Mr.CEO, Please Sign the Divorce Agreement
Chapter 72 If I Step Back to Just Being Friends

Chapter 72: Chapter 72 If I Step Back to Just Being Friends

Wei Shaoqin didn’t expect that Su Mu could hold her liquor well. After drinking three bottles of beer, her face didn’t even turn red, which caused him to take a few more glances at her, irritating her:

"Stop staring at me like that, it’s annoying!"

Wei Shaoqin: "...Do I annoy you no matter what I do?"

"Yes, I just find you unpleasant, so after dinner tonight, let’s not see each other again. You’ve harmed me and also saved me. Let’s call it even on past grievances. Even if we meet again, we should pretend we don’t know each other."

Saying this, she opened another bottle of beer. Wei Shaoqin could see that her face indeed wasn’t red, but she was clearly drinking too much.

After eating a skewer of lamb, Wei Shaoqin looked at her with a half-smile:

"Su Mu, you dislike me because I’m interested in you, because I want you."

Su Mu snorted coldly at him:

"Wei Shaoqin, have you ever realized how annoyingly persistent you are? I’ve already told you I’m not into you, yet you buzz around me like a fly. You say you’ve got money and looks; how come you stick like glue? Or is it that typical rich-people thing where you only want what you can’t have?"

Just as Wei Shaoqin was about to say something, the guy from the next table came over with a drink:

"Brother, let me drink with you."

Wei Shaoqin picked up his glass, stood up, politely clinked it with the other’s, and downed it in one go. The guy, seeing that Wei Shaoqin was forthright, couldn’t help but say a few more words, glancing at Su Mu and looking at Wei Shaoqin ambiguously:

"Is this your girlfriend?"

Wei Shaoqin glanced sideways at Su Mu, noticing she was already pouring herself another drink. It was this glance that made him think that continuing to interact with Su Mu like this might actually not be so bad.

With a slight smile, he said:

"No, she’s just a buddy of mine."

After the man left, Wei Shaoqin sat back down and watched Su Mu drink her liquor sip by sip, then slowly spoke:

"Su Mu, can I stop chasing you from now on?"

Su Mu lazily looked at him:

"When did you ever chase me? You’ve been forcing yourself on me from the start!"

"...Okay, then I promise you that from now on I’ll never force you again, won’t make you do things you don’t like, okay?"

Su Mu looked at him warily:

"What are you scheming now?"

"I have no ulterior motive, just find it boring to continue this way. I know you’re Fu Shinian’s woman; it indeed hurts my reputation being so persistently rejected, just like you said. I’m not without options. You’re just slightly more attractive, have a better body, and a more appealing personality, nothing more."

Su Mu squinted at him:

"I don’t get it."

Wei Shaoqin: "...What I mean is, from now on, I won’t think about pursuing you anymore. Can’t we just be friends?"

"No, I don’t want to be friends with you."

For the first time, Wei Shaoqin felt like his dignity was like a meat bun thrown to a dog, never picked up in front of Su Mu. He angrily clenched his teeth:

"Then you choose. Do you want me to always keep you in my mind with the idea of pursuing you one day, or do you want to be friends with me, so I’m no longer a threat to you? I’m very principled when it comes to friends; there will be no inappropriate thoughts, just loyalty first and foremost!"

"That’s four words..."

"Are you sick? Is that the point? The point is which one do you choose? Don’t say you don’t want to choose, otherwise I’ll automatically put you in the first one, and maybe I’ll just pursue you tonight and settle this desire of mine."

Su Mu felt she had let her guard down too much this evening, probably because Fu Shinian had angered her so much she lost most of her rationality, leading her to drink so much with someone who had been coveting her, now trapped in a dilemma where she had to choose.

She didn’t want either option, but for now, choosing the first seemed safest to her. As for the friends’ option, that could wait; so, Su Mu extended one finger:

"I choose one."

Wei Shaoqin stared at her intently: "You’re not even drunk, are you?"

Su Mu glared at him and said nothing, leaving Wei Shaoqin without recourse:

"Then it’s settled, from now on we’re brothers, buddies."

Perhaps with this new status as friends, Wei Shaoqin no longer indulged Su Mu as before. When she tried to drink again, he quickly snatched both the bottle and cup away from her:

"Enough already, what kind of look is this for a girl to drink so much outside?"

Even Wei Shaoqin didn’t realize how smoothly he had switched roles, and he didn’t feel anything inappropriate about it; it seemed he had always been just like that from the beginning.

Su Mu didn’t insist, probably feeling she had had enough to drink, and propped her wobbly head with her hand as she stared at Wei Shaoqin without blinking:

"Wei Shaoqin, do you really like me?"

Upon hearing this, Wei Shaoqin looked at her and laughed, "What? Are you already regretting the choice you just made? Don’t worry, I’ll give you another chance to choose."

"I think you never liked me. You’ve only ever had a conquest desire towards me from start to finish, so you can let go so easily, without any feeling of sorrow, and you might even think this is an easy thing, right?"

For a few seconds, Wei Shaoqin just looked at Su Mu and didn’t respond to her words, because he too was pondering what his feelings for Su Mu were. But after thinking it over, he couldn’t deny that he did indeed like her, just not to the extent of love.

This liking was more akin to appreciation, to admiration, because the girls around him mostly flattered him, so Su Mu, who always opposed him, naturally caught his extra attention. Because of this attention, he saw her personality and inner qualities beneath her exquisite exterior.

But if he was really asked to give up the entire forest for Su Mu, Wei Shaoqin knew he couldn’t do it. Perhaps after obtaining Su Mu, he would reach a point of tastelessness, and he might end the relationship with her or dismiss her with a sum of money.

So when Su Mu said it eased him to revert to being friends, he felt relaxed, and indeed there was nothing wrong with this sentiment. Probably this ease stemmed from the fact that Su Mu’s uniqueness would forever be preserved in his heart.

Wei Shaoqin looked at Su Mu:

"Do you really like Fu Shinian that much?"

At the sudden mention of this name, Su Mu froze for a few seconds, then gave a sorrowful smile, but she did not continue the conversation. Probably the alcohol hadn’t yet clouded her reasoning, and she knew the relationship with Fu Shinian was ultimately a secret.

Later, Wei Shaoqin suddenly brought up the previous incident when Su Mu was drugged, and he asked:

"Do you know who did it?"

Su Mu nodded but didn’t reveal the person, "I know."

"Qin Nianwan?" Wei Shaoqin speculated.

Su Mu furrowed her brow slightly, "What does she have to do with it?"

"Because she has a deep connection with Fu Shinian, right? By sending you to another man, given Fu Shinian’s fussy nature, continuing with you would be strange. So Qin Nianwan just smoothly took her place, becoming his true woman—a double hit in one move, right?"

Su Mu didn’t know if Qin Nianwan was involved when Su Shiyue made her move, but based on her understanding of Qin Nianwan, her motives for getting close to Fu Shinian were indeed not pure. As to whether she herself was a stumbling block for Qin, Su Mu didn’t know.

"I don’t know."

"Leaving aside whether it was her or not, but their relationship is indeed unclear. Aren’t you troubled by that?"

Su Mu glared at him, "What’s that to you?"

"Before, it was none of my business, but now that you are my friend, I can’t just sit back and do nothing. Don’t you want to get back at her?"

"No," Su Mu firmly refused. "Don’t go and act self-righteous."

Her relationship with Fu Shinian was messy enough. If Fu Shinian found out Wei Shaoqin had intervened on her behalf and harmed Qin Nianwan, especially without knowing his true sentiments towards Qin, she would be at a greater disadvantage.

Wei Shaoqin looked at her with a frustrated gaze but ultimately said nothing more. She didn’t want and disdain to do it, so he would handle it alone. There was no need for her to get involved directly.

——

In Bishui Yuntian, Fu Shinian’s productivity had stalled the entire day. He had lost count of how many times he had checked the time on the bottom right of his computer screen tonight. It was now past 10 o’clock, and Su Mu was still nowhere to be seen. Fu Shinian was keeping his temper in check and hadn’t asked Auntie Lin about her whereabouts, nor had he called her. Yet, it seemed as if she was giving him the cold shoulder, with no signs of returning.

The unpleasantness of the morning indeed affected his mood, but now, even though he himself wasn’t holding a grudge, she was still putting on airs. Could it really be that he had said something wrong?

She indeed didn’t like him; she liked someone else, someone he had no idea about!

When he went downstairs for the third time to get a drink, Auntie Lin finally couldn’t hold back and spoke first:

"The madam said she was going out to dinner with friends this afternoon and might come back late. Should we call her, maybe have a driver pick her up?"

"She didn’t go to class today?"

"No, she received a call at noon saying she didn’t need to go in."

Fu Shinian fell silent for a few seconds and then Auntie Lin spoke up to remind him:

"I’ll call the madam now."

But before she could take a step, Fu Shinian stopped her:

"Doesn’t she have legs? If she can go out by herself, can’t she come back by herself? Let her be."

Auntie Lin didn’t speak, but after Fu Shinian went upstairs, she still dialed Su Mu’s number, which went unanswered.

Thinking it through, Auntie Lin decided to go upstairs and inform Fu Shinian, although he didn’t say it out loud, after so many years by his side, Auntie Lin could see that he still cared about his wife. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have gone downstairs three times in one night to get water—a situation that had never happened before.

In the study, upon hearing from Auntie Lin that Su Mu’s phone wasn’t reachable, Fu Shinian’s expression grew even sourer:

"Didn’t I say there was no need to call her?"