Squinting slightly, Kong Chengyi caught a glimpse of the black SUV's license plate from the corner of his eye. Suddenly, he pressed down hard on the accelerator and sped up.
"Yi…" The abrupt surge startled Ding Jia, who gripped the door handle tightly and turned to look at him with a hint of fear. "What's wrong? The car behind keeps honking—do you know them?"
As Kong Chengyi accelerated, the vehicle behind also sped up, the honking growing more continuous, accompanied by flashing headlights.
With his lips pressed tightly, Kong Chengyi ignored Ding Jia's question with a cold expression, maintaining his speed.
Ding Jia's right-hand knuckles whitened as she gripped the door handle desperately. She swallowed hard, her face paling from the inability to endure the rapid speed.
"Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!"
The sudden, loud honking echoed sharply on the bright highway, clearly drawing attention from passing cars. Other drivers slowed down, but only Kong Chengyi's car seemed to have entered a no-man's land, weaving rapidly as if determined not to let the honking car catch up.
Cars and street scenes blurred behind them. Taking sharp turns at speed, Ding Jia clung tightly to the door handle but still felt dizzy from the shaking, her face ghostly pale.
"Yi… Yi… I… I'm dizzy… I want to vomit…" Covering her chest with one hand, Ding Jia spoke with difficulty and interruptions, feeling as if dinner was about to come back up.
Glancing at Ding Jia, Kong Chengyi seemed to snap out of a trance. He swerved sharply toward the roadside; the tires screeched sharply, and the car's momentum threw both of them forward before coming to a halt by the edge of the road.
Bouncing heavily back into her seat, Ding Jia quickly unfastened her seatbelt, covered her mouth with one hand, pushed open the car door, and staggered out.
"Sorry…" Kong Chengyi got out shortly after and saw Ding Jia crouched on the ground, clutching her chest and dry-heaving repeatedly.
A strong gust of wind blew by. The honking finally stopped. The black SUV behind them also came to a screeching halt.
"Ugh…" Lowering her head, Ding Jia dry-heaved on the ground, her chest shaking violently. Gradually, her retching subsided.
A loud slam of a car door made Ding Jia raise her head involuntarily. She was startled to see a woman stepping out of the black SUV.
"Chengyi, I absolutely won't allow you to marry this woman!" Lin Xiao jumped down swiftly, her lips trembling noticeably, as if struggling to control her emotions through deep breaths.
"Aunt!" Suddenly realizing Lin Xiao's intention, Ding Jia stood straight up, even staggering a few steps forward trying to grab Lin Xiao's hand to stop her.
"Don't touch me! Today I need to make things clear!" Lin Xiao tore her hand away angrily, tears streaming down in heavy drops. She bit her lip, suppressing her sobs.
"Go back—I don't want to hear it!" Kong Chengyi's face turned ashen as he turned and headed briskly toward the car, cutting off any opportunity for Lin Xiao to say more.
"Kong Chengyi! I'm your mother! I know I've wronged you and the Kong family. I shamelessly was with Gu Feng in the past! I've wronged your father!" With determination, Lin Xiao shouted at his retreating back. In that instant, she released the secrets she had held inside for decades.
Clenching his fists tightly, Kong Chengyi finally stopped in place amidst her shouting. His broad back made it impossible for the two women present to read his expression.
As if he had lost all strength, Ding Jia collapsed back to the ground, her pale face full of unease and helplessness.
In the end, she still lost to Lin Xiao!
"But this woman, she was cheating on you back then, even doing drugs!" Tears fell uncontrollably as Lin Xiao bit her lip and continued in a hoarse voice. "The real reason she left wasn't her heart condition—it was because I caught her cheating and doing drugs. She took a sum of money from me when she left!" Such a filthy woman, even if she compensated me, I will definitely push her away from Chengyi.
Kong Chengyi relaxed the tight fists and then loosened them, finally straightening his back and turning around. His handsome features seemed coated in a layer of frost. "So?"
He didn't question her departure because he pitied her suffering from illness, yet reality was unbearably harsh.
"So, no matter what, this woman doesn't deserve you. Even standing next to you, she's just dirtying you!"
"No… That's not true… Yi… Please believe me, you have to believe me…" Weak all over, tear-white staining her face, Ding Jia crawled slowly, pleading for Kong Chengyi's trust.
Lowering his eyes to look at the tear-streaked face of Ding Jia, Kong Chengyi suddenly felt this woman was so unfamiliar and filthy.
A cold laugh escaped him. His icy face was replaced by disdain as he continued his accusation. "She's dirty, so what about you? You've betrayed your husband and your family too!"
He had long known the truth without calling it out, harboring only hatred toward her because he didn't want to utter the word "dirty."
But now, with the wound she tore open herself, he had no choice but to trample over it again and again, as if trying to drive that pain deeper into his bones so all the suffering would feel real.
"Chengyi…" Through tear-filled eyes, Lin Xiao called his name helplessly, unable to answer her heartbreaking accusations.
Taking a final deep look at Lin Xiao standing in the wind, her hair messy and fluttering, Kong Chengyi curled a mocking smile but said nothing more. Resolutely, he turned and strode toward the car.
"No!" Ding Jia shouted painfully at his growing silhouette, waving her hands desperately trying to stop him. "Yi… Believe me, don't leave me… I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"
With a screech, the car reversed and shot away like an arrow from a bow, leaving the two tear-streaked women behind.
Turning on the music, the roaring sound of heavy metal filled his ears. Kong Chengyi's chest surged with unrelenting fury. His knotted fingers gripped the steering wheel tightly, foot pressing the pedal hard. He raced unrestricted through street after glittering, bustling street, cutting straight across half the city.
After over half an hour, he finally turned off the music and looked up at the unfamiliar road ahead, driving straight on. In an instant, loneliness dawned on him—he had no idea where to go.
Slowly, he pulled the car over to the roadside, rolled down the window, and lit a cigarette. He slumped in the seat, drained of energy.
Looking up at the dark sky, thick clouds obscured the scattered stars and moon, making the heavens look lonely and sorrowful.
The phone screen flickered repeatedly—lighting up, going dark, then lighting up again over and over—yet Kong Chengyi didn't even glance at it, letting it repeat endlessly.
Taking a deep drag of smoke, his long arm hung out the window as he quietly stared at the sky.
Hearing Lin Xiao reveal Ding Jia's past surprisingly did not sting him, but her own exposed secret had sparked a raging lion within him, nearly pouncing to bite her silent forever.
Silently, he had hated her for years, placing her in the realm of strangers, but now the heartache was painfully clear.
Early the next morning, Kong Jie followed routine and pushed open Kong Chengyi's office door, intending to tidy files that might have piled up from overtime. But to his surprise, Kong Chengyi was already sitting at the desk.
"President? Good morning!" After a brief two seconds of shock, Kong Jie recovered and approached. "Want me to get some breakfast?"
Quickly signing the documents flying past, Kong Chengyi tossed the papers onto Kong Jie and instructed with a grim face, "Managers from each department—meeting in fifteen minutes. Whoever's late works overtime for a month!"
Catching the files hurriedly and facing yet another strict order, Kong Jie couldn't help but watch Kong Chengyi and guess what troubles plagued him.
"Prepare a change of clothes and have them sent to the lounge!" Tugging roughly at his tie, Kong Chengyi pushed back his chair and headed straight for the lounge.
"Yes!" Kong Jie responded loudly, watching Kong Chengyi leave. Only then did he notice the rumpled suit—clearly the same one from yesterday.
After a quick shower to wash away the exhaustion of an all-nighter, Kong Chengyi stood in front of the mirror with no clothes on, adjusting his tie. Suddenly, an image of Hua Lanxi appeared in his mind—the shy way she had once helped him with his tie—and his hands froze momentarily.
"Knock knock knock knock…"
"President, Miss Ding is in the reception room. She wants to see you!" Kong Jie reported loudly near the lounge door, secretly admiring Ding Jia's haggard appearance. It seemed the two had quarreled.
Pulling at his tie, Kong Chengyi emerged with a grim face and glanced at Kong Jie by the door. "Don't see her. Tell her to leave!"
Kong Jie was taken aback but dared not argue. He nodded immediately and left.
"Assistant Ke, let go! I want to see Chengyi! I have to see him!" Ding Jia, already on edge, broke down. She grabbed her bag and tried to rush to his office but was stopped by Kong Jie.
"Sorry, Miss Ding. The president has a meeting soon. There's really no time. Please go back!" Having worked with Kong Chengyi for years, Kong Jie knew a 'no' meant no. No one was allowed to barge in uninvited.
"No! I have something to say—I must see him!" After a night of nonstop calls, going crazy at midnight trying to reach the company only to be stopped by security, hoping he'd return to the mountain villa, then crazily returning there to find no sign of him, and finally her phone dying from the frantic redials—she had no chance to explain anything.
She promised those past mistakes would never happen again. She believed Kong Chengyi loved her and wouldn't judge her past. She believed she could bear him children. She believed he wouldn't be so cruel as to abandon her.