Delicate Beauty in the Palm : Chapter 94 - Divorce! I Divorcing You!
Chapter 94: Divorce! I Divorcing You!
Chen Shao arrived right on time, sending her a message at five minutes to five: [I'm here, come out.]
That classmate had already left after taking a phone call, and Ye Chuqing sat alone for quite a while. The bowl of milk, strawberry, and taro balls in front of her had already gone cold, and she’d barely touched it. She’d been zoning out for a long time.
It was only after getting the message that she slowly packed up her things and walked out of the dessert shop.
She suddenly didn’t know how to bring up the topic with Chen Shao—why he had never mentioned anything about their university days.
The first time they met was for a work project. Ye Chuqing had gone to his company to meet him, and they’d even argued over some project details. Although, admittedly, it was she who’d lost her temper first that time...
When she received the invitation and was surprised to find they had gone to the same university, he hadn’t brought up anything about school either—let alone that his dorm leader had once pursued her.
The more Ye Chuqing thought about it, the more something felt off. She felt like she’d fallen into a trap.
Could it be that when Chen Shao said he was “willing to take responsibility,” there had been more to it than she realized?
As she walked out, her gaze dropped and she wasn’t paying attention to the road—until Chen Shao honked twice, snapping her out of it. She turned and walked over to get in the car.
Chen Shao glanced at her, a bit surprised: “What’s wrong?”
Ye Chuqing gave him a weak look, thinking, Why do I feel like the person sitting next to me is an ancient old fox?
She didn’t know how to start the conversation and didn’t feel like dealing with him, so she turned to look out the window. “Nothing.”
Chen Shao said, “You really do get annoyed whenever you see a man.”
“What?” Ye Chuqing asked, then suddenly remembered the reaction image she’d sent him an hour ago. She slumped back in her seat and corrected him, “Oh, I only get annoyed when I see you.”
“Great. I’m honored.”
Back at home—
The housekeeper had already made dinner. After eating together, the two of them went about their own business.
Ye Chuqing had gained a few pounds recently due to the pregnancy. With some free time today, she decided to do a bit of yoga.
After changing clothes and laying out her mat in the living room, she saw Chen Shao sitting on the couch nearby, opening his laptop on his lap.
She paused: “You’re not done working? Isn’t the film festival over?”
Normally, Chen Shao’s work wasn’t overly hectic—after all, each department had its own team, and he didn’t need to manage every detail. He mostly handled the bigger picture.
“Stuff from the old man’s side,” Chen Shao said while typing. After all this time, he had finally accepted his role as the Chen family heir.
Ye Chuqing laughed gloatingly: “Then you’d better work hard. Chen Die and I are both counting on clinging to your coattails.”
Chen Shao smirked faintly: “Give me a break.”
Ye Chuqing switched poses—legs in front, back straight, bending forward. Thankfully her belly wasn’t too big yet, so it didn’t get in the way.
Watching her, Chen Shao couldn’t help but comment, “Doesn’t that hurt your belly?”
“Feels fine,” Ye Chuqing mumbled. After a while, she suddenly said, “I ran into one of your college classmates at the dessert shop today.”
“Which one?”
She muttered, “How would I know? Said he used to be your roommate—one of the guys we saw at KTV last time.”
Chen Shao thought for a moment and seemed to know who she meant. “Oh. What did he say to you?”
He said you’re a bastard who tricked me into marriage, Ye Chuqing thought bitterly.
But she couldn’t say it out loud. It didn’t feel that serious, and if she brought it up and it turned out to be a misunderstanding, it’d just give Chen Shao a perfect excuse to laugh at her.
After a pause, she decided to ease into it: “He told me some stories about your college days.”
Chen Shao seemed calm, his eyes still on his screen, replying casually, “Not much to say about that.”
“I just found out today you were quite the campus heartthrob back then. At the alumni event, when I told my friend I married you, she was shocked. I didn’t even know.” She stayed in her bent posture, turning her face to glance at him. “When you were in school, did you know I…”
Before she could finish, a sharp pain shot through her lower back as she tried to straighten up.
She gasped loudly, the pain radiating from her tailbone up her spine, so intense it left her speechless for a moment.
Chen Shao noticed immediately and quickly walked over. “What happened? Where does it hurt?”
He thought it might be pregnancy-related.
Ye Chuqing was drenched in cold sweat. After a long moment, she finally squeezed out three words: “Threw my back.”
“......”
She hadn’t done yoga in a long time and was distracted—resulting in a pulled muscle. Chen Shao, like someone helping an elderly woman, supported her over to the sofa. He still found time to tease her: “Do you even have a waist anymore?”
“?”
Are you even human?
Ye Chuqing completely abandoned the idea that Chen Shao had been secretly in love with her for years.
“Want to go to the hospital?” Chen Shao asked again.
“No need, it already feels better now,” Ye Chuqing said, holding her waist. “I just got up too quickly and forgot I’m pregnant.”
“Let me take a look.”
“…” Ye Chuqing slowly raised her head and looked at him, genuinely curious. “Do you even know what you’re saying?”
Chen Shao raised an eyebrow, equally curious. “What’s wrong with that?”
“......”
…Nothing, actually.
The yoga outfit was tight. Ye Chuqing rolled it up a couple of layers, revealing a slightly rounded belly. Since it wasn’t very big yet, it looked more like a kid’s chubby tummy after overeating.
Just exposing herself like this in front of Chen Shao felt oddly embarrassing.
She bit her lower lip, forcing herself to stay calm and not flush with embarrassment—it would be too humiliating.
Chen Shao leaned sideways to get a better look at her lower back. Seeing no marks—just fair, smooth skin—his Adam’s apple bobbed. He placed his hand on it and asked in a low voice, “Does it hurt here?”
“No feeling.”
He moved to another spot, but before he could ask again, Ye Chuqing sucked in a sharp breath. “Ow, ow, ow—! Why are you pressing so hard?!”
“I didn’t use any force,” Chen Shao replied.
“Then why does it hurt so much? Did I break a bone or something?!”
Whatever romantic atmosphere there was completely vanished.
Chen Shao glanced at her and said, “If it were broken, you wouldn’t even be able to talk right now.”
He tossed a pillow into her arms. “Lie down.”
Ye Chuqing looked at him warily. “Why?”
He chuckled, giving her a suggestive look. “What are you thinking?”
“…Shut up.”
Ye Chuqing turned herself over, placed the pillow under her belly, and lay down on the sofa.
Ten minutes later, she was squinting her eyes, starting to really enjoy it. She had to admit—he was pretty good at it. Her back pain had almost completely faded, and she was too relaxed to get up. She even started giving directions: “Yes, yes, right there.”
She’d completely forgotten the question she was just about to ask earlier.
Her skin was beautiful—even her lower back was soft and fair, clearly someone pampered from a young age. Now, a spot on her back had turned red under Chen Shao’s hands.
Though her waist had thickened with the pregnancy, the rest of her body hadn’t changed much. Lying there with her arms propped up, her shoulder blades stuck out, still looking very slender.
Chen Shao stared at her butterfly-shaped scapula for a moment, then asked, “Still throwing up a lot lately?”
“Not really, it’s been okay.” Ye Chuqing rested her chin on her folded arms. “You should be grateful, Chen Shao. I never imagined myself getting pregnant and having a kid. You really lucked out.”
He let out a small laugh and kept massaging her back. “Aren’t I showing my gratitude right now?”
“It is pretty comfortable.” Ye Chuqing turned her head to look at him, eyes narrowed. “You sure you haven’t been getting this kind of massage training elsewhere?”
“…Do you still want the massage or not?”
“I do, I do! Honestly, you’re really good. Master Chen, massage therapist extraordinaire.”
“......”
Annoyed by her teasing, Chen Shao smacked her butt and said, “Off. I have emails to check.”
He hadn’t really thought much of that smack—just aimed for a spot with more cushion that wouldn’t hurt. But once he said it, both of them froze.
Ye Chuqing: “…”
She seriously questioned the boundaries of their relationship every single day.
Her mind, stunned, began reciting random ancient poetry—‘The wind is bleak and the Yi River cold, the warrior departs, never to return.’ Or ‘Softly I leave, like a flute in farewell; silently I go, like tonight’s Cambridge.’
That smack had completely thrown her for a loop.
The two stared at each other in silence. Ye Chuqing’s face kept growing hotter until she finally looked away, adjusted her clothes, and sat up quickly.
Chen Shao had also been a bit stunned, but seeing her reaction made it amusing—so he didn’t feel awkward anymore.
Ye Chuqing sat still for another couple of seconds, but couldn’t stand being there any longer. She stood up and headed for the stairs.
Chen Shao instinctively reached out, “Chuqing—”
She dodged him immediately, flustered and angry: “Don’t talk to me!”
“......”
Chen Shao watched her stomp up the stairs, worried she’d fall, and then—bang!—she slammed the bedroom door shut. Then came the sound of the lock clicking.
Chen Shao: “…”
Was he just kicked out of the bedroom?
He was about to go upstairs and knock when his phone on the side table started vibrating.
It was that same sticker from earlier in the afternoon—the one that said “Men are annoying”—except this time she sent over a dozen of them in a row, practically blowing up his phone.
A couple of seconds later, another message came in:
[Ye Chuqing: Go sleep in the guest room!]
Chen Shao: “…”
It was just a little smack, and she’s acting like he’s never touched her before.
Meanwhile, Ye Chuqing lay on the bed, face buried in her pillow, dying of embarrassment.
She had thought this was just a marriage of convenience because of the pregnancy, but the emotional hits just kept coming. First it was going from living separately to sharing a bed, then finding out that Chen Shao had kissed her while sober, then learning he had known her long before she realized, and now—physical contact.
They were no longer innocent...
Because of that one incident, the couple’s gradually developing domestic harmony was abruptly derailed. Thanks to Chen Shao’s impulsive hands, he was exiled to the guest room for three days.
During those three days, even the housekeeper didn’t dare say a word, afraid they’d suddenly start talking about divorce.
Later, Ye Chuqing grew worried the housekeeper might report everything to Huang Sheng, so she reluctantly allowed Chen Shao back into the master bedroom.
Still concerned their “clean, respectful” marriage might spiral into something less clean, Ye Chuqing gave him the cold shoulder for several days.
Though her back strain hadn’t been too serious, it lingered with a dull ache for a few more days, so she didn’t go out.
She mostly just slept and ate, her routine becoming increasingly erratic. One morning she woke up at the break of dawn. Chen Shao was still asleep beside her.
Lying on her side, she reached for her phone on the nightstand and saw a new friend request on WeChat.
Ye Chuqing often had to meet new people for work, so she accepted the request without much thought and asked: [Who is this?]
[Wei Yuanhe.]
“......”
Still lying on her side, Ye Chuqing rolled her eyes, ready to toss him straight into the blacklist.
Then another message came through:
[I’m reaching out about the Film Base Project No. 32.]
That made her pause and hold off on blacklisting him.
She remembered from work that Wei Yuanhe’s father had investments in the industry, so it wasn’t surprising for him to be involved now.
The film base project had been going smoothly until some last-minute coordination issues arose at the shooting site, which now required Ye Chuqing to step in.
[Ye Chuqing: You’re in charge of that side?]
[Wei Yuanhe: Yeah. Let’s meet sometime.]
Ye Chuqing yawned, completely uninterested. She added a note to his contact and lazily replied: [This afternoon. I’ll message you.]
After replying, she turned off the screen and lay back down. But she couldn’t fall asleep again, so she got up to wash up in the bathroom.
The sound of running water woke Chen Shao. He reached out instinctively but found no one beside him. Opening his eyes, he happened to see her phone light up on the bed.
Chen Shao glanced over and saw a message:
[Wei Yuanhe: Okay, I’ll come pick you up this afternoon.]
His eyes narrowed slightly.
Soon, Ye Chuqing came out of the bathroom. Chen Shao leaned back, the phone now dark again. He picked it up and handed it to her. “There was a message just now.”
Ye Chuqing took the phone, glanced at the message, and suddenly felt guilty. She looked up to sneak a peek at Chen Shao.
He didn’t look at her.
She lowered her head again and typed out a reply: [No need. I’ll just send you the address later.]
Chen Shao got out of bed as well. She didn’t notice him while she was still messaging Wei Yuanhe, and when she turned, she instinctively turned the screen off again.
She asked, “What is it?”
Chen Shao’s expression was neutral, seemingly unaware of her suspicious behavior. “Nothing.”
“You going to the office?”
“Yeah.” He put on his jacket. “You heading out? I’ll drive you.”
Ye Chuqing replied, “No need, I’m going out later in the afternoon. I can get there myself.”
Chen Shao nodded and went downstairs.
It was still early. Ye Chuqing put on a face mask and turned on the projector to watch a movie. After the movie, the housekeeper called her to eat. After lunch, she sent a message to Wei Yuanhe.
Not wanting to go too far, she chose a nearby afternoon tea cafe for their meeting.
When she arrived, Wei Yuanhe had just gotten out of his car. From afar, he looked presentable—like a decent person—but she knew better.
She observed him a bit longer and found herself thinking, Not as handsome as Chen Shao, anyway.
The matter was resolved pretty quickly. Wei Yuanhe didn’t seem interested in making things difficult for her; in fact, he was quite cooperative and even seemed inclined to support her position.
Ye Chuqing didn’t overthink what Wei Yuanhe’s real intentions were. She knew perfectly well he was giving her face by cooperating, but as long as the issue was resolved, that was all that mattered.
She had been out for less than half an hour in total. After revising the contract details, she didn’t linger and stood up to leave.
Wei Yuanhe frowned slightly and asked, “It’s still early—how about dinner together?”
“No, I have other things to do. You go ahead.” Ye Chuqing left as soon as she finished speaking; her driver was still waiting outside.
She also called the person in charge of the film base project. The person was stunned by how efficient she’d been and thanked her profusely. Ye Chuqing didn’t go into detail about how it was handled.
Back during the film festival, when her morning sickness was at its worst, it had been Chen Shao who helped her deal with most of the matters. As a result, he still had contact information for some of the key people involved.
He dug out one of the old postcards and dialed the number written on it.
The person picked up and, apparently recognizing his number, immediately said, “Mr. Chen, what breeze blew you my way today?”
Chen Shao’s expression didn’t change. “Nothing much. Just wanted to ask—has the filming site that Chuqing was responsible for at the film base been sorted out yet?”
The other party was quick-witted and assumed Chen Shao was just worried about his wife being overworked and was checking in behind the scenes.
“Don’t worry, Mr. Chen—it was resolved just now. The other side basically agreed to all our conditions, and we’ve already re-signed the contract.”
Chen Shao furrowed his brows slightly and replied with a simple “Got it,” before hanging up.
After catching a glimpse of Ye Chuqing’s phone that morning and remembering her recent complaints, it hadn’t been hard for him to figure out that the collaborating company was from the Wei family.
Ye Chuqing returned home early and only came downstairs when the housekeeper called her for dinner.
“Is Chen Shao not coming back for dinner?”
“He called earlier and said he’d be late tonight.”
It was the first time since they’d started having dinner together that he hadn’t come home. Ye Chuqing glanced at her phone—he hadn’t messaged her directly. Though she found it a little odd, she didn’t dwell on it.
Chen Shao returned late that night.
After dinner, Ye Chuqing lay in bed for a while but still didn’t see him come home. She began to feel bored. At least when he was around, they could bicker a little.
She rolled over in bed and grabbed her phone to send him a message.
[Ye Chuqing: When are you coming back?]
[Chen Shao: What’s up?]
[Ye Chuqing: I want to eat watermelon.]
It’s not exactly watermelon season—where was he supposed to find one?
[Chen Shao: You’re pregnant. Try not to eat off-season fruits.]
Lying on her stomach, chin in hand, Ye Chuqing clicked her tongue and replied: [Then when are you coming back?]
[Chen Shao: I’ve got something going on tonight. I’ll be late. You go to sleep first.]
Leaving his pregnant wife at home alone—now that’s a level of scumbaggery most men don’t reach.
Ye Chuqing rolled her eyes and began digging through her sticker collection.
A minute later, Chen Shao received a sticker from her:
A cat with one paw on a ten-yuan bill, with the caption: ‘Buying you for the night.’
He smirked faintly and replied with a cold, simple question mark.
But Ye Chuqing was clearly enjoying herself, probably out of boredom at home. She sent another sticker—same cat, same caption, but this time the cat had its paw on a twenty-yuan bill.
The price had gone up.
Chen Shao closed his eyes for a moment, thought about that message from Wei Yuanhe earlier that morning, and exhaled slowly. He didn’t reply.
Ye Chuqing had no idea what was going on in his mind. She just assumed her sticker had stunned him into silence and felt very proud of herself—so she sent two more.
One with a fifty-yuan bill. One with a hundred-yuan bill.
All with the same caption: ‘Buying you for the night.’
Apparently, it was a full set.
Chen Shao gave in. A few minutes later, he replied: [I’ll come back as soon as I can.]
When Ye Chuqing saw the message, she laughed out loud on the bed, feeling like she had totally won.
Chen Shao actually didn’t have much to do that night. He was just staying at the office to work late. He used to work from home, but now that Ye Chuqing was around—and very loud—his productivity took a hit, so staying at the office bought him more focused hours.
He sat in his chair for a while before opening a drawer and pulling out a photograph.
It was a photo of him and Ye Chuqing—he was in the foreground looking at the camera, and Ye Chuqing was in the background, just passing by.
Funny thing was, the photo had been taken by his college dorm leader, Lin Qimeng. It was the first time Chen Shao saw Ye Chuqing, and he had been completely captivated. Lin Qimeng had wanted to secretly take her photo but used Chen Shao as a decoy, pretending to photograph him—thus this awkward photo came to be.
Later, when Lin Qimeng got the pictures developed, he gave Chen Shao a copy since he was technically the main subject.
But the truth was, Chen Shao had actually seen Ye Chuqing once before that.
The business school moved to a new campus in junior year, but because Chen Shao was the student council president at the time, he had to frequently return to the main campus for various transition meetings and ceremonies. That’s when he saw her first—before Lin Qimeng ever did.
At the time, Ye Chuqing was a freshman and Chen Shao was a junior.
They had exchanged only one sentence. Ye Chuqing had a bold, headstrong personality. When turning a corner, she accidentally bumped into his shoulder. She looked back while running, her ponytail drawing a sharp arc, and apologized, “Sorry, senior!”
Chen Shao frowned slightly.
Some student council members really did have an air of self-importance. Chen Shao himself didn’t like that kind of thing, but the girl next to him couldn’t help herself and scolded Ye Chuqing right away: “Can you be more careful? This year’s freshmen are unbelievable—so reckless, even in front of the department head.”
So Ye Chuqing stopped in her tracks.
Chen Shao lazily said, “It’s fine, just a bump.”
The girl waved her off, signaling that it was okay and she could go.
As they continued walking, Chen Shao suddenly asked, “Was that girl just now from our department?”
“Who?”
“That girl.”
“Oh, she’s not confirmed yet. She just came to interview today. Her surname’s Ye, I think. She interviewed with our deputy head. Totally using the position to pursue personal interest—he couldn’t stop praising how pretty she was after.”
Chen Shao let out a short laugh and recalled, “She is pretty.”
“......”
A few days later, Lin Qimeng took that photo, and after some digging, found out the girl’s name was Ye Chuqing. Back in the dorm, he even made a bold declaration that he had to win her over before graduation.
Chen Shao wasn’t the type to steal a girl his buddy liked. During college, he had only two impressions of Ye Chuqing:
One, she was indeed beautiful.
Two, she was a heroine among women—she turned Lin Qimeng down 83 times.
At first, Lin Qimeng was very anxious about confessing. But after getting rejected so many times, he actually became quite zen about it. Eventually, it became a routine greeting whenever they met.
If he didn’t have afternoon classes, Lin Qimeng would even take a cab to the main campus cafeteria just to “accidentally” run into his goddess.
Once, Chen Shao had to return to the main campus for something and drove. Lin Qimeng hitched a ride, and afterward, they headed to the cafeteria. On the way, they really did bump into Ye Chuqing.
The road to the cafeteria was always packed at lunchtime. They parked across from the dorm complex.
As soon as Chen Shao got out of the car, he spotted Ye Chuqing with her friends. A moment later, Lin Qimeng tilted his head and found her too.
He said, “Bro, I’m going in.”
Chen Shao grinned, “Alright, go enjoy your 48th rejection.”
Lin Qimeng rolled his eyes. “Don’t exaggerate—it’s the 46th.”
With that, he pushed through the crowd and went over.
Ye Chuqing, familiar with her frequent suitor, smiled and greeted him, “You again?”
“…” Lin Qimeng scratched his head. “Um, junior, I like you.”
Ye Chuqing nodded, rejected him cheerfully, and said, “Sorry.”
Lin Qimeng wasn’t hurt at all. He grinned, “No worries.”
Then Ye Chuqing continued walking toward the cafeteria with her friends, while Lin Qimeng turned and headed back toward Chen Shao. The whole confession really did seem like a formality.
From a distance, Chen Shao leaned against the car and couldn’t help but chuckle with a hint of sarcasm, “Idiot.”
Lin Qimeng reached the car, shrugged, and spread his hands. Still a little disappointed, he said, “Forty-six times.”
Chen Shao laughed mercilessly. “Still want to eat at that cafeteria?”
“Nope. Food there sucks anyway. Let’s go to the commercial street in the South District,” Lin Qimeng said.
So the two got back in the car.
Chen Shao casually said, “Hearing you boast in the dorm, I thought you were seriously chasing her. Turns out all you say is ‘I like you.’ Anyone can say that.”
Lin Qimeng swore with a laugh, “Like you could do better.”
Chen Shao raised an eyebrow, totally unserious. “Picking up girls doesn’t necessarily need those four words.”
“Yeah right. You sound like some kind of playboy, but didn’t have a single girlfriend all four years of college. Who are you trying to fool?” Lin Qimeng mercilessly exposed him.
“I just wasn’t interested. Those girls were too annoying.”
Lin Qimeng said, “Okay then. If you ever meet your dream girl, show me how it’s done. Let’s see how you land her without even confessing.”
Chen Shao smiled. “Sure.”
After sending her last message, Ye Chuqing dozed off shortly afterward. Lately, she’d been sleeping restlessly, drifting in and out, and her sleep was always light.
When Chen Shao pushed open the bedroom door, he did it very quietly, but Ye Chuqing still woke up.
She hadn’t even turned off the lights before falling asleep. As soon as he walked in, Chen Shao reached up and turned them off for her.
Ye Chuqing propped herself up and looked at him, wanting to say she wasn’t asleep—when she saw him standing beside her bed, holding a bag and gazing down at her.
…Why wasn’t he saying anything?
Could this be one of those sleep paralysis hallucinations?
Ye Chuqing blinked and asked, “What did you buy?”
Chen Shao replied, “Didn’t you say you wanted to eat watermelon?”
“They’re selling them already?” she asked in surprise, sitting up.
Chen Shao sat down at the edge of the bed, opened the bag, and took out a small bottle.
It was pink, palm-sized, with a cute watermelon pattern on it—a bottle of watermelon-flavored drink.
“......”
Ye Chuqing stared at it for a while, then couldn’t help laughing. “Wow, thanks so much.”
Chen Shao looked at her. The dark room made it hard not to think of doing something bad.
Suddenly, he leaned in, held the back of Ye Chuqing’s head, and kissed her lips.
Ye Chuqing couldn’t remember if they had kissed during those two nights. From what she could recall, this was their second kiss.
There was no taste of alcohol this time—just something clean.
It felt… pretty good.
After about three seconds, she came to her senses, eyes wide, and started to resist.
Sober Chen Shao was much easier to push away than the drunk version from that night. He pulled back a bit, staring at her intently.
It took Ye Chuqing a moment before she managed to squeeze out a sentence: “Are you drunk?”
Even though she hadn’t smelled any alcohol.
“No,” Chen Shao said.
She pressed her lips together and asked again, “Did you drink?”
“Still no,” he said.
Ye Chuqing glared at him. “Then why did you kiss me again!”
Chen Shao looked at her expression and finally seemed to be in a better mood. “Didn’t you say you wanted to buy me for a night?”
“???”
Did this man have a comprehension problem?
Okay, fine—maybe that meme she sent did imply that. But that wasn’t what she meant, and they weren’t even that kind of relationship!
Ye Chuqing’s face turned red. “That’s not what I meant by it!”
Chen Shao deliberately twisted her words, leaned in again, and kissed her lips briefly. “Don’t forget to settle the bill later. You owe me a hundred bucks.”
“Chen Shao,” Ye Chuqing was stunned, “Do you have no shame? If anything, I’m the one getting the short end here!”
He grinned, pushed her down onto the bed, and kissed her again. “Alright, I’ll pay you back later. Name your price.”
At this point, if Ye Chuqing still didn’t get what was happening, then these years of living would’ve been a waste. She had long had a hunch that her relationship with Chen Shao wasn’t exactly ordinary, and this sober kiss tonight was the final break through the last barrier between them.
Seeing that she wasn’t resisting anymore, Chen Shao just kept on kissing her, more and more.
Finally annoyed, Ye Chuqing pushed him away, lifted her leg, and planted her foot on his shirt-covered chest.
Chen Shao looked down, eyes falling on her fair skin, the faint blue veins visible beneath it.
Ye Chuqing pushed him back with force from her leg, frowning. “What are you doing?”
“You met up with Wei Yuanhe today?” he suddenly asked.
The question came so out of nowhere that Ye Chuqing froze for a second. After a while, she blurted out, “Were you following me?”
Chen Shao narrowed his eyes, and the air turned a bit colder.
They stared at each other in silence. Then Chen Shao grabbed her ankle and yanked, making her slide down off the pillow, her soft white feet landing on his suit pants.
She warily asked, “What do you think you’re doing?”
He bit her lip lightly and said, “Just reminding you—you’re already married to me.”
Right then, her phone buzzed. Speak of the devil—it was another message from that persistent ghost, Wei Yuanhe.
[Wei Yuanhe: Chuqing, is this a good time to call?]
This guy really was a pro at playing ambiguous and messing with people’s marriages.
Ye Chuqing put herself in his shoes. If she saw a message like that on Chen Shao’s phone, she’d be ready to file for divorce.
Looking at that line of text and then up at Chen Shao’s eyes, she genuinely felt like she had no way to explain herself.
She had somehow ended up “cheating” in her own marriage.
“Uh…” she started.
Chen Shao cut her off: “You still can’t forget him?”
“Huh?” Ye Chuqing was baffled. “Why would you think I haven’t forgotten him?”
“Then why did you sneak off to see him today?”
Ye Chuqing stood her ground. “I didn’t sneak—I met him openly. It was for work. That film studio project—I told you about it.”
Chen Shao knew all this, of course. But what annoyed him went far beyond just this one thing.
“During that birthday party, you only called me to come because you saw him there. And then you got that drunk.”
“......”
Ye Chuqing felt terribly wronged, but she also felt that even if she explained that she had only been embarrassed and awkward about running into her ex with a date, Chen Shao probably wouldn’t understand.
After all, men and women often interpret things very differently.
"......Look, I'm not the type to drown my sorrows in alcohol. I just accidentally got drunk, okay? It really had nothing to do with him."
Chen Shao didn’t show any expression—clearly not buying it.
Ye Chuqing had no choice but to take a deep breath and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek with a loud smooch.
Chen Shao was stunned.
Blushing, Ye Chuqing mischievously lifted his chin like a rogue: “I only got with him back then because of his face. But now, I like your face more.”
“So,” she said, breathing a little heavily, taking another deep breath before teasing, “don’t worry, I’m not about to divorce you over that jerk.”
“......”
The moonlight spilled into the bedroom, cool and pale. With the lights off, they could only barely make out each other’s faces in the dim glow.
Chen Shao’s expression finally softened. Ye Chuqing turned her face slightly, her gaze landing on the pink bottle of watermelon-flavored drink by the bed. She could already imagine Chen Shao going to the supermarket after work, carefully picking it out and heading to the register.
“Oh right.” Something occurred to her. She picked up her phone, opened Wei Yuanhe’s message, pressed the voice message button, and said briskly, “Scram.”
She shrugged and looked at Chen Shao. “Anyway, the contract’s already been revised. He’s got no use to me anymore.”
Chen Shao let out a chuckle, finally returning to his usual self. “So today you went to sell your charms?”
“Exactly. Why else would I want to meet that bastard? Just seeing his face annoys me.”
Chen Shao: “Then from now on, don’t go selling your charms to him. Come to me instead. I can handle small stuff like this too.”
“......”
That ridiculous episode was finally coming to a close. Chen Shao was sent off to shower.
Ye Chuqing lay alone in the dim bedroom, thinking. She’d been so thrown off by Chen Shao’s sudden questioning that she hadn’t even gone back to the original kiss.
She licked her lips, deep in thought.
Chen Shao had made the first move twice—once drunk, once sober.
And she hadn’t really resisted either time—just shocked.
Anyone looking from the outside could see what was happening, but Ye Chuqing was still a bit lost in the middle of it all.
When Chen Shao came out, she finally summoned the courage to bring up what his old college classmate had mentioned—why had he known her back then and never said anything?
Chen Shao answered candidly. As he dried his hair, he laid the whole story out.
He and Ye Chuqing hadn’t interacted much back then—barely acquaintances, really—so there wasn’t much to explain.
“Did Lin Qimeng beat you up?” she asked.
Chen Shao replied shamelessly, “That’s why I’ve been hiding from him.”
“......”
Actually, Lin Qimeng was already married and had a daughter last year. That night at the KTV, when he found out they were married and yelled about chopping Chen Shao up—it had really happened. But it didn’t have much to do with Ye Chuqing anymore. It was just that Chen Shao had betrayed some serious bro-code.
If it had happened a few years earlier, this would’ve been an outright betrayal—a textbook case of stealing someone’s girl.
“Why didn’t you ever tell me we were alumni?” she asked.
“You yelled at me the first time we met after that.”
Ye Chuqing: “But even later, you never brought it up. You really kept it under wraps.”
“If I had said something, I’d be a jerk.”
Ye Chuqing blinked and rolled over to face him. “Chen Shao.”
“What?”
She let out a breath like she was finally relieved. “The other day when your friend mentioned it, I almost thought you’d had a crush on me since college. Scared the hell out of me.”
Chen Shao let out a soft laugh. “Maybe I did.”
Ye Chuqing froze, staring at him wide-eyed. “What?”
She finally understood how nuanced the Chinese language could be.
What she’d meant was just to say he hadn’t liked her back in college. But with his phrasing, not only did he imply he might have liked her back then—he was also admitting he liked her now.
It was too much to take in for one night.
“Otherwise, what do you think I’ve been taking responsibility for?”
Ye Chuqing shot him a look. “Because I got pregnant? What else?”
Chen Shao raised an eyebrow at her. “I said I’d take responsibility even before you got pregnant.”
“I—damn.” Ye Chuqing couldn’t help cursing. “I thought that was just you being nice.”
“You told me not to take responsibility, and I still chased after you trying to take responsibility—why would I do that if I didn’t mean it?”
“......”
Fair enough. Why hadn’t she realized that before?
Still in disbelief, she asked, “So after we got drunk and…?”
Chen Shao teased her, “You were too forward—I couldn’t resist.”
Ye Chuqing didn’t buy it. “Bullshit!”
He laughed.
Chen Shao didn’t know exactly when he started liking Ye Chuqing. Maybe it was later, maybe even earlier. He only knew that night when she stumbled drunk into his home, he was the first to feel something, and he went along with it—all initiated by him.
The second night, he knew she was drinking strong liquor. He didn’t stop her, and everything that followed unfolded naturally.
Ye Chuqing had thought she married Chen Shao only because of the pregnancy—turns out, every step had been carefully orchestrated by him.
In the past, she hadn’t dared to mention divorce lightly. But now, with what he just said, she finally had the confidence to use it as leverage.
She sprang up in mock fury: “Chen Shao, I want a divorce! I’m divorcing you!”
Chen Shao pulled her back by the waist and lay down with her. “I once told Lin Qimeng you don’t have to say ‘I like you’ to get the girl. I never said it—but I still married you.”
“But now, I think those four words are necessary.” He kissed her lips again, murmuring against them, “I like you, Ye Chuqing.”
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