Mr.CEO, Please Sign the Divorce Agreement
Chapter 244: Try Again

Chapter 244: Chapter 244: Try Again

Jiang Bei had sent a New Year’s message to Su Mu an hour ago, a brief six words: "Susu, Happy New Year."

Just looking at it, Su Mu’s heart softened into a mush, and she replied succinctly, "Happy New Year, Xiaobei."

As she put down her phone, her gaze inadvertently collided with Fu Shinian’s, and for once she did not look away. Fu Shinian watched her, then reached into his pocket, pulled out a red envelope, and handed it to her:

"Happy New Year."

Looking at the red envelope in his hand, which was thin and almost weightless, Su Mu smiled slightly:

"What is this?"

"The New Year’s money I promised you."

But Su Mu did not want to take it: "I don’t need it."

"It’s already wrapped, just for good luck."

Taking the red envelope, Su Mu asked, "Why didn’t you give it to me just now?"

Fu Shinian smiled and replied, "Giving out red envelopes like this, the Fu family would go bankrupt."

The action Su Mu had meant to do, to place the red envelope down, froze at Fu Shinian’s words; she could feel there was a card inside the red envelope, but she had not expected it to be this valuable.

"I can’t accept this."

As Su Mu tried to return the red envelope, Fu Shinian glanced at it but did not take it back; instead, his gaze rested on Su Mu’s face as he began:

"Su Mu, let’s talk."

It was a negotiation that could not be avoided, not today then tomorrow, and in this early time of the New Year, Su Mu had no negative feelings about this conversation, perhaps she was just too lonely at night and wanted someone to talk to.

"Alright," she replied indifferently, "but you have to take back the red envelope first."

"There is no reason to take back a gift once given. If you insist on refusing, then I will simply have to trouble myself to deposit it into your account. You won’t be able to stop me, right?"

Su Mu did not persist any further; she would not spend the money anyway.

It seemed as if Fu Shinian could see Su Mu’s thoughts, for he just smiled slightly and said nothing more, noticing that Su Mu was looking out the window, he also followed her gaze. There was nothing particularly special outside, but the pair of lanterns at the door were swinging in the dark night with beautiful arcs.

In such a serene atmosphere, Fu Shinian spoke softly:

"Are you insisting on divorce?"

It took a few seconds of silence before Su Mu replied, "Yes."

"After today, will you find a suitable opportunity to tell the old lady?"

"Yes."

"And you’ll move out?"

Su Mu nodded:

"Since I’ve decided to divorce, there’s no reason to keep living here. I’ve found a studio, and after the New Year, it will be transferred to my hands. The place is quite large; I plan to partition off a room for a bedroom. Barring any mishaps, I’ll be living there."

Although they were discussing a sad topic, Fu Shinian was very calm, and Su Mu was somewhat surprised, unsure whether the depth of the night had diluted his anger, or if this special day just made it impossible for him to flare up.

"If it hadn’t been for the incident with Wen Han, what would we have been like?"

Leaning against the chair in complete comfort, Fu Shinian posed such a hypothetical question, slightly turning his head to look at Su Mu, his face carrying a faint smile, "Guess."

Before the incident with Wen Han, Su Mu’s relationship with Fu Shinian had just entered a normal marital stage; he would call home every day, begin sharing his schedule with her, noticing the small changes in her body and even eagerly consulting the doctor, and when he was away on business trips, he would phone to check on her.

Undeniably, it was the happiest time for Su Mu after their wedding, but it only lasted less than a week, brief enough to be taken for a dream.

Now, as Fu Shinian brought it up, Su Mu couldn’t help but contemplate that they might have continued that happiness, perhaps their affection would have grown stronger amid the stability of their lives, getting better and better, to the point that he might even have tried to like her, making their somewhat twisted marriage start to normalize.

All these imaginings were entirely possible, and because of that, Su Mu smiled slightly.

"Maybe it would have been very happy?"

Fu Shinian nodded, "Do you really think so?"

After a few seconds of silence, Su Mu answered:

"But there are no ’ifs’."

What happened, happened; what changed, ultimately changed; neither of them had the capability to rewrite history. Thus, it was all hypothetical; they still had to look forward.

"What if we acted as though that incident never happened? Let’s try again and see if it’s different from what we imagined. If it’s really as good as we think, then divorce wouldn’t necessarily be our only choice. If it still ends the same, it seems it wouldn’t be any worse, would it?"

"Try again?"

"Yes, skip past that unpleasant history." He slightly turned to look at Su Mu, "We start over, and if it’s truly as we imagine, if we can be very happy, then divorce isn’t an inevitable choice for us. If it ends up being the same as now, it seems it would not be any worse, right?"

The proposal sounded reasonable; regardless of the outcome, it would not be worse than now. However, after a moment of silence, Su Mu gently shook her head, declining the offer with a light smile:

"Let’s not."

"Why not?"

"We had our happy and joyful moments in our two years together, but those so-called beautiful times cannot outweigh the next misunderstanding and dissatisfaction to come. I don’t want to hold on to hope then anxiously await the next disappointment."

Fu Shinian watched Su Mu:

"Do you think there will be more disappointments?"

With a faint smile, Su Mu replied:

"No one can guarantee that the ending will be perfect. Fu Shinian, let’s let go. I tried and made an effort in this marriage. Even with such an ending, I have no regrets. Let yourself go as well, after all, I was never the one you chose from the start. Later, after we separate, you can go find someone you truly like."

Fu Shinian did not speak for a long time after hearing this. He stood up from his seat and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing out as distant fireworks occasionally burst in the night sky. His voice was even fainter when he spoke:

"If... if I promised to trust you, understand you, care for you, cherish you, respect you, to listen to your thoughts first whenever something comes up, to not make assumptions about your feelings, and to never hurt you again as I did before, would you still choose to give up?"

Shocked by his words, Su Mu stared at Fu Shinian, but he left her only with his lean silhouette. This made Su Mu doubt whether what she had just heard were indeed Fu Shinian’s words.

She hardly believed that such an almost beseeching promise could one day be said to her by Fu Shinian.