Chapter 3: Divorce

“You-” Xie Yi struggled to utter a word in the Central Plains language. He picked up the torn paper scraps from the ground and held them in his hands, a lost look flashing in his emerald eyes like a small animal.

Su Mu held his hand and enunciated each word: “Xie Yi, you are free now.” Xie Yi couldn’t understand what she was saying, but at that moment he felt an unprecedented sense of lightness, as if the invisible shackles around his neck had been unlocked, even his breathing became more relaxed.

Su Mu pulled him to sit down and pointed to herself, saying: “Su Mu.” Xie Yi blinked his eyes.

Su Mu was patient and continued pointing to herself, elongating the sound: “Su – Mu.” Xie Yi seemed to vaguely understand and his thin lips parted: “Su – Mo?”
“Su – Mu, Mu -”

“Su Mu?” After several tries, Xie Yi finally pronounced her name clearly.

“Well done.” Su Mu smiled slightly, the smile light and faint like ripples spreading on a lake surface. “Here, for you.” She took out a berry-red honey candy from her sleeve, quietly resting on her fair palm.

Xie Yi looked at it curiously, confusion in his eyes: “Hm-”

Before he could ask, Su Mu directly placed the candy into his mouth.

For a moment, Xie Yi had a startled expression. The next instant, the sweetness of the candy spread in his mouth, carrying the fragrance of apricots, so sweet.

He looked at Su Mu and smiled, eyes curved, his smile as bright as spring, the emerald depths of his eyes like a clear jade creek.

“Do you like it? I have more here.” She pulled out a large handful of honey candies from her sleeve, scattering them on the table like glittering rubies, the air seemingly permeated with the rich sweetness of candy.

She knew Xie Yi loved eating candy the most, honey candy was his favorite in his previous life.

Every time he was bullied by Yan Jiyue, Su Mu would buy these to comfort him. He would always finish eating all of them, not a single one left.

Xie Yi looked at the round, plump candies in front of him, shocked and unable to believe she was giving these to him.

Only when Su Mu pushed the candies closer to him did he finally realize these were all for him to eat.

The hard candy was still lodged in his throat.

He tentatively ate another one, holding it in his mouth while observing her reaction.

Su Mu just rested her chin in her hand watching him, her smile gentle and pure to the core, seemingly without the slightest trace of revolting impurity.

Xie Yi suddenly found that the new mistress was much kinder than the previous one.

“It’s getting late, I need to head back.” Su Mu looked at the sky and pulled him towards the kitchen, pointing at the remaining rice, flour and oil, saying: “If you get hungry, make something to eat yourself. I will come see you again tomorrow.” With that, Su Mu prepared to leave.

Suddenly, Xie Yi grabbed her.

She turned around to see Xie Yi had neatly folded the outer robe she had just taken off.

Su Mu smiled and thanked him, intending to put it on herself.

But Xie Yi had already spread open the robe and personally helped Su Mu put it on.

Subconsciously, he still considered himself a servant.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t understand the Central Plains language now. Su Mu was determined to help him quickly become familiar with this place and then change his current mannerisms.

After Su Mu left, the small courtyard was so quiet only the chirping of insects could be heard.

Xie Yi sat alone by the window, holding the paper scraps Su Mu had torn up, his mind replaying the scene of her ripping up the deed of sale in front of him during the day.

A small insect, attracted by the sweet scent, flew to the edge of the candies. Just as it was about to extend its proboscis to suck and lick, Xie Yi captured it between his fingers.

The insect struggled desperately at his fingertips. Xie Yi watched expressionlessly, his emerald pupils devoid of any emotion, until he exerted force and crushed it into mud. Only then did the corners of his mouth curve into a hint of a cold smile.

He washed his hands clean, water still dripping from his hands covered in tiny scars, and placed the honey candies into his mouth one by one. The clear sweetness of apricots mixed with rich syrup, stirring on the tip of his tongue, so cloying sweet.

Xie Yi actually didn’t like sweets, especially candies this sickeningly sweet.

In the past when he lived with his parents and younger brother at the frontier, he found even raisins too sweet and basically never touched them.

But he still ate all the honey candies, his teeth crushing the hard candies into granules and shards, the sharp edges cutting the tip of his tongue. His brows furrowed slightly as the sweet candy and metallic blood went down his throat together.

“Su Mu…” Xie Yi murmured.

—

Su Mu had just arrived at the entrance of Falling Maple Courtyard when she saw the lights on inside, remembering what Yan Zhujun had said earlier about having Yan Jiyue personally come apologize.

How could Yan Jiyue possibly come to apologize? More likely he came to denounce her.

As soon as she entered the courtyard, she saw Xiao Ping standing guard outside the door, looking at her with a half-smile: “Madam, you’re finally back. The young master has been waiting for you for a long time, even longer than he has waited for the lord.”

The implication was that she was being pretentious.

In the past, Su Mu might have explained, but now that she was determined to divorce, she began to disregard it all: “Then let him wait.”
Xiao Ping’s smile twitched at the corners: “What did you say?”

Su Mu was unfazed: “I didn’t know Yan Jiyue was waiting for me. Since he took the initiative to come to my courtyard, isn’t it proper for him to wait for me a bit? Did you expect me to kneel at the door to welcome him?” The nerve of him.

Xiao Ping couldn’t maintain his composure and struggled to keep smiling: “No need for that. The young master is still waiting for you inside, please go in.” He gritted his teeth as he opened the door.

Yan Jiyue sat in the main seat, dressed in red, coldly lowering his gaze. His appearance was cold yet glamorous, his eyes not the double eyelids popular in modern times, but classically beautiful single-lidded phoenix eyes. It took some getting used to at first glance, but the more one looked, the more charm they held.

Too bad such a good-looking face was paired with such a nasty temper.

Yan Jiyue raised his eyes and looked at her deeply, his voice as cold as the clashing of icicles: “I heard from my father that my attendant offended you and was beaten with twenty strokes?”
Yan Jiyue got straight to the point as soon as he opened his mouth.

“That’s right.” Su Mu leaned against the door frame, tall and graceful, her white clothes like snow, red sash like blood. The red and white complemented each other like snow-covered red maples. The corners of her eyes lifted slightly in provocation: “Did Hua Lu tattle on you?”
“Tattle?” Yan Jiyue narrowed his phoenix eyes and looked at her coldly: “Weren’t you the first one to tattle? As a mistress, you can’t even keep your servants in check and need my father to intervene. How are you like a woman at all?”

The reason she couldn’t control the servants was all thanks to him and his father, yet he had the gall to criticize her here.

But Su Mu couldn’t be bothered to argue with him now.

She closed the door and bolted it from the inside, blocking Xiao Ping out.

“What are you trying to do?” Yan Jiyue immediately stood up, looking at her nervously.

Xiao Ping also noticed something was off at this time and anxiously pounded on the door, calling out loudly: “Young master, young master! Madam, please open the door.”
Yan Jiyue watched her vigilantly, the usually arrogant and aloof him now slightly retreating.

It was as if Su Mu was some lecherous old pervert with ill intentions.

Su Mu was in a playful mood and deliberately smiled: “My little young master, we are husband and wife after all. What do you think I want to do?”
“You- Shameless!” Yan Jiyue pressed against the wall, tightly gripping his collar.

Su Mu laughed lightly. Who was more shameless between her and this father-son pair?

As the playfulness faded, the smile on Su Mu’s face also disappeared. She directly took out the divorce papers she had prepared long ago and slapped them onto his face.

“This is what the young master has always wanted.”

Yan Jiyue opened the envelope in confusion and glanced at it casually. Then his eyes widened slightly as he looked at Su Mu in disbelief.

Su Mu leaned against the desk, the corners of her lips curled in a faint smile. The moonlight through the window illuminated her cascading hair.

“You…you’re serious?” Yan Jiyue tightly gripped the thin piece of paper, his force so agitated it seemed he would crush it.

“Of course.” Su Mu nodded and tidied her hair that had been blown messy by the wind. “The freedom you’ve always wanted, I’m returning it to you.”
“Good.” Yan Jiyue had almost no hesitation, afraid that Su Mu would regret it once she came to her senses, and immediately said: “Where’s the red clay?”
“No need for red clay.” Su Mu’s room didn’t have such a thing. Even the pens and ink in this room were bought by herself.

“Then what do we use?” Yan Jiyue asked.

“Use this.” Su Mu bit her finger, took the divorce papers, and pressed her bloody handprint on her name.

Yan Jiyue was a bit shocked. He didn’t expect Su Mu would really be willing to divorce him, and in such a resolute way.

Wasn’t it her who took advantage of the situation back then and proactively asked to marry into the Yan family?

Now that she had obtained the position and wealth she wanted and was living the privileged life of a madam, besides not being able to get him, what else did she have to be dissatisfied about? Why would she take the initiative to propose a divorce?

Or was it that after marrying in, she discovered that the life of a live-in husband was not as glorious as she had imagined, so she decided to quit while ahead?

“It’s your turn.” Before Yan Jiyue could ponder carefully, Su Mu interrupted his thoughts and urged.

Clearly, he was the one suffering in this marriage, so what was she so eager for?

Yan Jiyue suddenly felt irritated.

She was a woman after all. After the divorce, she could still marry another man, while he would become a divorcee, which would be pointed at by thousands and bear a bad reputation.

But even so, he still wanted a divorce. He hated Su Mu, hated this disgusting woman.

Yan Jiyue wrote his name on the divorce papers, then decisively bit his finger and pressed down.

“From now on, we no longer have any relationship.” Yan Jiyue ruthlessly dropped a sentence.

“Wait!”

“What else do you want? Want to go back on it?” Yan Jiyue properly put away the divorce papers into his bosom, even afraid that she would regret it, he took two steps back. “The divorce papers are already signed, you can’t go back on it.”
Su Mu was amused by his appearance. “I won’t go back on it, but I think there should be two copies of the divorce papers. It’s good for both parties this way.”
Since she wasn’t going back on it, Yan Jiyue gradually relaxed. “Then write another copy.”
Su Mu nodded and picked up the brush to start writing. The room suddenly quieted down.

The orange firelight dancing on the desk illuminated her side profile, a glimmer in her eyes.

Yan Jiyue suddenly realized that Su Mu could actually write, and write well too. Her strokes were soft yet resilient, with the momentum of a swimming dragon.

“You can write?” He couldn’t help but ask.

“Mm.” Su Mu answered softly.

This was actually the first time the two spoke so calmly to each other. Who would have thought it would be when they were divorcing.

“Didn’t you not know how to before?” He asked again.

Perhaps Su Mu didn’t know, but Yan Jiyue had seen her before. At that time, she was in the outer residence while he was in the inner residence. He had seen her from afar once and heard the servants gossip about her background, saying that she could recognize a few words but couldn’t write, wasting such a pretty face.

Later, he naturally assumed that she was an uncultured person who couldn’t write.

“I didn’t know how to before. Later when I became a servant in the Yan household, I would practice whenever I had free time.” Su Mu said indifferently.

When she first transmigrated and was in an unfamiliar place, she was terrified to the bone. After realizing she couldn’t go back, she began to learn desperately, just to seek a way to establish herself.

The writing in the female-dominant world was similar to traditional characters. She could read but not write. So every day after finishing work, she would practice late into the night. At that time, she couldn’t even afford paper and brush, so she would use a wooden stick to write on the ground. Slowly, she learned how to write.

Yan Jiyue suddenly discovered that the Su Mu in front of him was very different from what he had imagined.

“Don’t be prejudiced against Su Mu.” His father’s words suddenly came to his mind.

Yan Jiyue’s thoughts became a bit chaotic. He stood up and for the first time, took a good look at Su Mu’s room.

Clean, tidy, simple, and with very few things. It didn’t look like she had lived here for half a month at all, more like a traveler. Even her clothes were pitifully few.

Didn’t she scheme to get into the Yan family? Why was she living worse than a servant after entering the Yan family?

The only decoration in the room was a branch of pink and white peony in the vase on her desk. There was still a drop of water condensed on the petals, looking like it had been carefully watered by her.

The candlelight shone on the tender petals of the peony, immersing Su Mu’s lowered side profile. The exposed fair wrist as she held the brush had an icy jade-like grace.

Objectively speaking, Su Mu was beautiful. Using the word ‘beautiful’ to describe a woman was a bit presumptuous, but it was very fitting for Su Mu.

Her features were even more gentle and refined than a man’s, but her eyes occasionally revealed a sense of aloofness and cold desire. Even wearing red, she seemed as cold as snow. If examined carefully, even Miss Shen would pale in comparison to her by thirty percent.

It was a pity that such a person had improper thoughts. Her background was not as good as Miss Shen’s, her talent was also not as good as Miss Shen’s. Yet she didn’t know to establish herself with her own ability, only thinking of crooked ways to climb branches. She didn’t even want a woman’s dignity, becoming a live-in wife.

“Done writing.” Su Mu put down the brush, pressed her handprint on the divorce papers, then handed it to Yan Jiyue.

“Young master?” Seeing Yan Jiyue had no reaction, Su Mu called out again. Only then was Yan Jiyue’s train of thought pulled back.

He looked at the words on the divorce paper – Since our hearts differ, it’s hard to return to one mind…Parting ways is for the best, each finding our own happiness.

They indeed had differing hearts, hard to be of one mind.

“Young master, press your handprint.” Su Mu urged in a low voice.

Yan Jiyue looked at the bloody finger. A hard to bear agitation suddenly welled up in his heart for no reason. That feeling came inexplicably. He couldn’t even think of any reason.

They were finally divorced. Shouldn’t he be happy? Why was he hesitating to press down?