Chapter 5

Yan Shuangshuang drove aimlessly around the outskirts of the city. With no destination, she let her mind go blank and drove entirely as she pleased. In that moment, she seemed very free.

Whenever she came to an intersection, Yan Shuangshuang would choose to turn right, because someone had once said that when you could not find the way out of a maze, you could keep turning right the whole way. That person would follow the path until she found her, then take her home.

Yan Shuangshuang had believed it, only to end up lost in the lies that person had woven.

When she had turned into some unknown place, AAA’s incoming call interrupted Yan Shuangshuang’s empty trance.

The sound of brakes rang out. Yan Shuangshuang’s pitch-black eyes looked at the constantly flashing call button, silent.

A director had once said that although Yan Shuangshuang’s appearance was cold, her emotions were warm. Because of that, it was very difficult for her to act out scenes that were too despairing, because she had never experienced that kind of despair.

If that director were present now, he would be shocked to discover just how wrong his judgment had been.

Yan Shuangshuang tapped the green answer button, and Gu Xin’s unauthorized copycalm voice came through. “Are you free right now? I redrafted a divorce agreement on my end. Come over and take a look.”

Yan Shuangshuang frowned, instinctively wondering what part of her division of assets had not been good enough.

Could Gu Xin want the house in Liuquan Villa?

But that was something she had bought before marriage. Gu Xin should not know about it.

Although puzzled, Yan Shuangshuang still answered calmly, “I’ll come over this afternoon.”

Perhaps hearing something in her brief words, Gu Xin paused, then said, “Don’t overthink it. The part I changed is because you gave me too much. Your current situation is very complicated. If we really divide things this way, are you planning to live off the northwest wind after the divorce?”

Yan Shuangshuang tightened her grip on the steering wheel. She thought, Here it comes again. Again. Always able to guess her true emotions, always revealing that hypocritical warmth, as if she still loved her.

Was this her love?

No. It was pity, just like before.

A lofty pity that did not care about what she thought. Seeing that she loved too bitterly, Gu Xin tossed her a little charity-like sympathy.

Yan Shuangshuang suppressed the sudden anger that rose in her. She did not want to start with accusations and roaring, because today she had just gone to see Gu Xin’s family. At least today was not a day for fighting.

Amid the violent rise and fall of her emotions, Yan Shuangshuang could only barely make a single sound. “Okay.”

Gu Xin said, “I’ll wait for you at home.”

After quickly hanging up, Yan Shuangshuang slammed her fist hard against the steering wheel. With a loud beep of the horn, a sparrow on a nearby treetop was startled into flapping its wings and taking flight, circling upward.

Yan Shuangshuang turned on navigation and drove straight to Gu Xin’s place.

She thought, What amnesia? What not remembering? Then why was she still so accurate when guessing what was on her mind?

If this was some new trick again, then she unauthorized copywould take it head-on. At worst, the two of them would fight until one of them was destroyed.

Listening to the beeping tone after the call ended, Gu Xin unconsciously murmured, “She couldn’t be angry, could she?”

She could almost imagine that person pressing her lips together, eyes blazing with fury, looking as though she wished she could rush over and bite Gu Xin hard a couple of times.

Vivid and beautiful, yet it made Gu Xin’s heart ache.

Barely suppressing the strange feeling rising in her heart, Gu Xin forcibly cleared her mind and set out the newly printed divorce agreement.

The printer was something she had found in the storage room. When she dug it out, it had already accumulated a lot of dust. At first, it had no ink coming out, but as if relying on muscle memory, Gu Xin fiddled with it a few times, tried again, and it was fixed.

After repairing the printer, she also took the opportunity to understand her own financial situation.

Aside from this place, she had two other luxury homes under her name, but Yan Shuangshuang was the one paying the mortgages.

Starting in 2018, one of her cards received a neat transfer of fifty thousand yuan every month from a trust fund. Without the pressure of rent, fifty thousand yuan was more than [unauthorized copy]enough. But her spending records showed that fifty thousand yuan was far from enough for Gu Xin. Every month, Yan Shuangshuang still had to transfer money to her separately.

At the least, a few thousand. At the most, two hundred thousand.

It could be said that for all these years, while Yan Shuangshuang had been paying the mortgages, she had also been supporting her. No wonder Yan Shuangshuang had taken acting roles as if her life depended on it. If she did not act, she simply could not afford to support Gu Xin, who spent money like running water.

And Yan Shuangshuang had just terminated her contract with her company. She had absolutely paid a penalty fee. She probably did not have much money left in her hands at all.

If they insisted on divorcing now, Yan Shuangshuang might very well end up cleanly and completely penniless.

Gu Xin considered herself someone without much of a conscience, but she could not do something this beastly. Of the houses under her name, she gave Yan Shuangshuang two. All the cars were transferred to Yan Shuangshuang too. In any case, she did not plan to retake the test for her driver’s license. As for the miscellaneous money on her other cards, added up, it came to a little over a hundred thousand, and she gave that to Yan Shuangshuang as well.

Yan Shuangshuang’s knot in her heart over Gu Xin could not be untied in a short while, but Gu Xin hoped that at least materially, she could compensate her a tiny bit first.

Tapping the pen as she pondered for a few seconds, Gu Xin wrote one final line at the end of her to-do list—

The capital.

At three in the afternoon, Yan Shuangshuang arrived.

Gu Xin went to open the door for her and discovered that the moment Yan Shuangshuang saw her, she gave her a fierce eye roll.

Gu Xin looked down at herself and could not help asking, “Am I wearing my clothes inside out?”

“No. You’re not.” Yan Shuangshuang denied it. “It looks good.” That was sarcasm. It was just that Gu Xin, dressed like this, looked a lot like she had back when she was still in school.

When Yan Shuangshuang passed by Gu Xin, her steps quickened, and she walked inside like a gust of wind.

Gu Xin stood in place and scratched her head. Had she not simply taken a quick shower and put on the plainest white T-shirt and shorts in the closet? Could even that be wrong?

Heaven knew how long she had searched for an outfit that was not so flashy.

Yan Shuangshuang sat on the sofa waiting for her. Gu Xin took out the new divorce agreement and handed it to her. “Nothing else Read on BaiLianTales has changed. Look over the asset division again.”

Even though she had already prepared herself mentally, when Yan Shuangshuang truly saw the changes, she was still shocked.

Aside from the apartment Gu Xin was currently living in, Gu Xin had left almost nothing for herself.

“Personally, I think this division is more reasonable.” Gu Xin pulled over a small stool and sat calmly across from Yan Shuangshuang. “Aside from that, during the duration of our marriage, I personally believe the money you gave me all counts as loans. After I find a job, I’ll slowly pay you back. This is the IOU.”

Gu Xin pushed a handwritten IOU over. Yan Shuangshuang did not take it, but she still saw the loan amount at a glance: 4,856,000 yuan. Even Yan Shuangshuang herself had not known that, in bits and pieces, she had actually given Gu Xin this much money.

Gu Xin was very frank. “I need to discuss the interest with you. Tell me what interest rate you can accept, and I’ll add it in.”

Yan Shuangshuang picked up the IOU. She stroked the handwriting on it. Every stroke, hook, and direction of each character made her dizzy, and her heartbeat was so loud she could almost no longer hear Gu Xin speaking.

Gu Xin found it a little strange, but did not urge her. Finally, Yan Shuangshuang lifted her head, folded the IOU, and tucked it into her own pocket.

“You said it yourself. It was [bailiantales.com]during the duration of our marriage, so it also counts as shared marital property. There’s no need for an IOU.”

Her voice was very calm, and her expression was steady too, but her action showed that she had no intention of giving it back.

Gu Xin: “…”

Fine.

In any case, it was meant to be given to her.

Gu Xin said, “The IOU can take effect at any time. If you change your mind, just tell me. I won’t deny the debt.”

Yan Shuangshuang smiled and said nothing.

Finally came the most important thing: the divorce agreement.

Yan Shuangshuang stated that she had no objections. Since this was Gu Xin’s wish, she would respect it.

The ink pad and pens had been prepared long ago. The two of them each signed one copy, then exchanged them and signed again.

After they finished signing, Yan Shuangshuang looked at the windowsill. “You used to really dislike closing the curtains.”

Outside, the sunlight was brilliant, but Gu Xin had pulled the curtains shut tightly, striving to make sure not even the slightest trace of light leaked in.

Taking its place was the chandelier above, diligently giving off light and illuminating a small world for two resentful lovers whose marriage had already shattered.

Gu Xin scratched her head. “I want to sell this place.”

Yan Shuangshuang was puzzled. “Mm? Why sell it all of a sudden?”

“It’s too big.” Gu Xin spread both hands, letting out the voice of a salted fish who wanted nothing but an easy life. “Even with all kinds of tools helping, cleaning it is still troublesome. And the decor looks… mm.”

Gu Xin was extremely unwilling to admit that this was her taste, but if she had not planned it herself, what designer would give a client a design with such severe light pollution? Did they not want their rice bowl anymore?

Gu Xin put away the divorce agreement and looked at Yan Shuangshuang. “Do you want to sit for a while longer? There’s coffee over there.”

“No.”

Gu Xin understood and did not force it.

Instead, Yan Shuangshuang stood up with her bag on her back. Her eyes looked at Gu Xin, and her tone was unclear. “You’re not going to see me off?”

Gu Xin thought it over and felt that seeing her ex-wife out was only natural, so she nodded and agreed. While tucking her phone away, she smoothly placed the keys to four cars in Yan Shuangshuang’s palm. “If you want, you can come drive them away anytime. You can also drive one back today.”

Today was Saturday. The transfer of ownership for the four cars would have to wait until Monday, just in time to handle it together with the divorce certificate.

The warm sensation against her palm vanished as quickly as it came, so fast it seemed like an illusion.

Yan Shuangshuang lost focus for two seconds because of the sudden physical contact, then her eyes regained clarity. With a teasing tone, she unauthorized copysaid, “Then I’ll drive that red one of yours.”

Gu Xin nodded indifferently.

The two of them entered the elevator in silence.

The underground parking lot of the compound was not under the building where Gu Xin lived. They needed to circle around to the building behind it and find the entrance to the underground garage.

But the moment they stepped out of the building access door, Gu Xin felt a strange, uncomfortable sensation, as if someone were maliciously spying on her.

Gu Xin scanned the surroundings and found, hidden in the flower bed across from them, a dark camera lens. If one did not look carefully, it would be impossible to spot. Yet Gu Xin happened to notice it at a glance.

Gu Xin instinctively turned around to block the person closely following behind her. However, she stopped too suddenly, and Yan Shuangshuang crashed headfirst straight into her arms, knocking her into a stagger.

Gu Xin steadied herself as quickly as possible, opened her arms, and pressed Yan Shuangshuang’s head firmly onto her shoulder. “Someone’s taking pictures.”

Yan Shuangshuang’s initial struggle abruptly stopped. The hands she had braced between them began to tremble. Gu Xin did not notice and instead held Yan Shuangshuang step by step as they moved back toward the door.

“Trust me. Don’t lift your head.”

In the darkness, Yan Shuangshuang could only be forced to follow Gu Xin’s steps backward.

When Gu Xin took one step forward, she had to take one step back.

Forward, backward. Forward, backward. Like dancing.

After losing her sight, her other senses were magnified without limit.

She smelled the scent of soap on Gu Xin’s body, familiar yet unfamiliar. Gu Xin had not used bar soap in many years. She had said that back then, she had been young and did not know how to take care of herself; if she had the conditions, why not use something better?

Time seemed to flow backward in that instant.

Under dim lighting, Gu Xin, still a young girl then, had bared her impatient thorns without restraint. But the moment she saw Yan Shuangshuang, Gu Xin walked straight over, her eyes fixed on her without shifting once, and asked, “Want to dance?”

That was also the first time Yan Shuangshuang learned that Gu Xin knew how to tango.

Led by Gu Xin, she slid onto the dance floor and into the crowd. In Gu Xin’s arms, she gradually bloomed with abandon, dancing to her heart’s content.

That night, Gu Xin led her through every corner of the dance floor. They were like two birds: if one flew away, the other had to chase after her closely, never separating. Their sweat mixed with their pheromones, entwining in secret. Beneath everyone’s eyes, they exchanged each other’s scent.

When they had danced until they were nearly unable to keep moving, they left the dance floor. In a corner, in the shadows, two pairs of eyes equally lit with flame gazed at one another.

Neither was willing to look away first.

Everything around them was heating up. They seemed to be standing among the clouds, dreamlike and unreal, so beautiful it was almost excessive. Their palms were sticky with sweat, yet they held each other even tighter.

The distance between them was very close. So close that even the breaths they took seemed to be each other’s exhalations. Yan Shuangshuang finally smelled Gu Xin’s pheromones. It was a floral fragrance so rich it nearly suffocated her. And along with that fragrance came a swift, gentle kiss.

Like spring thunder exploding, and stolen contentwhen spring rain fell, all living things on the earth began to sway and grow joyfully.

Amid the surging crowd, they exchanged the first kiss between an adult and a youth.