How was she?

It seemed like she had built a life for herself.

What about him?

He seemed to be holding on as well. Even though his company had faced a serious financial crisis earlier, it had been resolved. After the release of the product, his company’s income had experienced a steady rise, and he had just signed several important contracts this month. He was destined to join Beijing’s circle of business elites. By then, there would be plenty of socialites who would fight to stay by his side.

Therefore, they were both living a good life. But for some reason, that didn’t seem to be the conclusion that either of them wanted.

…

Spring came and went, came and went. As another season of warmth and blossoms came, Qin Yinan put down his work and stood before the floor-length window. Feeling the ray of the setting sun on his face, Qin Yinan felt reenergized from the lethargy that he had been feeling from working all day. It was then that he realized with a start that it was going to be his thirtieth birthday in a few days.

Thirtieth birthday? The year he parted from Cheng Qingchong, he had only been 28. He remembered it so clearly because he spent his birthday that year at the hospital. She didn’t know it was his birthday, and it was only after Song Song came to the hospital to give him the present that it finally dawned on her. She didn’t have a present prepared, but after sending Song Song away, she sat beside him and told him softly, “Happy birthday.”

At the time, the birthday wish had made him happier than the birthday present Song Song gave him. When she held him to sit up in bed, he had realized how cold her hands were. It was the first time he had actively reached for her hands, and at the time, he had questioned himself for doing something like that.

It was also that day that he had found out her existence beside him was nothing more than a ploy, an attempt at deceit.

Ever since his brush with Cheng Qingchong in Shanghai two years ago, it had been one year and six months since he last saw her. Without him realizing it, so much time had passed between them.

In this one year and six months, things were going on peacefully for him. The company’s development was much better than he expected. Last month, he had just entered the American market. In just one month, the stock of his company had tripled, and he was now worth more than he could ever imagine.

Last year, his mother had fallen sick with a serious illness. She had spent a month hospitalized. After she recovered, she realized how much she wanted a grandchild, so she had been urging him to go on dates and get married.

He didn’t answer his mother’s order. His mother eventually relented, thinking it was not wrong for her son to be focused on his work as well. However, even after one and a half years had passed, even he had seen with his own eyes that the woman had moved on with her life, he was still standing where he was, with no intention of marrying anyone other than Cheng Qingchong.

In these one and a half years, he had spent most of his time overseas on business trips, and the remaining time had mostly been occupied by his work.

The time he had spent at home was incredibly limited, especially after he bought himself a new home last year. He hadn’t returned to the home that he and she had shared since then.

He knew that he was afraid, so in the past year, he had purposely filled his schedule with work because work was his only escape from overthinking. And with him caught up in work, he could lie to himself with the illusion that he had forgotten about everything.

It was as if, even though he had a bleeding scar in his heart, as long as he didn’t touch it to cause pain, he could pretend that it didn’t exist.

Right, he had also updated his car. It was better and more expensive than the Maserati that he had seen her in last time.