Transmigrating As The Scummy Ex-Wife Of The Cold And Aloof Tycoon - Chapter 29

“What do you think?” Xin Ning bit her lower lip.

“Oh? You’re here.” Lin Weilan spotted Ye Yichi and jogged over. “I’ll leave things here at the hospital to you for a bit. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

After a brief chat with Lin Weilan, Ye Yichi turned back around only to find that Xin Ning was no longer in her seat.

To be honest, she felt a flicker of panic.

The hospital was the kind of place where Ye Yichi feared Xin Ning might suffer a hyperventilation episode if left alone. There were no middle-aged busybodies crowding the ICU entrance to trigger her, but the fear remained. Ye Yichi didn’t want to see that look again, the way Xin Ning’s fingers would clench until she seemed to lose touch with reality.

Fortunately, by the time Ye Yichi finished dialing a number, Xin Ning emerged from the restroom.

Their eyes met. In Xin Ning’s dark eyes, Ye Yichi’s silhouette was reflected, the slightly furrowed brow, the tightened corners of the mouth, and the sharpness that had replaced the usual laziness in her gaze.

“Did something happen?” Xin Ning asked.

“Nothing.” Ye Yichi shook her head and sat back down on the cold metal bench.

Xin Ning walked over and sat beside her.

A faint, damp chill emanated from her. Ye Yichi glanced up discreetly and noticed tiny droplets of water clinging to the edges of Xin Ning’s stray hairs.

Did she go to the restroom to wash her face? Ye Yichi wondered. To clear her head and continue the conversation? Or was she clearing her head just to retreat back into her shell, turning back into that stubborn clam that refuses to open no matter how much you pry?

It was likely the latter.

Over the past three years, they had never had an open and honest talk. Now that they were divorced, it seemed even more impossible. The words spoken yesterday and just moments ago were probably the limit of what Xin Ning could bare. It was like a clam tentatively extending a soft foot from its shell, only to pull it back instantly upon contact.

Prying might force the shell open, but the soft flesh inside would inevitably be wounded.

Forget it, Ye Yichi thought, withdrawing her musings along with the gaze she had fixed on Xin Ning’s cheek.

“Are you sure you don’t want to eat something? Lin Weilan said you stayed up all night, and you barely ate yesterday.”

“I have no appetite.” Xin Ning covered her mouth and coughed twice. “It’s hard enough just trying not to throw up in a hospital.”

Ye Yichi looked up abruptly. How could she have forgotten? The water droplets on her forehead and temples might not have been from washing her face to wake up, there was another possibility.

“Did you just go to vomit?”

It wasn’t just the milkshake and the sugar. Seeing the Ye family, being married to them… that in itself is enough to make one sick… Ye Yichi recalled the scene in the bar, where Xin Ning had slowly shaken her head, her cold voice wrapped in melodic music, sounding almost as if she were smiling.

I must have misheard. How could Xin Ning possibly smile while saying something like that?

“Is it because I’m sitting too close? Should I move further away?”

There was no resentment or embarrassment in Ye Yichi’s voice. Her heart was unexpectedly calm as she asked. As the saying goes, “the bystander sees clearly.” Now that she was free from the shackles of marriage, she could communicate much more objectively.

The “clam” refused to communicate, simply pressing a hand down on the back of Ye Yichi’s hand.

“Hmm?” Ye Yichi didn’t understand.

“Don’t go,” Xin Ning whispered. Her breathing began to quicken, and the pendant between her collarbones started to flutter erratically.

The precursor to hyperventilation.

Ye Yichi quickly flipped her hand over to grip Xin Ning’s. “Relax, relax. I’m not going anywhere. Don’t be afraid, I’m right here with you.”

After a few moments of soothing, Xin Ning’s breathing gradually steadied. Ye Yichi breathed a small sigh of relief. “How is it? Do you feel better?”

“Yes.” Xin Ning leaned her head back against the wall with her eyes half-closed. “Thank you.”

Her cheeks were paler than they had been this morning, and her lips were devoid of color. Her jawline, already sharp, looked even more pointed as she tilted her head back, the blue veins faintly visible beneath the snowy skin of her slender neck.

She clearly still looked miserable.

“Are you sure you’re okay? Why don’t you see a doctor? We’re at the hospital anyway,” Ye Yichi suggested.

“No need. I’ll be fine after a little rest.” Xin Ning opened her eyes slightly, a dense ripple of emotion in her gaze. “Are you worried? Is it because I look like her?”

She’s suffering this much and she still hasn’t forgotten the ‘substitute’ thing?

Ye Yichi was shocked by the protagonist’s persistence.

“Is silence a confession?” Xin Ning pressed on stubbornly. “When you used to make lemonade, were you treating me as her? When you woke up from naps and smiled at me, were you seeing her? In bed, when you held me… were you pretending I was her?”

“It’s all in the past. Why bring it up now?” Ye Yichi really didn’t have the energy to keep up the act this early in the morning.

“Did you and her…” Xin Ning paused for a few seconds, her voice trembling slightly, “…ever sleep together?”

Ye Yichi stared at Xin Ning in silence for a long time.

Who was it that said one lie requires countless others to cover it up? If she had known the protagonist would react this way, she really should have chosen a different strategy from the start.

“That’s your privacy; you don’t have to answer.” Xin Ning turned her face away, pulling out her phone and tapping away. “I’m sorry, I suddenly have something I need to handle. I’ll leave Guo Guo in your hands.”

“…What?” Ye Yichi snapped back to reality. “That won’t work, right? You’re the foster parent; you need to stay to sign the papers.”

It wasn’t that she was afraid of the responsibility. Ye Yichi was mostly worried that if something actually happened, her staying behind wouldn’t be of much use.

“You can sign too. Do you remember the contract we signed before? It included the fostering of Guo Guo,” Xin Ning said. “You are also her legal foster parent now.”

Lin Weilan and the director returned about two or three hours later, just before lunch. Besides Guo Guo’s supplies, they brought back four boxed lunches.

Hearing that Xin Ning had left unexpectedly, Lin Weilan looked quite sheepish as she handed over a lunch box. “I’m so sorry. I asked you to come and accompany her, and she just dumped everything and ran. Eat something first, and then I’ll drive you back.”

“No need to trouble yourself. I’ll grab a taxi to catch the bus later.” Ye Yichi took the lunch box and began to eat slowly.

Extending a foot like a clam to explore, then suddenly retracting into the shell and rolling away behind two hard valves… Is this what an avoidant personality is like? Ye Yichi wasn’t sure; she hadn’t studied psychology.

To her, a layman, Xin Ning seemed very good at avoiding things.

She had dragged out the divorce for so long. Once or twice might be a coincidence, but after several times, something felt off. Then she followed her to Huawan, and now, just as the conversation reached a critical point, she ran away again… What did she mean, “acting”? Was it possible for someone as lazy as her to act for three whole years?

Even after getting into the Didi taxi, Ye Yichi still couldn’t wrap her head around it.

After three years of marriage, even if they didn’t have a deep understanding, Xin Ning should at least know her basic temperament. Could it be that in Xin Ning’s eyes, even her laziness was an act?

“If I had acting skills that good, I would have won Best Actress ages ago,” Ye Yichi muttered to herself.

“With your acting, winning Best Actress would be well-deserved,” the driver tentatively chimed in.

Ye Yichi: “Huh?”

“You’re Teacher Ye, right? My wife and I watch your new show every day. I recognized you the moment you got in, but I was too shy to say anything. Wow, what a coincidence! Could I trouble you for an autograph?” While waiting at a red light, the driver handed over a small notebook.

“Thanks for the support.” Ye Yichi signed it with a smile. Before getting out, she asked the driver for a face mask.

Since the new show started airing, she had been cooped up in Huawan. Being out today made her realize she was more famous than she had anticipated. Better to keep her face covered.

Buses back to the old town ran every half hour. By the time Ye Yichi arrived, the previous one had just departed. She bought a ticket for the next one and found a corner in the waiting room to sit down.

A television hanging at the front of the waiting room was playing the local midday news.

Ye Yichi listened idly, catching the words “Xin Group” at one point. She looked up, but the segment had already switched to the New Year’s holiday schedule.

Could I have misheard? Ye Yichi withdrew her gaze. It was all Xin Ning’s fault for saying such a long string of nonsensical things; now her head was filled with nothing but the word “Xin.”

“Hey? Look at this trending topic… The CEO of the Xin Group is actually quite beautiful, isn’t she? It’s a pity her character is so poor,” someone nearby whispered.

Ye Yichi pricked up her ears.

“That’s why they call them ‘femme fatales.’ She snatched the Ye family’s assets and caused the death of the Ye family’s CEO. Now she’s been cornered at the company with a recording the CEO left before she died. Serves her right!”

What recording? What do you mean cornered at the company? Ye Yichi frowned and tapped on the trending topics.

There were several tags related to the Xin Group and Xin Ning. They weren’t at the very top of the list, but Ye Yichi had heard colleagues mention while filming that when several related tags appeared in a row like this, it usually meant they were paid placements.

She randomly clicked on one.

It was a short video filmed at the entrance of the Xin Group building about an hour ago. There was no narration; the footage simply showed several media outlets swarming into the building.

The blogger’s profile picture had a ring around it, they were currently live-streaming.

Ye Yichi clicked in. Noisy voices erupted, echoing the sentiments of the two people she had just overheard. This was a live stream targeting the CEO of the Xin Group. According to the blogger, former subordinates of Ye Shijin had found a recording she left before her death.

In the recording, Ye Shijin allegedly said that if she passed away, it would be proof that Xin Ning had made a move against her.

Now, the old Ye loyalists had brought the recording and the media to demand “justice” for the Ye family.

Xin Ning said she had things to handle… was it to deal with this? Ye Yichi clutched her phone, trying to recall the plot. The book did mention that Xin Ning faced business setbacks after taking power, but it was written with a brief stroke. That was a “Sea of Hate, Sky of Love” novel, the focus was on how the great beauty Lin comforted Xin Ning after her business failures, and how the two of them became all lovey-dovey.

Looking at the current situation, being “lovey-dovey” seemed unlikely.

Business setbacks?

By the time Ye Yichi caught a taxi to the Xin Group, there were even more media members downstairs. Many live streamers were holding up their phones, trying to push their way into the building.

Avoiding the crowd, she greeted a security guard and slipped quietly into the basement.

She arrived at the elevator that led directly to the top floor. Don’t change the password, don’t change the password… Xin Ning, you better not have changed the password. She pressed the familiar digits, and the door opened.

Good. The girl still had a bit of a heart.

Stepping into the elevator, Ye Yichi took off her mask and straightened her hair against the mirror-like walls.

She had left in a hurry today and wasn’t wearing makeup, but fortunately, she had been eating and sleeping well lately, so her skin was in good condition.

It wasn’t that she was afraid of looking ugly on camera, her identity was special. If she appeared looking haggard and exhausted, there would be no way to clear Xin Ning of the blame.

Ding! The elevator arrived.

Ye Yichi stepped out and immediately saw the assistant pacing back and forth in the corridor, looking frantic.

“President Ye? Why are you here? This is great! President Xin is holding a media briefing right now; your presence will be more convincing than anything.” The assistant’s eyes lit up with hope upon seeing Ye Yichi, but a moment later, her face turned pale. “President Ye, you… you’re coming here now?”

“What? Afraid I’m here to crash the party?” Ye Yichi arched an eyebrow. “Or do you suspect I was the one who called the media?”

The assistant bit her lip, not daring to make a sound.

“Which conference room is the briefing in? Take me there immediately.” Ye Yichi gave the assistant a light swat on the back of the head. “And you guys….why didn’t you contact me when something like this happened?”

“Pres…President Xin wouldn’t let us.” The assistant led the way cautiously and opened the back door of the conference room.

Through the noisy crowd and the frantic flashing of cameras, Ye Yichi saw Xin Ning standing at the very front. They had only been apart for a few hours, but the pitiful “clam” from the hospital seemed to have transformed into a different person. Her eyes and brows carried a cold, noble hardness, with only the dark circles under her eyes remaining the same as they were outside the ICU.

Maybe she didn’t have time for makeup? Or maybe her skin was so naturally good that she didn’t own any concealer.

Ye Yichi squeezed through the crowd, walking toward Xin Ning step by step.

Under the spotlights, Xin Ning was busy crossing swords with the media, her gaze steady and composed. There wasn’t the slightest hint of her retracting her “foot” and running away. It had been like this before; reclaiming the Xin Group had been difficult, and during those three years of countless hard battles, Xin Ning had always seemed to forge ahead like this.

Strange.

Ye Yichi suddenly realized that Xin Ning’s avoidant tendencies… only seemed to take effect when she was facing her?