Transmigrating As The Scummy Ex-Wife Of The Cold And Aloof Tycoon - Chapter 16

“Did I hear that wrong?”

Ye Yichi pulled the phone away. The call was active yes, it was Xin Ning.

She put the phone back to her ear: “Where did you say you arrived?”

Ye Yichi had never understood Xin Ning. Not three years ago, and not three years later.

No, it wasn’t just a lack of understanding. Perhaps she had never truly seen Xin Ning clearly. Three years ago, at the engagement banquet, the cold girl’s eyes were filled with stubbornness, she was unwilling but unable to refuse, yet she never did refuse. She was like a plum blossom forced to stand atop a volcano even with scorching heat on all sides, she resolutely struck her roots into the earth.

But now, Xin Ning seemed to have shed her woody exterior, revealing an inner core of iron cold, unyielding, and shimmering with a chilling light, yet concealing her sharp edges behind casual conversation.

A Xin Ning like this didn’t need her to handle the company’s remnants.

The day she took Xin Ning to the office was merely to let her personally sever any possibility of a comeback. Old Man Ye was right after all her eyes weren’t nearsighted; her brain was.

“Teacher Ye, why didn’t you say your friend was coming to visit? I feel terrible for keeping the CEO of the Xin Corporation waiting outside,” the director’s voice pulled Ye Yichi back to reality.

“It’s fine, she didn’t know I was coming either,” Xin Ning said with a slight smile.

Ye Yichi tilted her head to study Xin Ning.

After hanging up the phone, she had come out in confusion to meet her, only to see Xin Ning already chatting with the director under the corridor from a distance.

Living together for three years, Xin Ning had established an entertainment company without her knowing. Without her noticing, Xin Ning had learned to hide her coldness and could now talk and laugh with the director with a faint smile.

Since you’re such a good actor, why didn’t you put on a show for me too? Seriously.

“Teacher Ye, the rain is too heavy. Why don’t your friend stay over? She can make do in our crew for the night,” the director suggested with a smile. “We can chat more after dinner.”

Chat about future cooperation? The Xin Corporation was a big tree, it was understandable, but…

“There are no empty rooms left in the crew, right?” Ye Yichi asked.

“It doesn’t matter, I can just share a room with you,” Xin Ning spoke up before the director could, her words carrying a lingering faint smile. The depths of her dark eyes rippled like a quiet flower blooming.

Acting, keep acting.

Ye Yichi rolled her eyes mentally. How much effort had she spent trying to move into Xin Ning’s room back then? Even as time passed, she still remembered Xin Ning’s tense resistance. Now she was acting generous, trying to set up a “gentle and approachable little white flower” persona?

No way.

Wrinkling her small nose, Ye Yichi spoke slowly, like a cat about to cause trouble: “President Xin, our crew only has single rooms with 1.2m beds. Do you really want to share a room with me?”

The light in Xin Ning’s eyes froze.

Ha, can’t keep the act up, can you? Ye Yichi curled her lips in triumph.

Then, she felt a vague sense that being disliked wasn’t exactly something to be happy about. Thus, her triumph solidified into a slightly bitter smile at the corner of her mouth a classic case of “killing a thousand enemies but losing eight hundred of your own.” Ye Yichi snorted silently.

“No problem, no problem, a field technician just left the mountain two days ago,” the director said. “I’ll have the staff bring over a new quilt.”

The light in Xin Ning’s eyes began to flow again, her dark pupils reflecting Ye Yichi’s image.

“Then I’ll trouble you,” Xin Ning’s gaze rested on Ye Yichi’s cheek for a moment before she turned to the director with a smile. “You carry on with your work,  just let Yichi take me to the room.”

So she’s determined to stay? A cramped room, a creaking folding bed… what is this ice-sculpted protagonist thinking?

Speaking of which, what did Xin Ning come here for today anyway?

Ye Yichi watched the director leave and sighed silently. “Hey, did you rush here today because you’re afraid I’ll find an excuse not to get the divorce tomorrow?”

“You’re overthinking it,” Xin Ning glanced at her. “Follow me to the car to get some things first.”

The rain had started up again at some point. The white Bentley, having crossed the mountains earlier, was splashed with mud. Large raindrops merged into thin streams, snaking down the windshield and slowly washing away the dirt, leaving behind chaotic water marks like someone’s tears.

“What’s so important that you have to get it in this rain?” Ye Yichi muttered while holding the umbrella.

Xin Ning had asked her to help pick out items before; could the things she was getting from the car be a gift for Lin Weilan? Dragging her soon to be ex-wife to fetch a gift for the current love interest in such heavy rain was it really necessary to be this masochistic?

Opening the car door, Xin Ning pulled out a bouquet of roses.

Black wrapping paper surrounding red flowers; the heads were the size of a fist, a true red, with high centers and elegantly furled outer layers. The petals had a velvet-like sheen.

“Red Lady,” Ye Yichi’s eyes were drawn to the bouquet.

Not long ago, Su Fanxing had given her ten stems. They lasted a week in a water filled vase. At that time, Xin Ning had almost boastfully mentioned several types of red roses. As expected, she was preparing to give them to Lin Weilan. Look, she bought them.

Too bad she didn’t give them immediately.

Roses in floral foam only last three or four days at most. After that, the heads droop, the gorgeous petals soften, and yellow mold spots appear here and there. The charm vanishes, leaving only desolation.

This bouquet looked like it was wrapped yesterday. Giving it tomorrow would be the third day. Three days, 2 hours just missing the peak beauty. Serves her right, Ye Yichi thought spitefully. That’s the price for dragging me out in the rain.

“Take it,” Xin Ning handed the flowers to Ye Yichi.

Excuse me? Not only do I have to suffer, but I have to carry the flowers too? My brain might be ‘nearsighted,’ but it’s not broken.

“Don’t you have hands? Carry them yourself.”

“They’re for you.”

Ye Yichi couldn’t believe her ears.

“The mall had a promotion, it was a free gift for buying Weilan’s present,” Xin Ning said. “They aren’t very fresh anymore, so you take them.”

That makes sense, Ye Yichi slowly inhaled, realizing she had subconsciously been holding her breath. As the damp air slid past her nose again, she wrinkled it, smelling a hidden sweetness.

It was the scent of roses.

It smelled pretty good.

Don’t accept them. No matter how good they smell, don’t accept them, Ye Yichi warned herself. These were the leftovers from the protagonists’ romance; what was she, a cannon fodder supporting character, doing accepting them? A witness to their great love?

“Teacher Ye, President Xin, this quilt…” A staff member approached from a distance carrying a quilt. Seeing the situation, they quickly smiled and backed away. “You two carry on, carry on. I’ll put the quilt in the room first.”

Xin Ning’s brow furrowed unusually tight.

Stuffin the flowers into Ye Yichi’s arms, she quickly caught up with the staff member: “Wait, I’ll go with you.”

So desperate to avoid being associated with me? Ye Yichi watched Xin Ning’s retreating back. For a moment, a strange thought occurred to her: After being married once, does this count as receiving flowers?

To be honest, smelling the faint rose fragrance, Ye Yichi was overall quite happy.

Receiving red roses from her soon to be ex-wife the day before the divorce, how surreal and explosive was that? When she eventually transmigrated back, she had to tell Old Man Ye that his daughter had made it, she received roses from the protagonist.

Even if they were just a bunch of wilting freebies.

Ye Yichi rubbed her cheeks and went back to her room with the roses.

The film crew wasn’t like a hotel, let alone Xin Ning’s villa, she couldn’t find a vase. Ye Yichi could only leave the bouquet as it was on the table organized, gorgeous, simple, and rapidly dying.

At dinner, Xin Ning appeared again.

In the intervals of chatting with the director, her dark gaze landed on Ye Yichi several times.

Ye Yichi ignored her, lazily listening to the other actors gossip.

“That beauty next to the director, I heard she’s the boss of Xin Corp. Does she also own that talent agency that produced all those hits?”

“Yeah, yeah, the one Director Li signed with for the variety show. I heard that agency is really hard to get into.”

“Director Li hasn’t done variety before, right? And he got signed? Wonder whose connections he used?”

“Must be some big shot’s recommendation. Speaking of which, do you think our director wants to switch fields too?”

“Just chatting probably won’t work. Without a big shot’s intro, that company wouldn’t just sign anyone. I really want to know who the big shot who introduced Director Li is.”

There is no big shot, just a soon to be discarded ex-wife.

Ye Yichi slowly picked up a slice of stir-fried kidney.

Sauteed Kidney tender pork kidney, deodorized, cut into 1cm thick slices with a cross hatch pattern. Red and green peppers cut into diamonds. In scorching oil, Sichuan peppercorns and bean paste are added, followed by the kidneys and peppers. After a quick toss, a starch slurry and vinegar are added, releasing a rolling aroma. This was Old Man Ye’s secret recipe.

Xin Ning didn’t eat any offal. After transmigrating, Ye Yichi had followed suit, staying away from her former favorites like kidney, gizzards, and chicken hearts…

It really wasn’t worth it, giving up half of the culinary world for a tree that doesn’t bloom. Especially when the tree doesn’t even appreciate it.

Ye Yichi swallowed the kidney and picked up a second slice.

“Teacher Ye really knows her stuff. This is our chef’s specialty,” the director said with a smile, urging Xin Ning. “President Xin, why don’t you try some?”

“She doesn’t eat offal,” Ye Yichi said casually.

In the beginning, Ye Yichi didn’t know Xin Ning’s preferences. She just noticed that whenever offal appeared on the table, Xin Ning would find an excuse to go back to her room. Since Xin Ning’s health wasn’t great to begin with, skipping meals wouldn’t do. Ye Yichi asked about it directly and indirectly several times, but Xin Ning was like a tightly closed clam, refusing to say a word.

Ye Yichi had to guess.

Kidney on the table? She won’t eat. Gizzards? She won’t eat. Chicken hearts? No. Liver or intestines? Definitely not. So she just can’t stand these things, Ye Yichi realized one evening. She told the auntie that no offal should ever appear on the dinner table again.

At that time, Xin Ning had looked up in confusion, her cold pond-like eyes showing a ripple of emotion.

Back then, Ye Yichi felt amused and proud, as if there was some incredible secret between them.

Now, seeing the kidney on the table, Xin Ning could eat calmly. How flexible, Ye Yichi thought. So what was the point of all my hard work observing her? She swallowed the second piece of kidney and looked up at Xin Ning.

“I usually don’t,” Xin Ning picked up a slice of kidney. “But since it’s the chef’s specialty, I should try it.”

Her chopsticks moved gracefully, and the light brown kidney, coated in bright red savory sauce, was sent into her mouth.

“No wonder Yichi likes it, it is indeed delicious.”

Liar. Keep lying. ‘Indeed delicious’? And ‘Yichi’? In three years of marriage, when did this hateful woman ever call me anything other than my full name? Now at the film set, she eats kidney and calls me ‘Yichi’ what is this non-blooming tree up to?

Ye Yichi couldn’t analyze it.

One thing was for sure: when things are this strange, there’s a catch. She had to stay far away from this scheming protagonist.

After dinner, Ye Yichi found an excuse to hide in her room.

During the meal, the rain outside had grown heavier. The drops connected into lines, falling from the mottled edges of the color steel roof drip, drip, drip striking the ground urgently.

The day Xin Ning brought out the divorce papers, the rain was much like this one drop after another, like rootless threads.

The cold and noble Xin Ning… how can she be so ruthless when she decides to be? Ye Yichi stared at the rain in a daze.

Knock, knock, knock. The door sounded.

“Who is it?” Ye Yichi snapped back to reality.

“The water heater in my room is broken. I want to borrow your room to take a shower,” came Xin Ning’s voice from outside.

Here it comes. The protagonist is starting her schemes.

First it was eating nuts, then throwing away the safety amulet, then buying gifts… she wondered what “glorious mission” this cannon fodder was supposed to do this time. Was she going to be forced into a video call with Lin Weilan to spark the great beauty’s jealousy?

If so, she would be a lightbulb brighter than the sun.

“Not lending it,” Ye Yichi snorted.

“Open the door first,” Xin Ning’s cold voice outside dropped slightly in pitch. “Do you have a thermometer? I think I have a fever.”