After the Divorce, My Love Was Restarted - Chapter 9

That day, I opened my chat window with Wei Qingchen countless times.

Our conversation was still stuck at a few days ago, when he said he’d come back and cook me a feast.

There were so many things I wanted to ask him. I wanted to hear him say in person that the rumors circulating in the company weren’t true… That he would, just as he said, wait for me to agree to be with him.

But I didn’t have the courage to send even a single message, not even a simple “Hi.”

A three-year marriage can end just like that, and Wei Qingchen and I weren’t even boyfriend and girlfriend. What position did I have to question him?

If love is doomed to be unattainable, at least I should keep my last shred of dignity.

Maybe in this lifetime, I’ll never encounter so-called love again.

Then I’ll just live alone.

But my heart hurts so much. Without me realizing, this person has come to occupy such an important place in my heart.

Yet I only realized it after the fact.

I muddled through the whole day, dragging my exhausted body back like a sleepwalker.

Just as I got out of the elevator and was about to unlock my door, I heard a bright female voice from inside: “This one, this one, and this one, pack them all up and take them away…”

I walked into the living room and saw her face clearly.

It was a strikingly beautiful face, with willow brows and almond eyes, paired with a Chanel black jacket and white dress-noble and elegant from head to toe.

My instinct told me she was Wei Qingchen’s fiancée.

Indeed, a good match for Wei Qingchen.

The thought flashed through my mind, bitterly.

She was directing the movers, and when she saw me come in, a faint, ambiguous smile curled at her lips.

It wasn’t a pleasant smile.

“So you’re Chen Yimiao?” She raised her arched brows and looked at me.

Without waiting for my answer, she continued on her own: “You are pretty. No wonder he would rather live crammed in a dormitory with you than stay in a luxury house next to the company…”

“But no matter how clever your tricks are, you better stop. A divorced woman actually dreams of marrying up to Wei Qingchen…” There was blatant disdain in her dismissive tone.

The Chanel No. 5 perfume on her was still exuding a rich, elegant floral scent-the 30ml, 3,000 yuan bottle.

But what I smelled was the stench of blindness and arrogance propped up by wealth.

When Wei Qingchen moved in, he was just an ordinary single male colleague. Who knew he was the heir to a conglomerate? Who knew he was to be married off to another woman?

Who was going to give me an explanation?!

Now, why should I have to endure humiliation from his so-called fiancée?

A day’s worth of stifled resentment was successfully provoked into hostility by her.

Suddenly, I didn’t want to put up with it anymore.

“So what if I’m divorced? Didn’t he still cook me dinner every night? Oh, and that’s not all-he even bought me sanitary pads late at night, made me brown sugar water, massaged my stomach… He worked with me during the day and came home to cook for me at night. For the past few months, we’ve been inseparable. I guess as his fiancée, you never had that kind of treatment, did you?” A hint of satisfaction curled at my lips, and my gaze was bold.

“You!…” Her features twisted with anger, all earlier composure gone.

“Shameless bitch!” She spat out the words before slamming the door and leaving furiously.

I watched as the movers took out Wei Qingchen’s things, one by one, until nothing was left.

The empty room was just like my heart at that moment.

I pulled out my phone, found Wei Qingchen on WeChat, deleted and blocked him.

Everything was over.

I resigned from the company as quickly as I could, found a new place, and moved out.

Wei Qingchen and I never contacted each other again.

Three months later.

One day, while chatting with a former colleague, just as we were about to finish, she suddenly gossiped mysteriously: “Yimiao, did you know? Wei Qingchen also resigned from the company. He was supposed to get engaged, but for some reason he refused… The boss was furious, and Wei Qingchen just left the company…”

Seeing the name “Wei Qingchen” again, it felt as distant as if from the last century. I was a bit dazed.

All those memories I’d deliberately buried suddenly came flooding back like a dam breaking.

I remembered a boy who handed me a clean tissue by the roadside when I was so miserable I felt like dying.

That boy would bend over in a cramped kitchen and make me a whole seafood banquet, and in between cooking, he’d wipe the sweat from his temples.

He once went out in the middle of a painful night to buy me painkillers.

He once kissed me in the dark, and I heard the erratic beat of his heart.

He accompanied me through the hardest days after my divorce, so I didn’t have to lick my wounds alone in a corner.

And in the end, just as he finally managed to sneak into my heart, he was going to get engaged to someone else.

Everything was vivid in my mind.

A mess of emotions swirled in my heart, and that night, I couldn’t sleep at all.

A week later, I came home after work as usual.

At my door, a young man was sitting on his suitcase, waiting for me.

It was the face that had disappeared for three months and twenty-two days.

When he saw me, he awkwardly put his hands behind his back and put on a pitiful expression.

“Sis, can you take me in?” He pursed his lips, his dimples obvious.

I stood there, unmoving, for a long time before I could speak: “Why? I need a reason to be convinced.”

“I’m really good at cooking, especially at making your favorite dishes.

“I can do some housework, and I don’t eat much, really easy to support.

“I can even warm your tummy, and guarantee to cure your period pain.”

…

He reached out a finger and tugged at my sleeve.

But hadn’t he once left without a word, almost making me the shameless other woman?

I shook off his finger, opened the door, and went in, about to close it behind me.

“Ouch!” The door didn’t close.

He stuck his hand in, and a purple-red mark instantly appeared on his fair, slender hand-it looked painful.

My heart clenched, but my face stayed impassive.

“Don’t be mad, Miaomiao.” His brows were knitted, and his clear peach blossom eyes were full of innocent pleading. “I gave up the whole family business for you, and this is how you treat me?”

As if I were some heartless player-please!

I turned and walked inside, leaving him with only one sentence: “I’d like to hear how you gave up the whole Wei Family for me…” and let him in as I spoke.

“Well, I refused the engagement and made my dad so angry he was hospitalized. He said if I didn’t get engaged, he’d kick me out of the Wei Family and leave me nothing…

“I said, who cares about that inheritance, and then I was promptly thrown out.

“Now I have nothing, not even a place to stay. Can you really bear to let me sleep under a bridge?”

His voice was pitiful and innocent, with a brazen hint of wheedling.

He even went so far as to rest his chin on my shoulder and wrapped his arms around me from behind.

I slapped his hand away, suppressing the smile forming at the corner of my mouth: “But what does this have to do with me?”

He clung to me like an octopus: “You heartless person, didn’t I refuse the marriage for you? Is this how you repay me? Hmm?”

He turned my body, forcing me to face him: “My heart is deeply wounded and needs special compensation to heal…”

Then came a long, passionate kiss that nearly took my breath away.

In the heat of the moment, I heard his earnest voice: “Miaomiao, I’ve already taken ninety-nine steps towards you. Just take that one step, hold my hand tightly, okay? Being out of touch with you for three months, my world was entirely gray.”

His voice was deep and magnetic, so pleasant to hear.

I looked at his face, which had become much thinner yet remained clean and handsome, and felt incredibly bright and happy inside: “Alright, from now on, just follow me!”

[End of the main text]

Wei Qingchen’s Extra Story

On May 20th, two years later, Wei Qingchen held the bright red marriage certificate, still grateful for his decision back then.

When he was dragged back from England by the old man to inherit the family business, he resisted.

To be honest, his dream was to be an independent photographer traveling the world, not a businessman scheming against rivals.

However, seeing the tired face of the nearly 70-year-old man, he softened and agreed to give it a try, with the condition that he could leave if it didn’t suit him.

The old man had him rotate through each department to familiarize himself with the business in every field.

When it was the Design Department’s turn, his heart skipped a beat because standing in front of him was the head of the department, his college crush, Chen Yimiao.

He decided to stay in the Design Department indefinitely.

During the summer vacation of his sophomore year, he participated in a rural teaching activity organized by the school.

Once, after visiting a student’s home, he was heading back to his lodging when he unexpectedly fell into a pit while passing through a small grove.

The pit was covered with dense ground grass, looking no different from the path he had walked, but it was a hunter’s trap.

After falling in, he realized the pit was deeper than his height, and he tried to climb out intermittently for two hours, all to no avail.

In the rarely visited grove, his phone had no signal, and he had no idea when his companions would notice his absence.

Was he going to spend the night in the pit? There might even be wolves and wild boars…

Thinking of this, he shivered with fear and quickly began calling for help again.

Unexpectedly, someone really came. It was a youthful, bright face, akin to an angel in Wei Qingchen’s eyes.

She said her name was Chen Yimiao, and she was also there for the teaching activity.

Chen Yimiao found several large stones nearby and threw them into the pit, allowing Wei Qingchen to stack them and finally climb out.

After that, they often ran into each other, as she was from a neighboring school, one year ahead of him.

Once, he was chased by a flock of long-necked white geese, and it was Chen Yimiao who came to his rescue with a stick.

He was frustrated; why did he always meet her in his most embarrassing moments?

The young Wei Qingchen, for the first time, realized he had fallen for a girl who loved to laugh.

Later, Chen Yimiao’s team returned to school before his, but he hadn’t had the chance to get her contact information.

Afterwards, he searched for her at the neighboring school, but in the vast campus, not knowing her department, he always returned empty-handed.

Even after graduating and going abroad for further studies, he still hadn’t found her contact information.

Unexpectedly, he met her again after returning to the country, and it was in his own company.

But she was already married.

His heart sank to the bottom, giving up the idea of reconnecting with her, as mentioning those past events seemed meaningless now.

Yet he couldn’t bear to leave the Design Department, so he stayed by her side, quietly observing.

He noticed that compared to college, Chen Yimiao had become somewhat melancholic, as if she had left her genuine, bright smile forever in that summer.

Until he saw her on a summer night by the street, staring blankly at her husband kissing another woman.

Seeing her haggard face, his heart felt as if it was pricked by needles, a dense pain.

Unexpectedly, she was so decisive. A few days later, he learned from colleagues that she had divorced and applied for a dormitory.

He quickly packed his belongings and moved next door to her, even though he had a spacious apartment near the company.

She had just divorced and must be feeling down, so he moved in to be her source of joy.

Sure enough, under his intentional and unintentional care, she gradually became cheerful again.

But that man repeatedly appeared around her, and he began to panic.

He decided to confess his feelings and reveal his identity after returning from a business trip, mentioning those past events.

If she didn’t accept him right away, it was okay; he could wait, always staying by her side.

Unexpectedly, the business trip was extended to a month.

Even more unexpectedly, his father acted without integrity.

During his absence, not only did his father announce his heir status, but also arranged a commercial marriage for him.

The marriage partner was the daughter of his father’s war buddy.

But he didn’t like the girl’s condescending attitude towards ordinary people.

When he tried to send a WeChat message to Chen Yimiao again, he found himself blocked, and his calls went unanswered.

He hurried back, only to find the dormitory empty, with both his belongings and Chen Yimiao gone without a trace.

Everything seemed to revert to that summer, when he eagerly tried to approach the girl he liked, only for her to disappear once again.

What overwhelmed him was an endless sense of suffocation.

He felt angry and wronged.

Ignoring his father’s persuasion, warnings, and threats, he decisively went to his father’s old friend’s house to call off the marriage.

This directly angered his father into the intensive care unit.

After meticulously caring for him for a month, his father finally emerged from danger.

Yet he still refused to compromise, and his father waved him off, intending to kick him out of the house.

At this point, he was confused and haggard.

He didn’t know where she was or if he could wait for her; he just didn’t want her to return and find someone else by his side.

If that happened, they would have no chance in this lifetime.

He grew thinner, immersing himself in work, until a colleague couldn’t stand it anymore and gave him Chen Yimiao’s address.

Seeing her approach from afar, his heart pounded with nervousness.

Her brows furrowed: What? Are you planning to drive me away?

Quick-witted, he immediately put on a pitiful face: “Sis, can you take me in?”

This time, whether through persistence or playing dumb, he would never miss her again.

(End)