After graduating from university, Jiang Wan chose not to pursue further studies.
She did love dancing, it was true—but not for fame or fortune. She simply enjoyed the pure joy it brought her.
She preferred to dance freely, unbound by any constraints.
There was another important reason, too: she wanted to spend more time with Bei Huai.
So she decided to open her own dance studio.
The path of dance was lined with flowers and applause, but it was also exhausting and grueling.
She hoped to do everything in her power to help all the children who dreamed of dancing.
As for Bei Huai, she followed the path from her previous life, delving deeper into physics all the way to a PhD.
She was like a sponge, tirelessly soaking up knowledge.
During her doctoral studies, she joined her advisor’s research projects and made outstanding contributions.
This time, her achievements bore her own name.
In this life, the trajectories of their destinies had changed completely.
Of course, there was a little interlude before all that.
Even though they knew no one in W City, Bei Qi refused to give up. He tried to sneak away to W City, only to be caught red-handed by Bei Huai at the airport.
It was summer vacation, and Bei Huai had returned with Jiang Wan. She hadn’t expected to hear about her troublesome little brother’s foolish escapade the moment they arrived.
“Sis…” Grabbed by the collar, Bei Qi started to flare up, but one look at her face made his anger evaporate. He even flashed an ingratiating smile.
It had been a while, and he could tell his sister’s presence had grown even more intimidating.
His towering 180cm frame shrank to the size of a quail before her.
“Grown some backbone, have we? Running away from home now.” Bei Huai narrowed her eyes with pointed meaning.
Bei Qi let out a few awkward chuckles. From the corner of his eye, he spotted a familiar figure—like a lifeline—and cried out in delight, “Sister Jiang Wan!”
He darted to Jiang Wan’s side and launched into a flurry of wheedling. “Sister Jiang Wan, please have mercy and talk some sense into my sis for me. This competition means everything to me—I can’t miss it!”
In his excitement, he even grabbed her arm.
But then his sister’s warning glare swept over, and he released it at once, offering a sheepish grin.
Jiang Wan smiled gently. “Bei Huai, stop scaring your little brother all the time.”
Bei Qi thought he was in, only to hear the girl speak to him in an even softer tone. “Bei Qi, listen to your sister. She would never lead you wrong.”
Bei Qi: “…”
With no choice—lacking the nerve to defy Bei Huai—he slunk home, all pitiful and glancing back every few steps.
“I could always go with him,” Bei Huai said, a touch of reluctance in her voice. After all, she’d watched the kid grow up. She glanced at Jiang Wan, probing. “With me there, what trouble could he get into?”
Jiang Wan said nothing, merely giving her a light, sidelong glance.
Message received. No dice.
Bei Huai clamped her mouth shut.
She had no idea why Jiang Wan was so dead set against Bei Qi going to W City, but between her brother and her girlfriend, the choice was obvious.
Jiang Wan sighed inwardly.
It wasn’t meddling on her part. In her previous life, every tragedy had started with Bei Qi’s death.
No matter what, he absolutely could not go to W City on this day. After that, she wouldn’t interfere, whatever he chose to do.
She only wanted this one day to pass safely.
She only wanted her Little Bei to sever all ties with that previous life’s fate, once and for all.
Bei Qi would just have to bear with it for now.
Time marched on, never pausing for anyone.
In her previous life, Bei Qi had been forever frozen at seventeen, in the bloom of youth.
In this life, his story continued.
It was good. Truly good.
Jiang Wan and Bei Huai held their wedding right after university graduation.
Yun Manzhu didn’t show. Bei Rong did.
The man in his suit stared at his cold-eyed daughter in silence for a long moment. Then he sighed.
This arrogant, rigid man finally seemed to feel a glimmer of regret—but it was too late. Everything was settled.
His pride wouldn’t let him grovel with an apology. And Bei Huai had no interest in accepting one anyway.
Staying out of each other’s way was the best they could manage.
He arrived out of the blue and left just as abruptly. The wedding gift he brought was lavish, but Bei Huai couldn’t be bothered to glance at it. She handed it straight to Jiang Wan to deal with.
What could she say?
Bei Huai had thought seeing Bei Rong again would dredge up resentment.
But it didn’t. Her heart was calm, utterly still—like encountering a stranger.
She’d finally let it go.
“What’s wrong?” Fresh from her shower, Jiang Wan found Bei Huai sitting alone on the edge of the bed, lost in thought. Curious, she leaned closer.
Jiang Wan’s shower gel was lemon-scented.
As the woman drew near, Bei Huai caught the fresh, sweet lemon fragrance filling her nostrils.
“What are you thinking… You looked so beautiful today.” Bei Huai extended her long arm, trapping the woman in her embrace as she chuckled wickedly by her ear.
“Then, shouldn’t you reward me with something?” Jiang Wan smiled, resting both hands on Bei Huai’s shoulders.
Fresh out of the shower, a faint blush still colored her cheeks, and a thin mist veiled her almond-shaped eyes—innocent yet irresistibly alluring.
Bei Huai’s gaze darkened, her voice turning husky. “You should indeed be properly rewarded.”
With that, she rolled over, pinning her beneath.
“It tickles… Don’t…”
At first, Jiang Wan could still muster a laugh, but soon only broken moans escaped her lips.
“Good sister, I don’t want this reward anymore…”
Bei Huai let out a humming chuckle, her eyes gleaming with a startling brilliance.
Her movements didn’t pause. “Too late!”
~~~
Guanguan attended Jiang Wan’s wedding too.
As Jiang Wan’s best friend, how could she possibly miss it?
After graduation, Guanguan had teamed up with a senior classmate to open a photography studio.
She was the restless type, always lugging her camera around to capture everything in sight.
People, landscapes, all sorts of mouthwatering dishes.
This was a far cry from what Aunt Guan had envisioned for her.
But perhaps Aunt Guan realized she was getting on in years, no longer able to rein Guanguan in or keep her tethered. In the end, she simply let her go.
Jiang Wan couldn’t quite say why, but in this life, Guanguan’s path had diverged sharply from her previous one.
She hadn’t even gone abroad.
Maybe from the moment Guanguan fell for Cen Jin, the wings of fate had begun to veer off course.
It had been ages since they’d last seen each other, so Guanguan lingered in Ning City for a few extra days, in no rush to leave.
The two best friends sprawled on the bed, chatting and giggling away.
Just like back in their teenage years.
Only now, that youthful carefreeness was gone.
Guanguan had changed too.
The bold, whirlwind girl of before had grown much quieter, carrying a newfound serenity about her.
Guanguan explained that she’d never given up. She’d chased Cen Jin all the way to the same university, picking a major she hated and fabricating an entirely new personality.
She’d endured Cen Jin’s revolving door of girlfriends, her cold indifference, and the endless persuasion and ridicule from everyone around them.
“You know, all these years chasing Cen Jin, I didn’t gain much else, but my patience? That shot through the roof,” Guanguan said with a self-deprecating laugh.
Jiang Wan’s heart ached for her.
But love was one thing she couldn’t meddle in. Guanguan would have to find her own answers.
Guanguan smiled. “Then, on graduation day, she confessed to me.”
The whole setup was lavish—flowers, candles, balloons—checking every box on her girlish dream list.
“I turned her down.”
Jiang Wan squeezed her hand tighter.
No one saw it coming, not even Cen Jin.
Guanguan’s face remained serene. “Everyone was baffled. They kept telling me, ‘You chased her for so long, poured in all that effort, finally succeeded—why throw it away now?’ Some even accused me of playing hard to get.”
But that wasn’t it. She’d simply grown tired.
“You know, the fire that kept me sprinting after her wasn’t love anymore. It was just… resentment at the thought of losing. So when I finally claimed that victory, it all felt so hollow.”
Cen Jin had always sparkled in her eyes. But one day, that light faded, then vanished entirely.
Only then did she realize the glow hadn’t come from Cen Jin—it had been in her own gaze whenever she looked at her.
No one else got it. Only Jiang Wan did.
Guanguan had always been fiercely competitive, thriving against stronger opponents. No one could force her to abandon her goals—except herself.
If Guanguan said she didn’t like her anymore…
Then she truly didn’t.
Jiang Wan gave a helpless smile. “So, did Cen Jin end up falling for you for real after that?”
Guanguan shrugged, utterly indifferent. “Who knows.”
Either way, she didn’t care anymore.
Meanwhile,
in the lounge bar,
Cen Jin knocked back one drink after another—not sipping, but drowning her sorrows.
Unfortunately, she’d underestimated her tolerance.
“Why can someone just switch off their love like that?” The woman, ever the flirt in love’s arena, now brimmed with confusion and sorrow.
She’d called herself a veteran of romance, yet she couldn’t decipher the heart of the one she wanted.
Guanguan was ruthless, all right—tossing her aside without a second thought.
Contacts deleted, numbers blocked.
Every time Cen Jin tracked her down, Guanguan bolted to somewhere new.
Even sharing the same city with her had become unbearable.
This time, for Bei Huai’s wedding, she had come.
She knew Guanguan was there too.
Yet she was too much of a coward to even see her once.
All because she feared catching that look of disgust in Guanguan’s eyes.
Who would have thought that she, who had always held the upper hand in love, would one day sink so low into the dust—humbling herself to the point where not even a single glance back from her beloved could be won?
Bei Huai shot her a glance. “Regretting it now?”
Cen Jin gave a bitter smile. “If I’d known one day I’d fall in love with her, how could I have had the heart to turn her down back then?”
They say a wayward heart that turns back is more precious than gold. But that girl, whose eyes had once been filled only with her, had left cleanly and decisively.
She wanted nothing more to do with her.
