Chapter 5: Stop making a fuss about such trivial matters

Lu Zhenzhu looked at Gu Huai and felt that the person in front of her was extremely unfamiliar.

She bent down to pick up the picture frame, and the broken glass cut her palm, and blood dripped onto the ground, but she was completely unaware.

"Gu Huai, let's get a divorce."

She raised her head, her eyes cold and resolute, "Go now."

His eyes flickered with hesitation, but when he saw Jiang Sesu, he immediately returned to his cold face: "Don't lose your temper here, go home and make trouble."

The light made his pupils darken. "If you want this painting, I'll have someone paint ten more. I told you not to get angry over such trivial matters. Sese didn't mean it, ok?"

The "hmm" sounded coaxing in the usual way, but Lu Zhenzhu only felt disgusted.

"Gu Huai," she looked at him and suddenly laughed, her shoulders shaking with laughter, "you are so disgusting."

Lu Zhenzhu didn't wait for Gu Huai's reaction before shaking off his hand and turning away.

Behind her, Jiang Sesu's laughter and the guests' discussions were intertwined, like an invisible net, trapping her in this endless pain.

As she walked out of the venue, the cold night wind blew and Lu Zhenzhu shivered.

She looked at the brightly lit venue, tears streaming down her cheeks.

She walked for a long, long time, so long that she didn't even know how far she had walked.

She only knew that she couldn't look back. Even if she did, Gu Huai would no longer be behind her...

Once upon a time, she thought that love could conquer everything and that she could occupy a place in Gu Huai's heart, but now, everything was shattered like a bubble.

The destroyed painting, like her shattered love and dreams, could never be put back together again.

It was already midnight when Lu Zhenzhu walked back from the dinner.

The moment the door opened, she saw Gu Huai shirtless, with water droplets hanging on his firm muscles.

"Why did Sister Zhenzhu come back just now?" Jiang Sese smiled sweetly and poked her head out from behind her, still wearing pajamas that revealed Zhenzhu.

She reached out and put on a bathrobe for Gu Huai: "Sister Zhen, don't get me wrong, we just finished swimming.

Gu Huai raised his eyes and saw her embarrassed appearance, his brows slightly frowned, but when Jiang Sese grabbed him, he resumed his nonchalant eyebrow raising: "You are soaked and don't know how to hide from the rain, and you have to ask me to pick you up in person?"

She dodged his outstretched hand, her voice as cold as ice: "Miss Jiang, please be more careful in public. It would be bad if outsiders misunderstood you as a mistress who was destroying someone's family."

Hearing this, Gu Huai's eyes turned cold instantly, but Jiang Sesu suddenly sobbed and threw herself into his arms: "I'm sorry, I was careless... Sister Zhenzhu, don't be angry, I'll move out now..."

"What are you moving?" Gu Huai put his arm around Jiang Sesu's waist, stroking the butterfly bone at the back of her neck with his fingertips. "This is my home. Who else can tell me what to do?"

He turned to look at Lu Zhenzhu, "But you, you're all wet like this, what a sight."

Lu Zhenzhu stared at the ring on his finger - it was the wedding anniversary gift she gave him, but now it was shining with a cold light.

"Gu Huai," she said softly, "I'm serious with you. Let's get a divorce. I've already signed the divorce agreement and will go through the formalities tomorrow."

He pushed Jiang Sesur away suddenly, approached her a few steps, pinched her chin with his fingertips and forced her to look up: "Say it again? Have you forgotten that you swore to grow old with me?"

She took out the divorce agreement, the paper wrinkled in the moisture: "Sign it, and don't let me look down on you again."

Gu Huai stared at Lu Zhenzhu, his voice filled with suppressed anger.

Gu Huai suddenly reached out and hugged Lu Zhenzhu, his strength so strong that it seemed as if he wanted to rub her into his bones: "No divorce, do you hear me? You are my wife, for life."

His chin rested on the top of her head. "You think you can leave me like this?"

Lu Zhenzhu wanted to push him away, but she smelled the scent of cherry blossoms mixed with his body - that was the smell of Jiang Sesur's shower gel.

"Let me go." She gritted her teeth and said, "Do you think you can keep me like this?"

"Keep you?" He suddenly chuckled, and opened her wet collar with his fingertips. "I'm reminding you that we are husband and wife."

That night, Gu Huai left Jiang Sese for the first time and took Lu Zhenzhu to a villa in the suburbs.

He lowered his head and bit her lips with a punishing force, but when she struggled, he suddenly softened his movements: "Stop it, huh? My birthday is coming soon... Have you forgotten that you said you would spend every birthday with me? Lu Zhenzhu, don't think about going back on your word, I remember everything..."

When Gu Huai's kiss fell, it was filled with the murderous energy of a rainstorm.

He pinched Lu Zhenzhu's neck and pressed her against the entrance cabinet. The perfume mixed with the coolness of rain poured into her nostrils, but the tip of his tongue seemed to be burning, and when he rolled over her bitten lips, it was with punitive force.

She was shivering, and she couldn't tell if it was from the cold or from him.

But at this moment, he sighed, pulled the quilt to wrap her up, and gently combed her wet hair with his fingertips: "Stop making trouble, okay? Let her move out tomorrow. From now on, it's just the two of us, okay?"

His voice was as low as if coaxing a child. "From now on, I will come home every day to have dinner with you, look at the iris picture album with you... and never let you cry again."

She was stunned and looked up at him, but she met the seriousness in his eyes - it was a look she had never seen before, as if all disguises had been stripped away, leaving only undisguised tenderness.

"Really?" Lu Zhenzhu heard her voice trembling.

"Really." He bent down and kissed her forehead. "From now on, I will go home every day to have dinner with you and look at the iris picture album with you..." His fingertips brushed across the wound on her palm. "I will never let you cry again."

Three days later, Jiang Sesu's things were emptied.

Gu Huai did as he said, turning down all social engagements and returning home on time.

In a trance, Lu Zhenzhu had the illusion that they had returned to the past.

Until she accidentally saw the chat history on his phone late that night - no wonder Jiang Sesur moved out, it turned out that he bought her another house to live in, what a great place to hide a beautiful girl.

Lu Zhenzhu was not surprised at this result at all, because she had never believed in Gu Huai in her heart.

But when the moment really came, her heart was like a punctured balloon, deflated.

But fortunately, she will be able to leave Gu Huai soon and run towards the world of freedom...

Because Lu Zhenzhu finally received the message from the curator - they agreed to continue to host her exhibition, and this new exhibition is to announce to the art world: she, Lu Zhenzhu, is back.

On the opening day of the new exhibition, Lu Zhenzhu stood in front of the gallery wall, staring at her new work "Breaking the Cocoon".

The jacaranda on the canvas was split in two by the rainstorm, revealing the golden chrysalis deep inside - that was her painstaking work.

"Ms. Lu, this painting has a wonderful artistic conception," curator Chen exclaimed. "The jury said it has the legacy of your mother, Teacher Lu Qin."

Lu Zhenzhu's fingertips slid across the canvas, and she remembered the sketchbook her mother had given her before she died, which contained the unfinished draft of "Nirvana".

"She always said that one should paint from the heart." She said softly, but at this moment, the news that popped up on her phone made her pupils shrink suddenly.

The entry #Young painter Jiang Sese plagiarized# ranked first in the hot search, with a picture comparing her "Breaking the Cocoon" and Jiang Sese's "Rebirth" - the composition, color, and even the brushstrokes are exactly the same.

Lu Zhenzhu clenched her phone and saw the overwhelming curses in the comment section such as "plagiarist" and "get out of academia".

Jiang Sesu's studio account posted a statement: "Thanks to the Gu Group for its sponsorship. The inspiration for the painting comes from the company of my lover."