The Iceberg Ex-Wife Doesn't Want to Take My Tragic Ending Script (BE Script) - Chapter 2

Shang Jinyue’s cool, gentle lips landed on Shi Xiu’s bare back, sending a shower of fine, dense electric currents through her.

Shi Xiu’s mind went blank for an instant, but then the emotions she had suppressed throughout the drive overwhelmed the long-awaited intimacy.

Happy? What did she have to be happy about?

Was it that her lover, whom she hadn’t seen for over half a year, suddenly returned home without her knowing?

Or was it being caught completely off guard on the first day of her exhibition by her lover bringing a “friend” along?

Shi Xiu felt that not having an outburst on the spot was significant progress; she was learning to maintain adult composure. Otherwise, given her temper, had the person opposite her not been Shang Jinyue, she would have long since walked out.

Yet, the person who made her feel this way was precisely Shang Jinyue.

Shi Xiu held back her feelings, turned around, and demanded: “When did you get back?”

“Yesterday,” Shang Jinyue replied truthfully, showing no intention of hiding anything.

However, looking at Shang Jinyue’s calm expression, Shi Xiu felt this person might not have regarded this matter as anything important. They hadn’t seen each other for over half a year, yet it seemed she was the only one who cared.

This thought made Shi Xiu even angrier. She simply laid the problem bare and tossed it to Shang Jinyue: “Why didn’t you tell me? Don’t you know I wanted to see you?”

Shang Jinyue replied: “I went straight to the 50th Anniversary Gala of Wonbo Capital after landing yesterday. We wouldn’t have seen each other, so there was no need.”

Wonbo Capital was Wen Youqing’s family company, and its collaboration with the Shang family had always been close. Shi Xiu was just a small gallery owner; no matter how large her business grew, she wouldn’t be taken seriously by them, and naturally wouldn’t be invited to such a banquet. Not even if she were to attend with Shang Jinyue as her wife.

Whether it was because of this incident, or Shang Jinyue’s indifferent “We wouldn’t have seen each other, so there was no need,” Shi Xiu felt inexplicably tight-chested upon hearing the answer. It felt as if a weight was pressing down on her, making it difficult to breathe.

The temperature in the wine cellar was colder than the controlled thermostat in the house. The chill spread along Shi Xiu’s fingers.

The effect of alcohol became highly significant at this moment. It could numb this feeling for Shi Xiu, allowing her to get oxygen and come back to life. Therefore, Shi Xiu only wanted to shake off Shang Jinyue’s hand and retrieve the bottle of wine she had half-opened.

Even the most indifferent people develop familiarity after seven years of companionship. The moment Shi Xiu raised her arm, Shang Jinyue tightened the hand placed around Shi Xiu’s waist. She knew Shi Xiu was going to drink again.

In the spacious wine cellar, Shang Jinyue ignored social distance and held Shi Xiu close in her arms. It was as if the resentment didn’t exist, as if they were still as inseparable as when they first got married.

“So you’re unhappy about this?” Patience seemed to increase with intimacy, Shang Jinyue asked softly. However, the voice lacked desire, carrying only an undertone of casualness.

This made Shi Xiu frown.

“Did I say I was unhappy? Today, the gallery has been launched. Do you know how many people said I did a great job this time? I single-handedly won two of this year’s top ten gallery awards.”

This was Shi Xiu’s way; the more nonchalant Shang Jinyue was, the less Shi Xiu would admit to her feelings. She held her chin high, as if this would prevent her pride from ever touching the ground.

The chandelier suspended in the wine cellar cast a golden glow that fell upon Shi Xiu’s face. Her eyes were bright, and they sparkled with triumph when she spoke about her accomplishments. No one saw the loneliness hidden in the shadows, only the lipstick, not yet removed, loudly proclaimed itself on her opening and closing mouth, like an enticing siren.

Shang Jinyue watched quietly and, for once, offered a rare compliment: “It was indeed very well done. The snowy scene integrated into the film, it has a unique flavor and is surprisingly pleasing.”

“Is that so?”

But Shi Xiu clearly didn’t accept the appreciation, her eyes filled with sarcasm: “I think it’s less surprising than my own lover showing up unexpectedly with another woman.”

“You bring another woman to my home turf without a word of warning. Are you trying to tell me, and the group of people present today, something?”

The questioning of Shang Jinyue was more out of control than Shi Xiu had anticipated. The low temperature made Shi Xiu’s exposed shoulders turn red, and she seemed to be trembling slightly. She was uneasy.

The light outlined the shadows of the two women. Shang Jinyue gently blinked her eyes, her thick lashes curving and seemingly reaching out to Shi Xiu.

“I just wanted to tell you that I’m back.”

“With Wen Youqing,” Shi Xiu quickly added.

“She was just coming with me; she came specifically to see Feng Xinyang’s paintings,” Shang Jinyue explained again.

Shi Xiu retorted: “I can see that, she really likes Feng Xinyang’s paintings.” Her expression was blank, and her tone was laced with passive aggression.

Yet, Shang Jinyue acted as if she couldn’t hear it, asking her: “So, what are you still unhappy about?”

Exactly, this was Shang Jinyue’s logic. She thought that once she explained clearly, Shi Xiu would surely understand and accept it.

But in reality, how could someone like Shang Jinyue, who had maneuvered between several power factions for so many years, possess such an unreasonable logic? How could she not realize the kind of rumors their joint appearance at Shi Xiu’s gallery would bring to all three of them?

And how could she not know why Shi Xiu hadn’t been invited to many banquets over the years—not just by the Wen family?

Factional disputes were complex, yet she managed to sort them out perfectly. She had the vast Shang Group in her hands; was there anything she couldn’t do?

If she wanted to, she could easily have done it for Shi Xiu.

Or maybe she just didn’t care…

Shi Xiu didn’t want to think further and the urge to drink became stronger. So, she turned sideways, moving back to a less intimate distance from Shang Jinyue: “You won’t let me drink.”

Shang Jinyue frowned, even showing a hint of displeasure. She didn’t understand why Shi Xiu was so fond of drinking. Alcohol caused people to lose control of their bodies; was it truly interesting to constantly make oneself look messy and disorderly? What did she need alcohol to numb herself from?

“You’ve already had enough to drink today,” Shang Jinyue’s emotion was flat as she reminded Shi Xiu. —Shang Jinyue had smelled the alcohol on Shi Xiu since they were in the car.

The gallery required Shi Xiu to greet and send off guests, meaning she must have drunk a lot.

“So what?” Shi Xiu tilted her head, adopting the same attitude Shang Jinyue had when she finished her explanation.

You get to finish your explanation and expect me to accept it. But I can’t finish my sentence and then go do what I want?

The light hit the wine cabinet, and every pane of glass reflected a human shadow. The glass grating separated Shi Xiu and Shang Jinyue from different angles. Even though they made eye contact, and the alcohol-laced breath drifted onto Shang Jinyue’s nose, they were still divided into two worlds by the grating.

Perhaps, from the very beginning, they were people from two different worlds.

Shi Xiu’s eyes were somewhat blurry, and somewhat numb. The confrontation with Shang Jinyue was ongoing, yet she felt a premature sense of powerlessness, leaning against the chair behind her. She didn’t want to be so hostile with Shang Jinyue right after their reunion.

They hadn’t seen each other for a long time. She wanted to share her life experiences from the past six months, and the happy things that had happened recently.

But the moment Shi Xiu saw Shang Jinyue at the gallery, she couldn’t cheer up in her usual carefree way. She couldn’t be happy anymore.

From the car to the elevator, she had activated her happiness system countless times, wanting to say something to Shang Jinyue. But her mouth wouldn’t open. Today’s lipstick felt especially sticky, gluing her mouth shut. Her throat was hollow, unable to squeeze out any sound.

Only a pair of red lips remained. Like a burning flame, fueled by alcohol, crackling towards Shang Jinyue.

People couldn’t smell their own scent. The scent of a marine-toned perfume floated in the cool air. The scent had no strong sense of aggression, with neither sweet top nor base notes, yet it rushed towards Shi Xiu unexpectedly. Only floating strands of hair remained on the glass grating on Shang Jinyue’s side.

Shang Jinyue crossed the boundary, prying open Shi Xiu’s tightly closed lips.

Should one say this person’s kiss was abrupt?

But at this moment, besides a kiss, what else could they use to end this unpleasant conversation? They hadn’t seen each other for too long. Didn’t they deserve a kiss of reunion after a long separation?

Shi Xiu frowned, as if trying to soothe herself. She was an agitated cat, wanting to bite Shang Jinyue when the other woman pried open her mouth. But when it came down to it, Shi Xiu only symbolically opened her mouth.

She didn’t actually bite Shang Jinyue; instead, she let Shang Jinyue take advantage, mixing their breaths and pushing into her oral cavity. The person’s cool fingers clasped Shi Xiu’s pulsating throat, making her mind feel completely blank.

It had been so long since they kissed that Shi Xiu had almost forgotten what it felt like to be with Shang Jinyue. However, her subconscious still remembered that this person’s blood clotting function wasn’t very good. That’s why she hadn’t bitten down just now.

Shang Jinyue was like this, full of flaws. She was too cold-natured, disliked talking, and besides kissing, her mouth was just for show. She disliked exercise, hated swimming pools, didn’t have a strong appetite, and needed to be served delicately in everything she did.

But Shi Xiu never found this troublesome, as Shang Jinyue was the person she chose herself. She pursued her relentlessly, using all her strength to register their marriage. Why, after obtaining her, would she start to complain and stop cherishing and carefully protecting her?

Marriage was merely the end of the story’s prelude, not the conclusion.

But what about Shang Jinyue? Did she think the same way?

After bringing Shi Xiu home, she neglected her. Group matters kept her busy for seven years; from the beginning, when she frequently came home and occasionally brought gifts, to now, constantly stationed overseas, with no calls for ten days or half a month, and not even telling Shi Xiu she was returning this time.

Shi Xiu knew this person was not verbose, and emotions weren’t only expressed through words. Her ability to persist in this one-sided conversation over the years was also because she could feel Shang Jinyue’s affection for her, and the undeniable truthfulness that emerged when she interacted with her.

Shi Xiu always liked to look into Shang Jinyue’s eyes. Because this person would always reveal moist affection in her gaze when looking at her.

But now…

The moment of snow fall was extraordinarily quiet. The wet kiss was like melting snow water. It traveled from Shi Xiu’s mouth to Shang Jinyue’s lips. The initiative had shifted to Shi Xiu’s hands without her realizing it. This was Shang Jinyue’s habit; she generally disliked taking action.

So, Shi Xiu kissed her and, with one hand, pushed Shang Jinyue onto the single sofa to the side. She looked down at the person embedded in the sofa, noticing her well-proportioned figure, then returned to her eyes. The wine cabinet reflected light from all directions, making the emotions inside indiscernible, weighting the heart with complex feelings.

Shi Xiu stroked Shang Jinyue’s neck and cheek, murmuring in a low voice: “Do you still love me?”

The question was asked with anxiety and distress, making the person in the superior position look like a small, unsupported beast.

Shang Jinyue seemed to sense Shi Xiu’s emotion, reaching out to stroke Shi Xiu’s face. But she only said: “You’re drunk.”

Shi Xiu’s eyes instantly filled with disappointment. —That wasn’t the answer she wanted.

But the question Shi Xiu posed was, in Shang Jinyue’s eyes, merely a baseless, self-pitying pseudo-proposition. She didn’t take it seriously, perhaps even finding it absurd. She simply disliked her lover’s face being obscured, so she reached out to brush away the loose hair hanging in front of Shi Xiu’s face.

But why, after pushing Shi Xiu’s hair aside, did she see the sadness in Shi Xiu’s eyes looking back at her?

This emotion was unfamiliar to Shang Jinyue, causing her chest to tighten and making her pause momentarily.

“Shi!”

The question was blocked in her throat, and Shang Jinyue’s breathing pace sharply changed. Her thoughts went adrift. In a daze, an intimate sense of aggression poured down from above Shang Jinyue’s head, familiar yet slightly strange.

Shi Xiu held a mouthful of wine and degradingly delivered the alcohol in her mouth to Shang Jinyue. Tonight, they were accomplices in a shared crime.

The light was dim at night. A shadow moved back and forth in the unlit room. After several hours of exhausting activity, Shang Jinyue was already asleep in the bedroom, leaving only Shi Xiu to clean up the mess with clothes and tissues.

Shi Xiu had been doing these things alone for years. It wasn’t exactly unspoken understanding; Shang Jinyue simply wouldn’t do any of it, and Shi Xiu didn’t want to entrust this kind of task to the housekeeper.

Shang Jinyue had a sleep disorder; there could be no light in the room. In the pitch-black environment, Shi Xiu could only hear Shang Jinyue’s even breathing, as calm as she was when facing Shi Xiu’s questions not long ago.

The clock struck midnight, and a new day began. None of the issues between Shi Xiu and Shang Jinyue had been resolved. Just like every conflict initiated by Shi Xiu in the past.

Shi Xiu lay quietly beside Shang Jinyue. In the darkness, she couldn’t see Shang Jinyue’s face, nor her own. Neither of them realized that there was an elephant in the bedroom.

Every time Shang Jinyue returned, Shi Xiu would sleep well. But this time, she suddenly felt so tired. When she closed her eyes, her mind was filled with small, gray-black dots. These seemed to be the unresolved issues that had accumulated between her and Shang Jinyue over the years. They were slowly eating away at her spirit.

She couldn’t sleep tonight.

“Splash…”

The sound of running water intruded into Shi Xiu’s dream, waking her up. Although she had trouble sleeping, Shi Xiu eventually fell asleep after thinking about things until midnight.

She tiredly opened her eyes. The warm yet stimulating light of the room rushed into her vision. She hadn’t slept well last night and felt a bit dizzy. After a brief pause, she looked toward the source of the running water.

The bathroom light was on, and the spot on the bed next to Shi Xiu was empty. Shang Jinyue was already awake and getting ready. This person had an almost abnormal biological clock.

When they first got married, Shang Jinyue wasn’t traveling frequently. No matter how tired they were the night before, she would invariably get up at seven in the morning.

The sense of detachment from not seeing each other for half a year seemed to lessen slightly because of Shang Jinyue’s almost mechanical routine.

As the sound of running water stopped, Shi Xiu saw Shang Jinyue, neatly dressed, emerge from the bathroom. She wore a silk shirt with mother-of-pearl buttons fastened meticulously along the placket, flashing a subtle, magnificent light under the room lighting. She looked elegant and noble, and her long, beautiful curly hair was perfectly styled.

However, since Shi Xiu had lost control last night, the pinned-up hair couldn’t hide the red marks on her neck, which were more conspicuous than footprints in the snow.

Although the conflict last night ended with the changing of bed sheets twice, the atmosphere in the room remained somewhat strained. Shi Xiu looked at Shang Jinyue, who was sitting at the vanity, and took the initiative to break the ice: “Where are you going today?”

“A meeting,” Shang Jinyue slowly put down her hair, and told Shi Xiu her schedule for the day: “The land in Shoushan has been finalized. We have a meeting today to confirm the development plans. I’ll be back for lunch, and the afternoon will be free.”

Leaving the afternoon free was somewhat considerate of Shang Jinyue. But Shi Xiu didn’t feel like discussing what to do with Shang Jinyue in the afternoon. Upon hearing the name “Shoushan,” she shot up from the bed: “Then wait for me, I’m coming too.”

The land in Shoushan was the one Shi Xiu had mentioned to Feng Xinyang yesterday that she wanted. She planned to build an art incubation center there, and this time she wanted to invest in more than just painters.

But as soon as Shi Xiu finished speaking, Shang Jinyue gave her a cold refusal: “There’s no need for you to go.”

“Why?” Shi Xiu didn’t understand. “Didn’t Xiao Chen tell you?”

Shang Jinyue replied: “This land is going to Wen Youqing.”

Meaning, Xiao Chen did tell her. But Shang Jinyue didn’t intend to give it to Shi Xiu.

Hearing the name “Wen Youqing” again made Shi Xiu completely lose her composure. Her mood, which had just been reset upon waking up, plummeted into the negative. The energy she had painstakingly gathered was violently kicked back by Shang Jinyue.

A breath caught in Shi Xiu’s chest, neither rising nor falling. She gripped the blanket, forcefully suppressing the terrible suffocating feeling, and argued for herself: “That’s something I wanted.”

Shang Jinyue ignored her lover’s agitation and told Shi Xiu: “I will give you something you want even more.”

The person’s voice was casual, not perceiving any problem with taking away the land her partner deeply desired.

Yes, after all, for these years, Shi Xiu had lived according to Shang Jinyue’s will, always obeying her. But Shang Jinyue never considered how Shi Xiu managed to recover from her unilateral neglect and loss of contact during the years she was abroad. Feng Xinyang encouraged her to pick up painting again, and she finally developed her own idea. She had told Shang Jinyue about the art incubation center a long time ago.

Yet, in the end, the thing she had her heart set on was given away just like that.

Something she wanted even more.

Shi Xiu didn’t even know what else she could possibly want more.

Oh, she did have one thing she wanted.

She wanted Shang Jinyue.

But would Shang Jinyue give herself to her without reservation?

Shi Xiu didn’t know if this feeling was despair, but the suffocating sensation she had forced down seemed to have turned into a knife, scraping her windpipe and lungs. Every breath hurt.

She wasn’t a child anymore; didn’t she know that the rhetoric of exchanging things for “something better” was just empty talk?

Yesterday’s events were still vivid in her mind. Shi Xiu couldn’t forget, nor could she allow her property to fall into Wen Youqing’s hands again.

“So, your answer is still that this land goes to Wen Youqing, is that right?” Shi Xiu stared at Shang Jinyue in the mirror.

But Shang Jinyue in the mirror was not looking at her. She could lose control last night, clasping Shi Xiu, kissing and intertwining with her. But she could also, on the morning of the next day, calmly give Shi Xiu a decisive answer: “Yes.”

And then, she continued to apply her makeup. Deliberately concealing the traces of last night, hiding what she considered to be an indecent mark.

Other than that, there was nothing more she offered to Shi Xiu.

Artificial light lacked the warmth of the sun, and the automatic thermostat was cold. A gust of wind blew through the tightly sealed window, sounding like old snow breaking a tree branch.

Shi Xiu’s ring had somehow loosened. It might be because Shi Xiu had twisted it yesterday at the gallery, or perhaps because she had become thinner since they got married.

So, as Shi Xiu waved her hand, the wedding ring dropped from her finger with a “clatter.”

Coinciding with this, she delivered her highly emotional line: “Then let’s get a divorce.”