Chapter 22: The Ex-Boyfriend

What Zhao Qi told her was, to Jiang Ying, nothing short of absurd.

At the end of the previous semester, Zhao Qi had posted on social media asking for summer internship opportunities. That very night, she unexpectedly received a message from Lu Zhixi. He offered to introduce her to an internship at a prestigious investment bank, while simultaneously paying her a high fee to use the excuse of pursuing Zheng Jinping so that she could take over Jiang Ying’s cat-feeding responsibilities.

Everything that followed was exactly as Jiang Ying had seen on WeChat.

"He asked me to keep it a secret at the time, but I never expected him to drop out this semester. I heard that you two also... Senior, I'm so sorry, I lied to you back then."

Two days ago, Zhao Qi had heard that Hollands had been quite ill—seriously ill—and that it was Jiang Ying who found the cat and took it to the hospital for treatment. Because the summer internship was so demanding, Zhao Qi had always just dropped off the cat food and left, never paying attention to Hollands' condition. Although no one blamed her, if she had to admit it, she felt she bore some responsibility.

The more Zhao Qi thought about it, the more embarrassed she felt.

After hearing her out, Jiang Ying’s first reaction was that Lu Zhixi was not the kind of person who would do such a thing. Yet, looking at Zhao Qi’s apologetic face, her intuition told her that Zhao Qi wasn't lying; there was simply no reason for her to fabricate this story.

Jiang Ying left the Stray Cat Association and slowly made her way back to the dormitory. Zhou Anning hadn't returned yet, and the room was deathly quiet. She sat on her chair for a long time, lost in thought, until she suddenly caught onto some unusual clues from her past memories.

Her expression shifted. She picked up her phone and asked Wu Xi if it was a convenient time to talk.

Wu Xi’s call came through quickly. As Jiang Ying tapped to answer, her fingertips were trembling.

"Sister Xi, I wanted to ask, when you told me to pause Qingqing’s reading lessons, did Zhixi contact you..."

Wu Xi was a bit surprised by the question, but after a moment’s hesitation, she answered.

When the call ended, Jiang Ying’s expression had completely frozen.

So, Lu Zhixi hadn't just contacted Wu Xi; that entire sum of nearly ninety thousand yuan had come from him, and he had instructed Wu Xi to transfer it to her. Even that money was part of his so-called compensation.

What was her impression of Lu Zhixi?

When they were still together, he was handsome, gentle, refined, and excellent... She had been willing to lavish every compliment in the world upon him.

When he proposed breaking up, she began to discover his cold-hearted, ruthless side. Sometimes, she wanted to blame him for treating her as a pastime, but then she would recall his meticulous care and concern during that time, and she would immediately suppress the resentment rising in her heart. After all, during that period, Lu Zhixi had never once said "no" to her.

But now, she suddenly realized that there were times when Lu Zhixi would express doubt about things she was doing, and after he voiced his concerns, the situation would suddenly take a turn.

And those so-called turns were, in reality, all shifting in the direction of Lu Zhixi’s own desires.

For Jiang Ying, whether it was tutoring Qingqing, feeding cats during the summer, or various other similar things in the past, whenever Lu Zhixi suggested he didn't want her to do something, she was always willing to find a way to resolve it.

But he hadn't said a word.

He simply kept her in the dark and then silently used his means behind the scenes to resolve these matters directly.

Lu Zhixi didn't care about her wishes at all.

—"Yingying, you're really like my little dog."

Jiang Ying had once thought this was a joke.

She never expected it to be the truth, the real answer to why Lu Zhixi had suddenly ended everything.

***

She opened WeChat and, for the first time, initiated the conversation thread with Lu Zhixi. The last time she had seen his messages, her heart had been filled with sorrow.

But this time, her heart was consumed by a surge of intense anger.

*

"Don't you get tired of coming home from school every weekend just to accompany your parents to these boring parties?"

Lily walked onto the terrace with a glass of champagne, leaning against the railing as she asked Lu Zhixi, who stood beside her.

Various parties made up the nightlife of New York.

This was an open-air charity gala, which, in reality, was just a venue for the wealthy to socialize under the guise of charity. The Williams couple, who had been shouting at each other just a while ago, were now standing together affectionately, surrounded by all sorts of people chatting about investments and lobbying for votes. The clinking of glasses and the atmosphere of luxury felt quite decadent.

Lu Zhixi stood on the second-floor terrace, silently watching his parents, who were the center of attention, lost in thought.

As soon as Lily approached, he said coldly, "I don't want to talk."

Since returning to New York, Lily had seen Lu Zhixi twice, and each time she couldn't help but think: how was he any different from a year ago? Recovering in China didn't seem to have helped at all...

But she wouldn't dare say that. Instead, she spoke rapidly, making her request: "I recently invested in a company. Could you help me arrange some exclusive interviews with a few fashion magazines? Please, I’m begging you!"

The Williams family held controlling interests in many companies within the fashion industry. A word from Lu Zhixi was far more effective than her going to her own parents. When people saw the name "Alex," they knew it was for the young prince, and no one would refuse.

To be more persuasive, Lily added, "Yingying also has equity in that company. For her sake, please help me get a few more!"

According to her understanding, the boys around her were usually quite generous to their ex-girlfriends, unless they were short on pocket money. Lu Zhixi was surely the same, and his pocket money was so abundant he couldn't possibly spend it all.

But for some reason, the moment Lily finished that sentence, Lu Zhixi turned his head and looked at her with a gaze that made her shudder.

"Which company? That small company making virtual accessories, Luminous Art?" he asked.

Lily hesitated. "How did you know?"

"Why does she have equity in that company? Who gave it to her?"

"It was Meng Shao, who accompanied her shopping that day. You know that company, don't you? He's the major shareholder..."

As the words left her lips, Lily felt the air inexplicably turn cold.

...No way. When Qi Wen talked about this in the group chat that day, he hadn't seemed unhappy at all!

Lily felt nervous. In fact, she had been afraid of Lu Zhixi for a long time.

When Lu Zhixi was young, he was adorable. He looked like a beautiful, limited-edition doll and had many custom luxury toys, such as a rocking horse plated in 24k gold and encrusted with diamonds, so children loved to play with him.

Lily had studied French as a child and was occasionally sent to his house alone. Because of this, she had witnessed some scenes others didn't know about—like when Lu Zhixi was helping his mother arrange flowers, she would suddenly hit him, sometimes with the flowers, sometimes by slapping him directly across the face.

At first, Lu Zhixi would cry, but later he stopped. After he stopped crying, Lily found him somewhat terrifying.

At the time, she told her parents about it, but was immediately told never to speak of it again, and she was never sent to his house to play after that.

Lily had once believed it was a hallucination, because when Uncle Anthony and Aunt Lu Xiu appeared at parties with Lu Zhixi, they looked like a very warm family. And after Uncle Anthony gave Lu Zhixi a puppy for his tenth birthday, his personality seemed to become as gentle as it had been before.

That was until one time, when she touched the puppy when he wasn't looking.

At that moment, ten-year-old Lu Zhixi had looked at her with cold, dark eyes and said "Get lost" with complete indifference.

That look was exactly the same as the one he had just given her.

The more Lily thought about it, the more nervous she became.

In truth, she had gradually figured it out over the years: as long as she didn't step on Lu Zhixi’s landmines, there were many benefits to being his friend. For example, at private school, those little bitches stopped isolating her for not knowing how to wear makeup once they knew she was on decent terms with Lu Zhixi.

As far as Lily knew, Lu Zhixi’s landmines were