The top floor of the Li Conglomerate was always quiet.
Too quiet.
The kind of quiet that wasn't peaceful—just controlled.
Li Xinyue stepped out of the elevator and didn't need to be told where to go. She already knew.
Her father Li Chengwen had summoned her.
That alone was never casual.
The assistant at the door lowered her gaze immediately and opened it without speaking.
Inside, Li Chengwen stood by the window, his back turned to her.
The city stretched beneath him, massive and indifferent.
"Close the door," he commanded
Xinyue did.
No hesitation.
Just compliance on the surface.
But her posture stayed straight.
Li Chengwen didn't turn immediately. "What do you think you are doing?."
"what am I doing?."
She asked cooly
No emotions attached
"You embarrassed the family."
Her expression didn't change. "I ended an engagement."
A pause.
Then he turned.
His face was calm—but not kind.
"You think this is a game?" he asked.
Xinyue met his eyes evenly.
"No."
"Then explain why you are publicly attaching yourself to that brat Ye Chenyan."
"I didn't attach myself," she replied. "He accepted."
That made something flicker in his expression.
Not surprise, but displeasure.
"Do you know what the Ye family represents?" he asked.
"I do."
"And yet you still chose him?"
"I didn't choose him," she said calmly.
"I chose to leave something that was already broken."
Her father stepped away from the window now, slowly.
Each step deliberate.
"You will end this arrangement," he said.
It wasn't a request.
Xinyue didn't react immediately.
"No."
That single word shifted the air.
Li Chengwen stopped walking.
For a moment, the room was silent except for the faint hum of the city outside.
"You think you can decide that without consequences?" he asked quietly.
Xinyue's voice stayed steady. "I already have."
A longer pause.
Then he spoke again, slower.
"You are still my daughter."
"I know."
"That means your name, your position, your future—none of it exists outside this family."
Xinyue finally looked away for a second.
Not because she was afraid.
Because she was tired.
Sigh
Then she looked back.
"I've spent years understanding that," she said. "What I didn't understand is why that only matters when I make my own decisions."
Silence.
Her father's expression didn't soften.
But it changed slightly.
More controlled now.
Less emotional.
More strategic.
"You don't know Ye Chenyan," he said. "You don't understand what you're stepping into."
Xinyue's gaze sharpened faintly.
"And you do?"
That question landed.
Not loudly, But precisely.
Li Chengwen didn't answer immediately.
That silence was enough.
Finally, he said, "I understand men like him."
A pause.
"They don't give things freely. And they don't let go easily."
Xinyue's expression stayed still.
But something in her eyes cooled further.
"That sounds like experience talking," she said quietly.
Her father's tone hardened slightly. "This is not about me."
"It never is," she replied.
A beat.
Then Li Chengwen stepped closer to the desk, placing both hands on it, before sitting on the chair.
"You will end this engagement," he said again, slower this time. "Before it becomes something you cannot control."
Xinyue didn't move.
Didn't blink.
Then she answered, calm as before:
"No."
This time, the silence that followed was heavier.
Because nothing else was said immediately after.
Only the understanding that neither of them had come to convince the other.
Just to measure how far the disagreement would go.
"You're using Ye Chenyan to get back at Ruoruo." Li Chengwen said after some silence
Then Xinyue replied, calm. "That's not true."
Li Chengwen stood up.
"Don't lie to me."
His voice was sharper now.
"I didn't raise you to embarrass this family over personal feelings."
Xinyue's eyes finally lifted fully to him.
"I didn't embarrass this family," she said quietly. "I was the one who was humiliated."
"That doesn't give you the right to act recklessly."
"It wasn't reckless," she replied. "It was a decision."
"If you continue this, don't expect protection from me when things go wrong."
Xinyue didn't react immediately.
Then she nodded once.
"I wasn't expecting it."
And that was it.
No anger.
Just finality.
She turned and walked toward the door.
Behind her, her father's voice followed once more.
"You will regret this."
Xinyue stopped at the door but didn't turn back.
"I already survived worse than regret," she said quietly.
Then she left.