Chapter 8: Rivals Meet

“Young Master, we’ve arrived.” The coachman’s voice came. Yan Jiyue’s already tense heart nearly jumped out of his throat.

He suddenly felt an inexplicable panic, hurriedly tidying his clothes and hair, wondering if his appearance was haggard, if his clothes were wrinkled. He wanted to appear before Su Mu in the most perfect state, to completely sever their imperfect past life and start a new life from now on.

Finally, after making himself presentable, Yan Jiyue got off the carriage and knocked on the door, both impatient and anxious.

He had imagined countless times how Su Mu would open the door for him, perhaps coldly, perhaps hostilely, or perhaps with a little joy. But he had never thought that when the door opened, it would be a man.

Moreover, it was the man he hated to the bone in his previous life, the one he wished he could flay and pull the tendons from – Xie Yi.

All of Yan Jiyue’s joy and elation, his boiling hot blood, instantly froze into ice.

“Why are you here?” He stepped through the door, his voice gloomy, his hands tightly clenched into fists, his eyes like sharpened icicles splitting onto Xie Yi.

“Who are you?” Xie Yi took a step back.

He could feel the man’s dense hostility towards him. He had felt this kind of hostility from Scholar Li’s husband, wishing to put him to death.

“It doesn’t matter who I am. I’m asking you, answer me.” He grabbed Xie Yi’s neck, his eyes bloodshot. As soon as he saw Xie Yi, thinking of all the things he did to drive a wedge between them in his previous life, Yan Jiyue instantly flew into an uncontrollable rage.

“You-” Xie Yi was startled by the murderous aura emanating from him, almost unable to speak.

Catching a glimpse of a figure coming out of the room, Xie Yi’s knees went soft and he collapsed.

“Yan Jiyue!” As soon as Su Mu came out, she saw Yan Jiyue strangling Xie Yi’s neck.

Hearing Su Mu’s voice, Yan Jiyue let go as if waking from a dream.

“…Su Mu.”

Seeing the familiar person appear before him again, as young and tender as ten years ago, tears of excitement welled up in his eyes. Disregarding the boredom in Su Mu’s eyes, he hugged her. “I missed you so much.”

Su Mu was stunned for a moment.

Ten years ago, Yan Jiyue hated her to the bone. How could he possibly hug her and cry out his heart to her after their divorce?

There was only one explanation.

He was reborn.

Su Mu sneered inwardly. So what if he was reborn? She had no intention of renewing their ill-fated relationship. To her, it was a bitter fate. When it should be severed, it must be severed. If she hesitated for even a second, she would be letting herself down.

Su Mu lowered her eyes and coldly pushed him away. “Young Master Yan, please restrain yourself. We are already divorced.”

Yan Jiyue’s expression shook violently. “Divorced? Impossible. How could I possibly divorce you? Su Mu, you’re lying to me, right?”

He and Su Mu had clearly been husband and wife for ten years. Now that he was finally reborn, how could they be divorced? Yan Jiyue felt like his head was about to explode from the memories constantly flooding in.

“The divorce papers clearly state it. Young Master Yan, even if you want to go back on your word, you can’t.” Su Mu chuckled lightly and helped Xie Yi up from the ground.

Facing Xie Yi, Su Mu’s tone changed from the previous coldness to incomparable gentleness. “Are you alright?”

Xie Yi shook his head, nearly half of his body leaning against Su Mu.

Yan Jiyue suddenly looked up, his gaze colliding with Xie Yi’s eyes. Instantly, he seemed to understand everything. “It’s because of him, right?” He said hatefully, his silver teeth nearly shattering. “It’s because of this vile person that you abandoned me.”

Abandoned? Yan Jiyue sure knew how to play the victim.

Su Mu didn’t want to argue with him any further. She said to the coachman who was watching the commotion outside, “Hurry and drag your Young Master back.”

The coachman nodded and stepped forward to persuade, “Young Master, let’s go back first.”

“Get lost! What are you to dare touch me.” Yan Jiyue waved the coachman away and charged straight towards Su Mu’s embrace.

Su Mu hurriedly protected Xie Yi in her arms and angrily scolded, “Yan Jiyue, are you crazy!”

Yan Jiyue’s eyes were bloodshot, his expression almost manic. Regardless of how Su Mu pulled and tugged, his hands were tightly strangling Xie Yi’s neck. There seemed to be tears in his eyes as he roared in a breakdown, “Why! Out of so many women, you just had to snatch my wife!”

Yan Jiyue shouted in a crazed breakdown, the strength in his hands such that even Su Mu couldn’t pull him away. But the more he was like this, the more Xie Yi fearfully hid in her embrace. Yan Jiyue’s nails scratched his face, drawing blood.

“What are you still standing there for? Hurry and come help.” Su Mu anxiously shouted at the coachman.

The coachman was also frightened by Yan Jiyue’s ruffian-like behavior. Goodness, she used to mock Su Mu for being a live-in son-in-law and living off her wife. Now it seemed that where was she living off her wife? With a husband this bad-tempered, even if given for free, she wouldn’t marry him.

Just as they were finally about to pull Yan Jiyue away, Yan Zhujun finally arrived in a hurry. Seeing the two women tugging at Yan Jiyue, he shouted loudly, “What are you doing!”

The coachman instantly retracted her hands and explained to Yan Zhujun, “Patriarch, the Young Master, the Young Master has gone crazy. He wants to strangle that man to death.”

Even Yan Zhujun was bewildered by the chaotic scene before him, especially seeing Yan Jiyue’s extremely vicious gaze fixed on Xie Yi in Su Mu’s embrace, like a ghost crawling out from the underworld. Yan Zhujun himself was startled. “Jiyue, what are you doing?”

Su Mu finally pulled off Yan Jiyue’s hands and threw him to the ground, but his nails slashed across the back of her hand like a knife, instantly staining it bright red.

“Su Mu.” Yan Jiyue’s expression tightened. Disregarding his own mud-covered state, disregarding how humble he looked kneeling on the ground at this moment, right now his eyes only saw Su Mu. He held her hand and anxiously explained, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

Su Mu withdrew her hand with a cold expression and said to Yan Zhujun, “Patriarch, please take the Young Master back. He is not welcome here.”

“Su Mu…” Yan Jiyue gripped the hem of her clothes with his mud-stained hands, looking up at her in supplication.

When had the always high and mighty, arrogant and conceited Young Master Yan ever been in such a humble state?

“Yan Jiyue.” Su Mu coldly averted her eyes. “We are already divorced. Don’t force me to detest you.” With that, she took Xie Yi back into the room and shut the door tight, clearly sending away the guests.

Yan Jiyue was left kneeling in place, looking down at his rejected hands.

“Useless thing. If I had known this day would come, why did you agree to divorce her in the first place?” Yan Zhujun violently beat him a couple of times with his cane.

Yan Jiyue numbly endured it, his eyes vacant.

“Alright, Patriarch, don’t scold him anymore. This is not the Yan residence. There are many neighbors around. If we keep making a scene like this, we’ll definitely attract people.” Ling Hua said.

“Then hurry and drag him back.” Yan Zhujun said, feeling his iron wasn’t turned into steel.

But Yan Jiyue refused to leave no matter what. It took several people’s combined effort to drag him back.

Seeing the courtyard finally empty, Su Mu also let out a sigh of relief.

“Does it still hurt?” Su Mu applied medicine to his face.

Xie Yi sensibly shook his head, feeling the cool medicine on his face slowly heating up. His hands were nervously clenched into fists inside his sleeves. If it weren’t for Su Mu’s eyes being too pure, he would have thought she was taking advantage of him.

Who would touch a man’s face right from the start? But Su Mu’s earnest gaze suddenly made him feel that he was the vulgar one for having such thoughts.

Her gaze was gentle and focused, like a craftsman diligently repairing porcelain. Aside from the wound, her line of sight never deviated for a moment, and her hands moved in a well-behaved manner without the slightest overstepping.

Xie Yi raised his head, feeling the temperature of her fingers constantly gently spreading on his face. Because they were close, he seemed to be able to see the crescent moon lake he yearned for day and night through her eyes. Her slightly trembling lashes were like the ripples of the crescent moon lake stirred by the wind, silently blowing into his heart.

He suddenly no longer rejected Su Mu’s touch and even vaguely enjoyed it a little.

“Although the scar is on the face, fortunately the wound is shallow. It shouldn’t leave a scar.” Su Mu comforted, feeling a bit guilty in her heart.

When it came down to it, she had implicated Xie Yi. She had originally wanted him to live a good life. She never thought Yan Jiyue would also be reborn.

“Su Mu… Sister.” Xie Yi raised his eyes, his gaze shy.

“What did you call me?”

“Sister Mu.” Xie Yi said softly, his deep green eyes slightly flickering. “They all call you Big Sister. Su Mu is older than me, so can I call you Sister?” Xie Yi said haltingly.

Hearing this familiar form of address, Su Mu’s eyes were infinitely gentle. “Alright.” In her previous life, Xie Yi had also taken the initiative to call her this. He called her Sister Mu gently time and time again. He was already a year younger than her to begin with, and his personality was also considerate in taking care of her. Gradually, she also cherished him like a younger brother from another life.

Hearing her agree, Xie Yi pursed his lips and chuckled softly, his dense lashes covering his green eyes that rippled like a green lake.

“That man?” Xie Yi asked.

“He is my husband, but we are already divorced.” Su Mu said while applying the medicine.

“Divorced?” Xie Yi didn’t quite understand the meaning of this word.

“It means we were husband and wife before, but now we are not husband and wife.” As she spoke, Su Mu made a gesture of splitting apart.

Xie Yi understood. “But why did you divorce?”

Su Mu’s hand movements paused slightly. Xie Yi, who had already become accustomed to Su Mu’s touch, suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable.

His gaze had been following her fingers, watching the remaining bit of creamy ointment on her lowered fingertips that hadn’t spread out yet. He suddenly really wanted to go over and pull her hand back.

“There are some things that can’t be explained clearly to you right now.” Su Mu said, not noticing the oddity in Xie Yi’s gaze.

But Xie Yi didn’t care. It was good that they were divorced.

Su Mu’s husband was too overbearing, too domineering. Su Mu was too good and too gentle. That man was simply not worthy of her.

Don’t the women of the Great Desert always say that the men of Jiangnan have gentle tongues and depend on women like little birds? How come the men he encountered were one more shrewish than the other, with methods even more vicious than the most uncouth men of the Great Desert?

If Su Mu had been born in the Great Desert, the men of the entire Great Desert would probably have gone crazy. Let alone shouting at Su Mu, they would probably fight to do even tasks like herding cattle and sheep.

Yet Su Mu’s husband didn’t know his blessings while living in them. It was one thing to be vicious, but he was also stupid in his viciousness.

Did that scoundrel think strangling him to death would make Su Mu have a change of heart? What a joke.

The more vicious the scoundrel’s methods were, the more distressed Su Mu would be for him.

Xie Yi touched the light injury on his face, the corner of his mouth lifting in an imperceptible arc.