Did My Ex-Wife Agree to Remarry Me Today? - Chapter 34

Chapter 34: Three Days

Li Zhou’s initiative in wrapping her arms around Chi Yun’s waist gave Chi Yun a five-second surge of pure ecstasy. But before she could get carried away, a sharp pain blossomed at her hip.

The woman hugging her had suddenly given her a vicious pinch.

Caught off guard, it stung. “Ah—! Ow, ow, ow…”

The pain forced Chi Yun to let go of Li Zhou and clutch her sides. Since Li Zhou had pinched both sides of her waist, she had to cover both. Li Zhou successfully extricated herself from the embrace.

“Still dreaming? Does it hurt in your dreams, too?” Li Zhou adjusted her baseball cap, watching Chi Yun huddle over in the dim light with her eyes squeezed shut. This woman was a born actress; Li Zhou knew exactly how much force she’d used, yet Chi Yun acted as if her spine had been snapped.

Was she going to ask for compensation next?

“You broke my waist,” the compensation demand arrived right on cue.

Li Zhou checked her phone. It was already 3:00 AM. She had slept for nearly three hours. Her fatigue was gone, but her workload was now insurmountable.

“We agreed on half an hour. Why didn’t you wake me up?” Li Zhou ignored the theatrics and went straight to the account-settling.

The pain from the pinch had already subsided. Realizing she wouldn’t get any more mileage out of acting, Chi Yun straightened up, her expression shifting to one of righteous defense. “I was holding you so you wouldn’t fall. I didn’t have a spare hand to check the phone. I was going by feel.”

“I thought it had only been ten minutes. Who knew time went by so fast?”

Another blatant lie. Phoenixes were notorious for their accurate internal clocks.

Li Zhou didn’t waste time on things she couldn’t change. “I’m going back to work. Go upstairs. Do not disturb me for the next two hours.”

It was 3:00 AM; dawn wasn’t far off.

“You’re leaving at five?” Chi Yun asked.

“Yes,” Li Zhou sat back down at the computer.

“There’s not much time left. I’ll stay here and keep you company.”

Li Zhou’s face hardened, her eyes flashing a warning. “I don’t need company. Go upstairs and sleep.”

So fierce.

Chi Yun’s bravado vanished instantly. She asked softly, “Then… can I sleep two extra hours and leave at seven?”

Li Zhou had to leave at five because of traffic restrictions on the large transport trucks carrying her exhibits; they had to arrive before the morning rush hour. There were multiple exhibition sites, and only Li Zhou knew the unloading sequence for the 98 crates.

As a CEO, Chi Yun didn’t fear late fees or being docked pay, but this was Li Zhou’s house. The owner decided when the guest was evicted.

Chi Yun felt her request was reasonable. It was already 3:00 AM. If she went to bed now and got woken up at 5:00 AM, she might as well not sleep at all. Two extra hours would at least allow for one full sleep cycle.

Li Zhou thought about it and agreed. “Fine. Sleep until seven, then leave.”

Chi Yun started her next calculation. “I’ll help you close up. Give me the key, and I’ll lock the door when I go.”

“I don’t have a key. Who uses keys anymore? Everything is a smart lock. Once it’s shut, it’s locked.” Except for the storage room by the warehouse, where A-Mei often grabbed sacks; Li Zhou kept a physical key there so the girl wouldn’t struggle with technology. For the main house, closing the door was enough.

“Oh.” One hope dashed, Chi Yun moved to the next.

Seeing her lingering, Li Zhou couldn’t focus. She began shooing her away again. “Go up. Now.”

“One last thing. It’s very important.” Chi Yun pulled out her phone with a solemn face, scrolling through something. Li Zhou thought it was something serious until Chi Yun showed her the chat logs with her mother, bringing the topic back to the sippy cup. “That cup really is mine.”

“Don’t make me kick you out right now.”

“Just think of me when you use it to drink water,” Chi Yun requested. “For these three days, I know you’re busy. Just take a second to think of me while you’re hydrating.”

Annoyed by the persistent, shameless pestering, Li Zhou looked ready to throw her directly onto the street. Chi Yun began retreating toward the stairs. “For the next few days, I’ll go to the community clinic for my IV. I’ll take my meds and eat well. You don’t have to worry.”

She said it as if Li Zhou had actually expressed concern. Li Zhou shot her a sharp “death glare.”

“I’m quitting smoking, too. I keep my word,” Chi Yun added, like an unkillable weed, outputting words one after another. With one foot on the stairs, she had one last thing to say.

“I’ll miss you, too,” Chi Yun’s voice dropped. “For these three days, I’ll try my best to resist coming to find you or causing trouble. But if… if I really can’t help it and come to pester you, just be merciful and say a couple of words to me. Let me see you for a second. That’s all.”

“Okay, I’m done.”

Li Zhou sat in her chair, saying nothing and giving no response. Chi Yun climbed the stairs step by step. Only after her figure had completely vanished did Li Zhou turn back to her desk and begin typing on her keyboard.

At 5:00 AM, Li Zhou shut her laptop, unplugged her cables, grabbed her exhibition gear and car keys, and went to the warehouse. A-Mei was already waiting in her yard, wearing a backpack and holding the breakfast her grandmother had woken up early to make. In the pale dawn where the stars were fading, the sleep-deprived girl’s head drooped, her eyes fluttering shut as she dozed.

Li Zhou drove the car out. A-Mei climbed in dizzily. As she shut the car door, she thought she saw the curtain in Li Zhou’s bedroom twitch. Her first thought was a thief, then she realized that was impossible Sister Zhou had just come out; she would have beaten a thief senseless by now. It was likely just a hallucination from lack of sleep. She rubbed her eyes, looked again, and the curtain was still.

“We’re leaving,” Li Zhou said, casting one look back at her window before looking straight ahead.

“Mmm…” A-Mei mumbled, falling asleep. Is Sister Zhou a superhero? she wondered. I’m so tired my eyes are rolling back, yet she looks perfectly fine…

The car drove away. Chi Yun, who had been watching from behind the curtain, lay back down.

Li Zhou’s bed, Li Zhou’s quilt, her pillow, her pajamas… everything around her was connected to Li Zhou, yet Chi Yun’s heart felt empty, as if it had hitched a ride on that car. What was the use of occupying her things? What she longed for was the person—to be able to hug and kiss her whenever she wanted.

The three-day limit had only been in effect for five minutes, and Chi Yun already found it unbearable. She lay flat, staring at the ceiling, replaying those five seconds of the hug over and over. If the hug had lasted fifteen seconds, Chi Yun might have blurted out a confession and asked her to be her girlfriend again. It was such a good atmosphere.

Too bad A-Li didn’t mean it that way. She only hugged her to pinch her.

Chi Yun covered her eyes and drafted an “earth-shattering” battle plan for the next three days. The core principle: She must be good.

Everything she told Li Zhou she would do, she had to do and she had to report it, occupying a tiny bit of Li Zhou’s time.

After an hour of light dozing, Chi Yun got up, changed into her work clothes, washed and dried Li Zhou’s pajamas, smoothed out the wrinkled sheets, and folded the quilt neatly. She left everything in perfect order, locked the door, took a photo, and sent it to Li Zhou to report her departure.

The exhibition had been promoted online, but because of a high-level official’s inspection, the preparation was kept strictly under wraps. Even on the crowded Central Street, passersby couldn’t see past the construction barriers. Chi Yun searched social media but only found a few vague mentions. None mentioned Li Zhou.

Fortunately, A-Mei was a reliable source. After much pleading from Chi Yun, A-Mei sent a candid photo of Li Zhou coordinating staff and giving orders. Even if it was just a profile shot, Chi Yun cherished it like a treasure. She set it as her phone background, computer background, and chat background. All day long, she was locking and unlocking her screen just to look at it.

After work, Chi Yun contacted Dr. Wang to check in. Dr. Wang had coordinated with the clinic near Chi Yun’s home for a seamless transfer she sounded suspiciously relieved to be off the hook. The benefit was that Chi Yun didn’t have to drive so far for her IV and could use that time to rest.

Chi Yun was a regular at her local clinic. Usually, her mother accompanied her, or all three of them went together. During the year they were married, Li Zhou had even come twice. But today, Chi Yun was alone.

The nurse didn’t miraculously improve their technique just because Chi Yun looked lonely; she suffered the usual amount of pokes. Once the drip started, she took a photo of the IV bag and sent it to Li Zhou: I’m being good and getting my drip.

Everything today needed the word “good.” Good at eating, good at taking medicine, good at resting… She was incredibly well-behaved. She hadn’t even expected herself to be this disciplined. A second before entering the clinic, she had thought about how it wasn’t far from Wuzhou and she should just drive over to catch a glimpse of Li Zhou. She held back.

Li Zhou was truly busy. A-Mei’s photo showed the complexity of the equipment and the high-pressure atmosphere of a government-level project.

Li Zhou almost never replied. Chi Yun wanted a reply but also feared her messages would waste Li Zhou’s precious minutes of rest. It was a contradictory struggle.

On the second night, Chi Yun went to the clinic as usual, sent her “being good” report to Li Zhou as usual, and unexpectedly ran into someone.

“President Chi, you’re…” Yu Ting saw her first.

Chi Yun was sitting alone in the hallway with her IV. She wasn’t talking to anyone or looking at her phone; she was just sitting there quietly, lost in thought.

“Just a minor cold,” Chi Yun looked up, her gaze falling on Yu Ting’s hand, which was wrapped in gauze. “President Yu… are you injured?”

“I signed up for a cooking class and accidentally cut myself. I just found the nearest hospital. I didn’t expect to run into you here…”

Chi Yun later recalled how they started chatting Yu Ting mentioned the tourniquet the doctor used was manufactured by Chi Yun’s company and worked exceptionally well. As fellow pharmaceutical CEOs and partners this quarter, Chi Yun naturally praised Yu Ting’s Yusen Group in return. It happened that one of her IV bags from the day before was a Yusen Group product, so Chi Yun shared her feedback.

In Chi Yun’s eyes, it was just professional networking and mutual flattery. Perfectly normal.

She didn’t expect Li Zhou to misunderstand. And she certainly didn’t expect Li Zhou to finish her exhausting work and come to the community clinic to see her.

When Chi Yun met those eyes cold as frost she had a premonition that she was in big trouble.

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