“Ah, Mi Mi, I just asked you not to leave—why did you hit me? If hitting me makes you feel better, then go ahead and hit me!”
Her voice was loud enough to pierce eardrums.
Ruan Mi’s brows were tightly furrowed. The woman who had been squaring off against her moments ago was now kneeling on the ground, clinging to her leg.
She instinctively tried to pull her leg back, but a sharp shout followed by a tremendous shove sent her sprawling to the floor.
Her head slammed against the foot of the bed, leaving her dazed from the pain.
Then came a sharp crack—the jade bracelet shattered into five pieces.
“My bracelet.”
Ignoring the pain in her body, Ruan Mi scrambled to her knees to gather the broken pieces from the floor.
Her palms trembled violently.
“Mei’er, are you alright? Come here, let me see where you’re hurt.”
Mu Xiubai scooped Zhou Mei up and set her on the bed, inspecting her from head to toe.
“Xiu Bai, I’m fine.”
Even as she said she was fine, she still revealed her scraped wrist.
“Don’t say you’re fine—your wrist is broken. Ruan Mi, go downstairs and get the first aid kit.”
Mu Xiubai ordered sternly.
“I’m really fine. Mi Mi said I stole her bracelet, but she wouldn’t listen to my explanation, so she slapped me in a fit of anger.”
“She hit you too?”
Only then did Mu Xiubai notice the clear imprint of five fingers on Zhou Mei’s fair face.
His eyes filled with heartache, and his resentment toward Ruan Mi grew.
When Mu Xiubai looked over, Ruan Mi was still picking up her broken bracelet.
His anger flared even more.
“Ruan Mi, didn’t you hear—”
“Shut up.”
Ruan Mi raised her red-rimmed eyes, glaring at the two before her with savage intensity.
If she had a knife in her hand, she would have stabbed them both.
Zhou Mei’s heart turned cold under that gaze, and she buried her face directly into Mu Xiubai’s chest—though the slight curve at the corner of her lips betrayed her good mood.
So what if she was the heiress of the Ruan family in Didu? She was still a defeated opponent beneath her.
Mu Xiubai also furrowed his brows.
He had never seen such a look on Ruan Mi’s face before.
Such a strange, cold, hateful gaze—it inexplicably made his chest feel tight. Only then did he seriously look at the bracelet broken into several pieces in Ruan Mi’s hands.
His eyes narrowed slightly, and the answer was already clear in his mind—she was unhappy that he had given the bracelet to Zhou Mei.
So he spoke with displeasure.
“Isn’t it just a bracelet? It’s broken, so it’s broken. If you want one, I can buy you another. Is this how you treat Mei’er over something like this? If something happens to Mei’er and the child, can you afford to pay for that?”
Can I afford to pay for that? This was the only thing her mother had left her.
Mu Xiubai knew that. He knew how precious this bracelet was to her, how she cared for it meticulously on a daily basis.
Yet he had casually given it to Zhou Mei. How dare he say it was “just a bracelet”?
Ruan Mi’s eyes were red as she clutched the broken pieces tightly in her palm, her heart cold as ice.
She rose slowly and walked to the couple embracing each other, then without any warning, she swung her hand out.
A sharp slap rang out.
“You’re right. The two of you combined couldn’t afford to pay for it.”
Mu Xiubai was stunned by the slap. Zhou Mei let out a shriek.
“Xiu Bai, does your face hurt?”
Mu Xiubai snapped back to reality—Ruan Mi had actually hit him. He was about to get up and hit her back.
But a document came slamming down at his face.
“Mu Xiubai, sign the divorce agreement. From now on, we go our separate ways—bridges are bridges, roads are roads.”
With that, she also removed her wedding ring and tossed it at Mu Xiubai.
She grabbed her suitcase and walked away without looking back.
Ruan Mi left with ease, departed cleanly—just as she had arrived, never dragging things out.
But after all that struggle, the moon was already hanging high in the sky. Staring at the jade bracelet in her hand as she stood by the roadside, Ruan Mi’s heart sank to the bottom.
Her tears finally fell, betraying her resolve.
A light drizzle began to fall from the sky, and she let the rain soak her.
This was the only thing her mother had left her, and she hadn’t even protected it. She was truly worthless—she didn’t even know if it could be repaired.
The rain fell harder and harder, but Ruan Mi remained oblivious.
Headlights shone from the distance, and Ruan Mi instinctively raised her arm to shield her eyes. A black Maybach pulled to a stop nearby.
The door opened, and a pair of gleaming black leather shoes stepped firmly onto the ground. Then, someone bent forward and stepped out.
A impeccably tailored bespoke suit made the man look cold, proud, and noble.
An overwhelming aura of authority radiated outward in all directions through the rainy night.
Ruan Mi squinted and looked up. A black umbrella obscured half of the man’s face—she could only see the sharply defined line of his jaw.
The man approached slowly, his leather shoes splashing through the rain with a rhythmic patter.
When he drew near, the umbrella was raised, and she was drawn into its protective circle. The man lifted his head slowly, meeting her gaze. His beautiful peach-blossom eyes held a cold, heartless glint, and when he spoke, his words were like blades of ice.
“Five years gone, and look what a mess you’ve made of yourself.”
When she saw who it was, Ruan Mi’s tears flowed even harder—as if all the pent-up bitterness and pain in her heart had finally found an outlet.
She threw herself into the man’s arms.
“Brother… is it really you, back?”
Bo Ye—the eldest young master of the Bo family in Didu, and heir to the Boshi Group.
Five years ago, he left the country to expand overseas, and in a short time, the Boshi Group had already opened up markets abroad.
Even more so, it had firmly secured its position as the leader domestically.
In the business world, he had made his debut known for ruthlessness and mercilessness—whenever the name of Didu’s Master Bo was mentioned, who wouldn’t step aside to avoid his edge?
Yet at this very moment, the fearsome Master Bo of Didu was holding an umbrella for a woman.
He lowered his head, his eyes brimming with tenderness as he looked at the woman sobbing uncontrollably in his arms.
The softest place in his heart began to ache with a dense, piercing pain.
His little girl seemed to have endured so much grievance.
“Alright, I’m back now.”
Back at Yujing Bay.
Ruan Mi, whether exhausted from crying or because the years of tension had finally been released, had fallen asleep in Bo Ye’s arms.
Bo Ye gently lifted the person in his embrace and carried her straight into his bedroom, gazing at her brows still furrowed even in sleep.
He reached out with his rough fingertip to smooth them—why was she so restless even in her dreams?
He had been away from Didu for five years, thinking of her every moment, yet this ungrateful little thing hadn’t called him even once.
All because he had spoken ill of Mu Xiubai.
He had thought that as long as she was doing well, he could stay away forever, only ever being her brother.
But unexpectedly, a single phone call from Bo Yuan had rekindled the seed buried deep in his heart.
“Sir, the hot water is ready. I’ll wash this young lady up.”
The servant held a clean towel—Ruan Mi was soaked through from head to toe.
Because Ruan Mi had been clinging to him without letting go, his clothes were drenched as well.
“Alright, be gentle.”
Bo Ye stood up, his gaze sweeping over Ruan Mi’s tightly clenched hands.
He wanted to take out whatever she was holding to see what it was, but Ruan Mi gripped it fiercely, showing faint signs of struggling.
Bo Ye soothed her in a low voice, his palm gently stroking Ruan Mi’s soft hair.
“Be good, I’m your brother. Let go.”
Ruan Mi indeed stopped struggling, her hand slowly loosening to reveal a shattered jade bracelet, with faint scratches on her palm from the force of her grip.
Bo Ye took out the jade bracelet and was about to head downstairs to fetch the first-aid kit to disinfect her wounds.
The moment he lifted his leg, Ruan Mi woke up, quickly grabbing hold of his sleeve.
“Brother, is it really you who’s back?”
Her voice was as light as a cloud drifting in the sky, carrying not a trace of weight.