She was just about to close her eyes again when the building door was pushed open and she heard a voice call, "Yuzhe!"
At once, her eyes shot up just in time for her to see a girl jump into a man's embrace, lifting one leg up from the ground. It had been five years, but she recognized them at once.
How could she ever forget the faces of the two people who ruined her life?
From a few feet away, she watched as they hugged for several seconds, and Lu Yuzhe looked at Xia Yiwei sweetly. . . What a lovely sight.
He then kissed her on the cheek and let go of her, turning around to open the car door for her.
Xu Anyi was still in shock at seeing the two of them on her first day out of jail. It was only the first day, yet everything seemed to be going against her.
Her fists had unknowingly clenched together as she looked at the lovely couple, like two bright stars in the sky, shining their radiant light onto the dark world. Meanwhile, she stood in the darkness, a sharp contrast to the two of them.
Xu Anyi turned around, wanting to leave. However, before Lu Yuzhe could even close the door for Xia Yiwei, someone suddenly called, "Xu Anyi!"
Everyone froze.
Xin Tong walked out from a side door and towards Xu Anyi, who knew that the other two people near them had definitely heard as well.
"What are you doing here? Don't you work in the Back?" Xin Tong asked, wearing a tight white dress that showed off her curves but also highlighted the innocent appearance she had.
Xu Anyi did not respond as she glanced to the side, and not to her surprise, both of them had noticed her as she stood near the front door.
Xia Yiwei also heard as she pushed the door open and slowly climbed out of the car, her expression changing from surprise to confusion to delight and then pity. The same fake pity she had on her face the last time Xu Anyi had seen her five years ago.
Lu Yuzhe had his eyebrows tightly knit together, and his face was filled with shock as it took a moment for him to recognize his ex-wife.
Xu Anyi still wore her dishwashing outfit, her clothes dirty, tattered, and uneven. Her hair was oily and messy, as her ponytail was falling apart, and she had no makeup on at all.
All the time in the prison had made her skin appear slightly yellow and rough, and her most beautiful eyes looked tired and had lost their sparkle.
After a long moment of silence, Lu Yuzhe finally took a step toward her, frowning, "When did you come out? Why are you here?"
From the side, Xin Tong looked over at Lu Yuzhe with glistening eyes, but when she saw him speak to Xu Anyi, she immediately frowned in confusion as she looked between the two of them.
Xu Anyi looked at Lu Yuzhe but stayed silent, not responding to his questions.
From behind, Xia Yiwei got out of the car and walked over with a pleasantly surprised smile on her face, "Anyi, when did you come out from priso-"
She then looked over at Xin Tong and pretended to cover her mouth with her hands as she cleared her throat, "I mean, what are you doing here?"
When Xu Anyi didn't respond, Xia Yiwei wasn't offended at all as she smiled sweetly, "Where are you going? Do you need a ride?"
Xu Anyi looked at the two of them with a blank expression and simply said, "No," and then she walked away, going past the front door of Yihua and turning the corner to return to her dorm.
Xin Tong looked at Lu Yuzhe and Xia Yiwei and smiled, then quickly turned around as well as she chased Xu Anyi back to the dorm.
After they had gone, Lu Yuzhe looked over at Xia Yiwei, who had a soft smile on her face. He raised an eyebrow, "Did you know she was back?"
"I-" Xia Yiwei looked up at him and pressed her lips together, "My friends saw Anyi earlier, working as a waitress at Yihua, so they told me. This is my first time seeing her too!"
Lu Yuzhe nodded as she looked over in the direction Xu Anyi had gone, and then he walked around the car and opened the door, "Let's go."
As they drove away, Lu Yuzhe thought back to the short encounter with Xu Anyi. He frowned as he remembered how unpleasant she looked, and he silently let out a breath of relief for divorcing her five years ago.
Next to him, Xia Yiwei looked out the corner to hide her smile as she also thought about Xu Anyi, and the more she thought about their encounter, the more happy she became at how distressed and ugly Xu Anyi looked compared to her.
They could not even compare.
—
Xu Anyi walked back to the dorm quickly and it took a while before Xin Tong finally caught up to her. She grabbed onto Xu Anyi's shoulder and turned her around, "How do you know those two people?"
Xu Anyi realized that she was talking about Lu Yuzhe and Xia Yiwei, and she started walking again, "I don't know them."
Xin Tong frowned as she followed her, "Liar! You obviously know them!"
Xu Anyi did not say anything else as she unlocked the door and walked into the empty dorm room.
Xin Tong also walked in as she had finished work early tonight and she glared at Xu Anyi, who entered the restroom to get ready for bed, "You must be hiding something from me!"
Xin Tong paced around the room with her arms crossed, saying loud enough for Xu Anyi to hear, "I see what you are trying to do! You just want to secure the bag for yourself. What a liar!"
She scoffed, "Work in the Back?! That's just an excuse! How innocent I was to believe you?! You are probably just trying to s-"
The bathroom door suddenly opened and Xin Tong flinched in surprise as Xu Anyi walked out, changed into the grey shirt and pants she had came in, and without even looking at Xin Tong, climbed up into her bed and laid down to sleep.
Xin Tong got even more mad at being ignored, and for the next few minutes, she continued to talk bad about Xu Anyi and make a bunch of noise in the room so she wouldn't be able to fall asleep.
After a while, Lin Xiaoxiao and Lan Yu also returned from work and Xin Tong made sure to tell both of them exactly what had happened from her own point of view, exaggerating the entire story and adding many false scenes from her own imagination into her account of the story.
Lan Yu did not say anything and got ready for bed as well, but Lin Xiaoxiao seemed to get very upset after hearing Xin Tong's story and began talking back about Xu Anyi as well, speaking extra loud to make sure that Xu Anyi wasn't asleep.
They kept speaking for a while before they got tired as well, and after the lights closed, they stopped speaking soon enough.
Xu Anyi lay on the hard bed, her eyes wide open as she stared at the dark ceiling. She had drawn the bed curtain close and pretended not to hear, and she did not really care about what they were saying either.
She thought about everything that had happened today.
She couldn't believe that Xia Yiwei and Lu Yuzhe were doing so well after five years. They had framed her and ruined her life, yet they were sweetly enjoying their days.
Hot tears boiled in her eyes but she did not let them roll down as she refused to blink.
Her nails dug into the thin blanket as she clenched her teeth tightly together.
No, she could not live like this! She refused to live like this!
She had to take revenge, for herself and for her murdered parents. She had to. . .
Xu Anyi shut her eyes slowly. But what could she do. . .
Her father's Xu Corporation was gone, swallowed completely by the Lu Corporation by her beloved "ex-husband" after her parents died.
She had nothing. . . What could she do?
--- Author's Note:
Go follow me on Instagram (@helemon_author) to see a video summary/trailer for this novel!
I hope you have a great day :)
Go follow me on Instagram (@helemon_author) to see a video summary/trailer for this novel!
I hope you have a great day :)