Chapter 922 - 965: Divorced?
The phone in her pants pocket vibrated for a while and then went quiet!
After having lunch with her mother, Ye Anxin left.
Once she got into the elevator, Ye Anxin took out the phone from her pocket and dialed Nan Mingchuan.
Nan Mingchuan seemed to have been waiting by the phone. It had barely started ringing when he picked up. "Hello, Anxin! I just called you—why didn’t you answer?"
Ye Anxin hurriedly came up with an excuse. "Dad, it wasn’t convenient for me to answer just now! Why are you calling me? Is something wrong?"
Nan Mingchuan hesitated for a moment, then said, a little embarrassed, "Anxin... Dad’s back... I want to see you. Where are you? Do you have time?"
Feigning ignorance, Ye Anxin asked in surprise, "You’re back? When did you get back?"
Nan Mingchuan explained, "I arrived in Jin City this morning! I called you just now because I wanted to ask you out for lunch, and there are some things I want to talk to you about. But you didn’t pick up."
Hearing that, Ye Anxin felt a pang of guilt. "Dad, I’m sorry. Have you eaten yet?"
Nan Mingchuan shook his head. "Not yet! I was waiting to eat with you."
Ye Anxin said quickly, "Dad, where are you now? I’ll come find you!"
Nan Mingchuan answered, "I’m at Sunshine Tea Restaurant. It’s two streets away from your mom’s neighborhood."
"Okay, got it! Wait for me, I’ll come over right now!" After hanging up, Ye Anxin put the phone back in her pocket, walked out of the complex alone, greeted the driver waiting across the street, then went on foot straight to Sunshine Tea Restaurant, where Nan Mingchuan was.
When she arrived at the restaurant, Ye Anxin went straight up to the second floor and into Nan Mingchuan’s private room.
As soon as the door opened, Ye Anxin saw Nan Mingchuan sitting by the window. He’d been staring outside, and when he heard the sound at the door, his gaze shifted over. He smiled at her and, with a voice that sounded even more weathered and aged than before, said with a laugh, "Anxin, you’re here! Sit down."
Ye Anxin closed the door behind her and sat down in the seat opposite him. "Dad, you haven’t eaten yet. Order something first."
Nan Mingchuan’s expression dimmed. "I don’t have an appetite. Have you eaten? What do you want?"
Seeing him like this, Ye Anxin suddenly felt a little ache in her chest.
It had been not even a year, but she felt her father had aged a lot. The hair at his temples had gone completely white, there were more wrinkles on his face, and most importantly, before, even if he didn’t say a word, just standing there he gave off a kind of oppressive aura that made people instinctively fearful.
But now, not only was that pressure gone, he even gave off a desolate feeling, as if he’d been through too much, with no spark left in his eyes or on his face.
Ye Anxin hadn’t planned on eating, but seeing him like this, she spoke without thinking, "I’ll just have a rice bowl! Cheap and filling!" Before she married Uncle, the thing she and Yueyue ate most often together was rice bowls and claypot rice. Not only did they taste good, they weren’t expensive.
"Okay." Nan Mingchuan nodded and pressed the red button on the table. Soon, the private room door opened, and a waiter came in, politely saying, "What can I get for you?"
Without looking at the menu, Ye Anxin said directly, "I’ll have a potato and beef rice bowl."
The waiter nodded, quickly jotting it down. "Alright. Anything else?"
Ye Anxin looked at Nan Mingchuan. "Dad, what about you?"
Nan Mingchuan shook his head, answering weakly, "I don’t have an appetite. I don’t want anything."
Ye Anxin persuaded him, "You can’t not eat. At least have a little. You’re not young anymore—you can’t go hungry, your body won’t be able to take it."
Too lazy to look at the menu, Nan Mingchuan just said, "Then I’ll have a green chili beef brisket rice bowl."
"Alright, please wait a moment. Your food will be right out." With that, the waiter stepped out and closed the door for them.
After the waiter left, Ye Anxin glanced at the empty teacup in front of Nan Mingchuan and sighed inwardly. She got up to pour him a cup of tea, saying helplessly, "Dad, didn’t you go abroad with Auntie? Why did you suddenly come back? Why didn’t you tell me before you came? I could’ve gone to pick you up at the airport."
Nan Mingchuan didn’t respond to her question. He lowered his head and toyed with the glass in front of him, his eyes unfocused, looking very absent-minded.
Seeing him lost in thought, Ye Anxin called to him gently, "Dad, what are you thinking about?"
Nan Mingchuan pulled himself back to the present and looked at Ye Anxin. He forced a smile and said bitterly, "Anxin, this time I came back because I want to get back together with your mom. Your mom and I have been circling around each other for more than twenty years. We’ve already wasted over twenty years. I don’t want to waste any more. I just want to spend what’s left of my life staying by her side. But, but..."
Following his words, Ye Anxin asked, "But what?"
Changing tack, Nan Mingchuan suddenly said, "Actually, as soon as I got off the plane this morning, I went straight to find your mom. I wanted to explain things to her, I wanted to make up with her. But she was very emotional, and no matter what I said, she wouldn’t listen! Anxin, my feelings for your mother are real. In this life I’ve only ever loved that one woman. I sincerely want to be with her."
"Dad, if you and my mom get back together, what about Auntie? What happens to her? She’s done so much for you, and in this life she’s only ever loved you. You being together with Mom is really unfair to Auntie." Seeing him like this, Ye Anxin felt awful too, but the reality was right in front of them. In feelings between three people, no matter who ends up with whom, it’s unfair to someone.
Especially because from the very beginning, her mother had never been a legitimate presence. If it hadn’t been for Xue Rong, her dad and mom wouldn’t even have met. When it came down to it, Xue Rong had been good to both of them.
If Dad and Mom really loved each other, then they shouldn’t be so selfish as to hurt someone who’d been good to them.
Nan Mingchuan said slowly, "Your Auntie and I have already separated. This time coming back was something she asked me to do."
"Auntie asked you to come back? She let go?" Ye Anxin stared in disbelief, unable to imagine Xue Rong, who was so devoted to her father, choosing to let go and bless them.
She loved her father so much that, just to keep him by her side, she’d even gone so far as to drug him so he couldn’t leave.
How could feelings like that be let go of just like that?
Nan Mingchuan let out a bitter laugh, mocking himself. "I know you probably don’t believe it, and I didn’t either. But she really did let go. A week ago, she suddenly told me to come back and find you and your mother. Three days ago, we already went through the divorce procedures. So right now, your Auntie and I are divorced."
"You really got divorced?" Even after hearing all that, Ye Anxin still found it hard to believe.