A Summer Beyond the Line

At a wedding three years later, Qin Zhen spotted her at a glance amid the noisy crowd.

Three years. He thought he had long forgotten what she looked like. Yet all it took was a glimpse of her profile for him to recognize her.

That heartless Xia Lexi had deceived him with one enormous lie, turning his thirty-five years of life upside down before simply walking away.

Over the past three years, he had gone from being the promising deputy director of the Cadre Supervision Office to being demoted all the way down to the Information Section. He had spent more than two years on the sidelines, and everyone said Qin Zhen was finished.

All because of her.

She had worn a false face and used the alias "Su Zhou." She had crashed into his car, pursued him, smiled at him, and told him she liked him.

He believed her.

In thirty-five years, he had fallen for someone for the first time. For the first time, he had wanted to spend his whole life with someone. In secret, he had looked at floor plans for several apartments, compared rings from several jewelers, and even thought about what to name their future children.

Then, just when he loved her most, while he was planning their future, she slapped him straight into the abyss.

In the reception room, she had said so casually, "I like him? It was all just an act. Who would like a boring old man like him?"

Every word was a razor, cutting Qin Zhen to pieces.

That one sentence turned Qin Zhen into a laughingstock across the city.

Of course. Her identity was fake, her name was fake, and even her affection was fake.

From beginning to end, she had only gotten close to him for the sake of her corrupt official father.