WIL CH 28

Chapter 28: Divorce

After lunch, Lin Xi took a special hour off to go to the flower shop and order a bouquet. He still remembered Wen Feng asking him about flowers the last time.

The cold wind swept outside, and the sky was a dark, gloomy gray.

The flower shop wasn’t far from the office, and Lin Xi decided to walk there himself.

As he went downstairs, he realized he had forgotten his mask. The wind stung his face slightly, so he pulled his scarf up, leaving only his eyes exposed. The soft fabric against his skin felt comfortable.

He could only remember wearing a scarf when he was very young—a red one, hand-knitted by Li Jingshu. He had worn it for many years, but one winter, Lin Youshan had taken him out drinking, and he had lost it somewhere. No matter how long he looked, he never found it again.

His hands were tucked into his pockets as he walked at a steady pace.

After a little more than ten minutes, he arrived at the flower shop.

Ding-ling-ling.

A small wind chime hung on the handle of the glass door, giving off a clear, crisp sound whenever a customer entered.

Soon, a friendly lady came out to greet him.

“Hello! Are you here to buy flowers?” she asked with a smile.

Lin Xi nodded. “Yes.”

“Which kind would you like?”

Lin Xi glanced around the shop and finally fixed his gaze on a bouquet of blue roses.

He pointed at the bouquet and said, “This one, please.”

“Very well, sir. How many would you like?”

“Twenty-nine,” he replied. It was Wen Feng’s 29th birthday, so he would give him 29 roses.

“Understood. Please have a seat over here while I trim the flowers and wrap the bouquet beautifully for you.”

“Thank you very much.”

“You’re welcome.”

Lin Xi was guided to sit by a glass window to wait.

He watched the pedestrians outside, passing the time.

Lost in thought, a handsome figure suddenly appeared in his vision.

Across the street, Wen Feng—still dressed the same as that morning—seemed to belong to a different world than everyone else on the road. Somehow, he effortlessly drew all attention to himself.

He stepped out from the passenger side, opened the back door with gentlemanly grace…

And then Lin Xi saw something he would never have imagined.

Out of the car came the lady from the restaurant last time, along with a little boy who looked no older than three or four. As soon as the boy got out, Wen Feng scooped him up into his arms. The boy planted kisses on Wen Feng’s cheeks, and the usually cold man’s face was filled with indulgent warmth.

The lady was gentle too, patting the boy’s head and speaking softly to him. The three of them laughed together, like a happy little family, celebrating a special day before heading into the upscale restaurant together.

So this was the real reason Wen Feng had dressed so sharply today?

What did Lin Xi even mean to him?

Why treat him this way? Just last night, they had been lost in each other, yet now Wen Feng appeared before him as part of this perfect little family.

His heart shattered completely. He couldn’t breathe. His fingers trembled, tears streamed down his cheeks into his neck, soaking his scarf. This time, he could no longer lie to himself.

He could no longer cover his eyes or ears, pretending to know nothing while staying near Wen Feng.

Sadness weighed heavily on him, and the fireworks of joy had turned to ashes. Every vein in his body ached, pain rendering him voiceless.

“Hello, the bouquet is ready.”

Lin Xi stiffly turned his head. Tears streamed down his face. The calm and expectation he had felt upon entering the shop had been shattered, replaced with uncontainable sorrow.

He pulled out his phone, fingers trembling, but forced himself to type a few words to the clerk: “Sorry, I don’t need the flowers. I’ll pay for them.”

After settling the payment, he didn’t wait for a response and fled.

He had always retreated like this time and again, only to fall repeatedly.

Happiness was always preceded by pain.

Tears blurred his vision. He couldn’t see the path beneath his feet. White specks fell across the ground, and it seemed a dark shadow followed him. Lin Xi raised his sleeve to wipe his eyes and realized—it was snowing.

He hated snowy days. Why did it have to snow today?

Was even heaven mocking him?

But what could he do? Back then, unable to gather the one million in time, he couldn’t watch Lin Youshan lose an arm. Facing Wen Feng’s conditions, he had no choice but to agree to marry him.

Which of Wen Feng’s acts of tenderness had been genuine?

He couldn’t tell, and he no longer wanted to guess.

This time, it was truly over—over this absurd marriage, over everything with Wen Feng.

Snow fell intermittently all afternoon. Lin Xi hadn’t left work early, but after the office thinned out, he printed two identical copies of the documents.

wf: “Why aren’t you off work yet?”

His phone rang. It was a message from Wen Feng.

Lin Xi stared blankly at the chat history on the screen, lost in thought for a long while before replying.

lx: “Coming.”

He folded the two documents and put them in his small bag, then trudged toward the elevator.

The elevator slowly descended, the numbers on the display finally stopping at F1. His legs felt as if they were bound—he couldn’t take a step. The few people who had come down with him gradually left, leaving only him.

He stood there blankly, staring down at his shoes.

Suddenly, a pair of polished leather shoes appeared in his line of sight, directly opposite his sneakers.

“What are you dazing out for?”

It was Wen Feng’s voice.

Lin Xi slowly looked up. His swollen, red eyes were exposed under Wen Feng’s gaze. Tear streaks ran down his face, and his lips lacked their usual color—he had clearly been crying.

Wen Feng immediately grabbed his arm. “What’s wrong?”

Lin Xi shook his head.

“Where does it hurt?”

He said nothing, standing there like a wooden statue, completely still.

Wen Feng, losing patience, didn’t wait for him to speak and instead took his hand, leading him outside.

Once out of the company building, the cold wind hit their faces. A light layer of snow rested on the surrounding bushes.

Lin Xi gasped, swallowing hard, his stomach tightening in discomfort.

Wen Feng shoved him into the car and asked, “Why are you crying?”

“Let’s talk at home first,” he rasped. His voice was hoarse.

Wen Feng’s expression immediately darkened. He pressed his lips tightly together and pulled Lin Xi into his arms.

Assistant Liang started the car quickly. On this snowy day, caught in traffic, a line of red neon lights stretched along the road, casting a vintage-like glow over the two of them.

The cold air was filled with Wen Feng’s scent, suffocating him. Lin Xi pushed the man away and leaned against the window, using indifference to resist his closeness.

The atmosphere around Wen Feng also dropped to freezing. He had waited for Lin Xi for two hours, and now seeing him in this broken, pitiful state stirred a bad premonition in his heart. Lin Xi rarely cried; the last time had been because of Jiang Boqing. His brow twitched, a vague unease settling in.

Finally, the car could move smoothly. Every second on the road was torture.

Lin Xi rehearsed countless times in his mind how the scene at home with Wen Feng would unfold.

Half an hour later, the car came to a stop. Wen Feng got out first, and Lin Xi followed.

The living room was silent, broken only by their breathing.

In the end, Wen Feng spoke first. “What’s going on?”

Lin Xi’s fingers trembled as he unzipped his small bag and took out the two documents, handing one to Wen Feng.

Wen Feng took it from him. As he read the contents, a dark, sharp edge filled his gaze. The veins on the back of his hand bulged as he clenched the paper. He let out a cold, self-mocking laugh.

“Lin Xi, this is your birthday gift for me? This is the gift I waited for all day?”

Lin Xi’s eyes were red, his voice weak. “I’m sorry, Wen Feng… let’s get a divorce.”

Wen Feng tore up the divorce agreement in front of him and threw it into the trash. “Lin Xi, you just can’t let it go, can you? I’ve told you, it’s impossible for us to separate in this lifetime.”

Lin Xi looked at the shredded paper in the trash, pleading. “Wen Feng, please… let’s get a divorce.”

“Why… did you see Jiang Boqing again, didn’t you?”

Lin Xi could no longer hold back. He shouted the deepest pain in his heart at Wen Feng: “Because you don’t love me!”

Because you have a child outside, because you don’t love me.

Lin Xi’s hysterical state stabbed at Wen Feng’s eyes. Large, burning tears fell, scalding Wen Feng’s heart.

Lin Xi sobbed, “If you don’t love me, why do you still want me by your side?” He cried so violently he could barely stand.

Wen Feng quickly bent down, scooped him up, and carried him toward the bedroom. “How do you know I don’t love you?”

“I just know.”

“Then tell me… what is it that you know?” Wen Feng placed him on the bed and sat him down, unzipping his thick coat and tossing it onto the carpet before pulling up the blanket to cover him.

Lin Xi’s body had long gone cold; the icy sheets couldn’t warm him.

Wen Feng stared at him intently, silently urging him to speak the truth.

Biting his lips, Lin Xi’s face was streaked with dry tears. His eyes remained wet, as if trying to express the unspoken pains in his heart.

Wen Feng said nothing, sitting by the bed and watching him, waiting for Lin Xi to be ready.

After he had cried enough, exhausted all his strength, he finally spoke, his throat clogged and voice slightly unclear. “I… saw it.”

“Saw what?”

He looked into Wen Feng’s eyes and described the scene that had left his chest gasping.

“At lunch today… I saw you. You… and a very beautiful lady… and a child.”

Wen Feng’s Adam’s apple rolled sharply. His fingers curled unconsciously, even his breathing froze for a moment. So this is what he saw… and that’s why he’s so upset?

Seeing Lin Xi cry like this, yet refusing to confront him, he didn’t know what to do.

Unable to let him suffer, yet inadvertently causing him pain.

He reached out and gently touched Lin Xi’s hair. “What do you think our relationship is?”

With a sobbing voice, Lin Xi said, “You… are a family.”

“We are family, but not this family. Only you and I… we are a family,” Wen Feng explained.

Lin Xi didn’t understand the difference between the two; to him, “family” and “a family” meant the same thing.

From Wen Feng’s words, all he could hear was the implication of being involved with two people at once.

Feeling even more wronged, his eyes filled with tears again. “Wen Feng, how can you do this? You’ve gone too far.”

“Tomorrow, I’ll take you to meet them,” Wen Feng said, raising his hand to wipe away the fresh tears.

Lin Xi swatted his hand away, not allowing him to touch him.

“I don’t want to see them. I want a divorce.”

“You’ll see them, whether you want to or not.”

“Stop talking about divorce.” Wen Feng held him tightly in his arms, afraid that if he loosened his grip, Lin Xi would fly away like a butterfly, escaping his world.

He whispered softly into Lin Xi’s ear, “I can’t let go of you.”

Lin Xi struggled for a long time but couldn’t break free from Wen Feng’s hold. Tears welled up again, but he couldn’t accept it—couldn’t accept Wen Feng having another family outside.

Better to let him go completely than to endure this.

Wen Feng picked up a tissue from the bedside and wiped away his tears.

Lin Xi cried heart-wrenchingly; nothing could comfort him.

Finally, he opened his phone and video-called his sister.

It took a moment for the call to connect. A child’s sweet, soft voice came through the phone.

“Uncle! Is that Uncle? Mommy is taking a bath.”

Hearing the child’s voice, Lin Xi tilted his gaze, staring blankly at the adorable little one on the screen—the same child he had seen at noon.

Wen Feng held the phone up to Lin Xi’s face.

“Uncle, why do you have a brother who’s crying like a spotted cat at your house?” The child held the phone close, only the chubby little face visible, drooling a little as he laughed.

Hearing himself described like that by the little child, Lin Xi felt a bit embarrassed.

His eyes showed obvious confusion; he didn’t know what to say.

Wen Feng then turned the phone toward himself. “He’s your uncle too.”

Hearing this, the little child corrected himself. “Then… is he uncle Xi Xi?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“So uncle Xi Xi cries a lot, huh?” The child giggled merrily.

Listening to the conversation between the big and little, Lin Xi seemed to understand something. He looked at Wen Feng, and his tears gradually stopped.

“Uncle Xi Xi is just a little sad, not a crybaby,” Wen Feng said, still saving Lin Xi’s image in front of the child.

“Then you have to comfort uncle Xi Xi. Every time I’m sad, Mommy cheers me up, and I feel better.”

Wen Feng glanced at him and said, “Mm, I’m comforting you right now.”

Wen Feng hung up the call.

“She’s your full sister, and that’s her child. At noon, it was just a meal together,” he emphasized the “full sister” part deliberately.

Lin Xi hadn’t fully processed this huge revelation yet. His eyes were still misty, but he no longer cried.

Wen Feng took off his suit jacket and lay down, holding him close. He hugged Lin Xi against his chest, gently rubbing his back.

After a whole afternoon of mental tension, with his brain overwhelmed by all the false information, the emotional rollercoaster had left him utterly exhausted. Being held by Wen Feng made him feel drowsy.

Yet he still mustered the strength to ask, “Why didn’t you tell me earlier that you had a sister?”

“She had a falling out with the family over personal matters. She’s been abroad all these years and just returned recently. She’s often unwell and hospitalized, so there hasn’t been a chance to introduce you two properly.”

“Then the call from last night… was that her too?”

“Yes, that’s right. That night, Nian Nian suddenly had a fever. Wen Yu was very worried about him, and when he got sick, Wen Yu’s condition worsened. So I had to stay with them that night.”

So this was the truth all along? Lin Xi felt as if he had been dreaming, and even after waking, he remained lost and disoriented.

His cold body gradually warmed up. He was so exhausted that he no longer had the strength to think.

Wen Feng asked him, “You were upset because you thought I had a child outside, weren’t you?”

Lin Xi sniffled in Wen Feng’s embrace and nodded slightly. His soft hair brushed against Wen Feng’s chin, feeling a little ticklish.

“I’m sorry. I should have introduced you to them earlier,” Wen Feng sighed, holding Lin Xi even tighter.

Lin Xi shook his head lightly in his arms. He was too tired to open his eyes or respond to Wen Feng. As he relaxed suddenly, a deep drowsiness overtook him.

Wen Feng kissed the top of his head and whispered, “Go to sleep first.”

(To be continued…)