Chapter 98 Part 2

“Then I haven’t kicked you out, have I? No need for that expression—people might think I did something.”

Jin Yizhu walked over and sat at the desk, surveying the room. It was the same as her last visit; He Wanruo had just come in to sit, showing no interest in He Tianhe’s books or notes.

“If you want to live here, go ahead. I won’t be staying anyway.”

“As for that husband of yours, if you divorce, he can’t live here anymore.”

Jin Yizhu didn’t know where this mischievous streak came from. She spun halfway around in the swivel chair, fixing on He Wanruo with interest as she asked:

“I heard you want a divorce?”

He Wanruo was startled by her tone, her eyelashes trembling. Looking at Jin Yizhu, she suddenly felt her daughter was a stranger.

What was this tone? Why was she speaking like this? How could she talk about her dad that way?

No matter Jin Shenghua’s faults, he was still her dad…

Amid He Wanruo’s shifting expressions, Jin Yizhu examined her own feelings. She wasn’t sad at all—only amused.

What should she say?

When Jin Shenghua dumped her at the branch company and used her as a marriage pawn, had He Wanruo been her mother? At the engagement banquet she was pushed into, had He Wanruo been her mother? When He Tianhe passed away, had He Wanruo been her mother?

Even now, this He Wanruo demanding to be called Eldest Miss—did she truly see herself as her mother?

Jin Yizhu had no special feelings for Jin Shenghua.

The man had only been a symbol in her life: so-called father, scheming son-in-law plotting against his own daughter, merchant trading her for more wealth and glory. He had never treated her as a daughter, and she now saw those past “Daddys” as irretrievable trash tossed into water.

Now, Jin Shenghua was merely her defeated foe. And this woman before her—had there ever been a moment in her life when she treated her as a daughter?

She should have loved her.

But she chose to love a man unworthy of it.

“He Wanruo.”

Jin Yizhu finally called her name, enunciating each word:

“Have you thought it through? Do you really want the divorce?”

He Wanruo was even more dazed.

How could Jin Yizhu call her by name? Did that mean she no longer saw her as Mom?

He Wanruo hadn’t figured it out yet when she crumbled under Jin Yizhu’s overbearing gaze, on the verge of tears:

“I haven’t thought it through yet…”

She had brought up the matter with Jin Shenghua, but his first reaction had been refusal.

In all these years of marriage, it was the first time she had seen Jin Shenghua in a rage, a completely different person from the refined gentleman she had imagined. Jin Shenghua smashed the bowls and plates on the dining table to the ground, a low pressure enveloping his entire body. A row of servants stood in the dining room, but none dared to look up, afraid of getting caught in the storm.

He Wanruo sat across from Jin Shenghua, looking at the man she had shared a bed with for decades, and felt he was a total stranger.

She thought, ‘This wasn’t what we agreed on. Things weren’t supposed to turn out like this. Where had it gone wrong? Didn’t he say he would love me for life?’

“Haven’t thought it through? I thought you had already decided, that’s why you were sitting here.”

Jin Yizhu casually picked up a pen from the desk and twirled it between her fingers. The fountain pen from the last lawyer signing was still there. A strange melancholy suddenly welled up in Jin Yizhu’s heart. She tucked it into her handbag and looked back at He Wanruo.

“Think it over carefully. If you get divorced, you can keep living here. If you want to stay married, then move out with your husband.”

“Yizhu, what do you mean by that?”

He Wanruo finally found her voice and asked in panic:

“Are you not treating me as your mother anymore? Are you chasing me away?”

“No, it’s precisely because I treat you as my mother that I’m advising you to divorce. No matter what, we shared a mother-daughter bond, and it wasn’t easy for you to give birth to me.”

Jin Yizhu sighed and smiled faintly:

“The one I want to chase away is someone else.”

She paused for a second, took the pen she had just put away from her bag, pushed it in front of He Wanruo, and said, “Here, a gift for you. You can use it to sign when the time comes.”

With that, Jin Yizhu walked out of the study and casually called a housekeeper over, instructing him to remove the door lock so He Wanruo wouldn’t lock herself in the study again and cause trouble for others.

She walked to the living room and stood in the center, looking up toward the third floor.

Sure enough, Jin Shenghua stood there, staring at her with a complicated gaze.

Jin Yizhu stopped and asked, “Jin Shenghua, why didn’t you attend yesterday’s board meeting?”

She said it with a smile, as if merely asking about the weather, her voice light and cheerful, without a hint of worry.

Jin Shenghua took a deep breath and suppressed the anger in his chest. One after another, they were all against him!

His daughter was one thing—she had grown up, her wings had hardened, she had inherited her maternal grandfather’s legacy and bypassed him at the board meeting. That was nothing; they said even a tiger father doesn’t raise a dog son, this was his blessing. When she ran into problems in the Group later, would she not come to ask him? He, as her father, was her best teacher.

As for his wife, he just didn’t understand. At this age, why suddenly divorce?

Especially at this critical juncture—He Wanruo wanted to divorce him? If they divorced, would he still have a say in Lionheart Group afterward? The shares he held would probably be diluted to almost nothing by Jin Yizhu in no time…

“There were some family matters these past few days, too busy. I didn’t make it yesterday.”

Jin Shenghua forced a smile, suppressed his temper, and said mildly:

“Did the meeting go smoothly yesterday?”

“With you absent, it went even smoother.”

Jin Yizhu smiled faintly. These past two years, Jin Shenghua had been picking at her nonstop—nose not nose, eyes not eyes. Talk business with him, and he’d talk feelings; talk feelings, and he’d talk business. From the first day she returned to headquarters, not a single day passed without him getting on her nerves.

Now that the shares had changed hands, he finally knew to speak nicely? If he had kept up the fatherly airs in front of her all along, she might have thought a bit more of him.

“Since you’re busy at home, discuss it properly. I won’t disturb you.”

She couldn’t control her mother’s divorce.

By this point, even a clay figure like He Wanruo should have some fire in her.

Having said her piece, Jin Yizhu didn’t want to stay in this house for another second.

Though it was where she had grown up, it was no longer her home.

She left the villa and sat on a bench in the garden, waiting for Mary to pick her up.

The messy thoughts faded from her mind, and Wei Shuyu’s figure surfaced again, like an illusory dream embracing her troubled heart.

Jin Yizhu thought, ‘Good thing, good thing there’s still Wei Shuyu.’

Without Wei Shuyu, where would she go?

In the shade of the leaves, Jin Yizhu recalled shortly after they had met. She too had been under the tree shadows, asking Wei Shuyu, ‘Can you stand by my side forever?’

What was Wei Shuyu’s answer? She remembered Wei Shuyu saying that as long as she needed her, she would always stand by her side.

Perhaps that’s what she wanted.

Unconditional support, eternal reliance, someone who would always stand by her side no matter what.

Wei Shuyu…

Jin Yizhu looked at the tree’s shadow. Was it because she wanted this that she wanted to lock Wei Shuyu by her side forever?

Two honks sounded from the gate. Jin Yizhu opened it and got in the car. She checked her phone again—about half an hour ago, Wei Shuyu had messaged that she was heading out.

She said Wei Qinglu had been interning in Hong Kong for a while and, knowing she was in Hong Kong, insisted on having a meal together.

Along with the message came a photo.

Wei Shuyu wore a white long dress today, the hem adorned with intricate, low-key patterns, much like the first time they met.

Jin Yizhu’s heart stirred.

The first time they met, she had been like this, in a white dress, coming out from her sister’s place, sitting at the entrance of the Grand Theatre, watching the rain drifting endlessly across the sky.

Jin Yizhu asked her, “Wei Shuyu, want to go see the sea tonight?”

After a few seconds, Wei Shuyu replied, “Sure, where to?”

Her voice was cool, as if it might dissipate in the wind at any moment, but Jin Yizhu heard a thread of warm attachment in her words.

Jin Yizhu’s heart softened immensely, sweet and syrupy as if soaked in sugar water. She often felt that three years had passed in a flash. Had she and Wei Shuyu really become lovers? Or was it the same as before, just with a bit more illusory illusion?

Yet, in that similarly detached dialogue, in that voice that seemed indifferent to everything, there was now attachment to her, proving these three years were real.

The marks left by time were on Wei Shuyu’s heart, and on hers too.

“Victoria Harbour.”

Jin Yizhu said tenderly, her lips curving up.

“I’ll pick you up when you’re done.”

She looked out the car window at the endless stream of traffic, the hurried passersby, the fleeting lights rushing past her. She didn’t want to grasp any of it. From beginning to end, what she wanted was just that one person.

Her smiles, her tears, her feelings, her soul—everything.

What she wanted wasn’t just to see the sea with Wei Shuyu.

She wanted so much more, inexpressible desires fermenting in her heart. Locking her by her side shouldn’t be too much, right? If it was Wei Shuyu, she should understand, right?

Jin Yizhu thought.

If it was Wei Shuyu, she would actually be willing, right.