Chapter 8 — The Path I Chose

My current life is wonderful. Your presence only serves to shatter the hard-won peace I have cultivated. Please, just live your own life and stop bothering me!

I stepped into the taxi. Through the rearview mirror, I saw him standing frozen in place, utterly shattered and adrift, his gaze lingering on me with an expression of profound agony. I turned my head away, unwilling to watch any longer. Regardless, from this day forward, neither I nor anyone else from the City of Rivers would have any connection to my life again. I could finally exist as the true Liang Zhiye.

Upon returning to America, I settled into my rigid, three-point daily routine: university, my part-time job, and my apartment. I had charted the course for my future with meticulous care, ensuring every stride I took was unwavering. During my final year of university, I was honored with an admission letter for a master’s program at a prestigious institution. At the age of twenty-three, I graduated half a year early, successfully securing a position at one of the world's top four consulting firms. In my very first year, I was earning an annual salary of two hundred thousand dollars. Finally, I had relied solely on my own strength to build a solid income and a stable life. I had walked completely out of the muddy, stained years of my youth.

Five years later, I went on vacation to Hawaii with my boyfriend. While dining at a restaurant, I stumbled upon a former high school classmate. Seeing me, she was overcome with excitement, pulling me aside to recount endless memories and local gossip. When the conversation turned to Chu Tiantian, her tone suddenly shifted to one of disdain.

That girl, Chu Tiantian, always acted so high and mighty in front of us back then. As it turned out, once she finished university, she spent her time flirting with and seducing wealthy heirs everywhere. Eventually, her reputation was ruined; she was ostracized by the entire social circle, and when she could no longer survive there, she turned to keeping company with an elderly man.

The end result? Not long ago, the old man’s legal wife cornered her at a hotel, catching them red-handed in bed. She didn't realize that the man’s wife was not someone to be trifled with. He had only achieved his status because of his wife’s family, so when she decided to ruin Chu Tiantian, the old man didn't dare utter a single word to intervene.

I heard that afterward, the wife had her people strip her naked and toss her right at the entrance of her own village. Her parents scream at her every single day for disgracing the family, weeping loudly and threatening to disown her. Her mental state has become quite unstable now.

My classmate sighed, remarking, "Why on earth would anyone do that to themselves?" Listening to her account, I felt not even the slightest ripple of emotion. Back in high school, Chu Tiantian had always worn an arrogant, sanctimonious mask, looking down on me for working so hard to earn money. Yet, how could she not have been greedy? All those years ago, whenever she saw Fu Chengxi gifting me expensive items, the avarice in her eyes was impossible to hide. She simply refused to show it, determined to maintain her facade of purity in front of the wealthy, hoping to use that curated image to attract attention. After three long years of high school spent in hypocrisy, she ended up with nothing to show for it and was still looked down upon just as before. Later, when Fu Chengxi sought her out, she was delirious with joy, believing she had triumphed, yet that flicker of glory proved as fleeting as smoke. Had she realized early on that earning one's own way is the safest path, she might not have ended up in such a state. Instead, she surrendered to fate, sliding down a slope of one mistake after another, eventually carving out the catastrophe that is her life today. For these consequences, there is no one else to blame.

After chatting for a while longer, my classmate pulled up a photo on her phone to show me.

Zhiye, did you know that Fu Chengxi is engaged?

I shook my head. We lost touch a long time ago.