"Li Feng… please… please pick up… please…" she sobbed into the silent room, her thumb pressing Call again and again, her shoulders shaking violently.
—
MEIYUN CITY
WESTERN HILLS CEMETERY
PARKING LOT
Li Feng sat silently in the backseat of the parked car, his head resting against the window as he stared blankly at the sunlit cemetery grounds outside.
His phone vibrated on the seat beside him, but he didn't glance at it to see who was calling him so incessantly.
"Master Li," Secretary Yu spoke softly from the front, "Your phone… Madam is calling."
Li Feng closed his eyes briefly, his brows twitching with faint irritation, "Ignore it." Since her return, their lives have become just miserable. Nothing seemed to be working.
"Yes, Master."
The phone buzzed again and again, her contact name lighting up on the screen, but he simply sat there, staring out at the distant rows of tombstones under the maple trees. The silent ache in his chest throbbed, but it was not for her.
In his mind, he could still see Ruyi's gentle eyes gazing at him with quiet understanding, even in her loneliness.
He remembered the nights she stayed up waiting for him, sitting on the living room sofa with dinner laid out, her slim fingers twisted nervously in her lap as the hours passed.
He remembered her birthdays he never celebrated, each year finding a meaningless excuse, business trip, urgent meeting, late night conference... until she stopped even mentioning it. Until he didn't even know when her birthday passed.
He remembered how every morning, she woke before dawn to prepare his breakfast, always making sure the rice porridge was cooked perfectly, that his dress shirts were ironed crisp, that his tea was at the precise temperature he liked, even though he never thanked her, not once.
The phone stopped buzzing, leaving only silence in the car. Li Feng exhaled shakily and shut his eyes, leaning further back against the leather seat as the summer breeze rustled faintly through the maple trees beyond the cemetery gates.
He would leave soon.
But for now, he wanted to sit there a little longer.
Reminiscing about his memories.
And with the regret that he knew he would carry with him for the rest of his life.
The phone buzzed again, vibrating insistently against the leather seat.
Li Feng exhaled harshly through his nose, irritation flickering across his eyes before he finally answered, his voice low and cold.
"What is it?"
On the other end, Shen Li's sobs erupted instantly, echoing so violently that he had to pull the phone away for a second. But his frown deepened, not with concern, but with disgust at her theatrics. It has always been her.
"Li Feng… please… please come back… I… I can't… I can't do this anymore… I tried… I tried so hard… but they hate me… they hate me…!" Her cries came sharp, deliberate, like an actress hitting her marks perfectly, "The boys… they said… they said I ruined everything… I… I didn't mean to… please… please come back…!"
Her voice cracked, trembling with just the right amount of desperation she knew would pierce his resolve, "I will leave if you want… I will disappear… I will… just please… please tell me what to do… tell me how to fix it… I will do anything… I will be good… I promise… please don't abandon me too… please don't… please…!"
But even as tears streamed down her cheeks, her mind remained cold and calculating.
Li Feng.
The only man who ever made her feel powerless.
The only one whose wealth, authority, and name she needed.