Chapter 43 Cutting Through the Gordian Knot

The next day, I picked up my sketching tools, got into my car, and drove straight to Mount Ahjiang.

Ever since I got together with Liu Zhuyin, I had no time left for sketching.

Sketching felt… as distant as a memory from a past life.

Today, suddenly getting everything ready and setting off, the surge of excitement made me feel as though I had returned to my old self.

For five years, I had forgotten how to be myself.

Every ounce of my heart had been poured into her, poured into the Liu family.

I held no resentment, nor did I feel they had wronged me.

I only blamed myself for forgetting who I was along the way.

Had Liu Zhuyin not reminded me, I truly would have forgotten this part of myself entirely.

Driving to the destination, I scanned my ticket and headed straight up the mountain.

Finding the best spot, I set up my easel.

In the distance, the weather was gloomy.

Yet the sunlight piercing through the dark clouds spilled over the mountain forest, making it shimmer with a rippling radiance.

A breeze swept past, sending gentle waves through the scenery.

Such breathtaking beauty was truly a rare sight!

I eagerly began to paint, quickly becoming completely immersed in the process.

Before I even realized it, Liu Zhuyin had appeared behind me.

She remained silent. Though she too had set up a wooden board, she knew nothing about art.

She simply rested her chin in her hands and watched me the entire time.

Seeing me utterly absorbed, watching the corners of my mouth occasionally lift into a smile, she smiled along with me.

I had never realized that this was what I looked like when I was truly passionate about something.

"He really loves painting… yet I never knew."

Guilt welled up inside Liu Zhuyin.

As his wife of five years, she actually knew nothing about her husband's hobbies.

Of course, she also knew that even if she had known back then, she probably wouldn't have cared.

But things were different now.

She would learn to blend into my world.

To see what I cherished, and to love what I loved.

Holding her phone, she occasionally snapped secret photos of me, recording the progression of my artwork.

Immersing herself right along with me.

Only, while I was immersed in the painting, she was immersed in me.

I spent a full three hours on that single painting.

And she watched me for those entire three hours.

Finally, I let out a long breath, thoroughly satisfied with my work.

"Stunning!"

Before I even had a chance to admire it properly, Liu Zhuyin's voice rang out, and she softly began to clap for me.

I froze, turned back to look at her, and seeing her radiant smile, felt a momentary wave of bewilderment.

"What are you doing here?"

"What? Only you are allowed to come, but I'm not? Is there any logic like that in this world?"

Instead of getting angry, she covered her mouth and chuckled.

I frowned, staring at her face, completely baffled by her behavior.

Giving me the ticket to Mount Ahjiang was meant to make up for things.

But accompanying me here—what was the meaning of that?

Was this part of making amends as well?

Wasn't this going a bit too far?

I said nothing and turned back to look at my painting. Meanwhile, she picked up her little wooden stool and quite naturally sat right down beside me.

"Yichen, this is the first time I realized you paint so well."

"You know? Watching you go from sketching the outlines to finishing the piece just now felt like watching magic."

It started off looking so plain, and then suddenly… it turned into something so breathtakingly beautiful!

Her sudden friendliness and awkward attempts at starting a conversation made me feel extremely uneasy.

Yet one does not strike a smiling face, and it was hard for me to snap at her directly.

"It's always like that."

"It really is magical. But look… when you were painting this part, this area still looked like this."

"And then suddenly… with just this one stroke, the whole painting instantly felt like it came alive!"

She couldn't help but pull out her phone, flipping through the photos and showing me a few side-by-side comparisons.

"And here, look at this tree. At first, you just drew a few branches, and then suddenly you tapped a few times, and it turned into a tree… How is that even possible?"

As she chattered away, I simply stared at her.

While she kept throwing out her questions, I was busy turning over questions of my own.

What on earth was this woman trying to pull?

Sneaking photos? Making comparisons?

Why did it feel like she was trying to get close to me?

Even attempting to integrate herself into my life? Into my hobbies?

"Liu Zhuyin, what are you trying to do?"

I coldly cut her off. Her fingers trembled slightly, but she immediately forced a smile back onto her face.

"Is art hard to learn? Is it too late for me to start now?"

She knew very well what I was asking, yet she feigned ignorance and gave a completely unrelated reply.

"You want to learn art?"

"There are professors at the art academy, and you can certainly afford the tuition."

Liu Zhuyin let out a huff. "I hate going to school the most. I'm not going."

"I actually think it would be much better if you taught me."

I rejected her on the spot. "Sorry, I don't have the spare time for that."

We were already divorced, what was the point of all this clinging and entangling?

"I knew you'd say that."

"Then I'll just teach myself. Surely you won't even have the time to spare a glance at my work when the time comes?"

She compromised, taking a step back, but I shook my head.

"I won't."

Liu Zhuyin grew slightly angry. "Yichen, the two of us aren't completely divorced yet."

"Even though we signed the divorce agreement, you tricked me into it!"

"I never once brought up divorce myself."

"In name, I am still your wife, and you are still my… my husband!"

"Treating your wife like this, are you even a man?"

I laughed.

Soft words didn't work on me, so now she was resorting to reverse psychology?

When had she ever been willing to put this much effort into me?

And besides, what did these words even mean?

Did she still not want a divorce after all?

"Liu Zhuyin, you are an intelligent person. Stop playing dumb in front of me, and reverse psychology won't work on me either."

"There is no affection left between us, and our five-year marriage was nothing more than a joke."

"Do you want to turn this joke into an even funnier one?"

"Even if you want to, I don't have the time to humor you!"

I had been in a great mood for sketching, but with her interrupting like this, all my enthusiasm vanished, and I began packing up my easel.

My blunt retort left her face shifting between pale and flushed.

She still couldn't understand why I had so much lingering hostility in me!

When she got angry and threw tantrums, I refused to cater to her.

Now that she was acting sweet and trying to win me over, I still refused to cater to her.

I was like a steel plate, completely impervious to swords or spears.

"Gu逸尘, are you doing this on purpose just to piss me off?"

"I already said I didn't mean it! Why won't you believe me?"

"For five years, do you not have even a shred of trust in me?"

"Am I, Liu Zhuyin, really the kind of person who goes back on her word?"

In her career and in daily life, she was never someone who was petty, picky, or hypocritical.

Whatever she promised, she delivered.

It was just toward me… that she had no credibility whatsoever.

I turned my head to look at her and smiled faintly.

"What do you think?"

"Liu Zhuyin, think back carefully. Have you ever honored a single promise you made to me?"

"Since you've never kept them, why on earth should I trust you?"

"With just a flick of your lips, the upper and lower ones flapping together, you can just say whatever you want?"

"Don't you find that laughable?"

I truly didn't want to keep arguing with her.

Yet seeing her endlessly persistent entanglement, I simply had no choice but to push back!

I was afraid of my own heart softening, of being struck down by her sugar-coated bullets and betraying my own resolve.

I was even more afraid of her failing to see reality clearly, dragging things out and leaving this ended marriage shrouded in murky ambiguity.

Since that was the case, it was better to cut through the mess with a sharp knife.

There was no need to sugarcoat harsh truths.

"You… you…"

Liu Zhuyin's expression twisted in humiliation as she pointed a trembling finger at me, unable to squeeze out a single word.

Ignoring her entirely, I turned around and walked down the mountain.

I had thought that would be the end of today's farce.

Little did I expect that I had barely taken a few steps when a piercing shriek rang out from behind me, belonging to Liu Zhuyin.

"Ow…"