Did My Ex-Wife Agree to Remarry Me Today? - Chapter 21

Chapter 21: The Long Phone Call

Phoenixes have unique constitutions. Usually, they are healthier than the average person, with physical markers far superior to humans. But once they fall ill, they become the most “vulnerable” group in society, having to report to the hospital daily. Their recovery cycles are much longer than average; a simple cold or fever can take a month to fully clear.

Every time Chi Yun had a fever, she had to go for an IV drip. If she was lucky, Long Xi would be home to handle the needles. If not, Chi Yun had to face the community hospital nurses who could never find her veins.

Chi Yun’s skin was fair and her hands slender, but her veins seemed to hide within her flesh as a natural trait. Nurses often had to use a transilluminator for a long time just to distinguish them. When the needle missed, it was Chi Yun who suffered.

As a child, Chi Yun would wail heart-wrenchingly if her hand was bruised by a missed shot, and she’d spend the rest of the evening sobbing to A-Li about her misery. As an adult, she buried that fear deep. Even when a doctor came to the office to treat her, she had to maintain the calm, composed demeanor of a leader. After all, she couldn’t very well pull back her hand and cry in front of her employees.

“She poked me five times before she got it right,” Chi Yun said over the phone to Li Zhou, sounding like she was on the verge of tears. “When she pulled the needle out to try the second time, I wanted to pull my hand away, but she held it down…”

Before calling, Chi Yun had sent Li Zhou a photo of her bruised hand. The drip was finished now, leaving several needle marks and a swollen, purplish-blue ring on her pale skin. It was a pitiful sight.

“Did you get caught in the rain yesterday?” Li Zhou asked, remembering Chi Yun’s flushed face from that morning. She wondered if the woman had already been feeling unwell back then.

“A little,” Chi Yun admitted. The rain had been too heavy for an umbrella to be of much use.

She shouldn’t have waited on the shore, Li Zhou thought. She shouldn’t have slept in the car.

“I won’t be home for the next few nights. Don’t come over,” Li Zhou said.

Chi Yun used her arm as a pillow and leaned against her desk, tracing circles on the surface with her finger. Her jealousy flared up instantly. “Which love rival borrowed you this time?”

Li Zhou sighed. “Stop calling everyone a love rival. Think of how innocent the people you’re mislabeling are.”

Chi Yun was firm. “I won’t misidentify them.”

As she spoke, she heard someone calling Li Zhou on the other end: “Sister Zhou, aren’t you coming up yet?”

Chi Yun’s finger moved faster, drawing an even larger circle on the desk. She knew exactly which rival it was.

“Are you on that island from yesterday?” Chi Yun asked.

“A film crew is shooting a movie here. I’m acting as a safety diver,” Li Zhou explained.

Indeed, Chi Yun thought, the island where the rival is stationed. She didn’t hide her bitterness. “My head hurts. My ‘rival’ is making my head throb with anger.”

“Don’t call everyone that,” Li Zhou corrected. “I’m just helping a friend.”

Lin Shanyu had once helped promote Li Zhou’s documentary. That was how Li Zhou first gained public recognition the “traffic” brought by a famous actress. Li Zhou didn’t care about fame, but she knew the promotion had been effective, and she owed Lin Shanyu a favor. Her goal for the documentary was to raise awareness; she believed that while knowing didn’t guarantee protection, not knowing guaranteed a lack of it.

Over the years, Lin Shanyu had helped her multiple times. When the actress asked for help in return, Li Zhou naturally obliged. To Li Zhou, this was simply a professional exchange of favors. How did it have anything to do with romance?

Chi Yun, however, didn’t believe the other woman saw A-Li as just a friend. Her “rival radar” was highly sensitive. To test her theory and following her principle of “if I’m annoyed, you should be too”—Chi Yun said:

“She’s definitely going to ask you who you’re talking to. When she does, tell her the truth. Tell her it’s your ex-wife. Your ex-wife who is trying to win you back. We’re having a long, intimate chat. She’s borrowed you for so many days; it’s only fair I annoy her a little every day.”

Li Zhou went silent, likely defeated by Chi Yun’s impenetrable and unshakable logic.

Despite her annoyance, Chi Yun missed Li Zhou terribly. She pressed the phone closer to her ear and said piteously, “If I go to see you at noon, can I see you?”

“Stay home and rest since you’re sick,” Li Zhou ordered. “Don’t go running around.”

“But I am resting. I’ve been spacing out all morning,” Chi Yun babbled, trying to monopolize Li Zhou’s time. “And the moment I realized I felt off at the office, I called the clinic. I’ve been so proactive with the medicine and the IV; the chills should be gone by now. I don’t think I’ll even need the doctor tomorrow…”

Li Zhou didn’t point out the impossibility of that. For a Phoenix, even with active treatment, it took five to seven days just to alleviate the symptoms.

The voice on the phone continued, “When the needle was hurting my hand, I was thinking… if only I had a cup of sweet pear juice right next to me. If I drank that, I could endure any pain…”

At this, Li Zhou finally realized what the scheming Chi Yun was after. The woman loved talking in circles.

Li Zhou replied, “If you want some, just order delivery. There are plenty of fresh juice shops out there.”

That’s not the same at all!

Chi Yun slumped onto her desk, her voice muffled. “I don’t drink juice from outside…”

Li Zhou remained silent. Just then, the person waiting for her on the shore called out again: “Sister Zhou, do you want to come ashore? The prop boat is coming in, I’m worried it might hit you.”

Li Zhou glanced at the call duration. She realized this conversation had far exceeded the “credit” Chi Yun had earned with her bag of bottles. She decided to hang up immediately. “I have things to do. I have to go.”

“Okay… go ahead…” Chi Yun’s voice trailed off into a wilted mumble as the call disconnected. She pressed the communicator against her face, thinking indignantly: It’s definitely that rival making trouble… She had wanted to stay on the phone much longer.

Li Zhou walked onto the shore. Lin Shanyu, clad in a white wetsuit, walked over with a look of concern. “Sister Zhou, why were you on the phone for so long in the water? Was it something urgent?”

Li Zhou remembered Chi Yun’s huffy “fairness theory.” She had intended to ignore the question, but then she thought: If it’s someone unimportant, what’s the harm in saying it?

She let the name slip. “It wasn’t urgent. It was just a call from my ex-wife.”

The look in Lin Shanyu’s eyes shifted.

It was common knowledge that Li Zhou didn’t take her phone into the water. Today, she not only brought it but insisted that the underwater scenes be finished by noon. The director was satisfied with the shoot, and Li Zhou had fulfilled her duty perfectly. But the moment she reached the safety zone, she had signaled her exit and swam back quickly.

Lin Shanyu had followed, thinking there was an emergency. Instead, it was a call from the ex-wife.

Weren’t the rumors saying they had an acrimonious split? That they had cut all ties? Why was the ex-wife calling her now? Was there still some lingering entanglement between them?

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