Did My Ex-Wife Agree to Remarry Me Today? - Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Rationalize

“Director Chi, this documentary has over a hundred episodes and took a full three years to film. You won’t be able to finish it in one sitting. Should we…”

Chi Yun understood. It was late; the time for the “working class” to clock out had arrived.

She leaned back against her seat, immediately regaining her elegant, upright posture. Her tone was soft as she said, “Go on home. Tomorrow is the weekend, no work. Take a good rest. I’ll sit in the car for a while before going in.”

Seeing their boss—who was usually in high spirits, radiant, and warm suddenly looking like a lonely soul sitting in her car, unwilling to go home, Pei Pei felt an ache in her heart. She offered a sincere suggestion: “Director Chi, if you miss Sister Zhou, just search her name on the video apps. Sister Zhou has filmed many documentaries these past few years. She does forest protection, desert prevention… and she’s on-screen for most of them.”

“Just… just remember to turn off the ‘bullet comments’ (scrolling live comments)! The people in the comments scream nonsense; don’t take it to heart.”

“I know.” Chi Yun smiled gently, urging her employee to leave. “Go ahead. Be careful on your way back.”

Pei Pei lived in Building 3, only a ten-minute walk from Huijing Mansion. She chose to walk.

“Are you still drinking the pear juice? If not, I’ll take it back for my girlfriend.” Noticing her boss’s somber expression sitting as still as a stone statue, seemingly fallen into a temporary state of detachment Pei Pei’s eyes landed on the two untouched drinks.

One of the things Sister Zhou constantly emphasized in her documentaries was saving resources and reducing waste. If the drinks were left in the car, they would spoil. So…

“Give them to your girlfriend,” Chi Yun said, looking up slightly.

“Thanks, Director Chi!”

Pei Pei grabbed the two cups of juice and hopped out of the car happily, stepping onto the elevated walkway toward Building 3. If conditions permitted, the moment she stepped onto that walkway, she would call her girlfriend and stay on the line until she reached home.

In fact, the night sky was clear, the stars were bright, and conditions permitted very much. The moment Pei Pei stepped onto the walkway, she shouted a loud “Honey!” into her phone.

Chi Yun, meanwhile, sat alone in the car, consumed by grief. Everything that happened today had left her brain in a fog. She wanted to sit here and rationalize things.

The origin of the divorce certificate and its irregular processing troubled Chi Yun for thirty minutes. She truly couldn’t figure it out, so she gave up. She took out her communicator, expanded it to the size of a tablet, and downloaded the video app Pei Pei had recommended.

Once the app was installed, Chi Yun opened it, typed “Li Zhou” into the search bar, and hit search.

There were five documentaries related to Li Zhou. One was an early work on forest vegetation and environmental protection. One was on desert management, filmed in the Middle East. One was on saving endangered flora and fauna. One was a promotional film about changing lifestyles and resource recycling. And the last one was the one Pei Pei mentioned, the massive hit about marine life and underwater trash: Deep Sea Crisis.

Chi Yun clicked on the first episode of Deep Sea Crisis. The moment the sound of waves hit her ears, she pressed pause.

She rolled down all four windows of the car, letting the cool winter night breeze pour in. Then, she adjusted her posture, watching with the most serious and earnest attitude.

A body of water larger than one square meter would cause Chi Yun extreme physiological and psychological discomfort. This was determined by her nature. As far as she knew, nine out of ten Phoenixes were the same.

Chi Yun forced herself to focus entirely on Li Zhou. Only look at Li Zhou.

The narration in the documentary also belonged to Li Zhou. Chi Yun had always thought Li Zhou’s voice was beautiful—like a zither or jade pendants clashing, carrying a hint of transcendental coolness. Chi Yun found listening to her speak to be a form of enjoyment.

However, that enjoyment only existed in the anticipation of watching. Not two minutes in, Chi Yun’s temper flared. Her facial muscles tightened, and her eyes widened. What is wrong with these netizens?

Instead of watching the documentary properly and learning about environmental protection, why were they all calling her wife “Wife”?

Did they not know she and her wife had been married for a year?!

Director Chi forgot Pei Pei’s most important warning. She allowed the overwhelming, irrelevant bullet comments to attack her sensitive and fragile heart.

Only seconds into the documentary, a line of text drifted across the screen: “Third time watching! I never get tired of my wife’s face!” Then: “Wife has arrived on the battlefield! The joy of being a visual-fan is here!” “I love Sister Zhou’s white diving suit! So pretty!” “Wife is so cool! That dive leapt right into my heart!” “Her swimming form is perfection!” “At this moment, more than anyone else in the world, I want to be that fish in Sister Zhou’s hand. Why does that fish get to touch her?”

Chi Yun sat with a darkened face, typing into the comment box. One bullet comment was sent out, instantly buried under the mountain of others.

Thousands of netizens, including Chi Yun, said simultaneously: “Don’t scream randomly, that’s MY wife!”

Chi Yun: “…………”

She fumed for a long time. Eventually, unable to stand the sight, she reached out and turned off the noisy text.

In another sea, three hours behind…

A ship painted with environmental charity icons and maritime rescue symbols sat on the silent surface of the sea.

Yu Xialin, a resident researcher from a scientific expedition team, grabbed a sheet of paper from her desk and stood up to find Li Zhou. This was her fifth day on the ship, and she had only spoken twice to the person she wanted to talk to most. That wasn’t enough; she had many things she wanted to discuss with Li Zhou.

Notably, Yu Xialin had gone underwater with the camera crew today. Although from a distance, she had witnessed this legend’s concise and rapid rescue operation. It was a killer whale whose tail fin was entangled in discarded cables. Because of the sudden weight, its swimming posture had become awkward, its speed dropped, and the simple act of coming up for air had become incredibly difficult.

After the underwater drone discovered it, they attached a tracker to the adult orca. A tiny positioning device that stuck to fish skin had aided Li Zhou’s rescue.

In the morning, after locating the orca in the waters near Flame Island, the team set out on a speedboat. When they arrived, the orca was exhausted and on the brink of death.

Li Zhou signaled the camera crew and approached alone. These marine creatures weren’t just unafraid of her; they seemed to understand her commands. With just a gesture, the orca knew to flatten its tail and cooperate with the rescue, as obedient as a trained animal in an aquarium.

But this was the unpredictable wild sea, not a controlled aquarium… How did Li Zhou do it?

Before boarding, Yu Xialin had been infinitely curious about this famous marine rescue expert. After boarding, her interest doubled.

After searching the usual spots and finding no one, Yu Xialin found Li Zhou’s assistant. “Have you seen Sister Zhou? She seems to have disappeared after taking a phone call.”

Jin Fei was doing the final layout for a publicity draft. Hearing this, she looked up and asked indifferently, “Dr. Yu, what do you need Sister Zhou for?”

“At this hour, she’s probably resting,” she added, burying her head again.

Yu Xialin said, “I have a few questions to ask her, it’ll be quick. I checked her lounge, she’s not there.”

Jin Fei didn’t even lift her eyelids, sounding slightly impatient. “If she’s not sitting on the deck, she’s soaking in the sea. If you see her with her eyes closed when you get there, don’t disturb her. She only gets this little bit of rest a day.”

Soaking in the sea during her break? That amazing?

Yu Xialin said, “I’ll go look. Don’t worry, I won’t bother her.”

As Yu Xialin headed for the deck, Xiao Zhou poked Jin Fei with an elbow. “Hey, be a bit nicer. She was sent here by the Yuansen Group.”

Jin Fei was full of complaints. “In the past, we filmed, edited, and published everything ourselves. We did what we wanted as long as Sister Zhou approved. Why do we have to let an outsider stick their hand in? I have to show her all my writing and change it to her taste. Who does she think she is? She’s just a PhD in Marine Biology.”

“And she pesters Sister Zhou all day! Sister Zhou is so annoyed she’s hiding in the ocean!”

Zhou Wanxin soothed her. “Don’t be mad. She’s not just a PhD; she’s the second princess of the Yuansen Group. They gave a lot of money for this placement.”

“How much?” Jin Fei’s dull eyes gained some spark.

Xiao Zhou stomped on the floor and whispered, “They donated five ships like this one with plasma torch waste treatment equipment. Ten underwater submarines. And two hundred underwater cleaning robots.”

“Think about how much trash we cleared with just this one little ship. Our efficiency is going to multiply by several times.”

“Ah— Mmph—”

Jin Fei wanted to shout, but Xiao Zhou quickly covered her mouth. Xiao Zhou laughed. “So, stay on good terms with Dr. Yu.”

Jin Fei’s attitude did a 180. She nodded frantically. “Understood. From now on, I’ll call her ‘Dr. Yu’ (Yu Bo). Sounds friendlier.”

Yu Xialin searched the front and back decks but didn’t find Li Zhou. She looked down at the water. Near the left side of the hull, she saw a white figure blurred by the water.

Li Zhou liked to wear a white diving suit; it was practically her trademark. And she was as bold as she had been during the day, entering the water without any breathing equipment.

Yu Xialin didn’t know how long she had been soaking or where Li Zhou’s limit for breath-holding lay. Her own father, a legendary diver, was known as the “Number One Diver,” but from what she observed today, Li Zhou’s limit was more than triple her father’s.

In this era, the constitutions of Dragons and Phoenixes were better than humans, excelling in everything. But Li Zhou’s public information stated she was an ordinary human.

Can a normal human really do this?

Li Zhou stood quietly in the deep blue sea, silhouetted by the ripples like a white jellyfish that belonged there. Beautiful, ethereal.

A large black creature approached the resting Li Zhou at a steady speed, but stopped two meters away, waiting quietly by her side. Yu Xialin recognized it as the orca Li Zhou had saved this morning.

What is it doing?

Li Zhou didn’t move, and the giant creature didn’t move either.

When Li Zhou finished her rest and ascended to the surface for air, the giant creature followed her up. Along with it, as if being presented, was a stingray held in its mouth.

The orca had traveled miles to find their ship just to deliver this morsel of food as a token of gratitude.

Yu Xialin saw Li Zhou raise her arm, pat the orca’s head, and decline in a soft, gentle voice: “Thank you for your kindness, but I’m a vegetarian. I can’t eat your food.”

Whether the orca understood or not, it opened its mouth, letting the stingray slip away. It then let out two sharp cries before diving back into the deep. Those cries seemed to say: “Wait, I have more.”

Li Zhou actually waited in the water—her body suspended quietly, her face like white jade. Leaning against the deck railing, Yu Xialin could faintly see the curve of Li Zhou’s chin, framed beautifully by the setting sun.

Before long, the grateful orca returned. This time, it wasn’t a stingray, but a cluster of giant kelp. Giant kelp can grow up to 50 meters. The orca had struggled to bite a section off the kelp “forest” to give to Li Zhou like a bouquet of flowers.

This time, Li Zhou didn’t refuse.

Faint calls from companions came from the distance. The orca slapped the surface with its tail fin, bidding Li Zhou farewell. Li Zhou’s lips moved, but Yu Xialin couldn’t hear what she said.

The orca swam away, and Li Zhou swam toward the rope ladder clutching the kelp. Yu Xialin cleared a space, rolled up her sleeves, and prepared to take the giant kelp from her.

“Thank you.” The kelp was large and heavy; having help made it easier for Li Zhou to climb up. Once on deck, she thanked Yu Xialin.

“You’re welcome,” Yu Xialin responded with a smile.

Li Zhou leaned against the railing, her fair, delicate hand gripping the metal rusted by seawater. She was as flawless as white jade; any mark or scratch on her skin was incredibly obvious.

There was something missing from the ring finger of Li Zhou’s right hand, leaving a distinct mark.

Yu Xialin noticed it and asked, “I saw Sister Zhou wearing a ring on her ring finger before, but you aren’t wearing it today. Are you single now?”

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