The Breaking Mask and the Hidden Storm

When Wen Yang walked out of the meeting room clutching her laptop, her heart felt heavy. She hadn’t expected Jiang Jifeng to actually agree to Fang Hui’s invitation so casually, answering with a simple “Alright.”

It meant he was actually going to attend the party tonight. What on earth is he going for?

She returned to her desk and opened her laptop, only for Ke Li to start chirping beside her. “We are so lucky! We actually get to have dinner with the boss! The big boss himself! Wen Yang, I’m definitely dressing up tonight! Oh, wait—you don’t need to; you look amazing today!”

Wen Yang continued editing her implementation plan with a blank expression.

“Why do I feel like you’re not happy at all?” Ke Li asked. “Dining with the boss is such an honor. Oh… are you afraid he’ll target you during dinner? I don’t think he will. If you just picture him as a top-tier celebrity hunk, maybe the pressure won’t be so bad?”

Wen Yang wanted to say that she simply didn’t want to be around Jiang Jifeng. If she were really the type to get starstruck, her heart would have been racing and she would have been wide awake when they shared a bed last night. But aside from awkwardness, she felt nothing.

Wen Yang shook her head. “Let’s just focus on the copywriting for now.”

A moment later, her phone buzzed with a WeChat message. It was from Jiang Jifeng. J: 【Send me the address for the party. Which restaurant?】

Wen Yang: 【I don’t know. Ask Sister Hui.】 She knew full well they had already discussed the location, but she didn’t want to engage.

J: 【Then go ask her and tell me.】 He wants me to ask for him? If she did that, the whole company would be whispering about them being “too close” by tomorrow morning. Wen Yang wasn’t that foolish. He was doing this on purpose, knowing she wouldn’t dare ask Fang Hui.

She eventually gave in and sent him a location pin. J: 【How many people?】 Wen Yang: 【It was five, but six including you.】

J: 【I get the feeling you aren’t exactly thrilled about me going?】

Wen Yang: 【It is the honor of Group A to have Mr. Jiang attend.】 She followed it up with a “Malu” (monkey) meme bowing deeply with the words: Sumimasen (I’m sorry).

Jiang Jifeng didn’t reply. Wen Yang didn’t mind.

She exited the chat and found her grandfather’s contact. She sent: 【Grandpa, Grandpa Jiang and Grandma have come to Beijing. We had dinner together yesterday.】 She followed it up with a photo she’d taken before the meal.

There was no reply.

At 6:30 PM sharp, they finished work.

The five of them headed to a Korean BBQ place. When Wen Yang noticed Fang Hui had only ordered a set for five, she leaned in curiously. “Sister Hui, isn’t the boss coming? Is it okay to only order for five?”

Fang Hui looked confused. “The boss isn’t coming.” Wen Yang blinked. “But when you invited him today, didn’t he say yes?”

“Right after we finished and you all left, Assistant Gao told me the boss had something come up and couldn’t make it,” Fang Hui explained. “But somehow the boss found out where we were going and already settled the bill for us in advance.”

Wen Yang felt a mix of embarrassment and irritation. She was annoyed because he had clearly decided not to come long ago, yet he had teased her on WeChat anyway. It made her feel exactly like that bowing monkey meme.

The embarrassment came from realizing he had only asked for the address to pay the bill, while her attitude toward him had been cold and dismissive.

The party didn’t end until 11:30 PM. After saying their goodbyes, everyone caught taxis home.

Upon arriving at her apartment complex, Wen Yang checked her phone. Her grandfather still hadn’t replied. Frowning, she was about to send another text when she received a call from her aunt. Her aunt rarely contacted her unless it involved her grandfather.

Wen Yang answered immediately, standing at the complex gate in the biting wind. “Hello, Auntie?”

“Yang Yang, can you come back home for a bit? Your uncle broke his leg and we really need an extra set of hands right now.” Wen Yang wondered why her aunt would call her for that—not because she was cold, but because she wasn’t the right person to handle her uncle’s care. But then her aunt continued, “Your grandfather just finished a round of chemotherapy, and I don’t have time to look after him in the hospital. See if you can take some leave. Your grandfather said not to disturb you, but I’m at my wits’ end—”

Wen Yang’s hand trembled. Her voice sounded raspy in the cold wind. “What? Grandpa… chemotherapy?”

Why would he be doing chemo?!

“Yes, it’s a long story. I wouldn’t have called if your uncle hadn’t fallen,” her aunt said hurriedly over the sound of crying children and her husband calling out. “Anyway, just come home first.”

Wen Yang didn’t waste a second. She ran upstairs, packed a bag, and booked the earliest night flight.

Her hometown was Jiangcheng. Luckily it wasn’t far; only a two-hour flight from Beijing. By the time she reached Jiangcheng First People’s Hospital, it was 2:00 AM.

She rushed to the inpatient department and found the room. It was a four-bed ward. Her grandfather was in the innermost bed; the other three elderly patients were already asleep.

Grandpa Wen was resting with his eyes closed. He had lost so much weight in the two months since she’d last seen him. The old man who usually loved to laugh was now skin and bones, his cheekbones protruding sharply.

She stared at his shaved head, lost in thought. For the past four years, she had been buried in her studies at Zhejiang University, only returning home for holidays. During her senior year, she had taken an internship near the university and came home even less.

When she had visited six months ago, she’d noticed his shaved head. He told her it was because the weather was too hot and his scalp felt itchy. She had believed him.

Now she realized it was all a lie. He had been hiding his illness from her this entire time. No wonder two months ago he had insisted so fiercely on her getting married, even attacking her with words like “unfilial” for the first time.

Wen Yang sat by his bed and watched him, her eyes wide open until dawn.

At Shengle Media, Jiang Jifeng arrived to find an HR filing: Wen Yang, Assistant to the COO of Group A, has requested three days of personal leave.

He looked at his phone, a brow arching slightly. Though he didn’t know the reason, he tapped “Approve.”

In his office, Fang Hui arrived with the final revisions for the New An marketing plan. They were setting the date for the first livestream for late December—right around Christmas Eve.

“Mr. Jiang, will you be joining us on the day of the livestream?” Fang Hui asked.

“We’ll see,” Jiang Jifeng replied. “Wen Yang from your group is on leave. Can your progress remain on schedule?”

“She took three days, but it’s uncertain,” Fang Hui explained. “I heard her grandfather is very seriously ill, and she needs to look after him at the hospital back home.”

Grandpa Wen is sick?

Jiang Jifeng’s brow furrowed. Fang Hui, misinterpreting his expression as dissatisfaction with the leave, added quickly, “Mr. Jiang, she’s a fresh graduate and a very hard worker. When she called, she sounded like she was crying. She promised not to let it delay her work. We will stay on schedule.”

After Fang Hui left, Jiang Jifeng hesitated for a moment. Eventually, he called his own grandfather and broke the news.

Old Mr. Jiang was silent for a long time. “Old Wen told me he was trying his best to hide it from the girl. It seems he can’t hide it anymore.”

“You knew he wasn’t well?” Jiang Jifeng asked.

“Of course. Your Grandpa Wen and I are brothers-in-arms. That girl has had a hard life. Sigh… never mind, let’s not talk about it.”

In Jiangcheng Hospital, Grandpa Wen woke up to find Wen Yang by his side. He looked dazed for a moment.

“Grandchild,” he rasped weakly.

Wen Yang hadn’t slept all night; her eyes were already swollen. Hearing him call her like that made the tears fall again. “Grandpa, why did you hide this from me? For so long?”

He reached out a trembling hand to wipe her tears. “I didn’t want you to worry. Did your aunt tell you?”

“Yes. If it wasn’t for her, I still wouldn’t know.” She caught his hand and leaned against it like a small cat. Her voice broke as she sobbed, “Grandpa, I don’t want to lose you. Mom and Dad are already gone. Please don’t go too.”

Grandpa Wen’s eyes reddened. He stroked her hair with the same tenderness as always. “Okay. I won’t go.”

But how could that be?

Her aunt arrived later with porridge. Wen Yang learned the full story: her grandfather had collapsed six months ago due to a stroke and high blood pressure, but the tests had revealed cirrhosis, which had developed into early-stage liver cancer.

“Grandpa, I’ll resign. I’ll come back and stay with you, okay?”

“I don’t want you giving up anything for me,” he whispered. “Good child, just live a good life.”

Wen Yang felt so small. Cancer could be treated in the early stages, but she couldn’t accept that her only remaining parent-figure was suffering like this.

She waited until her grandfather fell back asleep before heading to the hospital cafeteria. She hadn’t eaten all morning and the travel had exhausted her. Her low blood sugar was making her hands shake.

She couldn’t really eat, though. She forced down a few bites and headed back, her thoughts growing darker. It was ironic—she had craved freedom so much, yet the moment she realized he was sick, she wanted to cherish every second with him. You only learn to value things when you sense you’re about to lose them.

She took a few deep breaths outside the ward. As she prepared to walk back in, she froze.

Standing at her grandfather’s bedside were Old Mr. Jiang and Grandma Jiang. Jiang Jifeng was nowhere to be seen. Old Mr. Jiang was saying something that had her grandfather laughing so hard he started coughing.

Wen Yang lowered her head. She remembered what her grandfather had said before she met the Jiang family: “You’ve graduated now. I don’t want you to waste your time or marry the wrong person. Listen to me, let me arrange a marriage for you, okay?”

At the time, she had fought him, wondering why he was so sure the Jiangs were the right people to trust with her life. Now, she understood. Even if there was no love between her and Jiang Jifeng, the Jiang family gave her the ultimate dignity as his wife in front of the world.

But Jiang Jifeng hadn’t come. Her grandfather would surely ask about him. She didn’t know how to explain his absence in a way that wouldn’t make the old man worry about their relationship. A grandson-in-law failing to show up when a family member was ill was hard to justify.

Yet, she couldn’t demand he be there. They weren’t in love.

She stepped aside, pulled out her phone, and mustered the courage to call him.

The call was declined. She felt a wave of dejection. But in the next second, a familiar deep voice rang out from right behind her.

“Wen Yang, were you looking for me?”