The divorce comeback system arrived right after I was born.

May 16th.

There are four days left until Chen Zhi's birthday.

But Chen Zhi himself was completely unaware of the importance of this matter, or rather, he had no idea that his birthday was approaching.

He only knows one thing.

These three women have all gone mad.

Pei Ningxue has been like a different person since the day before yesterday.

Although Pei Ningxue used to be stubborn, she was never ambiguous about being clingy when she needed to be.

But Chen Zhi was subjected to the silent treatment by her for two consecutive days.

Even more strangely, Pei Ningxue's itinerary over the past two days has suddenly become extremely mysterious.

In the past, she would share her whereabouts in the work group chat, whether it was attending meetings, meeting investors, or going to the bank; everything was traceable.

But now, her schedule is filled with blank spaces.

"Where did President Pei go this afternoon?" Chen Zhi asked, grabbing Dai Dama.

Dai Dama's expression was subtle.

"President Pei said... someone has been arranged."

"What personal arrangements?"

"She didn't say, and I didn't dare ask." Dai Da-mai shrank back. "Mr. Chen, why don't you go ask her yourself?"

Chen Zhi asked, of course.

Pei Ningxue replied with four words: "None of your business."

Chen Zhi stared at the message for a full thirty seconds, then silently locked the screen.

Forget it, I can't afford to mess with them.

……

May 17th.

There are three days left until Chen Zhi's birthday.

Lin Wanwan has changed too.

In the past, Lin Wanwan would send Chen Zhi at least twenty messages a day.

Upon waking up in the morning: "Good morning, honey! I missed you today too!"

At lunchtime: "Honey, guess what I ate today!"

Before going to sleep at night: "Goodnight, honey! See you in my dreams! *kiss*"

The information density was so high that sometimes when Chen Zhi finished a class, his phone would have two pages of unread messages.

But starting the day before yesterday, the volume of news dropped precipitously.

There are only three per day.

There isn't a single one more.

Moreover, the content became extremely perfunctory.

Honey, I'm so busy today!

[I'm currently filming a variety show, we'll talk later]

Goodnight~

No bombardment of emojis.

No voice messages were sent in a barrage.

They even skipped the "mua~".

Chen Zhi took the initiative to make a video call, which rang for a long time before being answered.

Lin Wanwan's face appeared on the screen. She had removed her makeup and was wearing a pink nightgown with her hair loosely draped over her shoulders.

"husband!"

Her voice was still sweet, but Chen Zhi keenly noticed a detail—

Lin Wanwan's background is not a hotel room.

Behind her was a wall with several handwritten notes pasted on it, which looked like lyrics or some kind of notebook.

"Where are you?"

"A hotel." Lin Wanwan quickly adjusted her phone's angle, turning the background into a pure white wall. "Just finished filming a variety show, I'm exhausted."

"What was that pasted on the wall behind you just now?"

"Huh? What wall? There isn't one, you must be mistaken."

Lin Wanwan's eyes darted around.

With his combined experience from two lifetimes, Chen Zhi knew all too well what that look meant.

lying.

"Late night."

"Um?"

"Have you been doing something behind my back?"

"No!" Lin Wanwan's voice changed. "What could I possibly be doing behind your back! Don't overthink it!"

Then she quickly said, "I'm sleepy, honey, I'm going to sleep now. We'll talk tomorrow. Bye, love you," and the video call ended.

Chen Zhi stared at the black screen, his heart pounding.

……

Hangzhou.

The moment Lin Wanwan hung up the video call, she threw her phone onto the bed, covered her face, and rolled around on the blanket three times.

"Thank goodness! We were almost seen!"

The manuscript of the song lyrics was pasted on the wall behind her.

Lin Wanwan jumped out of bed, ran to the wall, peeled off all the notes, and hurriedly stuffed them into the deepest part of her suitcase.

Then she picked up her phone and sent a message to Su Man.

[Sister Man!!! I almost gave myself away just now!!!]

【What's wrong?】

He video-called me! He saw the lyrics I posted on my wall! He asked me what they were!

Su Man remained silent for five seconds.

What did you say?

I said no, he must have misread it.

[...Did he believe it?]

You believe me now, right? I hung up after I finished speaking...

Su Man sent a facepalm emoji.

Lin Wanwan, your lying skills are even worse than your makeup skills.

Lin Wanwan pouted.

But I want to talk to him...

【Tolerate.】

【But--】

【Tolerate!】

Lin Wanwan collapsed onto the bed, clutching her pillow, and let out a wail.

She pulled out the demo of that song, put on her headphones, and listened to it again.

When she heard the chorus, her lips moved involuntarily.

You don't know when you laugh,

My heart is pounding so hard...

If I could, I would like to spend every birthday with you.

From black hair to white hair…

As she sang the last line, Lin Wanwan's eyes welled up with tears.

She muttered under her breath, "Chen Zhi, you big idiot, I've done so much for you, and you even forgot your own birthday."

……

May 18th.

There are still two days until Chen Zhi's birthday.

Chen Zhizheng panicked.

Because Li Zhiyi is acting strangely too.

If Pei Ningxue's approach was to give the cold shoulder, and Lin Wanwan's approach was to reduce contact, then Li Zhiyi's change was even more subtle, so subtle that if Chen Zhi hadn't been sensitive enough, he would have hardly noticed it.

Her message frequency remained unchanged; she still posted two or three messages a day.

But the wording has changed.

Lee Ji-yi's previous messaging style was like this:

Today in class we learned the difference between an invitation to offer and an offer. It was so difficult, but I remembered it. Have you eaten yet?

Now it has become:

You have a lot of classes today, so it might be inconvenient for you tonight. Get some rest.

Can you see the difference?

In the past, her messages always included Chen Zhi—"Have you eaten?", "Have you arrived at your dorm?", "It's cold today, wear something warm."

She wasn't reporting on her own life; she was weaving Chen Zhi into her every day.

But now, she is deliberately creating a sense of separation.

It looks like they're moving backward.

When Chen Zhi noticed this change, he sat on a bench in the cafeteria and began to question the meaning of life.

"What are you doing?" Guo Yang asked indistinctly from the other side.

"I'm analyzing it."

"Analyze what?"

"Analyze whether I've been cheated on."

"You, who's been cheating on three times, are saying you got cheated on? Do you know how rude and infuriating that sounds?"

Chen Zhi ignored him and continued staring at his phone.

Pei Ningxue's whereabouts are a mystery, her schedule is blank, and her attitude is indifferent.

Lin Wanwan's messages have suddenly decreased, and she seems to be hiding something during video calls.

Li Zhiyi used subtle wording and deliberately maintained a distance.

All three people are acting strangely at the same time.

This is definitely not a coincidence.

Chen Zhi slammed his chopsticks on the table.

"Guo Yang."

"Don't call me, I think you deserve it."

"Do you think it's possible that the three of them actually found out?"

Guo Yang finally stopped chewing.

"You mean... your three girlfriends?"

"Yes." Chen Zhi's expression was more serious than ever before. "Do you think it's possible that the three of them somehow discovered I was seeing three women at once, and are now plotting some kind of...retribution against me?"

Guo Yang put down his chopsticks and looked at him seriously for three seconds.

"Chen Zhi, I think your guess is very reasonable."

"real?"

"Really." Guo Yang nodded. "And if I were any one of those three, I wouldn't just punish you, I'd physically eliminate you. You'd better write your will now; I'll hold your dorm bed until the end of the month."

"roll."

Chen Zhi put his phone back in his pocket, picked up his tray, and poured out his food.

He had lost his appetite.

Because that feeling of unease was too intense.

He couldn't quite explain it, but his intuition told him that something was happening that everyone else knew except him.

……

At the same time.

Wanliu Academy, Beijing.

Pei Ningxue stood in the open kitchen, with a set of dishes laid out on the marble countertop in front of her.

A bag of high-gluten flour.

Two eggs.

A bowl of warm water.

A rolling pin.

A mobile phone, with a video tutorial on "how to make ramen by hand" playing on the screen.

And flour was scattered all over the ground.

Pei Ningxue's apron was covered in white powder, a clump of paste was stuck to her forehead, and her hands were sticky and hanging in mid-air.

She stared at the shapeless lump of dough in front of her, her expression one of utter despair.

This was her fourth attempt.

The first time, the dough was too hard. I kneaded it for fifteen minutes until my hands almost broke. In the end, I cut it open with a knife and found that it was still dry flour inside.

The second time, too much water was added, and it turned into a puddle of mush.

The third time, I finally managed to knead it into a roughly similar shape, but it broke several times while I was pulling it.

Pei Ningxue took a deep breath, threw the failed dough into the trash can, and started kneading the dough again.

On the phone screen, the video blogger's hands moved smoothly across the dough, accompanied by upbeat background music, and a barrage of comments like "So easy!" and "I've learned it!" floated across the screen.

Pei Ningxue stared at the comments section, her lips twitching slightly.

What makes it simple?

"Miss."

Old Zhao's voice came from the living room.

Your order has just arrived.

Pei Ningxue didn't even look up: "Put it on the coffee table in the living room."

She kneaded the dough for a while, wiped her hands clean, and walked out of the kitchen.

On the coffee table lay a flat, rectangular package wrapped tightly in shock-absorbing foam. Pei Ningxue unpacked it; inside was a dark blue velvet box.

turn on.

Inside the box, a Montblanc limited edition fountain pen lay quietly.

The pen body is made of deep sea blue resin, the clip is made of platinum, and the cap is inlaid with a white six-pointed star logo.

Turning to the bottom of the pen barrel, there is a line of extremely fine laser engraving:

CZ

"CZ" is the initials of Chen Zhi's name.

Pei Ningxue is always thorough in her work.

The watch is the main gift; it's a Patek Philippe, custom-made, with engraving on the back.

A fountain pen was a good gift. Chen Zhi's handwriting was terrible, and she thought that using a good pen might help her write better.

The third item was longevity noodles that she made herself.

If it can be done.

Pei Ningxue glanced at the fifth-edition dough that was "rising" in the direction of the kitchen and pursed her lips.

She went back to the kitchen, washed her hands, and rolled up her sleeves.

Continue kneading the dough.

This time, she moved much slower and more patiently than before.

Because she could picture Chen Zhi's expression when he said those words that day.

"I feel like I've never had a proper birthday celebration."

He said this with a completely nonchalant tone.

But Pei Ningxue has top-notch emotional intelligence and IQ, so she understood.

That's not something that doesn't matter.

That's just a habit.

Pei Ningxue's hand paused on the dough for a moment.

Then she took a deep breath and continued massaging.

"Chen Zhi."

She said in a low voice.

"You'd better finish this bowl of noodles."

……

May 19th.

There is one day left until Chen Zhi's birthday.

Beijing, Renmin University campus.

10:45 p.m.

The library was already closed. Li Zhiyi was carrying her books and walking back to her dormitory when she stopped as she passed the ginkgo tree.

My phone vibrated in my pocket.

It was sent by Chen Zhi.

[Zhiyi, have you been very busy these past few days? You seem a little unhappy.]

As Li Zhiyi looked at the message, a sudden wave of bitterness welled up in her heart.

It's not that I'm unhappy.

She was so happy, so happy it was almost overflowing, but she couldn't let him see it.

She sat down on the bench, put her schoolbag on her lap, and carefully typed a line of text.

I'm not unhappy, it's just that I have a lot of homework lately.

After sending it, she looked again at the brown paper envelope in the hidden compartment of her backpack.

The letter is still there.

The painting is still there.

But it's not finished yet.

She revised her left eyebrow six times, but no matter how she drew it, it didn't look right. Chen Zhi's left eyebrow was slightly higher than her right eyebrow, and she just couldn't get the curve right.

Li Zhiyi bit her lower lip and pulled a sharpened pencil out of the pencil case.

She placed the letter paper on the hard cover of the textbook, and by the dim light of the streetlamp, tilted her head and carefully trimmed her eyebrows.

She took the eraser and revised it again and again.

Much later.

Li Zhiyi looked at it from a distance.

It's still not similar enough.

But it's already better than yesterday.

Li Zhiyi carefully put the painting back into the envelope, then touched the other box at the bottom of her backpack.

The box was dark blue; it contained the money she had saved from two months of part-time jobs and her scholarship to buy a new phone.

Chen Zhi would give her a lot of money every month, but the money she earned herself had a different meaning.

There was a small piece of paper stuck on the phone box, with a little sun drawn by her in colored markers, and four words written next to it.

Be happy every day.

Li Zhiyi put the box back in and zipped it up.

She looked up at the ginkgo tree above her.

"It's tomorrow."

She said in a low voice.

Tomorrow is May 20th.

"He'll probably be happy then."

She thought about it.

"Probably."

Li Zhiyi stood up, dusted off her skirt, slung her backpack over her shoulder, and walked towards her dormitory.

After walking a few steps, she stopped again and looked back at the ginkgo tree.

"Li Zhiyi," she told herself, "you can do it."

Then she walked into the night.

……

Peking University, dormitory 404.

May 19th, 11:30 PM.

Chen Zhi lay in bed and picked up his phone for the thirty-seventh time to check the date.

May 19th.

Tomorrow is May 20th.

He stared at the number on the calendar, and a thought suddenly flashed through his mind.

and many more.

May 20th?

He sat up abruptly.

May 20th...

Chen Zhi sat blankly on the bed, his mind racing.

May 20th.

What does this date represent?

Chen Zhi closed his eyes and recalled the events deeply.

Was it my birthday?

Chen Zhi froze.

Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind, and he finally understood why his three girlfriends had been giving him the silent treatment lately.

So she was preparing for her own birthday.

Most people would be very happy, but his birthday isn't divided into three days. He only has one day for his birthday, so how can he spend it with three girlfriends?

It looks like it's going to fall apart.