Inside an unassuming black private car, Jiang Hezhou sat in the driver’s seat, quietly watching the scene outside the window.
Today, the temperature in Jingzhou had dropped to nearly minus 20 degrees Celsius. Fortunately, the girl had dressed warmly before going out—hat and scarf securely in place—so she probably wouldn’t freeze.
Compared to her, he himself was dressed rather casually today. He had thrown on a simple black wool coat when he left—it had a great cut and fit well, but wasn’t very warm. But Jiang Hezhou no longer cared about such trivial matters. Over the past few days, his entire attention had been fixated on Chu Luyu.
On the passenger seat sat a brown paper bag, stuffed thick with documents—a detailed record of Chu Luyu’s whereabouts over the past month.
Aside from the days she had spent with him, he had never imagined that during the time she was staying at the Chen house to accompany her mother, she had already been quietly planning her escape from him.
Renting an apartment, moving, helping her mother with the divorce, cutting ties with the Chen family… All of these things had happened within just a few short days. And during that time, because he had been so busy setting up the proposal venue, he had overlooked many signs that something was off with her. He never expected it would lead to this.
Why?
At first, Jiang Hezhou couldn’t figure it out. They had been so good together the night before—she had melted like water beneath him, they had almost become one completely. He had even gone to the hotel that same night after taking care of himself, wanting to give her a perfect proposal the next day.
And yet, she had given him a surprise instead.
No—not a surprise. It was more like a shock. Panic. Jiang Hezhou had rarely felt such fear in his life. The first time was when his father was in a car accident, covered in blood and carried away in an ambulance. The second time was three days ago.
Over these past few days, he had thought about going to her.
He missed her so much it drove him crazy. He wanted to ask her what was wrong—had he done something wrong? If there was a problem, she could tell him. As long as she didn’t leave, he would change.
But after much deliberation, after circling beneath the building of her new rented apartment countless times, he ultimately held back from knocking on the door.
From what he knew of his girl, she wouldn’t do something so irrational for no reason. She might be caught up in something—just like that one time before. Maybe someone had enticed her, or tricked her into breaking up with him.
If that was the case, he couldn’t act too hastily. Right now, besides bringing Chu Luyu back, his priority was to root out the shameless man behind this.
His girl was still young and naive. A few ambiguous words from someone else might easily sway her resolve.
This couldn’t be blamed on her. The blame lay with those who wanted to take her away from him.
They were the ones who deserved to die—they deserved to die.
With that thought, Jiang Hezhou’s gaze through the car window grew even deeper and colder. His eyes remained fixed on Chu Luyu without moving an inch—every step she took, his gaze followed.
It was like an invisible net, thick with seaweed, slowly closing in around the unsuspecting girl, ensnaring her completely. By the time she realized what was happening, there would be no chance of breaking free. All that would be left was for the sticky, slick net to bind her tight and drag her slowly down to the deepest depths of the sea.
—
Though the Spring Festival was still over half a month away, the streets were already brimming with festive cheer. The supermarket was especially decorated with red lanterns and couplets, while the speakers played Andy Lau’s “Congratulations on Your Wealth” on loop.
This was the first time the three of them—mother, daughter, and son—were celebrating the New Year on their own. Though Chu Fanyin hadn’t fully emerged from the shadows of her divorce, as the head of the family, she still took charge of the preparations. So at the supermarket, she picked out a generous haul of New Year’s goods, quickly filling the shopping cart to the brim.
Chen Mian exaggeratedly pulled out a large bag of fried shrimp crackers from his mother’s selections.
“Mom, I haven’t had these since I was a kid. What made you think of buying them now?”
“It’s exactly because you loved them when you were little that I want to make them for you again for the New Year.” As she spoke, Chu Fanyin’s mind drifted back to old memories. “When your sister was little, she was a picky eater and loved to fight with you over things. But luckily, you were very sensible back then—every time I fried these shrimp crackers, knowing she loved them, you’d toddle over with your chubby little hands and bring them to her so she could eat first.”
“Don’t even bring that up—I was just afraid she’d hit me. She was so bossy back then. If she couldn’t win an argument, she’d throw a punch…”
Chu Luyu had just been following along idly, but upon hearing that, she reached over and locked her brother in a headlock. “I can still throw a punch if I can’t win an argument.”
Chen Mian pretended to choke, shouting, “Mom, look at her!”
Chu Fanyin laughed, watching her two precious children, her eyes brimming with warmth.
A while later, as they continued shopping, Chu Fanyin received a call from Chen Huanian. This wasn’t the first time he had called since she decided on the divorce. After she’d told him they would go through with the formalities after the New Year, he had been calling nonstop—but she had ignored every single one.
This time, for some reason, he seemed to have figured things out. When Chu Fanyin didn’t answer his call, he called Chen Mian instead. When Chen Mian hung up on him, he went straight to Chu Luyu.
Chu Luyu looked at her ringing phone and gave her mother a helpless glance.
“Mom, what should I do…”
Chu Fanyin, usually gentle and soft-spoken, rarely showed irritation like this. After a moment of frowning hesitation, she said, “Hang up. I’ll call him back on my own phone.”
Later, the siblings gave their mother some space to talk privately. They pushed the fully loaded shopping cart ahead, but after a few steps, Chen Mian suddenly asked Chu Luyu.
“Sis, do you think Mom and Dad will get back together?”
Chu Luyu shot him a sideways glance and answered with a question instead: “Do you want them to?”
“Of course not,” Chen Mian shook his head. “But I’m still conflicted. I want a complete family, but I don’t want Mom to be unhappy.”
Hearing that, Chu Luyu smiled with satisfaction. “At least Mom didn’t spoil you for nothing. But the adult world is complicated—I don’t know how it’ll end up either. All we can do is respect every decision Mom makes and support her wholeheartedly.”
Chen Mian looked at his sister with some hesitation, a hint of complexity in his eyes.
“Sis, I’ve noticed you’ve really changed a lot. It’s like ever since you got engaged to—ahem—to that second young master of the Jiang family, you suddenly became different. You would never have said something like that before. You’d probably have wanted Mom and Dad to stay together so your engagement wouldn’t be affected. But I’m also curious—why did you two suddenly break up? You seemed so close before.”
“Mind your own business—stop prying into things that don’t concern you.”
The moment Chen Mian brought up Jiang Hezhou, Chu Luyu’s thoughts, which had been distracted, came rushing back. Just as she was about to say something else, a figure suddenly appeared in front of them, blocking their way.
It was the female lead!
Chu Luyu was surprised—she never expected to run into her here. And judging by the uniform she was wearing, it looked like she was working part-time at the supermarket.
Meng Wantian had been following Chu Luyu for a while. Now that she saw they were heading toward the checkout, she couldn’t hold back any longer and finally stepped in front of them.
She stared at Chu Luyu with a less-than-friendly expression. After a long moment, she said, “Chu Luyu, right? Let’s talk.”
Chen Mian, sensing something off about this woman, instinctively stepped in front of his sister.
“Who are you? You think you can just tell my sister to talk and she’ll listen? Who do you think you are?”
“Xiaomian, it’s okay.” Chu Luyu pushed Chen Mian aside gently, keeping her eyes on the other woman while speaking in a low voice. “We know each other.”
At least, she knew the female lead. As for the other side… had she remembered her from that one encounter at the bureau’s cafeteria?
The two of them found a quiet corner in the supermarket and stood face to face.
Meng Wantian quietly sized up Chu Luyu for a long while, unable to quell the fire burning inside her.
She knew she shouldn’t have come to see this woman. But when she had spotted her in the supermarket earlier, she just couldn’t help herself.
Even in the bustling crowd, the girl stood out as strikingly beautiful. She wore a thick, puffy winter coat, yet it did nothing to diminish her charm.
Meng Wantian didn’t want to be the kind of person everyone hated, but she couldn’t stop herself—she really couldn’t.
At this moment, a swirl of complicated emotions churned inside her. When she looked at Chu Luyu, she finally lost control and exploded.
“I know you’re engaged to Professor Jiang, but don’t you think you’re being too selfish? You’re clearly not a good match for him—so why do you keep clinging to him and refusing to let go?”
That tirade left Chu Luyu completely stunned.
She couldn’t believe her ears. Hesitantly, she asked the system: [Cuihua… am I being treated as a rival by the female lead?]
System Cuihua: [Most likely. But that’s not right—this… the female lead is… oh my god, I’m confused too.]
Chu Luyu: [Didn’t you say that after the male lead and I break off the engagement, the main storyline between him and the female lead would begin? Her showing up out of nowhere like this clearly means it hasn’t started yet.]
System Cuihua: [It’s not that fast. You and the male lead only broke up two or three days ago—he hasn’t even announced that he’s looking for a housekeeper yet.]
Chu Luyu: [But the female lead is clearly already into the male lead—she’s even hostile toward me. What do I do now?]
System Cuihua: [Anyway, the finer details of the plot aren’t that important anymore. Why not just tell her the truth—say you and the male lead have already called off the engagement—and let the two of them figure the rest out on their own. No matter what, they’ll end up together in the end.]
Chu Luyu hesitated for a long while, then figured that was her only option.
She looked back at Meng Wantian with a helpless expression and said, “I think you’ve got the wrong person. If you like Jiang Hezhou, you can go find him directly. We broke up a few days ago—so there’s no situation of me clinging to him and refusing to let go.”
Meng Wantian froze. She hadn’t expected to hear that at all. Her expression visibly brightened with excitement.
“I’m sorry—I’m really sorry! I… I apologize! That was rude of me!” With that, Meng Wantian, overjoyed, yanked off her supermarket work uniform and ran toward the exit without looking back.
Chen Mian, who had been keeping watch nearby, frowned and walked over after she left.
“Is that woman crazy? What did she say to you?”
“Nothing—just asked about someone.” As she spoke, Chu Luyu’s gaze followed Meng Wantian’s retreating figure.
She couldn’t shake the feeling—was it just her imagination, or was the female lead acting really strange lately?
—
The supermarket was crowded, and Jiang Hezhou was wearing a hat and mask, so even though he had been following the family of three the whole time, no one noticed him.
When Meng Wantian approached Chu Luyu, he saw it.
At that moment, he was on the verge of stepping in to drag that woman away—he didn’t want her bothering Chu Luyu. But after a moment of hesitation, he held himself back.
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