Chapter 27: The Ex-Boyfriend

“Come on, tell me—how did Yusiyan confess to you today?”

Zhou Anning was applying a facial mask, watching through the mirror as the other person lay on the bed.

Though they’d had a great time earlier, Jiang Ying was still shivering from the cold upon returning to the dorm. She quickly showered and curled up in bed like a little caterpillar, leaning against the headboard to recount the general course of events to Zhou Anning.

Yusiyan had even handmade a gingerbread man clay ornament as a Christmas gift for Jiang Ying, which now hung from the desk lamp on her study table.

Zhou Anning sighed with a hint of envy. “Dating someone ordinary like yourself is really different from dating those rich young masters. When was the last time our dorm got a gift like this? It feels so fresh.”

Hearing this, Jiang Ying smiled knowingly.

Back when Zhou Anning was with Qi Wen, their relationship was all about upscale restaurants and luxury gifts.

Qi Wen’s monthly allowance was 200,000 yuan; he would transfer 50,000 yuan to Zhou Anning as pocket money, then use the remaining 150,000 to lavishly spend on her. At first, Zhou Anning was overwhelmed and unsure how to handle this unfamiliar lifestyle.

Later, when Jiang Ying dated Lu Zhixi, his approach was much more subtle.

When Jiang Ying still lived in the dorm, Lu Zhixi’s family maid would prepare nourishing supplements and desserts with expensive ingredients and deliver them punctually every day to the dorm—without even including Zhou Anning. Their outings were more like leisurely strolls; when it came to shopping, Lu Zhixi would send requests to designated people, who then arranged for items to be delivered directly to her home for selection.

Handcrafted ornaments like little figurines were completely foreign to these young masters’ worlds. Even if you mentioned them, they’d be puzzled—wouldn’t a Christmas tree-shaped pile of Hermès, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Dior gift boxes be better?

Zhou Anning suddenly grew curious and asked, “For you, is Yusiyan better than Lu Zhixi?”

Jiang Ying fell silent for a moment, then said, “Siyan is very sincere.”

Dating boys from wealthy families was actually quite dangerous—they had the means to give so much with so little effort. For an ordinary girl like her, these things were completely unfamiliar and unexperienced.

So when these things were handed to her, they felt like a layer of enchanting sugar coating, intoxicating and confusing her. She mistook it for the love she understood, unable to see the cold rules deeply buried in their world—or the inscrutable heart concealed beneath their gentle exterior.

With Yusiyan, she felt a grounded sense of security.

Noticing Jiang Ying had suddenly gone quiet, as if lost in memories and almost wanting to slap herself, Zhou Anning teased, “Pah, pah, pah, stop thinking about it. Your current boyfriend is the best!”

“No worries, that’s all in the past. Siyan and I had a great time today. When you’re free, the two of us can hang out too.”

Jiang Ying shared the games she had played with Yusiyan, and the two chatted animatedly. Suddenly, her phone, lying nearby, received a call.

She picked it up and saw the screen showed an unfamiliar number with a U.S. area code. She hesitated for a moment before answering.

Zhou Anning frowned. “Who’s so annoying, calling this late at night?”

Jiang Ying hung up calmly. “Just a telemarketer.”

Shortly after, the call came again; this time she blocked the number. Having blocked similar numbers before, the other side knew the message and never called again.

She didn’t plan to think too much about why she got such a call today, nor did she want to guess.

But unexpectedly, just five minutes after blocking that number, her phone received a text from another U.S. number.

“I want to see you.”

Jiang Ying threw the phone aside, covering her face as she sighed silently.

---

“Getting ready to sleep? Should I turn off the lights?”

Zhou Anning, unaware of Jiang Ying’s mood, peeled off her mask and gently patted her face, still moist with essence, before yawning.

Jiang Ying responded softly, “Mm,” and soon the dorm lights went dark. Only her phone’s bright screen, resting on the blanket, stabbed painfully into her eyes.

After composing herself, she finally texted back the unknown number:

“I already have a boyfriend. Please don’t contact me again—I don’t want him to misunderstand.”

No sooner had she sent the message than the phone rang again. Set to vibrate, it buzzed faintly, oddly intrusive in the quiet dorm, making her arm tingle.

Zhou Anning peeked out from under the blanket. “It’s Yusiyan, right? He’s way too clingy, calling you at this hour?”

Jiang Ying said nothing, clutching her phone in hesitation before getting out of bed and walking down the hall to answer.

The noisy background on the other end faintly carried English airport announcements, but the caller remained silent.

Jiang Ying stayed quiet too.

After a long pause, a nasal, slightly hoarse voice asked, “Where are you?”

She replied, “Don’t call me—it’s not appropriate.”

His breathing quickened; a subtle tremor crept into his voice: “Today’s Christmas.”

Jiang Ying said nothing.

He said, “I miss you.”

She asked, “Do you even know what you’re saying?”

He said, “That person can’t care for you like I do.”

She answered, “I like him. He’s very good.”

Silence followed. Jiang Ying sighed helplessly. “Zhixi, I’ve forgotten the past and started over. I don’t know why you’re acting like this now, but you should look forward too. Don’t contact me again.”

After saying this, she hung up and stood silently in the empty hallway for half a minute. Then she shook her head, determined to cast aside those insignificant thoughts.

---

Twenty minutes before boarding, Lu Zhixi’s phone kept buzzing with messages.

Most were reprimands from his mother; his uncle Vincent persistently urged him to abandon his trip to China and first soothe old Williams.

Even Emily, a senior executive who had worked with his grandfather for over twenty years, messaged him. She said that if he could reconcile with old Williams and clarify the conflicts involving his father and the illegitimate child, old Williams would continue supporting him and announce the original will as scheduled.

Emily also warned that if he went to China now, it would only make the ever-pragmatic old Williams angrier.

Lu Zhixi called Emily. She exclaimed, “Thank goodness!” then asked if he had already returned from the airport.

“Please apologize to my grandfather for me. I’m about to board,” he said.

On the other end came old Williams’s furious curses—scolding him for being foolish enough to be blindsided by his own father’s schemes and for being as useless as Uncle Vincent, who was dizzy over a woman.

Lu Zhixi ignored it and said to Emily, “There’s something I need you to—”

Emily cut him off. “Alex, if you can’t come back now, your previous authority will likely be suspended. I can’t keep assigning people to work for you. You know... I represent your grandfather in words and actions. He’s the head of this family.”

With that, she hung up.

Only his mother kept sending messages, which he neither wanted nor needed to read. He felt nothing but weariness.

As that exhaustion washed over him, suddenly he wondered—did Jiang Ying feel the same when she saw his messages?

Lu Zhixi clenched his phone, staring numbly at a swirling pattern on the carpet.

The pattern seemed alive, spinning rapidly, draining his reason and calm, filling him with an indescribable panic and chaos, heavy as molten iron, leaving no room for thoughts of illegitimate children or inheritance. He just wanted to rush to Jiang Ying, to make her tell him that her so-called new boyfriend wasn’t real.

The plane finally took off. Amid the deafening roar and quiet cabin, time seemed to slow.

Shortly after connecting to Wi-Fi, Lu Zhixi used contacts found through Qi Wen to gather information on Jiang Ying’s new boyfriend.

Finding a student’s details at school was easy—just search department notices, ask classmates, and you’d have the name and photo in hand.

Of course, Lu Zhixi saw what the boy looked like.

Who was this Yusiyan to compete with him? Why was she attracted to him?

The thought brought to mind the Polaroid Jiang Ying had sent to her secondary account—the one with the blurry, aged tint, showing him holding her close on her birthday at the wildlife park.

Who could he blame?

Inside, another consciousness mocked him mercilessly—telling him he deserved this, that he was just such a terrible person, destined to ruin everything and end up with nothing.

He let that self-flagellation lash his soul, but at the same time, a restless anger crept into his bones, making him hate the man holding Jiang Ying’s hand in that photo.

Memories spun uncontrollably in his mind—the loving eyes, warm embrace, tender kisses—now to be claimed by another.

His expression darkened as he considered many ways to drive that man away.

Using money, status, and manipulation to force rivals out was something he’d known all his life. In his world, using such means wasn’t wrong; not winning was.

He could trap Jiang Ying’s new boyfriend in a terrifying predicament, watch him crumble and beg for mercy, and see him snatch her away...

But Jiang Ying would be angry, wouldn’t she?

She liked gentle men—just like he once was.