Aching Love

Since the early fifteenth century, rumors have claimed that the Jing family is richer than a nation and has deep roots. For generations, it has had only one heir at a time, and every one of them has been a hopeless romantic. Their stories are a favorite topic of gossip.

When people spoke of the latest heir, they couldn't help but sigh. She was the daughter the Jing family had waited so long for, a treasured darling, treated like royalty. What's more, someone had even spotted the young lady holding hands with the eldest son of the Lou family while vacationing abroad. It seemed Miss Jing was a hopeless romantic, too.

At twenty-two, Jing Zixu merely smiled faintly and sipped her wine as she listened.

Things were not as they appeared. Nothing had happened.

Two years later, when Jing Zixu saw Lou Jingqing again, her heart did not stir in the slightest. Beneath her distant politeness lay nothing but a faint hatred, which she hid very well.

At a private banquet, amid the lively chatter, they unexpectedly crossed paths.

Jing Zixu raised her glass to the man. “Chairman Lou, long time no see.”

Lou Jingqing nodded politely. “Miss Jing.”

Everyone else assumed they had parted on good terms and moved on gracefully. Little did they know that in private, the two of them played by a very different set of rules.

In a private room at Tianwaitian, the man, usually cold and distant, pleaded softly, “Stay in my arms a little longer, okay?”

Jing Zixu wriggled out of his embrace and slid off Lou Jingqing's lap. She carefully wiped her lipstick-smeared lips and coldly refused. “I'm leaving first.”

Later, a marriage contract made the news, and everyone learned that the Jing and Lou families had become in-laws. Only then did their family and friends realize that the two of them had never truly let each other go.