Li Zhi watched their side-by-side figures, feeling disconsolate inside.

No wonder, he didn't look back when she mentioned divorce. Turns out, his old flame - Bai Yu Guang's ex-girlfriend is back.

Fu Jinchen strode over, scanning Li Zhi's pale face, frowning, "Are you feeling ill?"

Su Wansnow also followed and reached out to hold Li Zhi's hand, expressing concern.

"Sis, your hand is really cold. I think there's a misunderstanding. Today is my birthday, and I haven't been back for four years. My parents insisted on throwing a birthday party for me. Who knew I would get a stomachache after eating cake, so Jinchen had to accompany me to the hospital..."

Li Zhi pulled her hand away immediately, her action was so abrupt that Su Wansnow's hand was left hanging in the air. Fu Jinchen looked at this with disapproval, his gaze darkening.

Li Zhi noticed this and felt a surge of bitterness in her heart.

She and Su Wansnow share the same birthday. It's not that Fu Jinchen forgot about it or didn't prepare a gift for her; it's just that there was someone else who he needed to accompany and present gifts to.

Hiding her vulnerability, Li Zhi smiled slightly, standing on tiptoe and took off the hairband Fu Jinchen was wearing on his head.

"It doesn't suit you." she said casually, throwing it perfectly into the trash bin.

Su Wansnow's smile froze on her face.

"Xiao Ba is sick in the children's ward over here, this is his brain CT scan."

Li Zhi handed the report to Fu Jinchen, then she started to walk away, her footsteps getting faster and faster.

As she left the outpatient hall, she couldn't resist looking back.

Fu Jinchen was accompanying Su Wansnow upstairs, and throughout, he didn't look back at her once.

Her eyes welled up with tears, and Li Zhi abruptly turned around, colliding head-on with a person.

She fell to the ground, and a somewhat familiar middle-aged woman's voice sounded overhead.

"Young lady, watch where you're going! Unbelievable!"

"Let it go, Xiao Xue is waiting for us."

As the pain subsided, Li Zhi looked up to see the anxious departing figures of a middle-aged couple. They were the Su family's parents.

Li Zhi had a vague memory of being sick as a child, and being rushed to the hospital in the dead of night by Father Su. Mother Su used to hold her little hand and say, "Good girl Zhi Zhi, mommy and daddy are here."

She and Su Wan Xue were misidentified at birth as each other's real and fake daughters, and the two families swapped the children back as soon as they found out.

At the age of six, Li Zhi lost her loving parents and gained an abusive biological father and selfish, mercenary biological mother.

At eight years old, Li Zhi nearly died at the hands of her abusive father, Li Yong. Her older brother Li Mu Yuan, who was ten at the time, carried a badly wounded Li Zhi to the doorstep of the Fu family's old mansion.

She appealed to Madam Fu to take in Li Zhi out of respect for her old friendship with Madam Su. Fu Jinchen came through the snowstorm and took Li Zhi back to the Fu family...

Sixteen years ago, Su Wan Xue appeared, and Li Zhi lost her home.

Now, Su Wan Xue has appeared again.

Like a cruel twist of fate, Li Zhi has the premonition that she will lose everything.

But she is too weary to try and fight it.

It was the end of summer; dark clouds gathered overhead. The leaves overhead were still lush, and the night wind was already cool with early autumn chill.

Li Zhi skewed her shoulder and trudged along the street. A group of dance students bustle by, their merry laughter resounding from afar.

Li Zhi halted, gazing blankly.

She was six years younger than Fu Jincheng. To catch up with him, she skipped several grades and at the age of fifteen, she entered the best dance academy.

She graduated at eighteen. Her professor suggested that she study abroad. But Li Zhi declined.

For four years, she was committed to only one thing.

Waiting for Fu Jincheng.

Waiting for him to turn around and marry her, to adhere to the shell of their marriage, day after day, year after year.

She was only twenty-two. Compared to her peers who were brimming with youth, she felt as if she were an old woman at twilight.

Last month, her senior brother told her that the world-class dance master Liz had intentions to take on an apprentice. This was a golden opportunity. He could help her submit her CV and strive for an interview.

Li Zhi was hesitant before. But tonight, she had her answer.

Beep Beep -

A taxi approached, its horn interrupting Li Zhi's train of thoughts, and the driver leaned out.

"Are you coming?"

Li Zhi stepped off the sidewalk and bent over.

"I have no money. Would this work instead? A platinum ring with a diamond."

She took off the small earring from her ear and handed it over.

The diamond was splendid, and even a layman could tell it was extraordinary. The middle-aged driver received it and said, "Get in the car."

Li Zhi told him her destination and the driver held the expensive earring.

"Yuting Mansion is worth its weight in gold. You are a rich lady, how much can this earring be sold for?"

Leaning against the car window, with eyes closed, Li Zhi said, "Seven figures."

The driver didn't believe her. "The lady sure knows how to joke…".

Li Zhi stopped talking and her thoughts drifted away.

Back when she was twelve, she was already at the age when little girls start to care about their appearance. She and Jian Yunyao planned to get their ears pierced.

But she had been traumatized by the experience of being pricked with a needle by Gao MeiJuan during her childhood, so she always came back unsuccessful. Still, she envied others who had pretty earrings.

Fu Jinchen, studying abroad in Country Y, somehow learned about this. During the Spring Festival when he returned, he suddenly showed up with an ear piercing gun and lied to her, claiming it was a toy gun, and asked her to try it.

Brushing aside her hair, he pressed the piercing gun against her petite ear. Before she knew it, with a click, her ear was pierced.

Angry and pouting she chased him around punching and hitting him, "I hate you, brother!"

He turned around and she stumbled into his arms; in the sunlight, he leaned over, plucking at the corner of her teary eyes with his fingers.

"Little Seventy-seven, you are such a crybaby."

Later on, Fu Jinchen specifically invited the internationally renowned designer, Haisen, to custom-make this pair of earrings for her.

A masterpiece from a celebrated author, promising seven-digit revenue as a guarantee.

She doesn't like wearing jewelry, but she has been wearing this pair of earrings for ten years, never taking them off.

A decade…

Something she thought had grown into her flesh and blood, intertwined with her bones and marrow, was actually easily discarded without any anguish;

at the street corner, the large screen was broadcasting gossip news. Reporters intercepted Su Wanyue at the airport to ask about her love life.

"Well, there is a man I love deeply. We separated four years ago due to misunderstanding, but I believe 'those meant to be together, end up together'..."

She turned to the man by her side with a smile, causing the reporter to boldly move the microphone over.

"Mr. Fu, is the man Su Miss refers to you?"

The man signaled his bodyguard to step forward and shielded Su Wanyue as they left together.

Li Zhi retraced her gaze, mocking herself with a hooked corner of her lips.

To end up together indeed; how wonderful...

As always, the wife is the last one to know when her husband strays.

At this moment, the driver suddenly spoke up.

"Lady... there's a car behind us. Is it following you?"

Looking behind, Li Zhi noticed a black Bentley catching up to them. Its overbearing license plate was unmistakable.

With a blink of an eye, the Bentley accelerated, skidded and drifted, blocking the front of the car.

The driver slammed the brakes hard, and Li Zhi was propelled forward by inertia, only to be yanked back by her seatbelt, leaving her momentarily dizzy.

The sound of knocking on the glass echoed in her ears.

Knock, knock, knock.

Neither hurried nor slow, the sound tugged at her heartstrings like the deep tolling of a bell.

She clutched her seatbelt, her knuckles turning white, refusing to turn her head.

Fu Jinchen's thin lips slightly pursed, his gaze swept towards the driver's seat.

Intimidated by the icy stare of the man, and feeling like a lone wolf on a mountain was eyeing him, the driver hastened to unlock the door.

The car door opened, Fu Jinchen bent over and leaned into the car.

Click.

The man unbuckled her seatbelt, his large hand pressing against the inside of the car seat, and he turned his head to glare at Li Zhi.

He leaned in very close, his breath brushed past her lips, and for a moment Li Zhi thought he was going to kiss her.

But all he did was scoff, "Li Zhi, are you having fun playing dead?"

Li Zhi, Li Zhi...

Ever since that night, he had stopped spoilingly calling her 'Seventy-seven,' and he wouldn't let her call him 'Big Brother.'

Sharp pain stamped in her chest, Li Zhi turned her head, "There's no time for playing dead when you're under the spotlight of a management guru."

Her hoarse voice was barely audible, Fu Jincheng misunderstood her, promptly lifting her out of the car trunk without saying more.

"Let me go!" she struggled.

"Behave!" His large palm gripping her hip firmly, her soft buttocks sinking into the knuckles heated her skin, causing Li Zhi to stop struggling.

"What happened to your foot?" his voice sounded heavy.

Li Zhi kicked off her canvas shoes, revealing the gauze bandage, now tinged with red.

Silence lingered, Fu Jincheng's face was stone cold. He moved her into the back seat and sat in with her.

Slam.

The door shut, the confined space filling with his oppressive presence.

Li Zhi hardly started to move when his large hand reached out, brushing aside her hair. His profound gaze landed on her bare earlobe, instantly becoming sharper.

"Where's your earring?"

Her soft earlobe was pinched, then grinded mercilessly.

"Ugh... I lost it..." winced Li Zhi.

Releasing his grip, Fu Jincheng held her chin, turning her face towards him.

Out of the corner of eye, Li Zhi saw that the taxi had already made its escape, disappearing to the street corner.

What she carries away is also her heart, ground to dust in defeat.

Fu Jincheng's voice is suppressed in fury, "What do you mean by 'I've lost it'? Hmm?"

Li Zhi's eyes burn with emotion, her voice firm. "Lost means I don't want it anymore! Fu Jincheng, I'm not kidding, and I'm not being capricious, let's divorce."

The earring he gave her, she doesn't want anymore!

Him, she doesn't want either!