More painful than tearing her apart

Ye Linglan felt her entire body trembling. Hugging her knees, she made no effort to hold back or suppress her emotions, letting herself sob uncontrollably.

With a single cold glance from him, it was as if he were returning everything back to her. He granted her wish; from this moment on, they would walk their separate paths in life and never cross again. She knew all too well that he was showing her this through his actions!

"Miss Ye, are you alright?!" A woman timely handed over a tissue. Linglan turned her face away, took the thick stack of documents from the woman, and hurriedly fled.

Composing herself, Linglan sought out Lin Jia once more to bring up her previous resignation letter. Since Mo Zhicheng had already returned, she wanted to settle this matter as soon as possible.

Although she had no idea where he had gone during the past half month, judging by what she saw today, Leng Tingyu had vanished during that exact same period—perhaps because of him!

However, she no longer had the energy to guess or speculate. Lin Jia’s response was to ask her to continue following up on the British enterprise exhibition project she had been in charge of before the New Year. Because she had been managing it single-handedly from the start, she had a complete grasp of the situation. "Since you have been handling it all along, the group company is sending you to their headquarters in the UK."

"But I have already written and submitted my resignation letter. It wouldn't be appropriate for me to interfere in this case anymore."

"Your resignation letter is still in my hands, and most importantly, the client specifically requested for you to negotiate. This puts me in a very difficult position."

With matters having reached this point, Linglan sighed. "When do we depart approximately?"

"Tomorrow."

"Very well!" she agreed. If she could secure this contract before leaving, it would at least serve as some sort of closure concerning him.

After leaving work, Linglan went home to pack her luggage. She was still planning her itinerary alongside Young Master Ye. Ye Shenghan sounded somewhat reluctant when they spoke, and when Linglan brought up Bai Yucheng's abnormal behavior, she reminded Young Master Ye to find some time to have a proper talk with Brother Yucheng. Remembering what Bai Yucheng had said about fate and waiting for a woman, Ye Shenghan managed to guess a portion of Yucheng's intentions. Linglan was somewhat startled—would Brother Yucheng truly lose his heart over a woman?

Bai Yucheng had previously mentioned the woman's figure and clothing characteristics, which Ye Shenghan relayed to Linglan.

"You met at a casino, and she was wearing a pink duck-bill cap?!" Linglan could not help pondering as the woman's voice and smile flashed involuntarily through her mind. "Leng Tingyu," that name slipped past her lips.

"You know her?"

"The younger daughter of Casino King Leng Hongwen!" She smiled faintly, unwilling to continue the topic, and buried herself beneath the covers. She simply hadn't expected Bai Yucheng's madness to be on account of Leng Tingyu. Admittedly, that woman possessed a natural allure that drew men in.

She closed her eyes, her heart in a chaotic tangle, yet still harboring a lingering trace of anxiety. She worried whether Young Master Ye would abandon his confrontation with Mo Zhicheng. The apparent peace between her and Young Master Ye over the past half month felt like a ticking time bomb, and she had no idea when it might detonate completely. She did not even dare to probe into Young Master Ye's thoughts, nor did she investigate the deep-seated feud between the Ye and Mo families any further.

A moment later, the man's low voice came through the phone: "Linglan, how about I accompany you to the UK?"

She blinked her eyes in a daze. "What?"

"I'll accompany you to the UK!"

Thinking he was merely joking, she offered a faint, ambiguous smile. "Young Master Ye, you certainly know how to joke! If you go with me, won't that expose your identity?"

Ye Shenghan smiled helplessly, a hidden sigh echoing deep within his heart. *Linglan, do you know? I am longing for the day you return to my side. When that day arrives, I will also tell you the secret I have hidden in my heart for so many years!*

Listening to the silence on the other end, she probed gently with her voice, "Young Master Ye, what is... the next plan?"

The man chuckled softly. "I'll tell you when you get back!" Beneath his pampered tone lay a double entendre—was it when she returned from England, or... if she stayed by his side?!

She spent the night without dreams!

The next day, just as Linglan was about to board her plane, she unexpectedly received a call from the orphanage where little Fengling lived. Fearing that something might have happened to the child, she hurriedly answered, thereby missing her window to board.

"Director Zhang, did something happen to little Fengling?"

Instead, the young, tender voice of little Fengling came through the phone: "Thank you, Mama Linglan, we have an even better place to live now!" The child's voice was full of excitement. Hearing that he was safe and sound, the heavy stone pressing down on her heart finally lifted. Yet, why was the child thanking her? She asked, "What is it, little Fengling!"

At that moment on the other end, Director Zhang took over the phone and said, "Linglan?"

"Director Zhang, what is going on?"

"Half a month ago, we received a special sponsorship for little Fengling from 'Sky City'. There is an educational fund of one million to cover little Fengling all the way from elementary school through university graduation, and another one million startup fund once he reaches adulthood. Moreover, this money was donated to little Fengling in your name. I've been running around taking care of these matters during this time and only finally had some free time today to call you. But it's rather strange—with you providing these two million in funding for little Fengling, why did we still receive the two thousand yuan you regularly remit to his account the day before yesterday?"

Upon hearing these words, she had already guessed whose hand was behind the two-million-yuan sponsorship given to little Fengling in her name under the banner of 'Sky City'. She simply hadn't expected that after she mentioned visiting little Fengling together that day, he would actually go ahead and make this decision.

Linglan smiled bitterly, her heart feeling as though a jar containing all five flavors had been shattered, making her taste sweetness, sourness, bitterness, and pungency all at once. She murmured, "Charitable and benevolent indeed. The small sum I remit should be reserved for other children who need sponsorship. Also, tell little Fengling not to forget his... Daddy Zhicheng!" At this point, a trace of stinging sorrow clouded her eyes. "You must take good care of your health. There will always be regrets in life; tell him not to let his regrets outlast his life!" Her aching eyes brimmed with tiny drops of moisture. That man was perhaps the lifelong regret of her existence!

She sat in a daze inside the waiting lounge, having missed her flight and forced to reschedule for the next one. To her surprise, she ran into Leng Tingyu once more. The woman seemed to have noticed her as well, coming to a halt. Linglan politely greeted her, "Hello, President Leng!"

Leng Tingyu glanced at her wristwatch. "I heard you missed your flight."

She smiled helplessly. As expected, Lin Jia had reported even this detail. She nodded apologetically, and Leng Tingyu smiled faintly. "I am here to travel to London with you. You have always done exceptionally well in the exhibition business sector, so I happen to be going with you this time to learn a thing or two from you in certain areas." Leng Tingyu's attitude was exceptionally modest, leaving Linglan entirely unable to find a single flaw in her perfection.

"President Leng flatters me. There are many outstanding qualities in President Leng that I should learn from." With polite pleasantries exchanged back and forth, both of them put on a flawless public performance. Linglan surmised that because Leng Tingyu was eager to secure that technology exhibition case, she had chosen to travel alongside her.

Throughout the journey to London, Leng Tingyu conversed with her at length, inquiring about various matters. Yet, the more they spoke, the more Linglan felt that the peace between them was merely superficial. She had no desire to fathom Leng Tingyu, nor did she wish to pry into her thoughts. She merely had a vague sense that whenever Mo Zhicheng was brought up—whether implicitly or explicitly—Tingyu's eyes would shimmer with lucid clarity. "President Mo will also be hurrying to London tomorrow, arriving around five o'clock local time in the evening."

Linglan started slightly. This meant this trip would involve the three of them: him, her, and Leng Tingyu. At that instant, her chest felt as though it had been pierced by a heavy blow, throbbing with a dull ache. She did not know for whose sake Mo Zhicheng was making this trip. In short, forcing her to witness his intimacy with another woman throughout the entire journey would be a thousand, nay, ten thousand times more painful than being dismembered.

Her breathing grew heavy, and she slowly lowered her eyelids, watching her own fingers twist tightly together into a knot. "Is that so?" she asked in a hoarse voice.

Leng Tingyu glanced sideways, carefully appraising the woman beside her. Within her slender frame lay a quiet, gentle serenity. Her immediate impression was one of tranquil purity. Remembering how, over the past half month, this woman had searched everywhere for Mo Zhicheng and had even witnessed his unhealed wounds...

And so, amidst all the gossip and rumors, she wished to prove a single thing!!

The next day, Leng Tingyu brought Ye Linglan along to pick up arriving passengers. Multitudes of people poured in from all directions like a surging tide, engulfing the airport arrival hall. Despite this, amidst the jostling crowd, Ye Linglan spotted the man at a single glance. However, Leng Tingyu acted a step faster than her: "Zhicheng, over here!"

That term of endearment made her body freeze in shock. Mo Zhicheng offered Leng Tingyu a faint smile, though Linglan had no idea whether he had even noticed her. She simply followed behind the two of them like a fool.

The sight of those two figures walking side by side appeared glaringly painful to her eyes at that moment.

Meanwhile, from the corner of Mo Zhicheng's eye, a lingering gaze swept past the figure trailing behind them.