Chapter 76: Let Us End Here

Three days later, it was Friday.

According to the weather forecast, Typhoon "Firework" was about to make landfall in a city neighboring Jiangcheng. Due to the storm’s outer bands, Jiangcheng was battered by torrential rain for two consecutive days.

The deluge was so relentless it seemed to overturn the entire city.

Lou Zhao and Chen Shujie, both required to intern at the hospital during summer break, should have been there at that very moment. But that morning, floodwaters blocked the exit of their dormitory, leaving them stranded inside, staring out at the rain in frustrated resignation.

Thunder rumbled outside as Chen Shujie sprawled in a chair, scrolling through Weibo on his phone. Suddenly, something caught his eye. He sprang upright in shock.

“Holy—! Ye Ge is getting married?!”

The news came from a financial daily he followed, which had posted an official interview with Ye Zixuan’s mother. The Ye family was a top supplier in the medical equipment materials industry and had always maintained close business ties with the Cheng family. During the interview, Ye Zixuan’s mother, seemingly in passing but with obvious delight, revealed that something good was about to happen between the two families.

Lou Zhao turned at the exclamation, his face a picture of bewilderment.

“Says who? That can’t be! Isn’t Lu Ge’s little sister…?”

Before he could finish, Chen Shujie hastily corrected him.

“Not Diandian… it’s Ye Zixuan!”

His expression was one of complete disbelief.

Both of them, as Cheng Xingye’s close friends, had seen firsthand just how invested he was in Lu Qingyue. They’d always figured the two would end up together. The news came as a bolt from the blue.

If the official account of Dingli Technology, a Cheng family company, hadn’t also forwarded the news, he would never have believed it.

Lou Zhao, never one to mince words, immediately voiced his doubts.

“...No way! Why Ye Zixuan? Wasn’t Ye Ge pursuing Diandian…?”

Before he could finish, Chen Shujie jabbed him sharply in the side.

The blow was hard enough to make Lou Zhao grimace in pain, nearly knocking the wind out of him.

“Damn, why’d you poke me?”

Chen Shujie frantically signaled toward the door. Confused, Lou Zhao followed his gaze—and instantly fell silent.

Lu Yi stood by the door, face cold and drawn, looking absolutely livid.

In all the years they’d known him, neither had ever seen him so furious. If he’d had a knife in hand just then, they wouldn’t have doubted for a moment that they’d be the first sacrificed to his wrath.

Lu Yi pressed his lips into a thin line, making no move to enter. He merely forced his anger down and asked, voice constrained and icy,

“Where is Cheng Xingye?”

......

Rain pounded against the city, drumming hard on car windows and blurring the glass.

Cheng Xingye sped away from the hospital, driving fast despite the storm. But the downpour soon brought traffic to a standstill; in mere minutes, the city center was clogged with flashing hazard lights and gridlock in every direction.

The city lights, diffused through the rainy mist, made everything hazy and indistinct.

Cheng Xingye slammed on the brakes, anxiety clawing at him as he faced the relentless rain.

Ye Zixuan’s mother had said all those things in her interview today without so much as a word to his family beforehand. Had he known, he would’ve had Guo Mengyun stop it all. But had Guo Mengyun known in advance? Was everyone aware except him, the one most affected?

Frustration threatened to overwhelm him, but this was not the time to untangle it. What mattered far more was whether the Ye family and his parents had already reached some unspoken agreement—and, above all, whether Lu Qingyue had seen the news and believed it.

Despite the air conditioning, sweat beaded cold on his back.

A chorus of horns rose from the traffic as drivers vented their impatience. Ahead, a collision had paralyzed the flow, and chaos reigned outside his window.

Watching the mess unfold, Cheng Xingye felt as if his entire world had just begun to slip out of his grasp.

....

By the time he reached the Lu residence, the rain had eased somewhat.

Sitting in his car, Cheng Xingye dialed Lu Qingyue’s number; it rang for a few seconds before being abruptly disconnected.

Before he could call again, the villa’s heavy wooden door swung open, and a girl stepped out, holding an umbrella.

On that gloomy, rain-soaked day, she wore nothing but a thin cotton nightdress, her delicate figure seeming so fragile she might dissolve into the storm at any moment.

Though the rain blurred his vision, her outline was piercingly clear.

Cheng Xingye flung open his car door and ran toward her.

The rain lashed at him, soaking his back in seconds, icy cold against his skin but burning hot inside his chest.

Lu Qingyue unlocked the iron gate to the small garden and walked out.

The moment she stopped in front of him, he wrapped her in a fierce embrace.

“Diandian… let me explain.”

Lu Qingyue raised the umbrella higher, shielding him from the rain, but stood perfectly still in his arms. Her voice was calm as she said,

“My parents are home. I can’t stay out long. Whatever you have to say, say it here.”

Holding her slim, warm body, Cheng Xingye finally felt the tight knot in his chest begin to loosen and thaw.

Bending over to shelter her, he encircled her completely, his voice hoarse with emotion.

“As for the engagement with the Ye family, they brought it up to me two months ago. I refused, and thought that was the end of it. I have no idea why they suddenly…”

He had never imagined the Ye family would blindside him like this. Ye Zixuan had promised she’d handle it.

“Xingye.”

She gently interrupted him.

Though she let him hold her, Lu Qingyue’s eyes shimmered with a faint, stinging sorrow. She blinked quickly, forcing down the ache, and steadied her voice.

“If you’re here to explain this, I have something to say as well.”

Cheng Xingye fell silent.

His arms loosened, and he looked down at her, speechless.

Her long lashes trembled in the wind and rain, fluttering like butterfly wings, as if she might take flight at any moment.

He suddenly felt she was more elusive than she seemed—so innocent and carefree, as if nothing mattered, but if she chose to leave, he’d be powerless to stop her.

Lu Qingyue pressed her lips together lightly, gazing into his dark eyes with a look of sorrowful resolve.

“No matter whether the engagement is real, she is different to you from anyone else. Neither of us can change that.”

Whether or not she was his idealized love, the public announcement from the Ye family—immediately echoed by the Cheng family’s official account—had already revealed the tacit approval of both families.

Cheng Xingye hunched over, her words sending icy numbness through him.

He bit his lip, breathing hard, and struggled to explain.

“Diandian, it’s not what you think…”

The wind and rain closed in, the umbrella above them shivering in the typhoon’s chill.

A woman’s voice called out from the villa behind them.

“Diandian, what are you doing out in this downpour?”

Before Cheng Xingye could react, the girl pulled him down by the neck.

A soft breath brushed his nose, and something cool pressed against the corner of his lips—a fleeting sting.

The faint taste of blood mingled with the earthy scent of wet grass, rising into his nostrils.

Cheng Xingye stood frozen.

Before he could respond, her warmth had already retreated.

She shoved the umbrella into his hands. He looked up and met her clear, luminous eyes, within which his own reflection shone.

“Cheng Xingye, you don’t owe me anything anymore.”

Lu Qingyue lifted her chin, slender back straight, her voice clear and resolute.

“This is the end for us.”