Ling had cried whenever Yan Huan had to dunk herself in icy cold water. Yan Huan had, in turn, cried because she had made Yi Ling cry. Those had been the worst years of their life, and both of them had tried their best not to bring up the painful memories. But those days were now hazy and distant; the suffering they had had to endure seemed unbelievable, in retrospect.
Yan Huan lifted her face to the bracing wind. There was already an icy bite to the breeze; winter was coming.
“Oh, they left.” Lei Qingyi looked up from his food and was surprised to see that the table he had been watching was now empty. He mentally kicked himself for not having gone over to ask for an autograph; he had nothing to lose, anyway. Maybe she was not the woman they had saved, but she could have been Yan Huan. Or maybe the woman they had saved was, in fact, the one and only Yan Huan.
But Lu Yi immediately shot his suggestion down, and Lei Qingyi had deferred to his judgment.
Fang Zhu barely touched her chopsticks. She was not accustomed to eating hot pot. She was part of the upper-class elite, and refused to demean herself by eating such trashy food.
The hot pot was not the only reason she was feeling upset and annoyed. She had not expected Lu Yi to actually know the woman just now.
Fang Zhu had an excellent memory; she never forgot a face once she had committed it to memory. She was absolutely certain that the woman who had just left was the very same lady she had bumped into in his apartment building, the one who had called her “auntie.”
But the way Lei Qingyi talked about her suggested that Lu Yi was actually acquainted with her. Did he actually know her? Was there a secret connection between him and that woman, one that he was deliberately hiding from her?
No. There was no way she was going to allow something like that. Absolutely not.
Lu Yi was the closest match to her ideal partner in life. She did not want to dump him and find someone else, not after all the time she had invested into their relationship. Besides, there was no guarantee that she would be able to find someone as suitable as him in the future.
She knew she had to get to the bottom of this.
After finishing their meal, Lu Yi drove both Lei Qingyi and Fang Zhu home. He dropped Lei Qingyi off first; Lei Qingyi immediately hopped out of the car without preamble and went straight home to sleep. He had seen the unhappy look on Fang Zhu’s face, and sensed a possible storm in Lu Yi and Fang Zhu’s relationship, but he could not care less. In fact, he only wanted to get away from Fang Zhu as quickly as possible.
Lu Yi and Fang Zhu were finally alone in the car. She asked the question that had been on her mind since their meal at the restaurant.
“What’s your connection with that woman?”
“I don’t know her,” said Lu Yi evasively. It was the truth, anyway—he barely knew her.
“Who is she?” Fang Zhu asked again. She was not the type to lose her temper, but she was annoyed now. Like most women, she was able to look away and pretend not to notice certain things—but not when another woman was involved. No self-respecting woman would let her man cheat on her with another.
Lu Yi pulled the car over and killed the engine. His eyes were as calm as a placid lake.
His thin lips parted; four icy words tumbled out of it: “I don’t know her.”
Anyone who saw them now would never have guessed that Lu Yi and Fang Zhu were supposed to be a couple. There was something important missing from their relationship; they were only together because everyone else thought they were a good match.
Bam! Fang Zhu got out of the car and slammed the door shut behind her. She stuck out her hand, and a taxi pulled up next to her within seconds.
Lu Yi watched impassively as the taxi drove away. He waited for it to disappear into the far distance before starting his car again.
“Lu Yi, did you just say that she up and left you, just like that?” Lei Qingyi’s eyes were wide with disbelief. He was sprawled out on the large sofa in his house, his phone plastered against his ear. The news delighted him, but he could not explain why.
“So, what do you think? I mean, how do you feel about this?” Lei Qingyi sat up straight. He wanted to know if Lu Yi was feeling depressed after getting dumped, even if he had not actually liked the woman.
Lei Qingyi felt it was in Lu Yi’s best interests to treat this latest breakup as a valuable lesson, learn from it, and prepare himself for similar breakups in the future.
Lu Yi lowered his head. His fingers tightened around the cup of milk tea he had just bought.
“Feel?” He frowned.
Was he feeling anything?
He considered it for a long moment. Finally, he lifted the cup to his lips.
“I can finally drink milk tea.”
Lei Qingyi: “…”
Both Lu Yi and Lei Qingyi assumed that Fang Zhu had broken up with Lu Yi for good. Lu Yi had started going out with Fang Zhu only recently, after all, and they barely knew each other. Just like her predecessors before her, Fang Zhu had mercilessly dumped Lu Yi because he was insensitive and a workaholic—or so they thought.
Lu Yi was therefore surprised when he returned home the next day to see Fang Zhu nonchalantly chatting with Ye Shuyun, as though nothing had happened.
Lu Yi immediately thought of the boxes of instant milk tea powder in his cupboard.
He sighed inwardly—it looked like he would have to give up milk tea again.
Women were a complete enigma to him. It was difficult to know what they were thinking.
He entered his room, shut the door behind him, and began leafing through a book. A moment later, he set the book down and got out his phone to check the Weibo he had been frequenting lately. It had become part of his daily routine.
He looked at the latest post.
“We can’t take care of you, so we’ll have to board you at a pet shop for now.”
The new photo showed a cat in a cage, looking sad and pitiful. It was an adorable cat, but now its eyes seemed to shimmer with unshed tears. It was a heartbreaking sight.
Lu Yi crossed his arms. He shook his head, and set his phone down.
“Are you sure you want to leave her here?”
Yi Ling was extremely reluctant to part with Little Bean, even if it was only temporary. “Why don’t we bring her with us? She looks so sad. She’s crying, look.” Little Bean was staring mournfully at her masters with her large, unblinking eyes The sight broke their hearts: Little Bean looked like she knew they were leaving her behind.
Yan Huan poked a finger through the bars of the cage; Little Bean licked it with her tiny tongue before lying down obediently with her tail curled around her body. She looked even more sad and pitiful this way.
“She needs to get used to this. We may be spending most of our time on location shoots outside of the city. We’ll be moving from place to place. How are you going to bring her with you? Even if our hotels turn out to be pet-friendly, how are you going to take her with us on public transportation?”
Yi Ling’s face fell. She knew they had no other options, but she simply could not bear to leave Little Bean behind. Yi Ling had lovingly raised Little Bean from a tiny runt of a kitten into the plump, beautiful cat she was now. Little Bean was her pride and joy, and it pained her to have to send her away now.
It was the day of the full-costume photo shoot for Journey to Fairyland, and the entire production crew was expected to attend. It was the perfect opportunity for Yan Huan to get to know the new production team.
