Divorce Application - Chapter 22
Chapter 22: Slapped in the Face
At six in the evening, three women entered a private room on the third floor of an elegant restaurant.
The one in the lead was not tall, wore glasses, and had a scholarly air. The two women behind her were tall and wore sunglasses and hats.
The restaurant here valued guest privacy very much. The waiter didn’t say much or look up as he respectfully led them to the private room before withdrawing. To order, they scanned the QR code on the table, and someone would only come in if they rang the bell.
“Lan Ling is coming by herself,” Wu Haoxue randomly ordered ten dishes and handed the phone to Liu Sinan, her tone a little mocking. “Has she made that much progress now?”
Liu Sinan ordered a portion of beef short ribs and turned the phone to Lan Qi. “What does your sister like to eat?”
Lan Qi looked at the long list of over a dozen dishes, frowned, deleted three, and clicked to order. “Lan Ling… it’s a long story. No need to order for her.” She then looked up at Wu Haoxue, sensed her subtle rejection, and said softly, “Lan Ling hasn’t had an episode in two years.”
Wu Haoxue glanced at Liu Sinan, saw that she wasn’t paying attention, and gave Lan Qi a look that said, “Be careful,” and mouthed silently, “Keep your sister in check.”
Lan Qi lowered her eyes in silence.
Speaking of the devil, while Liu Sinan was fantasizing about what Lan Ling looked like during their conversation, the person herself arrived.
She was a very “thin” person.
That was Liu Sinan’s first impression of her.
Perhaps due to years of illness, she was thin and small, with a sickly pale complexion, and her movements lacked the vitality of a normal person.
She walked in, glanced around, and didn’t even look at Lan Qi or Wu Haoxue.
Her first glance landed on Liu Sinan.
Liu Sinan, caught off guard by her gaze, was a beat late in getting up and smiling to greet her. “You must be Lan Ling. I’m your sister’s and Xiao Xue’s friend.”
Lan Ling didn’t speak or move. Her gaze was sharp and impolite.
She stood opposite the three of them, a scarf covering most of her face, revealing only a pair of large eyes that stared intently at Liu Sinan.
The next moment, what she said was beyond everyone’s expectations.
“So you’re the person Jinping-jie likes?” The muscles in her face moved very little. Her voice seemed to be squeezed out of her throat, gloomy and pale, with a lifeless sharpness. “I haven’t even gone to find you yet, and you’ve already come to me?”
Hearing a familiar name from a stranger’s mouth and deciphering a certain special meaning from the stranger’s attitude—both of these realizations caught Liu Sinan off guard.
Liu Sinan didn’t know how to respond and cast a bewildered look at Lan Qi and Wu Haoxue.
Lan Qi’s brows furrowed sharply. She pressed down hard on the top of Lan Ling’s head, a motion she seemed to have done countless times before, with a mix of command and comfort. “What nonsense are you talking about? Don’t be ridiculous.”
Wu Haoxue’s mouth was open, and her expression was very bad. She pulled Liu Sinan down to sit, shook her head slightly at her, and said in a voice only the two of them could hear, “…She might be having an episode.”
An episode makes her talk nonsense? Liu Sinan didn’t say anything, but she was starting to wonder. What did she mean, “I haven’t even gone to find you yet, and you’ve already come to me?”
Before today, or rather, before Lan Qi came to her house this afternoon, she hadn’t known Lan Qi had a sister.
And what did this have to do with Li Jinping? And “Jinping-jie?”
“Sit down and wait for the food.” Lan Qi eased the awkwardness, then warned Lan Ling in a low voice, “If you don’t want to eat, I’ll have someone come and take you away right now.”
Lan Ling sneered, pulled out a chair, and sat down.
As Lan Ling was taking her seat, Liu Sinan unconsciously sized her up.
This glance made Liu Sinan feel that the clothes she was wearing looked familiar. It wasn’t a specific piece of clothing she had seen before, but the overall style of the cut and design gave her a strange sense of familiarity.
Lan Qi told Lan Ling to sit next to her, but Lan Ling deliberately pulled her chair away, leaving enough space between them for another chair.
The four of them were at a round table, but only Lan Ling deliberately created distance, not close to anyone.
Lan Ling’s eyes were a little numb and cold. She reached out and adjusted the tablecloth, revealing a hand covered in scars.
Her fingertips were gnawed down to nubs of flesh; her hands, back of her hand, and wrist were all covered in scars of varying sizes.
This should have been a hand with slender bones and good-looking tendons, but now, only a small patch of skin was visible, and it was already shocking.
Just as Liu Sinan was observing her, Lan Ling suddenly looked up and met Liu Sinan’s gaze.
Seemingly sensing some emotion in Liu Sinan’s eyes, Lan Ling’s lips twisted into a sneer. She pulled her sleeve up further.
Then she raised her chin, her eyes full of provocation.
Liu Sinan’s gaze moved down, and she saw a delicate watch on her thin wrist.
Sometimes Liu Sinan wondered about her intermittent but powerful memory. She could forget what she ate for her meals, but she could remember certain specific events and objects very clearly.
She barely had to think to guess the origin of the watch—a limited-edition collaboration from PCRIO launched four years ago. There were four designs in total, with four blank parts. They had sent invitations to 32 internationally renowned designers.
The blank parts had a unique way of telling time but had no other design features. Designers were asked to create a design based on the blank part, offering a unique experience to the buyer.
To own such a watch, the buyer needed to communicate with PCRIO and the designer, submitting a design proposal in advance. PCRIO would then select from these proposals.
This undoubtedly put the designers in a very low position, as they had to submit a design before they were even chosen.
PCRIO’s approach naturally caused a lot of controversy. The reason Liu Sinan paid attention to this matter was entirely because Li Jinping was among the invited. At the time, many netizens were outraged, saying that PCRIO was too arrogant to dare send a design invitation to Li Jinping.
This was like PCRIO offering a job to a rival company’s boss.
If Li Jinping accepted it and allowed PCRIO to judge it, it would undoubtedly be a slap in the face to herself and her brand.
Liu Sinan was a little angry when she called her about it. Li Jinping laughed and tried to placate her. “It doesn’t matter. If you like these four new models from PCRIO, then go buy them.”
“If I buy them, will you design for me?” Liu Sinan, climbing the ladder, her voice soft. “The famous jeweler Ms. Li Jinping wouldn’t mind, would she?”
Li Jinping’s laughter came through the phone.
She deliberately teased her. “Then never mind. I wouldn’t want you to become spoiled and arrogant.”
Liu Sinan was not one to be teased; the more she was teased, the more arrogant she became. Realizing Li Jinping was joking, Liu Sinan gave her a performance of true spoiled arrogance. “If you won’t design, you won’t design. I’ll find someone else.” She paused and then said flirtatiously, “Can you introduce me to another designer? I really like the designs of Raylena. I really liked her ‘Beast’ series that her lingerie company launched last season.”
And just like that, she was asking her to help her get an introduction to another designer. Li Jinping was amused and said, word by word, “Alright. I never knew you liked the wild ones. You should have said so sooner…”
The rest of her words were said in a low volume, almost whispering into Liu Sinan’s ear.
The content of her words made Liu Sinan’s face flush instantly.
After the call, Liu Sinan had to do an interview. One of the reporters was from the fashion world and was relentless in asking whether Li Jinping would respond.
Liu Sinan remembered exactly what she had said.
She was wearing exquisite makeup at the time, having just attended a show on behalf of Li Jinping, feeling proud. “My wife has always been passionate about art and design, and sometimes she doesn’t care about the various issues everyone pays attention to. After all, she once carved a small statue for me out of a stone I picked up. But as for watches…”
Liu Sinan paused, giving a generous smile to the camera, low-key yet proud. “I don’t like wearing them, so my wife probably doesn’t want to design them.”
That day, her interview became a trending topic.
Some people said she was showing off her affection, while others said she was riding on her wife’s coattails and seeking attention.
Liu Sinan was used to being in the middle of a public storm. These speculations and attacks didn’t truly hurt her until two other trending topics appeared.
“Li Jinping PCRIO First Design”
“Liu Sinan Slapped in the Face”
One day after she gave her interview, Li Jinping, in her personal capacity, accepted the commission for PCRIO’s first design.
The first design was mainly pink and silver, symbolizing the rebirth of spring, with a special cherry blossom decoration on the watch strap.
That watch was now on Lan Ling’s wrist.