My Superstar Ex-Husband is a Yandere
Translator: Fuyu
Chapter 4 - Oh, so you also know it's been two months since we saw each other.
Li Shihui walked back into the pure white two-story detached house.
When she left, it was still bright outside. The light coming through the living room's floor-to-ceiling windows could illuminate the first floor. When she returned, it was completely dark. Everything was shrouded in darkness and silence.
Jiang Minyun hadn't returned yet.
The dishes, which had been left on the white oak dining table, had already turned cold.
She was about to clear away the leftovers when she suddenly remembered something Jiang Minyun had said to her, "Li Shihui, are you a maid?"
She decided to leave this chore to the aunty when she comes tomorrow morning.
She put down the bowl and chopsticks. Aimless, she sat down on the sofa, hugged her knees, and stared off into space. The persistent loneliness that she had tried to suppress by being busy welled up.
Her mind kept conjuring up images of Jiang Minyun and Liang Xinyu together.
He secretly had dinner with Liang Xinyu. And then, where would they go and do afterwards?
Would Jiang Minyun still come home?
She thought of that rainy night many years ago.
Jiang Minyun was standing on the stairs and looking down at her. He had admitted that he was dating Liang Xinyu.
Back then, she had chosen to flee in panic. What was ridiculous was that even now, she still lacked the courage to face the unknown outcome.
But now, the persistence and forbearance that brought them together was gone. The wisdom that came with maturity had gradually worn that away.
Her mood had been fluctuating like a rollercoaster. Her busy afternoon had kept her from realizing how apprehensive she was, so she simply got out her laptop and went to sit at the dining table to work on her students' papers.
—
When Jiang Minyun pushed open the door, he saw Li Shihui sitting at the dining table and typing away on her laptop.
When she saw him, she only nodded and lightly said, "You're back?"
Normally, she would enthusiastically rush over to hug him.
He came back much earlier than she expected.
Jiang Minyun felt pent-up frustration. They hadn't seen each other in two months. She had kept begging him for photos and constantly asked him to accept her friend request. But now that she saw him, what was with her attitude?
It seemed that distance created a false rosy picture.
He scoffed and walked over to her. He deliberately pressed his head against her thin, bony shoulder. His eyes were wide open as he looked at the foreign text on her laptop screen. He pretended to be serious as he asked, "So busy?"
He couldn't understand a single word on the screen, but her familiar scent finally gave him the feeling of coming home.
If Li Shihui turned around, she would see Jiang Minyun's face that looked flawless from any angle.
"No, I'm revising a student's paper." Li Shihui felt a pang in her shoulder and instinctively pushed his head away. "Don't lean on me, okay?"
In order to make time for Jiang Minyun's return, she had worked overtime for the past several days, and her frozen shoulder problem had flared up.
Although she had several graduate and doctoral students under her supervision, she was used to writing the grant proposals herself. Plus, issues kept coming up in her graduate students' research papers. She felt like an overworked donkey.
She was always like this. Once she was immersed in work, she became rigid and inflexible about stopping.
Jiang Minyun's face darkened after she pushed him away like something unwanted. "What looks better? The research paper or me?" His tone suggested an impending storm.
Even someone with low EQ like Li Shihui could tell that Jiang Minyun was unhappy. She could only close her laptop and hastily stand up. "Of course, it's you. What's wrong now?"
She thought that Jiang Minyun's temperament was as volatile as a ticking time bomb. Was he only gentle with Liang Xinyu?
"Now?" Jiang Minyun was extremely sensitive to her unintentional words. He angrily glared at her back. "Is this your attitude after two months apart? You're as cold as a block of wood. You even forcefully pushed me away."
Oh, so you also know it's been two months since we saw each other.
Still choosing to exercise forbearance, Li Shihui pursed her lips and explained, "No, I didn't forcefully push you. My-" She was about to say her shoulder was uncomfortable.
"You don't need to explain. I know." Jiang Minyun hastily interrupted, convinced that it was Li Shihui's fault. He pulled out a chair and said in an understanding tone, "Professor Li is very busy, busy with projects, busy teaching students, busy texting with your old flame…"
So it was normal that she didn't care about him.
Li Shihui asked: "Will you never stop harping on about that?"
Jiang Minyun turned his head to the right to look at her and raised an eyebrow as if to say - "So what if I never stop?"
Li Shihui suddenly opened her eyes wide and slightly raised her voice. "It happened two months ago. We only exchanged numbers because we met at a class reunion. I didn't even add him on WeChat. You've always been my only one. After ten years together, do we not even have this bit of trust between us?"
When she thought about it carefully, since the beginning of the relationship, she had always been the one entreating, and he was the one giving alms. She pleaded with him to study, to date her, to marry her, to forgive her.
Everything in their relationship was on his terms.
He ignored her for two months, and his reasoning was simply that her ordinary high school classmate had sent her a few text messages.
Li Shihui's eyes reddened, and her chest heaved. She stared at Jiang Minyun as she said, "Or do you just want to doubt me?"
Jiang Minyun seemed to calmly take in Li Shihui's current state, but his left hand, which was resting on the dining table, was tightly gripping the table to hide his trembling and excitement.
He knew he was sick. He liked seeing that Li Shihui cared so much about him. It was exhilarating seeing her tears and anxiety over him. However, he didn't dare to do it openly. He would occasionally tease her, and then secretly savor that memory for a long time. He was despicable.
"Think whatever you want." He deliberately shrugged his shoulders, ending the game. "I'm hungry."
He glanced at the food that had barely been eaten.
Steamed turbot, sweet and sour pork with pineapple, and yellow croaker soup.
These were dishes that he liked and also the ones that she didn't like.
When he was hiring a housekeeper aunty, he specifically emphasized that no matter what other dishes were served, she had to always cook at least one dish that had beef, chicken wings, or peeled shrimp. And, it had to be a braised dish with chili.
Li Shihui preferred hassle-free dishes. No matter how much she liked shrimp, she wouldn't bother buying it when he wasn't around.
Not only was today's meal lacking those ingredients, none of the dishes had strong flavors. How could Li Shihui bear to eat this meal? She was so tolerant towards others, but so bossy towards him.
"Did you not eat enough outside?" Li Shihui held back her tears. She was angry, but she couldn't help putting Jiang Minyun first. "I'll reheat the food."
Jiang Minyun nodded. He sat there like a young master, watching Li Shihui bustle about.
The French restaurant that night served small portions. He didn't eat enough, and his stomach felt empty. But after he came home, Li Shihui's actions filled up his stomach with anger. After Li Shihui brought the reheated food to the table, he only ate a few bites before putting down his chopsticks.
"Do you always eat this sort of food every day?"
The sauce for the steamed turbot was rather bland, the breading for the sweet and sour pork was too thick, and the yellow croaker soup had an unpleasant fishy smell. He had grown used to eating fine food, and it was difficult for him to eat this meal.
"Does it taste bad?" When she tried it earlier, the food was just average. It wasn't bad to the point that she would stop eating after a few bites.
Li Shihui's expression turned a bit ugly. Placing a hand on the table for support, she slowly walked to the left side of Jiang Minyun and sat down. She picked up his chopsticks and tasted the food.
When Jiang Minyun saw her pale pink lips touch the tips of his chopsticks, he almost dug his nails into his left palm.
From his peripheral vision, he saw her leaning closer to him to reach a dish. He pretended to casually prop his head in his hand to show off a better angle of his face.
Sure enough, Li Shihui turned to look at him. Her eyes were riveted on him.
He thought; so damn obsessed with his face. Other than his face, was there ever anything else that she liked?
"You're right, this doesn't taste good." Li Shihui slowly evaluated, "It doesn't taste as good as before."
"Just throw it out. Change the aunty too. Her cooking skills have deteriorated too much. Replace her with someone that can cook better meals." Jiang Minyun wanted to touch her hair. Li Shihui's appearance when she obediently pandered to him was too adorable.
The aunty dared to feed her this food when he wasn't around. Why would he employ someone at a high price to cause Huihui to suffer?
"She's been with us for a few years. Do you really want to replace her?" Li Shihui slowly blinked and tilted her head to avoid his hand.
Feeling rejected, Jiang Minyun put his hand down to his side and clenched his hand into a fist. He angrily said, "Li Shihui, why are you always so compassionate towards others? Things that aren't good should be replaced. What's wrong with that?"
Li Shihui gently smiled to stop herself from crying.
"Yeah, that's true." She supported his views. She curved her lips further. Her heart felt sour as she echoed, "It's only natural to throw away the old when you find something better."
This was simply human nature. Anyone would think Liang Xinyu was a million times better than her. Her thoughts were a mess.
Jiang Minyun found her smile irresistible. He was in a better mood and smiled along with her. He suddenly reached out and pulled her onto his lap. He whispered into her ear, "How about we look for a new aunty together? Someone that knows how to cook Sichuan food. I'll be free for the next two weeks, so we can slowly look."
He stroked her back. So thin. He pressed his hand against her spine and rubbed along the length until they were both warm. He had the urge to pounce.
Li Shihui's mind was filled with images of Liang Xinyu's haughty face and her unwavering comeback aura. She wanted to curl up in a safe space to temporarily escape from danger, but she was trapped by Jiang Minyun.
Uncomfortable, she shook her head.
He grabbed her chin with his large hand and forced her to look at him. He pinned her against the table to kiss her and ate her tongue like he was sucking on jelly.
Jiang Minyun's movements shifted her body, and her thigh ended up pressed against his pants pocket. She could feel a small, hard object in his pocket digging into her thigh. Li Shihui kept trying to push him away, but after a long time, she only managed to push him a finger's width away.
"What's wrong?" Jiang Minyun's mind was empty. He couldn't think. His eyes were fixated on that pink part that was wet from sucking.
When he leaned closer like he was under a spell, Li Shihui grabbed him and asked him, "Is there a box inside? It's pressing against my leg."
"It's for you. You can take it out." Jiang Minyun kissed the side of her face and somewhat fawningly smiled. "I bought it after getting off the plane." With ulterior motives, he gently massaged the part of her leg that was pressed against the box.
After some effort, Li Shihui took out a Tiffany blue box.
Her hand trembled, and Jiang Minyun held her wrist to support her.
Jiang Minyun mistook her trembling for excitement. He pressed his head against her aching shoulder again, but she didn't have the energy to push him away. In an uncertain tone, he asked, "Don't you want to open it? Do you not like it?"
He further explained, "It's not expensive."
She thought of that expensive, gleaming silver Tiffany ring that Su Jiao showed her. For a moment, she didn't have the courage to look inside the box.
"Why didn't you come home for dinner tonight?" Li Shihui turned to look at him. She knew that her face looked very ugly right now; she couldn't help herself. She pretended to casually ask, "Is it because the food at home isn't delicious anymore?"
Li Shihui smiled.
Her gaze made Jiang Minyun feel very uncomfortable. He forced himself to smile back at her. "Of course not. It's because Zhuang He needed to talk to me, and we ended up having dinner. Just the two of us." Jiang Minyun emphasized that last part.
After he spoke, the air fell silent.
Jiang Minyun instinctively didn't want Li Shihui to know about Liang Xinyu's matter. He hid this matter just like how he hid other bad things. After experiencing a life of being pampered and spoiled by Li Shihui, he was afraid that she would accidentally discover his wickedness.
Anyways, over ten years had passed. She wouldn't remember Liang Xinyu the way he remembered Lin Zhicheng. This was the eternal difference between them.
"Really?" Li Shihui's voice was very soft.
"Mhm." Jiang Minyun avoided Li Shihui's eyes. He opened the box to show a Tiffany diamond smile necklace in platinum.
"Do you like?" Jiang Minyun coaxed." "Let me put it on you to try… It's okay if you don't like it. We can buy something else."
His wife, who was sitting on his lap and pressed against his body, was stiff and silent.
He didn't know why he felt a rising panic. He said he would put the necklace on her, but his hands were shaking so badly that he couldn't lift the thin chain. After several unsuccessful attempts, he flung the box away and tightly hugged her.
"Li Shihui, say something!" He touched her cheek and found it was wet.
Li Shihui didn't expect him to lie. Even as she was asking the question, she was thinking about what to say after he told her he had dinner with Liang Xinyu.
Should she tease him about meeting his ex-girlfriend after so many years, or be direct by asking if he had fallen out of love with her?
But Jiang Minyun lied to her. Why? If there was nothing going on between them, why would he lie?
Tears welled up. Her throat felt tight. She couldn't speak. She wanted to use the table to support herself to stand up, but he was holding her too tightly.
Jiang Minyun couldn't let her go, but he didn't know how to stop her from crying. He could only put away his fangs and put on his sheepskin. His hug felt like he was locking her up in a small space.
Li Shihui's mind was a complete mess.
Ever since he shook her awake in the middle of the night two months ago, she felt as if she had fallen into a nightmare. She was like a small insect that had been caught in a spider's web. No matter how much she struggled and begged, she couldn't escape.
Li Shihui suddenly covered her face. Only one option left.
"Jiang Minyun, let's divorce."