Li Yunmo wailed: “Brother Chan… I was wrong…”

Cheng Ruiyan still couldn’t believe it. Many girls liked Zhang Jingchan. He’d had a girlfriend before, but supposedly after only ten days or so together, he couldn’t stand her temper and broke up with her. By that count, she was Zhang Jingchan’s first official girlfriend. She had never imagined that someone as outstanding and proud as Zhang Jingchan would do something as tasteless as two-timing.

She rushed in front of Li Weiyi and demanded: “Achan, who is she?”

Li Weiyi had already calmed down. Thinking that Cheng Ruiyan was, after all, Zhang Jingchan’s girlfriend at this time, she was just about to coax her with some soothing words when she heard a clear, cool female voice from behind: “Break up with her.”

Li Weiyi froze. Cheng Ruiyan looked at the young woman on the sofa in disbelief, her eyes already reddening as she cried out: “Who are you! I’m his girlfriend!”

“Wait, wait, wait!” Li Weiyi hurriedly blocked her path and tried to placate her: “Don’t be angry, it’s not what you think. I’ll explain it to you in a moment.” She frantically shot meaningful glances at Li Yunmo: “Take her to the side parlor first, get her something to drink and eat, let her rest a bit. Sister Liu, bring bird’s nest soup, bring bird’s nest soup!”

Cheng Ruiyan was half-pushed, half-persuaded by Li Yunmo, crying as she entered the small parlor.

Li Weiyi looked at Zhang Jingchan: “Friend, what’s the meaning of this? That’s your girlfriend.”

Zhang Jingchan’s tone was utterly flat: “You said it yourself—she’s MY girlfriend. If I say break up, we break up.”

Li Weiyi sat down beside him and patiently inquired: “Why? She’s so pretty.”

Zhang Jingchan was silent for a moment before saying: “When my family ran into trouble at the end of that year, within two weeks she’d gotten together with another guy in our circle. What use do I have for this kind of girl who has no genuine feelings?”

Li Weiyi, like a big squirrel, placed both paws on her knees and leaned toward his face: “You resent her?”

Zhang Jingchan sneered: “If I hadn’t run into her today, I wouldn’t even remember what she looked like.”

Li Weiyi nodded: “But you did have resentment in your heart back then, right? I can see you two had good feelings for each other. Did you harbor that resentment for several years?”

Zhang Jingchan pressed his lips together without responding. He vaguely remembered that his younger self had actually quite liked Cheng Ruiyan back then. She was beautiful, passionate, delicate and sexy. Her academic performance was also good—she was smart and independent. She perfectly matched Zhang Jingchan’s standards for an ideal girlfriend. During those few months together, he had indeed been quite happy.

So when she left that year, he was extremely angry and hurt. Not because his feelings ran so deep, but because at that time he had already endured too much betrayal and cold treatment. She had been the most intimate person to him, yet she was also the first to withdraw without hesitation.

“But I think she didn’t really wrong you that much,” Li Weiyi said slowly.

Zhang Jingchan fixed his gaze on her, his eyes turning cold.

Li Weiyi continued in a casual conversational tone: “Last time I looked through your chat records—I had to in order to play you properly, so please forgive me—you two weren’t together very long, and you were extremely busy with your studies. You weren’t very attentive to the girl either. Most of the time, it was her chasing after you and accommodating you, right?

“Since the feelings weren’t deep and you weren’t particularly good to her as a boyfriend, why should she have stuck with you through disaster? Come on, your family didn’t owe a hundred thousand—it was a billion. She was only eighteen or nineteen years old too. Can you imagine what a terrifying number that was to her? Have you thought about that? You two weren’t married with children, hadn’t promised each other a lifetime together. She simply made a choice that, while not glorious, was rational. It’s just that she left quickly—maybe she was too frightened and didn’t consider your feelings.”

Zhang Jingchan watched her speak eloquently, her youthful face bearing an expression of easy-going, intelligent openness. That was a look his nineteen-year-old self would never have had.

She said, “Come on, your family didn’t owe a hundred thousand—it was a billion,” completely unconcerned that such words would stab directly at his heart.

She even accused him of not being attentive to the girl, of not treating her well—implying that being abandoned was somewhat deserved.

But why didn’t he feel angry? Instead, just like this morning when she casually teased him, he felt that deep-buried, long-ignored knot of resentment in his chest mysteriously loosen a bit more.

“So what do you suggest I do?” he asked.

Li Weiyi thought for a moment, her two toes hooking together as she gently bounced her legs twice, looking like a little boy again. She said: “You should still break up—we can’t have nineteen-year-old you get dumped again. If you trust me, I’ll go talk to her. I guarantee a clean break with no lingering resentment in future lives.”

“Fine, do as you please.”

Li Weiyi walked toward the small parlor. After a short while, Li Yunmo was shooed out and the door was left slightly ajar.

Zhang Jingchan said to Li Yunmo: “You should go back. This has nothing to do with you.”

Li Yunmo felt he’d caused a huge disaster today. The Zhang residence was probably going to be a battlefield, so he was only too happy to escape and quickly ran off.

Zhang Jingchan circled around to the courtyard and leaned against the corner wall. The small parlor window was right beside him. He stood with arms crossed against the wall corner, gazing at the serene blue sky, closing his eyes to listen.

Li Weiyi’s voice came through clearly: “So now you understand? She’s the fiancée arranged for me by the family. Her family owns many mines. I have no choice but to submit.”

Zhang Jingchan’s eyebrow twitched slightly as the corner of his mouth slowly curved upward.

Cheng Ruiyan sobbed: “Is there really no other way? Doesn’t love matter?”

Li Weiyi sighed: “Love matters, but in families like ours, we’re not in control of our own lives. Fortunately, we’ve only been together a few months. Breaking up now is more rational and causes the least harm, compared to breaking up later when feelings have deepened.”

“But I don’t want to break up, waaah… I like you, I really like you. I don’t want to break up! Zhang Jingchan, I’m sincere! I’ve never liked anyone this much before.”

Zhang Jingchan opened his eyes, his expression as deep and distant as the clouds on the horizon.

Inside, Li Weiyi was also quiet for a moment before saying: “Thank you. You’re a good girl. Go find a boy more suitable for you. If I don’t marry her and Father gets angry, he won’t let me inherit Fu Ming Group then, and I won’t be able to give you a prosperous, happy life.”

Cheng Ruiyan cried: “You’re his only son—if Fu Ming Group doesn’t go to you, who would it go to? Or you could pretend to break up first…”

“It won’t work,” Li Weiyi interrupted with a wistful tone. “Who says… Father only has me as an option? There are some things I can’t tell you much about. Do you understand?”

Cheng Ruiyan: “Ah… this…”

After seeing Cheng Ruiyan off, Li Weiyi walked into the living room to find Zhang Jingchan staring at her intently.

She sat down beside him and poured herself a cup of tea: “Mission accomplished. No need to thank me. I guarantee that when she sees you in the future, she’ll only feel regret, not resentment.”

“Who’s my father’s other heir?”

Li Weiyi laughed drily: “I didn’t say anything—she came up with that herself. Expedient measures, expedient measures! Otherwise, you’re such a catch that it would be hard to get her to let go. She has genuine feelings for you too. Really, you can’t blame her for something this huge.”

Zhang Jingchan scoffed lightly: “She just liked my family’s money. As soon as you said I might not get the inheritance, she had no more attachment.”

Li Weiyi looked at him strangely: “How can you think that way? Look at me—this physique, this face, and I’m first in the whole department. So of course she also likes you as a person. If you were short, ugly, fat, and ranked last in the department, even with all that money… do you think you’d be good enough for her?”

This twisted logic somehow made Zhang Jingchan laugh again.

He paused slightly in surprise. He actually wasn’t someone who laughed easily. As a youth he’d been domineering and commanding—not many people could earn his smiles. Later, for many years, he had even less reason to smile. Sometimes when his face darkened, even someone as close as Li Yunmo wouldn’t dare speak loudly. Who would have thought that since this body-swap journey began, despite the urgent and worrying situation that felt like a fishbone stuck in his throat, he’d already lost count of how many times he’d burst out laughing.

He reined in his smile and said: “Thanks for handling this. Next, we’re going to the company. I need to see with my own eyes exactly what stage Fu Ming has reached right now.”