Yu Sheng's life wasn't stirred in the slightest by Shen Yunmian—if anything, it had never been more peaceful.
At the company, she and Su Qingyu threw themselves completely into a new investment project, shutting out all chaotic emotions. Only when she was fully focused on work did she feel that solid sense of control over her own life.
After work, when she returned to Jiu Xi Bay, the large house was empty.
Instead, Yu Sheng felt unusually at ease.
She could do whatever she wanted without considering Shen Yunmian—prepare a simple dinner to her own taste, or even curl up on the living room carpet and watch a movie she liked without worrying about being interrupted by someone suddenly coming home.
Her phone lay quietly to the side, with no messages from the hospital. She welcomed the silence and didn't have even the slightest urge to check in. Whether Shen Yunmian was dead or alive, in pain or suffering—none of it stirred even a ripple in her heart anymore.
The person who once controlled all her emotions had now gradually become an irrelevant stranger.
—
At the hospital, it was a completely different scene.
Shen Yunmian stayed there for three days. To her, those three days felt as long as three seasons.
At first, it was anger mixed with the pain of humiliation. The image of Yu Sheng flushing the ring down the drain burned into her mind, searing her heart. She had even darkly hoped that Yu Sheng might feel a trace of regret.
But as time passed, that familiar figure never appeared at the ward door.
Her mindset began to change in a pitiful way. Anger was gradually replaced by a more helpless longing. She only wished that her wife would come see her once—even just out of the most basic courtesy of marriage.
Once that thought took root, it spread wildly like vines.
Shen Yunmian started checking her phone constantly—turning the screen on and off again and again.
She couldn't help opening that pinned chat, her fingers hovering over the keyboard, typing and deleting repeatedly.
"I'm about to be discharged." — Too stiff, like a notice.
"Are you doing okay?" — But she was the one hospitalized.
"Can you… come see me?" — That almost pleading tone made her feel unbearably humiliated.
In the end, every word was deleted.
She realized she didn't even have the courage to send a single message.
She was afraid the result would still be silence, like a stone sinking into the sea—or worse, a cold or even mocking reply from Yu Sheng. That feeling of being cut apart by her words was far more unbearable than physical pain.
Despair, like the ever-present disinfectant smell in the ward, seeped into everything and drowned her completely.
To numb herself, Shen Yunmian began working at high intensity.
Her laptop stayed on the hospital bed—emails, reports, video conferences… She tried to fill every second with work so she wouldn't have the energy to think.
But her mind wouldn't always obey.
Between meetings, in pauses while reviewing documents, Yu Sheng's face would intrude into her thoughts without warning—her smile, the slight frown when she was angry, the cold look in her eyes when she threw the ring…
As if possessed, she opened those old chat records again, tormenting herself. Scrolling from the beginning, the messages Yu Sheng once sent now read like blades of mockery.
"Wife~ will you get off work on time today? (?????)?"
"Then I'll wait for you~ no matter how late!"
"The bed is so big… it's so lonely sleeping alone…"
What once felt trivial and even slightly annoying now turned into delayed regret, gnawing at her heart—why hadn't she responded more back then?
That familiar metallic taste rose in her throat again, and her stomach started to ache.
She shut her eyes tightly, forcing the surge of blood back down, a fine layer of cold sweat forming on her forehead. This almost self-destructive behavior seemed to give her a twisted sense of connection to the past through pain.
In the end, she couldn't hold back and called Qiao Wei again.
The moment the call connected, she tried to make her voice sound calm.
"Busy?"
"Are you feeling better?"
"Mm, much better." Shen Yunmian paused, then asked as if casually, "Have you… seen Yu Sheng recently?"
Qiao Wei sighed on the other end. How could she not understand such a transparent question? "I haven't seen her, but I've asked her out for dinner tonight. Focus on recovering. I… I'll help you feel things out."
After hanging up, Qiao Wei rubbed her temples, looking troubled. Being the mediator was truly exhausting.
How was she even supposed to bring this up tonight?
—
That evening, after finishing her work, Yu Sheng checked the time and headed to the restaurant where she had agreed to meet Qiao Wei.
She could already guess Qiao Wei's purpose—most likely sent by Shen Yunmian to act as a mediator.
As for Qiao Wei, Yu Sheng didn't dislike her. She was straightforward, simple, and had never been involved in the Shen family's mess. So Yu Sheng didn't mind the meeting—in fact, she even hoped to use the opportunity to persuade Qiao Wei to help convince Shen Yunmian to end this drawn-out divorce battle sooner.
The restaurant had an elegant atmosphere.
After greeting each other and ordering food, they started with small talk. The atmosphere was fairly relaxed.
Once Qiao Wei had laid enough groundwork, she finally cautiously steered the conversation to the main topic, half-joking, "Sheng Sheng, I know this might be a bit unnecessary… but Yunmian is really seriously ill this time. Between you two… what kind of deep grudge is there that it has to come to this?"
Yu Sheng didn't avoid the question. "Qiao Wei, it's not hatred. It's just… it's meaningless now."
Her tone was calm, as if talking about something unrelated to herself. "My marriage with Shen Yunmian was probably a mistake from the beginning. What I thought was love was just her needing a marriage that matched her status—and I happened to be someone she found suitable."
"All these years, I tried to be a wife that satisfied her. I took care of her grandmother, disciplined her always troublesome younger sister, dealt with her mother who never liked me… I gave everything. And what did I get in return?"
"Her sister pointing fingers at me and insulting me. Her mother's constant criticism and disdain. Shen Yunmian's neglect and indifference. She was always busy—her company, her projects, even that so-called 'adopted sister' all came before me."
Qiao Wei's smile gradually stiffened as she listened, unable to find anything to say in Shen Yunmian's defense.
"I could tolerate all of that," Yu Sheng's voice trembled faintly, "until I lost my child. That's when I realized everything I endured was just a joke."
The moment she said that, the air at the table seemed to freeze.
Yu Sheng lowered her eyes, staring at the liquid in her glass, her voice soft as a sigh: "When the doctor told me it would be hard for me to get pregnant again, she just said calmly, 'It's nothing. I never liked children anyway.' Qiao Wei, that was our child… and with one sentence, she erased all my pain and expectations."
Qiao Wei fell completely silent, her face burning with shame for even thinking about reconciling them earlier.
She hadn't expected that her childhood friend could be such a mess in her marriage.
At that moment, Yu Sheng took a document out of her handbag and gently pushed it in front of Qiao Wei.
Qiao Wei opened it in confusion. When she saw the words on it—a diagnosis of depression—and the note mentioning "impulsive tendencies under specific circumstances," her pupils shrank sharply. She looked up at Yu Sheng in shock.
Yu Sheng looked at her, a faint, almost tragic smile curling at her lips. "See it? Qiao Wei. This marriage drove me into this. I'm sick. When I face her, I can't even control the urge to lash out… I'm going crazy."
Qiao Wei's expression turned complicated, involuntarily recalling the bruises she had once seen on her friend's neck and face.
Yu Sheng paused, then spoke with a kind of resolute finality: "Even like this, Shen Yunmian still refuses to let me go, refuses to divorce. Does she want to watch me go completely insane, or wait until I die and bury me with the title of 'Mrs. Shen'?"
Holding that seemingly light yet unbearably heavy diagnosis, Qiao Wei opened her mouth, only to find her throat too dry to make a sound. All the persuasion and mediation she had prepared felt utterly powerless in front of this document and Yu Sheng's calm accusation.
In the end, Yu Sheng took the lead instead, her tone carrying a hint of pleading but even more determination: "Qiao Wei, I'm begging you. If you still consider me a friend, then help me persuade her… let me go. Divorce is better for both of us."
Looking into Yu Sheng's eyes, filled with exhaustion and pain, Qiao Wei felt her heart shake.
She gripped Yu Sheng's hand tightly, her voice full of guilt and resolve. "Sheng Sheng, I'm sorry… I didn't understand the situation before. Don't worry, I'll definitely talk to her properly! This marriage—has to end!"
The dinner ended in a heavy atmosphere, yet with a strange mutual understanding.
After they parted, Yu Sheng got into her car with a satisfied smile, all traces of her earlier sorrow gone.
See? She really could stop caring. She could calmly tear open her old wounds, bloody and raw, to gain the sympathy she needed and achieve her goal. She had done it—and it didn't even feel that painful.
But Qiao Wei was deeply shaken. Standing on the night street, she took a breath of the cool air, then immediately pulled out her phone and called Shen Yunmian.
As soon as the call connected, she snapped, "Shen Yunmian, I'm telling you—stop pestering Yu Sheng!"
In the hospital room, Shen Yunmian's face turned deathly pale as she gripped her phone. "Qiao Wei? What did Yu Sheng tell you?"
"What did she say? She said you're a damn bastard!" Qiao Wei grew angrier as she spoke. "Do you even know she has depression? I saw the diagnosis! How far are you planning to push her? I'm begging you—be a decent person! Just get the divorce already!"
"I won't divorce!"
Shen Yunmian sounded like a cornered animal, her voice hoarse and stubborn to the brink of collapse. "If we divorce, I'll truly lose her! I can't…"
"You're insane! Completely impossible to reason with!" Qiao Wei nearly threw her phone in anger. "The more you cling like this, the more you'll push her away! Do you really want to spend your life with someone who hates you?"
After a long moment, Shen Yunmian abruptly hung up. Her chest heaved violently, her vision going dark in waves.
She couldn't wait any longer—not for a second!
Throwing off the blanket, she staggered out of bed and pressed the call button.
A nurse hurried in. Pale-faced, Shen Yunmian spoke with firm determination: "Discharge me. Right now. Immediately."
She didn't know what she could do when she got back, or what she could say. Maybe she would still be met with Yu Sheng's cold indifference and sharp words—but she couldn't stay alone in this suffocating, despair-filled ward any longer.
She had to go back. She had to see Yu Sheng—even if it was just one glance.
—
At ten that night, Jiu Xi Bay was silent.
Shen Yunmian returned.
She didn't turn on the lights, just slowly sat down on the sofa, letting herself sink into the thick darkness.
Time passed second by second as she waited quietly, just like that night not long ago.
After an unknown amount of time, a faint sound finally came from the entrance.
Click.
The door opened. The hallway light outlined Yu Sheng's slender figure. She lowered her head to change her shoes, casually switching on the living room lights.
The sudden brightness made Shen Yunmian instinctively narrow her eyes.
Yu Sheng looked up—and was startled by the silent figure sitting in the darkness on the sofa. She flinched, hand over her chest, but once she realized it was Shen Yunmian, the shock on her face instantly turned into undisguised indifference.
"Shen Yunmian?" Yu Sheng frowned. "You're discharged? Sitting here in the dark in the middle of the night—are you trying to scare someone to death?"
Under the light, Shen Yunmian clearly saw the pure rejection and distance in Yu Sheng's eyes.
At that moment, Qiao Wei's words echoed in her mind—
"Do you really want to spend your life with someone who hates you?"
Shen Yunmian opened her mouth, but all the words stuck in her throat. She couldn't even make a sound.
Seeing her standing there like a statue in the shadows, Yu Sheng felt a surge of irritation. She hated this side of Shen Yunmian—cold silence had always been her specialty. Now what was this supposed to mean?
Out of sight, out of mind.
Yu Sheng didn't bother wasting words. Treating her like an obstacle, she turned to head back to her bedroom.
The moment she turned, Shen Yunmian panicked.
All her rationality collapsed in an instant. She suddenly reached out and grabbed Yu Sheng's slender wrist, gripping tightly with almost forceful stubbornness.
"Don't go…" Two broken syllables squeezed out of her dry throat, filled with obvious pleading.
Feeling the tight grip and abnormal heat from her wrist, Yu Sheng's brows knitted sharply, irritation peaking. She tried to shake free, her voice icy: "Shen Yunmian! What are you doing? Let go!"
But Shen Yunmian was like a drowning person clutching the only piece of driftwood—she not only refused to let go, but tightened her grip further.
"I said let go! Did you hear me?" Yu Sheng was completely enraged.
One tried to leave, the other refused to release.
They struggled in the middle of the living room, bodies colliding, entangled together.
Though Shen Yunmian had just recovered from illness, the stubborn force she exerted now was undeniable. Yu Sheng staggered, losing her footing, and was dragged down with her. The two of them fell onto the soft sofa behind them.
A dull thud.
Yu Sheng ended up half-pinned beneath Shen Yunmian. The familiar sense of oppression fueled her anger. As she struggled, her hair fell loose, her breathing grew rapid, and flames of fury burned in her eyes.
"Shen Yunmian!"
Enough was enough.
Used to slapping Shen Yunmian, Yu Sheng didn't hesitate—putting all her strength into it, a sharp "smack" rang out as her hand struck Shen Yunmian's pale cheek.
The air froze for a moment.
Shen Yunmian's head snapped to the side, red finger marks quickly appearing on her fair skin. The burning pain spread, but she seemed not to feel it, remaining stiff in that position.
Yu Sheng's chest heaved as she stared at her, enunciating each word: "Now. Immediately. Let go of me."
Slowly, Shen Yunmian turned her head back, her gaze meeting Yu Sheng's.
Those eyes that once held love and warmth now contained nothing but undisguised disgust.
She couldn't face them—not for even a second longer.
Almost instinctively, Shen Yunmian raised her hand and covered Yu Sheng's eyes, trying to block out the gaze that pierced her heart.
Darkness fell over Yu Sheng's vision. For a brief moment, she was stunned. With sight gone, her other senses sharpened—she could feel Shen Yunmian's hot breath against her neck, the trembling of the body pressing down on her.
Then, before Yu Sheng could react—
Shen Yunmian lowered her head.
A desperate kiss fell heavily.
Her lips were hot and dry, pressing firmly against Yu Sheng's, moving, sucking, even clumsily biting.
It was as if she was trying to confirm Yu Sheng's existence through this, to draw even a fragment of false comfort from the closeness, to fill the bottomless void of fear inside her.
But Yu Sheng would never indulge her madness.
That desperate kiss became the final spark that ignited all her suppressed anger.
The next second, Yu Sheng bent her knee and, with all her strength, kicked hard into Shen Yunmian's abdomen!
"Ugh—!"
Caught off guard, Shen Yunmian curled up in pain, her grip loosening.
Yu Sheng seized the chance, pushing hard and flipping their positions, pinning Shen Yunmian deep into the sofa. Her hands pressed down on Shen Yunmian's wrists, trapping her against the backrest, as if she wanted to strangle her then and there and end everything.
Shen Yunmian didn't resist at all.
The pain in her abdomen made her face even paler, cold sweat forming at her temples.
Panting, she looked up at the furious Yu Sheng above her. In those usually composed eyes now shimmered with tears, and her voice carried a thick nasal tone:
"Sheng Sheng… don't treat me like this…"
The words hadn't even finished leaving her mouth when she could no longer hold on—she shut her eyes, and a tear slipped down, landing on the back of the hand with which Yu Sheng was pinning her wrist.
That tear was scalding.
Yu Sheng froze, the force in her grip loosening instinctively for a moment. She stared in disbelief at the damp spot on her hand that quickly turned cold, then looked up at Shen Yunmian's face, filled with pain and pleading.
The proud, untouchable Shen Yunmian… was actually crying in front of her?
But the shock lasted only a second before it was replaced by deeper mockery.
Just crocodile tears. Yu Sheng quickly dismissed it with a sneer, her voice turning cold as she warned, "Shen Yunmian, stop going crazy in the middle of the night! Get back to your room—I want to sleep."
With that, she pushed herself up, ready to leave this suffocating space.
But Shen Yunmian reached out again, grabbing her, refusing to let go. The grip wasn't strong, but it carried a stubborn persistence. Lying there on the sofa, hair disheveled, cheeks still streaked with tears and marked with clear finger imprints, she looked utterly wretched.
Facing Yu Sheng, she seemed to have completely lost her composure, relying only on instinct as she murmured again and again in a low voice, "Yu Sheng… please, don't be like this. I know I was wrong… I really know I was wrong…"
Yu Sheng looked down at her coldly, saying nothing, as if watching a clown perform.
Shen Yunmian turned her head slightly, exposing the fragile line of her neck, as though offering herself up without resistance. Her voice carried a desperate, all-or-nothing resolve: "As long as it makes you happy… you can do anything to me…"
Yu Sheng hadn't expected that. She froze for a moment, forgetting to move.
Taking her silence as permission—or perhaps driven by her own desperate gamble—Shen Yunmian lowered her lashes. Her long eyelashes trembled like a dying butterfly in the wind as she reached out, took Yu Sheng's hand, and trembling, guided it toward the hem of her clothes… and then slipped it inside.
The moment Yu Sheng's fingertips touched burning skin, Shen Yunmian shuddered violently. But she didn't retreat. Instead, in a voice shaking with unbearable shame, she whispered, "Yu Sheng… I… I won't refuse anymore… however you want to treat me… it's fine…"
Beneath her palm, Shen Yunmian's heartbeat raced, her body burning hot. Yu Sheng jolted, snapping back to her senses.
She yanked her hand back and, using all her strength, shoved Shen Yunmian away.
Shen Yunmian's back slammed into the sofa with a dull thud.
She opened her eyes in a daze, still clouded with moisture, looking at Yu Sheng in confusion and disarray.
Yu Sheng stood up, looking down at her—clothes disheveled, completely exposed, as if waiting to be taken—and felt a surge of absurdity rush straight to her head. She almost laughed from anger.
Where did Shen Yunmian even get the audacity to think they could still be intimate like nothing had happened?
"Shen Yunmian, you really think too highly of yourself."
She paused, her gaze cutting over Shen Yunmian from head to toe like a blade. "I lost interest in you a long time ago."
With that, she didn't spare another glance at Shen Yunmian's bloodless face. Turning around, she strode quickly toward her bedroom and slammed the door shut with a loud bang, cutting off all this absurdity.
Left alone on the sofa, Shen Yunmian covered her face with her hands, her expression unseen.
—
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