MoboNovel Lite
Chapter 1
“Hello, the number you dialed is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later.”
In the quiet emergency room, the mechanical female voice from the receiver sounded particularly cold.
“Still no answer?” The nurse was getting impatient.
Luo Xi put down her phone and gave her an apologetic smile, though it was somewhat forced: “Can I sign it myself?”
The nurse muttered about wasting time, then handed her the anesthesia consent form.
After seven calls without an answer from Chu Jingxi, it indeed wasted time. If what she needed wasn’t just a hand debridement surgery but a life-threatening major surgery, waiting for a family member to sign might mean the body would have already turned cold.
After local anesthesia, the doctor used tweezers to pick out the sharp glass fragments from her palm, curious about how she got injured.
There was no special reason; she couldn’t sleep due to insomnia and wanted to do some work to pass the time. Who knew she would be so unlucky, cleaning glass could lead to it suddenly shattering.
The doctor, out of professional habit, asked if she had long-term insomnia.
Luo Xi shook her head; she usually slept well. Tonight’s insomnia had a reason.
As for the reason…
Ding.
The sound of a text message interrupted her conversation with the doctor. She picked up her phone and opened it; a video was sent from an unknown number.
The video was dimly lit, making it hard to see clearly, but Luo Xi immediately recognized Chu Jingxi.
The man was still wearing the suit she had picked for him that morning, his long, straight legs lazily propped up on the table, his tall and straight figure lounging in the sofa. His features, as if carved by God himself, were flawless, the kind of good looks that would make women scream wherever he went.
But his eyes were too cold, even when he smiled, giving off an unapproachable vibe.
Except for the woman beside him.
After three years, she recognized her at a glance.
Meng Ruxue, her husband’s beloved.
She was sitting close to Chu Jingxi, wearing a silk vintage dress. The black color made her skin look like fine jade, her face like polished stone. After three years of studying abroad, she had added an artistic temperament of a painter, her eyes filled with deep affection as she looked at Chu Jingxi, truly charming.
The people around them teased them to drink a toast, Meng Ruxue’s face was shy, but her eyes were full of expectation.
Chu Jingxi kept his lips curved, his eyes showing a bit of careless charm, as he raised the glass in front of him.
The video ended abruptly.
Luo Xi held her phone, smiling bitterly.
No wonder he didn’t answer her seven calls.
She should have thought that Meng Ruxue would be with him today, returning from abroad.
If she hadn’t thought of it, why would she be the only one suffering from insomnia tonight.
But thinking about it was one thing, seeing it with her own eyes was another; she couldn’t just ignore it.
Luo Xi typed with her right hand, which had just been treated, her fingertips trembling: “The one-month cooling-off period is over. Let’s meet at the Civil Affairs Bureau tomorrow at ten.”
After three years of marriage to Chu Jingxi, he never looked at her so tenderly; in his eyes, she could only see disgust.
Yes, he despised her, because the person who made him marry her was the one he hated the most. And because he married her, he was separated from his beloved for three years.
But she had no choice back then; her grandfather had cancer, with unfulfilled wishes, and the cancer medicine cost a million per shot. She had no choice but to agree to his aunt’s request to marry him.
Her intentions were not pure back then, and she felt guilty towards Chu Jingxi. For three years, she took care of his daily life with all her heart, no matter how harshly he spoke to her, she remained the same.
Three years, even raising a dog, you would worry about it when it’s sick.
But Chu Jingxi, when she needed him to sign for her surgery, went to drink a toast with his beloved.
Her heart ached densely, Luo Xi raised her hand to cover her eyes, tears slipping through her fingers.
It was already late when she left the hospital after the IV. Just as she started the car, her phone rang, the special ringtone indicating it was Chu Jingxi calling.
Her brain told her to hang up, but her finger was faster and answered.
Luo Xi cursed herself for being too quick, coldly saying “Hello.”
“Luo Xi, Jing-ge is drunk at Night Charm, come pick him up.”
Before she could say anything, the other party hung up.
Luo Xi didn’t want to go, but then she thought, what if Chu Jingxi ended up sleeping with Meng Ruxue tonight and delayed the divorce tomorrow.
She had to go.
Night Charm.
After parking the car, Luo Xi looked at the gauze wrapped around her right hand, then thought about Meng Ruxue’s elegance and beauty tonight, and without hesitation, removed the unsightly gauze.
Lose the battle but not the war.
Luo Xi couldn’t appear in a sorry state.
Entering the private room, everyone was drunk and disheveled, only Chu Jingxi maintained the sitting posture from the video, as if asleep, less sharp than when awake.
But Luo Xi’s first glance wasn’t at him, but at Meng Ruxue, who, under the influence of alcohol, was softly leaning against him.
Her cheeks were flushed, adding a unique beauty.
And Luo Xi, in her haste to leave, had only thrown a cardigan over her home clothes, with no makeup, the very image of a housewife, a world apart from Meng Ruxue at that moment.
Seeing her, Meng Ruxue sat up straight like a startled bird, nervously explaining: “Mrs. Chu, don’t misunderstand, I just had a few too many drinks, feeling a bit weak, just borrowing Jingxi’s shoulder to lean on.”
A strong scent of tea overwhelmed the room’s alcohol, reminding Luo Xi of the aged Pu’er tea Chu Jingxi’s aunt had treasured for many years.
In these three years, Meng Ruxue must have been studying tea art abroad.
And there was someone to echo her: “Sister, don’t take advantage of Jing-ge’s fondness for you to provoke him. Everyone knows Jing-ge despises her, hates being called Mrs. Chu the most.”
As soon as Meng Meng, Meng Ruxue’s younger sister, said this, the room erupted in laughter.
Everyone looked at Luo Xi with the usual disdain.
“Xiao Meng, don’t say that. No matter how Jingxi feels about her, she is still Jingxi’s wife.” Meng Ruxue then played the good cop, weakly scolding her sister before apologizing to Luo Xi: “Sorry, she’s been spoiled by our parents.”
Luo Xi wasn’t angry: “It’s okay, she’s right, Chu Jingxi does hate me.”
“At least you have some self-awareness.” Meng Meng snorted.
Luo Xi smiled at her: “But what can I do? No matter how much he hates me, I’m still Mrs. Chu. No matter how much he likes someone else, they have no title.”
This was almost directly calling Meng Ruxue a mistress.
Meng Ruxue’s flushed face turned a shade paler.
“Luo Xi, who are you calling a mistress? It’s you who came between my sister and Jing-ge. If it weren’t for you, they would have had children by now.” Meng Meng angrily accused.
Have children, my foot.
Why don’t you ask Chu Jingxi if he can get it up for your sister.
If it weren’t for her three years of detoxifying him, Chu Jingxi would have been all looks and no use for life.
Now that he’s cured, she hasn’t even used him yet, and he’s going to be taken by Meng Ruxue.
Luo Xi felt a lump in her throat just thinking about it.
Chapter 2
Luo Xi was too lazy to deal with the sisters anymore. She walked up to Chu Jingxi, bent over, and called him: “Chu Jingxi.”
Chu Jingxi was sleeping soundly and showed no reaction.
Meng Meng jumped out again to disgust her: “Jing-ge, stop sleeping, your little nanny is here.”
The term ’little nanny’ made others laugh.
“I really want to ask Jing-ge where he found this little nanny. I heard she’s been dedicatedly bringing Jing-ge soup for three years, rain or shine.”
“She’s a freeloader. If you looked like Jing-ge, you’d have women clinging to you too.”
“Hahaha.”
The group’s gazes on Luo Xi were as if they were looking at a clown.
“How much can Miss Meng sell a painting for now? A hundred thousand?” Luo Xi ignored the mockery and looked at Meng Ruxue.
“Why are you asking that?” Meng Meng protected Meng Ruxue, as if speaking to her would lower her sister’s status.
Luo Xi simply asked her: “And you, Miss Meng, how much pocket money do you get a month? A hundred thousand, two hundred thousand, or five hundred thousand?”
Meng Meng refused to answer: “What does it have to do with you?”
Luo Xi: “It doesn’t really matter, I’m just curious. I want to know if your pocket money as a wealthy heiress is more than mine as a nanny. After all, I get a million a month and can freely use Chu Jingxi’s supplementary card.”
The private room fell silent.
The mention of freely using Chu Jingxi’s supplementary card made Meng Ruxue’s eyes flash with jealousy.
Luo Xi single kill. She knew too well that these people’s pocket money was at most a few hundred thousand, and their credit cards certainly didn’t have unlimited limits.
Luo Xi gave them a contemptuous smile, helped Chu Jingxi up, and walked out.
The waiter at the door hurried to help.
Luo Xi remembered something and turned back to say: “Tonight is on me, everyone drink as you please. If the bill doesn’t reach a million, you’re looking down on Chu Jingxi.”
The private room fell silent again.
Luo Xi double kill. The waiter helped Chu Jingxi into the car, Luo Xi thanked them and drove away.
Back at North Sea Villa, as soon as Luo Xi threw Chu Jingxi onto the sofa, the man opened his eyes. His once amorous peach blossom eyes were now full of frost and undisguised disgust.
So he had been pretending to be drunk all along.
He had deliberately let her come to be humiliated by Meng Ruxue and those heiresses.
Though she was used to it, her heart still ached.
She suppressed the pain and calmly asked him: “Do you want some soup?”
Chu Jingxi sneered: “Didn’t you say you’d never make soup for me again?”
His tone suggested he knew she had been pretending all along.
Luo Xi: “I was talking about hangover soup.”
Chu Jingxi never liked the soup she made. Every time, she had to rack her brains to coax him into drinking it, and he always complained about the medicinal taste.
But he had no idea it was medicinal soup, specifically to detoxify him.
The outside world said Chu Jingxi was indifferent to women, and even he thought he was pure-hearted, able to remain unmoved even if a woman stripped and lay in his arms.
The truth was, he didn’t have the ability to be moved. He had been poisoned with a slow-acting toxin, not fatal but enough to render him incapable of having children.
Chu Jingxi’s aunt forced him to marry her, not because she feared his alliance with Meng Ruxue would weaken her power, but because she could detoxify him.
These were secrets Chu Jingxi would never know.
“All you talk about is soup, soup, soup. What else can you say?” Chu Jingxi misunderstood, his face darkening.
Luo Xi smoothly changed the subject: “Then let’s talk about the divorce. Did you see the WeChat message I sent you? Tomorrow at ten in the morning, don’t let your assistant schedule any work. We’ll get divorced.”
Chu Jingxi didn’t respond.
“For the past three years, I’m sorry for taking Meng Ruxue’s place. Just bear with it for one more night, tomorrow I’ll vacate the position.” Luo Xi lowered her eyes, her heart aching again.
She was willing to divorce, Chu Jingxi should be happy, but hearing Luo Xi say it without any reluctance, he inexplicably got angry.
His tone cooled: “Are you vacating the position for me, or am I vacating it for you?”
Luo Xi didn’t understand: “What do you mean?”
Chu Jingxi: “You know what I mean.”
Luo Xi: “How would I know if you don’t say?”
“Stop pretending. As soon as my aunt left, you wanted a divorce. Isn’t it because without my aunt, you won’t get a million a month anymore? And you know very well, without my aunt forcing me, I wouldn’t even step into this house, let alone let you freely use my supplementary card. A woman like you, who would sell herself for money, must be in a hurry to find the next sponsor.” Chu Jingxi’s words were venomous.
Luo Xi had heard too many similar words over the past three years. It wasn’t true that she wasn’t hurt.
In the first year of their marriage, the money from Chu Jingxi’s aunt was used to buy anti-cancer injections for her grandfather.
After her grandfather passed away, every month’s money, except for buying detoxifying herbs for him, was saved by her.
A month ago, at a Chinese medicine auction, a mysterious person bought a hundred-year-old blood ginseng for twenty-four million.
That blood ginseng ended up in Chu Jingxi’s stomach.
The effect was significant; he could now be moved by women at will.
With Chu Jingxi’s current ability, a phone call could reveal where the money went.
But he stubbornly believed she was a gold digger. Even if he knew the truth, he would probably think it was another scheme.
“Caught by my words, have nothing to refute?” She didn’t respond, but Chu Jingxi didn’t let her off.
Hearing too many harsh words made her immune. No matter how bad Chu Jingxi’s attitude was, no matter how harsh his words, she could let them go in one ear and out the other.
After all, they were getting divorced tomorrow, just bear with it a little longer.
Luo Xi mentally prepared herself, then smiled at the man: “If thinking that way makes you feel better, I have no objection.”
After saying that, she got up and left.
As she passed by Chu Jingxi, the man grabbed her wrist and forcefully pulled her down onto the sofa.
The man’s tall figure immediately pressed down on her, his breath carrying the smell of alcohol.
“What are you doing?” Being too close, Luo Xi sensed danger.
Chu Jingxi’s gaze was cold: “Luo Xi, you’ve occupied the position of Mrs. Chu for three years without fulfilling any of the duties. Did you really think the Chu family was a charity? I want to see if a woman worth a million a month is really that precious.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the man’s kiss, devoid of any warmth, domineeringly pressed down.
Luo Xi instinctively resisted, then suddenly thought of something and stopped struggling.
Seeing this, the disgust in Chu Jingxi’s eyes deepened, but his body honestly clamored to tear her apart.
He no longer had time to think about why he suddenly couldn’t control himself around Luo Xi.
Even after sharing a bed for three years, he had never had a single impure thought about her.
It must be her eagerness to find the next sponsor that angered him. Why should he let her divorce cleanly? Even if they divorced, he would leave an indelible mark on her.
He loathed her, and when he took her, he wasn’t gentle. Luo Xi cried from the pain, more painful than all the harsh words Chu Jingxi had accumulated over the past three years.
Luo Xi didn’t hold back either, scratching and clawing at him, which only provoked Chu Jingxi to torment her more fiercely.
In the quiet villa, the sounds of their struggle echoed for a long time.
Chapter 3
The next day.
Luo Xi was awakened by the villa’s landline. She groggily answered, ‘Who is it?’
Her voice was terribly hoarse.
‘What’s wrong, Xi Xi? Are you sick?’ came the worried voice of her best friend, Su Ye, from the other end of the line.
Luo Xi couldn’t very well say that she had been half-dead from Chu Jingxi’s torment the night before, so she vaguely replied, ‘Just a bit of a cold. What’s up?’
‘Didn’t we agree to celebrate together after your divorce? I’ve been waiting at the restaurant for ages, and your phone was off…’
Before Su Ye could finish, Luo Xi, as if shocked back to life from her deathbed, sat up abruptly and glanced at the clock. The hour hand was already pointing at eleven.
An hour had passed since the time she and Chu Jingxi had agreed to divorce.
Looking around, there was no sign of Chu Jingxi.
The dog of a man had left without her knowing when.
At the Half Moon Restaurant.
Su Ye stared at Luo Xi’s bandaged hand and, after hearing about her injury and the wound cleaning process, was so furious she could explode: ‘Is that dog of a man Chu Jingxi even fit to be a husband? His wife is injured and needs his signature, but he doesn’t answer his phone and is all cozy with his mistress. And then he makes you go to her to be humiliated. Damn it, I feel like killing someone.’
Her voice was so loud it attracted the attention of the neighboring tables. Luo Xi raised her hand to cover her face and shushed her, ‘Miss, could you keep it down?’
‘I can’t keep it down. I haven’t even started on you yet. Have you lost your mind? Why are you keeping such a man around if not to divorce him?’ Su Ye said, disappointed and frustrated.
Luo Xi quickly explained, ‘It’s not that I don’t want to divorce him; it’s just that it didn’t happen this morning.’
She had called Chu Jingxi, but his assistant answered, saying ‘Mr. Chu is in a meeting,’ and dismissed her.
‘Didn’t it not happen because you overslept?’ Su Ye’s expression was as if she had seen a ghost: ‘You didn’t sleep together for three years, and then you do it before the divorce. What, one last hurrah before the divorce?’
Luo Xi weakly retorted, ‘What’s wrong with a divorce fling?’
Pfft…
A laugh came from behind. Luo Xi instinctively turned her head and unexpectedly met a pair of cold eyes.
It was none other than Chu Jingxi.
Chu Jingxi was impeccably dressed, and beside him stood an equally well-dressed man, the one who had just laughed.
Luo Xi recognized him, Gu Ze Ye, Chu Jingxi’s childhood friend.
Besides Gu Ze Ye, Chu Jingxi was also accompanied by Meng Ruxue. Perhaps because she had overheard Su Ye’s words and knew that Luo Xi and Chu Jingxi had consummated their marriage, a crack appeared on her otherwise dignified face.
How could this be? She had deliberately sent a video to Luo Xi last night and had someone call her. Luo Xi had snubbed her, so Chu Jingxi should have been even more disgusted with her.
If he was disgusted, why did he sleep with her?
No one knew better than her how restrained Chu Jingxi was.
Yet, he had lost his restraint with Luo Xi.
Did this mean he had developed different feelings for her?
She had been abroad for three years, while Luo Xi had been by his side day and night. Who could guarantee that Chu Jingxi wouldn’t develop feelings over time?
Meng Ruxue felt bitter in her heart and harbored even more hatred towards Luo Xi.
Unaware of her feelings, Gu Ze Ye, wanting to see Chu Jingxi embarrassed, deliberately asked Luo Xi, ‘Mrs. Chu, how was the divorce fling?’
Luo Xi didn’t want to answer such a frivolous question, but seeing Chu Jingxi’s warning look that seemed to say ‘If you dare talk nonsense, I’ll strangle you,’ she brazenly replied, ‘It was just so-so.’
A very reluctant evaluation.
No man could tolerate such an evaluation.
Especially a proud man like Chu Jingxi.
The way he looked at her was as if he wanted to devour her.
Luo Xi, like a dead pig not afraid of boiling water, didn’t care anymore. Since she didn’t have to coax him to drink soup anymore, why should she care about his mood? She stiffened her neck and stared back at him.
Chu Jingxi was almost amused by her audacity. This woman had changed completely after her aunt left. The gentle and considerate demeanor she used to have in front of him was gone. Not only was she sharp-tongued, but she also dared to provoke him now.
But then he thought about how she was in a hurry to find her next man, and it all made sense. Since she couldn’t get any more money out of him, there was no need for her to pretend anymore.
Such a woman, he felt dirty just looking at her.
‘Three o’clock this afternoon,’ he said, throwing out a time before striding away, as if sharing the same space with her was nauseating.
‘Jingxi,’ Meng Ruxue called out, taking small steps to catch up. As she turned the corner, she glanced back at Luo Xi, her eyes filled with hatred.
‘Daring to belittle Jingxi’s skills in bed, you’re truly brave,’ Gu Ze Ye left a compliment before walking away.
Luo Xi ignored Gu Ze Ye’s compliment and only after a moment did she understand what Chu Jingxi meant.
Three o’clock this afternoon at the Civil Affairs Bureau for the divorce.
Great, now she had an appetite for lunch.