Chapter 13, Section 13: She said, "Let's get a divorce."
Tan Junming was genuinely surprised. She paused for a moment, then said, "You're still angry about this? We've been married for years, everything should be in the past..."
"No." This time, Gu Lai interrupted directly.
Gu Lai picked up a tissue from the table and folded it to wipe the coffee stains from the corner of her mouth that Tan Junming couldn't see. Her movements were calm and gentle, as if what she had just seen had no effect on her at all, like a drop of ink flowing into a vast, silent ocean.
"Do you think she doesn't know?" Gu Lai said. "She already knows what she needs to know, there's no need for her to."
Tan Junming was speechless for a moment.
Gu Lai laughed instead, patting Tan Junming's hand: "What are you staring at, President Tan?"
"I'm still calling myself 'President Tan'? These days everyone's called 'President'." Tan Junming gave a wry smile. "You want to avoid involving Feng Lu, right?"
Gu Lai looked at her with a smile, her expression carrying a hint of teasing that she knew Tan Junming was aware of but avoided discussing.
“If it affects Feng Lu, or rather, her, then we’ll talk about that later,” Gu Lai said. “What you said before is all correct, and I agree. How to handle it is something you two need to discuss, but there’s no need to involve her. Do you have any good solutions?”
Tan Junming looked down at his tablet, deep in thought. Gu Lai poured her another cup of coffee, prompting Tan Junming to look up: "Thank you."
Gu Lai shook her head slightly: "It's okay, there's no need to rush."
Tan Junming typed on the tablet: "That won't do. Public opinion can melt metal and accumulated slander can destroy a person."
“It’s very likely that nothing will change,” Gu Lai said. “When the time comes, we’ll just spend some money to have it recorded in history, and it will still be pristine and peaceful.”
Tan Junming laughed and pushed the tablet away: "It's rare to see you speak like President Jiang."
"What?"
"He is very harsh in his speech."
Gu Lai didn't reply.
Her words and actions conveyed her rejection of any topic related to Jiang Yi.
The tablet displayed the new public relations plan. Gu Lai listened as Tan Junming explained, "...Then comes the separation. We can't let them really tie themselves to us, leaving the public with the impression that birds of a feather flock together. Didn't they claim they were going to sue the big V marketing accounts that exposed the ghost field? We support suing them. If they do, we'll help them apply for an audit. How much was the marketing cost, how much did the advertorials cost, what was the bet? Let's disclose all of that together."
“After the announcement, it will be our turn. We don’t know anything, we just want to cooperate with Director Mu. We have money, legal services, and resources. They are desperate and backed by real estate and finance. Director He, who represents internet finance, will be very happy to cooperate with us.” Tan Junming’s tone was gentle. “However, if we choose to offend them, we will offend them to death. Their boss will at least be on the Interpol Red Notice.”
Gu Lai asked, "Where is the pastor?"
Tan Junming spread her hands, seemingly helpless: "Director Mu didn't choose us, nor did he inform us." She paused and smiled, "But if it's a pity to waste his talent, we might be able to get him a hand later, and that would be another good story."
"A tale of defying the Heavenly Generals? Forget it." Gu Lai paused for a moment. "Besides, I'm not pity for him; I'm not qualified to pity him."
Tan Junming frowned, but before he could say anything, Gu Lai interrupted him with her words: "How could I not know anything, how could I have money, legal services, resources, how could I have... even you all? It's not because of me."
Her words ended abruptly there.
Tan Junming looked at Gu Lai and remained silent for a moment: "Why would you think that?"
Gu Lai didn't speak, but pointed to the tablet and told her to continue.
Tan Junming didn't mention anything about Feng Lu or Jiang Yi again until Gu Lai saw her off as she left. Tan Junming turned back to look at Gu Lai leaning against the door and said, "The New Year is coming soon. Have a good New Year. Maybe she misses you a lot."
Gu Lai didn't reply. She waited until Tan Junming left before she finally sat down on the wool carpet, exhausted.
From the day Jiang Yi left and she moved to Huating No. 1, she and Jiang Yi never made a single phone call or sent a single text message.
Maybe she misses you a lot.
Maybe.
All of Jiang Yi's social media posts are work-related, and they are ordinary, low-key, and infrequent, suggesting that she is a secretary or assistant.
Even with her name frequently trending on social media these past two days, she remains remarkably quiet. The latest online news involves several fashion and finance bloggers who revealed that Fenglu secretly acquired shares in a luxury hotel chain a month ago through a cash-settled equity swap. The accompanying image shows Fenglu executives chatting and laughing with members of the hotel's family.
Gu Lai was certainly paying attention, and Ge Li would forward her the schedule every day and chat with her occasionally. She knew Jiang Yi was also in that photo; the reflection of a blurry figure was in the raised wine glass.
Gu Lai used the image enhancement techniques she had learned from her own fan site admin to enlarge and clarify the image, and saw Jiang Yi wearing an open suit jacket, her long, black curly hair extending all the way to her exposed collarbone.
She spent an entire afternoon doing this, staring at the still blurry image despite her best efforts. As she moved her stiff neck, she suddenly wondered what the difference was between her and her obsessive fans.
When we only look at the images, everything is beautiful to us, because all we see are Nuwa's creations and the vibrant beauty of the human body.
Fans might perceive the person behind the images as noble, beautiful, and fragile, just as they imagine. But upon learning the truth, she wouldn't; she would only run away.
The less we contact each other, the less we dare to contact each other.
It's been over a week now, and Gu Lai can no longer tell whether she's gambling on a final retreat or if Jiang Yi is genuinely too busy to handle the situation.
She always thought she was the former, and Jiang Yi was the latter, as was the natural choice.
How could Jiang Yi possibly be acting out of spite?
She's so rational; she's the kind of person who would naturally come to your door after an argument and ask you to come home. She's also the kind of person who would write a document outlining the causes, consequences, main conflicts, and secondary conflicts of the argument. And now it's the end of the year, with Feng Lu having all sorts of acquisition plans, so of course she'll be very busy.
Gu Lai had always thought this way, and this was the only way she dared to think.
Gu Lai kept thinking about what Tan Junming had said, and began to wonder if they had been in contact behind her back—very likely, they should have been in contact more as the year drew to a close.
Jiang Yi wouldn't say anything to outsiders, so what did Tan Junming see? Would she let others see anything? So this is what she wanted Tan Junming to see?
Or rather... what you want to know?
Gu Lai suddenly realized what she was doing and was amused by her own elaborate scheme. After laughing, she couldn't escape the scenes from her memories.
For a moment, she was even uncontrollably angry and resentful that Tan Junming was forcing her to recall these things she had been avoiding all week.
It was as if Jiang Yi was speaking right next to her ear; the voices of the past seemed to flood back from time, exploding in her mind.
"If things don't go well, tell Ge Li, A Lai."
"Wasn't it you who had a long face and refused to answer the phone before leaving?"
"...I think we are different."
...
"You said something right, and I'll remember it: 'When did our relationship become reduced to nothing more than polite, perfunctory questions and answers?'"
Gu Lai sat there for a long time before getting up, moving to the sofa, and taking out her phone.
She opened the chat window that had been silent for a long time. Gu Lai first typed "What are you doing?" and deleted it; then she typed "Where are you?" and deleted it; then she typed "Have you eaten?" and deleted it.
Finally, she opened the emoji section, but couldn't find a suitable one after searching around. Then, her eyes lit up, and the status at the top suddenly changed to "The other party is typing."
Gu Lai immediately closed the emoji interface and waited quietly, watching as the other side changed from "typing" to "AAA Jiang Yi".
Gu Lai: ...
I swear this is the last time, Gu Lai thought. I swear this is the last time I'll obediently look for you after you leave, without throwing a tantrum, making a scene, or causing any trouble, letting you act as if nothing happened.
Gu Lai: [Is it convenient for you to take this call?]
A few breaths later, the phone started vibrating.
Gu Lai pressed the answer button, turned on the speakerphone, paused for a moment, then turned it off and put it to her ear.
No one spoke, as if they didn't know how to start. After a while, someone seemed to speak from Jiang Yi's side; the voice came through—it was the voice of an unfamiliar woman.
Jiang Yi spoke, but only to the person next to her: "Wait a moment."
Gu Lai finally knew what to say, and she casually asked a pointless question: "Are you very busy?"
Jiang Yi's voice was devoid of emotion: "It's nothing, go ahead."
Gu Lai got stuck again.
She didn't know what to say, and she was even a little afraid to say anything.
Gu Lai remained strangely silent, unsure of what she was waiting for. After an indeterminate period of silence, Jiang Yi asked again, "Is it about the recent box office and public opinion?"
Gu Lai pursed her lips and heard her own breathing transmitted through the microphone.
“If you care about this, I’ll keep an eye on it and deal with it later. It won’t have any impact. If you don’t care too much, just leave it for now and let Manager Tan from the studio handle it,” Jiang Yi said. “I’ve been quite busy lately, so I haven’t had time to think about things that are uncertain.”
Gu Lai gripped her phone, her gaze fixed on the television screen in front of her.
She repeated the same question, this time with a different answer: "Are you that busy?"
After a pause, Jiang Yi's tone remained unchanged. Her voice was still inscrutable, somewhat detached, just as she always did: "How do you want me to answer?"
Gu Lai chuckled, somewhat surprised that she found it absurdly funny. She said, "Aren't you even going to try to comfort me?"
“Last time you asked me why I wanted to expose it, I forgot to answer,” Jiang Yi said. “I can’t ignore the elephant in the room.”
Gu Lai asked, "So what is an 'elephant'?"
Jiang Yi remained silent for only a moment: "Yes..."
"never mind."
"What?"
"I said forget it," Gu Lai repeated her abrupt interruption, "Just pretend I didn't ask."
Jiang Yi had told Gu Lai "whatever you want" countless times, but this time she refused to give up and asked, "When are you going to avoid talking about this?"
Here we go again. Gu Lai was almost suffocated by her question: "Does it matter?"
"I told you I can't turn a blind eye."
"So that's why you haven't been in contact with them?"
"yes."
“I’m in my thirties now,” Gu Lai said. “I thought I wouldn’t need to understand everything like I did when I was in my teens or twenties.”
Only after she said those words did she belatedly feel her heart pounding. If someone had told Gu Lai at that moment that herbivores sometimes experience a kind of premonition of palpitations, she would have believed it.
Jiang Yi on the other end of the call suddenly laughed, a very brief laugh, like a sigh that was abruptly swallowed.
“There are just some things that just won’t work,” she said, “because I know why it started.”
Gu Lai recalled Tan Junming's predicament regarding Fenglu PR, and then she remembered the previous times when the two of them had dealt with the scandals involving Fan Zi, Kong Kang'an, Camilla, or any other messy matters. She had passively waited for Jiang Yi or his people to handle all the troubles for her time and time again.
What she remembered last was the meticulously planned public event seven years ago, and the grand wedding.
Singing and dancing idols have difficulty transitioning to other roles, and the public disclosure of their sexual orientation limits their acting opportunities. Even the perceived denial and failure that outsiders see throughout their youth can be easily reversed.
She got married simply because she was in love.
In fact, the gap is inherent and pervasive, and only priceless emotions can bridge the insurmountable chasm defined by material possessions and worldly conventions.
Therefore, when it changes, even a gentle, subtle change can escalate into a sudden, violent storm.
Gu Lai said, "I understand."
That was the first sentence. After the second sentence, she remained silent for several minutes, which felt like an eternity. She didn't know why Jiang Yi didn't speak either. Perhaps she was mistaken; in reality, the silence was only a breath long.
She said, "Let's get a divorce."
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Thank you to Ye Luozhiqiu and Ji Yunjiu for the nutrient solution! [heart emoji]
Happy Lunar New Year's Eve! Wishing all my sweethearts a joyous and prosperous New Year! [cheering emoji]
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