"Later, when I could make my own decisions, I came back for you right away..."
"It's too late." Lu Qianzhou showed no mercy.
He gave her a cold look, ignoring her sorrow.
"You should know that I never responded to those later scandals or the matter of our supposed marriage. I've told you more than once clearly that I won't marry you. If my words before weren't clear enough, then let me say it again. I've never loved you, and I've never intended to marry you."
His words sent her straight to hell, leaving no room for redemption.
It was as if someone was stabbing her with a knife, each stab making her wish she were dead.
"If you really want justice for this, I'll overlook your scheme against Cheng Yanxia and your indirect role in Lan Mengfan's death. From now on, we'll go our separate ways and have nothing to do with each other."
Jiang Yue was stunned, her beautiful face pale with shock. She couldn't believe he was so heartless. "Qianzhou, I..."
Lu Qianzhou stopped in his tracks. "This is a warning for you. You'd better remember every word I said today. If you make the same mistake again, I won't show any mercy, no matter who pleads for you."
With that, he turned around and left.
Jiang Yue was completely dazed. She sat there dejectedly, looking as if her soul had been sucked out and all the life had left her.
He used to be her best friend. In the past years, they had done so many things together, creating memories that no one else could intrude upon.
How could he be so heartless and just cut off their relationship like this?
She still remembered that when she first saw Lu Qianzhou as a child, she was attracted by his clean but timid appearance. She took the initiative to say hello to him and warmly helped the newcomer integrate into the circle of children.
Fang Jiangyi's father often brought Fang Jiangyi along. At that time, she didn't understand the ways of the world. She didn't know that Fang Jiangyi's father just wanted to use the friendship among the children to strengthen the relationship between the Jiang and Lu families.
Their friendship was pure back then. The children played together, laughing and having a great time.
Both boys were a bit shy, but they were very warm - hearted and took good care of her.
As a girl, she was doted on by several families and had always been the apple of everyone's eye. She could get whatever she wanted, and they indulged her. They had promised to be good friends for a lifetime.
She always thought that such friendship would last a long time, until the end of their lives.
But later, something happened to Lu Qianzhou's mother. It was on Lu Qianzhou's birthday. She had given him a gift during the day and told him that she and Fang Jiangyi would go to the hotel to celebrate his birthday at night.
She didn't know what exactly happened. When she arrived, she only saw Lu Qianzhou sitting in the hotel lobby with his head down.
Soon, he was taken away by someone, and she didn't see him for many days. Later, there was news that he and his mother had been in a car accident.
Lu Qianzhou's mother had protected him in her arms. Miraculously, Lu Qianzhou wasn't badly hurt, but his mother died. Since then, Lu Qianzhou had become silent.
She had always cared about him. Later, the children who used to play together spread rumors that Lu Qianzhou was an illegitimate child and a jinx who had killed his mother, so he was now locked up and not allowed out.
There were many rumors among the children. Later, her father also told Jiang Yue that Lu Qianzhou was not a good person and forbade her to play with him anymore.
She was confused. Seeing Fang Jiangyi start to distance himself from Lu Qianzhou, she just followed suit blindly.
After many years apart, they had all grown up.
Later, when she saw the grown - up Lu Qianzhou again, he was as clean as he was when he was a child, with a gentle and elegant temperament. He had shed his past greenness, had his own business, was very capable, and was highly regarded by his father. From his ability to his appearance, he exuded a fatal charm to women.
So she fell in love at first sight. She wanted to revive the memories of their childhood and stubbornly thought that he should worship her as he did when they were kids and be unconditionally good to her. She didn't want any other woman to take him away.
So, because of her thoughts, the two families happily reached an agreement, and she became the so - called legitimate future wife of Lu Qianzhou in the eyes of outsiders.
But unfortunately, Lu Qianzhou never responded to her. She made advances, but it was all like a one - woman show.
Now, this one - woman show seemed to finally come to an end, and all her efforts and persistence had ended in failure.
Actually, she had just made the same choice as most people. In a family like theirs, once a person lost power and had no chance of making a comeback, they would be abandoned.
Jiang Yue sat there dejectedly for a long time. It was not until her mother rushed in that she was noticed. Her mother saw her sitting there motionless and thought something had happened. She anxiously called her name, and Jiang Yue gradually came back to her senses.
Seeing her mother in front of her and thinking of what Lu Qianzhou had just said, she couldn't help but feel sad.
She threw herself into her mother's arms and cried loudly.
"Mom, Qianzhou doesn't want me. He doesn't want me anymore. He'll never talk to me again." Her shoulders shook with sobs. It seemed as if she was going to cry all the tears of her life in just a few days.
Seeing her like this, Jiang's mother couldn't help but have red eyes. She patted her daughter's back to comfort her. "He's blind to have wronged you, Yue'er. Don't cry. Mom will find you a better family, a thousand or ten thousand times better than Lu Qianzhou. It's him who should regret!"
But Jiang Yue couldn't listen. The memories of the past came flooding back to her mind.
They had really done a lot of things together in those years, and they had also promised to be friends for a lifetime.
It was she who had first broken the promise and abandoned him.
Jiang Yue shook her head desperately and cried uncontrollably. "He won't forgive me. It turns out that he's been blaming me all along. He never intended to forgive me..."
It was all just her wishful thinking.
...
Yanxia had been waiting for Fang Jiangyi to come back since she got home. He had gone to see Lu Huairen for her. If anything happened to him, she would be to blame.
Fortunately, Fang Jiangyi came back before it got dark. Seeing her concerned look, he knew that his trip was worth it.
Yanxia only asked, "Did Lu Huairen make things difficult for you?"
Fang Jiangyi told the truth. "He said that if I like you, I should keep you close. Because he won't allow you to be with Lu Qianzhou. If something like this happens again, he won't give anyone face and will get rid of you."
Yanxia didn't care. "I never intended to be with Lu Qianzhou anyway."
Fang Jiangyi looked at her expression carefully. He didn't know if it was just his imagination, but he always felt that although Yanxia said such words, she was no longer as firm as before. It seemed that her attitude towards Lu Qianzhou had changed a lot.
"I never knew before that you had a past with the Lu family. None of you ever told me about the past. You were quite in sync in hiding this from me."