Chapter 50: He Has No Anling Anymore

As soon as the words were spoken, the atmosphere at the table slightly froze.

It was as if time had stopped at this very moment.

An Ling sat in her seat, a fleeting blankness clearly flashing across her face.

The two questions suddenly thrown at her left her unsure of how to react.

To be exact, it was the latter question that she found impossible to answer.

...Like?

A moment later, the woman slowly raised her hand to prop up her chin.

She blinked, feigning a complaining tone: "What are you doing? Who asks their ex-wife if she likes them or not? Of course I like someone as wonderful as Chairman Shen! Who wouldn't? Hmm?"

Her joking words made it impossible to tell if she was just being polite or sincere.

Or perhaps, she was deliberately avoiding the topic.

Right, An Ling never needed to answer in the first place.

He didn't like An Ling, and the two of them were about to get divorced anyway. There was absolutely no need for An Ling to answer his question.

Did he really need her to admit whether she liked him or not?

Shen Linyan's mouth twitched bitterly. He knew he should smile at this moment.

Just like he always did, give a faint smile and naturally reply in a gentle voice, "You are also very wonderful, Madam."

But right now, let alone smiling, he couldn't even form a complete sentence. The moment he opened his mouth, out came a trembling, broken tone.

He didn't know why he had asked this question.

But he wanted to know.

He just wanted to know the answer.

A sour ache gripped Shen Linyan's heart. He turned his head away in near panic and managed to force out a single word, "Sorry..."

Even if An Ling liked him, so what? He couldn't even give her the most basic response. He only kept An Ling around because he didn't want to be alone.

His seemingly affectionate actions were actually incredibly cheap; he wasn't worthy of An Ling at all.

Hearing the man's trembling apology, An Ling paused.

She took a deep breath, turned her head to blink away the sting in her eyes, and looked at the dishes on the table. Suddenly, she spoke softly:

"Shen Linyan, this is the first time I've ever cooked for someone. Not even Lu Jingshen got this kind of treatment, but I did it for you today. Do you know why?"

The man stiffened and slowly turned his head back.

He looked at her with reddened eyes. His clear, moist gaze seemed veiled by a layer of mist, looking fragile and bewildered.

An Ling's eyes curved as she gave him a gentle smile.

"Because this is a perfect score reward."

"Shen Linyan, you will always be a perfect ten to me."

She reached out to cup the man's face, her thumb quietly wiping the corner of his eye. "I'm not divorcing you because I feel you don't love me. I just don't want our relationship to turn ugly, which is why I said I'd wait until after your birthday to get the divorce."

The corners of the man's eyes were red, and the depths of his eyes clearly reflected her face, as if trying to brand her into the very depths of his soul.

The atmosphere grew heavily quiet, the silence weaving into a suffocating net.

As their eyes met, An Ling lifted her head and slowly leaned in.

But just as she was about to kiss him, she suddenly raised her hand and gently covered the man's lips.

The tender kiss ultimately landed on the back of her own hand.

She lowered her eyes and murmured softly:

"Shen Linyan, I hate the Shen family, so I don't want to stay here anymore."

"But I don't hate you. You have to take care of yourself. I hope you make lots and lots of money, secure your position as the chairman of the Shen Corporation, and don't let them bully you."

"This is an amicable divorce. Let's not be sad, okay?"

Even if they were no longer husband and wife, when they met again in the future, they could still be friends who greeted each other.

An Ling didn't dare to look into his eyes anymore. She gently hugged him, resting her chin on his shoulder, and said softly with her eyes closed:

"Also, when you get married in the future, remember to choose someone you like. If you don't know whether you like them or not, then just choose a good person. Anyway, don't agree to the blind dates your mother arranges for you, okay?"

"Shen Linyan, this is the last time I will teach you how to say no as your wife."

The man's eyes were bloodshot, his lips pressed tightly together. His tense arms slowly wrapped around the woman's waist.

Crystal tears rolled down the corners of his eyes. With red eyes, he tremblingly opened his mouth, his sore throat letting out a broken voice that was so soft it was almost inaudible.

"I promise you... Madam."

An Ling didn't want to stay in the Shen family; this was what An Ling wanted.

He promised her.

It was just that after today, he wouldn't have An Ling anymore.

He wouldn't have An Ling.

"Keep lying to yourself, An Ling."

In the cafe, Jiang Mai leaned on the table with a distressed look on her face.

She sighed, her eyes complex as she stared at the woman across from her who was applying an ice pack to her eyes.

"How long did you cry last night? Your eyes are so swollen."

Telling Shen Linyan to go find someone he likes to marry—who knows who will be crying their eyes out on his wedding day.

An Ling kept her eyes closed, holding the ice pack as she tilted her head back against the chair. Her voice was hoarse: "I forgot."

Anyway, she had held it in while she was in front of Shen Linyan, even eating the cake. But when she went back to her room and lay on the bed, her tears instantly broke loose. Afraid that Shen Linyan would hear her since their rooms were so close, she ran to the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and cried.

Jiang Mai took a breath, hesitating to speak. After a few seconds, she slowly sighed, "You really are cruel. You deliberately picked his birthday to repeatedly emphasize that you were getting a divorce the next day. I guess you're perfectly fine with Shen Linyan being saved by someone else."

An Ling kept her eyes closed and didn't make a sound.

After a long while, she finally spoke softly: "Then what should I have done? Save him first and then cruelly divorce him? Then Shen Linyan would never forget me and would refuse to try loving anyone else, just constantly pining over me. I shouldn't be that terrible."

That night, when she caught a glimpse of Shen Linyan crying while eating the noodles, for a split second she wanted to say she wouldn't divorce him. But in the end, rationality triumphed over her foolishly romantic heart.

When going back to her room, she hadn't even dared to turn her head to look at him.

Sitting across from her, Jiang Mai also felt a headache coming on.

Knowing the ending of the novel, she naturally knew that An Ling's decision was the right one.

Before any deeper feelings could develop, getting a divorce was best for both of them.

Short-term pain was better than long-term suffering.

She propped her chin up and muttered, "It's quite amazing though. This is already the ending of the novel, yet Shen Linyan wasn't saved by Zhou Wen. Instead, you, the vicious supporting female character, almost found a loophole."

An Ling: "..."

She laughed out of sheer annoyance, opening her eyes with a look of indignation. "No, what do you mean I found a loophole? Didn't I just avoid it? Besides, I did such a great job as a wife. What's wrong with him being saved by me?!"

As a wife, she was full of care in every aspect, and even taught Shen Linyan how to say no. The fact that she was using him during the divorce was a completely separate matter!

"Alright, alright, alright." Jiang Mai quickly waved her hand to signal her to calm down. "My dear Miss An, you should just keep icing your eyes. Both of them are swollen like walnuts."

An Ling scoffed and picked the ice pack back up.

Jiang Mai: "So you really went to the Civil Affairs Bureau to get divorced this morning? How did you go with your eyes swollen like that? Didn't Shen Linyan see?"

An Ling silently pulled the divorce certificate out of her bag and placed it on the table. "I wore sunglasses and a hat. He couldn't see."

Jiang Mai took it, glanced at it, and then handed it back.

"Didn't they say there was a thirty-day divorce cooling-off period?"

An Ling shook her head. "Handing in the materials waived it. That old hag couldn't wait for Shen Linyan and me to get divorced."

Hearing this, Jiang Mai was curious. "Who is the old hag?"

"Shen Linyan's biased and brainless mother."

An Ling kept her eyes closed and said hoarsely, "So even if there wasn't a plot, that old hag would never agree to Shen Linyan and me being together."

Rather than putting Shen Linyan in a difficult position, it was better for her to take the initiative and ask for a divorce.