Divorce Application - Chapter 14
Chapter 14: Crisis
Liu Sinan listened blankly, not saying a word.
Li Jinping, who was always gentle with her, considerately didn’t hang up the phone.
Liu Sinan held the phone to her ear, and Li Jinping could hear her breathing.
“Sinan,” Li Jinping waited for a while before speaking again, “is that you?”
Liu Sinan’s consciousness slowly returned, and she responded a beat late, “Good evening, ma’am. I’m sorry for calling you so late.”
As soon as she spoke, the person on the other end of the line knew. Li Jinping’s tone was not good, “You’re drunk.”
Afraid that she would be disgusted, Liu Sinan quickly cleared her throat, “I’m not being a drunken fool, and I didn’t mean to bother you. I want to ask, can I, can I go see Salt? Just once a week is fine, I really… miss it.”
This time, Li Jinping was silent for even longer, seeming to consider if Liu Sinan was talking nonsense while drunk.
“You can take it with you,” Li Jinping thought. Since she misses it so much, she might as well give it to her completely.
Liu Sinan sobbed slightly, her voice very small, but when she spoke again, it was with a thick nasal tone, “I can’t bear to take Salt back. I can’t take good care of it… I can’t even take care of myself. Salt would suffer with me.”
That was self-aware, Li Jinping’s heart turned cold, and her words were sharp, “Then what are you worried about?”
“I miss it, you know,” Liu Sinan was a little bit of a brat, muttering softly, “Even after a divorce, if the child is with the other parent, you still have visitation rights. Salt must miss me, too…”
What does this have to do with children? Li Jinping’s head started to ache.
“Tomorrow afternoon at three, I’ll let the housekeeper know in advance.” Liu Sinan held the phone blankly, took a small breath, and her warm breathing traveled through the phone, “Ma’am, did you… agree?”
Her voice carried an uncertain, careful probe and a hidden joy.
Li Jinping seemed to want to stop talking to her. Her patience ran out, she moved the phone away, and her voice was a little blurry, “In the future, for such small matters, you can contact the housekeeper directly.”
Don’t call me again.
Liu Sinan understood the unspoken words.
Liu Sinan was silent for a second. Tonight, she was drunk, and the alcohol had gone to her head. Li Jinping’s cold words had lost their usual power.
At the same time, Liu Sinan also lost her normal ability to think logically.
“Why should I contact the housekeeper?” Liu Sinan stood up, swaying as she walked towards the floor-to-ceiling window, “Did you erase my fingerprints, so I can’t get in tomorrow?”
She asked with a righteous tone and a full-on accusation, “Are you trying to lock me out and let me freeze to death?”
Li Jinping felt a vein throb in her temple. What on earth was she talking about? She suppressed the irritable feeling in her heart and didn’t intend to argue with a drunk person, “Are you at home now?”
“No,” Liu Sinan’s cheeks were flushed, her expression was hazy, and the look in her eyes was deeply sad.
Li Jinping’s breathing stopped for a moment, forgetting her headache, “In a bar?”
Liu Sinan hummed in不满, her forehead hitting the glass hard, bringing a layer of tears to her eyes, and she drawled, “No! I’m not! Who wants to go to a bar, that smelly place.”
“I don’t want to go.”
“Ma’am won’t let me go.”
“Where are you, exactly?” Li Jinping couldn’t reach her through the phone. After listening to her nonsensical rambling for a long time, she still had no idea what she was trying to say. Her headache got even worse, “It’s so late. Don’t be outside; go home early.”
“I don’t have a home anymore…” Liu Sinan frowned and hit her own head. The alcohol was getting to her, and she felt both miserable and wronged, “Why are you telling me to go home? Are you showing off that you have a home?”
“So what if you have a home? I don’t want one.”
“I don’t…”
She was rambling again. Li Jinping was about to say something, but another person’s voice came from the other end of the line.
“Mr. Li, I’m so sorry…”
Wu Haoxue’s half-body was propping up the wobbly Liu Sinan, and she still had to use one hand to answer the phone. In a rush, she said, “Mr. Li, I’m in a terrible mess right now, so I won’t talk to you anymore. See you tomorrow.”
“Xiao Xue,” Li Jinping recognized her voice and was about to greet her when she heard that she was about to hang up, “Alright, you guys get some rest.”
Wu Haoxue had met Li Jinping many times. Compared to the awkward atmosphere between Liu Sinan and Li Jinping, Wu Haoxue could have a natural and calm conversation with her.
When Liu Sinan was drunk, she didn’t throw a tantrum. After Wu Haoxue ended the call and couldn’t hear Li Jinping’s voice anymore, she became a silent, still music box.
Wu Haoxue couldn’t stand it anymore. She went to the kitchen to pour her a glass of hot water, squatted in front of her, and asked, “Can you still communicate normally?”
After all, Liu Sinan had only had one glass of red wine. The alcohol had just started to get to her, and her head-banging against the glass had sobered her up quite a bit.
“Not really,” Liu Sinan realized what she had done, covered her face, and hid under the sofa, “I’m so embarrassing.”
Her voice was muffled in her hands and hard to hear.
Wu Haoxue pulled her out by the ankle, “What is a face? Can you eat it?”
Liu Sinan was too light and was easily pulled out, exposed under the fluorescent light.
“Since you’ve already said it, let’s go see it tomorrow,” Wu Haoxue sat on the side, her arms crossed.
Liu Sinan had a look of utter despair, her cheek against the carpet, and she looked at Wu Haoxue with puppy eyes, “You go with me.”
Wu Haoxue scoffed and gave her a single word, “Coward.”
The cowardly Liu Sinan got into Wu Haoxue’s car the next day and drove straight to the villa in the foothills.
Wu Haoxue was unfamiliar with the area, but her family was wealthy and had houses and cars in H City. Her driving skills were also decent, so she and Liu Sinan didn’t get lost.
When they arrived at the villa, the housekeeper opened the door for them.
Housekeeper Wang was no different from when she left a few days ago. She smiled kindly and said to Liu Sinan, “Come in quickly.”
A few days after returning, Liu Sinan felt like it had been an eternity.
The garden in front of the villa was faintly covered with fallen leaves. On the day she left, the梧桐 tree was just turning yellow, and the roses bloomed all over the garden. The red and white large flowers piled on the dark green stems and leaves, like a vibrant oil painting, bidding her a grand farewell.
Now, only withered branches and leaves remained, and the roses had been trimmed down to just a few.
“Aunt Wang, why are all these flowers gone?” Liu Sinan felt a little regretful, “These were all very valuable varieties.”
Housekeeper Wang’s steps paused for a moment, and she looked back at Liu Sinan.
That look seemed to have some other meaning, but before Liu Sinan could figure it out, she heard Housekeeper Wang say, “Miss Lin Xia instructed it.”
“She is a private doctor invited by the madam. Miss Lin Xia said that those roses are not suitable for large-scale planting and are not good for the body, so she had the gardener trim them.”
Housekeeper Wang led them in from the main entrance, past the front garden and the terrace in the middle, to the front of the villa.
Just as she was about to open the door, it opened from the inside.
A woman in pink loungewear showed half her body, and she happened to meet their gaze.
“Miss Lin Xia, are you going out?” Housekeeper Wang’s gaze shifted from her pajamas to Liu Sinan, with a hint of concern.
Lin Xia smiled and stepped aside, “I heard guests were coming, so I came to open the door.”
Housekeeper Wang didn’t say much and led Liu Sinan and Wu Haoxue directly to the second floor.
“Are you here to see Salt?” Lin Xia looked at their backs and suddenly spoke.
Liu Sinan turned around, her cool gaze falling on her.
“I had someone take Salt to get a bath,” Lin Xia said politely, “If you’re here to see it, you can wait in the living room for a while.”
“Damn.”
Wu Haoxue cursed under her breath.
The other two hadn’t reacted yet when they heard her curse. Liu Sinan, who had been silent, moved her lips as if to speak but ultimately did nothing.