Before and After Divorce - Chapter 1

“Mr. Xia, these are the matters prepared in the prenuptial agreement. Mr. Su asked me to show it to you. If there’s no problem, you can sign it.”

The quartz watch on Secretary Lu’s wrist pointed to 3 o’clock in the afternoon. There was another meeting to be held at 3:30. He was nervous, but he didn’t show the slightest urging look. His empathy was his forte. Xia Tingwan fiddled with the pen in his hand for a while, and then threw it aside. Like a cat at a loss, he turned his eyes to the rose garden outside the floor-to-ceiling window after a while. He lowered his head and bit his nails, but never opened the thick stack of documents in front of him. 

He turned his head sideways, revealing only the left side of his face.

The sunset light reflected off his thin white skin, covering the fine fluff on his face in bright gold.

Even from a male’s perspective, Xia Tingwan’s beauty is often breathtaking.

Su Yan wrote a lot of love letters when he was pursuing Xia Tingwan five years ago. Later, one of them was dug up by the media for some reason, and it was talked about by people for a long time, the phrase “you are a juicy and sweet peach on the branches” made it to the headlines. 

Wealthy people are often not good at writing love poems, so it’s not surprising to write earthy love words.

The crowd roared and teased. They felt that it was lively and fun. They laughed at Su Yan, but no one laughed at Xia Tingwan.

Perhaps, from that era’s perspective, Xia Tingwan’s beauty is undeniable, deserving of all acclaim, and can resist all the smoke.

But all of it is in the past.

“Is he not coming?”

Finally, Xia Tingwan said out. He shifted his gaze to Secretary Lu. On his right cheek, there was a horrible scar that ran straight down from his forehead, sliced through his lovely brows, and reached the corner of his eye.

“You know sir is very busy.”

“Then I don’t need to read it,” Xia Tingwan said, lowering his head, turning to the last page of the document, and quickly signing his name: “Anyway, I’m leaving the house, knowing this a long time ago.” 

After he finished speaking, he focused his attention on the transparent jade ring on his left hand’s ring finger, and he didn’t look away for a long time.

Su Yan is many years older than he is and has an old-fashioned style.

Su Yan grasped his hand and put this jadeite ring on him five years ago, saying, “You have pale skin, and you always feel like it tastes horrible when you wear anything else.” This jade is the best for you. I heard that after three years, this jadeite will support you for the rest of your life. You can wear this ring for the rest of your life, Tingting. “

He was just twenty years old at the time, and he had no sense of a lifetime. He had just heard it and felt apprehensive, so he was not comforted. 

It didn’t matter what he dressed at first because this marriage wasn’t what he desired.

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Secretary Lu didn’t mind that Xia Tingwan was ignoring him; he bowed slightly and was ready to turn to go when he heard Xia Tingwan speak. 

“You mentioned he was preoccupied; what was he preoccupied with?”

Xia Tingwan lifted his head slowly, seemingly not hearing what Secretary Lu had just said, and then said gently, “I haven’t seen him in a long time.”

Secretary Lu turned to face Xia Tingwan. The boy’s light brown eyes were dreamy and had an animal-like purity about them.

For a little while, Secretary Lu felt his gut constrict. 

They’ve already split up.

This was not a simple word; it represents a shift from the physical to the psychological, and the beginning of becoming a stranger.

Xia Tingwan just knew they were divorced but had no idea what it meant.

Secretary Lu was distressed by this. 

Xia Tingwan stood in the shower, and the water rushed down his body like a surging nuzzle.

He looked up and gazed out at the enormous skylight over the bathroom at night.

The city’s light pollution is growing increasingly severe. Su Yan once informed him that on this Fragrant Hill, the entire H City and nearby places can only view stars.

Xia Tingwan remembered the light expression on Su Yan’s face as he spoke. 

He had always disliked Su Yan in that way, and he acquired the repulsive attitude of a wealthy nobleman’s son, as if he could command the starry sky at will.

Perhaps because he was always eager to put himself in situations where he would be forced, he and the stars are in the same boat—Su Yan forced him to marry, forced him to have sex, pushed him… he doesn’t really have anything else to list.

But as soon as Su Yan had a dispute with him, he immediately raised the Sword of state1, forcing Su Yan to retreat silently over and over again.

In these five years of short-lived marriage, in fact, most of the time, Xia Tingwan felt that he had the upper hand. 

But the one who had the upper hand did not win.

Before he knew it, Su Yan suddenly abandoned him, as if throwing a stray cat out of the house.

Xia Tingwan turned off the shower late, walked out naked, stood in front of the mirror, and stared at his face.

The person in the mirror was pale and haggard to the extent that he felt unfamiliar. He stretched out his hand and slowly stroked the scar on his right face. The rough touch made him shiver involuntarily. 

Half a year ago, he was driving a supercar while driving under the influence of alcohol and speeding. He slammed into the bumper at the junction of 308 Avenue and Bima Road, and fell unconscious on the spot.

In addition to the fracture of his left forearm and numerous contusions on his body, the shattered windshield left a 6.5 cm scar on his right cheek. The doctor told him that the glass was within a centimetre of his eye, and that he was lucky to have only the scar.

The next day, the United Daily News entertainment page headline reads, “Film Emperor2 Xia Ting’s drunk driving accident, leaving a 6.5 cm scar on his face and disfiguring it.”

For the entertainment industry, he was not only a disfigured star, but his reputation was hanging by a thread as a result of his drunken driving. 

But, in terms of his profession, he hadn’t given it any thought for a long time, and he was going through a difficult period.

The incident cast a bigger shadow on him than he ever imagined. Even now, he still resists riding in cars. He shudders at the reflection in the glass and softens at the sound of the brakes. The speed of the car will leave a cold sweat on his back. But what scared him more than that—

He felt that Su Yan no longer loved him.

Five months after the accident, they had sex for the first time. 

He originally wanted to hide his right face in the pillow, but perhaps because of his stubbornness, the more uneasy he felt, the more he refused to turn his head away, and he wanted to let Su Yanming look at his ugliest appearance.

Su Yan stared at it without hesitation, he vividly remembered that Su Yan’s eyes were extremely chilly, he glanced at it, and suddenly said: “It turns out that once there is a scar on the face, people who were so good-looking have become an eyesore, alter your position.”

After he finished speaking, he turned him over, and then inserted himself in from behind.

Xia Tingwan thought about it, and almost bit his lip to bleed. 

He turned around and strode out of the bathroom, opened the nightstand in the master bedroom, and tossed the stuffed up letterhead and postcards one by one, scattering them all over the floor.

When he took out the postcard from the deepest part of the cabinet, Xia Tingwan inadvertently saw the words written on it.

At that moment, suddenly feeling weak, he slowly kneeled on the floor.

“I’ll meet you under the tree. 

Summer arrived, and so did the rain.

You are a luscious, delicious peach.”

It was written in three neatly penned sentences.

Not anymore, he was no longer the sweetest thing in the world in that person’s eyes. 

After he came out of the car accident, feeling the same pain as if a needle was piercing one’s skin after taking pain relievers, he had nightmares every night.

But Su Yan no longer loves him, will never feel sorry for him, will not let him, will not freeze his movies frame by frame and make them into emojis, and won’t call him little prince while holding his cheek after sex.

Xia Tingwan buried his head between his knees and whimpered.

He had no idea how tough it was to lose love. 

Author’s Note:

Writing an introduction is too difficult for me, and the attributes of the gong and shou are also difficult to summarize.

For example, Su Yan, although he is a restrained and deep CEO, likes to write earthy love stories, which is really annoying.

T/N: I don’t know how to use footnotes here so I decided to code it manually.. And there’s also a manhua for this, on BiliBili and it’s free! 

Footnotes:

[1] Sword of state (尚方宝剑) – A sword of state is a sword, used as part of the regalia, symbolizing the power of a monarch to use the might of the state against its enemies, and his or her duty to preserve thus right and peace. [Source: Wiki]

[2] The best actor (影帝) is to win the “Best Actor Award” or “Best Actor Award” in authoritative film festivals or film awards (such as the three major international film festivals in Europe, the Academy Awards , the five Chinese film awards , etc.) with superb acting skills. [Source: Baidu] (P.s: I used film emperor since it’s a more common term.)