Chapter 3
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Jiang Zhi’s voice was icy. “Paparazzi already have photos of you entangled with Wen Nian. If news of our three-year secret relationship surfaces, what storm do you think will hit the internet?” Jiang Nian’s “Film Emperor” title was freshly won, his throne barely warmed. A scandal exposing his “affair” and hidden relationship would devastate his career. In contrast, going public with Wen Nian could boost their new drama—advantageous damage control.
Jiang Nian gritted his teeth. “So desperate to leave me? You’d resort to threats?!”
Jiang Zhi laughed coldly. “I’m not leaving by choice. You forced this. Isn’t that clear?”
His grip only tightened, crushing her wrist as if to shatter bone. Jiang Zhi stared back, impervious to pain. “Let. Go.”
This version of her was terrifyingly unfamiliar. A primal dread screamed that releasing her meant losing her forever.
The air crackled with tension, poised like a coiled spring.
“Nian-ge!” Wen Nian rushed out, clinging to Jiang Nian’s other arm. “You said you loved me! Let her go!” She’d sensed the wardrobe’s presence earlier—her question meant to shatter Jiang Zhi’s illusions. Wen Nian’s triumph evaporated upon seeing Jiang Zhi’s true beauty. Now, fear clawed at her: This woman will steal him back.
Jiang Nian whirled on her, all bedroom tenderness gone. “Shut up!”
Wen Nian flinched. The gentle lover had vanished, replaced by someone dark and unrecognizable.
Callous bastard, Jiang Zhi thought, finally seeing the rot beneath his five-year facade. She wrenched her wrist. “Last warning, Jiang Nian: Let. Go.” She glanced at her phone. “Or I won’t hold back.”
Wen Nian seized the opening, venom dripping: “She never loved you! If she did, she’d never hurt you or leave! I would never betray you!”
Jiang Nian’s jaw locked. Staring at Wen Nian—her features echoing Jiang Zhi’s—he faltered. In that split second, Jiang Zhi ripped her hand free and vanished through the door.
The night air outside the luxury apartment complex was still and cold. No taxis roamed the gated streets at 2 AM. Jiang Zhi walked briskly, her heels echoing like gunshots in the silence.
Disaster piles on disaster.
A pebble caught her stiletto. A sickening twist. White-hot agony shot through her ankle. She gasped, doubling over, tears finally breaking through her iron control. They fell hot and heavy onto the pavement.
One moment of clarity? No. This was the shattering of a thousand accumulated fractures—disappointment crystallizing into irrevocable truth.
She wept until emptiness replaced tears. Standing brought a wave of dizziness—hypoglycemia from skipped meals, or oxygen deprivation from crouching too long? The world spun black. She braced for impact.
Instead, she collided with warmth. Hard muscle beneath expensive wool. The clean, cold scent of cedar and bergamot filled her senses. Strong arms lifted her as consciousness faded.
Safe…
Hospital. Noon.
The pungent scent of disinfectant. Stark white walls. A metal-framed bed with faded blue sheets.
Memories surfaced—hazy, dreamlike. A man sitting beside her. The rough pad of a thumb tracing the curve of her cheekbone. His touch achingly tender, as if handling shattered glass.
A deep, resonant voice, strangely familiar yet unknown, brushed her ear: “Was he truly worth such devotion?” A thread of loneliness wove through the words.
Something broke inside her. Tears she thought spent welled anew.
A calloused finger caught one at her temple, lifted it to his lips. “Salt and sorrow,” he murmured. “He deserves none of your tears.”
Then, softer, a vow wrapped in longing: “Let me love you now.”
The raw plea in it—like a starved child begging for crumbs—pierced her heart.
点击。门打开了。一名护士端着食物托盘走了进来，眼睛微微睁大，看着江芷裸露的脸。“醒了？有痛吗？
“只是虚弱，”江芷刺耳地说道。
护士检查了生命体征，然后放下托盘。“你因营养不良而倒下。规律吃饭。营养不良。自江念获胜以来，无情的工作量——不吃饭，取而代之的是压力。昨晚的背叛是压垮最后一根稻草。
“谁把我带到这里来的？”江智问道。“我需要感谢他们。”
护士笑了笑。“哦，是你的孩子——”
