Pretty Wife Insists I Live Off Her - Past Life (4)

Past Life (4): The Test.

Yue Lei had fallen out of love. Although she had never said it aloud, Mo Yingxue had experienced her love before, so the feeling of its absence was unmistakable.

When Mo Yingxue realized that Yue Lei hadn’t initiated a message in months, disappeared for days, never came home, and always carried the smell of alcohol and unfamiliar perfume, she was lost for a long time.

She felt listless, couldn’t eat or sleep, and was completely numb. She couldn’t understand why Yue Lei had stopped loving her when she hadn’t done anything wrong.

It wasn’t until Mo Yingxue had lost ten pounds, started suffering from acid reflux, and was rushed to the hospital by the maid after throwing up bile in her room that she finally accepted the fact.

After being discharged, Mo Yingxue thoroughly examined all the photos, videos, and gifts tied to their memories. She visited the places they had once gone together.

Experiencing the beauty of their passionate love from an objective perspective, Mo Yingxue reached a conclusion.

Perhaps she didn’t love Yue Lei either. Maybe they had stayed together all those years simply because she enjoyed Yue Lei’s flattering, her favoritism, and her attention. When the other party’s love disintegrated, the relationship became meaningless.

After a long train of thought, Mo Yingxue decided against proposing divorce. I’ve been like this since I was a child; I’m not going to change. Does it really matter who I spend my life with? Now that Yue Lei rarely came home, it made no difference from being alone.

The thought of confronting the woman who no longer loved her, arguing, and dividing assets gave Mo Yingxue a headache. It was better to turn a blind eye and continue living together.

The relationship between the two had always been emotionally sparse. After marriage, once the initial passion faded and the novelty wore off, everything relied solely on Yue Lei’s one-sided maintenance.

Yue Lei, preoccupied, was oblivious to the deepening emotional rift. It took her a full six months to realize her wife was treating her even more coldly. But she still couldn’t figure out why.

The company’s top host, Zhao Zicheng, was soaring in popularity, raking in enormous gifts during every live stream. Many derivative matters required Yue Lei’s personal management and coordination. She was exhausted but didn’t want to complain to her wife.

She just planned to hold on for a few more months. Yue Lei was working so hard because she was trying to decentralize power and shares to her top hosts. Once settled, she could step back, hand over the reins, and spend more time with her wife, enjoying life.

On second thought, Mo Yingxue’s emotional stability was a good thing; Yue Lei was too busy to worry about her.

And so, one party actively withdrew from the relationship, and the other, knowing the relationship was mined, chose to ignore it for another six months.

During that half-year, Yue Lei worked ferociously. The live streaming company successfully transformed. Every host’s streams and videos were high-quality and engaging, giving the company a high market value.

In the sixth year of their marriage, Yue Lei finally retired, handing the profitable management of the company to others and returning home to rest.

Having been away from her wife’s warmth for so long, Yue Lei felt a sense of nervous apprehension when facing her again.

Fortunately, Mo Yingxue was still willing, though she seemed less engaged. Immediately afterward, she went to take a shower without giving Yue Lei so much as an extra kiss.

Lying alone in bed many times, listening to the running water, Yue Lei felt like she had been briefly used, but she didn’t mind. As long as my wife is happy, that’s all that matters. She was simple; her wife’s happiness was her own.

However, while their bodies could connect through familiarity, their hearts seemed to drift further apart. After six years of marriage, Yue Lei felt she understood Mo Yingxue less and less.

Slowly, she began to withhold many things from Mo Yingxue, afraid of causing worry, and more afraid of causing annoyance. She was satisfied with little: as long as her wife was willing to stay with her and maintain their facade of a relationship in public, she was content. She was a simple person and never dared to hope for Mo Yingxue’s favoritism.

They both believed the relationship could continue, stable and quiet, like the deep sea a thousand meters down. Yue Lei’s previous busyness was self-inflicted, a choice for a better future. But when the news broke that Zhao Zicheng had swindled billions, Yue Lei was forced into a crisis.

She never imagined that her trust in an employee would one day become a sharp sword aimed at her. Yue Lei wasn’t afraid of being implicated or going to jail, but she was terrified of dragging Mo Yingxue down.

In desperation, she chose divorce. This was also a gamble. Yue Lei didn’t know if Mo Yingxue loved her. By proposing divorce, she hoped to test her, to see if she wanted to leave.

Mo Yingxue sat on the hard floor of the study, clutching a divorce agreement.

Her wife, once as clingy as sticky sugar, no longer loved her. It probably started after the Chinese New Year.

Mo Yingxue remembered when they first married, Yue Lei cheekily set the requirement for regular intimacy.

Yue Lei served her well, and Mo Yingxue enjoyed it, so she reluctantly agreed. For the first five of their seven years of marriage, this rule was inviolable. Even if one of them was away on a business trip, they would satisfy each other via video.

Looking at the calendar then, whenever she saw the crooked hearts Yue Lei had drawn with a marker, Mo Yingxue would feel restless all day, her throat reflexively dry thinking about what would happen tonight. She never told anyone that just seeing Yue Lei’s suggestive, playful glance would make her face flush.

But starting last year, Yue Lei began working overtime and traveling constantly, missing several dates and letting Mo Yingxue’s hopes fall through.

This year, Yue Lei’s overtime had become even worse. The calendar with the hearts in the bedroom hadn’t even been replaced with a new one; it still had last year’s dates. The frequency of intimacy had dropped from ten or twenty times a month to one or two, sometimes none at all.

Mo Yingxue was a smart, dignified woman. Since realizing Yue Lei no longer loved her, she never made a scene, silently processing it deep down. She kept a poker face, calculating when the final blow would land, and rehearsing in her mind how she would leave gracefully.

When she got home today, Zhang Ma said Yue Lei had left something for her in the study, and Mo Yingxue’s breathing hitched. She knew something was wrong. Seeing the divorce agreement, her mind went blank. Her body went limp, and she instantly collapsed onto the study floor.

But perhaps because she was mentally prepared, she didn’t cry. She just felt an immense emptiness, as if her five senses had been stripped away; her perception of the outside world was dull. Like a drowning person afraid of choking, she didn’t dare breathe deeply.

Yue Lei really wanted a divorce, so she wouldn’t force it. Mo Yingxue sat on the wooden floor of the study, having skipped lunch, staring blankly at the table leg, thinking of nothing. It wasn’t until a video request came through on her phone that she realized her legs were completely numb.

The confrontation moment has arrived. Mo Yingxue pursed her lips, her face paler than usual, like a chronically ill person afraid of looking in the mirror. It’s fine to talk. It had to happen eventually. She smoothed her hair, which had been unconsciously ruffled, but the reflection on the phone screen showed how utterly exhausted she looked.

Finally, Mo Yingxue turned off the camera before answering the call.

“Xue Xue, are you home?”

Mo Yingxue disliked showing her undignified side, so she often switched the video requests she received to voice calls. Though disappointed to miss seeing his wife, Yue Lei was tactful and didn’t press for a reason.

“Mhm.” After saying the word, Mo Yingxue was surprised at how bitter her own voice sounded. Her throat constricted.

Yue Lei continued nervously: “Xue Xue, did Zhang Ma tell you? I left something in the study.” For some reason, Yue Lei couldn’t bring herself to say the words “divorce agreement.” It was as if by not mentioning it, it was just a useless piece of paper, unrecognized by law, and they were still intimate, inseparable lovers.

However, Mo Yingxue’s voice was so cold. So cold that Yue Lei felt a dull ache in her chest even through the phone.

Mo Yingxue said: “I saw it. The divorce agreement, right? I’ve signed it. When should we file?”

Yue Lei knew Mo Yingxue was a cold person, but was she this calm even about divorcing her? Yue Lei felt a pang of bitterness, a heavy feeling in her heart mixed with a hint of anger.

“Let’s do it today. Lin Zhixi is in X City; I’ll notarize all the assets to you. I’ll come pick you up soon,” Yue Lei said, her voice trembling, outlining the day’s plan. Her hand kept fumbling in her bag.

She wanted to quickly find a pack of block gummies to use the sweet-and-sour taste to dispel Mo Yingxue’s coldness.

Mo Yingxue hadn’t expected Yue Lei to be in such a hurry to divorce her. It’s too fast, no matter what. Even this marriage, which existed in name only, was announced in the morning and would end in the afternoon. Does Yue Lei have no heart? Isn’t she sad? Does she not want to spend even one more day with me?

Mo Yingxue bit her lower lip until it was bruised, finally speaking after a moment: “No need. Send me the location; I’ll go myself.”

Angrily, she picked up a pen and signed her name on the agreement. She had been putting on a brave face during the phone call, not daring to even look at the document.

Now that she had actually signed it, Mo Yingxue realized her eyes were burning; two lines of hot tears had silently streamed down her face. She frantically wiped the tears from the paper, watching the surface wrinkle slightly.

God knew how badly Mo Yingxue wanted to ask Yue Lei why she absolutely had to divorce—was there someone else? Or had she simply grown tired and fallen out of love? But deep down, she knew she couldn’t handle any of the answers. So, she asked nothing and said nothing.

She simply took a shower before Yue Lei arrived, washing away the tear tracks and the bitterness in her heart. She had to pretend to be strong, pretending she didn’t need Yue Lei’s love at all, just to hold herself together.

In the car on the way to the Civil Affairs Bureau, Mo Yingxue sat in the passenger seat, staring straight ahead. It must have been two weeks since she last saw Yue Lei. Compared to last time, her bangs were longer, her lipstick color had changed, but in other respects, she seemed the same.

The look in her eyes was still gentle, a confusing mix of strange and familiar. The two sensations intertwined, making Mo Yingxue afraid to breathe deeply.

At a particularly long red light, Mo Yingxue felt Yue Lei’s gaze on her. She maintained a placid expression, but her heart was filled with sarcasm. We’re about to divorce; what are you looking at?

Then she heard the words in her ear: “Xue Xue, you have such a cruel heart…”

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