Divorce Application - Chapter 32

Chapter 32: Derailed

Liu Sinan’s gaze lingered on Li Jinping for a moment.

After taking off her coat, Li Jinping was wearing a long, form-fitting sweater that didn’t look thick at all, so it definitely wasn’t warm.

Li Jinping heard Lin Xia’s words, and her gaze swept over to Liu Sinan without a trace. She looked up and said, “Oh? How did you get hurt?”

Her words were not directed at anyone in particular. She seemed to be asking Lin Xia, but there was no emotion in her voice.

Joey stepped forward and recounted what he had seen. “Ms. Li, this was just a small misunderstanding, an accidental injury.”

Lin Xia gasped in pain. “Accidental injury? Are you saying it’s my own fault that I went to stop the dog and got hit?”

“This is madam’s house. Trespassing is illegal. And no matter who the owner of the dog is, whether it’s being fostered here or living here, you must notify the owner to take it away. Do I need to emphasize that again?”

Salt had been squatting beside Liu Sinan ever since Lin Xia started crying out in pain. Maybe dogs and cats are like children, with a natural intuition for human likes and dislikes.

She stared straight at Lin Xia, as if she were the one who had caused the harm.

Li Jinping’s demeanor was restrained and impassive. “This isn’t the time to talk about this. You go to the hospital and get treated. I’ll talk to her.”

Lin Xia wanted to say more, but Li Jinping glanced at her. She immediately froze. Before she could even change her expression, her voice died in her throat.

Li Jinping turned around and said to housekeeper Wang, “You take her to the hospital and make sure she gets good treatment.”

Housekeeper Wang agreed and left with the doctor in the car to the hospital.

During this process, Liu Sinan stood off to the side, just listening to Lin Xia’s accusations and complaints.

She wasn’t angry, and she wasn’t emotional.

Until Li Jinping said, “I’ll talk to her,” in a light and casual tone.

This was a clear way of singling Liu Sinan out and talking to her alone, which sounded awkward no matter how you looked at it.

What did she want to talk to her about?

Why did she have to talk to her at all?

Liu Sinan was narrow-minded and cold. She didn’t hesitate to think the worst of Li Jinping. She didn’t think Li Jinping’s “indecisiveness” was to protect her. Instead, she thought Li Jinping would blame her for everything.

Liu Sinan thought coldly for a few seconds, then suddenly rushed forward, blocking the car. “Stop the car.”

Li Jinping only had time to see her rush out, then her pupils contracted, and she instinctively chased after her. The moment Liu Sinan stopped in front of the car, she grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side.

She turned around, and there was still a trace of fear and lingering terror on her face.

Li Jinping stared at Liu Sinan, trying to suppress the complex and thick emotions in her eyes. She replaced them with a cold and serious expression, gritting her teeth and saying in a low voice, “If you run around recklessly again, I’ll break your legs.”

Li Jinping could be very fierce sometimes. For example, in times like these, once Liu Sinan hurt herself, Li Jinping wanted to use an even more cruel method to punish her, to keep her away from harm and make her never dare to cross the line again.

Even though it was always a verbal threat, it was always quite effective.

Because Liu Sinan could see from Li Jinping’s eyes that she really wanted to do it.

Li Jinping was not someone who grew up gently. Her path to growth must have been full of bloodshed. When she said things like “I’ll break your legs,” “I’ll tie you up,” or “I’ll lock you in a room,” she didn’t look like she was joking.

Liu Sinan had always been someone who responded to gentle persuasion, not force. She wasn’t really afraid of Li Jinping. When faced with Li Jinping’s cold words, if she didn’t want to cooperate, she didn’t care if she broke her legs or her ribs. She would be herself.

But the truth was, she had almost never gone head-to-head with Li Jinping in these kinds of moments.

It wasn’t because she was afraid, and it wasn’t because she was sensible. It was because Liu Sinan could see Li Jinping’s forbearance, that thing that was extremely compressed inward and suppressed to the extreme.

Liu Sinan didn’t want to provoke Li Jinping again when she was in that state, so she would usually be obedient.

But today was different. Liu Sinan looked at Li Jinping like this, and her heart was filled with nothing but cold indifference.

She thought, Look at this woman. She just told me we were over, and now she’s starting a new relationship with another woman. But now she’s pulling me back and threatening me not to run off.

“Li Jinping, what gives you the right?” Liu Sinan struggled out of her hand and said with difficulty, “What do you want to do? Use your power and status to intimidate me? To threaten me?”

“Should I be a smart person and apologize to you immediately, saying, ‘Ms. Li, I’m wrong, please don’t be angry’?” Liu Sinan said sarcastically. “Wow, I never knew Li Jinping had this kind of hobby.”

Li Jinping frowned at her, not saying a word about what she said. She even looked a little lost and helpless.

Housekeeper Wang was also startled. She opened the car door and got out. “Ms. Liu, are you hurt?”

Liu Sinan didn’t run in front of the car. She had just reached out to block it at an angle. From Li Jinping’s perspective, it looked like she had rushed to the front of the car to stop it head-on. Her vision was limited inside the car, so she couldn’t see clearly.

Liu Sinan shook her head at housekeeper Wang. “I didn’t run to the front. I’m fine.”

After she said that, she looked at Lin Xia in the passenger seat and said to everyone, “I don’t think there’s any need for discussion about this. Ms. Lin Xia has been blocking me from taking Salt away from the beginning, repeatedly saying she needs madam’s permission. Well, Li Jinping is standing right here. Have you heard her say ‘no’?”

Liu Sinan’s voice wasn’t loud, but Lin Xia could clearly hear her. As soon as she finished speaking, her lips moved a few times, but she couldn’t say anything.

Li Jinping’s expression softened, and she said in a low voice, “Sinan, stop.”

Liu Sinan didn’t listen to Li Jinping. She didn’t even look at her. She continued to speak, her voice steady and her demeanor calm. “There are three things I hope Ms. Lin Xia understands about this matter. First, the owner of this place is Li Jinping, not you. Second, this was our home during our marriage, and there are many things that haven’t been divided up yet. So I don’t need your permission to come and get something. Third,”

Liu Sinan never liked to beat around the bush. When dealing with insignificant people, she only used the most precise and concise words and couldn’t be bothered to be subtle.

The effect of her words made everyone present change their expressions.

Lin Xia’s eyes turned red again, and she said to Li Jinping with a wronged voice, “Madam…”

“Third,” Liu Sinan took a step back. This step allowed her to see both Li Jinping and Lin Xia at the same time. “Salt was entrusted to my ex-wife’s house, not given as a gift. I will continue to investigate if she has received any other harm, and if she has… I will hold both of you responsible.”

Li Jinping couldn’t help but look up at her. “Sinan, do you have to make a scene like this?”

Liu Sinan looked back calmly. “If Ms. Li thinks this is a scene, then please think whatever you want. I won’t explain myself anymore.”

Li Jinping looked at her and suddenly said, “What if I say no?”

“I don’t agree with you taking Salt away. I don’t agree with you breaking in without saying hello,” Li Jinping said with difficulty, but without a pause. “Didn’t you think about any of this?”

Lin Xia’s eyes lit up. Just as she was about to say something, Liu Sinan spoke.

“Of course I did,” Liu Sinan said with a self-deprecating smile. “I haven’t forgotten what you said in the car, Ms. Li.”

“Li Jinping, do you know? I was planning to never contact you again, never see you again, never come back,” Liu Sinan said. “Do you know what my purpose and mindset were when I came here this time?”

“I was prepared for you to beat me up and throw me out,” Liu Sinan’s voice trembled. “…I’m afraid of you, Li Jinping.”

It was only then that a crack appeared in Liu Sinan’s expression. “The reason I can stand here and argue with everyone is not because I’m relying on our past. I’m relying on myself, on my love for Salt, and on what’s right.”

“You don’t agree with Salt coming with me,” Liu Sinan looked back at Li Jinping, her eyes completely devoid of warmth and incredibly calm. “I will still find a way to take her away.”

“I will use every method I have to take her away.”

Li Jinping lowered her gaze. Her pale face showed no expression. After a long period of silence, she said, “Lin Xia… is going to the hospital for now. Do not return without my permission.”

When Lin Xia heard Li Jinping’s words, she looked incredulous. She reached out to open the door, but it pulled on the wound on the back of her hand. She winced in pain and shrank back into her seat.

Li Jinping didn’t look at her again. She turned around and said to housekeeper Wang calmly, “Go.”

Everyone scattered, and everyone left. At this moment, only Li Jinping and Liu Sinan were standing there.

Liu Sinan was stunned for a while. She slowly processed Li Jinping’s response and was about to leave.

“Come inside and sit for a while,” Li Jinping suddenly said.

Liu Sinan was hesitant. Her previous confidence seemed less assured because of Li Jinping’s concession. “I think I should…”

Li Jinping started to walk away, not listening to Liu Sinan’s refusal. Liu Sinan stared at her back for a while.

She turned to Joey and said, “Wait for me outside.”

Then she turned and followed Li Jinping into the backyard.

The backyard was divided into two large sections by a cobblestone path in the middle. White roses were planted on the left, and red roses were on the right. At the end of the cobblestone path was a phoenix tree. Every autumn, when the leaves turned yellow and fell, it was a beautiful sight to see the golden ground from the French windows on the second floor.

It was late at night now. The hazy light from the streetlights passed through the thin mountain fog. Li Jinping was walking against the light, and the halo outlined a blurry silhouette.

She walked to the pavilion under the phoenix tree, tidied up the cushions and backrests, and sat down.

Liu Sinan also sat across from her.

Li Jinping seemed to have something to say to Liu Sinan, but after ten minutes, she still hadn’t said anything.

In the lonely night, she looked silently and for a long time at the garden that had already withered away.

Finally, Li Jinping stood up, took a pair of scissors from the warehouse door, and squatted in the garden, busy with something.

“I had people choose new seeds and cultivate them. The seedlings are on their way,” Li Jinping said, as she cut a young rose. She stood up, walked over to Liu Sinan, opened her palm, and offered her a white rose with red edges.

Liu Sinan was stunned and speechless. She looked down at the flower lying in her palm, still with dirt on it.

It was a small, thin branch. The flower was much smaller than a blooming rose, so it had escaped being cut. It grew lonely and delicately.

“Why did you cut it?” Liu Sinan said softly, her voice a little airy. “I won’t be needing it anymore.”

“Maybe it’s a habit,” Li Jinping said. Seeing that she didn’t take it, she placed it on the table in front of her and said calmly, “I’m used to cutting a pair of roses… and putting them in a vase.”

Liu Sinan suddenly turned her gaze away.

Li Jinping didn’t just change the vases. She liked to give Liu Sinan a bouquet of flowers every morning.

She would cut the roses that Liu Sinan loved.

Liu Sinan had never said anything, but she felt sorry for the flowers. And Li Jinping didn’t grow flowers herself or help her grow them. Every time she found a beautiful flower, Li Jinping would cut it and give it to her not long after.

For a time, Liu Sinan thought Li Jinping had some kind of serious vendetta against flowers and was a little crazy, always messing with her flowers.

Later, she found out that Li Jinping would turn every flower she liked into a dried flower. She would cut it at the peak of its beauty, give it to her, and before it withered, she would dry it.

Every crease, every vibrant color that bloomed at every turn, and the vibrant life that had burst forth were permanently preserved in a glass jar.

Thinking about this, Liu Sinan couldn’t help but smile with her eyes.

Li Jinping looked at her smile and was stunned. In the next moment, she suddenly asked with a reckless audacity, “Has… Zhao Qiran been giving you trouble recently?”

Liu Sinan’s smile slowly faded.

She looked down at her intertwined fingers, and the memory of Zhao Qiran’s bullying replayed in her mind.

She knew she couldn’t blame Li Jinping. She had been the one to run around at the banquet, and her attitude towards Zhao Qiran had been too aggressive. The trouble was her own making, and she should bear the consequences herself.

All the coldness, all the injustice, all the bullying she had received after the divorce, was not Li Jinping’s fault. What had Li Jinping done wrong? She had just taken back the privileges and special treatment she had given.

But Liu Sinan still felt wronged.

Zhao Qiran had called her a lover and a plaything that anyone could have, saying that Li Jinping was tired of her and was going to throw her away. She had also burned her with a cigarette and fractured her wrist.

Li Jinping had never done anything to her to this extent. She had never seen Li Jinping treat a defenseless ordinary person like that.

In her heart, Li Jinping was different from everyone else. This belief was once deeply rooted in her, giving her the courage to try to win her back even after the divorce. But these days, one thing after another was like a slap in the face.

Li Jinping no longer cared for her, no longer protected her, and even pushed Lin Xia out when she came near. All the warmth and love they once shared gradually disappeared with these changes.

It was as blurry as a distant tide.

Liu Sinan tried her best to hold back the tears in her eyes and said with red eyes, “It’s nothing.”

Li Jinping’s gaze was lost in the thick night, making it difficult to see clearly.

Liu Sinan sniffed and smiled. “Don’t look at me like that. I really don’t like it when people pity me.”

She forced a smile, unwilling to reveal any weakness. The person opposite her was the ex-wife who had personally asked for the divorce. She was the one who had been resolutely abandoned, the one who was becoming more and more pathetic. But even so, she didn’t want to show her wounds to Li Jinping.

She still wanted to have a little bit of her dignity left.

Li Jinping suddenly reached out and touched the corner of her eye.

Her fingertip happened to catch a crystal-clear drop of water.

She looked down and rubbed the water off her fingertip, then said softly, “You are stronger than I expected.”

Li Jinping had read the avoidance in her attitude. She hadn’t been very rational just now. When she saw Liu Sinan’s smile, she had impulsively asked that question.

When she came back to her senses, Liu Sinan was telling her “it’s nothing” with red eyes.

This was even more heartbreaking than if Liu Sinan had just yelled at her.

Li Jinping said in a low voice, “I thought you wouldn’t argue with Lin Xia today.”

She changed the subject, and the dense emotions in her eyes settled, replaced by a calm tenderness. “You’ve always been too lazy to explain things. You don’t hold grudges against others, let alone Lin Xia.”

“Lin Xia, your little lover?” Liu Sinan turned and coughed. The nights were getting cold recently, and her throat would hurt when it was irritated. “I didn’t expect that either.”

Liu Sinan smiled. “Maybe I just gave up.”

“I really hate it,” Liu Sinan said, enunciating slowly and with a lot of force. “I hate this kind of thing that I shouldn’t have to waste my energy on.”

“I don’t need to get tangled up with her in any way. I have never had any relationship with her, and I won’t have this disgusting connection because of ‘fighting over the same woman’,” Liu Sinan looked up at Li Jinping, her eyes full of sadness. “But it happened anyway, Li Jinping. I’m so sad that I have to get involved with a so-called ‘love rival’ over something like this. It’s too undignified. I’ve become a person who is not like myself at all.”

Li Jinping’s finger trembled. Her eyes met hers, then quickly looked away. She swallowed several times and said with a strained voice, “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s too late to say that now.” Liu Sinan looked around at the ruined flowerbeds. The two clusters of roses she had raised had been violently uprooted, and the soil hadn’t even been leveled. It was uneven, like a large, dense scar, just like her own pathetic state at the moment.

Liu Sinan tidied her clothes, crossed her arms, and exhaled a puff of white air. “I’m leaving now. I won’t be coming back ever again.”

“Actually,” Li Jinping didn’t stop her. She looked at Liu Sinan’s back and said something on a whim. “You are really a good person.”

Li Jinping’s voice was very low, as if she was talking to Liu Sinan and to herself at the same time. “Ever since I’ve known you, you’ve never been undignified.”

Liu Sinan tilted her head, seemingly listening intently.

Li Jinping saw her stop and took a step forward. She was a little hesitant, but also very eager. “You are a good girl. You’re beautiful, radiant, and very attractive.”

Liu Sinan’s voice rang out in the night. “Do you still think I’m attractive now?”

Li Jinping was stunned, but she didn’t hesitate. “Of course… You are still the most beautiful and attractive person I have ever met.”

Liu Sinan pressed the third joint of her ring finger, where a ring used to be, and a sharp sound was made.

“So, would you still sleep with me?” Liu Sinan asked.

Li Jinping was stunned again.

Liu Sinan muttered, “You like all beautiful things. So you can sleep with Lin Xia without any love for her. You can keep someone you don’t love by your side. You can look for a new lover even when you still love me.”

“You asked me to sign the divorce papers, and I did. But even after all this time since the divorce, I still can’t get you out of my heart. But what about you?” Liu Sinan’s words were aggressive, but her expression looked like she was about to cry. “Li Jinping, what is marriage to you? How can you just walk away from this relationship without a second thought? You were the one who fell in love, and you were the one who fell out of love. You were the one who said you loved me and then turned around to embrace someone else.”

“Li Jinping, I really hate you now,” Liu Sinan raised her hand and quickly wiped her face. Her words poured out like a torrent, along with all the grievances, anger, and confusion from the past few days. “I hate that you can just leave, that you didn’t give us a way back. You know what I care about. I care about your cheating. I care that you embraced someone else when you still loved me and our relationship hadn’t completely ended. You knew, but you still did it. You were the one who walked away. All my efforts, all the love from seven years, were all a joke.”

Li Jinping took a step forward, almost in a way that looked like she was going to hug her. From Liu Sinan’s perspective, it looked like a hug. “Sinan… don’t be like this. You can also… continue with your life. You can work hard, or find another… person to be with you. Not someone like me.”

Liu Sinan suddenly took a big step back. Large tears were still falling from her bloodshot eyes, but her gaze was stubborn and resolute.

She choked up and said, one word at a time, “Li Jinping, I’m telling you, I’m not like you. I won’t deal with myself so sloppily. I’m going to move forward. I’m going to find someone who loves me back. She will respect my personality. She will explain all the misunderstandings to me. She will put the two of us on an equal footing.”

“We will love each other very, very much. We will sleep together after we fall in love,” Liu Sinan said, taking a step back with each word. “Listen carefully. I will start a brand new life. I will completely forget about you. I will forget about our past!”

Li Jinping’s body suddenly trembled, and her face turned completely pale.

She swayed slightly, as if she couldn’t stand, and took a half-step back, holding her head.

A dense, thick, and irritating smell immediately filled her nostrils. It was as if a fire had been lit in her head. Everything she saw was a bloody red. Her sight and sense of smell had once again collapsed completely.

When her vision returned, there was no one in front of her.