Chapter 3

Yes.

In my five years at the Lu Group, I had handled dozens of projects, large and small.

Every year, headhunters called with positions and salaries far better than what the Lu Group offered, but I always declined with a smile.

Then I would turn to Lu Siming and tease, “See what an outstanding girlfriend you have? You really hit the jackpot.”

At first, he would wrap his arms around me from behind and chuckle.

“Yes, yes. I’m the luckiest man alive. I found the most amazing girlfriend in the world.”

But when I made the same joke last year, he merely took off his glasses, tossed them aside, and looked at me with something close to indifference.

“So?

“Why don’t you take over as CEO, then?”

My smile froze on my lips that day.

Humiliation and anger churned in my chest. I wanted to call a headhunter on the spot and make Lu Siming regret everything bitterly.

But by morning, he acted as if nothing had happened. He ran two kilometers to buy my favorite soup dumplings, and all my anger landed like a fist against cotton.

Pathetic. A few dumplings were all it took to win me over.

The night breeze dried the dampness on my face. I called Shan.

Shan was a friend I’d met through work. She ran a company in Hong Kong and had made a name for herself in the industry.

When she heard I wanted to join her company, she sounded more shocked than delighted. “What happened? Did your boyfriend’s company go bankrupt?

“I offered you twice the market salary back then, and you still refused to leave him…”

I answered calmly, “We broke up.”

She fell silent for a moment, then clapped. “Then congratulations to me. I’m about to gain a formidable new hire.”

“I’ll send you an offer right now. Just wait!”

Her breathless excitement made me laugh.

Then I looked up, saw my smiling reflection in a shop window, and froze.

When anger got the better of me, I had imagined breaking up with Lu Siming before. Yet even the thought of it made my heart twist until I cried.

Our bond went all the way back to high school. I couldn’t bear to let it go.

But now that it had truly happened, I found myself strangely calm.

It felt like throwing away a piece of gum that had lost its sweetness long ago.

I put away my phone and prepared to hail a cab.

Then a cautious voice came from beside me. “Xiao Ying?”

I turned.

It was Song Mian.

Our coworkers from the dinner stood behind her.

Lu Siming stood at her side.

Behind his gold-rimmed glasses, his eyes regarded me coldly, as if passing judgment on an unwelcome intruder.

And beside me

was the very dumpling shop where he had once lined up before dawn so I could taste the day’s first fresh batch.