Volume One, Chapter Five: Mr. Xie, Your Wife Wants a Divorce

“Sorry, the professor has already gone to bed. Perhaps you can come back tomorrow,” the butler said as he knocked on the door and spoke to Su Wanqing.

But it was only a little past eight o’clock. Su Wanqing knew the elderly lady’s routine well enough to know she wouldn’t sleep so early.

Still, she acknowledged that she was at fault first. Being able to set foot once again on this familiar land was something she was deeply grateful for, and she dared not ask for too much.

Downstairs, Xu Jiang said to her, “Don’t overthink it. The old lady’s just a bit stubborn.”

Su Wanqing understood and nodded. She turned to leave but suddenly remembered something. She turned back and bowed deeply to Xu Jiang.

“Hey! What are you doing?” Xu Jiang panicked, opened the car door, and helped her up.

Tears welled up in Su Wanqing’s eyes. “Back then, it was my fault...”

Mentioning that matter made Xu Jiang uncomfortable too, but recalling Zheng Lu’s words, he patted Su Wanqing’s shoulder lightly, feigning ease. “Alright, alright, didn’t we agree that’s all in the past?”

“Get some rest early.”

Perhaps from nervousness or the unfamiliar surroundings, Su Wanqing found it difficult to settle.

At two in the morning, she received a message from Xie Yancheng. Opening it, she saw only a question mark.

Probably sent by mistake, she thought.

Not paying much attention, she exited and continued gently patting Xie Kexin’s back, unaware of when she drifted off to sleep.

Early next morning, she received a call from Xu Jiang.

“Hurry over, the old lady wants to see you!”

Instantly alert, Su Wanqing gathered her daughter and headed straight to the old lady’s villa.

When she entered the study, she saw Xu Jiang trying to please the old lady by massaging her shoulders. Upon seeing her, he winked mischievously, as if trying to say something.

To her surprise, Zheng Lu was there as well.

She approached quietly, whispering, “What’s going on?”

Su Wanqing was even more confused.

But when she met the old lady’s gaze, her eyes reddened uncontrollably. With a thud, she knelt down. “Professor...”

Seeing her act, the usually composed elderly lady’s eyes also glistened with tears, though she looked away slightly, seemingly unwilling to revisit old grievances.

After a long pause, once emotions settled, Xu Qiuyun lifted a paper in front of her and asked, “Who solved this?”

Su Wanqing glanced at it—it was the solution to yesterday’s competition problem.

The handwriting resembled hers but had subtle differences.

Most notably, the method was simpler and faster, far more efficient than her own.

Admiring that, she shook her head. “It’s not mine.”

Suddenly irritated, Xu Qiuyun snapped, “No kidding! Your solution looked so frustrating, of course it’s not yours!”

“I’m asking, aside from you and Xiao Jiang, who else was in this room yesterday?”

Su Wanqing was startled. Yesterday, only she and Xu Jiang had stayed here; besides them...

Her eyes widened as she looked down at her daughter in her arms.

She crouched and placed the paper filled with answers before her daughter. “Sweetheart, did you do this?”

Though she felt it unlikely—the child was only four years old and had autism, rarely influenced by the outside world—she recalled that after finishing the problem, she had left a blank sheet in front of her daughter.

She furrowed her brow, remembering cases of prodigies who were often on the autism spectrum.

Scientific research also suggests that autistic children can possess extraordinary talents in certain fields. Could Xie Kexin truly be a genius?

Su Wanqing watched her daughter intently, missing no detail.

Xie Kexin’s gaze was fixed on the paper, ignoring Su Wanqing’s words.

She climbed onto the table, took a pen from Xu Qiuyun’s side, and before everyone’s eyes, drew a big cross over the original answers. Then, in the blank space beside them, she began scribbling and drawing.

Minutes ticked by. Su Wanqing’s request for her daughter to acknowledge the solution seemed absurd.

Yet neither Xu Qiuyun, Xu Jiang, nor Zheng Lu mocked or scorned her.

They stood quietly aside, observing Xie Kexin silently cross out the original answers and then rewrite the competition problems using a much simpler and clearer method.

More astonishingly, she didn’t even look at the questions this time, yet flawlessly recalled every detail!

Soon she finished, a slight look of satisfaction flickered across her small face. She handed the paper to Su Wanqing and then climbed down to pick up a book titled *Introduction to Algorithms* from Xu Qiuyun’s bookshelf and began reading.

Su Wanqing was so stunned she didn’t even hear the distinctive ringtone reserved for Xie Yancheng’s calls.

Together with Xu Qiuyun and Xu Jiang, they all stared wide-eyed, carefully verifying the daughter’s rewritten solution in their minds—and every step was flawless!

Xu Jiang spoke first. Having little talent for math himself, even the competition problem’s halfway point made his head ache. Yet that half alone was enough to shock him.

“Damn, Wanqing, you’ve literally given birth to a prodigy!”

After a long pause, Xu Qiuyun looked up. Seeing Su Wanqing’s equally shocked expression, her anger boiled over.

“Seriously! Your husband can’t keep it in his pants, and you don’t even notice your daughter’s talent? How did you even manage to be a mother?”

At this reproach, Su Wanqing finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Having spent many years by the old lady’s side, she knew the old lady only scolded when she was finally calm.

Thus, even being scolded made her happy.

When Xie Yancheng finally awoke, dark circles under his eyes, he instinctively glanced beside him.

Though he rarely came home—and even then only to vent—this woman, Su Wanqing, always obediently cooperated. Even when he hurt her, she would cling to his neck with reddened eyes, never uttering a sound.

Afterward, although he slept by the bed’s edge, she would find ways to snuggle close like a little cat before falling asleep.

At first, he resisted such closeness, but over time, he let it be.

Eventually, deep down, he subconsciously felt that whenever he returned, she should be waiting for him in bed.

Yet last night, he waited all night, and she never came in.

He hadn’t even closed the door but didn’t hear her enter.

She had not come home all night!?

Xie Yancheng’s anger surged, eyes blazing with fury. He had been too lenient with her—a woman learning to stay out all night?

When she returned, he would give her a proper lesson!

Thinking this, he forced a calm demeanor, went downstairs, and ate breakfast as usual.

Just then, the butler rushed over, face full of panic.

“Mr. Xie, it’s bad! Really bad!”

Already in a foul mood, Xie Yancheng was further irritated by the butler’s frantic manner and glared at him. “What’s with the fuss?”

The butler, feeling wronged, hesitated but handed over a paper and said, “Mr. Xie, madam wants a divorce.”