Chapter 246: Chapter 246

Xiang Yuan left in such a hurry, and her marriage with Xiang Yuan ended so abruptly.

Perhaps if it were another woman, she would just sigh with relief and feel liberated. She might even harbor the malicious thought: "If you’re doing well, it’s a bolt from the blue."

But at this moment, Shi Nian couldn’t let go just like that.

Although Xiang Yuan didn’t speak clearly before, she still keenly captured a key point: the partner meeting.

Shi Nian bowed her head and slowly walked across the large lawn, passing through the large trees with falling yellow leaves, step by step, back to the dormitory building.

When the dormitory building’s lights shone through the door onto her face, illuminating her eyes, she squinted and took a deep breath, looking at the narrow, long corridor in front of her. And at the end of the corridor was the campus security office.

Once, Sean sat there, silently observing her through the glass window facing this way.

And her action of walking through the corridor with her eyes closed was clearly seen by him. The judgment he made about her at that time also greatly fell into the realm of behavioral analysis.

Back then, she didn’t feel too surprised. After all, campus security in M Country were also formal officers, not ordinary guards; they had gone through professional training at police academies and had professional knowledge in criminology and criminal psychology.

But at this moment, thinking back, she couldn’t help but have a different intuition: Could it be that Sean’s death wasn’t that simple?

Shi Nian shook her head, turned at the corridor, and walked toward the stairs.

Putting Sean aside for a moment, she turned back to think about Xiang Yuan. After a slight hesitation, she took out her phone and pulled up Rosa’s number.

During those four years, especially the last two, this number almost became another nightmare for her. Every time she saw this number calling or sending a photo, it would make her so nervous that her heart would jump into her throat.

Because she knew that whatever that number sent her would definitely be ambiguous texts between Rosa and Xiang Yuan, or even — bed photos.

She had also reminded herself not to look anymore, or else she would fall into Rosa’s trap; but such things were like a venomous snake, biting at her central nervous system, making her suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder — knowing she shouldn’t look, yet every time she saw the things sent by that number, she couldn’t help but open them.

Every time she cried despairingly to the empty walls, or screamed angrily at the screen, she knew Rosa must be smiling, enjoying it all.

At that time, she would have never thought she would still pull up this nightmarish number and make this call tonight.

The phone rang several times, long without being picked up.

Shi Nian also understood that the battle between women over a man was a double-edged sword. Perhaps this double-edged sword had little chance to hurt the man who truly caused trouble, yet it would surely leave both women deeply wounded. Two women, regardless of victory or defeat, neither could escape unscathed.

—— As much as she once feared things sent by Rosa’s number, today Rosa feared the ringing of her number.

Thus, once it all faded away.

Don’t worry, sooner or later, everyone and everything in this world will meet their karma.

The phone was finally answered, and Rosa hesitantly yet impatiently asked: "What is it?"

"Yes." Shi Nian took a deep breath: "Rosa, let me tell you one thing first: about fifteen minutes ago, I just signed a divorce agreement with A Yuan. A Yuan is on his way to a familiar judge’s home now, and if nothing goes wrong, our agreement will take effect at the start of business tomorrow morning."

Rosa was obviously taken aback: "Really?"

"Really." ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ ⓝovelFire.net

Shi Nian stood at the staircase entrance, with no one before or after her, she leaned against the wall and gently closed her eyes.

As a wife, finally handing her husband and marriage over to the woman she had fought with for four years... This feeling was truly unpleasant.

"Rosa, you must be very happy, right? Then with your happy spirit, I’d like to ask a favor of yours."

Rosa still hadn’t reacted, and asked bluntly: "What is it?"

In Shi Nian’s mind, it was Xiang Yuan’s gloomy gaze again, the scene when he was clearly still smiling yet suddenly said, "Shi Nian, let’s divorce."

Shi Nian spoke softly: "You are an investment partner of Huatai Hall. If anyone targets him at tomorrow morning’s partner meeting, please, by all means, help him."

After Shi Nian finished speaking, he didn’t want to wait for Rosa’s response, so he hung up the phone.

On the road from Kangchuan University to the city, it was already close to midnight, and there was only Xiang Yuan’s sapphire blue BMW on the road.

Xiang Yuan tightly gripped the steering wheel in the car, staring intently at the road ahead, trying to focus on driving and not to be distracted by thoughts of divorce.

But when the orange streetlights were like an autumn rain, falling all over his windshield, his cheeks couldn’t help but get wet.

The divorce agreement was in the inner pocket on the left side of his suit, its hard edges pressing against his chest, as if his heart was being pricked repeatedly.

His father called, and he carefully put on the Bluetooth headset.

Xiang Jingsheng urgently asked, "How is it? Did Shi Nian agree to plead with Huangfu Huazhang for you?"

Xiang Yuan’s heart felt as if it had been struck again, his hands gripped the steering wheel tightly, tears still on his cheeks, but he bit his teeth and smiled lightly: "Dad, I won’t ask Shi Nian to find him. I would rather divorce Shi Nian, let Shi Nian go, than let him succeed!"

"What?!" Xiang Jingsheng was shocked upon hearing this: "Have you divorced Shi Nian?"

"That’s right, we have both signed the divorce agreement, and it will take effect tomorrow morning. Huangfu Huazhang, he can control the Xiang Family, but Shi Nian is no longer part of the Xiang Family, so he can’t control her now!"

Xiang Jingsheng closed his eyes: "Xiang Yuan, you’re so rash! There were clearly better ways to handle this, why do you have to burn all bridges!"

Xiang Yuan gently closed his eyes: "Dad, I promised Teacher Shi to take care of her for a lifetime, to protect her from harm. I didn’t do well in the past four years, but I don’t want to always do poorly. This time, I’ve finally succeeded."

After calling Rosa, Shi Nian still couldn’t calm down.

She leaned her forehead against the wall of the stairwell, hoping the cool wall would lower her head temperature.

The terrible intuition kept spiraling in her mind. Xiang Yuan suddenly proposing divorce, there must be a deeper reason behind Huatai Hall’s financial crisis.

Just like before her dad’s accident, for almost two or three years, her dad kept encountering unsolvable cases, one after another, constantly bombarding his mind, breaking her dad’s calmness piece by piece.

At that time, she was in college and couldn’t be with her dad every day. Her dad never talked to her about the troubles at work. Those inside stories were told to her bit by bit by her mom when she couldn’t hold back any longer.

Back then, her dad was about to retire, having solved countless cases in his life, always respected as "Teacher Shi" or "Detective" in the city bureau. He wanted to put a perfect end to his police career, hoping to solve all the cases in his hands before retirement, leaving no unsolved cases behind.

This urgent desire clashed with the never-ending flow of bizarre cases in those years, as if they were intentionally targeting him. It was the biggest blow to his confidence since he joined the police force. In those three years, the number of unsolved cases was even more than the accumulations from the previous twenty years he served!

Colleagues around him, even the leaders, started to gently advise him, saying that he was getting old, and his energy and mental acuity weren’t what they used to be, so if he couldn’t solve the cases, it was all right. Eventually, even her dad couldn’t help but start doubting himself, staring at his previous award pictures all night long.

After three consecutive years of psychological setbacks, her dad had already started to wither from inside. So, before the real danger came, his usual vigilance had declined, and even his calm and wise decision-making during case work was affected.

After four years of difficult metamorphosis, she learned through continuous reflection on the events from four years ago that when a sudden event occurs, not to only look at the situation at hand, but to learn to reverse and collect the development pattern of the sudden event, to find more comprehensive answers from it.

Her most straightforward inference about Huatai Hall’s financial crisis was that Rosa was causing trouble. Rosa wanted to use this method to force, making Xiang Yuan divorce. Well, with her initiating the surrender to Rosa now, it should fulfill Rosa’s wish to stand tall and become the victor, right?

With the end of this marriage, she wished that their three hearts could find peace. Let go of resentment, and Xiang Yuan move forward.

She finally reached the 5th floor. It was late, and all the hallway lights were dimmed, turning into faint lights. She dragged her tired feet around the corner, unprepared to find someone leaning against the wall, waiting at the corner.

Shi Nian almost bumped directly into them, almost screaming in shock.

A flash of red glowed in the shadows, illuminating a pair of enchanting eyes.

The eyelids thin, the corners of the eyes tilted upwards. Brows carrying the allure of peach blossoms.

A voice like the strings of a zither, with the rich scent of tobacco, drifted in.

"... Why did it take so long?"

[Second Update in the Morning]