At this moment, Zhou Xiufang was overwhelmed with emotions, feeling incredibly conflicted.

Moments ago, she had felt devastated, but now she couldn’t stop the corners of her mouth from curling up. “Master, is it really true?”

Tsk.

People truly love hearing good things.

Gu Xicao wasn’t surprised. “If you don’t give up on your career, it will come true.”

“Does that mean I can’t engage in romantic relationships?” Zhou Xiufang frowned.

She had already moved on from realizing what kind of person her boyfriend was to wondering if she could still date other men.

“That’s not what I mean. I’m just saying you shouldn’t get married. I never said you couldn’t date.”

Gu Xicao spread her hands. “You studied in America. Things are probably more open-minded over there than here. Do I really need to spell everything out for you?”

Zhou Xiufang looked at Gu Xicao, her face instantly turning red.

She pulled a few bills from her pocket without counting them and stuffed them into Gu Xicao’s hands. “Thank you, Master. I—I’ll leave with Jiaying now.”

“This is too much. Let me get you some change,” Gu Xicao said quickly upon realizing Zhou Xiufang had handed her a thousand yuan.

Zhou Xiufang waved her hand. “Consider the extra my apology for misunderstanding you earlier. Don’t be polite with me. If I have the chance, I’ll come back to support you again.”

“Of course, of course.”

Seeing how insistent Zhou Xiufang was, Gu Xicao didn’t decline further. She pocketed the money. Earning over a thousand yuan in the morning meant she could pay her rent today.

Wang Laoshi looked at Gu Xicao with a mixture of envy and complexity. “Uh, Master Gu, isn’t there a saying that goes, ‘It’s better to destroy a temple than break up a marriage’? Aren’t you afraid you might be wrong?”

“If I were wrong, would she have reacted so strongly just now?” Gu Xicao retorted. “Besides, losing a man like that isn’t a big deal.”

After seeing off an emotional Sun Jiaying—who repeatedly asked Zhou Xiufang to pull her up when he became rich—Zhou Xiufang returned home.

Zhou Xiufang rented a 900-square-foot apartment in Hong Kong, a spacious place for one person.

As soon as she got home, her mind was filled with Gu Xicao’s words.

Learning that she could achieve great things in the future, Zhou Xiufang’s thoughts immediately turned to how to handle her boyfriend, Chen Qun.

She knew they had to break up, but how?

As she was pondering, her phone rang. It was a call from Chen Qun.

“Xiufang, you’re off today, right? How about I bring over some food my mom made, and we open a nice bottle of wine for a candlelit dinner?”

Zhou Xiufang hesitated.

Before Gu Xicao had pointed it out, she hadn’t thought much about it. But now, Chen Qun’s words struck her as odd.

Their dates were always at her place. Either he brought food, or they ordered takeout. Every time, he insisted on drinking her expensive wine.

Previously, Zhou Xiufang hadn’t paid attention to this detail. Her mother and stepfather had always been generous, and she was naturally open-handed, so she hadn’t thought much of it.

But now that she thought about it, Chen Qun never spent much money during their dates.

Considering the value of the wine, he’d made quite a profit.

“Well? My mom specifically made pan-fried fish for you. Fish isn’t cheap these days,” Chen Qun urged when Zhou Xiufang didn’t respond for a long time.

Zhou Xiufang was about to refuse when another call came in. She quickly found an excuse. “Hold on, I have another call. Let’s talk later.”

She switched lines. The other caller was the advertising department manager.

“Xiufang, are you free tonight? We have some clients from the U.S., but our translator is stuck in Macau. This case is urgent!”

“Yes, absolutely. When and where? No matter how busy I am, I’ll make time to help with company matters.”

As soon as she heard the situation, Zhou Xiufang immediately agreed.

The manager breathed a sigh of relief and quickly provided the time and location. The urgency was evident—she had only thirty minutes to change and get there.

Zhou Xiufang quickly called Chen Qun back. “Chen Qun, I have to work overtime tonight. You don’t need to come over; just eat on your own.”

“What could be so urgent at work? More important than me? I waited specifically to have dinner with you.”

Chen Qun had already planned to open a nice bottle of her wine. Hearing her refusal, his tone turned sour.

Zhou Xiufang was momentarily stunned. In the past, she would have felt apologetic—after all, Chen Qun had put in effort.

But now, without the rose-colored glasses, she found his words unreasonable.

“You waited to have dinner with me? I never asked you to wait, and it was your decision to come over. You didn’t even give me advance notice. Now that there’s an urgent matter at work, should I risk being scolded by my boss just to have dinner with you? Would you take responsibility for that?”

Chen Qun hadn’t expected such a strong reaction. Frustrated and uneasy, he stammered, “That’s not what I meant. I just care about you—”

Click.

The call ended abruptly. Chen Qun stared at the phone, his face turning red with anger.

Chen’s mother approached him. “So? Did Xiufang agree?”

“No, she said she’s busy with work,” Chen Qun replied sourly.

Chen’s mother frowned. “What work? She’s already twenty-five—soon to be thirty. Let me tell you, after you get married, she’d better give me a grandson as soon as possible.”

For the first time, Zhou Xiufang hung up on Chen Qun. Oddly, she felt a sense of liberation.

Perhaps it was because Chen Qun had disrupted her plans too many times before, showing up uninvited under the guise of thoughtfulness.

While Zhou Xiufang appreciated his attentiveness, she couldn’t deny that she felt a hint of displeasure in her heart.