Chapter 6

“Shiyan, please don’t sue my brother. I’m begging you.”

“He didn’t mean to. He really didn’t mean to.”

In the past, even if Xia Weiyuan only got a tiny scrape on her hand, he’d spend half the day comforting her. This time, though, no matter how many times she knelt on the floor and begged, he acted as if he couldn’t see her.

Zhou Shiyan retorted without mercy.

“Trespassing and destroying someone else’s property, plus intentionally injuring another person—he deserves whatever he gets.”

Xia Weiyuan trembled, staring at him in disbelief.

“Zhou Shiyan, can you really be this heartless?”

“Do you think Lu Sining will forgive you if you do this? She won’t. She’ll never forgive you.”

She staggered to her feet and pointed at him, cursing.

“Who are you putting on this deep-love act for now? Lu Sining? She won’t even spare you a glance.”

Xia Weiyuan’s words made Zhou Shiyan’s blood rush to his head. He was about to get up and call someone to drag her out.

From somewhere, Xia Weiyuan produced a fruit knife and lunged straight at him.

“If you’re going to drive us into a corner, then don’t expect to get away unscathed!”

Chapter 9

When Su Su told me what had happened back home, it took me a long time to process it.

“You mean Zhou Shiyan sued Xia Weiyuan’s family, and Xia Weiyuan stabbed him?”

Even over the phone, Su Su’s chirpy voice was impossible to miss.

“Miss Lu, you’re not feeling sorry for him, are you? I’m telling you, don’t you dare sympathize with Zhou Shiyan.”

I laughed.

“What are you talking about? Of course not.”

“Good, good. Still, Zhou Shiyan was lucky. That knife missed his heart by a mile.”

That very evening, I received a cross-border video call from Zhou Shiyan.

His assistant held up the phone and gave me a grateful look.

Zhou Shiyan was lying on a hospital bed, his upper abdomen bandaged.

He coughed several times, then spoke hoarsely.

“Si Ning, you finally agreed to see me.”

“I only wanted to watch you make a fool of yourself.”

Hearing that, Zhou Shiyan gave a bitter smile.

He motioned for his assistant to show me the one-of-a-kind ring on camera.

“Si Ning, I poured everything into this ring. I’ve also gotten justice for everything you suffered.”

“Could you give me one more chance?”

On the screen, I shook my head.

“You still don’t understand. We didn’t break up because of the ring, or because of any one person.”

“Then why?”

Zhou Shiyan’s fervent gaze fixed on me.

It seemed that no matter how unreasonable my answer was, he would do anything I asked.

Unfortunately, I had no intention of giving him what he wanted.

“Because of you.”

“I hate Xia Weiyuan for betraying me, and I resent Xia Sheng for destroying my work. But if you hadn’t meddled in the first place, they wouldn’t have been able to hurt me.”

“You were the one who set all of this in motion. So I will never forgive you.”

After I calmly finished, Zhou Shiyan didn’t raise his head again.

A long time passed. I thought he’d never speak, and was about to end the call.

Then his muffled voice came so quietly I could barely hear it.

“All right, Si Ning. I’ll do as you wish.”

The verdicts against Xia Weiyuan and Xia Sheng didn’t come down until the following spring.

One was sentenced to five years, the other to three.

By then, I’d been teaching at my mentor’s art school in Italy for more than half a year.

Teaching others had helped me grow, too.

My glass-art designs even won an international award, surpassing the first prize I’d won in the preliminary round all those years ago.

I had slowly healed the regret inside me with my own hands.

A few more years passed. I returned to China with my new husband to visit family.

Su Su had opened her own glass-art studio with my support. Through her hard work, she’d managed to build a successful business.

“Miss Lu, I’ve missed you so, so much.”

As soon as we met, Su Su gave me a warm hug.

I smiled and patted her back.

“I’m happy to see you can stand on your own now.”

“Oh, Miss Lu, do you know what else?”

Su Su leaned close to my ear, wearing a mysterious expression.

“Zhou Shiyan’s been sending a lot of business my way these past few years. But don’t worry—I’ve never betrayed you.”

Hearing that name again, it felt as if a lifetime had passed.

“Do you know what else?”