CH 2

Chapter 2 – A Guilty Conscience

Edited by CxZ

In the early morning of summer, even before nine o’clock, the temperature outside was already as high as 38 degrees1. No one wanted to leave the indoors or even go outside to go for a walk at this moment. Compared to the outdoor temperature, the temperature in a single-family villa in the city’s most valuable land, the Xiangxie neighborhood, was so low that it gave people goosebumps.

1Approx. 100°F

A loud, clear voice came from the inside of a quiet lounge: “Impossible, I will not divorce you, Yan Jingxi. Don’t even think about it.”

Yan Jingxi, who should be calmly replying to the person who spoke just now, was so angry that both his hands were clenched into a fist.

Obviously, Yuan Zhanqi had agreed to go through the divorce procedures with him last week so how could he change his mind without any warning.

Yan Jingxi used the same energy as he would have had when faced with a billion-dollar contract negotiation, he suppressed his inner anger and proceeded to say: “Last week, we said that we would sign the divorce agreement today. What more do you want? Just say it. As long as I can meet your requirements, I can promise you.”

Yan Jingxi currently had some doubts in his mind. Today’s Yuan Zhanqi is unexpectedly tough. It had always been particularly easy for him to grasp the psychological state of the other party. After all, Yuan Zhanqi is a person whose expressions and thoughts are written on his face, including his love towards himself.

It was a pity that he already had someone else in his heart and couldn’t respond to Yuan Zhanqi’s feelings. What’s more, their marriage was only for mutual benefits from the beginning and there was no emotional basis at all.

Over the years, the relationship between the two was as dull as water2, separated as early as two years ago.

2Idiom for very boring or unexciting. In this context, it means that there was nothing special between the two.

At this moment, there was not even a trace of them living together in this home.

Sitting across from Yan Jingxi was Yuan Zhanqi, who was supposed to divorce him today. He was hospitalized after agreeing to the divorce last week. He had just returned from the hospital. His thin face was still somewhat pale but his eyes were clear and he was quite energetic.

“As long as I ask, you will agree?” Yuan Zhanqi’s pale lips raised slightly.

Today’s Yuan Zhanqi is indeed a far cry from last week’s Yuan Zhanqi and has changed quite a bit. If only Yan Jingxi had understood Yuan Zhanqi over the years, then maybe he would have been able to see the difference. Except he had never paid attention to this poor husband of his at home. So when he heard the inconsistent responses, he only thought that the other party was being shameless once again. The surrounding atmosphere began to get colder, showing that he was losing his patience.

Yuan Zhanqi had been replaced by a strange soul from another world. His name was Yuan Zhan, which had only one less character than Yuan Zhanqi.

袁湛 (Yuan Zhan) vs 袁湛淇 (Yuan Zhanqi)…one character off

A week ago, Yuan Zhan was still a busy working young man. However, on the same night that Yuan Zhanqi took sleeping pills in his home, he (YZ) entered this frail body and had to dig out the pills in his throat to save himself. He also called the emergency center to take him to the hospital to have his stomach pumped. Naturally, the outcome was that he had succeeded in saving himself since he was now standing in front of Yan Jingxi.

Yuan Zhan not only received Yuan Zhanqi’s physical body but also all his memories.

After pondering for a week, Yuan Zhan finally understood all of Yuan Zhanqi’s bitter experiences and also had more understanding of this world.

So long as Yuan Zhan’s memory wasn’t wrong, he remembered that the two names, Yuan Zhanqi and Yan Jingxi, previously appeared in the game he played. They were characters in a novel that was popular with many females,《My Ten Ex-Fiancés and Me》. Yuan Zhan remembered that the game he played was adapted from this novel. Since he was a video game streamer, he had previously played this game live on stream.

Yuan Zhanqi’s thoughts still remained in his body. Yuan Zhan was truly troubled after receiving all the memories of Yuan Zhanqi. One night, he dreamt that the other party had made a deal with himself. If he could fulfill one last wish for Yuan Zhanqi, then his body would belong to him in the future. And Yuan Zhanqi would truly depart from this world as he didn’t want to live anymore.

After Yuan Zhan woke up, he was speechless. He didn’t understand what went on, all day long, in the mind of those people who live for love. There was so much more genuine sincerity in the world. What was wrong with lacking a little love? To even arrive at the point where they insist on committing suicide.

Of course, Yuan Zhan would still follow the agreement with the original owner if that means he can regain his body. However, the difficulty of implementation was a bit high.

Yan Jingxi had been married to the original owner for many years, yet he had ignored, misunderstood, and kicked out the original owner once again. How can he make Yan Jingxi fall in love with him when the original owner couldn’t even do it himself? Can he even do it? What’s more, there was a white moonlight in Yan Jingxi’s heart.

But this was the last wish of the original owner and it was their trading condition. In any case, Yuan Zhan had to carry it out unconditionally.

After a week of contemplating, what Yuan Zhan could do now was to temporarily stabilize Yan Jingxi. This marriage cannot be broken off. If they separate, he didn’t know how he will find Yan Jingxi to continue his task.

Thinking back to the game he played, although it was adapted from the novel 《My Ten Ex-Fiancés and Me》, the details in the game and the novel were definitely different. In the game, he had played from the perspective of the protagonist to capture the other characters. Yan Jingxi was one of the capture targets while Yuan Zhanqi was only a supporting character in the novel. He was merely a cannon fodder who spoke unpleasantly, only had one or two lines, the unmemorable, insignificant type of appearance.

Yan Jingxi could only be captured by the protagonist in the game. So now, how should he approach him, the husband, from the perspective of Yuan Zhanqi? This was now his reality. He couldn’t just move his fingers and click the mouse to complete the small tasks like he would in a game.

In the game《My Ten Ex-Fiancés and Me》, Yuan Zhan’s starting point was playing from the perspective of the protagonist Bai Yueguang. He lost his memory as soon as he returned. For some reason, he was not taken back home by his family. Sometime in his future work life, he would hook up with numerous men who he met during his amnesia journey.

From the beginning, Yuan Zhan had already known that it was a danmei game. He deliberately told the fans in the live stream that he didn’t know. Whether in the streaming industry or the entertainment industry, everyone had their public persona. Yuan Zhan had set himself up as a 100% straight male streamer, deliberately playing danmei games to attract more fans.

He had gained a lot of experience from the whole matter with the Qintian boss. If he wanted to make money, he had to be open-minded and it was also all right to be thick-skinned.

Then again, this Yan Jingxi was not so easy to be captured.

The protagonist of this game is his white moonlight, Bai Yueguang. The relationship between him and Bai Yueguang was different from the other nine fiancés. They were not only once fiancés, but also bamboo horses3 who grew up together. Both of their parents had agreed to their marriage, but maybe because Yan Jingxi was Bai Yueguang’s bamboo horse and had a relatively strong personality, Bai Yueguang felt that he merely had brotherly affections for Yan Jingxi. Their marriage was also arranged by their parents but soon afterward he insisted on breaking his engagement with Yan Jingxi. For some time, the two families weren’t too happy.

3Childhood sweethearts.

Although he couldn’t be his fiancé, Yan Jingxi still continued to like the protagonist, even if he had married Yuan Zhanqi, his feelings had never changed.

Later on, the protagonist disappeared and lost his memory. He tried his best to find the whereabouts of the protagonist, however, he didn’t know that the protagonist met multiple men during the amnesia process. And that he had entered into a marriage contract with each of them and lived very freely. After searching for many years, his family also advised him to not be so persistent. It just so happened that something went wrong with the family business, where he had to marry the Yuan family to get through the difficulties. Of course, he never gave up searching for the whereabouts of the protagonist, and even secretly paid someone money to find him.

When everyone thought that the protagonist had passed away and Yan Jingxi also thought that he might have a hazy and insubstantial marriage with Yuan Zhanqi in this life. The protagonist, Bai Yueguang, returned. He lost the childishness on his face that he had before he disappeared and became more like a man, an attractive man. Yan Jingxi was completely unable to walk as soon as he appeared.

The protagonist who recovered his memory found Yan Jingxi and confessed his mistakes to him. He used his feelings to get his sympathy and tried to make him understand why he did what he did, opening up his heart to explain to him his immaturity back then. Now that he was back, he wanted to continue his engagement with Yan Jingxi.

Yan Jingxi admitted that the feelings he had waited for many years were finally returned. As a matter of fact, he went to Yuan Zhanqi, who was already suffering from severe depression, and told the other party his decision.

Yan Jingxi, who had always ignored Yuan Zhanqi’s existence, naturally didn’t know that he was suffering from depression. After this incident, Yuan Zhanqi chose to commit suicide and lost his precious and fragile life. From there, Yuan Zhan had picked up quite a bargain.

At this time, Yan Jingxi did not know that Yuan Zhanqi was not actually Yuan Zhanqi. He knew that Yuan Zhanqi was not an opinionated person so he quickly calmed down. He was prepared to come today, and there may be friends behind him who would help him out. After all, the fact that Yuan Zhanqi likes him has long been known to everyone.

As long as he meets Yuan Zhanqi’s request, the divorce will just be a matter of time.

Yuan Zhan stared at Yan Jingxi’s handsome face cast in the shadows, admiring it from a gay perspective. Yan Jingxi is the type of gong4 that was particularly attractive to any shou5, he especially had a strong gong aura. It’s no wonder that Yuan Zhanqi would do whatever it takes to marry this man.

4The “top”, can also be known as seme/attacker/pitcher

5The “bottom”,  can also be known as uke/receiver/catcher

Ze, it’s a pity that he is a scumbag.

If it hadn’t been for the original owner’s remnant thoughts, presumably Yuan Zhan wouldn’t be mixed up in the muddy waters and would immediately divorce. He would stay away from the mess of right and wrong, but now he had taken over and couldn’t hide. He had no advantages. He must be patient and determined so that he can do his best to accomplish what he needs to do. In this way, he will teach Yan Jingxi a profound and unforgettable lesson.

Yan Jingxi was a prestigious figure in a big company and was also a shrewd person. What should he do?

According to the plot development of the game, the reason why Yan Jingxi asked Yuan Zhanqi for divorce had an important prerequisite, that is, his Bai Yueguang had come back. He came back from the amnesia life and did not remember the other nine fiancés, so he came back to Yan Jingxi again.

In the game, it was very easy for the protagonist to capture Yan Jingxi, as long as he solved the Yuan Zhanqi problem. But now it had become a reality, he had to capture Yan Jingxi from the perspective of Yuan Zhanqi so the difficulty directly went up to ten stars.

Yuan Zhanqi formed a fake family with Yan Jingxi as soon as he graduated from university therefore, it was impossible for him to know who Yan Jingxi liked.

“I suppose you’re divorcing me because of Bai Yueguang,” Yuan Zhanqi said calmly. He looked at the silver wedding ring on his ring finger and then looked at Yan Jingxi’s left ring finger, it was empty.

Bai Yueguang was the name of the protagonist. When Yuan Zhanqi played this game, he complained about this name countless times.

He truly was like his name6.

6Bai Yueguang being ML’s white moonlight and Bai Yueguang actually means white moonlight.

Yan Jingxi was surprised at how quickly Yuan Zhanqi had learned of the news. Bai Yueguang’s return was kept a secret for the time being. Apart from the Bai family and him, no one else knew. He didn’t know where Yuan Zhanqi had learned the news from.

Yan Jingxi cleverly did not answer, but Yuan Zhan did not need his answer. Rather, he added a sentence: “Since we have yet to divorce, shouldn’t you keep your wedding ring on? Perhaps one day I will be happy and will be ready to leave this marriage.”

After speaking, Yuan Zhan laughed to himself regardless of how wrong the expression on Yan Jingxi’s face was.

It’s a pity that this face did not belong to him; otherwise, he would like to sincerely give it a go with Yan Jingxi. In any case, he also had inclinations towards guys, he likes guys.

Yan Jingxi, who put away his stunned face, saw that Yuan Zhanqi’s face did not have a grieving expression on his face. Though at this moment, he even hoped that the other party had a grieving face so that he would be familiar with it and be able to tell what he was thinking.

He glanced down at his empty ring finger. Not only was he a little guilty, but he also frowned at Yuan Zhanqi’s sudden reluctance to sign the divorce agreement.