Chapter 2: There Will Never Be a Next Time

It was as if the heavens were deliberately tormenting me, allowing my soul to linger on in a pitiful state.

After a few minutes, Jiang Yue finally calmed down.

She stepped out of the bedroom and called out to the maid.

“Aunt Liu, where is Chu Jianghe’s room?”

Hearing Jiang Yue say this, I couldn’t help but smile instantly.

Seven years, and she didn’t even know where I lived.

This was what they called a married couple!

Aunt Liu responded and then led her to the servant’s quarters.

This was where all the housemaids and servants lived.

When the door was pushed open, Jiang Yue instinctively covered her nose and mouth.

Because I smoked, it was normal for the room to smell of smoke, but Jiang Yue, unused to the smell, immediately frowned.

“Aunt Liu, this is his room? Are you sure?” Jiang Yue stood at the door, full of doubt.

Aunt Liu nodded and said, “Miss Jiang, you said before you disliked the smell of smoke, so Mr. Chu voluntarily moved here, fearing the smoke would affect you.”

Jiang Yue was momentarily stunned, then suddenly grew angry. “He’s still my husband, after all… Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

“Miss Jiang, I—”

Jiang Yue waved her hand dismissively, “Forget it, this was his own choice.”

With that, she entered the room.

Looking around, she was surprised to find the room utterly empty, yet the bed was neatly made.

The wardrobe was stripped bare of clothes and shoes; all everyday items were gone.

The man who had waited for her every day for seven years was no longer there.

She stared at the empty bedroom, a complex, indescribable emotion flooding her heart.

“Miss Jiang, has Mr. Chu really left?” Aunt Liu asked casually, seeing the scene.

Jiang Yue snapped back to reality and snorted coldly. “This low trick is just a ploy to make me go looking for him. I’m not falling for it.”

Yes, I had indeed overthought it.

For seven years, I had imagined so many things for her, but in the end, I couldn’t compete with her true love’s return.

“Miss Jiang, look.” Aunt Liu opened the bedside drawer and called out.

Jiang Yue looked inside and found items I hadn’t taken with me.

“I said it — he’s deliberately putting on an act of running away, thinking I’d be heartbroken and come after him. How naive...” Jiang Yue’s voice trailed off as her gaze fixed on a scarf in the drawer, one she had personally knitted for me.

Her expression immediately darkened; it was unclear what she was thinking, or if she had simply forgotten.

She finally walked over to the wardrobe and looked at some of the items inside.

---

Besides the scarf she gave me, there were gifts I had given her over the years, which she had thrown away but I had retrieved from the trash.

There was also a hairpin.

It was a gift from her grandmother before she passed. When it accidentally broke, I saw how much it pained her, so I tried many ways and finally glued it back together.

But when I gave it back to her, she glanced at it with disdain and told me not to touch her things.

The drawer was filled with small items she had either given to me or discarded over the years, all carefully treasured by me in the bedside cabinet.

At this moment, a flicker of change crossed Jiang Yue’s face.

But then she turned to the maid and said, “Aunt Liu, throw all these things in his drawer away.”

“Ah! But...” Aunt Liu was taken aback.

“Throw them out when I say so.”

In her eyes, I was still so easily dispensable.

She was nothing but a cold-hearted creature without feelings!

Unconcerned, she returned to her room, washed up, applied a face mask, lay on the bed, and casually chatted with Cheng Junqing on her phone.

As if nothing had happened, she carried on with ease.

The next day, she put on her usual beautiful makeup, dressed elegantly, and went to the office.

Even if I were dead, it would not affect her life in the slightest.

Not long after arriving at work, her expression began to falter, and her left hand pressed against her chest.

I knew she had a stomach condition from skipping breakfast in the past.

For years since we met, I had consistently brought her lunch at the company.

Jiang Yue called her secretary, asking her to bring lunch to the office.

When she opened the bag and found a takeout box, she frowned.

I had always packed her food in a thermal container; she probably sensed something was wrong.

Yet she still took a bite, then discarded the food with disdain, calling the secretary back in.

“Fang Ting, what’s wrong with today’s lunch? Did you change restaurants?”

Secretary Fang Ting pursed her lips, hesitated, then said, “Madam Jiang, Mr. Chu hasn’t delivered lunch to the company today.”

“Chu Jianghe?!” Jiang Yue paused, then said, “You mean, the lunches I’ve been eating were all delivered by him?”

“Yes, Madam Jiang. Mr. Chu knew you had a sensitive stomach and deliberately cooked for you every day. He told me not to tell you so you wouldn’t reject it.”

Jiang Yue’s brow furrowed tighter, then she relaxed and sneered.

“He really has time for that. Fine, you can go now.”

As Fang Ting turned to leave, Jiang Yue called her back.

“If he tries to deliver lunch again, tell him not to. If he insists, just throw it in the trash for me.”

---

Even though I was already dead, hearing such cutting words still felt like a knife twisting in my heart.

But from now on, there would be no more “after” for Jiang Yue.

Suddenly irritated, Jiang Yue grabbed the half-eaten takeout and threw it fiercely into the trash.

Back at her desk, her phone rang.

I glanced at the screen.

A familiar name appeared—Cheng Jun.

Jiang Yue’s previously restless expression instantly brightened as if dark clouds parted to reveal a rainbow.

She happily answered, her tone soft, “Hello, Ah Jun.”

“Are you really going to bring me food?” he asked.

“Yes, yes! I’ll wait for you.”

It had to be her true love.

After seven years of me bringing her lunch, she had never been this happy.

Indeed, deep love was no match for mutual affection.

With Cheng Jun, she was different from how she was with me.

She smiled—beautifully—and her eyes sparkled like stars and the sea.

After Cheng Jun left, Jiang Yue seemed listless, frequently glancing at her phone.

When Fang Ting came in to get her signature, Jiang Yue casually asked, “Fang Ting, has Chu Jianghe contacted you?”

Fang Ting was momentarily stunned, then replied, “No.”

Jiang Yue nodded expressionlessly. “Alright, you may leave.”

She took out her phone again, hesitated, then opened my contact.

She sent me a voice message.

“Chu Jianghe, if you have no shame, I’ll say it one last time: appear before me immediately!”

No sooner had the message sent than her phone rang.

She looked at the screen and sneered coldly.

The caller displayed was my name.

Jiang Yue answered, her cold voice tinged with impatience.

“What? Not playing hide-and-seek anymore? Did you really think I’d care about you? If you have the guts, don’t call me! You might as well just die!”

The voice on the other end was equally cold.

“Jiang Yue, this is Liu Qing.

Right now, you should come to the police station.”