Chapter 25: So You’re Trying to Tell Me to Stop Dreaming

After recording the order in her notebook, Wen Zhixian asked, “Five hundred cups a day over six days—would that work?”

The workload at the shop was already significant, and adding orders meant everyone would have to hustle.

The man raised his gaze briefly to look at her, then nodded without objection before leaving.

Wen Zhixian handed the order sheet to her staff. “We’ll be busy for the next few days.”

If he hadn’t already paid, she would’ve suspected he was just here to stir up trouble.

“Three thousand cups? That’s some big order,” Yue Qi remarked, genuinely surprised by the magnitude.

“Must be a huge company,” someone added.

Pressing the order sheet down on the counter, Wen Zhixian replied, “It must be for a corporation. Alright, let’s get started—they’re picking it up this afternoon.”

The shop quickly became a hive of activity. Wen Zhixian stayed busy until noon, when she finally sat down to have lunch.

As she ate, she checked her phone and saw a message from Qi Yanjing: [Have you eaten yet?]

She replied: [Just started—super busy today.]

It seemed like Qi Yanjing had been waiting for her reply, as the response came instantly: [Alright, I’ll cook dinner tonight.]

Smiling, Wen Zhixian sent back a cheerful emoji and resumed eating before getting back to work.

By 4 p.m., all 500 cups were ready. A man in a suit arrived at the shop and approached the staff. “Hello, I’m here to pick up the coffee—my boss sent me.”

“It’s all ready. We’ll help you load it into your car,” the staff replied, assisting him in moving the coffee.

As the assistant glanced around the shop, he couldn’t help but feel puzzled. Why had his boss gone out of his way to order coffee from here? Moreover, he had done so under his personal name, treating the entire corporation. What was the point?

When Wen Zhixian walked over from the back, a sudden thought popped into the assistant’s mind—a somewhat wild one. Could it have been because of her?

But that didn’t seem like something his boss would do…

“Do you need to check the order?” Wen Zhixian asked the assistant.

“No need,” he replied with a smile.

With the task completed, the assistant was about to leave when someone rushed into the café. Turning around, he froze for a few seconds—it was Gu Yuchen, CEO of Huayi Group.

The moment Wen Zhixian saw Gu Yuchen, she felt an overwhelming sense of irritation. Meanwhile, her staff were excitedly whispering, Brother-in-law’s here!

Ignoring everyone else, Gu Yuchen grabbed Wen Zhixian by the wrist. “We need to talk.”

Without giving her a chance to respond, he pulled her toward the back.

As she was dragged along, Wen Zhixian struggled, trying to pry his hand off. “Let go. Don’t push your luck!”

Once they disappeared into the back, the assistant gestured toward where they’d gone. “Aren’t you going to check on your boss?”

The staff, still under the impression that Gu Yuchen was her husband, speculated that they must have had an argument.

“He’s our boss’s husband,” one of them said confidently.

The assistant was even more surprised. This doesn’t seem like a married couple at all. But it wasn’t his place to intervene, so he bid them farewell and left.

In the back, Gu Yuchen finally released her hand.

“Gu Yuchen, what do you want this time?” she asked, her tone exasperated. She was growing increasingly weary of his repetitive attempts at conversation, finding them futile and meaningless.

“Can you stop speaking to me so sharply? Why can’t we go back to how things were before?” Every time he came, he hoped they could find some common ground and make peace. Yet, every time, her barbed words left them parting on bad terms.

“You know I don’t like being provoked. If you keep this up, we’ll only drift further apart.” This time, Gu Yuchen’s tone wasn’t as angry as before. After all the cold wars, he was tired and didn’t want things to continue this way.

“Because I used to love you,” Wen Zhixian said, her voice calm but firm. “When you said you wanted to get married, I was so happy that I forgot how you ignored me for two years while we were together. You gave me a little sweetness, and I was content, thinking I could live on the scraps of love you spared for me—until you crossed the line and hit me.”

She hadn’t spoken this much to Gu Yuchen in a long time. But then she laughed bitterly at herself. “Why am I even telling you this? You can’t empathize, nor do you understand what I’m saying. To you, I’m just being unreasonable, causing trouble. Just remember one thing: it’s over between us. Stop bothering me.”

Gu Yuchen stood frozen, his hand clenched tightly. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand her words; he just couldn’t accept them. She had always been accommodating, and he had taken her love for granted, believing she would never truly leave him.

He had known for a long time that Zhixian loved him, which gave him the confidence to act however he pleased.

“I’m not bothering you. We’re supposed to get married,” he said, though even he couldn’t justify hitting her. It had been impulsive anger when she broke something of his. He had assumed she would forgive him as she always had because she loved him.

Wen Zhixian stopped him in his tracks. “The moment you laid a hand on me, it was over.”

“Why does it have to be over? You’ve loved me since you were a teenager. Can you really let go? Can you stand to see me with someone else? How can it be over?”

Wen Zhixian looked at him calmly. So he’s always known. He knew she loved him, which is why he treated her like this?

Her gaze fell on his face. “I liked you even when I had to watch you spend years with Li Chaomu. So, you knew all along that I liked you, and you brought her around me on purpose? To tell me to stop dreaming?”

She thought back to fragments of their past. “I can’t believe I didn’t realize it before.”

Gu Yuchen hadn’t expected his words to provoke her again. Panicking, he reached out to grab her hand. “That’s not what I meant—”

Wen Zhixian dodged his hand, leaving him frozen in place.

Humans really are despicable, she thought. The value of something only becomes clear after it’s lost. Looking at his outstretched hand, she said, “I used to think that shattered cup was a sign to bridge the gap between us. Turns out, it was my wake-up call. The last time I tried to hold your hand, you pushed me away. That was the end for me.”

“Loving you was exhausting. You always had someone else in your heart. Even a broken cup meant more to you than I did. If you hadn’t paraded Li Chaomu in front of me so often, I might have fooled myself into thinking you weren’t capable of caring for anyone. But I’ve seen it—I know better.”

She had long been disappointed in Gu Yuchen. Now, knowing the truth, there was even a trace of disgust.

“Zhixian, it was wrong of me to hit you. I apologize. But we can’t end things like this.” He sounded flustered, unsure of how to undo the damage. He had done too many things wrong, all while taking her love for granted.

Gu Yuchen took a deep breath, feeling as though he were drowning. The last time he’d felt this way was when he broke up with Chaomu.

Not wanting to hear more words that would hurt him, he turned and left the café.

Only after watching him go did Wen Zhixian finally breathe a sigh of relief. However, amidst all their arguing, she had forgotten to tell him about her own marriage.