Chapter 524 - 252: Phone Spot Check
Chapter 524: Chapter 252: Phone Spot Check
"..."
Hearing Xu Lei’s true feelings, Zhang Xu felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He simply couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
He had thought his sincerity had won Xu Lei over, making her his girlfriend and, eventually, his fiancée.
’And now you’re telling me she only dated me because Lin Shen quit and she was heartbroken? That she was just trying to soothe her own pent-up loneliness and desolation?’
’What the hell is this?!’
’Am I a substitute?’
’No!’
’I’m not even a substitute!’
’I was here first, so why does Leilei still like Lin Shen!?’
Zhang Xu gave a bitter laugh and slumped into his seat. His lips trembled as he asked in utter disbelief,
"Are you saying... you’ve liked Lin Shen all along?"
"Not exactly ’all along.’"
Now that her true feelings were out in the open, Xu Lei dropped the act and confessed frankly.
"Before you, back when President Lin and I were still colleagues, I already had a bit of a crush on him."
"But he hadn’t broken up with his girlfriend yet, so I couldn’t say much. I could only treat him as a colleague."
"Later, when I found out he’d broken up with her, I thought about talking to him, but he immediately quit his job."
"By then, you had already been pursuing me for several months. I felt I owed you an answer, so I decided to start dating you while I waited to see if there was any news from President Lin’s side."
"But as we dated, I found that you were actually very good to me. Plus, I couldn’t get in touch with President Lin, so I started to take our relationship seriously, even to the point of considering marriage."
"But in that regard, you broke my heart."
Xu Lei added with a cold scoff.
"You have no backbone, no opinions of your own. You just listen to your parents, unable to make a single decision or take a firm stance. I see no ambition in you, only two words: giving up!"
"If I married you, I can just imagine how hard our future would be. Since you don’t want to do anything, why get married at all?"
As Xu Lei spoke, her tone grew heavier, her eyes filling with disgust.
"I can’t stand men like you. You talk about how stressful life is, how you need to think of yourselves and enjoy life, but then you turn around and still want to get married."
"Either go home and live your quiet life without getting married, or work hard to build a secure future. But you? You want it both ways. It’s the height of hypocrisy."
"I can stay in Modu now, and you want to go home. We could have just parted amicably. But no, you had to ask about my relationship with President Lin. Since you asked, I’ll lay it all out for you."
Xu Lei enunciated every word, emphasizing,
"The main reason I’m taking the job as President Lin’s secretary—besides the high salary and good benefits—is to seduce him. I’m going to use him to climb the social ladder and live a better life!"
"Xu Lei! Are you insane?"
Zhang Xu clearly couldn’t believe it. The innocent Xu Lei he remembered would never have said something like "seduce."
"Didn’t you say Lin Shen has a girlfriend?!"
"So what?"
Xu Lei’s gaze was full of defiance as she looked at Zhang Xu.
"Don’t you know that a lot of secretaries nowadays are their bosses’ mistresses? Would you really trust a stranger to manage your schedule and deal with your clients?"
"You really are insane! Unbelievable!"
Zhang Xu was at a loss for words. After all, his feelings for Xu Lei still ran deep.
But it was true that he hadn’t considered her feelings, which had led to this situation.
But now, it was too late to salvage anything.
They were from two completely different worlds.
One was ruthlessly ambitious, willing to climb the ladder in the glittering, debauched metropolis, even if it meant being a mistress.
The other was tired of the fast-paced big city, preferring the leisurely life of a small town and wanting to go home to a quiet existence.
Clearly, with such conflicting mindsets, there was no room for compromise.
In that case, breaking up was probably the better choice.
It’s just...
Zhang Xu clenched his fists tightly, then slowly released them as if a heavy burden had been lifted. His face was a mask of despair.
"Leilei, is there really no chance for us?"
"None."
Xu Lei picked up her bag and laptop, standing up to leave the Starbucks. Before she left, she looked back at Zhang Xu and said softly,
"We’ve already broken up. If you have any lingering feelings for what we had, then don’t interfere with my work or my life."
"If your harassment makes me lose my chance to be by President Lin’s side as his secretary, I will hate you for the rest of my life!"
With that, Xu Lei left the Starbucks without a backward glance, leaving Zhang Xu slumped on the sofa, his eyes vacant.
The beautiful love he had imagined was ultimately defeated by reality.
He had brought it all on himself.
SLAP—!
Zhang Xu slapped himself hard across the face, quickly drawing the astonished gazes of the people around him.
They then watched as he left the Starbucks like a zombie.
The city had claimed another man, heartbroken and defeated by love...
That was the silent thought on everyone’s mind.
—
—
「Huamao Mansion, Shennan Pet Industry.」
After Xu Lei left, Qin Yuenan waited in the office for Lin Shen for a long time. She waited until the entire office floor was nearly empty and everyone had gone home for the day, but there was still no sign of him.
’That guy...’
Qin Yuenan’s eyes narrowed. After muttering a few complaints under her breath, she called Lin Shen directly.
The phone rang for about ten seconds before it was answered.