The cold wind blew onto my body and penetrated deep into my bones. Today was the coldest day since she arrived in Paris. She held the hot coffee in her hands but still felt like her hands were about to freeze off.
She knew from the beginning that he would not win her back because he could not give her love and there was no way to win her back.
Last year, when she was on vacation in Melbourne, she wanted to airfreight the remaining roses away, but he hinted to her that the 520 roses were not his original intention.
In fact, he could have kept it from her and not told her the cruel truth. Besides, those roses were originally bought for her to decorate her living room, so there was no harm in making her happy. But because his feelings for her were not deep enough, he didn't want to be hypocritical, just like his father did not respond to his mother for so many years.
If you don’t love someone, sometimes you can’t even say one thing and mean another.
Just like his father, so is he.
When the reasons for the divorce were laid out on the table, she was the only one who was sad.
She was no longer curious about how much affection he had for her after being married for so long. Anyway, it was not deep, not enough to respond to the love she wanted, nor enough to save their marriage.
Because the fundamental problem cannot be solved after the reconciliation, in the end, the relationship is still a mess and one still has to face divorce.
Perhaps, divorce is also a relief for him, as he no longer has to deal with her various "finding faults".
As a couple, the only consolation for her was that they separated in a decent way. After all, it was she who wanted to get married. He asked her to think about it again and again before the marriage, and now it is she who wants a divorce.
Min Xi pointed upstairs and said, "It's cold outside, let's talk about it when we get home."
Fu Yanzhou had no plan to go up, Min Ting must be at home. He looked into her dim eyes. She said that she had been in pain before she knew about her parents-in-law's relationship status. She was also very concerned about when she started to suffer and how long she had been suffering.
The day before coming to Paris, she must have been very desperate when she asked him the truth with tears in her eyes in his office, asking him if he had forgotten to give her 520 roses and if he had forgotten to propose to her.
Because he did not forget what he promised her, but after a year, he still did not respond to her.
"Xixi, give this marriage a few more years, and things will be different."
Min Xi shook his head, not wavering in his decision: "We'll divorce when I return home. Don't wait for me, you won't be able to wait for me to come home." If they reconcile with each other after having a knot in their heart, she will become anxious and worried, and will become even worse. He will gradually get tired of coping and feel that she is unreasonable.
She was afraid that she would be like her mother, who failed to make a decision when she should have, and hesitated until she got deeper and deeper into the swamp. By the time she finally came to her senses and wanted to turn back, she was already stuck in the swamp and couldn't get out.
She doesn't want to delay any longer as she doesn't have any children and is not tied down. If they have a child, and he is as patient and responsible towards the family and the child as a father, she may be as hesitant as a mother and ultimately unwilling to divorce.
"If you don't want to go up, let's find a restaurant to eat. I'll treat you."
"No."
I don’t want to talk any more, because after we talk it all out, our fate will be over. What he wanted was to reconcile, and what she wanted was to separate as soon as possible.
Fu Yanzhou declined to have dinner with them, using the excuse that he had to rush to the airport.
He held her in his arms and said, "Let Min Ting carry the suitcase up. I'm going back."
Min Xi handed him the coffee in his hand: "I just bought it, I haven't drunk it yet, please."
Fu Yanzhou did not refuse and took the cup of hot coffee.
Only then did he notice that the diamond ring was no longer on her hand. She used to wear the ring when she slept. One time, he accidentally lost her ring in the corner of the bedroom. The scene of her looking for the ring everywhere is still in his mind.
Min Xi stood next to the suitcase and watched his car go away.
Fu Yanzhou asked the driver: "Has Xixi gone upstairs?"
The driver looked in the rearview mirror and could still see a blurry figure, "No, it's still on the side of the road."
Fu Yanzhou opened the car window, and the driver immediately understood and pulled the car over. Fu Yanzhou leaned out of the car window. He was too far away from her, so she might not be able to hear him clearly. He pointed upstairs, motioning her to go upstairs.
Min Xi held back her tears and made an OK gesture to him.
She stood there until the car turned the corner and disappeared.
Min Ting saw Fu Yanzhou and his sister standing downstairs for a long time from the upstairs balcony. He only went downstairs after the car drove away.
It wasn't until Min Ting stood next to her that Min Xi came back to her senses, "Brother, why did you come down?"
Min Ting answered irrelevantly and helped his sister push two suitcases, "Didn't you invite him to your home?"
"He's not going."
"All said and done?"
"Um."
Min Ting did not ask any more questions and just said to his sister, "If you decide to break up, just look forward. If you regret it after a few days of calming down, I will go find Fu Yanzhou for you."
It was just a matter of putting aside his pride in front of Fu Yanzhou, and he could let it go.
Min Xi shook his head: "No."
It is certain that she is sad after the divorce, but she will never look back.
Min Ting put two boxes in her room, told her that dinner would come in fifteen minutes, and helped her close the door.
The two boxes were the same size, both off-white. Min Xi randomly opened the one on the left, which was a box of winter clothes, neatly stacked in two pieces. There were also a few men's shirts in the interlayer, which he often wore. He brought one of each color for her to wear over her nightgown.
After a long pause, she opened another box, which contained the Christmas and New Year gifts that Fu Yanzhou had prepared for her in advance, as well as a few packs of Lemeng's newly launched snacks.
The New Year's gift came with a New Year's card, a very beautiful one. He didn't say much, just two lines:
Xixi, Happy New Year.
Let’s wait until the weather gets warmer and then take a set of wedding photos in Paris, next time I visit you.
——Fu Yanzhou
Min Xi closed the card reluctantly, and after a while, he opened it again to look at it.
--
This year's Valentine's Day is right next to the Spring Festival, and the third day of the Lunar New Year is Valentine's Day.
The white roses reserved for Min Xi have been airlifted in. They were ordered three months in advance. Together with the purchase share from jewelry alumni, he got twenty-one this time.
Min Xi didn't mention divorce when they made the appointment.
Fu Yanzhou placed the bouquet of roses on the center island, took the car keys and went to the old house to visit his mother.
Xu Xiangqing knew a month ago that Min Xi was on a business trip abroad and would not be able to come back for the New Year. She thought her son would go over to be with Min Xi during the holiday. On New Year's Eve, he arrived on time for the family reunion dinner. He didn't mention Min Xi much during the meal, and only said a few words when someone in the family asked him about it.
Tonight her son came back to the old house in the compound to see her. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, and he is not busy, but he did not go to Paris to spend the holiday with Min Xi. She realized that the situation was not good.
I usually don't pay much attention to my son, so I have no idea what went wrong between him and Min Xi.
On New Year's Eve, her brother scolded her, saying that she did not act like a mother. Her son had been married for two years, but she did not arrange a wedding for the couple. At that time, she was still not convinced by her brother's accusations.
The reason was that an old friend of Xu Xiangyi didn't know that Fu Yanzhou had already obtained the marriage certificate. He learned that Fu Yanzhou was at Xu Xiangyi's house on the 29th day of the lunar year, so he took the younger generation in his family to pay New Year's greetings in advance. To put it bluntly, he was arranging a blind date between the younger generation and Fu Yanzhou in disguise.
It was a misunderstanding at the time and it was quite embarrassing.
Xu Xiangyi then called his sister and complained to her why she was still as unreliable as she was when she was a child.
Xu Xiangqing retorted to her brother that she was not unreliable, but fully respected her son and Min Xi's intentions.
When she was young, she didn't like her parents interfering too much in her affairs under the banner of doing it for her own good. No matter how she talked to her parents, their opinions didn't make sense. Her parents even thought that she had grown too independent and that they were doing it for their own good. Who was she doing this for? It was all for your own good. That feeling is desperate.
She never interfered in her son's marriage with Min Xi, and she never interfered in their marriage. When to hold the wedding and when to have children was entirely up to them.
Originally, she didn't take her brother's criticism to heart, but today, seeing that her son seemed to be hiding something on his mind, she began to reflect on whether she really didn't care enough about him, so that as a mother she didn't notice that her son's marriage had problems.
Xu Xiangqing thought back. The last time she talked to her son about his marital status, it was when her son asked her how to remove Min Xi's makeup via video. She showed some concern at the time, but that was at the end of August the year before last...
My brother is right, she is a little unreliable.
She prepared some fruits and ate while chatting: "Min Xi is still working today?" She deliberately inquired. She sincerely hoped that their marriage would be normal and that she was just worrying too much.
Fu Yanzhou didn't eat the fruit, but picked up the water to drink.
He didn't know how Min Xi was doing recently, maybe she was at work, or maybe Sheng Jianqi gave them a few days off. She never posted on WeChat Moments, and Min Ting hadn't posted an update for half a year. He didn't know how they celebrated New Year's Eve, whether it was just the two of them or with a lot of people.
On New Year's Eve, he sent a blessing to Min Xi, and she replied, but they didn't talk much. She told him bluntly that she didn't want to chat any more and wanted to gradually cut off contact.
He didn't force her to tell him about her recent situation.
Her son remained silent and didn't even answer her simple question. Xu Xiangqing was immediately unsure, "Did he have a fight with Min Xi?"
Fu Yanzhou didn't answer. He came here tonight just to confront his mother and let her be mentally prepared.
"Mom, I'm planning to get a divorce."
At that time, it was Min Xi's family that proposed the marriage. Due to people's habitual thinking and the way his son phrased it, "I plan to," Xu Xiangqing naturally thought that his son wanted a divorce.
No wonder Min Xi was on a business trip for so long and didn’t even come back for the Chinese New Year. It turned out that his son filed for divorce, and Min Xi was so sad that he accepted the assignment and was away for several months.
She was too careless. She should have realized that something was wrong when Min Xi was assigned to go abroad for such a long time.
Xu Xiangqing put down the fruit he hadn't eaten yet and asked his son, "Why do you want to divorce?"
Fu Yanzhou: "I can't bear it anymore."
"What does Min Xi say?"
"Let me calm down for a while. If I insist on divorce, she will respect my opinion." There were candies in the fruit plate on the coffee table, prepared for the children of relatives who came to pay New Year's greetings. He took one, peeled it and put it in his mouth. I haven't eaten sugar for about twenty years. I can't taste the sweetness and it feels numb in my mouth.
"We should be here once she finishes the project."
This was the most boring year for Xu Xiangqing, even a bit bitter. I thought I would soon receive good news that my son and Min Xi were in love, but things did not go as I wished and what I received was news that my son wanted a divorce.
"That time when you asked me how to remove Min Xi's makeup, I thought you were willing to work on your marriage. You don't know how happy I was. Your father and I both hope that your marriage is not just about interests. We hope that you two can be like us and understand each other one day."
Fu Yanzhou remained silent and did not respond to his mother's words.
"Have you ever thought that Min Xi would be very sad? She's alone during the New Year, and tomorrow is Valentine's Day." Xu Xiangqing sighed, "If you didn't want to work on your marriage, you shouldn't have agreed to her marriage. You knew her personality and temper before marriage, you knew it since you were a child."
Fu Yanzhou still said nothing.
Xu Xiangqing stopped nagging, "Mom knows what you mean. I'll talk to your dad when he's not busy. If you're determined to leave, I won't persuade you."
There's no point in persuading him.
"Calm down, think about the time when you gave her the red wine, and think about how she didn't know how to reverse for so many years and didn't want to learn, but she took the initiative to ask you to teach her how to reverse."
Xu Xiangqing tried hard to recall what he still knew about the young couple, but apart from that there seemed to be nothing else. He heard these two things from the younger generations in his family during the New Year's dinner.
Talking too much would be counterproductive, so she told her son to go back and have a good rest.
"Mom, you should go to bed early too." Fu Yanzhou put on his coat and left.
It is five o'clock in the evening in Paris. I don't know what she is busy with, whether she is at work or at home. Sitting in the car and smoking a cigarette, he called Min Xi.
Min Xi just came out of a coffee shop. She has been relying on coffee to survive during this period. Min Ting is in a meeting. She was bored at home alone, so she came out for a walk. It was a cloudy day in Paris today, and she walked along the roadside without direction.
The phone in her pocket vibrated, and she thought it was Min Ting calling her home. She took it out and saw the note was "husband". She hadn't contacted him by phone for several months, and it felt like a lifetime ago.
The last time they contacted each other was on New Year's Eve, when he sent her a blessing message.
Min Xi answered the call, and the atmosphere on the other end of the phone was still familiar.
She said calmly, "It's so late, haven't you rested yet?"
"No." Fu Yanzhou asked her where she was, "Are you busy?"
"Not busy. On the side of the road."
"Tomorrow is the holiday, I'll go see you."
During these few months of not seeing each other, Min Xi had finally managed to ease the pain a little and slowly adapt to life without him, and she didn't want to let her efforts go to waste.
"No need to come over. I'm fine now, you don't have to worry about me."
Fu Yanzhou didn't bother her anymore, and everything he wanted to say was expressed in silence.
After Valentine's Day, on the sixth day of the New Year, he received a call from his father-in-law, asking him to go to his house for dinner.
My mother-in-law is not at home, Min Ting and Min Xi are abroad, and my aunt and other workers have gone home for the New Year holiday and have not returned yet. The huge villa is deserted.
When he arrived, his father-in-law was preparing food in the kitchen.
"dad."
"So early?"
"I'm fine at home."
Fu Yanzhou took off his coat and hung it on the back of a chair in the dining room, rolled up his sleeves and went to the kitchen to help.
Min Jiangyuan can only cook simple home-cooked meals, and it is not convenient for him to eat out, so he can only make do with what he has.
I asked Fu Yanzhou to come over for dinner today to discuss some post-divorce interest arrangements. He promised his daughter that he would handle the follow-up.
There was a bunch of glass bottles of soda on the kitchen counter. Fu Yanzhou drank it when he was a child. It is still sold in supermarkets now, but it is not as popular as before.
He asked casually, "Dad, do you like this soda too?"
Min Jiangyuan glanced at the soda next to him and said with a smile, "I'm afraid of high blood sugar and dare not drink it, but Xixi likes it. This year she didn't come back for the New Year, so the old man bought it specially for me to send to her."
Talking about his daughter's childhood, he couldn't help but say a few more words: "Xixi loved drinking this soda since she was little. She never ate any snacks and regarded soda as her life. Min Ting used all his pocket money to buy her soda."
Fu Yanzhou: "Now I love to eat snacks."
"She can eat some dried fruits now, but she won't eat other snacks." Min Jiangyuan was helpless: "Every time I go on a business trip, I bring her snacks from all over the world, but she won't open them even if they are expired."
Fu Yanzhou thought of the snack plate at home, which was filled with the full range of Lemeng snacks she bought herself. He vaguely felt that something was wrong, but he didn't realize it.
"Dad, how is Xixi doing lately?"
Min Jiangyuan was silent for a moment: "Not very good."
Fu Yanzhou didn't know how to respond.
The next time I heard from Min Xi was one day in late April, when the locust flowers had already bloomed.
She said in the message: [I'm back, when are you free? I'll go to your office to talk about divorce and sign the divorce agreement. 】
Fu Yanzhou had hoped that perhaps she would change her mind and he could wait for her at home.
After a long time, he replied: [Let's have dinner together. 】
This should be their last meal as a couple.
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