After the Spring Rain

[That world-shrouding tree you talk about is nothing but my plaything.]

In their circles, whenever Qinghe comes up, two words always follow: arrogant and dazzling.

At twenty, she is dressed in fine clothes, riding spirited horses, flamboyant and carefree.

Like the sun, she makes countless stars seem like mere decoration.

Even Jian Jiguang, the famously aloof and rigid head of the Jian family, so lofty and untouchable,

is no more than a plaything she humors with a few words when she is in a good mood, then tosses aside when she isn't.

Until that day, when rain pattered down.

Jian Jiguang sat across from Qinghe, his expression calm as he cut ties with her. “She's back.”

So all those years of favoritism, indulgence, and protection had not been love.

They were only his way of repaying a debt to someone else.

A mocking smile curled Qinghe's lips. “And what about me?” she asked nonchalantly.

He was silent for a long time before finally saying,

“You are my past, Qinghe. You should grow up.”

She folded her arms, contempt filling her eyes. “Then what were we?”

He lowered his eyes and did not look at her. “A reckless young man who loved the wrong person, then knew when to cut his losses.”

That night, Jian Jiguang was ambushed.

Qinghe sat on the sofa, enjoying his disheveled appearance. Then she kicked him in irritation and glared at him.

“Since when do you get to decide what happens between us?”

Reader's notes:

1. Ambition is instinct, climbing higher is an obsession. Make the most of this life; the ending is up to you.

2. Ambition drives you upward. Why worry about what leverage you use or whose help you borrow? Those who sit at the top never look back.

3. The heroine has little sense of morality.

Theme: Ambition means climbing higher. Borrowing strength to ascend. Everyone else is just a stepping stone.