After The Divorce, My Ex-Wife Is Consumed By Regret - Chapter 3

Three summers ago, right after Chu Yuan graduated from university, she heard from her mother that she was to be arranged in marriage to Yan Dai, the eldest daughter of the Yan family.

People from families like theirs, even if they were doted on at home, rarely had the freedom to marry for love. Instead, they were expected to form powerful alliances with other corporate giants.

So, when the arranged marriage was dropped into Chu Yuan’s lap, she wasn’t particularly surprised.

She was just incredibly furious.

Before she had even laid eyes on Yan Dai, Chu Yuan had a complaint for every occasion: “It’s already 2026! Arranged marriages are nothing but feudal remnants! I won’t do it, I absolutely won’t!”

She cried, threw tantrums, and clamored about running away from the wedding.

Chu Yuan had a fiery temper and a spoiled disposition. Besides, it wasn’t as if the Chu family absolutely had to go through with the alliance, marrying into the Yan family simply maximized their commercial interests.

If she stubbornly refused, her mother, Chu Mingshuang, wouldn’t have forced her into it.

At the time, Chu Mingshuang only said one thing: “Meet her first.”

Chu Yuan thought to herself then: Forget meeting her once, even if I meet her a hundred times, I will never agree to this marriage.

After all, who would want to marry a complete stranger for no rhyme or reason? It was simply terrifying.

It wasn’t until later, at a family gathering, that Chu Yuan finally met her fiancée.

With just one look, she accepted the arranged marriage.

Yes, it took only a single glance.

Even though three years had passed, Chu Yuan could still vividly recall the scene of seeing Yan Dai for the very first time.

When Yan Dai pushed the door open and walked in, she was wearing only a plain, simple cardigan. Her long, wavy hair fell loosely and casually over her shoulders in a natural, beautiful chestnut brown. Her face was bare of makeup, yet her features remained incredibly exquisite, her fair skin flawless without a single blemish.

It wasn’t that Chu Yuan had never seen beautiful girls before. Her childhood friend and bestie, Ji Xiran, was a great beauty in her own right, and Chu Yuan herself had dated girls in the past.

But the magnetic field between people is a miraculous thing.

It was as if Yan Dai possessed some kind of magic, able to make Chu Yuan fall head over heels with just a single glance.

“Xiao Dai is here,” Chu Mingshuang said, raising her voice slightly as she nudged Chu Yuan to prompt her. “Quick, greet her.”

Chu Yuan remained frozen, staring at the other girl, entirely unable to react for a moment.

Yan Dai looked over as well, and their eyes met. Instead of dodging her gaze, Yan Dai faced the light and gave a soft smile. “Hello, I am Yan Dai.”

Chu Yuan finally got a clear look at her face.

Yan Dai’s most stunning feature was her nose, which was straight and distinct, paired with a high brow bone. This gave her eye sockets a deep, defined appearance, making her face exceptionally structural and giving her a very striking, blended look.

And indeed, Yan Dai was of genuine Chinese-German descent, absolutely beautiful.

Chu Yuan’s eyelashes fluttered uncontrollably. Her very first thought was: Oh, so she’s Yan Dai. The wife I haven’t officially gone through the legal procedures and ceremonies with yet.

As soon as that thought flashed through her mind, the rest of her brain was instantly overwhelmed by a single repeating phrase: She’s so pretty, she’s so pretty, she’s so pretty…

No one could resist a beautiful older sister, and Chu Yuan was no exception. She could barely hold back a giggle right then and there.

Call her shallow, or say she was blinded by beauty, either way, she had fallen in love with her fiancée at first sight.

To use Ji Xiran’s words, they had never considered being captivated by beauty a negative thing. Anyone who didn’t like a beautiful older sister was the one with a problem.

Perhaps falling to her knees before a beautiful woman’s charms was Chu Yuan’s destiny, but she accepted it wholeheartedly.

This family dinner had originally been arranged to discuss their marriage, and Yan Dai hadn’t harbored any major objections to it in the first place.

As for Chu Yuan, her attitude did a complete 180. The girl who had been crying and throwing a fit about not wanting to get married just moments ago now practically wanted to throw herself into Yan Dai’s arms and call her “wife” the second she saw her.

And so, during the dinner, their marriage was officially finalized.

When Chu Yuan returned home after the banquet, her “love sickness” kicked into full gear. She would cup her face in her hands every day, grinning foolishly as she asked, “When can Jiejie and I get married?”

Later, after successfully adding Yan Dai on WeChat, she became so devoted that she sent her morning and night greetings precisely on time every single day. She even visited Yan Dai’s Moments feed at least three times a day.

The moment Yan Dai posted a photo, Chu Yuan would save it to her own album within the next second, acting entirely like a starstruck, infatuated young girl.

She even stopped going out when her close friend Ji Xiran invited her.

Ji Xiran had complained to her back then: “Young Mistress Chu, you don’t come out to play at all these days. Have you been possessed, or did you get your head caught in a door and your legs broken by a donkey so you can’t leave the house?”

Everyone knew that Chu Yuan was the most restless person in their circle. If she went a single day without coming out to hang out with her girls, she would feel uncomfortable all over.

Chu Yuan just clutched her phone, looking at Yan Dai’s photo with a silly grin. “Chasing my wife, please do not disturb.”

Ji Xiran asked, “Which wife is it this time? The university senior you had a crush on, a member of some K-pop girl group, or the cosplayer you fell in love with at first sight at the anime convention last time?”

“I don’t have that many wives!” Chu Yuan protested.

“You call every beautiful girl your wife,” Ji Xiran countered. “If we really counted every pretty sister you’ve called ‘wife,’ it would honestly take three days and three nights to go through them all.”

“Oh, that’s not what I mean,” Chu Yuan explained. “It’s my fiancée! You know, Yan~ Dai~”

When she spoke the name “Yan Dai,” Chu Yuan’s expression and tone involuntarily filled with a touch of shyness, enough to give anyone goosebumps.

Ji Xiran naturally knew that Chu Yuan was set to marry the eldest daughter of the Yan family, Yan Dai. However, she recalled that the Yan and Chu families weren’t particularly close, and the two girls hadn’t really met before.

Thus, Ji Xiran was incredibly surprised. “Love at first sight? You mean you fell in love after meeting just once?”

Ji Xiran had an countless number of ex-girlfriends, but her relationships were always based on a fleeting sense of novelty. Once the novelty wore off, she would give them a hefty breakup fee, and they would part ways amicably, leaving everyone happy.

The reason she got along so well with Chu Yuan was that they were both single, pleasure seeking hedonists. Now that Chu Yuan was talking about getting married for love, she thought Chu Yuan had truly lost her mind.

But Chu Yuan wasn’t joking at all. Not long after, she rushed into a whirlwind marriage and registered her marriage certificate. Because of this, the hearts of many young fan girls who secretly admired her were utterly shattered.

Once they were married, Chu Yuan officially secured her title. She completely locked away her playful thoughts and poured her entire heart and soul into Yan Dai, calling her “Jiejie” this and “wife” that.

She wished she could cling to her wife’s side every second of the day.

Not only that, but she also joyfully drew an exclusive webcomic based on the two of them as prototypes.

She passionately pursued Yan Dai like this for over half a year, only to be met with a calm, detached remark from Yan Dai. “Our relationship is an arranged marriage; there are no feelings involved. It’s best if we don’t interfere with each other’s private lives in the future.”

At that moment, Chu Yuan’s heart instantly froze halfway through.

Boohoo… It wasn’t as if she didn’t know that. They had already discussed this when they first got married, so why did she have to emphasize it again now?

Was she trying to vex her to death before she’d be satisfied?

Over the next two years, Chu Yuan didn’t dare to be so proactive anymore, and Yan Dai’s responses grew even more indifferent.

Until about six months ago, Yan Dai had gone abroad to work at a foreign branch of the company.

It was as if Chu Yuan, as a wife, held no importance to Yan Dai at all.

Now, Chu Yuan couldn’t help but recall that coldly dropped sentence drawing a clear boundary between them.

A drunk person is always prone to becoming sensitive and fragile.

Throwing caution to the wind, Chu Yuan pulled out her phone and dialed the international long-distance number, calling Yan Dai who was far away across the ocean.

Although the call was picked up within seconds on the other end, there was only silence.

Chu Yuan sniffled and delivered a furious, tearful accusation: “I hate you.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, her tears began to fall.

I hate you for always leaving me out in the cold.

Her wife was simply a bad woman.

Yet, she just liked her so, so much.