Bo Jingzhou looked at the one hundred yuan bill that Shen Wanci was pinching between her two fingers, his brows furrowed into a knot. "Shen Wanci, do you think I'm a delivery courier?"

Shen Wanci remained silent for a few seconds before speaking, "No, running errands and delivering packages this far doesn't cost just this much. This isn't just for your hard work, it's because I truly appreciate you making this trip. I want to treat you to a meal."

She spoke earnestly, every word laced with genuine emotion. Yet, Bo Jingzhou would rather she'd been nonchalant and blunt with him, because whenever she responded to him with such seriousness, it inevitably meant rejection.

He opened his mouth, just about to interrupt her, when he heard Shen Wanci say: "But I think that since there are no children tying them down, it's best for former husband and wife to keep their distance. Entangling each other further would be unfair to you, me, and our potential future partners."

She paused for a moment: "In this marriage, you've already wronged me. Don't wrong another woman in your next relationship. Although I don't know why you suddenly acted like you were deeply in love with me and couldn't live without me after ignoring me for three years, since you could ignore a woman for three years, it probably wasn't much love. It was just that you couldn't bear to be left by me. Before it was Jian Weining, now it's me. Don't always focus on the people who don't care about you. Cherish the person in front of you."

Although she doesn't know if there are other women around Bo Jingzhou now, a man like him should never be short of women chasing after him.

Bo Jingzhou looked at her with a cold face, his emotions and body both tense to the extreme, on the verge of collapse at any moment: "Are you reminding me that we should have a child?"

Shen Wanci: "..."

So everything she said afterward was like talking to a cow.

She pulled open the door and took two steps forward, snatching the bag from his hand. If it weren't for the ID inside, she wouldn't have wasted her time here with him.

Even when she called Bo Jingzhou, she had anticipated this outcome, so hearing his voice didn't surprise her in the slightest.

I don't know if it was because her actions were too sudden, catching Bo Jingzhou off guard, or if he hadn't used much force at all, the package was easily snatched away by Shen Wanci. But just as she turned to go into the house, her arm was suddenly grabbed by the man.

He clenched tightly, but didn't make Shen Wanci feel any pain. She only felt a powerful sense of pressure. His lips were pressed straight into a line by him, his throat moving up and down, clearly showing his intense emotional fluctuations: "I'm sorry."

This was probably the first time I apologized so sincerely and formally to someone. Both my emotions and the way I expressed them felt incredibly awkward, like a puppy who had done something wrong and didn't know what to do, could only hang its head in shame.

Shen Wanci's heart softened, and her attitude was no longer as tough as before. "Things have passed, we should..."

Look ahead.

“It wasn’t resentment, nor was it simply Jian Wei Ning,” he grasped her, like clutching something important about to be lost. He didn’t want to let go, yet he could only watch helplessly as she slipped away little by little until he could no longer hold on. This made his state appear somewhat agitated and urgent. He wanted to prove through some means that this woman still belonged to him, but it was forcibly suppressed: “Shen Wanci, there has always only been you.”

This sounded unconvincing to Shen Wanci. She didn't want to mock him, but she couldn't help herself: "So after three years of marriage, we haven't had any marital relations?"

Besides being unable to and hating it, she really couldn't think of any reason why a man would not touch his wife for three years.

It’s not easy to simply refrain from love. After all, nine out of ten men are driven by their lower desires. Even if a man and a woman are alone in bed wearing thin pajamas, he can still remain composed.

If that's the case, it makes even less sense. A man's physical reactions are the most straightforward. Shen Wanci couldn't even remember how many times she had felt them before.

Perhaps sensing Shen Wanci's intention to leave, or perhaps for some other reason, Bo Jingzhou tightened his grip on her arm, "I..."

The words stuck in her throat, perhaps because she had nothing to say, or maybe there was something else, but whatever the reason, it didn't matter to Shen Wanci anymore.

This marriage wasn't working out, and it wasn't just because of this one reason. Perhaps her personality and that of Nicholas Tse were simply incompatible. Even if they tried to stay together, there wouldn't be much of a happy ending. Since they weren't planning on being together anymore, there was no need to waste time discussing something so pointless.

She's a practical person, if it's impossible, she should step away in time instead of letting herself sink deeper into this quagmire of a marriage, ultimately turning both of them into disfigured figures.

Shen Wanci wrenched her hand free and strode into the house with her bag.

She didn't know when Bo Jingzhou left, but the next day when she opened the door, there were more than ten cigarette butts in the fine sand basin outside the door, which was specifically used for throwing cigarette butts.

After eating and topping up her phone card, Shen Wanci drove to the villa halfway up the mountain.

The villa's schedule was strictly regulated, and she didn't want to stay there at night. So, she took a few days off from the museum.

The road to the villa was deserted, not a single car or person in sight. Even during the day, it felt somewhat eerie because of the dense vegetation.

Shen Wanci pressed the doorbell, and after a short while, she heard footsteps coming from inside.

The one who opened the door was the maid of the villa, named Li Jie. Shen Wanci had come several times and never seen her smile. She always wore a stern expression.

When someone stares at you with a blank expression, it always feels eerie and unsettling, just like this mansion.

"Li Jie," Shen Wanci said.

Li Jie nodded. "Mister said before leaving that you can come and go freely in the study, but don't touch anything inside. Mister dislikes it."

Shen Wanci didn't want to enter that study.

Every time she saw that man, he was so secretive, afraid she would see a hint of flesh, wishing he could even cover his ears with cloth. In the privacy of his study, who knows what he kept hidden? What if she saw something she shouldn't have? How could he silence her then?

"Could I pick another spot? Fixing things needs a bright light, otherwise there's easy color difference."

She also wanted to see if she could get some information out of Ms. Li.

She saw impatience in Li Jie's expressionless face: "Whatever, but..."

"Bang—"

Suddenly, a loud crash came from upstairs as something fell onto the wooden floor. Li Jie's face changed, and she didn't even bother with Shen Wanci. She rushed upstairs...

(Editor in charge:water for chocolate novel)