Chapter 29 Let’s Break Up

Chapter 29: Let's Break Up

"Jue, what's on your mind?" Someone came over to toast.

Ling Jue finally set his phone down and raised his glass.

If there had to be a loser in this game, it couldn't always be him, Ling Jue.

That chance encounter had made the atmosphere downstairs a little off.

Everyone stopped mentioning that man, making small talk on purpose, sharing gossip they'd heard at work to change the subject, being careful of Qin Shuyi's feelings.

Qin Shuyi thought, how terrible.

When Ling Jue appeared downstairs at the company, she had anticipated this scene.

How could a playboy who flitted through countless flowers truly remain untouched? Those bees and butterflies drawn by the scent were unavoidable traces.

The so-called noble aristocratic families felt ordinary families didn't measure up to them, not realizing that people from simple, ordinary backgrounds found a boyfriend with so much baggage a headache.

The nice group dinner lost some of its relaxed vibe. When it was time to pay, the staff told them someone had already settled it for them, and everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.

This place wasn't cheap. For him to be so generous to her regular coworkers, considerate enough to pay ahead of time—perhaps he really hadn't intentionally ignored her earlier.

They all thanked Qin Shuyi.

Before leaving, they quietly told her, "Although the handsome guy's treat was delicious, if he really is a scumbag, you should still kick him to the curb."

Qin Shuyi sat in the back seat, leaning against the passenger window and laughing for a while.

She was actually a little tipsy too.

Through the window, its glass reflecting the streetlights, she looked towards the restaurant's second floor. The private rooms reserved for VIPs offered great privacy; you couldn't see a thing from outside.

One above, one below—it was the clear distance that had existed between them since they first met.

As the driver was about to pull away, on a hunch, she changed the destination on her phone app.

"Not going there anymore. Let's go home."

...

The dinner party broke up, and the birthday celebrants moved on to a second venue.

After going downstairs, Ling Jue looked towards the corner table. The crowd and noise had cleared; the servers had long since cleared the table, leaving it completely empty.

And from beginning to end, she hadn't reached out to him once.

"Master Jue, are you still going?"

Everyone knew Ling Jue had rarely gone out partying late this past year; no one thought they could get him to come today.

Tao Wangxi knew who he was eager to go back and accompany. Disappointment flickered in her eyes, but she didn't show a trace of it again.

The wind blew over, and she coughed lightly a few more times, wrapping her coat around herself. "Then I'll also lea..."

"I'll go."

His calm voice cut off her thought of leaving.

She looked towards the man talking to the birthday person.

The man's sharp edges carried a hint of coolness in the still night. Even with no expression on his face, you could tell he was in a bad mood.

The friend talking to Tao Wangxi continued the previous topic, "Wangxi, it's good for you to go back and rest first. Where they're headed is sure to be a madhouse."

"I'm going too," Tao Wangxi's decisive voice rang out.

A slight smile appeared on her face. "It's rare to meet up. I'll go take a look too."

...

Master Jue's rare appearance tonight had everyone in high spirits.

Before they knew it, empty glasses were piling up.

A woman, glassy-eyed from drink, walked towards Ling Jue, who was looking at his phone for what felt like the hundredth time. Halfway there, she received a glance from Tao Wangxi, who was also sitting quietly nearby. She stopped in her tracks, and was soon dragged away by others, albeit reluctantly.

"What's the deal? She's not Master Jue's girlfriend," she muttered under her breath.

The person next to her tugged at her. "Don't say that. She might not be now, but she might be in the future."

The woman curled her lip and didn't argue further.

Ling Jue didn't notice the subtle confrontation in the shadows.

He wasn't drinking either, just fiddling with a black spade Ace from a deck of Texas Hold'em poker cards, silent, lost in thought.

One by one, the heavily drunk people passed out. By the time the first light of dawn appeared, the only ones still sober were Ling Jue and Tao Wangxi.

Tao Wangxi brought a cup of coffee to his side, speaking her first words to him that night,

"Master Jue, it's dawn."

It was dawn. And that person, who clearly knew he was with Tao Wangxi, who clearly knew finding him would only take five minutes, had been as quiet all night as if that chance encounter had never happened.

The wind brushed the lake's surface; when it calmed, it stopped.

How utterly boring, he suddenly thought.

Ling Jue stood up, picked up his jacket, ignored Tao Wangxi and the coffee, and strode out.

Once again left behind, Tao Wangxi felt no resentment.

She thought, much of what Tao Yusheng said was unreasonable, but his assessment that she had been too hasty before wasn't wrong.

It turned out she didn't need to do anything; their fragile love would find its own dead end.

She drank that cup of coffee herself, her mood quite good as she followed the path Ling Jue had taken to leave.

...

Ling Jue didn't return to the place he and Qin Shuyi had been staying lately. Instead, he went straight to the company.

He took a shower in the private lounge on the top floor. As the cold water poured over his head, he closed his eyes.

Whether there was love or not wasn't unimportant.

Once a relationship had assumptions, people would repeatedly scrutinize details to prove their point, tossing and turning in doubt, worrying about gains and losses, until they were no longer themselves.

Ling Jue had never lost before, yet he suffered a crushing defeat with Qin Shuyi.

A two-person romantic game is no fun when only one is truly invested.

He returned to his position as the cold, aloof dealer.

Taking back the cards.

Cutting his losses in time.

...

Qin Shuyi woke up in her own home that morning, wondering if Ling Jue had gone home the night before.

The drinks from the dinner gathering weren't enough to make her fall asleep quickly, so after returning home, she made herself another drink and slept soundly.

Still groggy when she woke up, she picked up her phone and saw the brief message on WeChat:

"Let's break up."

In no hurry to reply, she stretched, pushed back the covers, and got out of bed.

After brushing her teeth, washing her face, doing her skincare, and getting dressed, her mind felt clearer.

She picked up her phone and replied with equal calm.

"Okay."

Just as their beginning had lacked flowers or confessions, their ending was just as quiet.

No sea of hatred or sky of passion, no lightning flashes or thunderclaps, no perfectly suited tragic soundtrack.

She pushed open the window and smiled slightly.

Another day of gentle breeze and warm sunshine.

...

That romantic chapter over, work still had to proceed as usual.

On her way to work, biting into a sandwich, Qin Shuyi mused that she and Ling Jue had no joint assets to split.

Ling Jue had once wanted to give her a pet, but she refused, pleading a busy work schedule and the hassle of care.

Her clothes, jewelry, and daily necessities—aside from those at her own home—weren't things she had bought for his place.

Apart from trips to the supermarket together, she had never brought her own belongings to his home.

After the breakup, she shouldn't keep wearing or using that stuff, and Ling Jue certainly wouldn't keep it for his next partner. So, she could just have a cleaner toss it.

On the other hand, there were still a few items of Ling Jue's clothing, belts, and watches at her place. She figured Ling Jue wouldn't want them back.

But since they were so valuable—a single watch might cost more than an ordinary person earns in a lifetime—she decided to ask Special Assistant Li later. If he confirmed Ling Jue didn't want them, she would have them processed and donated in Ling Jue's name.

After turning it over in her mind, she realized that the only thing truly leaving his world was, in fact, just herself.

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