After Breaking Off the Engagement, I Reached the Peak of My Life

When Lu Yalan heard from a servant that her fiancé had come to see her, she couldn’t help but feel a surge of joy, overlooking the hesitance in the messenger’s eyes. Though she longed to rush to his side, the upbringing she’d received since childhood reminded her to maintain the poised and dignified demeanor befitting a young lady of her station. She walked toward the garden at a measured pace; only the maid who had been with her since she was a child could tell that her steps were a touch faster than usual.

Waiting in the garden, Zhao Dingsheng regarded Lu Yalan’s expressionless face with a quiet sneer. No wonder she was famed in Salt City as the wooden maiden. Her mature, conservative attire reduced her natural beauty from nine parts to three, making him all the more impatient.

Thus, his words were sharp and unyielding, eager only to finish his message and depart.

“Lu Yalan, we are not suited for each other. Let’s break off the engagement.”

Her cheeks were still flushed when these cold words struck her like a slap. The color drained from her face as she stood frozen, at a loss.

Zhao Dingsheng was now twenty-three, newly returned from his studies in America, tall and elegant, embodying both the refinement of a traditional scholarly family and the vigor unique to foreign-educated youth. He was much admired by young women and wives everywhere he went.

The Zhao and Lu families were old family friends, their engagement arranged since childhood. They were to be married when Lu Yalan turned sixteen, but Zhao Dingsheng’s studies abroad delay