Chapter 17: Who Treats Marriage as a Game?

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Liu Zhuyin’s sudden arrival took me by surprise. But her words today were clear; she should understand that I am resolute about the divorce. She wouldn’t cling on endlessly. After all, she never loved me. Her reluctance to divorce was likely due to Madam Liu’s pressure. Or perhaps... she had other reasons, but it was never love.

I had thought she would return to the country immediately. Yet, unexpectedly, the next day when I went downstairs to eat, I saw her again.

“I’ll do it for you,” she said, snatching the shrimp I was peeling and, right in front of me, peeled it and placed it back into my bowl.

I was stunned.

“I realize I didn’t understand you well before. I know where I went wrong,” she said firmly, looking straight at me. “I want to apologize. But rest assured, I will change.”

Her words buzzed in my head. What on earth was she thinking? Did she want to salvage this marriage?

I took a deep breath and after a long moment, suppressed the shock.

“Sorry, Liu Zhuyin,” I said calmly. “I have never blamed you, so you don’t need to change for me. If it’s for my own good, then just divorce me completely.”

Love’s greatest tragedy is in trying to mend what’s broken—whether you are the one trying to fix it or the one being fixed—it’s pitiable.

“Are you really set on divorcing me?” Liu Zhuyin looked slightly displeased.

“Yes.” I was brief, firm.

Yet, that only seemed to anger her more.

“Gu Yichen, I’m willing to learn about you and change myself for this marriage, for you. Isn’t that enough?”

If this was before, I might have been moved, forgotten everything, and loved her wholeheartedly. But not anymore.

“Alright, I see your stance,” I replied evenly. “But I truly don’t need that anymore.”

“I don’t understand what you mean.” She said, “Wasn’t I just not attentive enough to you? Now I want to care for you, isn’t that enough?”

“Gu Yichen, are you really that hard to please?”

To her, I had become difficult to satisfy? Yet with Ning Yuanzhou, she was endlessly patient, never showing a hint of dissatisfaction.

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No matter what Ning Yuanzhou asked for, she complied. She even took the initiative to understand and care. But here with me, no patience at all—just difficult to please...

Love and indifference are truly that stark.

“Liu Zhuyin, I’m curious—why are you doing all this?”

“If you think I’m hard to please, why bother trying?”

“Why exhaust yourself to salvage a marriage?”

I couldn't help but voice my doubts. Why would someone who didn’t love me do all this? Change themselves? Try to understand me? That took immense courage and strength. I desperately wanted to know why.

“Shouldn’t I try to save this marriage?” she retorted.

“We’ve been married five years! How many five-year periods does one have in a lifetime?”

“Gu Yichen, are you treating marriage like a joke?”

Instead of answering me directly, she threw the question back at me, assuming the moral high ground and accusing me of treating the marriage lightly.

She still didn’t understand, and I lost interest.

“I was foolish to ask,” I said, standing up to leave, unwilling to say another word.

She grabbed me angrily.

“Enough! Gu Yichen, I’ve lowered myself to come find you, apologized, and made my intentions clear. Why won’t you let it go?”

So, it was her who ‘lowered herself’... That phrase stung deeply.

“Thank you, I’m very touched,” I smiled bitterly.

“Can you stop speaking with that sarcastic tone?”

“Don’t you think you’re being childish?”

“Yes, I haven’t done well enough.”

“But divorce isn’t a joke. If we have problems, we can solve them. It’s not to the point where divorce is the only option.”

“Can you be a little more rational?”

Her plea for reason was laughable.

“Liu Zhuyin, let me make this clear.”

“Our problems cannot be solved.”

“And I don’t want to solve them.”

“Right now... I just want a divorce.”

“You say I’m sarcastic—I accept that.”

“You say I have someone else—I accept that too.”

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“In short, as long as you agree to the divorce, I’ll accept whatever you say about me!”

I shouted back fiercely. She looked shocked, her voice trembling.

“Say that again!”

I looked at her steadily. “No matter how many times I say it, it’s the same.”

“Liu Zhuyin, if you understood what marriage really means, you wouldn’t ask such questions.”

“If you truly had patience, please recall who treated this marriage like a joke.”

“You don’t need to silently endure and endlessly claim you’re doing all this for me—I don’t care.”

“Don’t think you’ve sacrificed something so great that everyone must accommodate and understand you.”

“And don’t act like I’m the villain, sincerely insulting you just because things didn’t go your way!”

“It’s ridiculous, you know that?”

I shook off her hand and walked away without looking back.

Liu Zhuyin froze where she stood, my words striking her whole body into stiffness.

She felt she should be angry. But for some reason, hearing those words just made her unable to get angry—instead, her heart ached deeply.

Especially when I coldly shrugged off her hand—such indifference felt like a heavy hand gripping her heart fiercely.

Only when my figure disappeared from her sight did she slump back into her seat, distraught.

Recalling my words, bitterness deepened on her face.

At that moment, her phone rang.

It was Madam Liu.

“Ah Yin, have you found Xiaocheng? What did he say?”

Madam Liu was thrilled to know her daughter had gone abroad. If anyone hoped for our reconciliation in this world, it was certainly her.

“He still wants a divorce,” Liu Zhuyin replied helplessly.

“Xiaocheng must be upset right now.”

“He loves you so much; there’s no way he’d want to divorce you.”

Madam Liu firmly believed I loved Liu Zhuyin. Even though I was the one wanting the divorce, she refused to believe I no longer loved her.

Liu Zhuyin sighed, unable to resist complaining.

“How did he suddenly become a completely different person?”

“I never realized his temper was so bad.”

“I came to him in person and apologized, yet he still won’t relent.”

“He doesn’t even believe my words...”

Madam Liu was enraged.

“What am I supposed to say about you?”

“You apologize and expect him to forgive you?”

“You say something and expect him to believe you?”

“Where do you get such nerve?”

“I don’t care, since you’re abroad now, find a way to bring Xiaocheng back.”