Xing Yixin and Ding Jiaxin walked side by side down the road toward the Western restaurant that Ding Jiaxin had mentioned was delicious.

“Yixin, do you know what? I heard that Mrs. Zhangqiu was shocked when she called you…”

Ding Jiaxin's high heels clicked loudly on the floor tiles, matching her voice.

Xing Yixin listened quietly, walking beside Ding Jiaxin without making a sound.

This is Xing Yixin's usual personality. She is introverted, doesn't like to talk, but is a very good listener.

Therefore, Ding Jiaxin naturally did not notice Xing Yixin's unusual behavior.

Ding Jiaxin tentatively asked, "But Yixin, do you really not know who the person in Zhangqiu cheated on you with?"

Xing Yixin withdrew her aimless gaze and stopped following Ding Jiaxin.

He turned and stared into Ding Jiaxin's eyes, watching her face gradually turn ashen; the meaning was self-evident.

Xing Yixin had long suspected that Zhang Qiu had made things difficult for her countless times, but every time Zhang Qiu finished scolding her, the sound of Ding Jiaxin tidying up files and banging on the table would come from her desk, and coincidentally, Zhang Qiu would stop scolding her.

At first, whenever Xing Yixin was scolded, she would hope that Ding Jiaxin would organize the documents and rescue her.

Later, as the coincidences occurred more and more frequently, they ceased to be coincidences, and Xing Yixin began to have doubts.

Later, at a meeting, both Zhang Qiu and Ding Jiaxin were late.

Xing Yixin called both of them, and their background noise was equally quiet.

It was so quiet it didn't feel like being in this world; it felt more like being in a vacuum.

If Xing Yixin had only suspected it before, she guessed it from Ding Jiaxin's subtle probing on the way.

It seems my suspicions were correct.

Ding Jiaxin wiped the smile off her face; she naturally knew what Xing Yixin's look meant.

She knew everything; she was the one who cheated on her husband in Zhangqiu.

Ding Jiaxin had disliked Xing Yixin ever since she was born. Xing Yixin had a seductive face that made all the men in the company's eyes follow her.

But she looked like she was half-dead, and she had a blank expression no matter who spoke to her.

Is she some kind of celebrity? Who is she trying to impress with her aloof demeanor?

Including Zhangqiu, Xing Yixin gets all the good jobs.

Later, Ding Jiaxin witnessed Zhang Qiu and Xing Yixin making advances towards each other, but Xing Yixin actually rejected them.

Ding Jiaxin saw the malice in Zhang Qiu's eyes after being rejected, and a plan inexplicably welled up in her mind.

So, Ding Jiaxin and Zhang Qiu got together, and Zhang Qiu, following her wishes, severely punished Xing Yixin.

No matter how well Xing Yixin did her work, Zhang Qiu wouldn't even look at it and would send it back for her to redo.

Ding Jiaxin felt a sense of satisfaction every time she saw Zhang Qiu publicly scold Xing Yixin.

Once Ding Jiaxin had listened enough and was satisfied, she tapped the table while organizing documents, signaling Zhang Qiu to "stop now."

At this moment, Ding Jiaxin felt as if she were Xing Yixin's savior, bestowing some grace upon her.

Ding Jiaxin looked at Xing Yixin for two seconds and said, "You won't repay kindness with enmity and tell the people at the company, will you? I saved you from being scolded so many times."

Xing Yixin simply stared at Ding Jiaxin with a blank expression. Her gaze was so penetrating that it seemed she could see right through Ding Jiaxin.

Ding Jiaxin rolled her eyes and walked forward.

Xing Yixin followed behind Ding Jiaxin, her bag gradually slipping from her shoulder into her hand.

Why? All she wanted was a true friend.

All she wanted was for someone to truly like and love her.

Why did everyone she cared about betray her? Her parents, her brother, her ex-boyfriend, her friends…

Xing Yixin watched Ding Jiaxin's retreating figure, then swung her bag at Ding Jiaxin's head...

...

Xing Yixin didn't go to work in the afternoon; she was invited to the police station for questioning.

Since Ding Jiaxin also knew that what she had done was not something respectable, the two reached a reconciliation.

The night was pitch black, without even the faintest starlight, making one feel inexplicably oppressed.

Xing Yixin sat on a bench in the residential area. Her hair was still messy after the fight, and there were scratches on her face that she didn't know when they were left.

"From now on, I will never make friends again. I don't need any..."

Xing Yixin picked up the cigarette box she had just bought and examined it repeatedly in her hand.

Xing Yixin wanted to try the taste of cigarettes for the first time.

She wanted to fall into depravity...

He took a cigarette out of the pack and held it to her lips through Xing Yixin's fair and slender hand.

Xing Yixin's empty gaze gradually focused as she looked down at the cigarette dangling from her lips.

Her expression flickered in the dim light of the lighter, making it impossible to discern what she was thinking.

Before the flame could even get close to the cigarette butt, the cigarette was snatched from Xing Yixin's lips by a long, clean hand with distinct knuckles.

Ji Ziyan, with a cigarette butt in his mouth, bent down and leaned closer to the still-lit lighter in Xing Yixin's hand.

The flame licked the cigarette butt, emitting a scarlet glow.

Women's cigarettes are thinner than men's cigarettes, and this one is also milder than the ones Ji Ziyan usually smokes.

Xing Yixin watched as the cigarette was pulled from her mouth and then put back in the man's mouth.

That cigarette was covered in her saliva!

The man's face, close to the firelight, was magnified in front of Xing Yixin, no more than 10 centimeters away.

Ji Ziyan's half-closed eyes were blurred by the smoke rising from his mouth, making it impossible to discern his emotions.

Xing Yixin felt inexplicably guilty; the feeling of falling after making a desperate gamble suddenly seemed like she had crashed into cotton.

He was lifted up again.

The relationship between Xing Yixin and Ji Ziyan began to change a month and a half ago when Xing Yixin asked Ji Ziyan to drink with her because of Wang Peizhen's words.

Ji Ziyan would pick Xing Yixin up from get off work and take her to an inconspicuous little restaurant for dinner.

Xing Yixin could tell what she was thinking with just one look.

Xing Yixin would be happy to receive a text message from Ji Ziyan, and she would also be overjoyed because he always understood her.

Ji Ziyan took the cigarette from his lips with his fingers.

He lifted his thin eyelids, which had been drooping since the beginning, and looked at Xing Yixin for the first time tonight.

"What happened?"

He went to the company to pick up Xing Yixin as usual today, but she didn't reply to his message.

I went to the company well past the end of the workday but didn't see Xing Yixin. After asking around, I found out that Xing Yixin hadn't gone to work that afternoon.

Ji Ziyan thought something had happened to Xing Yixin.

Did they discover her existence?

Ji Ziyan was extremely anxious. He went to all the places Xing Yixin frequented and searched everywhere before finally finding her sitting downstairs in the apartment complex.

Holding a lighter, I approached and discovered she had some ambition—she actually wanted to learn how to smoke.

Xing Yixin glanced at the cigarette emitting smoke between Ji Ziyan's fingers, and dared not look him in the eye.

"It's nothing, just a fight."

"Hmm." Ji Ziyan sat down next to Xing Yixin, without asking her why she was fighting.

She will say what she wants to say; all she needs now is his company.

Upon hearing Ji Ziyan's "hmm," Xing Yixin's emotions immediately broke down.