Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Obviously, Shen Yichuan didn’t tell anyone about our divorce.

Maybe he’s just naturally taciturn.

But Lin Yan is a big mouth.

If he knows, it’s as good as the whole world knowing.

You’re welcome.

I’m a good person.

I walked past them and left at an unhurried pace.

Shen Yichuan caught up.

Impatient and puzzled.

“Do you really have to be like this?”

I didn’t understand. “Like what?”

His lips pressed into a tight line.

“You’re asking despite knowing.”

“Xie Shaowei, you heard it too-Ruan Qiao was invited by Lin Yan.”

“You should see that Lin Yan likes Ruan Qiao. He’s pursuing her.”

“Why do you still have to be so aggressive?”

There was disappointment in his questioning.

I didn’t quite get it.

“Shen Yichuan, we’re already divorced. What does any of this have to do with me?”

He clenched his hands and took a deep breath.

“Can you really say you’re leaving now not because of Ruan Qiao?”

I nodded.

“I can. I just happened to be leaving, and you just happened to show up.”

“Of course, even if I wasn’t about to leave, if you showed up, I would leave.”

“I don’t like her, and I don’t like you. Why should I force myself to be with people I don’t like?”

I said it breezily.

Like cutting through tangled threads with a swift blade.

Not a trace of hesitation.

Watching Shen Yichuan’s face darken and the suppressed blaze in his eyes-

It would be a lie to say it wasn’t satisfying.

But that satisfaction lasted only half a minute.

I drove away.

In the rearview mirror, I saw Shen Yichuan standing where he was, and I saw Ruan Qiao walking toward him.

And me-expressionless, my eyes a dead, heavy gray.

It’s impossible not to be sad.

And it’s impossible to say you can walk away and be fine right away.

Seven years.

It took seven years for me and Shen Yichuan to get here.

In college, he pursued me.

We met because of He Qi.

Shen Yichuan and He Qi were childhood friends, and He Qi was my roommate.

Back then, He Qi and I weren’t close yet.

She hung out with Shen Yichuan and his crowd every day.

Cards were one of their pastimes.

He Qi had terrible luck-lost every time she gambled.

At first, I didn’t pay attention.

Later, I overheard her on the phone.

She said she’d lost nearly two thousand and had to win it back next time.

So I volunteered.

“I’ll help you. I’ll take twenty percent of the winnings.”

My dad died early.

My mom raised me at the card table.

Other people played cards for fun.

She played cards for work.

Work comes with wages.

Two or three hundred on good days, a few dozen on bad ones.

Enough to support her and me.

Under her influence, the summer after the college entrance exam, I earned a semester’s tuition at the chess-and-card parlor.

At first, He Qi was half-convinced.

She took me to the game.

In half a day, I won back four thousand for her.

He Qi was over the moon, hopping and preening.

I took eight hundred, and she treated me to hotpot.

We were both very happy.

But I also felt a pity.

They were casual games.

Bringing in outside help like me once is fun; do it too often and it kills the fun.

I didn’t expect that within two days, He Qi asked me to help again.

Then a third time.

It wasn’t until the third time that I sensed something was off.

With the guy across from me playing that abysmally, how had He Qi lost that badly?

Was he feeding me cards?

I lifted my eyes to look at him.

He happened to be looking at me too.

Brows curved, a faint smile.

As if he’d been waiting for me to look up all along.