After the Breakup, the Scumbag CEO Regretted It

Reading guide:

Volume One: The shou suffers emotionally. Volume Two: A change begins (the shou starts letting go, while the gong begins to care). Volume Three: A little angst for the gong (he suppresses his feelings, refuses to admit them, and pretends everything is fine). Volume Four: The gong can't let go, and the truth comes too late.

Volume Five: From subtle angst for the gong to full-blown angst, as the plot reaches its first climax. Volume Six: The gong suffers terribly, and the shou begins a new life. Volume Seven: Something of a transition, as the gong's long road to winning him back continues. Volume Eight: More angst for the gong, with dazzling scenes between the leads, as the story reaches its full climax...

The guiding principle: Everything connects, with plenty of clues planted in advance. Even the angst unfolds step by step as a result of the characters' personalities and choices. It isn't angst for angst's sake. Everything develops naturally with the plot!

Just watch Yezi write with love. I'm not writing for rankings or traffic, and I won't let myself get impatient. With you, who love this story just as much, keeping me company, I'll calmly and carefully finish it one line at a time. I won't rush to end it just because it gets few clicks or favorites, or even no recommendations.

Yezi can't bear to kill this story off just because it might not find an audience, and I can't let down the readers who've quietly stayed with me all this way. So if you like this premise, feel free to jump in.

Open the first chapter and let Yezi tell you this long story, slowly and carefully~

[In the past] -- Christmas Eve

"...Let's break up." By the floor-to-ceiling window, he gazed into the night and spoke softly. The man who never smoked now held a glowing red ember between his fingers.

"W-why..." Chen Heqi was so shocked he froze.

"...The feeling's gone." His voice drifted through the night, vague and distant.

Chen Heqi gave a barely audible, bitter laugh. "Because... the feeling's gone, you want... to break up?"

Silence fell. The ember in the other man's fingers burned down to its end. At last, in the dim light, he turned around and asked hoarsely, "Do you still love me?"

Chen Heqi's eye twitched. He seemed to understand, and his lips moved, but in the end he said nothing. A chill slowly seeped into every inch of his body.

"I hope we can part on good terms." Chu Haoyang dragged his suitcase out of Chen Heqi's sight without looking back.

[Afterward] -- The next Christmas Eve

At the cemetery, he watched as the small porcelain urn was lowered into the ground...

Though it was the height of summer, with the sun blazing overhead, Chu Haoyang stood beneath it and felt bone-deep cold.

That cold never went away...

And in the ceaseless flow of people through this world, there was no longer anyone who would offer him a hot drink beneath a large black umbrella on a rainy winter night...

Half a year later, on a night filled with festive decorations and holiday cheer, while his subordinates raised their glasses to celebrate,

Chu Haoyang gently lifted the small, cold porcelain urn from the earth and held it tightly against his chest. At last, he found peace...

[Later]

"Brother Chen, can we start over?" The man who had once been so spirited had long since lost his usual composure and self-control.

But Cheng Heqi remained calm. "I wasn't your ideal type back then, and I'm still not."

Chu Haoyang trembled slightly and tried to speak, but the other man interrupted him with casual ease.

"You once asked whether I still loved you. I didn't answer then, but I can tell you now: I did love you then. But now..."

"Don't say it!" Chu Haoyang realized what was coming. Pain showed on his face, but he couldn't stop those two words from striking him.

"I don't love you."

They spoke in unison.

"You once said you hoped we'd part on good terms." Cheng Heqi smiled faintly. "Now I hope for the same."

Chu Haoyang's face went deathly pale. He stood rooted to the spot, distraught, watching the other man walk away without ever looking back...

[Later still] -- Another Christmas Eve

The sports car sped along with the two of them inside. Streetlights flashed past, casting fleeting shadows and patches of light through the car. Snow fell from the sky in soft, swirling flakes.

After years apart, they had finally returned to Ziyuan.

As soon as they got out of the car, Chu Haoyang began talking about their bright future. "Nothing here has changed. It's still just the way you like it. Next year..."

Cheng Heqi seemed not to hear him. Standing amid the swirling snow, he pointed at the fountain in the distance and said calmly, "You gave him a sports car here. He hugged you right there, and you accepted his kiss."

Chu Haoyang froze and turned to look at the expressionless man. Snow slipped inside his collar, and he shivered at the sudden cold.

Cheng Heqi slowly walked through Riyuan, calmly recounting a "story" at every place they passed.

With every sentence he spoke, Chu Haoyang grew paler, until he finally cried out, "Stop!"

Cheng Heqi stopped as asked and looked up. The other man stumbled back a few steps, lost his balance, and leaned against the wall in a sorry state, his face ashen.

Cheng Heqi smiled and asked, "Do you still want to tell me that 'nothing has changed'?"

Chu Haoyang squeezed his eyes shut. When he spoke again, his voice was hoarse beyond recognition. "So you were there all along?"

For once, his eyes showed uncertainty, along with a faint, distant hope, as he gazed at Cheng Heqi. But the other man ignored the plea in his eyes. A simple nod shattered Chu Haoyang's wishful thinking.

Cheng Heqi's expression turned blank. "Knowing that, do you still think we can start over?"

While the other man was tormented by confusion and pain, Cheng Heqi had been calm inside from beginning to end.

Meeting the other's calm, unruffled gaze, Chu Haoyang finally understood. The person who had once cared for him and protected him was gone, buried by his own hands in that cold grave...

But where had it all started to go wrong?

[Important] This story is entirely fictional. Reborn souls and similar elements are purely fictional, so please don't connect them to or imitate anything in real life~

The tone of this story:

1. Its main tone is angst, with some sweetness mixed in. The latter half includes workplace content. By the end, it should paint a picture of all the different sides of life, with its full range of bitter and sweet emotions...

2. The shou suffers first, then the gong. This isn't angst for angst's sake (there's a logic behind it all. Well, that's how Yezi sees it).

3. I expect the gong to suffer more than the shou. This isn't a typical melodramatic plot, but it does have a delicious "win back your ex" arc (that's the soul of the story)!

4. Though the setting is fictional, the main plot is grounded in reality, so this isn't one of those trendy wish-fulfillment stories, especially in the first half.

5. Content warning: After breaking up with the shou, the gong gets a new lover (he himself never expected to actually succeed in winning them over...). They get intimate (very intimate), but don't go all the way. The breakup and the gong's pursuit of a new lover will be explained as the plot progresses, and the truth may differ from what you expect... I won't whitewash him or demonize him. The gong's flaws are there throughout. Use your own keen judgment to decide exactly where he goes wrong~

6. Good things take time, so don't rush. Enjoy the meal!

[Archived with a screenshot on October 16, 2020; blurb revised again on 2021-11-02]

[Another story Yezi is working on, click if interested~]

Coming soon 1:

: Modern setting, cute pets, getting back together after a breakup, mostly sweet. CEO (tough on the outside) gong x gentle and hardworking shou (loses his memory and becomes a cat, then lets loose)

Short blurb:

First of all, as a cat with standards, Zixing thinks he has to learn to pose in front of the mirror and make himself irresistibly cute, so the stupid humans will become his paw-bound servants. Well, actually, his ex, who has just become his new human, simply doesn't spoil him enough...

Likewise, as a cat with standards, he can't use cat litter like some fool. He has to learn to use the toilet and wipe himself. Well, he falls right into the toilet, gets soaked like a drowned cat, and even gulps down a few mouthfuls of water. His human is both heartbroken and amused as he lifts him out...

And once again, as a cat with standards, he has to help his dumb owner earn money, especially since loan collectors keep showing up at the door. Well, actually, Zixing earns more in a month than his owner does in a year with his college degree...

Meanwhile, Wei Junhua, the cat's human, who mistakenly thinks the cat is stupid and poor, finds himself living a chaotic, ridiculous, and miserable life. But he's suffering and loving every minute of it.

But how did Zixing die, and how did he turn into a cat? Can he ever turn back into a human? What role does his "ex," Wei Junhua, play in all this? What secrets are hidden beneath the blood covering the apartment floor? Scroll up and click the white button~

[Archived with a screenshot on October 16, 2020]

Coming soon 2:

: Sci-fi, sentinels and guides, strong leads, transmigration and leveling up. A hard-luck royal sentinel gong x a transmigrated "everybody loves him" guide shou; the gong has two forms. Both leads harbor secrets. Together, they'll carve a path through blood, beat up those who deserve it, repay those they owe, and support each other as they rise to the top.

Short blurb:

They say everybody loves a "universal heartthrob," and everyone else seems to be living the dream. So why is he the one being hunted nonstop?

Then one day, the shou braces his back and trembling legs, draws a dagger at someone, and lets out a cold laugh. But then...

With a bang, the damn bastard disappears, replaced by a huge, fluffy white creature that looks like a mash-up of all sorts of animals. It starts preening and acting cute...

The shou's eye twitches. Acting cute is shameful! Does he think that'll fool him?

Ha! He drives his dagger straight down. With a sharp ping, the adorable fluffball instantly transforms into a deadly weapon covered in hard scales and terrifying spikes...

The shou stares at his dagger, supposedly "the hardest in the universe," now bent into a crescent, and breaks down inside. Damn it!

Suddenly, he turns his head. Something seems to have just flashed past. "...Did something black just fly by?"

The gong stiffens slightly, then answers with a perfectly straight face, "No."

The shou narrows his eyes and scrutinizes him. The gong remains unmoved. Just as the shou is about to drop it, he senses something strange overhead and looks up sharply...

Lounging on the chandelier, lazily swaying like a swing every now and then, is a long, long...

"Aaaah!" The shou promptly collapses...

[Archived with a screenshot on October 16, 2020]

Coming soon 3:

: Ancient setting, childbirth, getting back together after a breakup, court officials and generals, a gong's long road to winning back his ex, sweetness mixed with angst. A tyrant gong who strives to become a wise ruler for the shou x a clear-headed, gentle shou who is reborn and wants nothing more than to stay away from court.

Short blurb:

On the first night, Emperor Hongxian was lured into drinking until he was dead drunk.

On the second night, he was kept up until dawn, pondering an unfinished chess game set right before his eyes.

On the Nth night, Emperor Hongxian was on his guard, certain he wouldn't fall for another trick. But his male consort had secretly eaten a pile of pickled garlic after getting up that morning. So, just as the mood was perfect that night, a crisp sound rang out, filling the room with fragrance...

The next evening, to show the boundless generosity of his imperial favor, Emperor Hongxian sent over a long line of delicious dishes. The steward eunuch lifted the silver lids one by one: duck soup with bamboo shoots, Dongpo pork with dried bamboo shoots, pork slices with spring bamboo shoots and wood ear mushrooms... Every dish was made with bamboo shoots, and there was so much food the table couldn't hold it all.

Once they were seated, the emperor narrowed his eyes from time to time, eating slowly and savoring every bite, while gazing straight at his male consort. His words carried a double meaning: "I like bamboo best. One must savor it slowly, rolling it back and forth between the lips and teeth, to truly appreciate it."

The male consort's face darkened. His lips trembled a few times, and he tried to hold back, but in the end he kept his insulting words to himself, nearly choking on them.

Emperor Hongxian smiled smugly. At last, he'd won one round.

For the sake of his virtue, he competes at chess and drinking, even willing to disgrace himself.

To protect the Xiao family, he competes in strength and wits, even hiding his abilities and biding his time.

To uncover the truth, he competes in courage and cunning, even willing to use himself as bait.

But in the end, how do they still wind up in bed together...

[Archived with a screenshot on October 16, 2020]

[Other danmei stories by Yezi, completed or nearing completion. Click if interested~]

: Historical danmei, beautiful, powerful, scheming prince from an enemy nation gong x cool-headed, noble-minded prince shou; court politics and nobility, angst and sweetness.

: Transmigrate to another world, beautiful gong and ordinary shou, loyal-dog gong, cozy and lighthearted, sweet story, with a baby at the end.

: Ancient setting, strong leads, emperor gong and cult leader shou, love and hate, revenge and punishing scumbags, getting back together after a breakup, angst and sweetness.

: Modern danmei, wealthy business world, scheming beauty gong and aloof shou.

: Modern danmei, wealthy business world, scheming beauty gong and aloof shou.

Theme: When a problem comes up, be brave and deal with it promptly, or you'll end up in a world of pain!