Chapter 3 Male College Students

These women were my best friends. In my last life, when my family was ruined by a love-crazed Hugh Pei, they were the ones who reached out to help me. Although they were no match for him, it was a true test of friendship. I would never forget their kindness.

So, I told them about my plan to divorce Hugh Pei.

Everything except the part about being reborn.

After I finished, the three of them were silent for a few seconds, then burst into applause. "Great! To celebrate our Zoe escaping her lovesick brain, we're not going home sober tonight!"

"Cheers!" I shouted happily, raising my bony arm high.

I could almost see myself, free and untethered after the divorce, running towards a new life, the tragedy of my past life left far behind me.

With a bit of a buzz, the four women's courage quickly swelled.

Ella Li patted my shoulder. "Zoe, see any handsome guys you like? Don't be shy, just go for it! Hugh Pei is in the gossip columns all the time, we can't lose to him!"

"Th-that makes sense," I slurred, my drunken eyes scanning the room. My gaze finally landed on a figure's back. He was tall and slim, and from his clothes, he looked young. A college student?

If Hugh Pei could find a female college student, I could find a male one.

I swayed over with my drink in hand and patted the young man on the shoulder. "Hey, handsome. Wanna drink? M-my treat..."

The young man turned around. He was very handsome, with a clean-cut, boy-next-door look.

He looked at me with surprise, then shook his head apologetically. "Sorry, miss, I have a girlfriend."

"Oh, is that so? So sorry, I'll find one without a girlfriend..." I bowed deeply to the young man. The alcohol had paralyzed my language skills; I didn't even know what I was saying. I turned to continue my search.

But I hadn't taken two steps before I tripped over someone's messy footwork, and the glass in my hand shattered.

My head was spinning. After falling to the ground, I had the strangest urge to just go to sleep right there.

"Miss, let me help you up!" It was the college student, offering a hand.

I sat on the floor, looking up at him with a flushed face.

Was I hallucinating? The college student's face was morphing into Hugh Pei's, staring down at me coldly.

I tried to get up, but my hand landed on a piece of broken glass. Bright red blood gushed out. I stared at it for two seconds before my vision went black, and I passed out.

"Zoe Xu, do you think your family can stop me?" In my dream, I saw Hugh Pei's cruel, cold face again.

I was like a madwoman, collapsed in the trashed living room, tears streaming down my face.

When they learned Hugh Pei wanted to divorce me, my parents, along with the Pei family elders, all pressured him.

But Hugh Pei wouldn't listen. He was adamant and even paid a huge price to bring down the Xu family.

The Pei elders went from opposing and scolding him to reluctantly helping him, and eventually, I heard they had accepted Lila Wei.

Under Hugh Pei's stubborn protection, she gradually won the approval of his parents.

Most importantly, by then, Lila Wei was already pregnant.

"Hugh Pei, I've loved you for ten years. Don't you have even a little bit of feeling for me?" I covered my face, tears seeping through my fingers.

"No. Zoe Xu, I gave you a chance to part on good terms. You're the one who didn't cherish it," Hugh Pei told me coldly. Then his phone rang. It was a custom ringtone, Lila Wei's crisp, sweet voice.

Mr. Pei, please answer the phone! Mr. Pei, hurry and answer!

Listening to that sweet ringtone, watching Hugh Pei quickly walk away, I felt the world spin, and a sharp pain shot through my chest.

I woke up with a jolt, suffocating in agony.

"Hah... hah..." I gasped for air, only to realize I was in my own bedroom. Outside, the sun was bright, and birds were singing.

How did the college student send me all the way home?

I glanced at my bandaged hand, then clutched my throbbing temples. I was about to search for the college student when I heard Hugh Pei's voice from outside the door.

"You guys go ahead and play. I'm not in the mood today." He was leaning against the second-floor railing, a cigarette between his fingers, his voice lazy, his profile as elegant as a pine tree.

I held onto the doorframe as he walked over. I asked, "Where did you hide him?"

"Who?" Hugh Pei's brow furrowed.

"The college student," I replied.

It was rare to meet a man I felt good about besides Hugh Pei. I was a little reluctant to let him go.

Since Hugh Pei was going to enter his crazy mode for another woman in a month anyway, I might as well pick a spiritual comforter in advance to distract me from my pain.

Hearing my answer, Hugh Pei's handsome face instantly filled with rage. He glanced at my attire, then grabbed my wrist and dragged me into the bedroom's walk-in closet. "Damn it, go change! Who the hell let you wear something so slutty?"

Slutty?

I looked down at the two modest mounds on my chest, their slight curve entirely thanks to the fabric's support.

I didn't think the word suited me. Besides, for a man who didn't love me, what did it matter if I was slutty or not?

"Hugh Pei, was it true you were with that innocent-looking starlet in a hotel room a few days ago?" I didn't move, instead asking him calmly.

"None of your business," he answered, as always.

"Then what I do is none of your business either. If we're not getting a divorce, then let's just do our own thing," I said flatly.

After all these years without the nourishment of love, I deserved at least a little hormonal nourishment.

So this was what it felt like to let things go. It was truly comfortable. I no longer had to feel happy or sad for Hugh Pei. My soul was starting to return to my body.

Men were naturally hypocritical dogs. They could go out and fool around, but their wives had to be virtuous at home.

Hugh Pei was no exception. He didn't love me, but I was still his wife in name.

"So you want to cheat on me?" Hugh Pei sneered, then maliciously hooked open the deep V of my dress. "You think any man would be interested in a body like this?"

I looked down. The pasties completely covered everything; not a single bit of skin was showing.

And they were the smallest size available.

I pushed his hand away and calmly adjusted my clothes. "I'll eat more and drink more papaya milk from now on. I'll do my best to build up my assets so I can put a few more green hats on your head."

"Zoe Xu, are you fucking crazy?!" Hugh Pei finally couldn't take it anymore. He looked at me. "Did you take the wrong medicine these past two days?"

The old Zoe Xu—calm, generous, and considerate—would never have said such things.

If my father had heard what I just said, he might have had a heart attack.

But you have to become a lunatic first to escape from the hands of a man who's about to become one.

Without Lila Wei's appearance, he wouldn't divorce me. A business marriage was never a game you could play as you pleased. For a rational man like him, weighing the pros and cons was his specialty.

And I really, really didn't want to go through the process of watching him fall in love with someone else again.

"Then divorce me," I proposed once more.