1
“There’s a million on this card. Leave my son.”
The café was noisy with chatter. I never expected it, either.
A plot straight out of a novel had, one day, become my life.
I picked up the black card, glanced at it, then asked:
“Mrs. Zhang, you’re giving me all this of your own free will, right?”
The woman twirled the ruby ring on her thumb, her expression growing even more contemptuous.
“You don’t need to worry about that.”
“I’ll sign a contract with you.”
I nodded and slipped the black card into my purse.
Then I took out my phone and messaged the man who’d been texting me nonstop ever since he woke up.
“You and I are breaking up.”
2
“Babe, guess what I got?”
“Look who it is! Isn’t this the limited-edition doll you’ve always wanted?”
“Your young master here waited in line forever to get it…”
“I’m fishing for praise… Now that you’re back in the country, how are you going to reward me?”
His long string of messages came with a cute kitten sticker.
My words, “You and I are breaking up,” stood out like a slap in the face.
A minute after the message went through, he called.
I declined the call, then turned off my phone.
I flopped onto the bed, my gaze settling on the black card.
3
Meeting Giang Tần Hoán, a rich and rather dim-witted young master, was a complete accident.
I was the one who pursued him.
Back then, I didn’t know his family was rich—this rich.
If I’d known, I wouldn’t have gone after him.
But when my roommate excitedly grabbed my hand, her eyes brimming with envy, and said:
“Thu Thủy, did you know all along that your quiet, steady boyfriend was insanely rich?”
“His family donated all ten of the libraries at his school!”
“He’s so hot, and now we find out he’s loaded, too. You’ve got it made~”
Giang Tần Hoán was innocently wearing the wool hat and scarf I’d knitted for him, despite the summer heat.
He showed them off to everyone he met: “Did you know my girlfriend knitted me this super cute scarf herself?”
He didn’t even spare the stray cat under the dorm.
If he passed it by, he’d drag it over to show off his new scarf.
I admit, dating Giang Tần Hoán really was fun.
I really did like him, too.
But one stark truth lay right before us.
He and I belonged to entirely different worlds.
4
I went downstairs to take out the trash.
Under the streetlight, someone stood waiting.
I instinctively glanced at my watch. It was six thirty in the morning.
He should still have been in Melbourne last night.
“Lâm Thu Thủy.”
He stood there and called my name.
His voice, once so youthful, now carried a trace of weariness.
I sighed softly and turned to face him.
“Why did you say we should break up?”
He walked over and stopped in front of me.
I lowered my head and looked up at him from where I stood.
The faint morning light outlined his perfectly defined waist and back.
He reached out and gently tucked the stray lock of hair at my temple behind my ear.
“Did I do something to upset you?”
“Give me a chance to make it up to you, okay?”
“……”
All I noticed was his rumpled shirt and the traces of exhaustion in his eyes.
As expected, the young master had rushed back on an overnight flight.
I reached into my pocket and took out the black card.
I placed it in his palm.
“There’s a million on this card.”
“I’m paying you back first, Giang Tần Hoán.”
I couldn’t remember how much money Giang Tần Hoán had spent on me.
When we were together, he never gave money a second thought. He knew I loved flowers, and for every anniversary he’d have a truckload delivered.
It felt as though someone had struck my heart.
So I turned and walked away.
He grabbed my wrist from behind.
“Honey, don’t go.”
“Don’t shut me out.”
“At least tell me why. I…”
“Don’t call me that.”
I stopped and pulled my hand free.
I turned and looked him straight in the eye.
“We can’t get married, can we?”
“Who told you that…”
“Then tell me, Giang Tần Hoán. Did your father agree to this marriage, or did your mother?”
He froze where he stood.
Then he firmly took my hand. Beneath the dawn light, his eyes brightened.
“I’ll talk to them and make things clear.”
…Giang Tần Hoán really was a young master doted on by his family.
From the first time I met him, I knew he’d grown up surrounded by love.
That was why he shone with such confidence, and loved others with the same confidence.
But he didn’t know that the support behind him was full of thorns.
He couldn’t understand the world I saw.
It was better to end things now, before it went any further.
I pulled my hand free and walked into the hallway without looking back.
5
I didn’t want Giang Tần Hoán contacting me.
I’d turned off my phone.
So I didn’t find out until evening that something had happened in the hospital room where my mother was staying.
When I rushed to the hospital, the crowd gathered outside the room hadn’t dispersed yet.
I walked toward them one step at a time.
My mother had been in a vegetative state for years.
She’d been in this hospital the whole time, but today her room looked nothing like it usually did.
The tables and chairs had all been smashed.
Broken glass littered the floor, and the hospital-room walls were covered in vile obscenities.
And finally, above my mother’s bed,
someone had painted one enormous word in red: “Die.”
“Your grandmother has been moved. She wasn’t seriously hurt.”
“We’ve also called the police. It was a bunch of thugs who did this.”
“Still, Ms. Lâm, I think you should consider…”
“Have you offended anyone lately?”
It was clearly an act of revenge.
They hadn’t caused any real injuries. They just wanted to intimidate me.
I nodded, thanked the nurse, then stepped into the hallway.
I called her.
6
“I think I should do as you said.”
“You don’t have to drag my family into this…”
On the other end, Giang Tần Hoán’s mother seemed to have expected my call.
“Ms. Lâm, I was just about to congratulate you.”
“I thought you were nothing more than a pretty face.”
“I didn’t expect you to be pretty quick-witted, too.”
Her voice was slow and gentle, but every word dripped with sarcasm.
“Did you think filing a complaint with my son would leave me helpless?”
“What do young people call someone like you these days?”
“A green tea bitch—always playing petty little games. I’ve met plenty of your kind.”
“……”
I drew a deep breath.
“Then what do you want me to do?”
On the other end, she seemed dissatisfied with how dense I was.
Her words landed with unexpected weight.
“I don’t need the details. I only need results.”
“The result I want is for my son to cut all ties with you.”
7
“Thu Thủy, did you break up with your boyfriend?”
“How could you let such a good guy go?”
“You have no idea how crazy Giang Tần Hoán has been.”
“Even now, you still won’t change your mind?”
These days, even without asking, I couldn’t escape hearing news about Giang Tần Hoán.
When I got home, there was a paper bag outside my door.
Inside was a stuffed bear.
It was the limited-edition one I’d always wanted.
Memories of the time when he and I had been so passionately in love suddenly flooded back.
He’d been so eager to wait in line and buy limited-edition things for me.
Back then, I’d leaned against him, pinched the straight bridge of his nose, and asked,
“A young master like you shouldn’t have to line up in person to buy these things for me, right?”
He took my hand and kissed my palm softly.
“But doing this makes me feel like there’s a connection between us.”
“Lâm Thu Thủy, I want to give you everything I have.”
“But I don’t know what ‘everything’ is supposed to mean.”
That sweet young master was so silly. He’d stood in line under the blazing midsummer sun to buy me a stuffed bear.
After all that effort to get it for me, I’d gone and told him we were breaking up.
I hugged the stuffed bear and stroked its soft ears.
I turned, opened the door, and went inside.
Three days later, I was sitting in that same café again.
Giang Tần Hoán’s mother was still waiting for me.
This time, she wore a pigeon-egg-sized emerald on her thumb.
When I sat down, she said nothing and handed me a tablet.
A girl’s profile was displayed on the screen.
“Her name is Tưởng Y Y. I’m sure you know who she is, don’t you?”
“Everyone who studies vocal music knows her, don’t they?”
“She made her debut onstage with the Hai City Symphony Orchestra at seven, and at seventeen she debuted at the Vienna Opera Festival. She recently finished advanced studies in Italy, and the lead role at the Capital Opera House is waiting for her.”
“She and Tần Hoán grew up together.”
“She’s also told me that she likes Tần Hoán.”
She looked me up and down.
“You study vocal music too, don’t you? Don’t you want to be the lead performer in a theater company someday?”
“Take a look at your credentials. Have you ever won a major award? Have you performed at an opera festival?”
“What do you have besides that face?”
Her barrage of questions was almost cruel, as if she wanted to carve a hole in me.
In the end, they came down to seven words.
Are you even good enough for Giang Tần Hoán?
“The only woman who can become my daughter-in-law is Tưởng Y Y.”
“My son is utterly infatuated with you. You can always go to him for help.”
“But let me be clear: I have countless ways to deal with you.”
At the worst possible moment, my phone rang.
It sounded like a death knell, while the woman across from me seemed to have seen it coming.
She lowered her head, took a sip of black tea, and gestured for me to answer.
I picked up and said a quiet “hello.”
It was my advisor.
“Thu Thủy, I’m so sorry.”
“There’s something…”
“The lead role in the production I was going to give you has gone to someone else.”
My hand trembled as I held the phone.
With graduation approaching, everyone wanted the perfect finishing touch on their résumé.
This was supposed to be my first time as the lead performer.
No one else in the department had a better record than I did.
“Professor… but…”
I sighed, but he cut me off.
“That’s enough, Thu Thủy. Don’t say anything more.”
“I’m the one who should apologize to you.”
“But there really isn’t anything else I can do.”
“……”
I hung up.
The woman across from me gave me a faint smile.
“Let me guess—the lead role was given to someone else?”
“Oh, but that’s not what I’d call stealing. Y Y really is more capable than you. The theater company has no reason to turn her away.”
“……”
By then, I understood: she’d arranged for Tưởng Y Y to take my place.
“Well, this is only the beginning.”
The café music played softly as she slowly stirred the black tea in front of her.
“You can insist on staying by Giang Tần Hoán’s side if you like.”
“But you’ll face countless problems from now on.”
“Your mother, your career, everything you have.”
“I absolutely—”
The spoon clinked against the cup with a shrill sound.
“Will destroy it all.”
“……”
Maybe the café’s air conditioning was turned up too high.
Otherwise, why did I feel a chill run down my spine?
I tried to steady my breathing and forced a smile.
“I already told Giang Tần Hoán we were breaking up. He’s the one who—”
“Lâm Thu Thủy.”
She called me by name.
“I want results.”
“……”
“Do I need to teach you what to do?”
“I’ll find a professional actor to play your new boyfriend.”
“You’re an actor too, so you must know how to play a shameless woman, don’t you?”
“You cheat on him. You sneak around behind his back.”
“I want Giang Tần Hoán to give up on you and find you disgusting.”
The woman looked at me and slowly delivered her final words.
“So disgusting it makes him want to puke.”