Chapter 4

Chapter 4

We maintained a heavy silence all the way until we found a nearby café.

Before the coffee even arrived, I cut straight to the chase as a way to mask my nerves.

“Do you still want the child?”

Over the past six years, I had obsessively imagined my reunion with Zhou Shiyu, almost to the point of self-torture.

Because of that, I was now able to maintain a facade of indifference.

Zhou Shiyu glanced up at me and answered without hesitation, “Of course I do.”

I pursed my lips, staring at the street sign outside the floor-to-ceiling window. I gave a low “mm” in response and stood up.

“Then remember to pick him up from school. If you don’t have time for the Parent-Teacher Conference, you can let me know. I won’t disturb you and-”

I still couldn’t bring myself to say Xu Qingli’s name calmly.

I couldn’t help but dig my nails into my palm. The sharp sting cleared my head, forcing me to finish: “…I won’t disturb your life.”

I checked the time, preparing to leave.

As we brushed past each other, I heard Zhou Shiyu ask abruptly, “So, is Zhou Yi’an the only thing you want to talk to me about?”

My footsteps faltered. I didn’t quite understand.

Things between us had been settled six years ago. He loved someone else, and I had taken two million and left cleanly. It was that simple.

Aside from Zhou Yi’an, what else was there for us to discuss?

Zhou Shiyu exhaled slowly, his dark eyes fixed on me. He spoke again.

“Fine then. I don’t want Zhou Yi’an anymore.”

He sounded perfectly justified, as if he wasn’t the one who had just changed his mind on a whim.

I frowned, unable to stop myself from asking, “What do you mean?”

Zhou Shiyu tilted his chin slightly toward the seat opposite him, signaling for me to sit back down.

“Exactly what I said.”

“If you want to raise the child, fine. He’s yours.”

“However, considering the child’s physical and mental well-being, I will come to your current residence every Friday night to provide necessary co-parenting companionship for Zhou Yi’an. I’ll drive back to the office on Monday morning.”

Watching him spout such nonsense with a straight face, I felt it was utterly absurd.

Losing my patience, I reminded him, “We’re already divorced.”

“Are we?”

Zhou Shiyu let out an ambiguous sneer.

“I never signed the papers.”

It took a moment for the meaning of those words to sink in.

Back then, Old Master Zhou had made me sign the divorce agreement. I simply thought Zhou Shiyu loathed me so much that he didn’t even want to see me one last time, which was why he never showed up from start to finish.

He said he hadn’t signed.

But if that was the case, why did he wait six years to find me?

I wasn’t so delusional as to think he still had feelings for me.

Perhaps the original agreement had been lost, or there was a flaw in it that required a supplemental agreement. Anything was possible.

I pursed my lips and cooperated. “Then let’s sign a new one.”

Zhou Shiyu didn’t even look up. “No.”

I tried to reason with him calmly. “Once we sign it, we’ll be square. Isn’t that for the best?”

“It’s not.”

“Do you have some concerns? I don’t want any shares or money. Consider it a clean break-I’m leaving with nothing.”

“No.”

Those repeated refusals left me both angry and dazed. Perhaps Zhou Shiyu didn’t even remember it himself, but he had been just like this when he was younger.

It was at his birthday banquet. Someone had cornered me in a secluded spot, their gaze lewd and disrespectful, their words unfiltered and crude.

Zhou Shiyu had kicked the man straight into the swimming pool.

It caused a huge scene. The guests were all prominent figures in Jing City, and the elders of several families looked quite displeased.

When asked for the reason, Zhou Shiyu refused to offer a single word of explanation.

To avoid rumors and protect my reputation, Zhou Shiyu hadn’t even mentioned me from beginning to end.

Because he refused to admit he was wrong, he took a brutal beating from Old Master Zhou’s cane.

Probably no one would have guessed that this current titan of the business world spent his eighteenth birthday in a confinement room.

The door had been locked tight; they wouldn’t even let me bring him medicine.

I curled up outside the door and said in a tiny, guilt-ridden voice, “I’m sorry.”

Through the door panel, he paused for a moment, and I heard some rustling sounds.

It seemed he had sat down by the door as well.

His voice was a bit muffled as he gave a soft “oh,” then said, “I’m not listening.”

I buried my forehead against my knees and muttered gloomily, “Actually, you didn’t have to kick him. It would have been fine once he finished talking. He wouldn’t have dared to actually do anything to me.”

“I wasn’t waiting.”

I didn’t say anything else. Perhaps my voice had sounded too stifled just then, and he misunderstood something. After a moment, he spoke again.

“Don’t cry.”

He tapped on the door panel and gave a light tsk. “I did it because I wanted to. It has nothing to do with you. Don’t cry.”

I snapped back to the present, doing my best to hide the bitterness in my eyes. Yet, it felt as though I could hear him saying “Don’t cry” all those years ago once again.

Zhou Shiyu sat in the light, smiling faintly. Specks of dust danced in the fragmented rays of sun. His youthful features had long since been sharpened by the silent passage of time.

He looked up and arched an eyebrow at me.

It was as if he were answering what I had said earlier.

“Shen Qiao, we can never be square.”