Burning Embers

When Jiang Wu approached Lu Chengyu, it was just a desperate gamble—to trade herself for a way out of the family business that was on the verge of bankruptcy. He was a manipulative business emperor, cold to the core, but he had a paranoid possessive desire for her. Their relationship has a clear price tag, and the lingering late at night is a bonus of the deal. He gives her resources and shelter, and she accompanies him to relieve loneliness. But no one expected that in the days of fun, sincerity would quietly emerge. She would make hot porridge when he had a stomach attack, and he would secretly support her when she was in trouble. Those throbbing hidden under the indifference had long since ruined the deal. Until something happened to Lu Chengyu's sister, forged evidence pointed to the Jiang family, and the old man of the Lu family took her life to force him to make a choice. He did not explain or defend, but turned around and nailed her to the pillar of shame with the harshest words. He announced the engagement in front of everyone, withdrew all aid, and watched her fall from the clouds into the mud and be imprisoned in the detention center. When we met three years later, she had lost all her pride and became a taciturn paralegal, avoiding him like a snake or a scorpion; he had already broken off the engagement, guarding the empty house, and lived like a lonely soul. In the tit-for-tat confrontation in court and the stalking in private, he used harsh words to hide his regret while quietly clearing the way for her; while she built a high wall with indifference, she was awakened by the pain of the past in her dreams at midnight. The day the truth came out, he knelt in front of her and expressed all his helplessness, coercion and regret. But she just looked at him calmly, with no waves in her eyes - those days and nights spent in the detention center, those crushed dignity and sincerity, had long since burned away all her love. This entanglement that started with a transaction will eventually lead to the deeper the love and the more severe the injury. He was thousands of miles away, but he lost forever the person who was willing to let go of his pride for him; she left simply and neatly, but she could never regain the unreserved heartbeat she once had. Purpose: Focus on the conflict between native family oppression and self-selection, and explore the inability of individuals to control their own destiny, as well as the eternal regret of a broken heart that cannot be repaired.