I'm Done with the Elite Marriage - Chapter 47

In his drunken state, Fu Xunzhou’s instinct was always to protect Zhou Youling. No matter the time or place, he never harbored any thought of harming her, nor did he ever want her to get hurt.

The two of them tumbled to the floor, with Fu Xunzhou becoming a human cushion for Zhou Youling.

The hard marble floor had already witnessed Fu Xunzhou’s falls several times today, but he seemed numb to the pain.

Zhou Youling propped herself up on Fu Xunzhou’s shoulders, her heart pounding in her chest.

“Are you okay?” Fu Xunzhou asked, his hands firmly supporting Zhou Youling’s waist.

In a fluster, Zhou Youling quickly got up, her first instinct being to check her abdomen. With the awareness of becoming a mother, she prioritized the little one inside her in everything she did.

Fortunately, it was just a false alarm.

Sitting on the floor, Fu Xunzhou looked up at Zhou Youling, drunkenly chiding her, “So careless again… always so reckless.”

It would have been better if he hadn’t said anything; his words only fueled Zhou Youling’s anger.

In the middle of the night, if it weren’t for the Fu brothers, she wouldn’t be in this situation.

Fu Xunzhou’s accusatory tone reminded Zhou Youling of when they were still married. He always had that cold demeanor, never considering her feelings.

Zhou Youling suddenly regretted her moment of softness tonight.

She should have just let him freeze outside.

Noticing Zhou Youling’s displeased expression, Fu Xunzhou tugged at her pajama pants with an innocent look, asking, “Are you mad…?”

Furious, Zhou Youling kicked Fu Xunzhou away, “Get lost! It’s all your fault! How dare you blame me! It’s all because of you!”

Fu Xunzhou, knocked to the ground, looked at Zhou Youling with a pitiful expression.

Usually so cold and distant, he now seemed like someone who had been thoroughly wronged.

“What are you looking at?” Zhou Youling said, giving him another light kick, not daring to actually hurt him.

Fu Xunzhou sat up on the warm floor, admitting his fault to Zhou Youling, “I was wrong.”

Zhou Youling found it amusing, “You were wrong? How so?”

Fu Xunzhou shook his head.

He had no idea.

Zhou Youling continued, “You don’t even know what you did wrong? Then why are you saying you were wrong?”

“I…” Fu Xunzhou tentatively tugged at Zhou Youling’s pants again, asking, “Can you tell me…?”

Zhou Youling laughed in exasperation, “You always treat me with impatience, indifference, never considering my feelings, assuming everything is as you believe it should be.”

Fu Xunzhou listened intently, seemingly pondering Zhou Youling’s words.

But Zhou Youling wasn’t sure how much of it the drunken Fu Xunzhou could comprehend. She even felt that saying these things now was somewhat redundant.

If it weren’t for his drunken state, Zhou Youling wouldn’t have said any of this. Yet, as she spoke, she realized that she hadn’t truly let go of this relationship, still holding onto it.

This realization made Zhou Youling suddenly a bit scared. Feeling thirsty, she decided to ignore Fu Xunzhou sitting on the floor and went to pour herself a glass of water.

When Zhou Youling finished drinking her water and looked back at Fu Xunzhou on the floor, she found he had already fallen asleep.

The floor was warm, so there was no worry about him catching a cold, but Zhou Youling still covered him with a blanket.

She squatted down and watched him for a while, suddenly feeling that he was a stranger.

Fu Xunzhou’s face, his demeanor, his physique.

Honestly, in the years they were married, they hadn’t spent much time together.

…

That night, Zhou Youling didn’t sleep well. Perhaps it was the water she drank before bed, causing her to get up several times during the night.

The apartment was small, and in her half-asleep state, she forgot Fu Xunzhou was lying on the floor and accidentally stepped on him.

In the darkness, Fu Xunzhou let out a muffled groan, thinking he was dreaming.

Around six in the morning, it was still pitch black outside.

The small apartment was without its night light because Zhou Youling was somewhat afraid of the dark.

After six, Zhou Youling was fully awake. She tossed and turned for a while before deciding to get up.

Fu Xunzhou had somehow moved from the floor to the sofa. Perhaps finding the floor too hard, he sought a more comfortable spot.

He was tall, and the sofa was too short for him, so he had to curl up.

To avoid the awkwardness of a morning encounter, Zhou Youling got dressed and ready, then left the apartment.

It seemed she hadn’t gotten up this early since her student days.

On the winter morning streets, the sanitation workers were the first to busy themselves. Nearby breakfast stalls had already opened, with steam rising from them.

After a few steps, the sun gradually rose, its rays piercing through layers of clouds to illuminate the earth.

Zhou Youling remembered how she used to get up early for school. Her family was struggling then, and without a driver to take her, she would get up early and ride her bike to school. Her home was far from school, so she had no choice but to rise early. Summer was bearable, but in winter, getting up felt like a life-threatening task. The most interesting part was riding through foggy days, with water droplets soon covering her eyelashes.

Today’s weather seemed nice-no fog, no rain, just warm sunshine.

At a quarter past seven, Fu Xunzhou finally woke up from his curled position on the small sofa.

He seemed to have had a long dream, everything felt both real and unreal.

Fu Xunzhou slowly sat up on the sofa, finding himself in a completely unfamiliar place, surrounded by pink decorations. Through a familiar pillow on the sofa, he quickly realized who might own this home, yet he couldn’t quite believe it.

He hurriedly stood up from the sofa and walked around the small apartment. It was filled with Zhou Youling’s presence, even the ceramic mug on the table was in her preferred style.

The dreams from last night seemed to gradually surface in Fu Xunzhou’s mind, and he recalled Zhou Youling’s words: “You always treat me with impatience, indifference, never considering my feelings, assuming everything is as you believe it should be.”

Fu Xunzhou finally opened the balcony door, and the cold air rushed in. He stood on the balcony, quietly gazing into the distance, then reached out to wipe his face.

His father had passed away when he was young, and his mother raised him single-handedly. In the Fu Family, his mother’s principle was always to endure silently.

For Yu Wanrong, surviving in the Fu Family meant swallowing one’s pride.

Fu Xunzhou assumed Zhou Youling would be like his mother, so often in the Fu Family, he chose to avoid conflict, not intervening much. But he never considered that his actions might seem cold to her.

Indeed, he wasn’t a competent husband, nor did he deserve to be one.

A pot of pink daisies quietly sat in the corner of the balcony, blooming brightly.

Fu Xunzhou crouched down to carefully observe the daisies, recalling how Zhou Youling seemed to be holding a similar flower when she was with Ji Yangwen.

If it were Ji Yangwen, who never liked to suffer losses, he surely wouldn’t let his woman endure any grievances.