Ji Fanling pouted. “Sometimes, you really sound just like Old Tang…”

“Ji Fanling,” Fu Yingcheng called her name softly.

【The words in my heart are already deafening,】

【But the ones on my lips remain unsaid,】

【Why does regret always come after loss,】

【Silence is another kind of overwhelming love.】

The girl lifted her eyes and met his gaze. She smiled faintly, revealing her small, sharp canines. “Fu Yingcheng, I’m not like you.”

It was a strange smile, childishly innocent, yet her eyes were filled with helplessness and sorrow.

At that moment, Fu Yingcheng couldn’t understand why she had such an expression.

He never truly understood her. Not in that moment, nor in any moment of her life.

Fu Yingcheng asked, “What makes us different?”

Ji Fanling slowly enunciated her words. “Fu Yingcheng, your future will be limitless, bright all the way.”

Boom! Boom! Boom! A series of deafening explosions shot upward like cannons.

Accompanying the climax of the concert’s loudest notes, massive fireworks erupted around the stadium, blooming to the height of six floors—not too high, not too low—bursting open right in front of them.

The airflow from the fireworks lifted the girl’s long hair, and sparks flew as the massive, disk-shaped fireworks bloomed one after another in the sky, surrounding them like a sea of radiant blossoms.

The girl’s pale face was illuminated by the myriad of exploding colors.

In that moment, the dust and bloodstains on her face seemed to vanish entirely, leaving her pale features stunningly beautiful amidst the interplay of light and shadow. It’s so breathtaking that it seemed unreal.

Her lips parted gently.

“What?” Fu Yingcheng frowned deeply.

Ji Fanling shook her head and repeated herself.

“I can’t hear you,” Fu Yingcheng said, leaning closer.

Ji Fanling smiled, her fingers resting lightly on the step. She leaned in and, with a warm breath, whispered softly into his ear.

“…But I,”

The girl’s soft voice, barely audible amidst the deafening fireworks, traveled from the curve of his ear to his eardrum. It was electrifying, sending a shiver down his spine.

“—I only live in this moment.”

…

Scattered lights fell from the sky like shooting stars.

Amidst the grand display of fireworks, the girl sat back down, blinked once, and pointed ahead, signaling for Fu Yingcheng to look at the fireworks.

Fu Yingcheng forced himself to tear his gaze away from her and look at the fireworks filling his view.

Ji Fanling’s words lingered.

A faint trace of sorrow, a dark foreboding, tightened around his heart like an invisible thread.

Some people fought desperately for a better future, while others simply wanted to grasp a fleeting moment that didn’t hurt as much.

When the fireworks faded, no one knew that the malice of fate had already secretly shifted the paths of the two.

The one who lived in the present went to the future.

The one who longed for the future remained trapped in the present, living the same day for ten years, unable to break free.

…

*

That night, it was already past ten after the concert.

Fu Yingcheng originally wanted to find an excuse to give her a ride home, but Ji Fanling said she didn’t plan on going home. She waved her hand and left, and the two of them went their separate ways, one east and one west.

Before they parted, Ji Fanling casually mentioned, almost as if unintentionally, that she didn’t like too many people on the rooftop.

Fu Yingcheng understood what she meant.

The rooftop’s location was a secret.

Only he and she knew.

No third person was aware.

A shared secret always has the power to easily bring two people closer together.

If Ji Fanling didn’t see him as someone important, how could she so easily share her personal space with him?

For an entire week after that, Fu Yingcheng found it hard to suppress the thoughts that kept surfacing in his mind. For the first time in his life, he even got distracted during an exam. One moment he was solving the equations for conic sections, and the next, he suddenly thought:

Didn’t she always hang out with that girl named Zhou Sui?

Not even Zhou Sui was told.

She only told him.

…

However, things didn’t unfold the way he had imagined.

After the exam, Fu Yingcheng ran into Ji Fanling in the hallway as she returned from the restroom.

Fu Yingcheng thought that, given their current relationship, it would be appropriate to say hello. But before he could open his mouth, Ji Fanling brushed past him expressionlessly.

When the monthly exam papers were handed back, the math teacher asked Fu Yingcheng to help distribute them. When he reached Ji Fanling’s desk, the girl was lying down, asleep. She took the paper, which scored 45 points, and stuffed it into her desk without even lifting her eyelids the entire time.

Fu Yingcheng, as if under some inexplicable influence, even checked the sports arena’s official website and discovered there was a new concert next Sunday. However, throughout that week, no matter how many times she passed by him, her gaze remained indifferent, merely brushing past him without the slightest hint of an invitation.

…

That night on the rooftop, the closeness they shared seemed as if it was nothing more than his own illusion.

Soon, the school sports meet arrived.

In their first year of high school, the academic pressure wasn’t too heavy, so most classmates treated the sports meet as a holiday. There were barely a few people left in the classroom. Some were in the stands watching the competitions, others had arranged to play basketball with friends, while another group was busy visiting other classes, chatting, and snacking.

After running the 3,000 meters and taking first place, Fu Yingcheng didn’t feel like sitting on the dusty stands to watch the competitions. Instead, he returned to the classroom, planning to finish a few practice papers.

Just as he finished one, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that the day’s on-duty student was carrying a mop out of the classroom.

At that moment, Ji Fanling also returned from the sports field and bumped into her at the doorway. “You’re on duty today?” she asked.

He Tongtong replied, “Yeah.”

Ji Fanling reached out and took the mop from He Tongtong’s hands. “Which group?”

He Tongtong was startled. “Huh? What are you doing? Are you going to mop for me?”

Ji Fanling clicked her tongue, sounding a bit impatient. “I’m bored right now, that’s all.”

He Tongtong blinked in confusion. “Huh?”

Ji Fanling said, “I really feel like mopping the floor.”

He Tongtong: “…”

Ji Fanling slowly looked at her, as if negotiating, and said, “How about I wait for you to finish mopping, then mop it again?”

He Tongtong: “…That’s not necessary.”

He Tongtong had no choice but to sit down at her seat to rest. Ji Fanling mopped a couple of times, then seemed to find the mop unclean. She picked it up and walked out the door to rinse it in the restroom.

He Tongtong raised her head, hesitated, and felt a little guilty. She called out, “Ji Fanling, wait!” and was about to chase after her.

“Um…” someone softly called out from behind her.

He Tongtong turned around to look.

Zhou Sui, seated in the back row, cautiously raised her hand. “Did you do something for Fanling recently?”

“No, not really…” He Tongtong frowned and thought for a moment. “Oh, right, last Friday during the big cleanup, we had to lift the chairs onto the desks. Her arm was hurting that day, and I saw her struggling for a while, so I helped her move them.”

Zhou Sui nodded. “That must be it.”

“It was just a small thing. It’s not like she has to do my duty for me.”

“She doesn’t like owing people anything. She insists on settling the score.”

“Oh, I see…”

…

The two girls started chatting away, their conversation quickly shifting to other topics.

The fan in the classroom lazily stirred the hot, stifling air.

In the front row, Fu Yingcheng sat upright, his posture straight. His long lashes cast shadows as his eyes lowered, and the black pen in his hand hovered mid-air.

The pen tip trembled but hadn’t touched the paper in a long time.

So that’s how it was.

…

He had bought her medicine and helped treat her wound, and she was determined to find a way to settle the score.

That fireworks display, for him, had been a beginning. But for Ji Fanling, it seemed more like an ending.

…

Had he known this, he shouldn’t have gone.

He would rather have Ji Fanling owe him forever.

That would have been better than them being even.

*

The fireworks from ten years ago.

The pomegranates from ten years later.

Ji Fanling hadn’t changed one bit. On the surface, she appeared indifferent, but behind the scenes, she always found ways to do a little more, until she felt she no longer owe anyone anything.

She would rather starve herself than accept even the slightest charity from anyone.

That was just how she was, no matter how desperate her situation was, she would fiercely defend her sensitive and inviolable sense of pride.

On the surface, Fu Yingcheng pretended not to understand, but deep down, he did. Because he, too, was entirely the same kind of person.

……

The next day, at Jiuzhou Group.

It was already 11 p.m., and most of the lights in the office building had been turned off, leaving only the faint green glow of the emergency exit signs. However, the top-floor office was still brightly lit.

Wendy, holding a folder, knocked lightly on the door of the CEO’s office with one hand.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the city lights shimmered. Inside, the man sat in front of his computer, dressed in a crisp white shirt with the sleeves rolled up, revealing toned forearms. The cold reflection of the screen glinted off his glasses as he calmly and emotionlessly said, “Come in.”

“Mr. Fu, I’ve brought all the materials you requested,” Wendy said.

“It’s late. You should head home,” Fu Yingcheng replied without looking up.

“It’s fine, there’s overtime pay,” Wendy said calmly. “If my presence is required for your work, I want to ensure I’m always available.”

Fu Yingcheng didn’t respond immediately. He stacked the materials neatly and placed them on the other side of the desk. After a brief hesitation, he said, “Wait, I have a question for you.”

Wendy’s eyes narrowed slightly.

This statement was already highly unusual.

Since when did Mr. Fu need to preface his questions by announcing, “I have a question to ask you”?

Under Wendy’s tense gaze, Fu Yingcheng removed his glasses, pressed his knuckles against his brow, and slowly spoke, “If you received a birthday gift, what would you hope for?”

Without hesitation, Wendy replied, “One million in cash.”

Fu Yingcheng was silent for a moment, then repeated, “A gift.”

“Apologies,” Wendy corrected herself. “Then a property or gold worth a million.”

Fu Yingcheng pinched the bridge of his nose and looked up coolly. “…Does that sound reasonable to you?”

“Sorry, I got too caught up in my own perspective,” Wendy said thoughtfully. “Who’s the recipient?”

“A high school girl,” Fu Yingcheng said.

“Then you’re asking the wrong person. I’m as far removed from being seventeen as I am from being forty.”

“Don’t you have a younger sister?”

“My sister only likes virtual men in her phone and the badges of those virtual men.”

“…”

Wendy was silent for two seconds before saying, “You should ask Director Su. He has more experience in gifting things to girls.”

Just hearing Su Lingqing’s name gave Fu Yingcheng a headache, as if the heart-wrenching cry of “You beast!!!” was echoing in his mind once again.

Having been Fu Yingcheng’s secretary for years, Wendy was highly attuned to his decision-making microexpressions. She immediately realized that Su Lingqing wasn’t a viable solution. “I’ll draft a proposal for you. May I know the deadline?”

“Next week.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Fu Yingcheng waved his hand, signaling it wasn’t necessary.

Wendy gave a slight bow and walked toward the door. After a moment of thought, she turned back and said, “Mr. Fu, if I may be frank, assuming money isn’t a consideration, the actual gift doesn’t matter much. What’s most important is the thought behind it, wouldn’t you agree?”

Fu Yingcheng lifted his eyes to meet hers.

Behind him, the endless night stretched beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows. The contrast of light and shadow made his gaze appear even darker and more desolate.

After a moment, he lowered his eyes and let out a soft, self-mocking laugh. “Is that so?”

How much was his sincerity worth?

In Ji Fanling’s world, only money seemed to hold any value.

Didn’t she like settling the score with people?

Then he would give her something she couldn’t possibly even out, no matter how hard she worked for the rest of her life.

---

Author’s Note:

Brother Fu, the widowed one, really knows how to spend money.

In the next chapter, we’ll celebrate a birthday + completely kick the ex out.