Divorced - Chapter 23

()x11-13 minutes 05.06.2022

Man Yunxin knocked on the door a few times with the hangover soup, but heard no answer, and so she knocked again.

Lu Yang looked at Chen Yuchuan, who was staring blankly at the mirror. Then he took a step back, releasing him. As Chen Yuchuan grabbed the sink with both hands to prevent himself from falling, Lu Yang put on his bathrobe and went out to open the door.

Man Yunxin was startled when he saw Lu Yang’s eyes. “Lu Yang, what’s wrong with your eyes? Why are they so red?”

Lu Yang took the tray from Man Yunxin’s hand and said, “I just drank some wine. They’re a little uncomfortable and so I rubbed them a few times.”

“Should I get some medicine for you?”

Man Yunxin wanted to go downstairs, but Lu Yang grabbed her arm. “Mom, no. I’m going to sleep after drinking the sobering soup. I’ll be fine after some rest, then I won’t need to rub my eyes so much anymore.”

“Are you sure?” Man Yunxin gave him a puzzled look. “Did you get into a fight with Xiao Chuan’er?”

“Everything is fine…” Lu Yang said.

Man Yunxin reminded him to drink more water, and Lu Yang responded to her concerns one by one. Then Man Yunxin asked again, “Where’s Xiao Chuan’er?”

“He’s already asleep.” Lu Yang looked back at the bathroom door, which was still open but there was no sound coming from inside.

“Then I won’t disturb your rest,” Man Yunxin said. Tell Xiao Chuan’er drink the soup first before going to sleep.”

Lu Yang said ok. After Man Yunxin went downstairs, he closed the door and put the tray with the two bowls of sobering soup on the table. He stood by the bedside for a while, then turned around and entered the bathroom.

Chen Yuchuan was still leaning against the sink, his head drooping very low. His neck bone was slightly raised, making it unclear what he was looking at.

Lu Yang didn’t go in. He leaned one shoulder on the doorframe, regaining his calm appearance.

“Xiao Chuan’er, the period of our divorce wasn’t like a divorce but more like a quarrel. It may be that we haven’t quite figured out where the boundary is. When I asked you for a divorce, I was ready to let you go for the rest of my life. I’ll explain it to my parents tomorrow. Next week, I’ll be leaving to inspect various branches, and so you’ll have to keep an eye on the resort project.”

Chen Yuchuan’s fingers were still shaking. What Lu Yang said just now sounded both far and near. He seemed to be listening, but he couldn’t process his words. In the end, there was only one sentence in his mind –

When I asked you for a divorce, I was ready to let you go for the rest of my life.

“I’ll sleep in the next room. I’ve put the sobering soup on the table. Go to sleep after drinking it.” Lu Yang left after speaking, closing the bathroom door behind him. This was soon followed by the sound of the bedroom door opening and closing.

Chen Yuchuan didn’t know how he took a shower or how he got into bed, but he remembered that he had finished the big bowl of sobering soup.

He gulped it down without tasting it, but the sobering soup didn’t seem to be very effective. He still felt as if his whole body was still shaking as he laid in bed.

That night, he didn’t know whether he’d fallen asleep or stayed awake all night. Maybe he’d been dreaming, or maybe he was thinking too much.

The words Lu Yang said in the bathroom kept playing on a loop in his mind.

Xiao Chuan’er, after thinking about it, it was really painful…

It’s been sixteen years, and you’ve been a part of my life for a long time.

When I asked for a divorce, I was ready to let you go for the rest of my life…

The next morning, despite taking a shower, Chen Yuchuan still wasn’t fully awake. Lu Yang took him to Man Yunxin and Lu Xianfeng and told them about the divorce.

Lu Xianfeng didn’t say a word. He was so angry that he simply picked up the baseball bat nearby and raised it at them. “Divorce is such a big deal, why didn’t you discuss it with us first? Is marriage child’s play? What are you messing around for?”

Lu Yang blocked Lu Xianfeng’s stick and said, “Dad, Mom, the divorce was already decided by the two of us. We think that maybe it would be better for us to separate…”

Chen Yuchuan was silent the whole time Lu Yang spoke. He was still the same as he’d been last night. He was all wooden, unable to react to anything, as if he had yet to recover. He just lowered his head and silently listened to Lu Yang’s words. Whenever Lu Xianfeng asked him something, he would dully repeat Lu Yang’s words.

But when Lu Xianfeng hit Lu Yang with the bat, he reacted instantly and subconsciously, blocking the hit for Lu Yang.

The baseball bat in Lu Xianfeng’s hand fell on Chen Yuchuan’s back, and Man Yunxin pulled Lu Xianfeng away. “Why are you really hitting?”

Lu Xianfeng was so angry that he pointed at them with the baseball bat and scolded them for a long time.

Chen Yuchuan had been hit but it actually didn’t hurt much. However, the flesh pain pulled at his chest, and he suddenly woke up.

After the dullness and the numbness faded a little, he felt pain all over his body, like a needle stick at first, and then like a knife falling on his body.

In the end, when Lu Yang wanted to take Chubby away, Man Yunxin asked who was keeping Chubby.

Chen Yuchuan answered that they take turns keeping Chubby in alternating weeks. Lu Xiangfeng directly pulled Chubby’s rope away from Lu Yang’s hand. “It’s still alternating weeks. If you want to mess around, mess around, but don’t bring Chubby into it.”

After the family dinner, Chen Yuchuan didn’t see Lu Yang for an entire month. Meanwhile, Chubby was left with Lu Xianfeng and Man Yunxin.

The two elders were so angry with them that they ignored them that entire month. Chen Yuchuan knew that they were angry, and fearing that would really remain angry, he would run over there to jokingly coax them, trying to cheer them up.

The first two times Lu Xianfeng saw him, he grabbed the bat. If Lu Yang was there, the two of them would probably have been beaten together.

Lu Xianfeng scolded him and threatened to beat him, but Chen Yuchuan suffered through it. What’s more, there was still Man Yunxin to stop him. In truth, Lu Xianfeng didn’t really beat him; he was just bluffing. Chen Yuchuan knew that he just had to let out the gas in his heart.

Man Yunxin never understood why they got divorced. Several times, she’d asked for the reason, but each time, Chen Yuchuan didn’t say anything. He didn’t know how to answer this question.

In the end, Lu Xianfeng waved to Man Yunxin, saying that they don’t care, they (LY and CYC) will do whatever they like.

The weather was getting colder and colder. As November came to a close, the first snow finally arrived, ushering in with whirling snowflakes.

The stairs were always cold and wet, with snowy footprints imprinted on them, and the voice-activated lights never came back on after they broke.

Lu Yang really did leave behind a palm print on Chen Yuchuan’s arm. He looked in the mirror every day when he took a shower, and it took a week for the palm print to completely fade.

With the ending of the year, there were many things to do. Chen Yuchuan was busy every day. In addition to often going to the resort to observe the progress, there were also things he must do in the company.

However, he had returned to how he normally was. He always had a particularly big smile at the corners of his mouth, and he often joked with the people in the company. The low pressure hanging over the company had finally ended.

Everyone in the company assumed that the boss and the boss’ spouse must have reconciled. The girl at the front desk proudly said to the other bettors, “Look, I told you it’ll take a month. And I was right.”

Every time Chen Yuchuan heard them whisper about him and Lou Yang, he would just silently smile.

Ling Qun called several times to ask Chen Yuchuan to go out playing at his bar. Sometimes, Chen Yuchuan would go and something he wouldn’t. But he never drank again and only chatted with them.

They would still ask about him and Lu Yang, and he would say a few brief sentences and then change the subject.

After a few times, no one asked anymore, opting to just wait for them to announce it themselves.

Ling Qun handed Chen Yuchuan a cigarette, but Chen Yuchuan didn’t take it. “Now that you’ve stopped smoking, we won’t need to ask about you guys anymore. Everything will be fine.”

Chen Yuchuan didn’t answer, as if tacitly agreeing.

Hua Boxue tried to pour him a glass of alcohol again, but he also refused. As he pushed away the glass, he suddenly stared at Hua Boxue, remembering his surname. He asked, “Your surname is Hua?”

“Of course my surname is Hua.” Hua Boxue thought that Chen Yuchuan had gone stupid and looked at him like he was a fool.

“Then do you know Hua Song?” Chen Yuchuan asked.

“Yeah, he’s my uncle’s younger brother. What’s up?”

“Why didn’t you fucking tell me?”

“You didn’t fucking ask.” Hua Boxue didn’t know why he was asking about it. “Besides, I don’t know anything about music and I can’t really speak on what he’s doing.”

Chen Yuchuan now knew why Hua Song knew about his divorce.

After a while, Hua Boxue nudged his shoulder and asked, “Is Lu Yang still on a business trip? He’s not back yet?”

“No…” Chen Yuchuan wanted to say more, but he really didn’t know whether Lu Yang had returned or not.

It may be that he had come back but just didn’t tell him.

“You didn’t go looking for him?”

Chen Yuchuan put his hand in his pocket and touched the phone placed in there. He said, “I didn’t. I might not be able to find him even if I went.”

“If you didn’t go, then how would you know? Why wouldn’t you be able to find him?” Hua Boxue said. “Can Lu Yang really hide from you?”

Chen Yuchuan thought that Lu Yang really could be hiding from him. He took his phone out, unlocked it, and opened it to Lu Yang’s WeChat. In the chat records, in addition to the old message containing the appointment date that Lu Yang had sent him about picking up Chubby, there were two new ones. Both of them were messages he had sent to Lu Yang.

On the first day of Lu Yang’s business trip, Chen Yuchuan had estimated the time he would be getting off the plane and sent him a message.

Brother Yang, did you get off the plane?

Lu Yang did not respond.

The second message Chen Yuchuan sent was a week ago, reminding him to pay attention to safety.

Lu Yang still did not respond.

Hua Boxue looked at Chen Yuchuan, who had fallen into a daze, and he shook his glass in front of him and asked, “What are you thinking? Your eyes are looking straight, and there’s no light in them.”

Hua Boxue had barely finished speaking when Chen Yuchuan abruptly stood up to leave.

Hua Boxue looked at his nervous appearance and called out to him from behind, “It’s so late, where are you going in such a hurry? If something happens to you, we won’t be able to find a new Chen Yuchuan for Lu Yang.”

Chen Yuchuan walked to the door and pulled it open. Then he picked up his coat, which had fallen on the sofa, and said, “I’m going to find Lu Yang…”