In the darkness, Xu Yizhang was all alone.
She walked slowly, holding a flashlight in her palm, and she felt unexplainably lonely in this dark world.
Suddenly a person passed by - very tall, wearing a black bucket hat, pure black sweater, and pure black overalls...
He quickly passed by Xu Yizhang, leaving her behind all alone.
She was scared, so she yelled at him: "Wait a minute."
The man paused yet did not stop. But he did slow down.
The next second, another flashlight lit up.
The flashlight in the man’s palm shone in front. Without speaking, he turned his head back.
In the darkness, the man stared at her silently.
She couldn't see his face clearly.
But Xu Yizhang smiled.
Because she knew that the man stopped to wait for her.
She also knew who this man was.
The male god of the law department of B University.
Han Shen.
A quiet warmth filled her heart.
Xu Yizhang caught up with a bright smile on her face, "I know who you are. Aren’t you Han Shen - a top student in the law department? Hello brother, my name is Xu Yizhang..."
(T/N: Chinese females call older males Gege, meaning brother, even if they are not blood-related.)
*
"Swish!" With a sound, the curtains were opened.
The sun was dazzling.
Chu Huixin closed the curtains and said, "Yi Zhang, the eldest aunt sent over a necklace and said it was for you and Han Shen as a wedding gift. Get up quickly and have a look."
Xu Yizhang opened her eyes, wanting to continue sleeping, and sat up quickly.
Her head hurt a bit.
She pressed it with her hand and looked for that clingy brat - her daughter Xiao Xingxing.
[T/N: Xiao means little. It is a term of endearment and not part of the name. Xingxing means star, so it can be read as ‘little star’.]
"Where is Xiao Xingxing?" Xu Yizhang was a little slow, half-squinting her eyes and very dumbfounded.
Where is her daughter?
She usually looks for her mother immediately after waking up.
"What little star?" Chu Huixin's expression was even more dazed than Xu Yizhang’s, "Is it a newly bought jewelry?"
"No, it's my daughter." Xu Yizhang was disheveled and still looking around. Suddenly, she froze, stunned, because she noticed that Chu Huixin's hair, which had been white, had now turned black. She was also looking much younger...
"Mom, did you dye your hair?" She was surprised. She turned her head and looked at the mirror beside her. Her own hair had turned longer.
When the little star was born, she had cut her hair to make it easier to take care of the child...
She looked down at her hand.
A platinum ring appeared on her ring finger.
This was the proposal ring Han Shen had given her before getting married. Later, she had accidentally lost it one day while outside... Now that she thought about it, that might've been an early omen about the failure of their marriage, right?
She was suddenly relieved.
She had died.
When Han Shen filed for divorce, she looked back on her efforts over the years and left the house in despair. Then, she was hit by a car and killed instantly.
Before her death, she recalled her first meeting with Han Shen.
That was it.
The start of this bad fate.
Then, she was born again...
Touching her face, she looked at the mirror and saw the reflection of the platinum ring on her ring finger. Suddenly, anger raged in her eyes...
Yes, this man had destroyed half of her life. He was supposed to be her harbor, but he never understood that all the storms in her life were brought by him...
If she hadn't married him, how different would her life have been?
*
It was half-past nine in the morning.
"Now, this is the necklace your elder aunt brought over. Take a look." Chu Huixin placed a slender necklace on Xu Yizhang's palm.
Xu Yizhang bit into the barbecue pork bun and glanced at it lightly, "You can put it away first."
There was no particular emotion on her face.
Chu Huixin was wearing reading glasses, and she felt strange when she heard this, "What's the matter? Did you quarrel with Han Shen last night?"
"No." Xu Yizhang felt calm in her heart. She tapped on her phone, looking for Han Shen's name.
Chu Huixin said worriedly: "About trying the wedding dress last night. It was his fault for not coming, but he couldn't help it if the superior wanted to see him..."
This was Chu Huixin's character - tolerant and easy-going, and always a peacemaker.
Xu Yizhang glanced at her, "No, I'm really not angry. Don't worry. Let's eat."
"Then this necklace?"
"You can keep it for me for now." Xu Yizhang had already found Han Shen's WeChat account when she said this. She stuffed the remaining bun into her mouth and opened her chat with Han Shen.
Xu Yizhang: [Let’s meet at noon.]
It took about half an hour for Han Shen to reply: [I have only about half an hour to spare.]
Meaning he is very busy.
But Xu Yizhang didn't care, so she typed out slowly: [Half an hour is enough. You're in Qingke now, right? I will come to see you at noon.]
If you want to cut it off, better to do it quickly.
Sluggishness was not her style.
*
Noon.
Pushing open the glass door of Starbucks, Xu Yizhang spotted the dazzling man sitting in the corner in one glance.
Exactly as she remembered, Han Shen was wearing a slightly worn shirt with his sleeves curled up. He was doing case analysis in the notebook in front of him.
He had a very quiet temperament.
The look in his eyes was as dark as ever, and it was also a forewarning of the unsmiling man he was.
In fact, he does have the ability, but he is forced to start from a low level due to his poor background. It is impossible to show the true potential from the beginning without the support of resources.
She walked over and pushed the ring box directly onto the table.
Inside it was the engagement ring.
When Han Shen gave her this ring, he didn’t have much money. Well, he doesn't have much money now either. He had just graduated and entered the Qingke Law Firm for an internship. Even though Qingke was famous, it is impossible to offer a sky-high salary to an intern. Therefore, his life was busy and poor.
This is probably the dilemma that every lawyer will experience in the early stage. The early stage is endless overtime work + low salary.
In the later period, according to the professional field and solid foundation, you can accumulate wealth and make better contributions.
But at that time, she had loved him. Even when she received the ring, she was afraid that he would regret it, so she grabbed it in a hurry, put it on her ring finger fondly, and then smiled stupidly.
At that time, the sweetness of love overflowed from her every pore, which made her ignore the chai, rice, oil, and salt behind the real married life.
(T/N: Chai, rice, oil, salt are daily necessities. It means that love is not enough for a happy married life. There are other essential things needed for a marriage to succeed. So true, right?)
At that time, she thought she would follow Han Shen for the rest of her life.
Later, though she did marry Han Shen, no day was happy.
"I ordered a latte for you." From the corner of his eye, Han Shen caught a glimpse of her sitting down. But he flipped through the documents in his hand without looking up.
Xu Yizhang took a sip of coffee and said, "It's been a long time since I drank it."
Her parents used to give her pocket money before her marriage. Xu Yizhang could spend it as she liked. After marrying Han Shen, because her little star was born soon after, she was no longer willing to spend money carelessly. She suffered from morning sickness when she was pregnant, so she didn’t have a job. Han Shen paid for the pregnancy check-ups, supplements, and daily expenses at home. So Xu Yizhang never drank coffee again.
Actually, she thought about it.
They shouldn't have gotten married like that. They had just graduated, and both of them didn't have much money. They threw themselves into marriage so quickly that one was busy and didn't return home while the other tasted the loneliness of widowed parenting at home.
Their marriage was never ideal.
Perhaps it was due to their increased separation.
Perhaps it was due to their relative silence.
Or maybe it was due to financial constraints.
In short, at the end of the end, Han Shen stood at the top of the pyramid and said to her: "Xu Yizhang, let's get divorced."
*
Lost in her memories, Xu Yizhang's gaze roamed over the man's facial features inch by inch, finally resting on his constantly indifferent dark pupils.
This man is always calm, self-disciplined, unruffled, and without emotion.
She loved him miserably.
"Let's break up." Xu Yizhang put down the cup and revealed her intentions.
Instead of getting a divorce in a few years, it is better to break up now.
Fortunately, she was born again when she was unmarried and not pregnant.
Everything can start over.
Han Shen continued tapping on the keyboard with his slender fingers. It didn’t look like he’d heard her. “Huh?” He said distractedly without raising his head.
He was absent-minded even when she was talking about breaking up. His career was undoubtedly crazy.
Xu Yizhang suddenly smiled. Her eyes wavered. She was a little sad, but this sadness was not because she was about to break up. Rather...
She indulged in this relationship for so long, yet it is only today that she clearly understood her position in Han Shen's heart. For him, career came first, children second, parents third, and she only ranked fourth...
For a man who ranked her fourth, she gave up the most beautiful youth in her twenties and became a full-time wife ahead of time. In the end, she was relatively speechless and ran away, only in exchange for scars...
So, since God allowed her to do it again, she decided to start from the beginning and live her life well. Live well and become the ideal person of her own mind.
Regardless of whether he heard it or not, Xu Yizhang slung her bag and stood up. At that moment, Han Shen's eyes moved, and his dark pupils looked at her intensely and unpredictably, "Why are you leaving? What were you just saying?"
Xu Yizhang smiled lightly. It was strange. How did she like such an indifferent man in the first place? So much so that she was obsessed with him?
Maybe when I was a child, I drank too much sour milk and grew into a love-brain.
She pointed to her mouth, and under Han Shen's deep gaze, she repeated word by word: "I said, Han Shen, let's not get married, let's not be together."
Han Shen was slightly surprised.
Xu Yizhang laughed. It was a perfectly decent smile. In the past, she was always careful and polite in front of him. She had never been so heedless and disdainful.
"Let's keep in touch in the future. That's it. Bye." After speaking softly, she turned around and walked out of the Starbucks.
Outside the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, there was plenty of sunshine. Xu Yizhang's slender figure walked straight into the crowded street and disappeared.
Han Shen didn't understand what Xu Yizhang meant just now. He considered it just a small temper tantrum. He switched on the screen of the black mobile phone on the table and dialed Xu Yizhang's number slowly.
However--
"The number you dialed has been turned off..."
Han Shen frowned.
What is she doing?