Chapter 213

Leng Wanqiu felt uneasy.

To avoid Song Mo, she had been staying at a hotel lately.

Back at the hotel, she opened a pack of women's cigarettes, leaned against the headboard, and began to smoke.

Leng Wanqiu had always smoked.

She picked up the habit during her self-destructive phase.

After meeting Song Mo, she hid it away.

Leng Wanqiu frowned, her red lips drawing in and exhaling smoke that curled around her.

She was considering whether to keep some distance from Chen Xi.

Because, after all, the one she loved was still Song Mo.

Leng Wanqiu wanted to pull Song Mo off his pedestal and put herself on top, with Song Mo below.

Song Mo was the true man worth entrusting herself to.

Lately, being with Chen Xi felt comfortable.

But inevitably, she felt some regret—had she helped Song Mo directly at this critical moment, wouldn't it have been wiser?

Without even having to ask, if she had simply stepped forward to help Song Mo, wouldn't he have been delighted, and felt all his past sacrifices were worth it?

Look!

Leng Wanqiu stared at her phone—unanswered calls, video requests, messages—all of them stopped after noon today.

If she tried to win him back now, Leng Wanqiu felt she'd lose both sides.

Song Mo had been overwhelmed lately, with no time to soothe her; Chen Xi had filled the void Song Mo left.

But in her impulsiveness, she had already done it.

Although Song Mo was always humble, he stood high above, while Leng Wanqiu stood below.

She had read some feminist books and knew that for a marriage to last, balance was most important.

But Leng Wanqiu wanted Song Mo to panic.

Besides.

She felt the balance between her and Song Mo was off.

As for Chen Xi… she did feel some attraction, but her history with Song Mo was far deeper.

Thinking of this, Leng Wanqiu couldn't help but feel regret.

What was Song Mo like now?

Unable to reach her, just from the missed calls and WeChat messages, she knew Song Mo was frantic.

Thinking of Song Mo, Leng Wanqiu couldn't help but wonder.

Of course, Chen Xi was just a distraction.

Song Mo had always helped Leng Wanqiu; to him, she was nothing but a burden, adding to his stress with no value at all.

She thought for a moment, still uneasy, and sent him a message.

Leng Wanqiu: Have you been lying to me all along, approaching me with some hidden agenda?

In truth, Leng Wanqiu knew that even if Song Mo had approached her with an agenda, he had still given selflessly throughout, never once asking for anything in return, never asking her to help him.

Song Mo's heart was certainly good—Leng Wanqiu knew that—but she deliberately chose to pretend ignorance, because only then did she have an excuse for what she was doing.

Suddenly.

Leng Wanqiu wondered: Could it be that Song Mo refused her confession because the Song Group was now in grave crisis, and didn't want to drag her down with him?

Her heart panicked; she quickly dismissed the thought.

How could that be…

But when she snapped back to reality and saw the red exclamation mark on WeChat, she suddenly realized—she had been blocked by Song Mo.

In an instant, overwhelming fear filled Leng Wanqiu's heart.

It felt as if a voice told her she had done something stupid.

Stupid beyond redemption, wrong beyond repair.

But once the bow is drawn, there's no turning back.

Now that it's done, she could only press forward to the end.

Chen Xi contacted Leng Wanqiu, reminding her that the Leng Group's pressure on the Song Group was only surface-level, with no real deadly strike yet, and asked when she planned to deliver the fatal blow.

Leng Wanqiu had never truly intended to destroy Song Mo's company; she only wanted to make him anxious, to force him to beg her, thereby elevating her own status and seizing control of their relationship.

But.

Chen Xi warned her that Song Mo now wanted to kill her; if she gave him any breathing room now, he would never forgive her.

If she could crush the Song Group and leave Song Mo utterly desperate, she could become his only lifeline.

At that point, even if Song Mo hated her, he wouldn't be able to let her go.

Only then did Leng Wanqiu realize the situation had slipped beyond her control—she never wanted to become Song Mo's enemy.

She had assumed the Leng Group's attacks on the Song Group were merely superficial, insignificant, ignoring how Song Mo felt inside.

Now, Leng Wanqiu was filled with unbearable regret and terrified of seeing Song Mo, terrified of seeing the hatred and revulsion in his eyes.

She finally woke up.

But it was too late.

"What have I even done?!"

Leng Wanqiu murmured to herself; in her moment of madness, all she could recall was the scene of their first meeting.

She remembered her own utter despair back then—the feeling of stepping half a step backward meant falling into hell—and how Song Mo had pulled her out of that despair, but what had she done?

At the moment of his greatest mental strain, she betrayed him;

When Song Mo's company fell into crisis, she defected without hesitation.

Among everyone, she was the one who owed Song Mo the most; no matter what, she had no motive to stab him in the back.

Yet she did exactly that.

Leng Wanqiu deeply felt the baseness of her own character.

She was like an animal—wearing human clothes, bearing a human face, yet doing things worse than an animal.

But she had no choice left.

Only by destroying Song Mo could she force him, in his despair, to cling to her—even if he hated her.

Yet clearly…

Clearly, all she needed to do was be grateful to Song Mo, to offer him help when he needed it most, and she could have won his love, making him feel he had never misjudged her.

She had played her winning hand into utter ruin.

Now, she no longer dreamed of both Chen Xi and Song Mo falling for her; she only wanted to win Song Mo back, or at the very least, control him.

But who could have imagined that Song Mo possessed the ability to turn despair into survival?

When the An Family, Lin Family, and Leng Family joined forces to crush Song Mo, he received foreign investment instead.

With his funding secured, Song Mo instantly shed all worries, launching a furious campaign against the three families with a "kill a thousand, lose eight hundred" mentality.

He had gone completely mad.

This made Leng Wanqiu fear him more than ever.

She was restless, living each day in self-loathing or dread of the future.

She felt she still loved Song Mo.

Of course, she also loved Chen Xi—but her love for Chen Xi was more like an obsession; her love for Song Mo was true love.

Later, she finally overcame her fear of seeing Song Mo.

Because she received word of his death.

When she saw Song Mo again, his appearance was monstrous—his pale face utterly devoid of the vitality it once held.

Leng Wanqiu froze.

She stood there, dumbstruck.

As if plunged into boundless darkness and solitude.

Only when Song Mo truly died…

Did she finally realize how vital he had been.

She never wanted this—but why, why had things turned out this way?

(End of Chapter)