Her Wild Rose - Chapter 47

Chapter 47: Breakup

#Nancheng
#Su Qian’s ex-girlfriend
#Tang Tang and Su Qian break up
#Were they really just destined for heartbreak?

Tang Tang and Su Qian hadn’t even gotten on the production team’s shuttle when a new leak about the upcoming episode’s guest shot straight to Weibo’s trending page.

The leaker was an entertainment blogger who had allegedly worked as an assistant for a top celebrity studio. After being fired for a mistake, she turned to Weibo and became a gossip blogger known for dropping explosive celebrity scoops.

Fortunately for her, even a starving camel is bigger than a horse. She’d made some shady friends while still in the industry, so while her leaks were hit or miss, some did turn out to be true.

That’s why half the entertainment fandom had a love-hate relationship with her—hate when she exposed their faves, love when she dragged their rivals.

@NoLemonPlease: “Holy sh*t. This is an industry leak—this basically confirms it. Is the director trying to send those two straight into a battlefield?”

@SummerWind: “I’m starting to feel bad for them. This level of drama? Even a dog would shake its head…”

@XiaoLiTheSaltyFish: “Exactly! Even if those two nobodies made it this far thanks to connections, putting this all out there so blatantly—the director clearly has an agenda.”

@RaiseAPigAndNameItBoyfriend: “From what I heard, didn’t Tang Tang and Su Qian break up because of this guy, Chen Qi? I remember the old trending tag… what was it? “#Su Qian enters hotel with famous screenwriter late at night, doesn’t return till morning, suspected of selling herself for a role#”? Now that I think about it… kind of nostalgic.”

@BoredOuttaMyMind: “Yep, and not long after that, Su Qian landed the lead role in that fantasy drama and shot to stardom. Thinking back now… maybe that news wasn’t so fake after all…”

@WillIGetRichThisYear: “@SuQianStudio You’re not sending a legal warning over this? Did the studio just finish eating or what…”

@1922: Must’ve run into a fan here. “The blogger was just speculating—what’s with the lawyer threats? You think legal letters cost 9.9 on Taobao with free shipping?”

@WhenWillSuQianRetire: “9.9? More like from Pinduoduo…”

@WhenWillChiChiGraduate: “Honestly, do legal warnings even mean anything anymore? Throwing them out for every little thing is so lame.”

…

The Weibo real-time trending feed was a flood of sarcasm and mockery. Tang Tang sat in the back of the van, arms crossed, a black face mask covering most of her face. Her entire figure was cloaked in shadow, with only the faint glow of her phone screen reflected in her dark eyes—blinking in and out, making her expression unreadable.

“Tang Tang?”

Su Qian sat behind her and had naturally seen what she was looking at through the reflection in the glass. She nervously called out her name, but all the lines she’d prepared in her head got stuck in her throat.

“Mm?”

Tang Tang responded instinctively. She closed her phone, held it in her lap, and turned to look at Su Qian’s face.

She had stared at that face countless times. At first, it was just because it was pretty. Then, it became about the eyes that seemed to speak. But after falling for that person… just thinking about her made Tang Tang’s heart ache.

She took a deep breath, and amidst her stubbornness and unwillingness, she finally admitted it: Ever since meeting Su Qian, she had longed to see something in her eyes—just a tiny trace of pity or guilt, even if it was the size of a sesame seed.

But that look… she’d waited for years and still hadn’t seen it.

Maybe, just maybe, everything had quietly changed a long time ago.

A layer of mist rose in Tang Tang’s dark eyes. She lowered her head, hiding the tears behind the layers of lace on her collar.

She should thank Su Qian—at least the dress she’d chosen preserved the last bit of her dignity.

“What’s wrong?”

Tang Tang tried to steady her voice, to keep it from shaking. “Su Qian, do you think I’m a joke?”

As the van entered a tunnel, her question was swallowed by the darkness. Tang Tang instinctively turned her head but found she couldn’t see Su Qian’s face at all. It was as if a thick, sticky blackness separated them—so dense it could devour everything.

Hope included. Love, too.

“How could I?” Su Qian, feeling around blindly in the dark, reached out in hopes of offering comfort. But her hand only landed on the cold seatback.

In that instant, both of them seemed to glimpse a vision of their future—hopeless and ironic, like a cruel destiny.

“Tang Tang, I love you. I haven’t had enough time to love you yet.”

Su Qian’s voice was soft, barely real. “Tang Tang, you have to believe me.”

Yes, she had to believe her.

The lights in the tunnel couldn’t cut through the darkness. Tang Tang couldn’t see Su Qian’s expression, but deep down, she imagined her sneering.

She remembered asking Su Qian the same thing years ago, when gossip broke about her and Chen Qi.

What had Su Qian said back then?

Oh right—just like now: “Tang Tang, I love you. I haven’t had enough time to love you yet. You have to believe me.”

Tang Tang’s fingers rubbed the necklace around her neck, and the light in her eyes shattered bit by bit. She gave a cold laugh and pulled back from Su Qian.

“Su Qian, what do you want me to believe in? Your so-called heartfelt confessions that sound like a joke? Or your never-ending scandals?”

The sarcasm in her tone stung Su Qian’s ears. She’d endured too many of Tang Tang’s jabs over the past three years. Her heart had long been filled with suppressed frustration.

“Tang Tang, can you not talk to me in that tone?”

Su Qian’s voice turned cold. She truly believed she had never wronged Tang Tang—how did she end up looking like the heartless one?

“Then what kind of tone do you want? Should I act like I did three years ago—obedient and accommodating? Or like now, pretending I don’t know anything even though I do?” Tang Tang’s voice trembled with growing anger. “Su Qian, don’t you think you’re being too cruel?”

Tears streamed silently down her cheeks, dripping onto the layered lace of her skirt and leaving faint stains.

She bit her lip, nails digging into her palm, and shoved her phone with the trending page in front of Su Qian’s face.

“Su Qian, Chen Qi’s coming on the show—why didn’t you tell me?” Tears wouldn’t stop falling. She stared into Su Qian’s eyes, firm and hurt. “You could have told me. But now everyone knows except me. What am I to you—a fool? Did you even think about how I’d feel?”

Her voice rose to a shout. Tang Tang had always been proud, used to being above it all. But her younger years taught her to prioritize others’ feelings—she’d never embarrassed anyone like this before.

“Tang Tang, I… I…” Su Qian faltered after just a glance at the trending page. She anxiously studied Tang Tang’s face and eventually gave up on offering any kind of explanation.

She had meant to tell her. But after the issue with Li Xiang, things had piled up… and she simply forgot.

“So now you won’t even bother to explain?”

Tang Tang’s rage only deepened. Su Qian’s silence stabbed her like a thorn to the heart, leaving her breathless. Wasn’t Su Qian the one who’d said she liked her first? Then how did she end up being the one who looked crazy and desperate in this relationship?

Her resentment boiled over.

She yanked off the necklace and the ring on her finger, and threw them straight at Su Qian.

“If that’s how it is, Su Qian, let’s break up. Go be with your precious Chen Qi. Just leave this fool alone!”

She turned her back on Su Qian and ignored her. The van continued speeding through the long, dark tunnel—endless and suffocating.

The sound of diamonds hitting the floor echoed in both their ears. Su Qian clenched her fists, her temper flaring as well.

“Tang Tang, can you grow up a little? What could there possibly be between me and Chen Qi? Are you seriously like the rest of them, thinking I had something with him?”

“Isn’t it true?” Tang Tang’s anger flared at the mention of that name. She glared at Su Qian, her voice sharp. “Three years ago, I saw you two enter a hotel together and not come out all night. Tell me, Su Qian—what were you doing in there? Playing cards?”

The cold sarcasm pierced Su Qian like a sword. She stared at Tang Tang in shock, her eyes turning red. All the years of public scrutiny, baseless rumors, and buried resentment surged up at once, draining her spirit.

She slumped into her seat, defeated, lips curving into a bitter smile.

“So this is what you think of me? And here I thought I held some special place in your heart.”

Su Qian stood up unsteadily and moved to the furthest seat from Tang Tang.

“Tell me—what am I to you? A shameless, manipulative seductress? Someone who’d sleep her way to the top? If you really look down on me that much, then why pretend to like me at all? You even fooled yourself. How ridiculous.”

Tears streamed down her face as she stared stubbornly out the window. Then suddenly, she opened it and threw the ring and necklace out.

“Tang Tang. If this is how you see me, then from now on, let’s be strangers. That way, you won’t ever have to complain again that being with a filthy woman like me was beneath someone as self-righteous as you.”