"It was his own mother who abandoned you and your son, but look at you both. As soon as you heard she was back in the country, one of you wanted to divorce me for her, and the other wanted to go find his birth mother. Fine. I won’t get in your way. I’ll make room for her."
"And now you want me to go see Lu Chenling? Don’t you think you’re pushing it? Why should I let you two walk all over me like this?"
Lu Mofeng looked devastated. "I know we wronged you, but Sasha... You used to love us so much. How can you be so heartless...?"
He reached out to hug Zhu Sha, but she slapped his hand away. "Don’t touch me! You’re disgusting!"
"No, Sasha, I’m not," Lu Mofeng tried to get closer, but Zhu Sha backed away two steps and sank onto the staircase. "Don’t touch me."
"Okay, I won’t." Lu Mofeng pulled his hand back, his eyes filled with sorrow. "Sasha..."
"What’s so great about her, anyway?" Zhu Sha muttered. ’I still don’t get it. She hurt you both so badly, yet you’re all still hung up on her.’
"And me? When you were at your lowest, completely down and out, I was the one by your side. I gave so much for you, yet it all meant nothing the moment she reappeared after six years."
"She showed up just once and completely destroyed the home I had so carefully built."
"You said you wanted to focus on your career and that we’d have a proper wedding once you were established. You said you wanted to keep a low profile, so almost none of your friends even knew we were married. You said you’d take me to see the northern lights someday, but you never did."
"You know I hate chocolate and roses, but you gave them to me every single year. Do you think I like them? No, *she* likes them. It’s not that you didn’t know. You just didn’t care."
Lu Mofeng knelt before Zhu Sha. "It was my fault, Sasha. All my fault. I’m begging you, please don’t be so cruel to me. You know that in this whole world, Chenling and I... we only have you."
"If... if even you abandon us, who else will ever care about us?"
Zhu Sha’s fingers curled into a fist. "No, *I’m* begging *you*. Both of you. Just let me go. I’m so tired of this. You’re the ones who let me go first. Hearing you say all this now is just... laughable."
"I can’t help but wonder... are you only regretting this now because she’s gone? Because you think I might still be useful?"
"No, I wasn’t thinking that," Lu Mofeng said, his voice rising slightly. Seeing Zhu Sha lean away, he lowered it again. "Sasha, love at first sight might be driven by hormones, but losing a long-term companion... that’s what truly breaks your heart."
"I didn’t realize until later that I’m in love with you... I just figured it out far too late."
Zhu Sha looked up at Lu Mofeng. After a long moment, she grabbed the banister and pulled herself to her feet. "Lu Mofeng, I’m not coming back. You know me. I may be reserved, but once I’ve truly let something go, I don’t look back, no matter how much it hurts."
"We went our separate ways four years ago. And now, I’m incredibly grateful that we never had children. It means I can make a clean break."
"You should quit the show. Leave yourself some dignity."
Holding the banister for support, Zhu Sha walked around Lu Mofeng and headed upstairs. Her conscience was clear where he was concerned; from start to finish, she had never wronged him. All Lu Mofeng could do was watch her go, helpless to stop her.
He knew how stubborn she could be. When he had been at his lowest, she had stayed by his side, unwavering and loyal. She had never once left him. But now... what could he possibly do to win her back?
Just as Zhu Sha reached the landing, she froze. "What... what are you all doing here?"
Standing on the stairs were none other than Yun Lan, Ji Ying, and Lin Meng. All three wore very strange expressions. After a moment, Lin Meng spoke softly, "We were just about to go downstairs to deliver the letters. We didn’t mean to eavesdrop."
"It doesn’t matter," Zhu Sha said, waving a hand dismissively. "It’s not like it’s a secret. Anyone who really wanted to could find out."
Ji Ying’s eyes widened. "So... you and he were really married?"
Zhu Sha corrected her. "Ex-husband and ex-wife. We divorced four years ago. I never expected to see him here."
Yun Lan’s expression soured. "He... he didn’t come on this show for you, did he?"
’This show is cursed,’ she thought. Zhou Jintang was already obviously interested in Zhu Sha, and now it turned out Lu Mofeng was her ex-husband. ’Don’t tell me he’s here for her too?’
"Who knows?" Zhu Sha said, unfazed. "It doesn’t matter. We’re done. When an ex-couple doesn’t have kids, there are no strings attached."
Lin Meng zipped downstairs to deliver her letter, and then the three women all piled into Zhu Sha’s bedroom. Their intention was singular: they wanted the gossip.
Zhu Sha was at a loss. "It’s a private matter, after all. They couldn’t broadcast any of this anyway, right?"
The director’s voice came booming from off-camera, "Don’t worry about that! Tell us everything!"
He hadn’t expected such a dramatic scene to unfold tonight. Seriously, who knew Zhu Sha and Lu Mofeng were exes? Was his dating show about to turn into a reunion special for divorced couples?
Zhu Sha couldn’t help but laugh. "There’s not much to tell. You pretty much heard the gist of it. He was an upperclassman, two years ahead of me. I had a crush on him from the moment I started college, but he had a girlfriend back then. I stuck to my role as a secret admirer and never bothered him. He didn’t even know I existed."
"His girlfriend at the time was also one of the most popular people on campus. The two of them were always the talk of the school’s ’confession board.’ But right after she graduated, she had a baby, dumped the child on him, and left the country."
Lin Meng recoiled. "Whoa, what a scumbag!"
"Mhm. And right around that time, Lu Mofeng’s parents’ company went bankrupt, and they died in an accident. In a flash, he lost his relationship, his family, and the family business. And on top of all that, he had a newborn to take care of."
Zhu Sha said placidly, "When you’re young, you think your love is powerful enough to move mountains. Later, you realize that for some people, it doesn’t matter how good you are to them. It’s useless."
"Especially a child. Even your own kid might not be entirely on your side, let alone someone else’s."
While the women were having their heart-to-heart upstairs, the men downstairs had also closed their doors. While Lu Mofeng and Zhu Sha were talking, Huo Feng, Zhuo Yan, Zhou Jintang, and the others had been listening from behind their doors. The more they heard, the more they felt that Zhu Sha had gotten a raw deal.
Thankfully, she was decisive. Even though he was full of regret, she hadn’t looked back.
Ji Ying was quiet for a long time. "Hearing it all like that... Mr. Lu really is a scumbag. Wasn’t that basically cheating?"
Zhu Sha smiled. "I never caught him with any hard proof of cheating, but he did divorce me for his ex. What can I say? It’s the classic story of the faithful wife losing to the idealized first love. All she had to do was crook her finger, and he went running back."