Chapter 7: Epilogue: Huo Qisheng

By the time Xu Nian and I officially married, the Zhou family had already begun their downward spiral.

Zhou Jisheng’s business suffered one blow after another, leaving him buried under a mountain of debt. As his mood soured, he took to flying out to Macau more and more often to “blow off steam.” It started with heavy losses at the baccarat tables, but soon enough, he fell right into a honey trap set by people who knew exactly how to play him.

In the end, he was caught red-handed in a hotel room, disheveled and stripped of every last shred of dignity. The Zhou family had to scramble, pulling every strings they had to scrape together over ten million yuan just to bail him out.

From that moment on, the Zhou family was completely ruined, beyond any hope of recovery. The shock hit Mrs. Zhou so hard she fell gravely ill, hanging onto life by a thread.

I never told Xu Nian any of this. She was about to become my bride, and to me, our wedding day was the single most important moment of my life, there was no need to let irrelevant people or petty drama ruin her mood.

Honestly, Zhou Jisheng’s downfall came as no surprise. A man like him – indecisive, foolishly romantic, and thoroughly lacking spine—was bound to push himself off a cliff sooner or later.

My only regret… was that Xu Nian and I met so late. If I had found her just a little earlier, perhaps she wouldn’t have had to endure those three years of a hollow, disappointing marriage.

Then again, I reminded myself that at least I wasn’t too late.

That night in Hong Kong, she didn’t push me away. She was clumsy, even a little bewildered, but when I took her back to my hotel or rather, when she agreed to come with me, it was entirely her choice. No one forced her.

During those three days in Hong Kong, she smiled so much. And for the very first time in my life, I learned what it meant to never want something to end.

Back then, I thought it was merely a fleeting encounter between two lonely adults. I never imagined it would be the beginning of everything.

I fell in love with her. The first time was when we were children. The second time was the exact moment she walked back into my life.

The only shame was that she didn’t remember me. But as for me… I had already passed the point of no return.

Marriage could end in divorce, but I had no intention of ever giving her that option.

—

Xu Nian was stepping out in her wedding dress. Handing my phone off to my assistant, I walked over to her. She looked up at me, a faint, shy smile gracing her lips. The delicate, pure white gown made her look like a flower in full bloom.

My mind drifted back to the fourteen-year-old girl from my memories.

That year, she had been riding her bicycle with one hand while holding an ice cream cone in the other. As the ice cream began to melt, she panicked, wobbled, and crashed straight into my car. She tumbled to the ground, her eyes instantly brimming with bright red tears.

Her leg was scraped, bleeding, and clearly painful. Scared as she was, she still pushed herself up to apologize. I took her to get her wound cleaned and bandaged. She cried the entire time, flinching away from the doctor’s hands as if she were being subjected to actual torture.

Then her classmates rushed over to drag her off to dance practice. She turned back, hastily shouted her thanks, and disappeared.

I thought… we would see each other again. But the very next day, I was summoned back to Hong Kong.

My family suffered a catastrophic blow. My relatives passed away one after another in ways no one could have predicted. Overnight, I became the sole heir to the empire, and from that moment on, my life was no longer mine to choose.

Until I found Xu Nian again.

I stepped up to her. Her cheeks flushed a light pink as she reached out, placing her hand gently in mine.

I closed my fingers around hers, holding on tight.

This time, it wasn’t a trial run. It was a promise.

I was never letting go.

The End