Chapter 338: Chapter 227: Happy Breakup, I Wish You Happiness (2)

To leave this place of heartbreak, to bury his first love—this unforgettable and humiliating experience. Perhaps when he looked back on it in the future, he would sigh with melancholy.

But as for how he’d feel later, well, he would leave that for his future self to slowly process.

Life always moves forward. Perhaps putting some distance between them and starting over was the only way to recover more quickly.

The two Jiangg sisters watched his methodical movements. He pulled his backpack from the corner, unzipped it, and unplugged the charger from under the living room TV stand, placing it inside. Then, he opened a drawer in the coffee table and rummaged through a pile of miscellaneous items. A USB drive, a razor, sunglasses he’d bought on a trip—he stuffed them all into his bag.

Their eyes gradually filled with panic.

They exchanged a look.

Jiangg Ning opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but she didn’t know how to make him stay. At this point, it seemed there was no other option but to beg.

It was because Chen Yuan had been perfectly clear: they should have a clean break and stop agonizing over the matter.

A fear deeper than what she’d felt when the truth came out two days ago surged through Jiangg Yao. She truly realized she was about to lose her young master, that from now on, they would be strangers.

Never to see each other again.

"My young master... There must be another way. We don’t have to go this far. You’re just saying you want to break up because you’re angry, right? I swear, I know what I did wrong. I’ll change!"

She rushed over and pressed down on Chen Yuan’s hands as he packed his things.

She looked at him, her eyes filled with desperate hope.

But there was no flicker of emotion in Chen Yuan’s eyes.

Once lovers, now severing their final tie. After he moved out of this apartment, he would have nothing more to do with Jiangg Ning and Jiangg Yao.

This was the most fitting solution he had been able to come up with over the past two days.

"Isn’t it enough that I’ll change...? Please," Jiangg Yao whispered, her voice choked with tears.

She couldn’t imagine life after losing Chen Yuan. They had been so happy together. The world that had seemed perfectly fine just a few days ago had suddenly collapsed.

The swing from extreme joy to extreme sorrow came too quickly, too violently.

Jiangg Yao knew with piercing clarity that once Chen Yuan walked out that door, it would be well and truly over. It was a testament to his unshakeable resolve.

In the future, when she looked back, only a series of unforgettable moments would flash through her mind.

The shyness of meeting for the first time after dating online, the hug in the restaurant, the kiss in the rain, the two of them singing terribly off-key without a care, watching cartoons while gathered around a warm hot pot, the playful fights when they couldn’t sleep at night... and the bite mark she had left on his hand.

This reserved Chen Yuan she adored—she would never be able to touch him again.

Perhaps one day in the distant future, long after she had moved on and even the memories had begun to fade, the emotions that once swirled in her heart would also grow stale and moldy.

Walking down some street, weary from her travels, she might suddenly hear a familiar voice. She would whip her head around, only to find a college student, another young man in his prime.

It was just a similar-sounding voice.

She would surely shake her head then, a pang of loss striking her, but just as she started to walk again...

...there at the street corner, Chen Yuan, whom she hadn’t seen in years, would suddenly come into view.

He would still look young, having left the ivory tower of school and entered the working world. He would have matured quite a bit and seemed to have grown a little taller.

She would freeze, staring at his profile, her heart a maelstrom of emotions, before her gaze finally fell on the other girl by his side.

The young woman holding his arm would have a smile sweeter than hers had ever been.

...

The two of them were in a standoff, wrestling over his few belongings.

The more Jiangg Yao thought about it, the paler her face became. She couldn’t accept that future.

"Don’t do this. I’m moving out. I’ve already found a new place. Do we really have to fight now, at the very end?" Chen Yuan asked, frowning in confusion.

"I won’t let you go... We’re not breaking up! Don’t do this..."

"Give me the bag."

"No," Jiangg Yao said, clinging to his bag like a mother cat protecting her kitten, refusing to let go. "If I give this to you, my young master will be gone."

"This is pointless. Adults have to face the consequences of their actions. Jiangg Yao, aren’t you just throwing a tantrum?"

"So what if I’m throwing a tantrum? This is what I’m doing. Say what you want, call me unreasonable, but I’m not letting you leave today."

"Haven’t you made enough of a scene?"

Chen Yuan yanked hard on the backpack. Jiangg Yao was dragged stubbornly across the carpet, her feet bunching it up into a high ridge.

"Yaoyao doesn’t want to cause a scene! I just want to sit down and talk this over... Sister!"

Jiangg Ning saw that neither of them would let go and that their struggle was getting serious.

She also understood that if they let Chen Yuan leave now, they would have a very hard time getting another chance to change his mind.

Jiangg Ning walked over and grabbed the handle of the bag as well. She met Chen Yuan’s eyes. His gaze was filled with utter disbelief.

"You too?"

"No, I’m not trying to take your luggage. Let’s just talk about this calmly. Maybe there’s another solution..."

"Another solution? Or do you mean a solution that satisfies the two of you?"

"Chen, that’s not what I meant."

"We’ve already talked about everything there is to talk about. You’ve tried to make me stay. I’ve already said I forgive you. What more do you two want?"

"For us to get back together..." Jiangg Ning said, mustering her courage.

"I refuse."

"Just think about it a little more. Don’t be so quick to refuse."

Jiangg Ning still gripped the handle, not letting go.

Jiangg Yao went even further, draping herself over the backpack to block Chen Yuan’s hands with her body. Her eyes were rimmed with red as she whispered, "Then just don’t leave today."

"The legs are on my body. What are you two going to do, put me under house arrest? Worst case, I’ll just leave my things behind!"

Chen Yuan let go and strode toward the door.

With quick reflexes, Jiangg Yao grabbed his shirt.

But he was resolute and shook her hand away.

"Goodbye!"

"Chen Yuan... Your clothes, your backpack... if you walk out that door, you’ll lose it all! I’ll throw every last thing away! I won’t save a single thing for you."

"Are you a child?" he said, laughing in fury. "Threatening me with my things? So what if I lose it all?"

At this point, any trace of their initial composure was gone.

Jiangg Yao watched helplessly as he pushed the door open to leave. She abruptly lifted the backpack and hurled it at him.

"Won’t you give me a single chance? I love you so much, I’m begging you... Chen Yuan, what would it hurt to give me one more chance...?"

Her crying was ugly, and she didn’t even have time to wipe away the tears as despair consumed her reason.

"Stop torturing me... This ends now." Chen Yuan kicked the backpack at his feet aside and turned to look at her. "If you like this stuff so much, you can have it all. Ruin it however you please."

CREAK—

The door swung open.

The cold wind of the fickle early spring weather howled in from outside.

Jiangg Yao was crouched on the carpet, sobbing her heart out. Chen Yuan suppressed his own anguish and resolutely walked out. If he stayed a second longer, he felt he would lose control of his emotions as well.

Just then, he suddenly felt a warmth at his back as a pair of arms wrapped around his waist from behind, holding him tight.

"Throw them away... Throw it all away... Just don’t throw me away too, okay?"

"I know I was wrong..."

"Don’t throw me away..."

Jiangg Ning trembled, tears streaming down her smooth cheeks as if they were worthless.

In the blink of an eye, they soaked the back of his shirt.