#16 (A Slap, Second Update...)

Wen Di ended the call; she didn’t want to hear Yan Heyu’s explanations over the phone.

However, her worry was unnecessary; Yan Heyu didn’t call back at all.

The car arrived at the villa gate.

Wen Di asked the driver to stop by the roadside. Yan Heyu’s villa had independent security, and the guard, seeing it was her car, opened the gate as usual.

She didn’t get out of the car, instead leaning out the window and asking the guard, “Could you please call the housekeeper for me?”

The housekeeper, seeing Wen Di’s car parked at the gate, thought she was going out for something else and didn’t think much of it.

He walked up to the car and asked, “Should I prepare some supper?”

“No need.” Wen Di stated her purpose: “I’m here to pick up some things. My tablet is in the study on the second floor, and I’d also trouble you to pack up the stacks of manuscripts on the desk. Could you also ask the auntie to bring down my suitcase from the master bedroom? I don’t want anything else; you can throw out whatever you want.”

The housekeeper was stunned, unable to react.

Wen Di was familiar with that look. Before, she had entered the villa three times under such gazes, and back then, she didn’t understand why the housekeeper was surprised to see her.

Now, it was the housekeeper who didn’t understand.

“I’ve broken up with him.”

The housekeeper was unsure what was happening. Earlier that morning, when Yan Heyu left, they were perfectly fine.

Wen Di and Yan Heyu had argued before, but they always made up quickly. In a fit of anger, she might do anything, but once she returned to her room, she would calm down, and her anger would naturally dissipate.

He advised, “You should go upstairs and check, in case you forgot to take something important.”

Wen Di said, “It’s not convenient. He has a fiancée; what would it look like if I went in again?” She reminded him again, “I only want the suitcase. I don’t want anything else.”

The housekeeper hesitated, then nodded. He said nothing more and turned to re-enter the villa.

A laptop bag, an eighteen-inch empty suitcase—that was the end of her three years with Yan Heyu.

Before leaving, she handed the spare keys to Yan Heyu’s cars back to the housekeeper.

At 7:10 PM, Wen Di’s car left the villa area.

Twenty minutes later, Yan Heyu returned.

Upon arriving home, he didn’t see Wen Di’s car in the yard and asked the housekeeper, “Where is she?”

The housekeeper replied, “She left. Miss Wen didn’t even enter the yard; she waited at the gate to pick up her things.”

Yan Heyu stood by the sofa, looking out the French windows. The parking area was dim and empty.

For a long time afterward, he said nothing.

The housekeeper dared not ask further.

Yan Heyu bent down to get water from the coffee table and saw the neatly arranged car keys on it.

After drinking half a glass of water, he casually grabbed one of the keys and went straight to get his car, without even putting on a coat.

Yan Heyu was all too familiar with the road to Wen Di’s apartment, having driven it countless times over three years. Just now, he missed an exit and had to take a detour, eventually resorting to using navigation.

He sent Wen Di a voice message: [Are you home? I’ll be there in ten minutes.]

Wen Di didn’t reply.

Yan Heyu wasn’t sure if Wen Di had changed the apartment password. He prepared to enter the password, his finger pausing briefly on the number keys, then he knocked on the door instead.

“Wen Di?”

Knocking and the doorbell rang alternately, but no one opened the door.

Yan Heyu didn’t enter the password rashly. He pulled out his phone and called Wen Di twice, but no one answered.

He entered the password, and as he input the last digit, his heart jumped.

“Ding!” The lock clicked open.

She hadn’t changed the password.

“Wen Di?” Yan Heyu changed his shoes in the entryway, calling out to her.

The living room lights were on, and the suitcase stood isolated in the dining and living room hallway.

Yan Heyu walked further in to find her.

Footsteps came from the direction of the bedroom, and then he saw her. She was wearing slippers, wrapped in a thick bathrobe, her hair half-dry.

Wen Di had been blow-drying her hair in the bathroom, so she hadn’t heard the doorbell or her phone vibrate. The heating in the house had just been turned on, and she felt cold, so she put on a bathrobe over her loungewear.

Even with the thick bathrobe, she was still cold.

She acted as if she didn’t see Yan Heyu and went to the kitchen to pour hot water.

Yan Heyu carried the suitcase to the sofa. He looked at the kitchen, where Wen Di was standing with her back to him, drinking water. He hadn’t figured out how to talk to her.

Wen Di knew Yan Heyu wouldn’t explain anything, let alone that kind of remorse, begging for forgiveness, or desperate attempts to salvage things happening to him.

Yan Heyu also understood Wen Di; she wouldn’t make a big scene, wouldn’t question him, and wouldn’t demand an explanation.

There was an unprecedented calm between them.

Wen Di drank a large glass of hot water in the kitchen, put down the cup, stood for a few more seconds, then turned and went to the living room.

Yan Heyu wasn’t idle. Wen Di’s living space was filled mostly with books, everywhere.

He sorted the books, putting magazines with magazines, romance novels in a stack, and other unclassifiable ones in a pile.

The room temperature slowly rose, but Wen Di still felt cold. She hugged herself, rubbing her arms continuously.

Yan Heyu was still organizing books.

“Leave them there, don’t bother,” she broke the silence.

Yan Heyu sorted the last novel in his hand and stood up.

There was a height difference between them, and Wen Di looked up at him.

Yan Heyu met her empty gaze. Her skin was originally good, fair with a rosy glow, but now it was pale. Despite wearing lipstick, she looked colorless.

Wen Di’s tone was as usual, “Pack up your things and take them with you. If you don’t take them tonight, I’ll assume you don’t want them.”

Yan Heyu didn’t reply. Instead, he said, “Don’t you have anything you want to ask me?”

Yes, there were many things she hadn’t figured out all afternoon, but now she felt there was no need to ask. The outcome was right in front of her; no matter what she asked, it would only be self-deception and utterly useless.

She countered, “What do you want me to ask you? Ask how much you love me, enough to make me the ‘other woman’?”

Another silence ensued.

Wen Di realized she still had one question to ask, “How did you know I was feeling unwell while driving?”

Yan Heyu said, “My friend Qin Xing was in the car behind you at the time.”

What a coincidence. Wen Di had heard Qin Xing’s name; he and Jiang Chengyu were both Yan Heyu’s childhood friends, growing up and socializing in the same circle.

“He must have known you were engaged, and also knew I was still with you after your engagement. In his eyes, am I...”

“Don’t say that about yourself.” Yan Heyu had a premonition of what she was about to say and interrupted her directly, not wanting to hear those words come from her own mouth.

Wen Di chuckled, half self-mockery, half sarcasm.

“I thought I was different to you, and I still thought so before Tian Qinglu called me.”

“You considered your future with Tian Qinglu, you considered Jiang Yunxing’s reputation, but what about me? We were together for three years, yet you didn’t even leave me a shred of dignity, not even a tiny bit.”

Yan Heyu reached out to hug her. “Don’t cry.”

Wen Di roared, “Are you blind? Which eye sees me crying!”

Her eyes welled up with tears, but she forced them back. She could cry for herself, she could cry for the paper figures in her scripts, but never for Yan Heyu.

“Let go of me!”

Yan Heyu didn’t let go. Remembering how she had been so upset after receiving Tian Qinglu’s call that she didn’t know how to drive, he held her even tighter.

Before he came, she had tried to convince herself to part ways amicably, not to get entangled with him anymore, not to argue or make a scene, lest it seemed like she cared too much about him.

What was the point?

But now, none of that worked.

She pushed him away abruptly and raised her hand, delivering a fierce slap.

“Slap!” The sound forcefully ended their three years together.

Wen Di’s hand went numb, and so did the left side of Yan Heyu’s face.

Finally, silence.

He probably hadn’t expected that someone would dare to slap him in his lifetime.

Yan Heyu stared at her unblinkingly, “Are you still angry?”

Wen Di rubbed her throbbing, numb right hand and sneered, “Do you think your face is worth that much?” He thought the slap he took could offset her grievances.

She stepped forward, grabbed his shirt collar precisely, and dragged him towards the bathroom.

She didn’t need to use much strength; Yan Heyu let her vent, cooperating with her.

The bathroom door was ajar, and she kicked it open with her elbow.

Yan Heyu subconsciously reached out to rub her elbow, afraid she had hurt herself.

Wen Di pushed him away forcefully.

Before them was a bathtub full of water.

Yan Heyu seemed to know what she was going to do. He stood there, not stopping her.

Wen Di used all her strength to push him into the bathtub. He lost his balance and fell in. A bath pillow blocked him, so he didn’t hit his head.

“Splash!” Water splashed all over the floor.

Wen Di lifted her leg, bent her knee, and pressed her knee firmly against his chest.

The red wine glass on the caddy overturned in the bathtub. Red wine splashed all over his shirt and into the water. It was like spilled dye, ruining the entire picture.

Wen Di found the red wine glass in the way. She grabbed it, and without looking back, threw it directly at the mirror.

“Bang!” The wine glass shattered.

Shattered everywhere on the floor.

Several streaks of red wine slid down the mirror, their color fading.

Eventually, nothing was visible.

When she hit him, Yan Heyu didn’t forget to use his hands to guard both sides of the bathtub, afraid she might accidentally hit her arm.

“You don’t need to pretend!” Wen Di roared again.

She hated seeing him like this.

Water was everywhere on the floor, mixed with shattered glass shards.

Wen Di got tired of hitting him and suddenly felt it was pointless.

Her face was indistinguishable between tears and water. He raised his hand and loosely put his arm around her back, “Stand still, there are glass shards on the floor.”

Wen Di pushed him away, wiped her face, bent down, and wrung her soaking wet, dripping bathrobe tightly in her hands.

Ignoring Yan Heyu, she walked away calmly, water dripping along the path she took.

Yan Heyu got out of the bathtub and cleaned up the shattered glass on the floor.

After showering, he changed into dry clothes and went out.

In the living room, Wen Di was gone, and the kitchen light was off.

At this point, explanations were superfluous; no matter what he said, Wen Di wouldn’t believe him. He went to the study, packed his frequently used items into a briefcase, and took them with him.

After packing, he went to the bedroom to find Wen Di.

Rustling sounds came from the bedroom’s walk-in closet. He walked over and called out, “Wen Di.”

Several suitcases were on the floor of the walk-in closet. She was putting clothes, all his shirts, into the suitcases.

Wen Di turned to look at him, her eyes so distant that he found them unfamiliar. She said, “You have too many things. I’ll help you pack, it’ll be faster this way.”

After speaking, she turned back and continued to take clothes from the closet.

Yan Heyu looked at her back and said, “I’ll come see you in a couple of days.”

As for those things, he didn’t plan to take them. “Pack them up and put them in my half of the room.”

His name was on the property deed, and half the house was his.

Wen Di happened to be taking a shirt from a hanger. Her hand, gripping the collar, paused slightly, then she slowly turned around. “Whose house belongs to whom. We’ll find time to go through the formalities again.”

She pointed to the closet full of his clothes, “Are you sure you’re not taking them?”

Yan Heyu gazed at her silently.

Wen Di took his silence as agreement that he didn’t want them. Actually, these things were dispensable to him; he had plenty in his villa and wouldn’t miss a few boxes of clothes.

“If you don’t want them, I’ll pack them up and dispose of them. If you do, have Assistant Kang pick them up tomorrow.”

After two seconds, she added, “Please close the door for me when you leave.”

She continued organizing the clothes, her back to the person behind her, not knowing what he was thinking.

Suddenly, she remembered something and called out, turning her head slightly, “Hey.”

Yan Heyu had just stepped out of the walk-in closet and turned to ask, “What is it?”

Wen Di haphazardly folded a shirt in her hand twice and tossed it into the suitcase. “I need to ask you a favor.”

Yan Heyu: “No need to ask, just say it.”

Wen Di looked into his eyes and said, “I never want to see you again in this lifetime. If there’s any occasion in the future where you know I might be there, please avoid it. I definitely won’t disturb any event where you are present. I don’t expect you to care about me as much as you do about Jiang Yunxing, so I’m asking this favor. I don’t want to see you again. Thank you in advance.”

Yan Heyu just stared at her fixedly, noncommittal.

Saying this, Wen Di took her phone from the nearby sofa. She suddenly remembered the note she had changed in his phone, feeling utterly humiliated. He had his own wife, not her. “I’ve deleted your contact information. For anything related to the house, have Assistant Kang contact me.”

“Wen Di.” Yan Heyu didn’t know why he called her, whether it was to stop her from deleting or for some other reason.

Wen Di, in front of him, deleted his WeChat account and blacklisted his phone number.