Chapter 129 Let's Divorce
She rushed to the kitchen door and pushed open the half-open frosted glass door!
The scene before her made her freeze instantly, and all the anger in her heart was stuck in her throat!
The huge open kitchen was brightly lit, dazzlingly bright.
Zhao Chen stood with his back to the door, still wearing his silly cartoon Shiba Inu apron. His tall body was slightly hunched, and he was concentrating on standing in front of the shiny German Miller stove.
In the frying pan in front of him, a cheerful sizzling sound was heard. Expensive Iberian ham cubes danced in the clear olive oil, exuding a salty aroma.
Next to it, in an exquisite bone china plate, a few slices of top-quality black truffles, cut as thin as cicada wings and exuding a rich and domineering aroma, are waiting to be crowned.
On the other side of the stove...
shocking!
The entire wide countertop, the large area near the sink... was piled with... fried eggs!
Not a finished product.
It's... a failure!
A pile! A literal mountain of fried eggs in all shapes and sizes, either burnt or broken.
Some of the egg yolks had solidified into pale, hard lumps, the whites burnt to the color of coal; some had fallen apart completely, the whites and yolks clinging to the bottom of the pan; some were distorted and abstract, as if stepped on by an alien...
A rough count revealed at least twenty or thirty! Scattered nearby were seven or eight flattened, empty eggshells… top-grade sterile eggs!
In the corner of the kitchen counter, the hardcover copy of "The Art of Fried Eggs from Michelin Three-Star Chefs" was mercilessly thrown there, the cover stained with a few greasy spots, and the pages were roughly flipped and curled. At this moment, it was spread out pitifully, and the picture of the perfect fried egg printed on it formed a tragic and absurd contrast with the pile of charred and messy "corpses" on the counter!
Zhao Chen seemed completely oblivious to Yu Ling's intrusion. Using tweezers, he carefully and with a reverent devotion bordering on a pilgrimage, he placed a thin, priceless slice of black truffle firmly on top of the barely formed, runny fried egg in the pan, its edges adorned with a beautiful, golden lace.
The overbearing and unreasonable aroma of truffles, mixed with the burnt aroma of butter and ham, instantly exploded in the kitchen!
He stared intently at the fried egg crowned with black truffles. The look behind his gold-rimmed glasses revealed a desperate paranoia and expectation, as if it was not just an egg, but the hope for his entire fortune and life.
Then, he picked up a small silver spray bottle next to him—it wasn't filled with water, but top-grade aged Italian balsamic vinegar! He was extremely stingy, as if performing some sacred ritual, and sprayed it twice on the edge of the fried egg!
The slightly sour aroma of vinegar is instantly stimulated, and mixed with the unique aroma of truffles, the burnt aroma of butter, and the salty aroma of ham, forming a complex and top-notch aroma bomb that can overturn your head!
Yu Ling watched this scene, watched Zhao Chen's expression of divine concentration, watched the horrible pile of "failed products" on the table, and then looked at the fried egg in the pan, crowned with black truffles and baptized with black vinegar, as exquisite as a work of art...
A huge sense of absurdity, soaring rage, a deadly hunger, and a hint of sourness that she would never want to admit, damn it, because she was pierced by the extreme contrast and clumsy persistence in front of her... It was like an overturned bottle of five flavors, stirring wildly in her chest!
She could no longer hold back and rushed forward, her voice piercing with extreme anger and an inexplicable emotion:
"Zhao Chen!"
Zhao Chen's body suddenly stiffened! He turned around quickly as if he had been electrocuted! Behind his gold-rimmed glasses, his eyes were filled with panic and embarrassment at being caught off guard! In his hand, he still tightly grasped the spray bottle of black vinegar.
"Bankrupt?!" Yu Ling's fingertips trembled as she pointed first at the dazzlingly luxurious fried egg in the pan, then fiercely stabbed at the shocking "mountain of coke" on the countertop. Her voice trembled with excitement. "Deeply in debt?! Desperate?!"
Her fingertips almost poked Zhao Chen's nose: "Then explain it to me!"
Every word was like ice. "Where did you get these black truffles that are more valuable than gold?! Where did you get these top-quality sterilized eggs that you've ruined into charcoal?! You're up in the middle of the night, performing your Michelin bankruptcy performance art?!"
She took a step closer, her voice menacing, "Mr. Zhao, is your debt crisis also accompanied by a 'fried egg raw material futures margin call'?!"
Zhao Chen was forced to take a half step back by her rapid-fire questioning, and his back hit the cold edge of the stove with a "bang".
He looked at Yu Ling's face, which was flushed with anger, at the fire burning in her eyes and that almost invisible... light of water. His heart felt like it was being tightly grasped by an ice-cold hand, and the pain made him breathless.
He opened his mouth, his Adam's apple rolling with difficulty: "Lingling, I..."
"Shut up!" Yu Ling interrupted harshly, her gaze like an icicle, sweeping across the gleaming silver bottle of black vinegar in his hand, across the luxurious, eye-catching fried egg in the pan, and finally back to his face, which was filled with helplessness and pain. The corners of her lips curled up, forming a cold and cruel arc:
"Interest?"
"Added pounds?"
Her voice was cold and almost sentencing, each word was clear and unmistakable:
"I think even your 'Pancake Man' certification should be revoked on the spot!"
The three words "Pancake Man" were like the last straw that broke the camel's back, hitting Zhao Chen's nerves that were stretched to the limit!
He looked at the completely extinguished, icy light in Yu Ling's eyes, devoid of any trust. He looked at her body trembling slightly with anger and hunger. He looked at her standing before his carefully crafted "sweet trap," as if she were standing on trial...
All the explanations, all the hardships, all the meticulous planning, at this moment, seemed so pale and powerless, like a huge joke!
Huge despair and a cold feeling of being completely abandoned swallowed him up in an instant!
The heavy silver spray bottle in his hand fell with a loud clang, hit the mirror-like floor tiles, rolled a few times, and splashed out a few drops of dark brown, valuable aged vinegar.
He felt as if every bone in his body had been pulled out. His tall frame instantly hunched over. The last glimmer of light in his eyes behind his gold-rimmed glasses was completely extinguished, leaving only boundless, dead darkness. He stared at Yu Ling, his lips trembling violently, but in the end, he couldn't squeeze out a single word.
In the kitchen, deathly silence spread.
The overbearing aroma of top-quality truffles still permeates the air arrogantly, the slightly sour aroma of black vinegar wafts stubbornly, and the suffocating burnt smell emitted by the pile of charred failures also persists stubbornly.
Also, there was the completely collapsed, bottomless chasm of trust between the two of them.
Zhao Chen looked at Yu Ling's eyes, which were so cold that there was no trace of warmth. His heart seemed to have a big hole in it, and cold wind was rushing in.
His lips moved, but they were too dry to make any sound. Finally, he just lowered his head dejectedly and looked at the splashed dark brown expensive vinegar on the ground, like a prisoner waiting for the final verdict.
Yu Ling's eyes swept across his shoulders that collapsed instantly, across the expensive spray bottle that rolled to the ground, and finally fell back to the fried egg in the pan that was crowned with black truffles and shone with an attractive oily sheen under the light.
Another sharp pain in my stomach, accompanied by a louder gurgling sound, filled me with the cruelest irony of that extremely luxurious aroma.
"Heh," she uttered a short, cold laugh, breaking the suffocating silence. Her voice was as sharp as an icy shard. "Can't pretend anymore? Mr. Zhao's life, bankrupt as he is, is truly 'plain and unpretentious.'"
She took a step forward, her toes almost touching the silver watering can on the ground, and looked down at Zhao Chen's lowered head:
"What? You're speechless? Are you trying to figure out how to continue your story, or how to use this 'bankrupt omelet' in your pan to trick me again?"
Zhao Chen raised his head suddenly, his eyes behind the glasses red, filled with pain and an almost desperate urgency:
"Lingling! It's not what you think! I..." He wanted to explain, to tell her that this was all fake, a setup to catch Gu Qianqian! But as the words reached his lips, his mind blocked them tightly. No! Saying it now would ruin everything!
"Not what?" Yu Ling interrupted, her voice rising. "Not bankruptcy? Then tell me, what was that document this morning? Was it just waste paper? Not pretending to be poor? Then tell me, what were you spending the past six months cramming into the subway and counting supermarket sales? Experiencing life through performance art?!"
She grew increasingly angry as she spoke, her chest heaving violently as she pointed at the pile of coke on the counter. "And this! All this money you squandered! Tell me, how could someone truly bankrupt and deeply in debt have the nerve to squander like this?! How could they have the leisure to mess around with your Michelin in the middle of the night?!"
Zhao Chen was pinned to the spot by her questioning, unable to defend himself. He opened his mouth, like a fish out of water, trying in vain to open and close it, but no sound came out. He subconsciously wanted to get closer to her, but just as he took a step,
"Don't touch me!" Yu Ling took a step back as if she had been burned, her eyes filled with disgust and defensiveness. "Zhao Chen, I've had enough! I've had enough of your lies! I've had enough of your pretense!"
She took a deep breath, as if she had exhausted all her strength. Every word she spoke was as clear as ice, echoing clearly in the silent kitchen.
"Let's get a divorce."
The two words "divorce" were like two thunderbolts, striking Zhao Chen's head hard!
His tall body swayed, his face instantly turned as pale as paper, and the look behind his gold-rimmed glasses was completely shattered, leaving only a dead look.
He stared at Yu Ling intently, as if trying to find a hint of a joke on her face, but all he saw was cold determination.
"No..." He finally found his voice, hoarse and choked with sobs, "Lingling... I can't... I can't leave..."
He staggered forward, stretched out his hand, and begged humbly, "Please... give me a little more time... just a little bit... I..."
"Time?" Yu Ling looked at his slightly trembling hand that he extended and felt it was extremely ironic.
She stepped back again, putting some distance between them. Her cold eyes swept across his miserable, tormented face, then across the expensive fried egg in the pan, and finally landed on the lonely black vinegar spray bottle on the ground. She twitched the corners of her mouth, a smile uglier than crying.
"Zhao Chen, keep your time, as well as your so-called 'interest' and 'omelettes', to yourself."
"Lingling, wait a little longer, everything will be resolved," Zhao Chen pleaded.
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