That day, Chen Nian left with his suitcase untouched, taking only the completed “Starry Night” Lego set with him.
Even during the divorce negotiations, Li Yixun hadn’t cried. But when Chen Nian offered to take the Lego set, her tears flowed uncontrollably, like a faucet had been turned on, a heartbreaking and eerie sob that lasted all night.
But Chen Nian just stared at her silently, completely abandoning his gentlemanly manners, refusing to budge on leaving the Lego set to her. Finally, when Li Yixun could cry no more, Chen Nian finally stood up, silently taking his belongings and leaving the house.
Sitting on the balcony, her eyes swollen like walnuts, Li Yixun recounted this scene to Yuan Yi and couldn’t help but laugh
“Stop crying! 1500! That Starry Night set is worth 1500! I bought five sets overnight, planning to build them all and display them to the world!”
Yuan Yi laughed, hitting the nail on the head, “You’re crying for Lego? You know what you’re really crying about. Pathetic, I thought you could build the whole thing.”
“Yuan Yi, are you even human?!”
Li Yixun couldn’t help but grab a cushion and hit her. “I’m mourning my dead love, my dead marriage.”
“Stop! We haven’t even registered our marriage yet; it’s not completely dead, but it’s just on its last breath.”
Li Yixun stroked her now-empty right ring finger, the deep mark left after removing the ring, like her broken heart, needing a long time to heal.
“I thought Chen Nian would be sharper yesterday. I know he’s very good at attacking people for their weaknesses, but he wasn’t.”
“All departures are premeditated. In this marriage, I gave him many chances, but until the very end, he never confessed, never said he loved me.”
“He never understood what I wanted. He thought I was just asking for a divorce over some trivial matter. He had no idea how much I loved him, how desperate I was trapped in this cycle of negativity.”
Li Yixun turned to look at the sunset in the west outside the balcony. The hazy sunset slowly bid farewell to people, the thick clouds tinged with a warm orange hue, the biting wind and cold embraced each other in the vortex, and time seemed to have been paused.
Yuan gently embraced her from behind, burying his head in her shoulder, his voice tender yet strong, “Look ahead, Li Yixun.”
Life must go on. Adults must put an end to indulging in pain. Li Yixun only took one day off to wallow in her sorrow at home, returning to work the next day to tackle the backlog of work.
Whether it was because her under-eye concealer wasn’t well-concealed or because the bare ring marks on her fingers were too obvious, Li Yixun overheard gossiping about her outside while in the restroom that afternoon.
“Have you heard? Chen, the manager from the new media department, seems to have gotten divorced. Nini from the administration department noticed that when she gave her a Lantern Festival gift, she wasn’t wearing a ring, and her face looked swollen, probably from crying.”
“Huh? So sudden? A few colleagues attended her wedding, and wasn’t her husband supposed to be a pretty rich second-generation heir?”
“Yeah, yeah, judging from her clothes, her lifestyle, and the car she drives, they’re all expensive… A divorce like that probably means the husband cheated.”
“Well, at least she can get a share of the assets, which is better than us office workers… But actually, these things are quite common; turning a blind eye isn’t necessarily a bad thing.”
Li Yixun chuckled at this, texting Yuan Yi from her cramped bathroom stall, “Everything at the company is so slow, especially work efficiency, but gossip and rumors spread like wildfire. Right now, I’m basically seen as a discarded rich woman in our company.”
“At least you can marry into a wealthy family, sister. You’ve got some skills.” Yuan Yi, probably slacking off, replied instantly. “Heh, I hope my boss will believe the rumors and take pity on me since I’ve been dumped by a wealthy family. Give me an A+ in my performance review this quarter.”
“Heh, Li Yixun, your abacus beads are practically bouncing off my face through the screen.”
Li Yixun hired a female personal trainer with a fantastic figure and went to the gym every day after work, exhausting herself with aerobic and anaerobic exercises to metabolize her sadness and chaotic emotions with sweat.
It has to be said that exercise was very effective at numbing her emotions. Having no exercise background, she was so tired that she couldn’t even concentrate at work. Every day, falling asleep as easily as a baby returning to its mother’s side, she had no energy left for sentimentality.
Although she always saw those beautiful peach blossom eyes in her dreams, gazing at her with sorrow.
There’s a saying that if you frequently dream about someone, it means you’re about to forget them. Li Yixun silently prayed that this saying was true, so she wouldn’t always wake up crying.
The divorce agreement was sent to Li Yixun by a male lawyer surnamed Xie. After receiving the document, she skimmed through it and discovered that Chen Nian hadn’t allocated her any assets other than the house and car she insisted on receiving.
From a legal perspective, this was clearly an extremely unreasonable and unfair agreement. However, Li Yixun said nothing, instead typing on WeChat to ask Lawyer Xie, “I have no objections. Is the next step simply to print, sign, and send it to the other party?”
The lawyer initially replied that it was fine, then quickly withdrew it, stating that it would be more secure for both parties to sign in the presence of a lawyer, emphasizing that this was a requirement of Chen Nian’s company’s legal department.
Li Yixun hadn’t expected that, besides obtaining the marriage certificate, she would still inevitably have to meet with Chen Nian.
She quickly typed a reply, “Okay, please let me know the time and place in advance. I’m generally available outside of normal working hours.”
The meeting place was ultimately set at Chen Nian’s company.
Li Yixun arrived after work. The receptionist seemed to have worked overtime specifically to receive her, and upon learning her surname was Li, led her to Chen Nian’s office.
Passing through the open office area, she noticed many employees were still working, busy at their computers. Some employees, distracted, cast curious glances at this unfamiliar face visiting the company after work.
When Li Yixun arrived at Chen Nian’s office, Chen Nian and a young man each occupied one end of the sofa, and the atmosphere was quiet.
Upon seeing her, the man stood up to greet her, his voice pleasant, “Hello, Ms. Li, I’m Attorney Xie, who contacted you earlier.”
She nodded to him and, after greeting him, sat down opposite them. “Hello, Attorney Xie.”
“Where are the documents? I’ll double-check them. If everything is correct, I can sign them.” Li Yixun didn’t waste any pleasantries, getting straight to the point.
Chen Nian, upon hearing this, lifted his eyelids and scrutinized her, seemingly trying to gauge her recent well-being through her appearance. Li Yixun didn’t know if Chen Nian had gotten the result he wanted, but when she saw his noticeably sunken eyes, her feelings were extremely complex. Her emotional instincts made her feel sorry for him, but her rational side secretly gloated that he had finally suffered.
Chen Nian nodded slightly to Attorney Xie, who, after receiving the message, handed her a folder on the table. “Please take a look.”
Li Yixun could feel the gaze fixed on her face, but even so, she persevered and read through the agreement clauses word by word. It was indeed identical to the version previously sent to her.
“No problem. Do you have a pen?” she asked, deliberately ignoring Chen Nian’s gaze, addressing the seated Attorney Xie.
Attorney Xie clearly sensed the awkward atmosphere between them and didn’t answer her question immediately, secretly glancing at the man beside him, who had remained silent since sitting down.
Upon hearing this, Chen Nian finally made a move. He slowly pulled a custom-made fountain pen from his suit pocket, handed it to Li Yixun, and said in a deep voice, “I have one.”
Li Yixun was forced to meet Chen Nian’s gaze, reaching out to take the pen from his hand. However, he didn’t quickly let go; his eyes filled with a pleading he himself didn’t realize. “Do we really have to come to this?”
Li Yixun immediately recognized the fountain pen Chen Nian had taken out; it was the gift she had given him for his birthday years ago.
Touched by those sweet yet bittersweet memories, she almost couldn’t hold back her tears. After a long pause, she calmed her emotions, subtly snatched the pen away, and quickly signed her name on two documents, rejecting Chen Nian’s question with her actions.
One doesn’t step into the same river twice; she wouldn’t jump into the whirlpool again, knowing that nothing would change.
Chen Nian realized Li Yixun’s insistence, and his face returned to its usual indifferent expression, as if the person who had just pleaded so earnestly wasn’t him. He said nothing more, took the document, and signed it, only the strong handwriting betraying a hint of his emotion.
With that, everything was settled.
Chen Nian seemed to have other things to attend to, so Li Yixun and Attorney Xie left the company together.
Passing by the break room, they saw an employee petting a cat. It was a very ordinary calico cat, white-bellied and white-pawed, nestled affectionately in the girl’s arms, playing with her using its pink paw pads.
Noticing Li Yixun’s gaze, Attorney Xie smiled knowingly. “You girls all seem to like these little animals.”
“I noticed it when I first came in. I didn’t expect a tech company to allow cats. I asked the employees and found out this cat belongs to President Chen.”
Li Yixun frowned slightly, following his words, “Chen Nian?”
Attorney Xie nodded. “Yes, he said he’s had it for several years, raised it from a kitten to adulthood.”
“But he’s always kept it at the company as their pet; he’s never taken it home.”
Li Yixun was surprised. She had a habit of admiring cats online, but she had never heard Chen Nian say he liked kittens. He would even try to keep her away from kittens on the street, and she had never seen cat hair on him.
“I didn’t know. This is my first time at his company.”
“I like kittens, but I have a mild allergy to cat hair. Contact with it makes my eyes water.”
Attorney Xie was also surprised. This was the first time he’d heard of a husband keeping a cat at the company while his wife was allergic to cat hair. But considering they were on the verge of divorce, it all seemed quite reasonable, even though he clearly sensed that Mr. Chen didn’t really want a divorce.
Professionalism compelled Attorney Xie to be eloquent, “Perhaps Mr. Chen really likes cats, but he’s worried about your health, so he keeps a cat at the company.”
Li Yixun smiled dismissively, avoiding the topic.