The Epoch of Miyu

Lu Qiankun said with a smile, "It seems that's the reason!"

He looked at Xu Miyu and slowly nodded.

Then he said nothing more and silently ate the fried dumplings. After finishing them, he put down his chopsticks, wiped away the tears at the corner of his eyes, and pointed at Xu Miyu as he said to Manager Tian, "This subordinate of yours is truly remarkable. She knows how to appeal to emotions, understanding that the person I care about most in my life is my mother, who unfortunately passed away the year before last. It's been two years since I last tasted fried dumplings that carried the flavor of my mother's cooking. Alright, since you have the ability to let me taste my mother's flavor again, I'll believe that you also have the capability to successfully organize my global new product launch event!"

"And just like that, our Siwei Hotel ultimately became the host venue for Lu Qiankun Group's new product launch event," Xue Rui told Ji Feng.

As Ji Feng listened to this account, his emotions fluctuated wildly. On one hand, he felt excited and proud, while on the other, he felt inexplicably resentful.

While he was caught in unprecedented turmoil from the breakup, she was thriving in her new department, achieving remarkable success. It seemed as if he was the only one affected by the breakup—how could he possibly accept this?

So, torn between resentment and admiration, he issued an instruction: "She did well this time. But since this event is of great importance, I will attend the preliminary preparation meetings."

Xue Rui immediately contacted the planning department to implement the boss's directive.

Afterward, Ji Feng, as the hotel owner, attended all event preparation meetings as an observer. Xu Miyu, being one of the main planners of the event, was naturally the primary presenter at these meetings.

During the first meeting, Ji Feng sat at the conference table, watching Xu Miyu stand before them as she presented the carefully prepared PowerPoint.

He sat below, his gaze fixed intently on her.

Yet she remained unaffected by his stare, focusing entirely on her presentation.

As she continued explaining, his attention soon shifted from her personally to her PowerPoint slides. He went from being captivated by her to being captivated by her work achievements.

She had actually prepared several different event proposals, each with unique creativity and highlights. She had even created budget estimates for each proposal—he truly had to view her in a new light. The former housewife had now learned to handle financial aspects like event budgeting.

Not only had she developed comprehensive event plans, but she had also considered numerous details requiring coordination with other departments:

They needed to finalize event slogans, posters, hanging flags, floor stickers, etc., with the design team, and it would be best to prepare some corporate culture-related merchandise.

They needed to confirm pre-event promotional matters with the publicity team, ensuring online promotions leveraged digital advantages while offline campaigns achieved sufficient coverage.

They had to coordinate with the front office and housekeeping departments in advance regarding guest accommodations for event participants, researching important figures' backgrounds to understand their preferences and taboos, thereby providing professional and personalized service.

...

Ji Feng sat below, listening silently and attentively to Xu Miyu's presentation. He felt that she seemed different in some ways compared to when she had been working by his side.

When she was learning from him, she picked things up quickly but always appeared anxious and lacking in confidence.But now, standing at the front of the conference room, flipping through the PowerPoint slides one by one and calmly explaining each work item in detail, she appeared so composed and confident.

By the time she finished her presentation, her proposal had gained unanimous approval from everyone.

Ji Feng watched Xu Miyu, who was not only extremely serious about her work but almost reverent toward it. In that moment, he set aside all personal biases and professionally offered objective feedback on her proposal, along with suggestions for the few areas that needed improvement.

As she listened to his comments and suggestions, she appeared utterly respectful, treating him purely as her boss.

Suddenly, Ji Feng felt a tightness in his chest.

Everything had been thoroughly discussed, and the meeting had reached a point where it couldn’t possibly continue any longer.

Yet Ji Feng wanted to prolong his time with Xu Miyu.

So, just before adjourning, he made an unprecedented suggestion: "You all worked hard to secure this event—it’s no small feat and definitely worth celebrating. How about we all go out for a dinner celebration after work today? My treat."

The moment he announced this decision, Xue Rui, standing beside him, nearly popped his eyes out in shock.

Ji Feng had never once attended an employee gathering before, yet this time he not only proposed it but also seemed intent on joining in… It was as if the sun had decided to rise from the west!

Of course, Xue Rui knew exactly who this unprecedented move was for. But almost immediately, he witnessed Ji Feng’s extraordinary gesture being flatly rejected.

"I’m sorry, but I already have plans with a friend tonight, so I won’t be able to join the dinner. I hope everyone enjoys the meal," Xu Miyu said with a light smile.

Then she politely bid farewell to her leaders and colleagues, including Ji Feng, whose face had turned as dark as the bottom of a pot.

Once she left, Ji Feng decided not to attend the dinner either. He instructed the planning department manager to treat everyone and have the expenses reimbursed by him.

Back in the penthouse, Ji Feng drank tea until his chest felt heavy, made client calls right in front of Xue Rui, picked up his tablet intending to tend to his virtual farm but ended up pulling out vegetables that weren’t even ripe yet.

After tossing the tablet aside in frustration, Ji Feng strode out of the suite.

He threw a remark at Xue Rui: "You can clock out. Don’t follow me."

Ji Feng went straight down to the second floor and stopped at the entrance of the planning department’s office.

Xu Miyu hadn’t left yet; she was still tidying up her workstation. The others were also getting ready to go out for dinner with the manager.

Ji Feng thought for a moment, then took out his phone and called Xu Miyu. But he immediately saw her decline the call.

Gritting his teeth, he started typing a message.

He told Xu Miyu to come out now and meet him at the terrace tea room, adding, "Xu Miyu, we need to talk."

He watched as she stared down at her phone, lost in thought for a long moment, before finally setting her bag aside and getting up to leave.

He hurried ahead, arriving at the terrace tea room first. He sat down at a table, trying his best to appear casual and unconcerned.

Soon, Xu Miyu arrived.

He crossed his legs, leaned back in his chair, and gestured with his chin toward the seat opposite him, signaling for her to sit down.

A server brought over a teapot, poured a cup of tea for both Ji Feng and Xu Miyu, then tactfully withdrew.

Xu Miyu kept her eyes lowered, fixed on the teacup, her expression unreadable.

Unable to bear the silence any longer, Ji Feng was the first to speak, calling out her name."Xu Miyu." The voice was cold and detached, the tone flat and uninflected.

Xu Miyu looked up at him and responded, "President Ji."

Ji Feng immediately furrowed his brow tightly.

"Let's talk properly," he said expressionlessly, his voice three degrees colder than before. "Suddenly bringing up breaking up—what's going on? Don't you owe me a detailed explanation?"

Xu Miyu lowered her gaze and pressed her lips together.

When she looked up at Ji Feng again, she said to him with some apology in her eyes, "It's my fault. I'm sorry."

A spark instantly lit up in Ji Feng's eyes.

"Then let's get back together?" he asked almost immediately.

Xu Miyu slowly shook her head.

The spark in Ji Feng's eyes vanished, replaced by wounded anger.

Xu Miyu no longer avoided his emotions. Looking into his eyes, she said, "When I say I'm sorry, it's because I know the breakup was sudden and didn't give you any buffer. That's why I feel sorry."

But she had no intention of reconciling.

Breaking up with him made her sad, yet she also felt as if a weight had been lifted.

She no longer had to constantly worry—whether he looked down on her for having been married and divorced, whether she was too old for him since she was half a year older, whether the gap between them was too wide and she fell too far short of his standards, whether she wasn't good enough, outstanding enough, or perfect enough to deserve him.

During the time they were together, as much as she liked him, it had gradually become torturous and unbearable.

It was like accidentally acquiring an expensive, beautiful dress that she adored and wore every day to work. But such an expensive, beautiful dress was meant for a pampered young lady who stayed at home, not for someone like her who had to labor. Forcing herself to wear it while working only made her uncomfortable, constantly cautious and restrained. In the end, she couldn't do her job well, and the dress would eventually get dirty and torn.

So no matter how much she liked it, if it didn't fit her life, it was just a burden.

Truthfully, after the breakup, she was heartbroken.

Deeply, deeply heartbroken.

But the more heartbroken she felt, the more she understood that this pain stemmed from the gap between her and Ji Feng.

Once she realized this, she wiped away her tears and began channeling her grief into working hard.

After the breakup, she had originally planned to resign and leave Sway Hotel to find another job. But when Manager Tian from the planning department received her resignation letter, he earnestly pleaded with her to stay. He explained that the department's performance over the past year had been declining compared to the same periods in previous years. If things didn't improve by the end of the year, the department would face layoffs the following year. He had initially thought layoffs were inevitable, but unexpectedly, Xu Miyu turned out to be a lucky charm. Since she joined the planning department, she had helped secure several major event contracts that were previously unattainable, instantly boosting the department's performance.

Manager Tian practically begged her not to resign now. If she really wanted to leave, he hoped she could stay until the end of the year, so she could help lift this year's performance further and ensure the department wouldn't face layoffs next year.

Xu Miyu thought about how Manager Tian had always been considerate and supportive since she joined the planning department. During the time she and Ji Feng were giving each other the cold shoulder, the planning department had felt like a refuge to her, and every colleague there had been warm and friendly. If staying until the end of the year could help them avoid layoffs next year, Xu Miyu decided she would stay until then.So in the end, she stayed in the planning department. She poured all her energy into her work, projecting her hopes for the future onto it, refusing to dwell excessively on the relationship that had just ended.

Because she knew that she and Ji Feng had started their relationship at the worst possible time—when her self-confidence was still unformed, when her independence and abilities were just beginning to emerge but weren't yet strong enough. She had agreed to be with him, and the vast gap between them repeatedly shattered her fragile confidence.

It was only after the breakup that she came to understand one thing clearly: a woman's confidence should ultimately come from realizing her own self-worth.

And the place where she could realize her self-worth was her work.

So during this period, she worked hard, focused intently, and gave her all to her job, using her achievements at work to build her confidence.

At this moment, looking at Ji Feng before her, she once again spoke solemnly and earnestly:

"I'm sorry, it's my fault."

—I'm sorry, Ji Feng. Breaking up because I wasn't confident enough was my mistake.

"I'm sorry, I can't get back together with you."

—I'm sorry, Ji Feng. I like you, but I still can't be with you again. Until I can build up my own confidence, until I can become truly excellent, I can't handle our relationship. I'll always feel like I'm not good enough for you.

"I'm sorry, I have things to do. I should go."

—I'm sorry, Ji Feng. If I keep sitting here facing you, I'll probably start crying. So I need to leave.

Xu Miyu finally gave Ji Feng a forced smile, then stood up and left.

Ji Feng sat there, not moving for a long time.

Only when he watched her figure gradually walk away and disappear did he wake up as if from a dream, truly feeling that they had really broken up. There was no room for any more misunderstandings or illusions—it was a definite breakup.

Suddenly, it felt like a huge part of his heart had been hollowed out.

After returning to his room, Ji Feng sat in the bamboo chair by the window from dusk until dark.

At night, the city outside lit up with neon lights, their colorful glow radiating through the glass into the room, as if carrying noise with them, making the silent darkness feel impure.

Ji Feng's mind seemed to be thinking about nothing, yet it also seemed to be constantly pondering one question: What did this real breakup actually mean for him?

Wasn't it just life returning to how it was before? What was the big deal? It didn't matter.

But from that day on, he discovered that he truly couldn't eat Xu Miyu's home-cooked meals anymore, he truly couldn't enjoy her massages anymore, and the smiles she exclusively reserved for him would indeed be taken back. They hadn't completed their "100 Things to Do as a Couple," and now they truly never would.

This wasn't everything returning to how it was before. Because never having something and having it then losing it were never the same.

He gradually began to feel the lingering effects of the breakup.

While looking for documents in his study, he accidentally found the straw cup Xu Miyu had bought him before in a drawer. She had said he didn't drink enough water, and this cup with timed reminders would help him drink a cup every two hours—convenient and good for hydration.

At the time, he had disliked the cup's design, thinking it was something girls would use, so he didn't want to use it and had simply stored it away in the drawer.Yet now, as if bewitched, he had peeled the cup from its packaging and began using it earnestly, drinking water on a regular schedule with genuine dedication. Wherever he went for meetings, he carried this cup with him. He no longer feared others seeing him use a girly-style cup or drinking through a straw.

He didn’t know what had come over him, but he had unwittingly developed a habit of hoarding chocolates everywhere. Especially when traveling for business, no matter how tight the schedule, he always managed to set aside half a day to search the city for local specialty chocolates, buying large bags without a second thought for the price.

Back in Xingcheng, he would lock them away in a safe, as if trying to hide away the part of himself that couldn’t seem to move past the lingering pain of the breakup.

One night, just after midnight, he had barely lain down when the ping of a message notification jolted him awake.

Grabbing his phone, he glanced at the screen and instantly felt wide awake.

It was a letter from a time capsule—one written by Xu Miyu and him together a hundred days ago, addressed to their future selves.

So a hundred days had already passed. Time really flew.

Only, they hadn’t made it to the hundred-day mark before breaking up.

Back then, he had confidently thought that writing a letter for just a hundred days in the future was too short—it should be at least a year. But Xu Miyu had insisted on setting it for a hundred days later.

Had she already been feeling insecure back then? Had she already been thinking that if they could just make it to a hundred days still together, it would be a victory?

A pang of sadness struck him. Why was it only now, so late, that he could put himself in her shoes and understand how she must have felt then? If he had realized it back then, given her more reassurance, and eased her lack of confidence, would they still be together now?

He ran a hand through his hair, brushing away these impossible “what ifs” from the past, and opened the letter she had written to him a hundred days ago.

In the letter, she told him:

“A hundred days from now, I hope you’ve developed the habit of drinking water regularly. You work such long hours and carry so much stress—you need to hydrate and detox.

I also hope you’ve learned to take care of yourself—to eat on time and not be so picky about food, refusing to eat or eating very little just because something doesn’t suit your taste. Over time, that’s not good for your stomach.

I hope you pay more attention to resting, not always staying up late for work or pushing yourself so hard, even though you never admit you’re tired. I really want to tell you: money can never all be earned, and meetings will never end, but your health has its limits. So remember—rest more, don’t overwork yourself.

Lastly, I have one more hope… that a hundred days from now, we’re still together.”

Ji Feng read Xu Miyu’s letter to him, and with each line, his heart grew heavier. His chest tightened as if suffocating, and damn it, his eyes began to sting and ache.

The other letter—the one he had written to her—was much shorter, just a couple of brief lines:

“I hope in a hundred days you’ll listen to me and move into a bigger apartment. Your little place is just too cramped.”

Compared to her letter, his felt utterly thoughtless.

Every sentence she had written was filled with care and concern for him.Unlike her, he had not considered her at all. The mere two sentences he wrote were also composed from a perspective that prioritized his own comfort.

He suddenly felt terrible about himself, felt deeply indebted to her, and realized the lingering effects of their breakup were hitting him even harder.

Starting the next day, he would occasionally have his driver take the car to the apartment building where Xu Miyu lived.

He had a hidden secret—he could still track Xu Miyu's whereabouts. Previously, she had set him as her emergency contact in her ride-hailing app and had forgotten to remove him. So now, every time she took a taxi, the app would send her route and destination to his phone.

He secretly watched her rushing around diligently for work every day. Sometimes, he would grow angry that the breakup seemed to have no effect on her—she could actually maintain such high spirits and keep working nonstop. Other times, he would feel... a pang of heartache for her.

When she was busy, she seemed unaware of fatigue. Sometimes, he would see her taking taxis late at night, hurrying from a hotel to another company. He figured she was probably working overtime to attend meetings.

She seemed to really like her current department, enjoyed her work in event planning, and was more than willing to put in extra hours for it.

When her overtime ended, she would take a taxi straight back to her apartment.

At such times, he would have the driver arrive early at her apartment building, park in the shade of the trees, and then tend to his farm while waiting for her window to light up.

Once he saw the light turn on in her room and watched her walk to the window to draw the curtains, confirming she had returned safely, he would then tell the driver to turn around and head back to the hotel.

The driver, who had always remained silent, finally couldn't hold back one day and asked Ji Feng, "Boss, why do you always just watch silently like this instead of going up to see her?"

Ji Feng gazed at the city's nightscape outside the car window, curling his lips into a bitter smile meant only for himself.

It wasn't as if he hadn't swallowed his pride and begged her to get back together. By his count, he had pleaded twice already—once on the day they broke up and again during their conversation on the balcony. But she had outright rejected him both times.

He had never begged anyone before; twice was already unprecedented and had drained every last bit of his dignity. In the short term, he couldn't bring himself to beg her a third time.

Besides, since leaving him, she seemed to have truly become more vibrant, as if she were happy and content every day, full of energy and drive.

So perhaps being with him had really been suffocating for her.

He replied to the driver in a low voice, "Let's not go up to see her for now. Let her catch her breath."