Transmigrating As The Scummy Ex-Wife Of The Cold And Aloof Tycoon - Chapter 11

Ye Yichi: “Huh?”

“I’ve been drinking, I can’t drive.” Xin Ning took another shallow sip, her eyes lifting slightly. Her gaze toward Ye Yichi was as deep and dark as a secluded pond. “We aren’t divorced yet, you have an obligation to see me home.”

Oh, really? Can the protagonist be this overbearing?

Ye Yichi took a spiteful, massive gulp of watermelon juice.

As the icy liquid entered her mouth and slid down her throat, threads of cold spread through her chest. The protagonist can indeed be this overbearing, can’t she? Ye Yichi thought. Three years of marriage, one divorce agreement. Xin Ning’s dominance had been clear for a long time, hadn’t it?

Despicable.

Old Man Ye had clearly said she was the one who was a troublesome, world-shaking little tyrant.

“I’m not taking you. Call a designated driver.”

“I don’t know how.”

Xin Ning’s voice was cold and calm, devoid of any ripple.

So you don’t know how…is that supposed to be impressive? How do you have the nerve to be so self-righteous about it? Ye Yichi tossed the straw aside, determined to let this detestable protagonist know exactly how powerful a “world shaking little tyrant” could be.

She looked up at Xin Ning’s face, but not a single word came out.

Facing a face like a masterpiece carved from ice and jade, what could one possibly say?

Gritting her teeth in secret, Ye Yichi grabbed Xin Ning’s phone. “I’ll call one for you.”

Xin Ning’s lock screen was still the same old picture of a small, colorful house. A tree laden with lemons stood before the door, and scorching sunlight poured from a crisp blue sky, making every lemon look as if it were plated in gold.

That was taken during their honeymoon. A summer in Southern Italy was like God knocking over a palette of paints. Back then, Ye Yichi had vowed that even if Xin Ning truly was made of ice and jade, she could warm her up.

Forget it, forget it.

It’s all in the past.

Better just call the driver.

Ye Yichi searched through Xin Ning’s phone but couldn’t find a single useful app. What a capable protagonist, she sighed, silently clicking the app store to download one. As she watched the grey circle spin with effort, a notification from “12123” (Traffic Management) abruptly popped up at the top of the screen.

She doesn’t know how to call a driver, but she sure knows how to download the traffic management app. Ye Yichi glanced at it…it was a speeding ticket.

The time was yesterday at noon. The location was… the very road where she had seen that “fellow sufferer” Bentley while riding the bus.

Ye Yichi looked up at Xin Ning.

“What is it?” Xin Ning swirled her wine glass, elegant and exquisite, like a pristine white statue seated in the Palace of Caserta.

Fine. Can one really expect a statue to find a designated driver? Ye Yichi licked her canine tooth and curled her fingertips, deleting the app she had just started downloading. “How does your phone not even have a single ride-hailing app? Forget it, I’ll just drive you.”

What kind of mood would one be in when stepping back into a place they lived for three years?

On the way, Ye Yichi had spent a long time imagining it.

“The scenery remains but the people have changed”? “Tears flowing before words can be spoken”? Most likely not; Old Man Ye said their family lacked those sensitive, delicate genes.

Surprise and hesitation? Or perhaps anger? Ye Yichi couldn’t quite tell. She had left in such a hurry, consumed by confusion, that she hadn’t had time for anger. Perhaps it would be good to make up for that during this reunion.

However, when she actually drove into the familiar garage, parked the car, and looked out at the courtyard full of roses…

Ye Yichi’s eyes suddenly stung.

“Why are the flowers still here? Didn’t you say you were giving them to Lin Weilan?” Secretly sniffing twice, Ye Yichi felt like a fool craving a fairytale answer. The roses were still there, did that mean Xin Ning wasn’t as heartless as she imagined?

“She’s been too busy. She hasn’t had time to dig them up yet,” Xin Ning replied casually.

A fool indeed. Ye Yichi took a deep breath and slowly let it out.

Her nose was filled with the fragrance of roses, sweetness tinged with bitterness. How could she hold out hope for a block of ice? Had she eaten too much takeout lately? Was her brain poisoned?

“Oh, right. Well, I’m leaving then.” Ye Yichi turned toward the courtyard gate, trying her best not to let her gaze drift toward the sea of flowers.

“Wait,” Xin Ning called out to her. “Come in and sit for a while.”

“No thanks.”

“I want to drink honey lemon water.”

Ye Yichi was convinced that she must have committed a great sin in her past life to be so unlucky as to transmigrate into a book, and even unluckier to run into Xin Ning. In other books, protagonists are “Truth, Beauty, and Goodness.” Why was it that in her case, only “Beauty” remained?

Was Xin Ning not truthful? Ye Yichi thought about it; she was truthful in a way.

Xin Ning had always been genuinely and clearly cold. At the start of the marriage, she had stated in a tone as cold as a wintry pond that there was nothing between them but a transaction.

Was Xin Ning not good? Ye Yichi lowered her eyes, hesitating.

Perhaps Xin Ning was good enough.

Her parents were killed, her family fortune stolen, and she was forced into a marriage with the niece of the mastermind behind it all. Any one of those would be enough to trigger a “villain arc.” Yet, Xin Ning didn’t turn dark, didn’t seek revenge, and didn’t pierce Ye Yichi’s heart during their countless nights sharing a bed. She just wanted to divorce her, that’s all.

Fine, let’s divorce. Hurry up and get it over with.

She viciously poked the lemon slices in the cup and scooped a spoonful of honey into the hole she had made.

Poking the sour lemon heart and filling it with sweet honey, just like I tried to fill her heart… In the past, when social events required drinking, Ye Yichi worried Xin Ning would feel unwell. She always volunteered to make lemon water after the events. Every time she made the honey water, she would offer this half-joking explanation.

Unfortunately, that heart did not welcome her.

Warm water flowed into the glass, breaking the entanglement of honey and lemon. Ye Yichi stirred it gently a few times with a long handled silver spoon, then thrust the glass and the spoon at Xin Ning.

“Drink it. I’m leaving,” Ye Yichi said.

“How are you getting back?” Xin Ning took a shallow sip of the honey lemon water. “It’s so remote here; you won’t find a taxi.”

Look at that. This is the protagonist. She doesn’t know how to call a driver, and she doesn’t know how to call a Didi.

She wondered if the Great Beauty Lin had these skills. If neither of them knew how, life would be quite inconvenient for them later on.

“There’s this thing called ‘online car-hailing,'” Ye Yichi explained helpfully. “Just download an app. By the way, you can call designated drivers on there too. You should download one. I’m driving you this time, but are you going to make Lin Weilan drive you next time?”

“What does this have to do with Weilan?” Xin Ning’s gaze darkened. Her ruby earrings glinted with a dull burgundy light in the dimness.

Weilan, Weilan. Such an intimate way to call her.

Heh.

As the soon to be ex-wife, she wasn’t even worthy of saying the current lover’s name.

Ye Yichi turned to walk out. As she passed the sideboard, her eyes trembled. On the sideboard, cat ornaments of various sizes were still perched there perfectly, their eyes bright like blue stones scattered beneath the clear waters of the Amalfi Coast.

The cat ornaments hadn’t been thrown away either.

To be honest, she felt a flicker of joy.

Pushing open the door, Ye Yichi lightly skipped down the three steps. When she looked back, Xin Ning had already walked to the window, glass in hand. Inside the glass, the lemon slice was slightly bent, with a round hole right in the center.

Oh? Now you know how to see someone off? On the day you brought out the divorce agreement, you sat on the sofa without moving a muscle.

Ye Yichi curled her lip, trying to suppress her joy, but it bubbled up like carbonation in a lemon soda, once the cap is off, the bubbles race each other to escape.

Maybe I’ll just be a fool one more time.

The white-bellied cat ornaments, the courtyard full of roses, the hand embroidered curtains, the colorful tablecloth, everything was exactly as it was when she left. Oh, and that speeding ticket that the neighborhood gossip aunties would surely claim was because “her wife ran away.”

Old Man Ye was right. She was a troublesome little tyrant reckless, unrestrained, and someone who wouldn’t give up even after hitting a dead end.

“Hey, I say.” Ye Yichi turned back, looking at Xin Ning through the polished floor-to-ceiling window. “Are you regretting it? Are you reluctant to let me go?”

Xin Ning stood in silence.

The corners of her eyes, her brows, even the way her fingers held the glass, nothing changed.

So calm? Is the glass soundproof? Did she not hear me? Ye Yichi walked back up the stairs and into the house, standing right in front of Xin Ning.

“Xin Ning, the way you’re acting… could it be you’re actually sad to see me go?”

One second, two seconds, three seconds… Xin Ning still didn’t react.

Ye Yichi stared into Xin Ning’s eyes, which were as still as water, and silently gave herself a thumbs-up. Good job, you’ve got guts. Imagining things in front of an ice carved beauty like this.

The beauty was just “loading” right now. Once the bar finished loading, she’d probably deliver a fatal blow.

Ye Yichi, remember: “Even if we’ve kissed and slept together, I will never love you, never…” She had only heard those words a few days ago. How could she be so forgetful?

“Anyway, I was just teasing you because I was bored. I already know how determined you are to divorce; you don’t need to trouble yourself to restate it.” Ye Yichi muttered as she walked back down the stairs.

The moment her foot hit the ground, she heard Xin Ning’s cold voice.

“Don’t have fantasies,” Xin Ning said. “How could I possibly be reluctant?”

Right, how could she be? A detestable ice carving like Xin Ning probably doesn’t even know what ‘reluctant’ feels like.

Being reckless and unrestrained and not giving up at the dead end only led to self-humiliation. If she ever saw Old Man Ye again, she’d definitely make him change the words he used to describe his daughter.

Helpless, heartless, virtueless.

Boundless, endless, traceless.

Yes, I should just vanish without a trace, Ye Yichi thought crossly. She didn’t believe that if she disappeared, Xin Ning would be powerful enough to handle the divorce all by herself. Just then, her phone rang. It was a video call from Su Fanxing.

Ye Yichi pressed accept, and Su Fanxing’s enlarged face appeared on the screen.

“Sis? Where are you?” Su Fanxing scanned the dark background. “It looks like you’re in a car?”

“Just got into a taxi. What’s up?” Ye Yichi asked.

“The package you bought for me and Grandma arrived.” Su Fanxing flipped the camera. Grandma Su appeared on screen, smiling, wearing the sweater Ye Yichi had picked out a few days ago.

“It fits well,” Ye Yichi praised.

“That’s what I said! If she goes to do square dancing, she’ll enchant a whole crowd of old men and women.” The camera shook for a bit, likely being fixed onto a stand. A few seconds later, Su Fanxing appeared next to Grandma, lifting one leg high.

“Sis, honestly, your taste in pants is amazing. Look at how thin and long my legs look, like a white swan’s.”

So sweet talking today?

Ye Yichi raised an eyebrow. “Speak up. What trouble did you get into? Or is there something else you want me to buy?”

“Sis, how can you think of me like that? I’ve been so good lately,” Su Fanxing muttered indignantly. “It’s just… it’s just, ugh, I’ll just say it. I felt guilty for contacting you on behalf of Director Li the other day without your permission.”

“Just for that?” Ye Yichi laughed.

She hadn’t actually given her number to Director Li, but even if she had, it was for work, she wouldn’t hold a grudge. Thinking about it, the only person she had gone to such lengths to avoid by changing her number was Xin Ning.

“Sis, you’re not mad?” Su Fanxing studied Ye Yichi’s expression and let out a small sigh of relief. “That’s great. Oh, right, I forgot to mention. There was someone else with Director Li when he came to see you. It was one of those two beauties who stayed at Huawan a few days ago, the ice cold one.”

“Yes, the ice cold one,” Grandma Su repeated, chirping along. “That one~ like the snow on the eaves~ three inches deep~~ failing you~ the passing guest~ who startled the world~~”