Chapter 68 – Severed Completely

No amount of opulent home decor or luxurious attire could disguise the ugliness of the human heart...

This was what Cheng Yishu realized as he looked up at Tan Jing once again, taking in the exquisitely arranged room and the woman in front of him—a woman with whom he had weathered countless storms, with whom he’d shared the most intimate of moments, both in spirit and in flesh. And yet now, she told him that she had never loved him, that everything she’d done had been only the care and concern of a manager.

What a joke. What a bitter, biting farce...

“Care and concern?”

Cheng Yishu seemed a little drunk. He swayed, then managed to steady himself before Tan Jing, whose expression was as calm as still water. In her eyes lingered that gentle warmth he had once cherished so deeply, but now despised with all his heart.

“You took the love I gave you as a leash on a dog. When you told me to go east, I never so much as glanced west. When you told me to go forward, I never took a single step back. You wanted me to sing those insipid pop songs, and I never brought up my own compositions again. You made me take those ridiculous TV roles, and I did whatever you said, no questions asked. You always bought my birthday presents in advance. You knew my likes and dislikes better than anyone...”

He drew a shaky breath, trying to steady his racing heart and erratic breath. His words ran together, his mind a tangle—he hardly knew what he wanted to say.

But in the end, he couldn't contain the anger and bitterness boiling in his chest. He stepped forward, seized Tan Jing’s shoulders, and growled in a low voice,

“And now you tell me you never loved me? Then why didn’t you say so sooner? You knew—of course you knew how I felt about you. If you never loved me, then why didn’t you ever push me away when I got close? If you never loved me, then why did you sleep with me?”

A crisp slap rang out. Cheng Yishu froze for a moment, his mind slowly clearing.

Tan Jing’s hand was still trembling in the air, her lips pale beneath the gloss of honey-cherry lipstick.

“Calm down...” Even now, Tan Jing’s voice was as gentle as spring water, barely betraying any emotion.

“Yishu, you’re right. We’ve been together for so many years, through good times and bad... How could there not be feelings, living side by side all this time?”

Looking at the red mark blooming on Cheng Yishu’s cheek, Tan Jing felt a faint pang of guilt. Her soft palm covered the mark she had just made, and a sheen of moisture quietly gathered in her eyes.

“Yishu, I did love you. Truly. But... we're not right for each other.”

Cheng Yishu had always thought that one day he would hear Tan Jing say those three words to him. He had even imagined how ecstatic, how overjoyed he would be in that moment.

Yet now, to think that when the moment came, it would be in this mood, under these circumstances!

“All along, you’ve wanted a quieter, simpler life. The success you have today—it was all because you didn’t want to disappoint me. I understand that. But Yishu, what I want is a superstar who can stand on bigger, brighter stages. That’s something completely at odds with your own dreams...”

“So you chose Qin Xingyu.”

Cheng Yishu’s voice had regained its composure, even grown cold, as he looked at Tan Jing. She took a step closer to him and said,

“Have you noticed, Xingyu has so many qualities you used to have, doesn’t he?”

Tan Jing’s eyes sparkled with the light of hope. Cheng Yishu saw it and fell silent for a moment, finally understanding everything at last.

Like Chen Kai’s “chess piece theory.”

With the last of his strength, Cheng Yishu raised his hand and brushed away Tan Jing’s hand from his face, his eyes icy enough to pierce through the last remnants of feeling between them.

“Then I wish you... every success.”

Tan Jing staggered, barely managing to keep her balance. When she looked back at him, she realized that the air around Cheng Yishu was no longer charged with anger, but with that cold, distant aura she knew so well—the one he only showed to strangers.

“Yishu...”

“If you have nothing else to say, Miss Tan, you may go. As for the gift you brought me from your honeymoon... I appreciate the thought, but I don’t need it. Please take it with you. And... I’ll be changing the password on my door. I ask that you never—never come in uninvited again.”

If it must end, let it end cleanly. Isn’t that right?

“Yishu, I—”

Tan Jing’s brows knit together, her eyes red as she murmured his name.

Whatever the situation, she couldn’t and didn’t want to really become strangers with Cheng Yishu.

So, testing the waters, she reached out and took his arm, speaking softly,

“Yishu, I know you’ll never forgive me, but I beg you—don’t let your anger with me ruin your work... You were born to command the stage. I hope one day to see you achieve even greater things.”

A cold, mocking laugh spilled from Cheng Yishu’s eyes—this contradiction was almost laughable.

Just minutes ago she’d said he could never reach the height of her dreams, and now she was telling him he was born for the stage...

Enough.

“Miss Tan, please see yourself out.”

Without another glance at her, Cheng Yishu strode away toward the bedroom, leaving Tan Jing standing in thought, her eyes fixed on his tall, solitary figure.

In the hush that followed, every sound seemed amplified a hundredfold.

As the door closed softly behind her, Cheng Yishu slowly emerged from the bedroom.

On the coffee table in the living room sat a sky-blue box, exquisitely wrapped. He didn’t even need to look to know what was inside.

See—this was all that remained after years of companionship: a damnable sense of understanding.

He strode over, picked up the little box, and with a flick of his wrist, smashed it open.

A small brooch, gleaming with sapphire-blue luster, rolled out onto the floor and landed in his lifeless gaze.

There it was. He should have understood long ago—Tan Jing and he were never the same kind of people.

She had always loved things and people who shone with dazzling brilliance, who were adored by all.

And as soon as she lost hope in him, she discarded him without hesitation.

He slumped onto the sofa, closed his eyes, and for a moment, time itself seemed to freeze.

He wanted to pause here—at this moment of clarity, this moment when he finally saw his place and his heart for what they were.

Da Lingzi was a model assistant—there was no denying that.

Cheng Yishu, having not eaten lunch, slept until the sky was pitch black. Suddenly, every light in the room snapped on.

Shielding his eyes from the glaring light, Cheng Yishu frowned and called out,

“Da Lingzi, who told you to turn on the lights? What are you doing here so late?”

Da Lingzi, arms full of rustling plastic bags, headed to the kitchen as she replied,

“If I didn’t come, you’d starve, wouldn’t you? You can’t cook—were you really planning to go on a hunger strike?”

“Hunger strike?” Cheng Yishu sat up from the warm sofa, hair tousled, eyes dazed. “Strike over what?”

“My goodness, your memory is something else!” Da Lingzi cocked her head, stepped over to him, and asked in a soft voice,

“So you’re just going to let it go, aren’t you?”