After four years of living alone after marrying far away, he went back to his parents' home and

After reading the message, Lan Yujuan felt half-drunk.

She raised her hand to rub her temples; that pile of annoying troubles was truly "just as one worry faded, another arose in her mind."

What she couldn't understand even more was how her ex-husband knew her new address.

Before she could figure it out, the phone rang again; it was Liu Zhiyuan again.

However, this time Lan Yujuan did not avoid the question, but answered it directly:

"Tell me, how much do you want?"

However, Liu Zhiyuan on the other end paused for a moment, and instead of answering directly, he asked in return:

"Were you and that man in a fake marriage to deceive me?"

Lan Yujuan's brow twitched, and she inexplicably began to feel guilty.

"Liu Zhiyuan, you overestimate yourself!"

"Go look in the mirror. From your appearance to your inner qualities, from your abilities to your work, in what way do you compare to them?"

Anyone with eyes can tell which one to choose!

Although, strictly speaking, her marriage to Chen Mo was not a sham marriage as her ex-husband claimed.

But even if she doesn't admit it, she knows it very well in her heart.

The reason she married Chen Mo was partly because they had mutual needs in life and physically, and he was a good candidate to live with.

The two are neighbors, which creates boundaries and makes it easy for them to cross them. After getting their marriage certificate, their interactions will be more legitimate.

On the other hand, she also wanted to completely sever ties with her ex-husband through her marriage to Chen Mo.

But you must not let the other party know even a little bit about these things.

Only by completely ignoring the other party, and with the passage of time, is it possible to completely get rid of them.

Otherwise, if she gives the other party even the slightest hope, things will probably spiral out of her control.

Lan Yujuan took a deep breath and said, word by word:

"I'm willing to marry him for only one reason: I love him."

After saying this, Liu Zhiyuan on the other end remained silent for a long time.

Just as she was starting to get impatient and was about to hang up, a leisurely voice suddenly came from the other end:

"Lan Yujuan, are you still trying to lie to me?" The voice was light and cheerful, carrying a strange confidence.

Lan Yujuan frowned and said, "I'd lie to you?"

"What are you lying about? Stop being so delusional!"

Unexpectedly, her ex-husband on the other end of the phone suddenly laughed:

"You're so stubborn, you won't admit it!"

"If you two are truly married, why haven't you moved in together after being married for so long?"

"Shouldn't we take things further after going home from a date?"

"Why are you sitting alone on the living room sofa drinking alone in the middle of the night?"

"Aren't you lonely raising a child alone?"

"Or are you saying that the good men you're talking about are actually no good at all...?"

"Otherwise, with you all dressed up like this today, and you two being a legally married couple, how could he possibly resist?"

Although Lan Yujuan had been drinking, she still sensed something was wrong from the way the other person was talking.

"Wait, how did you know I was home alone?"

"And how did you know I was sitting alone on the living room sofa drinking tonight?"

Lan Yujuan couldn't understand what was going on.

However, a woman's sixth sense gave her an intuition that her every move was being seen through by the other party.

Lan Yujuan subconsciously looked up at the monitor next to the TV and immediately got goosebumps all over her body.

That surveillance camera was installed by her along with the one at the entrance when she first moved in, for safety reasons.

She knew that her ex-husband, Liu Zhiyuan, was a computer expert. Could it be that after he found out her new home address, he secretly hacked the home security camera to closely monitor her every move?

When Lan Yujuan thought of this possibility, she broke out in a cold sweat and sobered up considerably.

She tossed her phone aside, quickly got up, walked to the TV, and unplugged the monitor.

"Liu Zhiyuan, you are despicable and shameless!"

"They actually used surveillance to spy on my privacy?" Lan Yujuan gritted her teeth in anger.

Although she wasn't entirely sure about the matter yet, she wanted to try and provoke the other party with her angry words.

"What surveillance? What spying? I don't understand what you're talking about at all." Liu Zhiyuan on the other end denied it outright, showing no sign of panic.

This reaction made Lan Yujuan suspicious: Could it be that she was overthinking things?

While Lan Yujuan was still hesitating, the other side began to explain.

"We've known each other for so many years. How could I not know you?"

"I know exactly what your voice is like normally. It only becomes slurred and slightly nasal after you've been drinking."

"Besides, do you think I wouldn't be able to tell if you're relaxed or not?"

"It's so quiet around you, yet you speak so freely. Where else could you be but on the living room sofa?"

"At this hour, our daughter should be asleep by now. You wouldn't be in your room taking a call, and you certainly wouldn't be on the phone with me for so long in front of another man!"

Lan Yujuan listened to the other party's well-organized explanation. Although she still had doubts, she couldn't refute it.

She subconsciously got up, put on her coat, turned off the living room floor lamp, then pushed open the glass door and walked towards the balcony.

"Alright, that's enough!"

"Just tell me directly, how much do you want?"

She had long suspected that Liu Zhiyuan was a man who cared a lot about his image in public, and that even if he wanted money, he would say one thing but mean another.

But in private, he's capable of anything.

Even though he was short of money, he knew that he wouldn't easily give up the money he had in his hands.

Lan Yujuan's attention was almost entirely focused on the phone.

Completely unaware that on the dark balcony next door, a faint, flickering crimson light was extinguished the moment she appeared.

Only after she hung up the phone, went back inside, closed the glass door leading from the living room to the balcony, and drew the curtains, did a small flame reignite on the neighboring balcony with a "snap."

Behind the leaping flames was Chen Mo's rugged and handsome face, hidden in the night, inexplicably tinged with a hint of bitterness and gloom.

"He's such a mangy dog, you can't get rid of him no matter how hard you try..."

Three days later, Lan Yujuan was at the coffee shop, checking the construction progress of the hillside courtyard while casually filming videos to record the event.

Since we reached an agreement with Tang Shan, the progress has been much faster!

Since deciding to open a coffee shop, she has opened accounts on different social media platforms.

From site selection to design and decoration, as well as the progress of each small stage of construction, she compiled everything into videos and text, and published them online simultaneously.

It serves as both a record and a way for me to promote my small coffee shop in advance.

That day, she had just finished filming a video when Liu Zhiyuan's lawyer contacted her.

"Hello, Ms. Lan, I am Mr. Liu Zhiyuan's lawyer."

"Regarding the matter of redistributing your assets with Mr. Liu Zhiyuan, would you be available to meet this afternoon to discuss it?"

This day happened to be the final deadline she had promised, and she had already set aside the time.

"Can."

"You guys tell me a time, I'll send you the address, and we can talk about the rest when we meet!"

After everything was arranged, Lan Yujuan gazed at the river not far away and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

With her current royalties, the substantial copyright fees she just received, plus the savings she's accumulated over the past two or three years...

Even if she returns all 80 yuan to Liu Zhiyuan, she can still support herself and her daughter.

However, she won't do that.

She can leave with nothing, but she must plan for her daughter's future.

Before going to the appointment, Lan Yujuan set a bottom line for herself: she would return a maximum of 20 yuan to her ex-husband, as a way to give him a chance to catch his breath and turn things around.

As for the rest, he shouldn't even think about getting a single extra point!