"Don't tell me he has no interest in you—and even if he did, he wouldn't take you. In the capital, even a woman that I, Bo Jingzhou, don't want, no one would dare pick up."
Thoroughly infuriated by these words, Shen Wanci spun around and glared at him. "If you think that reason damages your face, you can swap it for another: your wife feels sick and wants to throw up the moment she sees you, has zero physical response, and can't carry on a normal married life!"
"Shen Wanci..." A fury that could tear a person to shreds suddenly churned in Bo Jingzhou's eyes as he ground out her name through clenched teeth.
Afraid he might do something out of line in a fit of rage, Shen Wanci softened her attitude as if letting the air out of herself. "Whatever the reason, we're going to divorce sooner or later. Look around—what couple is like us?"
Thinking of these three tormented years of married life, of how time and again she'd greeted him with a smiling face only to be met with the man's cold indifference, of all the meals he'd dumped in the trash without so much as a glance—the grievances welled up layer upon layer, impossible to hold back.
Bo Jingzhou watched her with lowered brows. The woman's eyes were faintly red, yet she was stubborn as a fighting cock all the same.
His Adam's apple bobbed once. Suddenly he was very annoyed, and so he simply shut his eyes and lay down. "Sleep."
Held like this by the man, Shen Wanci's face was pressed against his chest, her every breath full of Bo Jingzhou's scent. This was the first time since their marriage that he had held her to sleep; before, the two of them had always slept separately, with at least a person's width of distance between them.
The man had just showered, and his body was cool—but it warmed up quickly, scalding enough that Shen Wanci felt as though she were clutching a hot-water bottle.
Held like this, she couldn't sleep comfortably. She struggled a bit, wanting to turn over and face away from him.
Bo Jingzhou frowned, his rough voice rising slightly: "Stop squirming. Sleep."
Shen Wanci was so hot she was nearly sweating, and she was in no mood to notice the wrongness in his tone. "Don't hold me, it's uncomfortable..."
Her leg lifted instinctively, meaning to kick him a little distance away—but her knee accidentally brushed against something, and she froze on the spot in an instant!
"You..."
Bo Jingzhou's voice was flat: "Mrs. Bo, I'm simply not interested in you—it's not that I can't do it. If you keep moving, I'll take it as an invitation. Plain water may be bland, but when there's no other choice it can still quench a thirst."
If Bo Jingzhou's corpse were ever left exposed in the wilderness someday, it would surely be that mouth of his that killed him!
But Shen Wanci's gaze fell on the red mark on his neck. Its color had already faded considerably; by tomorrow it would probably be invisible.
"You'd better go find the woman who left the marks on your neck—stop coming here to disgust me!"
Almost the instant her words fell, Bo Jingzhou's kiss landed on her neck—
Not a simple kiss, but a sucking one.
Shen Wanci was hurt by him and shoved him hard, frowning. "Bo Jingzhou, have you lost your mind?"
The man let go of her, going with the motion. "Before you were with me, you'd never dated anyone, had you?"
Shen Wanci had no idea what he was getting at; she only gnashed her teeth viciously: "If I'd known I'd end up married to you, I'd have gone through a different man every week."
She touched the spot he'd kissed. This lunatic—he must have left a mark. It was summer now, and she only wore low-collared clothes; there'd be no way to cover it.
But Bo Jingzhou let out a "Heh": "Never dated, no experience—then let me teach you. This is what a kiss mark looks like. Don't go thinking such filthy thoughts just because you see a red mark on someone else's neck."
Shen Wanci was stunned. What did he mean by that?
Could it be that the mark on his neck wasn't a kiss mark?
But whether it was or not, he shouldn't treat her this way—they were about to divorce!
Shen Wanci turned over to face away from the man and ignored him, shutting her eyes amid an inexplicable anger, forcing herself to sleep.
Bo Jingzhou looked at the figure of the woman turned away from him. He had to admit, she really was soft—a casual pinch could practically squeeze the water out of her.
That ball of heat in his chest came surging over. He pressed down the desire that had risen out of nowhere and steadied his breathing...
The next day was the weekend. Shen Wanci and Bo Jingzhou went to the hospital together to collect Jiang Yazhu's medical report.
The doctor looked at the report, his brow slightly furrowed.
A sense of foreboding rose in Shen Wanci's heart. "Doctor, is there something wrong?"
"Judging by the test results, the patient has hypertensive heart disease caused by long-term high blood pressure. As for why she frequently runs fevers, it should be because her body was so severely depleted in her youth, leaving her with low immunity."
Shen Wanci seized on the key point: it was heart disease.
"Can it be cured?"
"Because the underlying cause of hypertensive heart disease is hard to eliminate, there's no way to cure it—we can only slow the progression. The patient must be more careful with her daily diet, get appropriate exercise, and most importantly, she absolutely must not be emotionally provoked."
The gist of it was: it was a chronic illness that had to be watched at all times.
Coming out of the hospital, Shen Wanci let out a long breath. She glanced at the time, thinking how nice it would be if today were a Monday—then she could make a trip to the civil affairs bureau.
"When exactly are you going to go register the divorce with me?" She was getting a little impatient.
"In such a hurry?"
Did this count as being in a hurry? Wasn't this something that should have been done long ago?
Shen Wanci gritted her teeth and held her temper. She had every reason to suspect this dog Bo Jingzhou was deliberately dragging it out. "I'm worried Jian Weining can't wait any longer. She finally made it back from overseas—if you don't hurry and tie her to your side, watch out, she might run off again."
Bo Jingzhou gave her a cold look. "Only dogs need to be tied up."
Shen Wanci thought: Aren't the two of you exactly a pair of dogs—a shameless man and his bitch?
Of course, this was something she didn't dare say, afraid of getting hit.
Before long, Uncle Jiang drove the car over. Bo Jingzhou told her to get in, but she stood rooted where she was.
"I'll take a cab back," Shen Wanci said with a frown, issuing her final ultimatum. "One week is my last bottom line. We were husband and wife for three years, after all—I hope we can part on good terms, and not let it come to the point of suing each other in court and having the whole city know."
"Are you threatening me?" Bo Jingzhou narrowed his eyes, a layer of cold white frost settling over his brow. "If I don't agree to the divorce, you'll find a lawyer and sue me?"
Shen Wanci said nothing, which counted as tacit agreement with his words.
But the man let out a cold laugh: "You left so many of your things behind without taking them—wasn't that so you could go back anytime?" He frowned, somewhat impatient. "Playing too hard to get only becomes tiresome."
Shen Wanci couldn't help rolling her eyes. How could he still be thinking like this even now?
She couldn't resist sneering coldly: "Bo Jingzhou, did you never once wash your face growing up?"
Such a thick skin!
"Those things are all things I don't want. If you want to throw them out, throw them out—burn them, even."
Bo Jingzhou let out a "Heh." "You're already trying to divorce me, and you still want me to do things for you? Go clear out that pile of trash of yours. Let me see your resolve before we talk about the divorce."
"Then I'll have Auntie Sun throw them out."
Auntie Sun was a servant at Yuting Manor; when it came to dealing with trash, she was absolutely the expert.
Bo Jingzhou's smile didn't reach his eyes. "Shen Wanci, since we married you've never paid a single cent of the household expenses—everyone's wages come out of my account. Where do you get the nerve to make the people I hired do things for you?"
"Then I'll hire movers to come collect them."
"I don't like outsiders running around in the house."
The corner of Shen Wanci's eye twitched. "This won't do, that won't do—Bo Jingzhou, what exactly do you want?"
Bo Jingzhou said nothing, like a god looking down from on high, regarding her with the expression one would give an imbecile.
She blew out a heavy breath and said spitefully: "Since you're so particular, you needn't live on the ground either—go live underground. Ghosts walk without ever touching the ground; that way you won't dirty your home."
Bo Jingzhou's face darkened in an instant. "I think you've had enough of living?"