Julian Qi looked at me with a somewhat complicated expression, finally nodding, "Thank you, Sis Zoe." I believe Lila Wei's departure made him understand some things.
If there were shortcuts in life, why bother trudging through the mud? "Sis Zoe, I need to go now." After sitting for a moment, Julian Qi stood up, embracing the fat orange cat to say goodbye, "See you." "Alright, let me see you off." I got up, too.
Julian Qi shook his head repeatedly, "It's fine. I can just catch a taxi outside. It's too cold, and the roads are slippery. You're better off staying home." I didn't insist. After seeing Julian Qi off, I hugged Bubu and gave it a kiss, then took it upstairs to play the piano.
Bubu was far more sensible than Hugh Pei. It listened quietly to my music, never protesting that I was too loud. The snow outside grew heavier, and after playing several songs, I carried Bubu to the windowsill to watch the snowfall.
The sky was getting darker, and the streetlights in the manor lit up, casting a cool glow over the snowy ground. Suddenly, a servant appeared downstairs, hurriedly running to open the large iron gate. Hugh Pei's car appeared outside.
He got out, slamming the car door behind him and striding towards the house in an irritated manner. I widened my eyes, my mind racing with a single thought, exactly what Hugh Pei had said: "You better wait for me." He's not really coming all the way back to settle things with me, is he? I felt a bit panicked. In my last life, I would have eagerly wanted him to come home and argue with me. I wanted to list my sacrifices to awaken his guilt and make him stay with me. But now, I really wasn't good at having a confrontation with him; I could only manage a few sharp words. "Where's Zoe Xu?" Just as I left the piano room, I heard Hugh Pei's voice coming from below.
I peeked my head out into the corridor, and he was looking up at me. So I quickly went downstairs, running towards the master bedroom on the second floor. Hugh Pei also hurried upstairs, trying to corner me. With his long legs, he reached me in a few strides, and as I opened the door, he had already grabbed my hand. "Why are you back?" I had no choice but to feign calmness and ask. "Did I come back to disrupt your good thing?" Hugh Pei's bad mood was apparent.
His usually indifferent eyes glinted with anger. Not wanting the servants to overhear our argument, I lowered my voice, "Let's talk in the room." Hugh Pei pushed the door open, pulling me inside. After steadying myself, I sat down on the edge of the bed, twisted my wrist which he had pulled painfully, and looked up at him.
He paced in front of me for a while, finally stopping to ask, "Zoe Xu, what exactly do you want?" "Isn't that a question I should be asking you?" I snapped back, "What do you want? There's nothing going on between Julian Qi and me; we're just friends. Meanwhile, you are blatantly pursuing Lila Wei. Don't you think you're the one who should explain?" "From the first day you met me, you should have known I'm not lacking women around me.
Did you think about this when you married me?" Hugh Pei glowered at me. "So I, Zoe Xu, was born to be your pet?" I laughed in anger, standing up to meet Hugh Pei's gaze. "I've said it before, I don't want to be a sycophant anymore.
You can pursue Lila Wei, and I can have my friends. What's wrong with that?" Saying this, I opened a drawer and took out several documents, laying them out in front of Hugh Pei. Calmly, I said, "Here are three divorce agreements.
One has me leaving empty-handed, one gives me 3% of the Pei's shares, and one offers 8%. Take a look and see which one suits you best; just sign it." There shouldn't be any wife as considerate as me left in this world.
I even prepared three different divorce agreements for him to choose from. Unfortunately, Hugh Pei didn't appreciate my thoughtfulness.
Instead, his anger flared even more. He tore the three divorce agreements into pieces and threw them in the trash, then took off his coat and tossed it on the bed, wordlessly walking to the window to smoke. "The issues between us should have been resolved long ago.
Why drag it out?" I sighed softly, watching his back as I continued, "I've brought up divorce several times already. If you agree, both of us would be much easier." He still didn't speak, chain-smoking silently, his still back making me feel a bit sad. Ginny Deng didn't want to get married, Ella Li found a pragmatic partner, and Tilly Ouyang immersed herself in her career.
They all understand that in our circle, marriage is just a relationship based on benefit. Do men not want to have fun when they have money? It's hard.
Even if he is a natural-born impotent, he will find ways to have fun elsewhere. So a man like Hugh Pei can't be faithful. When I got married, my mother once asked me if I regretted it. At that time, I was hoping for the so-called love, of course, I didn't regret it.
If my dad could stay with my mom for nearly thirty years, why couldn't I convince Hugh Pei to grow old with me? "Tomorrow is my mom's birthday.
You should come back with me." After a long silence, Hugh Pei didn't answer my question; instead, he mentioned something else.
I knew he still wouldn't accept the divorce. It was obviously not out of love for me, but after weighing the pros and cons, he thought Lila Wei wasn't enough for him to give up the benefits of marriage. "Okay," I nodded. Now that Hugh Pei was showing considerable restraint, I figured if I kept talking, I might provoke a storm.
I decided to go along with things for now. If he wasn't anxious about the divorce, then neither was I. As long as he came to trouble me, I would bring up the divorce; this tactic seemed to work well. Hugh Pei went to take a shower, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
After changing into pajamas, I lay down in bed and played with my phone. An hour ago, Lila Wei had posted a selfie, practicing for a performance, but her expression seemed a bit dim. It was probably because Hugh Pei was back, which put her in a bad mood.
Just as I was about to scroll down, she suddenly messaged me: Sis Zoe, has Mr. Pei come home? I was surprised; she was talking about Hugh Pei with me? I replied: He's home, taking a shower. After a few minutes of silence, she responded: That's good, he's really a good man. His mom's birthday is tomorrow, and he needs to hurry back.
I wondered what identity Lila Wei had when chatting about such topics with me. She hadn't even stated her current relationship with Hugh Pei and just jumped straight into personal matters. After thinking for a minute, I concluded that Lila Wei probably felt I already knew everything, so there was no need for a showdown between the legitimate wife and the mistress.
I quickly typed back: Yes, he's a filial son. Lila Wei: Sis Zoe is really charming. I heard you and Julian went to the pet store today?
How did she know about that? Did Evan Yu mention it when I sent him the video? Was Lila Wei also there? Why hadn't he told me? Before I could think of how to reply, Lila Wei dropped another shocking piece of news: I always thought Julian treated Sis Zoe differently, which is why I broke up with him. Now that I think about it, my decision was really correct.