On the Wedding Night, I Transmigrated to After the Divorce – Chapter 23
by Little PandaRunning Into the Ex-Wife
But Fu Yunqing hates her.
Lu Yu, who worked a nine-to-five job, had overtime today and didn’t get home until eight in the evening. It was so exhausting that Yu Yan couldn’t bear to drag her along for drinks, so she decided to go alone. Lu Yu was a bit worried about her and told her not to get drunk, just drink in moderation. Yu Yan readily agreed, went downstairs, and hailed a taxi.
Autumn was deepening by the day. The temperature had grown too cool for skirts. Yu Yan wore a pair of grey bell-bottom jeans, a V-neck camisole under a sweater cardigan, and carried a small shoulder bag. She looked sweet and gentle. Yu Yan was quite satisfied with the result.
Everything had been fine, and her mood was good too, but when the car entered Yuncheng’s bustling district and Yu Yan gazed out the window at those magnificent skyscrapers that seemed to pierce the clouds, those sleepless neon lights, that extravagant revelry β a hollow sense of loss suddenly welled up inside her, so bitter it made her nose sting. She felt that the world that had once belonged to her had now abandoned her, shut her out. It no longer belonged to her.
This feeling was truly unbearable. Could Yu Yan’s grievance really be vented just by joking around with Lu Yu and howling drunkenly?
She used to be surrounded by so many people, so much company. The moment any grievance surfaced, it was immediately drowned out by a swarm of concerned attention. Even though she and Yu Lan didn’t get along, her mother had always been her support, giving her the confidence to do as she pleased. The world had been her playground.
And now?
Now she wore this cheap Pinxixi1 outfit, and even if she walked into Hermès, the sales staff would ignore her.
What exactly had she done wrong?
Yu Yan was actually quite strong. She really admired herself β she’d thought about so many sad things and still hadn’t cried. She even said thank you to the driver when she was dropped off at the bar entrance.
Today was Monday. hear wasn’t as crowded as last weekend. The live singer had already started performing. At a glance, there were plenty of empty seats.
She looked around for a while and saw Jiang Xuan waving at her.
In just two days, Jiang Xuan had already changed her hair color β from gold to green β and there seemed to be two more piercings on her face, though that might have been an illusion. The booth was almost full, mostly fashionably dressed university students, all unfamiliar faces. Chen Hao hadn’t come.
There was an empty seat next to Jiang Xuan. Beside it sat a woman in a camisole paired with a blazer who looked a bit more mature β probably the pretty rich woman Jiang Xuan had mentioned.
Knowing the empty seat was reserved for her, Yu Yan sat down beside her without hesitation and smiled at everyone in greeting.
Jiang Xuan introduced her: “This is Yu Yan, the one I was telling you about. Isn’t she super pretty?”
Of course she was pretty β that went without saying. Yu Yan had grown accustomed to being welcomed wherever she went.
“So pretty. Which university are you from? Are you a student at our school?”
Yu Yan was about to say the name of her school, then remembered: “I’ve already graduated.”
“Wow, really couldn’t tell. I thought you were a junior.”
Almost everyone exclaimed the same thing: “Really, I really thought you were a junior.”
“Jiejie is so young-looking.”
Even Yu Yan wasn’t used to it β she still felt like she was the same age as them.
Jiang Xuan poured her a glass of wine. Yu Yan picked it up and took a sip, then heard a steadier, sexier voice beside her ear: “Really couldn’t tell.”
Yu Yan raised her eyebrows, set down her glass, and turned her head to meet a pair of smiling eyes. The woman had long black hair loose around her shoulders, full makeup on, and frameless glasses perched on her high nose bridge. Combined with the blazer she wore, she had such a sharp, professional elite vibe.
“Thought you were a kid,” she said with a teasing undertone, introducing herself: “I’m Shen Anhe. Xiao Xuan probably mentioned me to you.”
“Mmhmm.” Yu Yan: “She mentioned you. Jiejie.”
Shen Anhe laughed: “Calling me jiejie so readily. So obedient.”
“Still a kid, huh.”
Yu Yan sensed the thick aura of a scum woman2, a master of romance.
When a scum woman meets a scum woman, there’s no magnetic pull β only an inexplicable surge of competitive spirit. Yu Yan provoked: “Oh~ Is jiejie really a jiejie?”
Shen Anhe: “Hmm? I look older than you.”
“Looks like it.”
“Could it be that you’re older than me?” Shen Anhe raised an eyebrow.
Yu Yan laughed softly: “Maybe jiejie just looks young.”
“Heh.” Shen Anhe laughed again, studying her for a moment: “The kid pretending to be an adult is pretty fierce, huh.”
“Want jiejie to switch your wine for milk?”
Yu Yan said, word by word: “No. Thank. You.”
Shen Anhe commented: “Big temper.”
The scum woman’s aura was overwhelming. Yu Yan kept drinking and ignored her.
“We’re so lucky. Last time we came the boss was here, and this time she’s here too.”
Hearing Jiang Xuan say this, Yu Yan subconsciously looked toward the bar counter. Only the bartender was there. Jiang Xuan continued: “They seem to be entertaining friends. Heyβ¦ isn’t that the person from that day?”
Jiang Xuan nudged Yu Yan with her elbow. “Isn’t that the person you chased after that day?”
Yu Yan’s heart skipped a beat.
“Over there.” Jiang Xuan pointed to a booth not far away.
There were plenty of empty seats in the booth area. Yu Yan turned her head and her gaze traveled unobstructed until it met Ran Ling’s eyes.
She had seen her before Yu Yan saw her, and was smiling a faint, gentle smile. Yu Yan of course also saw Boss Yu sitting beside her, and opposite them⦠Fu Yunqing.
Her profile was hard to make out clearly under the dim blue lighting. All Yu Yan could see was a three-dimensional silhouette. She wore her long hair pulled back, a coat draped over her shoulders, eyes lowered as she drank.
Why was Fu Yunqing here tooβ¦ Yu Yan didn’t know what to feel.
She’d come looking for a new flame, and instead ran into her ex-wife.
“Hey, hey.”
Her thoughts were pulled back by Jiang Xuan’s voice. Jiang Xuan asked gossipily what her relationship was with that person, why she’d run out to chase after them. Shen Anhe was also watching her with keen interest.
At the same time, Yu Yan’s phone vibrated. She looked down β it was a message from Ran Ling:
γYou asked me earlier if I was coming. Aren’t you going to come say hello?γ
Go say hello, go say helloβ¦
Go say hello. Damn it. Yu Yan discovered she couldn’t refuse Ran-jiejie at all, even while sensing a certain danger.
Yu Yan sent Ran Ling a sticker: γI’m coming.jpg.γ
Ran Ling sent back a sticker too: γPet the kitty.jpg.γ
“You guys keep drinking, I’m going to say hi.” Yu Yan put away her phone and walked quickly toward Ran Ling’s table under everyone’s surprised gazes.
There were only three people at their table. Only Fu Yunqing’s glass had wine poured in it. Ran Ling was chatting about something, Yu Ting held her hand and played with it absentmindedly, and Fu Yunqing’s expression was faint, impossible to read.
No matter what, she was just as beautiful as the Fu-jiejie in Yu Yan’s memory. But sitting here, with that look on her face, Yu Yan felt an unprecedented sense of strangeness. Three years stretched between them. The Fu Yunqing of now was not her wife, not her jiejie, and certainly not her support in this unfamiliar world. She was just a stranger who harbored some dislike toward her.
Was that it?
Yu Yan didn’t know what had happened between them. Maybe she did know, but to Yu Yan, those were all false accusations. Yu Lan had scammed the Fu Corporation β that was all Yu Lan’s fault. She hadn’t known anything. Why did Fu Yunqing have to be so harsh with her? Fu Yunqing was being so unreasonable.
That day, her attitude had made Yu Yan feel that this changed world was even more foreign, even less safe.
It made her feel sad, wronged β wronged at being abandoned by everything she once had for no reason.
This grievance had never disappeared. On the ride over, gazing at the magnificent skyscrapers outside, the loneliness had brought that grievance back to the surface. She’d carried it here, and seeing Fu Yunqing, Yu Yan felt a surge of defiance in her heart β a desire to resist, a feeling of not accepting it.
She thought: Fu Yunqing made her sad, so she’d ignore her too.
When Yu Yan approached, all three noticed her arrival. Ran Ling smiled at her. Yu Ting looked at her too. Their gazes were both gentle, putting Yu Yan at ease. She glanced at Fu Yunqing β that person wasn’t looking at her, seemed to be ignoring her. Yu Yan’s heart inexplicably sank, and she looked away too.
“Ran Ling-jiejie, hi.” She greeted Ran Ling politely and affectionately, then looked at Yu Ting, secretly sighing at what a cool jiejie she was, and added: “Yu Ting-jiejie, hi.”
She called them jiejie as sweetly as possible, but skipped right over Fu Yunqing. Fu Yunqing didn’t want to acknowledge her anyway, right? She wouldn’t be annoying. After all, they were ex-wives now. Ex-wife β that kind of thing sounded like deep hatred and old grudges.
“Hello.” Yu Ting looked at her, then at Fu Yunqing, her eyes gaining a hint of amused interest. Ran Ling asked: “Did you come alone today? Your friend didn’t come with you?”
She probably meant Lu Yu. Yu Yan shook her head: “She has to work, just got off overtime. I didn’t call her.”
“I see. If you’re alone, don’t drink too much tonight,” Ran Ling reminded her gently. “If anything happens, come find us. We’ll be here all night.”
She couldn’t have been gentler or more reassuring. They’d only met once, yet Ran Ling was already treating her like a younger sister she was protecting. Though Yu Yan used to receive this kind of treatment often, coming from Ran Ling, she still felt flattered.
“Got it.” Yu Yan’s eyes were bright, incredibly well-behaved after being doted on. “Thank you, jiejies. You two look so good together.”
Ran Ling laughed. “No need to thank us.”
“Then I’ll go back to my friends now?”
“Okay.”
“Bye~” Yu Yan said softly. As she turned, her gaze landed on Fu Yunqing for two seconds. She hadn’t expected Fu Yunqing to be looking at her too.
Fu Yunqing watched her. She’d been drinking. The corners of her eyes were faintly red. She just looked at Yu Yan like that, her eyes full of emotions Yu Yan couldn’t understand.
Yu Yan’s gaze went blank. For some reason, that strange feeling filled her heart again. Her eyes hesitated, and her body hesitated too. Her lashes trembled involuntarily.
Quickly, she looked away from that unfamiliar feeling and left without lingering.
Yu Yan returned to her seat and blended in with the crowd. Ran Ling watched her go, then slowly withdrew her gaze and looked at Fu Yunqing.
The woman lifted her glass and drank, face expressionless. At first glance, calm and unruffled. But observed closely, a low pressure hovered around her.
She really still cared. Otherwise, why would Teacher Fu, who always hated bars, have changed her mind and come when she heard Yu Yan’s name?
“You were too harsh on her last time.” The atmosphere was heavy, but Ran Ling didn’t care. She said: “She seems scared of you now.”
Fu Yunqing paused, lifted her eyes. Her cold emotions were stirred by those words, her withered and rotting heart struck by some external force, a dull ache.
Anyone with a heart could see that the person beside her wasn’t happy. A bad mood had been hidden inside her β not just today. Her world had turned overcast the moment Yu Yan left her.
“Looking at you so cautiously, not daring to say hello when you didn’t acknowledge her.” Ran Ling analyzed seriously. “She definitely thinks you’ll never want her again.”
Fu Yunqing knew Yu Yan’s temperament too well. Yu Yan was enthusiastic but also sensitive, generous and free-spirited, but sometimes fragile too. When she tried to approach her again, but she was too cold, she’d think she didn’t want her anymore.
But Fu Yunqing hated her.
Fu Yunqing should never want her again.
Footnotes
- 'Pinxixi' (ζΌε€ε€) is a mocking nickname for Pinduoduo (ζΌε€ε€), a Chinese e-commerce platform known for ultra-low prices and budget products. The nickname implies cheap, mass-produced goods.
- 'Scum woman' (zhΔ nΗ) is the female equivalent of 'scum man' (zhΔ nΓ‘n) β someone who plays the field, leads people on, and is irresponsible in relationships.
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