After the Divorce, My Wife Is Impossible to Coax - Chapter 28 

Chapter 28 

The news that An Zhaoyu had registered for the Golden Eagle Flight Competition finally broke two weeks before the race, when the official list of participants was released.

“This is utter nonsense!”

Unsurprisingly, An Changguo summoned An Zhaoyu—who had already taken leave—to his office during work hours. He was more furious now than he had been when she unexpectedly fell pregnant; it was as if this Omega daughter of his couldn’t go a single day without provoking him.

An Zhaoyu stood with her head down. He threatened to tie her up to stop her from participating in a competition that could cost her life—looking every bit like a menacing paper tiger.

“Xiao Yu, do you really not value your life? Your father and I are getting old, and you have your own family and child. How can you be so reckless…” He Nanchun pleaded through tears, citing news reports about how many pilots had met with accidents in this very race.

“Mom, I’ll come back.”

“Heh,” An Wenyao sneered. “Look at the papers. How many of those contestants actually come back in one piece?”

“I will be one of them.”

In truth, the competition wasn’t that terrifying. As an internationally regulated event, safety was the top priority. It was just that the media loved reporting on accidents, making it seem much more harrowing than it was. Fatalities were a rare exception, but An Zhaoyu didn’t bother arguing; she knew they were just worried.

“You are arrogant and conceited! If I had known, I never should have let you enter the Medical Center!” When An Changguo lost his temper, he was genuinely intimidating, radiating a heavy, suffocating pressure.

“I got in on my own merit,” An Zhaoyu looked up, meeting his gaze.

In their subconscious, they still felt that being a pilot wasn’t quite suitable for an Omega. An Zhaoyu knew this. She remained alone in her resolve. This long-standing “one-woman war” often left her feeling exhausted and powerless, which only made her more determined to win this race. She was starting to understand the Flight Captain’s perspective.

“You’re insisting on this competition, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Get out!”

An Zhaoyu “got out.” Fortunately, she was married and no longer lived at the An estate, otherwise she might have found herself sleeping on the streets.

At the end of the shift, Lu Shen came to pick up the baby. She had already heard the news at the inpatient department. Her colleagues had been looking at her with pitying eyes, as if she were about to become a widow with a young child.

Lu Shen knew about the Golden Eagle Competition. It was the same one from the blue-background photo An Zhaoyu had kept—the most famous flight competition in the world. No one from their country had ever won the championship. It was incredibly challenging and had been An Zhaoyu’s dream for years.

“Shen-shen, can you try to talk some sense into her? None of us can get through to her,” He Nanchun was still wiping tears when Lu Shen arrived at the An house. An Changguo looked grim; An Wenyao was silent.

Only An Zhou, leaning against the coffee table by the sofa, was babbling single syllables, completely unaware of the gravity of the situation. She was dressed in clothes very similar to An Zhaoyu’s—a mini version of the Captain—but much better behaved, too small to know how to anger the adults yet.

The atmosphere was heavy. The adults circled the baby, pitying her for having such a “heartless and irresponsible” mother.

“Will it be of any use if I try?” Lu Shen asked softly, looking at the baby.

If twenty years of family hadn’t worked, would An Zhaoyu listen to her? It was just a plea for psychological comfort; everyone in this room knew An Zhaoyu, and they all knew no one could change her mind.

“She has failed you,” An Changguo said in a low voice.

No one could change what An Zhaoyu decided. For the elder couple, even if she were gone, there was another child to carry their hopes. But the ones who would truly bear the consequences were Lu Shen and An Zhou. In their small home, An Zhaoyu’s role was indispensable. If something happened, Lu Shen would be left to raise An Zhou alone, and might even have to take care of An Zhaoyu if she were injured. Her situation would become incredibly difficult.

“Xiao Zhou,” Lu Shen called the baby’s name. The child looked up, her eyes watery and crystal clear.

“Ma…” An Zhou leaned against the sofa and reached out toward her.

“Was she calling for Mama?” “Oh my! Our Xiao Zhou can say Mama!”

The baby’s “Ma” instantly lightened the heavy atmosphere. Lu Shen walked over, crouched down, and smilingly pulled her into her arms. The baby immediately wrapped her hands around Lu Shen’s neck.

“Baby, say Mama again,” He Nanchun took out her phone, wanting to send a voice message to An Zhaoyu to see if she could really abandon such a cute child for a dangerous race.

“Ma,” An Zhou said. Having heard it so often, she could only manage that sound, but as the others coaxed her, she voiced it unconsciously.

“Ah, Xiao Zhou is such a good girl.”

The voice message was sent, but it sank into the ocean without a ripple. An Zhaoyu didn’t reply. He Nanchun sighed repeatedly.

“Uncle, Auntie, I’ll take Xiao Zhou home now,” Lu Shen said her goodbyes.

“Be careful on the road. Tell us if anything happens, don’t keep it all bottled up,” He Nanchun looked at the two of them with deep heartache.

Lu Shen walked home with An Zhou. The baby couldn’t walk independently yet, only standing firm by holding onto things. The lights were on; she knew An Zhaoyu was home.

An Zhaoyu had been quite “productive.” After being kicked out of her parents’ house, she went straight to a law firm, printed two copies of a divorce agreement, and signed her name.

She was naturally rebellious. The more her family didn’t want her to go, the more she insisted on it. If an accident happened and she died, the divorce papers wouldn’t actually be needed—the marriage would legally end upon her death. As for assets, she trusted her family wouldn’t make things hard for Lu Shen. She was just afraid that Lu Shen couldn’t stand her anymore and wanted to divorce her now. Or, that when she returned, Lu Shen would tell her to “get out” too, and she wanted to be able to pull out these papers with dignity to save her pride.

When she received the voice note of Xiao Zhou saying “Ma,” An Zhaoyu was sitting in the study staring at the papers. An Wenyao had sent a text saying that once she fell from a plane and died, he would start pursuing Lu Shen. Since An Zhou was technically his blood relative anyway, after raising her for twenty years, he wasn’t worried the girl wouldn’t eventually call him “Dad” instead of “Uncle.”

Enraged, An Zhaoyu kicked the marble table. The nerve in her calf flared with agony.

Lu Shen will never like you. — Just you wait and see.

Wait and see what? An Zhaoyu tried to smile to prove she was still that free-spirited Omega, but when she looked in the mirror, the curve of her lips wasn’t as wide as she thought, and her eyes were tinged with red.

She figured that once Lu Shen left her parents’ house, the whole family would have pressured her to stop An Zhaoyu. What should she do if Lu Shen came to her with red eyes, scolding her, or just crying silently, begging her not to go to that damn competition?

She heard the door open. Lu Shen was speaking to the baby in her usual gentle, soft voice. An Zhaoyu reflexively hid the two divorce agreements in the bottom drawer of the desk.

Before Lu Shen even spoke, An Zhaoyu already felt like surrendering.

An Zhaoyu emerged from the study. Lu Shen was sitting on a small stool helping the baby change her shoes. Their eyes met.

“Ma,” An Zhou called out as soon as she saw her, trying to make one syllable do all the work. The baby’s voice was milky and soft; hearing it in person was different from the voice note, striking the softest part of An Zhaoyu’s heart.

She walked to An Zhou’s side and bent down. Lu Shen had just finished putting on the baby’s clean indoor sandals. An Zhaoyu picked her up and kissed her cheek. “Baby, say Mama again.”

An Zhou hugged her neck but kept her mouth shut. Perhaps having been coaxed too many times today, the baby’s own rebellious streak had flared up against her mother.

Lu Shen remained silent. With even the baby ignoring her, An Zhaoyu had to keep playing with An Zhou to keep the atmosphere from stagnating. While waiting for Lu Shen’s reaction, An Zhaoyu couldn’t help but look her Beta wife up and down.

Today, Lu Shen had a simple butterfly clip in her hair—a free gift from when they bought baby clothes. She was wearing a long, white floral dress that traced her slender waist, and light gray low-heeled leather shoes. This woman, elegant from her hair to her toes, had An Zhou’s tiny discarded jacket draped over her arm and a bag stuffed with baby necessities. It pulled her down from her pedestal and made her look exceptionally warm and domestic.

That little jacket was a custom order from the photo studio where they had their family portraits taken—it was a miniature replica of An Zhaoyu’s flight suit, just without the Medical Center logo, replaced by a cartoon animal.

It only highlighted how “scum-like” An Zhaoyu was being, planning to abandon her wife and daughter. An Zhaoyu didn’t doubt for a second that if she died in the race, someone would immediately jump to pursue Lu Shen, even if she had an Omega daughter. That Alpha intern was one. An Wenyao would have to wait in line.

Who is so stupid as to leave a beautiful wife and a cute daughter behind to go race in the sky?

An Zhaoyu felt she wasn’t that stupid. If Lu Shen just said the word, she wouldn’t go. Immediately. This unrealistic dream—she’d give it all back to the seventeen-year-old An Zhaoyu, even if she had to live the rest of her life with the occasional resentment of her younger self for breaking their shared promise.

“How long will you be gone?” Lu Shen stood up from the stool. Her voice was still calm and gentle.

“What…” As she stood, the distance between them closed. An Zhaoyu had imagined many things Lu Shen might say, but this wasn’t one of them.

“Aren’t you going to the competition? How long will it take?”

“If everything goes well, two days,” An Zhaoyu stared into her eyes, but could see no emotion there.

“Mm,” Lu Shen acknowledged it and said nothing more. She picked up her long-sleeved clothes and walked toward the bathroom.

That’s… it?

No interrogation, no sadness, no anger. Nothing.

Ah, right. This was Dr. Lu. This was the Lu Shen who stayed home with the child and let her go clubbing. No matter what An Zhaoyu did, she wouldn’t interfere. An Zhaoyu had actually been fantasizing about Lu Shen stopping her, fantasizing about Lu Shen being heartbroken.

How pathetic.

An Zhaoyu knew then that she had to go to this race. She was going to be the biggest fool in the world. She didn’t want anyone to know she was crying, so she buried her face in the neck of her infant daughter.

“Ma… mama…” An Zhou’s little hand reached through her long, wine-red curls.

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