Chapter Fifty-Nine: A New Beginning

Lin Yuxin strode over, snatched the lace and the bag from Hong Chen’s hands, tossed the lace into the trash bin, glared at him in embarrassment and annoyance, and turned to leave.

Watching her storm off, Hong Chen felt both irritated and amused. After all that had happened tonight, he could understand Lin Yuxin’s foul mood. Still, if anyone had the right to be angry, it ought to be him; legally, he was still her husband, yet all her decisions seemed to paint her as a widow.

Hong Chen didn’t chase after her. He walked at his own pace, pulling out his phone to send a message to Gao Tianxiong.

Outside the nightclub, he saw Lin Yuxin standing alone by the roadside, gazing vacantly at the stream of cars. Dressed in a blue and white sailor outfit, little sneakers on her feet, her hair fluttering in the night breeze—under the dark sky, she looked like a lost girl.

He told the parking attendant his license plate, then quietly walked over to stand beside Lin Yuxin.

Soon, the attendant drove up their Volkswagen. Hong Chen tossed him a hundred as a tip, got into the driver’s seat, and without needing to be called, Lin Yuxin opened the passenger door and got in.

The car had barely started when Lin Yuxin spoke. “I’m not going home.”

“Where, then?”

“Anywhere.”

“How about we get a room?”

“Okay.”

Hong Chen had only suggested it offhand, not expecting her to agree so readily. He glanced at her in mild surprise, then said nothing more. Pulling the car over, he sent Xu Le a message: “Spending the last night with my wife, canceling supper.”

Xu Le, who had already ordered half a table of food at the roadside stall, almost spat out his drink when he got the message. Then, he turned his frustration into appetite and dug in.

Twenty minutes later, when the Volkswagen pulled up to Yaru Villa, Lin Yuxin frowned slightly. After parking, they entered the reception hall, and Hong Chen booked a standalone villa with a private garden and outdoor hot spring. At last, Lin Yuxin couldn’t help but say, “Maybe we should pick another hotel.”

Hong Chen looked at her, puzzled. Lin Yuxin said irritably, “Eighty-eight thousand a night—aren’t you going to have to pay back the company’s VIP card?”

It dawned on Hong Chen that the price was the issue. He smiled, “It’s just one night, doesn’t matter.”

“Either we take a standard room or a single-bed room, or we go somewhere else.”

Seeing Lin Yuxin’s determined expression, Hong Chen rolled his eyes inwardly and didn’t insist. He settled for a one thousand eight hundred single-bed room.

Once in the room, Lin Yuxin tossed her bag and purse aside and went to shower. Hong Chen walked out onto the balcony, breathing in the cool night air, his gaze sweeping across the city lit by dazzling neon even after eleven.

This was his first time booking a room outside with Lin Yuxin, perhaps the last. He couldn’t deny a strange thrill in his heart.

After more than half an hour, Lin Yuxin emerged in a white bathrobe and Hong Chen went in to shower. Fifteen minutes later, he came out in his own robe, drying his wet hair. Glancing at Lin Yuxin, who was watching TV on the bed, he prepared to take the blanket off the bed. Suddenly, Lin Yuxin spoke: “Sleep on the bed.”

A flicker of surprise crossed Hong Chen’s eyes. Was this some final-night benefit of divorce?

Then Lin Yuxin added, “You sleep on the other end.”

Hong Chen paused, a hint of mockery at his lips. Benefit, my foot—he’d overthought it!

Couples sleeping apart: either there’s no affection, or they’re not modern, or they’re old. Between him and Lin Yuxin, it was obviously the first. If this were their first day of marriage, it might be understandable. But on their last, it was a cruel irony.

Still, Hong Chen didn’t mind. He answered with a faint “okay,” moved his pillow to the other end, and slipped under the covers beside Lin Yuxin.

Lin Yuxin turned off the TV, leaving only a small night light glowing in the corner. She lay down, and for two or three minutes, silence filled the room. Then Lin Yuxin asked, “Why did you come to the nightclub tonight?”

Her last memory was being dragged away by Lu Ke’er and another woman, then waking up from her glucose drip to hear from a waiter that a Mr. Hong, claiming to be her husband, was waiting in the downstairs suite. She had rushed down immediately.

“It was Shi Jie who used your phone to send me a message. So I came.”

“Asked your boss for help again?”

“Mm.”

Lin Yuxin fell silent. Hong Chen couldn’t see the conflicted look on her face. This time, she was quiet for a full five minutes before speaking again. “I used to hold onto hope about Yufei’s situation. In the end, I just blindly grasped at straws. Now I’ve made up my mind to face reality.”

“If we sell the family house, we’ll get about two hundred ten thousand. My father’s ten percent share in Lin Corporation can be sold to my uncle for eighty thousand. Plus all the cash we have, we can scrape together another twenty thousand. Altogether, we’re only eighty thousand short of three hundred eighty-eight thousand. I’ll sell my shares in Linfeng Trading. If the Lin family won’t buy, I’ll sell to outsiders.”

“In this way, the family will be emptied out, but at least everyone’s safe. We can start over.”

Hong Chen listened quietly, offering no comment. After a few seconds, Lin Yuxin changed the subject. “Hong Chen, I was hasty when I asked for a divorce. If you’re willing, we can start again and work together.”

Hong Chen frowned. “So you don’t want a divorce anymore? If it’s just to fulfill the three-year marriage contract, there’s no need. Don’t worry, I won’t starve without your support.”

His tone was less than pleasant. Lin Yuxin was a little annoyed. “Can you not be so sensitive and extreme? I just hope we can work together, so we can stand side by side in both career and life.”

Hong Chen snorted. “Please. We only signed a three-year marriage contract. We’re neither business partners nor true companions in life. Forcing your assumptions on me—isn’t that a bit much?”

Lin Yuxin suddenly sat up, her emotions flaring. “Three-year contract, three-year contract—is that all you have in your head?”

Hong Chen, baffled, also sat up. In the darkness, their eyes met across less than two meters. In Lin Yuxin’s eyes, he saw shimmering tears and an inexplicable emotion.

A strange thought struck him: could this woman have developed feelings for him and want to be a real couple?

As if she could read his mind, Lin Yuxin parted her red lips and said coolly, “Our agreement is for three years, but only if we find ourselves incompatible. These past two years, I truly couldn’t accept you. You spent your days idle, wasting time, and it disappointed me. But since you started working at Hongcheng Group, I saw hope again. My expectations aren’t high. I don’t expect you to soar, but at least have some ambition.”

Hong Chen digested this quickly. He realized she was right. Unlike the Lin family, who despised him as useless, Lin Yuxin never looked down on him; she only hoped he wouldn’t keep wasting his life. Especially in the first months after marriage, she introduced him to several jobs—even went out of her way to pull strings. He let her down, skipping interviews entirely. After that, Lin Yuxin seemed utterly disappointed and, in private, treated him with nothing but cold indifference.

“So why did you suddenly ask for a divorce this afternoon?” Now that Lin Yuxin had spoken her mind, he didn’t mind asking for clarity. But her answer was an unexpected question.

“Is your boss a man or a woman?”

“Of course a man—a big, fat guy, director of the investment department. Why, do you suspect my boss is a woman, and that I’m being favored because I sold myself? Do you think that’s possible...”

As he spoke, Hong Chen suddenly noticed Lin Yuxin looking at him oddly, and he stopped. They stared at each other for a moment, then Lin Yuxin said slowly, “Do you remember yesterday morning, when I called you? You told me you’d been staying with your boss, and then a woman’s voice called you, and you replied, saying your boss had arrived, then hung up.”

Hong Chen quickly recalled the incident—every detail matched. He felt a thousand curses surge in his heart. It was a tremendous misunderstanding, but he couldn’t explain it.

“If it were me, wouldn’t you have asked for a divorce right away?” Lin Yuxin didn’t wait long before asking again. Hong Chen was still tongue-tied, deeply frustrated. The answer was obvious. Last time at the Liu’s, Lin Yuxin had chosen Chen Feiyang over him, and if it hadn’t been for learning the truth later, divorce would have been inevitable.

Lin Yuxin took a deep breath and exhaled. “What happened tonight—though my intentions were different from yours, if you hadn’t come in time, the outcome would have been the same. I won’t thank you or blame you. What’s past is past. I meant it: we’ll start again.”