NOVEL NEXT
Chapter 23
“You feel I’ve changed, because you don’t understand me well enough. I’ve always been this kind of person, I just don’t like you anymore, that’s all,” Yu Shu said bluntly to avoid further entanglement. “You no longer have any special privileges or preferential treatment from me. If not for our past as classmates, my habit is to completely cut ties with exes.”
Meng Xulin’s eyes darkened, filled with indelible sadness. “Do you really have to be so heartless?”
Yu Shu was too lazy to explain to him and helplessly spread her hands. “I’ve always been like this, you’ll just have to get used to it.”
If being “heartless” means refusing to entangle yourself in meaningless affairs, then that word described her perfectly.
Meng Xulin fell silent, walking quietly by her side as he accompanied her down the unlit path until they reached the entrance of the residential area. Only then did he stop and bid her goodbye.
Meng Xulin had walked two steps when he suddenly halted and turned back, forcibly stuffing two chocolate bars into her hands. “You’re in a bad mood today. I don’t know if chocolate still works.”
Yu Shu raised an eyebrow. She had been thinking of her parents and those eccentric relatives all day, but hadn’t shown it on her face. She didn’t know how Meng Xulin could tell.
Eating chocolate when unhappy was her former habit. No matter how big the unhappiness, two chocolate bars were enough to soothe it.
“How did you know?” Yu Shu asked with a smile. She thought her expression management was quite good.
“I just know,” Meng Xulin scratched his head awkwardly. “I can always tell when you’re unhappy.”
Yu Shu smiled even more. “So...in the past, when I was unhappy, you knew, but you still repeatedly did things that made me unhappy.”
Meng Xulin froze, his hands dangling helplessly at his sides. “I...I’m sorry. Back then, I was too stubborn and arrogant.”
It had been too long ago for apologies to matter.
She was just annoyed that even when apologizing, he was still making excuses for himself.
Yu Shu looked at him with tranquil eyes, so tranquil they chilled Meng Xulin’s heart.
She stuffed the chocolate back into his coat pocket. “No need to say sorry. I haven’t become what you wanted either.”
With that, she left without further entanglement, turning around and entering the residential complex.
“What a handsome young man!” Ye Ping emerged from the security booth, her eyes shining excitedly with the light of gossip. No telling how long she had been eavesdropping here.
Yu Shu jumped in fright. “Are you trying to scare your only daughter to death?”
“What a handsome boy! Looks quite tall, at least 1.85 meters right? Where’s he from? What’s his name? Is he your old classmate? What do his parents do? How many siblings does he have...”
Yu Shu held up a hand to interrupt her barrage of questions. “My ex-boyfriend, stop looking. No chance.”
Ye Ping was extremely disappointed, giving her a resentful, tearful look.
The goosebumps this elicited from Yu Shu were endless. “What are you doing here anyway?”
Ye Ping had come to pick up a delivery. Yu Shu hadn’t been able to sleep last night and bought an iPad online for Ye Ping to watch shows and videos.
Yu Shu took Ye Ping to the nearby liquor store to buy two soft packs of Huanghelou cigarettes, giving them to the security guards and asking them to keep an extra eye on her family, especially not letting those eccentric relatives from her dad’s side into the complex.
Yu Shu taught Ye Ping how to use the iPad. The slight unpleasantness between mother and daughter last night vanished without a trace, same as every other time.
The iPad was still fresh and novel to Ye Ping. Like a child, she had no self-control and accidentally played on it all night, sleeping late into the next morning.
This gave Yu Feng a chance to sneak in.
Yu Feng bustled around the house, leaning on a cane. One moment he was bringing Yu Shu fruit juice, the next slicing fruit for Yu Yang. He made all of Ye Ping’s favorite dishes for lunch.
Ye Ping shooed him out angrily to no avail. After failing two or three times, she ignored his solicitous actions and continued giving him the cold shoulder.
The Yu siblings watched the drama while munching on apples, exchanging a look — it didn’t look like the divorce was happening this time either.
They had lost count of how many times Mother Ye had threatened divorce, but they really thought she was determined this time. It seemed they still overestimated Mother Ye.
That night, Yu Feng was not kicked out. He slept in Yu Yang’s room instead of the master bedroom.
Early next morning, Ye Ping got up bright and early, dragging Yu Feng off to the civil affairs bureau to process the divorce. Yu Feng stalled and wheedled every which way. The Yu siblings watched the show while placidly eating melon seeds, detached and aloof.
Now that Yu Shu was an adult, no one would ask which parent she would live with.
And when Yu Yang came of age next year, choosing to live with his mother required no thought at all.
The trip was delayed until three in the afternoon before they headed out, dawdling all the way to the civil affairs bureau. As she drove, Yu Shu joked, “Are we still eating New Year’s Eve dinner together this year? Might as well, it’s too tiring for me and Yu Yang to run around eating two dinners.”
When it was Yu Feng and Ye Ping’s turn in the queue at the civil affairs bureau, Yu Feng cried so anxiously that tears fell. “I don’t want a divorce!”
Ye Ping turned her face away, refusing to look at him. “Why are you crying? I’m the one who should cry! Marrying you was the worst luck of my life!”
“I don’t want a divorce, I don’t want a divorce...”
Yu Feng chanted under his breath as if possessed. Hearing his voice, Ye Ping’s eyes also reddened.
“Can’t do it today, at least they can’t divorce today.”
The staff member sighed. Having worked here a long time, he had seen all kinds of married couples. It was common for people to change their minds at the last moment, getting divorced in the morning and remarrying in the afternoon.
Their marriage certificate was an old-fashioned kind, handwritten back when there were no printers. The registrar had carelessly written down the wrong birthdate for Ye Ping.
To process the divorce, they needed to obtain a household registration certificate from the local police station proving Ye Ping was Ye Ping and this was her marriage certificate.
It was already five o’clock. By the time they went to the police station and came back, this office would be closed.
And today was the last work day before the New Year.
Not far away on some chairs, Yu Shu and Yu Yang sucked on lollipops with their heads lowered as they played mobile games. Seeing the couple approach, Yu Shu lifted her head. “All done?”
Yu Yang didn’t even raise his head, still battling away in King of Glory.
Angered beyond measure, Ye Ping whacked Yu Yang on the back. “Heartless thing!”
How could she have given birth to such a pair of unfilial cuckoos who acted as if nothing was happening when their parents were divorcing?
The lollipop went down the wrong pipe and Yu Yang choked uncontrollably. “Why are you hitting me? Whether you divorce or not has nothing to do with me!”
Divorced or not, you’re still my parents — it made no difference to him.
Yu Shu patted his back sympathetically. In her heart she thought, the boy’s still young after all.
Ye Ping shook with anger as she cursed out all three father and children.
After all, Yu Yang was a half grown boy. No matter how cowardly he acted at home, getting hit and cursed in public still didn’t sit right. His face colored and he immediately strode off.
“Mom, let me go talk to him!” Taking the chance, Yu Shu also slipped away to catch up with Yu Yang.