Did My Ex-Wife Agree to Remarry Me Today? - Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Agitated by a Rival

Li Zhou shouldn’t have needed to rush back and forth tonight.

There were guesthouses on the island, most of which had been booked by the film crew. As a specially invited safety diver for the underwater scenes, she could have easily stayed the night.

However, Li Zhou wanted to verify something. After some thought, she had a boat send her back.

It was exactly 2:00 AM when she reached the pier.

The boatman was a fisherman from Shazhou and was quite familiar with Li Zhou. Seeing her walking home alone so late, he said worriedly, “Xiao Zhou, do you need a flashlight? It just rained, the road is very slippery. Be careful.”

His boat was chartered by the Surging Waves crew, and they were still filming night scenes. He might be needed back there, so he had to hurry.

“No need,” Li Zhou said, signaling Jin Fei’s father not to worry. She could see the path clearly. “I’ll walk slowly.”

At this hour, his daughter was surely sleeping like a log, so he couldn’t call her to pick Li Zhou up. Jin Yang urged, “Then head to the main road before looping back. The streetlights are brighter there.”

Li Zhou nodded. She still wasn’t used to these “younger” humans (by her tree standards) instructing her in an elder’s tone, but since she wanted to integrate into the world, she chose to follow its rules.

Jin Yang steered the fishing boat away from the pier. Li Zhou began walking toward home.

She was indeed walking slowly, but not because of the slippery road. The moment she turned around, she discovered someone at the end of the path, gazing in her direction.

The person had been sitting on a stone post. The moment Li Zhou turned to walk back, the figure stood up and strode toward her.

The pier was dimly lit; there was only one yellow streetlight near the shore until one reached the main road. However, Li Zhou was so familiar with this person’s aura that she didn’t need light to know who it was.

The night was still, the breeze was gentle, and heavy clouds drifted past the moon, releasing a wash of silver light.

Looking at the face revealed in the moonlight, Li Zhou said with surprise, “You were waiting for me?”

“Why are you back so late?” Chi Yun’s eyes were glued to Li Zhou.

Her gaze looked like that of someone who had been bullied and had come to report the culprit—her eyes were rimmed with red, and her expression was one of profound grievance and pity.

Chi Yun was indeed feeling aggrieved. Heaven knew how “evil” the person who bullied her was—to borrow her wife for so long. She had been eating a whole night’s worth of vinegar (jealousy) on the shore.

“Why were you waiting for me?” Li Zhou’s long lashes lowered as she stared at Chi Yun’s shoulders, which were damp with mist.

Jin Fei’s father had mentioned it just rained, right?

“It rained just now. I was worried you wouldn’t have an umbrella if you came back in the middle of the night, so I came to bring you one.” Chi Yun chose a clean, safe reason that strayed far from her core thoughts. In reality, she was purely agitated by those fans online shipping the “wrong” couple.

“It’s stopped now,” Li Zhou said calmly.

“Yes, I know.” Chi Yun folded the umbrella she had used while playing the role of a “wife-watching stone” and gestured with her chin toward Li Zhou’s house. “Then hurry home. Don’t catch a cold.”

Li Zhou felt Chi Yun was worrying about the wrong person. She was an ancient tree who had weathered countless storms with high cultivation; the other was a Phoenix with a unique constitution for whom getting sick was a major ordeal. Who was more likely to fall ill? Who should really be worried about themselves?

Li Zhou walked toward the house with a somber face. She took the small path it was shorter; the main road added another kilometer. It was her habit to take the shortcut.

Chi Yun followed at a short distance, her flashlight on, acting like a little tail. Li Zhou assumed her car must be parked near the house, so they were heading the same way.

Li Zhou simply kept walking. When she reached her gate, a business van was blocking her entrance completely. She was forced to stop.

What? If she can’t get in, no one can?

Li Zhou didn’t know what the woman was thinking and shot a look back at Chi Yun. Chi Yun, having been buffeted by the sea breeze for so long, had almost forgotten how she’d parked. Seeing Li Zhou staring at her in silence for a long time, she finally remembered her car was obstructing the gate. She jogged over and moved the van as quickly as possible.

After moving the car, Chi Yun stepped out and walked to Li Zhou’s side. Li Zhou didn’t head inside immediately, assuming she had more to say. She looked Chi Yun up and down and asked, “You’re still not going back?”

To Chi Yun, this sounded like she was being driven away. She pouted and said, “I’m not going back. I’m sleeping here.”

Her tone suggested she owned a house in the village. But in this large village, who else knew her besides Li Zhou? Especially at 2:00 AM when the fishermen were long asleep; she probably couldn’t even get into the elderly activity center that stayed open for the homeless.

Li Zhou asked, “Where are you going to sleep?”

“In the car,” Chi Yun said.

Li Zhou didn’t understand. “Why sleep in the car when you have a home to go to?”

“I can’t sleep at home,” Chi Yun replied. “I can sleep here.”

Li Zhou frowned, catching the wrong point. “Why can’t you sleep?”

Chi Yun told the truth: “Someone bullied me.”

Again, that tone of reporting a grievance.

Li Zhou’s frown deepened. “Who bullied you?”

Chi Yun was blunt: “A love rival.”

Li Zhou was lost. What kind of love rival?

Chi Yun spoke without context: “All those rivals are bullying me, and I can’t bully them back. Do you think that’s fair?”

“The more I think about it, the angrier I get. Of course I can’t sleep at night.”

Li Zhou didn’t quite grasp the implication and blurted out, “Who are your love rivals?”

Chi Yun puffed out her cheeks. “The people who like you.”

What kind of logic is this? How did this get turned back on me?

Chi Yun even pinned the blame on her: “You’re letting them bully me. That’s not right either.”

Li Zhou wanted her to be clear: “What am I letting them do?” She had absolutely nothing to do with those so-called rivals. She had nothing to do with Chi Yun, either.

Chi Yun explained, “You know I’m the type who seeks revenge for every grievance. If those rivals can aggravate me, I should be allowed to aggravate them back. That’s only fair.”

“They are allowed to pursue you, so you must allow me to pursue you too. I don’t even have a starting line how can I compete with them? Of course I’m just going to get bullied and ignored.”

After all that circling, Li Zhou finally understood. All this talk, making her head spin, just to say this one thing?

Li Zhou looked into Chi Yun’s eyes. Her attitude wasn’t as cold as last time. She only said, “I’ll think about it.”

“How long will you think?” Chi Yun had finally secured a tiny chance and was anxious to push it forward.

“I don’t know.” Li Zhou had no thoughts on it yet.

Chi Yun remembered how she couldn’t reach Li Zhou all night. “Can you take me off your blacklist first? That way you can see the messages I send.”

Li Zhou looked at her communicator and refused decisively: “Not until I’ve made my choice.”

“Fine.” Chi Yun, having no bargaining power, could only accept. But she knew how to apply pressure to speed up the verdict.

She paused and added, “Then I’ll wait until you’ve finished thinking before I go back.”

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