Nie Yucheng then realized that Xu Miyu truly would not turn back.
The house and car were pre-marital assets purchased with Nie Yucheng’s family funds, legally belonging entirely to him. Nie Yucheng wanted to leave the car to Xu Miyu, but she refused. As for their savings, Nie Yucheng insisted on giving all of it to Xu Miyu, yet she only accepted half—what she felt was rightfully hers.
The division of assets was settled easily. Xu Miyu returned home, packed a small suitcase, and prepared to leave.
As she stepped out, she dared not look back. She feared regretting the divorce, she feared being unable to let go of the home she had lived in for over six years, and she feared clinging to the countless memories she and Nie Yucheng had built there.
When Nie Yucheng saw her off downstairs, he couldn’t help but hold her back.
He asked, “Do you have somewhere to go? Why not stay at home for now?” His tone was almost pleading, as if he couldn’t bear to let her walk out of his life.
She smiled and replied, “How could that be? We’re no longer connected now. How can I overstay my welcome in your house?”
He pressed further, “Then do you have a place to go? What do you plan to do from now on?”
Xu Miyu answered, “I’ll stay with my family in the countryside for a while and figure things out slowly.”
He hesitated, then finally said, “If your family gives you a hard time, you can always come back.”
Xu Miyu thanked him.
That polite remark drew a clear line between them, setting them apart as strangers in each other’s lives.
Xu Miyu said, “Nie Yucheng, thank you. Even after the divorce, you’ve been generous, sharing the savings with me. The sky is overcast—you should head back upstairs.”
She hailed a taxi and loaded her luggage inside.
Along the street stood plane trees, their bark mottled gray and white, looking even more patchy under the gloomy sky, like a painted face streaked with tears.
Beneath the shadows of the trees, Xu Miyu turned to Nie Yucheng, smiled, and waved.
“Goodbye,” she said.
The moment she turned to get into the car, her smile shattered instantly, and tears streamed down her face. Her tear-streaked cheeks resembled the bark of the plane tree.
A clap of thunder sounded outside, and rain began to pour down heavily.
Even the heavens were weeping.
Sitting in the back seat, she dared not look back, weeping uncontrollably as she painfully bid farewell to the self she had been over the past six years.
The taxi driver suddenly spoke up from the front, asking, “Did you two have a lovers’ quarrel? That young man behind us is crying even harder than you. He’s standing there getting drenched. Miss, do you want to get out or have him come in so you can talk things through?”
Without turning back, Xu Miyu sniffed hard amid the sound of pouring rain outside and told the driver, “Let’s go, sir.”
There was nothing left to say. So, it was time to leave. To walk out of each other’s lives and live separately from now on.
Xu Miyu had thought that the period from preparing for the divorce to finalizing it would be the hardest stretch of her life. She believed that once she endured it, everything would get better.
But she was wrong.
Life after the divorce turned out to be the true ordeal.
Every day, besides grappling with the lingering sorrow of no longer having a home or a husband—a grief that crept up on her like a chronic illness—she also had to face the disapproving looks from her parents and siblings. Gradually, even their coldness made it hard for her to summon the sadness over her lost marriage.From the day Xu Miyu dragged her luggage through the door, her mother Jiao Xiumei had been relentlessly criticizing her, urging her not to be willful, and pressing her to quickly remarry Nie Yucheng while he still hadn't moved on. "Otherwise, given enough time, even the deepest feelings become worthless—he'll turn around and find some other seductress!"
Xu Miyu refused to listen to her mother. Her divorce had never been an act of willfulness, and she had never considered going back after leaving.
After staying at home for a few days, she gradually realized this couldn't go on. When Nie Yucheng had been supporting her, she didn't need to work, but now things were different. She had to go out and find something to do; she needed to learn how to earn money.
But having spent the past few years as a homemaker—cooking, cleaning, and watching dramas—she had long been disconnected from society. She could barely handle spreadsheet documents now, and she had no idea what kind of job she could do to make money.
Staying idle at home was clearly not a solution. Jiao Xiumei was convinced that Xu Miyu had received a large sum of money in the divorce and kept pushing her to use it to buy a house for Xu Mibao.
Fortunately, Xu Miyu remained resolute this time. No matter how much Jiao Xiumei praised, affirmed, or flattered her, she didn't hand over the money.
This was all she had left, and until she learned to survive and earn money, it was meant to sustain her livelihood.
But with Jiao Xiumei's constant pressure becoming unbearable, Xu Miyu thought it might be better to quickly find an investment opportunity to make her money grow. Then she could use part of the interest to temporarily silence Jiao Xiumei.
With this plan in mind, Xu Miyu began searching for information related to investments.
By chance, she joined a group through a drama-watching friend. In the group, a man referred to as Manager Zhang mentioned he had recently started another profitable venture. Several people immediately asked if he could bring them along to make money.
Manager Zhang was generous in his response, saying that if they got along well, of course he could, and anyone interested could add him on WeChat for a private chat.
Xu Miyu hesitated about whether to add Manager Zhang on WeChat. A week later, her hesitation began to fade. Several people in the group said they had already privately chatted with Manager Zhang, found the project promising, invested some money, and received their first week's interest on time from him.
They shared their profit records in the group.
Seeing interest rates several times higher than those offered by banks, Xu Miyu felt tempted. She added Manager Zhang on WeChat for a private conversation.
She asked how much she could invest, and Manager Zhang countered by asking how much she had available.
Xu Miyu grew cautious and didn't disclose the amount directly.
Manager Zhang sent a voice message saying, "Here's the deal: I'm on a business trip in Xing City these days, staying at the Swee Hotel. If it's convenient for you, come see me. We can talk face-to-face in the lobby café—it'll give us a clearer and more accurate understanding of each other's situation. By the way, the coffee at Swee Hotel is quite excellent."
When Xu Miyu heard "Swee Hotel," she paused for a moment. She felt that this hotel had recently become strangely connected to her life.
She thought about it: if Manager Zhang could afford to stay at Swee Hotel, it indicated substantial financial means. After all, in Xing City, those who could stay at either of the two top luxury five-star hotels—Swee Hotel and Starline Hotel—were no ordinary people.
Since she had nothing better to do at home, Xu Miyu decided to meet this Manager Zhang.
The next morning, she first took a long-distance bus from her hometown to Xing City Station, then hailed a taxi to Swee Hotel.After a long journey, it was already past two in the afternoon when they arrived at the hotel—almost exactly the time agreed upon with President Zhang.
Xu Miyu entered the hotel lobby and glanced around. The coffee shop was located to one side of the entrance. Although she had visited the Sway Hotel several times, she had never paid much attention to this particular coffee shop. It was lavishly decorated, with tables made of intricately carved solid wood and seats that were all comfortable-looking leather sofas. The entire coffee shop was arranged in semi-open booths.
A table near the entrance was already occupied by two people. Xu Miyu didn’t take a close look at their appearances, only noting that they wore suits and carried an air of distinction. Shifting her gaze past their table, she spotted a person sitting alone at another table.
There was no one else around.
Xu Miyu walked toward the table with the lone person and successfully met up with President Zhang.
Ji Feng had a meeting to attend at the group’s headquarters that afternoon, but the car scheduled to pick him up had been taken out for cleaning at noon. Due to traffic congestion on its way back, it hadn’t arrived yet. So, he waited in the hotel lobby’s coffee shop with Xue Rui for the car to arrive.
Taking advantage of this spare moment, Ji Feng had Xue Rui bring over the tablet. He opened a farming game on the device and began harvesting crops and planting new ones.
Xue Rui watched his boss from the side—a man with an icy, aloof expression and an air of nobility, yet engrossed in such a mundane task, day after day, without fail.
In the years he had served as Ji Feng’s assistant, Xue Rui had never seen him miss a single day of harvesting and planting.
Just as Ji Feng was gathering his crops, he heard Xue Rui let out a soft “Huh?”
He didn’t look up or ask what had caught Xue Rui’s attention.
But Xue Rui couldn’t help muttering to himself, “It’s her again—the woman who fought for the VIP elevator and whose husband cheated on her.”
Ji Feng lifted his eyes and cast a cold glance, the corners of his eyes slightly upturned with a trace of mockery and disdain. His look warned Xue Rui that he had no interest in hearing pointless gossip about this woman, and Xue Rui immediately fell silent.
However, a short while later, even without Xue Rui speaking, the voices of a man and a woman could be heard from behind them. The woman’s voice was relatively restrained, but the man spoke not only loudly but with dramatic inflections, as if delivering a speech.
If it weren’t for the hassle and the fact that they would be leaving soon, Ji Feng would have gotten up and moved to another seat to escape the noisy chatter.
The woman addressed the man as President Zhang, and he called her Miss Xu.
President Zhang introduced Miss Xu to an incredibly large and profitable investment project, promising a weekly return of 10% in interest.
President Zhang kept praising Miss Xu for her elegance, insight, intelligence, and foresight… Miss Xu seemed to believe these compliments, appearing very pleased as she told President Zhang that she had a sum of money she intended to entrust to him for financial management.
Xue Rui couldn’t help but whisper under his breath, “Isn’t this a scam? What kind of business pays weekly interest? And at such a high rate. And this woman—how can she be so moved by a few compliments? Is she that starved for affection?”
Ji Feng ignored his chatter. After finishing his harvesting and planting, he opened a financial news app on the tablet and clicked on a video report. The news anchor’s voice was neither too loud nor too soft—not enough to disturb others but just audible enough for those nearby to hear—as she reminded investors in society that financial management carries risks and investments require caution.
Xue Rui was taken aback, unsure whether Ji Feng had opened the video by coincidence or if there was some underlying intention, like a subtle warning.Just then, the driver finally arrived, entering through the doorway to escort Ji Feng out.
Ji Feng closed the video and handed the tablet back to Xue Rui.
As he stood up to leave, his brow furrowed slightly as he spoke coldly: "Mind your own business and focus on being an assistant. If you can't break this habit of speaking out of turn, don't bother working here anymore."
Xue Rui froze again, thinking to himself that he must have overthought things earlier. Ji Feng's warning to mind his own business must have simply been a coincidence—he had likely just happened to open that news video.
Shaking his head, Xue Rui quickly hurried to catch up with Ji Feng's retreating figure.
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