Pei Yansi’s ex-wife, Shen Heyu, sat next to them dressed in casual clothes.
Hearing their conversation, Shen Heyu’s hand holding the coffee cup subconsciously tightened.
"Shen Heyu," Lu Yi called out to Shen Heyu several times, but she had a distant look in her eyes as if she was blocking out his voice. Finally, worried, he raised his hand and took hold of Shen Heyu’s hand.
As soon as Lu Yi touched her, Shen Heyu startled like she’d received an electric shock, released her hand, and came back to reality, facing Lu Yi’s somewhat injured gaze.
She pursed her lips and whispered apologetically, "Sorry, I was thinking of something else just now."
Lu Yi understood. It had been some time since Shen Heyu and Pei Yansi had split up. The unexpected meeting at the mall today was overwhelming. She just wanted to find a coffee shop to sit down for a while but didn’t expect to run into Pei Yansi as if he was a lingering ghost.
"This coffee shop isn’t pleasant. Let’s go for a walk outside and breathe some fresh air."
Lu Yi had already picked up his suit jacket, and Shen Heyu didn’t refuse. They both got up and left.
Outside, the streets were bustling with people.
Walking among the crowd, Shen Heyu suddenly felt a tinge of relief.
Although she had been by Pei Yansi’s side for years, her photos had never been leaked. Otherwise, after the divorce and Pei Yansi quickly marrying someone else, their names hitting the trending searches would have meant she couldn’t live a peaceful life.
"We’ve shopped enough today, let’s go back," Shen Heyu said, turning to Lu Yi after a while.
"Alright," Lu Yi’s car was parked in the mall’s garage, so they had to make another trip there, hoping they wouldn’t be so unlucky as to run into that man again.
With that thought in mind, Lu Yi accompanied Shen Heyu back to the mall’s garage.
Taking out the car keys, Lu Yi handed a bag to Shen Heyu, "Put these things in the trunk."
Without much thought, Shen Heyu naturally took the bag and walked over. The moment she opened the trunk, she was somewhat stunned.
Because there were roses in the trunk, and on top of the roses lay a smoky purple dress.
The dress was beautiful, ethereal, and most importantly, it looked expensive and valuable.
Shen Heyu seemed paralyzed, staring at the roses and the dress, and noticed a card on top.
Not sure when, Lu Yi had come up next to her. He smiled and reminded Shen Heyu, "Take a look at that card."
Tenderly, Shen Heyu set down the bag in her hand and picked up the card. It had rows of flowing handwriting, beautifully written.
"Congratulations to Miss Shen on starting a new life."
Below was another line of text, with Lu Yi’s name signed.
"I asked Yuexue for your dress size. This is a dress I carefully selected for you, and I hope you like it."
Her heart warmed, Shen Heyu looked up at the gentle smiling Lu Yi.
"What’s wrong? Don’t you like the gift? It seems I still need to make more effort to understand your tastes," Lu Yi said, seeing that Shen Heyu had been silent for a long time, and he scratched his head.
Shen Heyu finally reacted, smiling back at Lu Yi.
"I like the dress very much."
Hearing this, a weight lifted from Lu Yi’s heart, "That’s great, I wonder when I can see you wearing this dress."
"Tomorrow," said Shen Heyu.
"Were you trying to give me a surprise?" Shen Heyu guessed his intentions.
"Indeed, I’ve been wanting to prepare this surprise for you for a long time, but I never found the right opportunity."
"You’re so thoughtful," Shen Heyu said, curving his lips into a gentle smile.
"As long as you are happy, everything I do is worth it."
"That’s good to hear. It seems Yuexue had a great idea, I’ll have to give her a big reward when we get back."
"This gift also includes Yuexue’s contribution?" Shen Heyu was somewhat surprised.
"You didn’t know, did you? When I was wondering what gift to give you, Yuexue mentioned that it’s been a long time since she saw you in an ethereal dress, so she suggested I give you this dress to make you happy. Yuexue deserves some of the credit."
Lu Yi wasn’t the only one taking all the credit.
Shen Heyu smiled, turned his head, and lifted the purple dress with his hand, his eyes showing a glint of pleasure.
"Yuexue must also be eager to see your reaction to this gift. Let’s go back early and tell her."
Shen Heyu carefully folded the dress and placed it into the box, closed the trunk, and the two of them got into the car.
As the car drove off, Shen Heyu didn’t look out the window, unaware that Pei Yansi was standing not far away, witnessing the scene.
He watched Shen Heyu and Lu Yi getting along like newlyweds and involuntarily clenched his fists tight.
He had once given Shen Heyu gifts a thousand times, ten thousand times more expensive than this, and had never seen her show such a sincerely happy smile.
It seemed that the woman really wanted to escape him.
Chen Lingmeng watched Pei Yansi’s expression with caution and, upon seeing his angry and somewhat jealous demeanor, she bit down on her teeth in displeasure.
Was Shen Heyu doing this on purpose? Pei Yansi hardly ever went out on a date with her, and now it had been utterly ruined by Shen Heyu.
It seemed that even if she divorced Pei Yansi, she couldn’t let her off easily. With that woman around, trouble would surely come sooner or later.
"Brother Yansi, we’ve also been shopping for enough today. Grandfather mentioned to me yesterday that he wanted to invite you to our house for dinner today to discuss the engagement."
"There’s nothing to discuss," Pei Yansi rejected coldly.
His voice was as cold as if it had been sharpened with ice, and Chen Lingmeng clenched her fists involuntarily.
But she quickly let go and showed that innocent and pure expression on her face. She couldn’t let Pei Yansi detect anything out of the ordinary.
"But Brother Yansi, many of the people who will attend the engagement party know about you and Shen Heyu."
"Grandfather only has me as a granddaughter, and he treasures me the most. He doesn’t want anything to go wrong with this engagement, as he doesn’t want to see me hurt."
"The engagement is still far off, there’s no need to rush," Pei Yansi had never intended to marry her.
Right now, he was just using delaying tactics to keep her at bay while he bought time to investigate the truth.
"But this is a major event in my life, how can I treat it lightly?" Chen Lingmeng bowed her head and sulked.
Pei Yansi took a deep breath and turned his head, his gaze sharply on the woman with the fair little face, "What are you trying to say?"
Chen Lingmeng slowly lifted her head, meeting Pei Yansi’s hawk-like narrow eyes, "Grandfather told me yesterday that for our engagement, he wants to invite Shen Heyu and Lu Yi."