Chapter 9 — The Wedding That Became a Goodbye

The phone on the marble countertop buzzed incessantly. She dried her hands, picked it up, and checked the screen. Weibo notifications: 999+, Xiaohongshu notifications: 999+, and WeChat friend requests had already surpassed five hundred. With a swift swipe, she muted all notifications, leaving only her close friends' group chat active.

Miao: "Are you home yet? Are you safe?"

Zheng: "That bastard Huai Chu is still lingering outside your building. I just checked his location on WeChat."

Frowning, Tran walked over to the floor-to-ceiling windows and looked down. Beneath the streetlamp at the residential complex entrance, a black Mercedes was indeed parked. Its headlights were off, but the glow from a mobile screen occasionally illuminated the driver’s seat. She dialed Huai Chu's number.

"You're still here?"

"Tran, I can wait for you all night," Huai Chu's voice was hoarse. "We have been together for three years. Can't you give me just one more chance?"

"I gave you a chance," Tran's voice remained feather-light. "Tomorrow morning at ten, the chance to sign the settlement agreement. If you don't show up, I'll send the lawsuit papers. Twenty million yuan plus court fees—you can do the math yourself."

"Must you be so utterly ruthless?"

"I must," Tran said. "Huai Chu, I told you before, what I hate most in this life is being deceived. When you were courting me, what did I say?"

Huai Chu fell silent.

"I said," Tran enunciated every single word with chilling clarity, "if you ever dare to cheat on me, I won't cry, and I won't make a scene. I will make you pay dearly. You saw it for yourself today; I mean what I say."

She hung up the call, drew the curtains, and dialed the complex security office. "Could you please escort the black Mercedes parked outside the gate away? Tell the owner that if he refuses to leave, I will call the police and report him for harassment."

Five minutes later, the Mercedes drove off.

Tran lay on her bed, casually scrolling through the Weibo trending topics for a while. Her trending tag, "Wearing a Wedding Dress to Eat Hotpot," had dropped from third to seventh place, but its view count had already exceeded three hundred million. Some netizens had managed to track down Huai Chu's company, while others dug up Wan Yi's social media accounts. Wan Yi's posts were flooded with vicious condemnation, forcing her to lock the comment section. Tran paused on a comment written by an unfamiliar female netizen:

"Sister, what you did today is something I have wanted to do my entire life, but I never had the courage. When my ex-boyfriend cheated, I only broke up in silence and swallowed all the grievances. Looking at you, I finally realized that women can be this fierce and cool. Thank you for your bravery."

Tran stared at that comment for a very long time. Then, she typed out a four-word reply: "You can too."

She set her phone down, closed her eyes, and slept deeply until morning without a single dream.

At nine-thirty the next morning, Tran arrived punctually downstairs at her company. She wore a pristine white professional suit, paired with eight-centimeter high heels, her makeup sharp and striking, her hair tied up neatly into a high bun. Inside the briefcase she carried were three essential items: the original Love Agreement, a CD containing undeniable evidence, and a formal lawyer's warning letter. The young receptionist's eyes lit up the moment she saw her.

"Good morning, Boss Tran!"

"Good morning." Tran walked over to the elevator and pressed the button for the eighteenth floor—her office was located there.

When the elevator doors glided open, she immediately spotted the people already waiting in the conference room. Huai Chu was dressed in a navy blue suit, his hair neatly combed, though the dark circles under his eyes and the slight swelling on his left cheek betrayed him—her father's slap from the night before had certainly packed a punch. Sitting beside him was a middle-aged man in a suit and tie, carrying a briefcase, instantly recognizable as a lawyer. Tran pushed the door open and stepped inside. Huai Chu looked up, his gaze complex and troubled.

"Tran," he spoke up, "can we talk in private?"