After another night of freezing, Du Dawei finally understood that Mu Yuting was determined to break off the engagement. If he didn’t compromise, not only would he suffer a few more days of hardship, but he also wouldn’t be able to keep it hidden from his parents any longer.
Although he had often stayed overnight at internet cafes playing games before, he had never skipped meals at home for days on end. He hadn’t returned home for two days and two nights and hadn’t even called. His parents would surely try his phone first, and if they couldn’t reach him, they’d contact his cousin, Du Dazhi.
If his cousin didn’t say anything, his parents would go to his workplace to find out what was going on, then make a scene at Mu Yuting’s workplace and the hospital where she stayed. His foolish parents would only escalate the situation, making him lose face in front of everyone.
Sure enough, early in the morning, his cousin Du Dazhi called, saying Du Dawei’s parents had been asking about his whereabouts. His cousin said he had managed to brush it off for now, but it wouldn’t hold up for more than a few days.
Left with no choice, Du Dawei hastily drafted an agreement to terminate the engagement and borrowed the detention center’s phone again. This time, he didn’t call his cousin but reached out directly to Mu Yuting.
"Tingting, it’s Dawei. Are you still angry? Even though I love you deeply, I respect your decision. If you want to call off the engagement, then let’s do it. I’ve prepared the agreement. When can we meet to clear up the misunderstanding?" Even at a time like this, Du Dawei didn’t forget to put on an act of affection.
Mu Yuting felt nauseated, unsure whether it was from the concussion or the disgust she felt toward this scumbag.
She pressed a hand to her chest, took a moment to steady herself, and said impatiently, "Skip the disgusting talk. Just read the agreement."
"Read it? Okay. I’ve prepared two agreements—one for settlement and compensation, and another for terminating the engagement…" Du Dawei knew the detention center only allowed ten minutes per call, so he couldn’t waste time. He had to satisfy her quickly to secure an early settlement. He hurriedly began reading from the two documents.
The two agreements totaled over thirteen hundred words, filled with flowery language that skirted around the important issues. Even at his fastest pace, it took him five or six minutes to finish reading.
Mu Yuting listened carefully to the content, mentally noting all the suspicious points.
In her previous life, during their marriage, Du Dawei had repeatedly schemed to take money from her mother. He had privately borrowed from her multiple times, claiming it was for business, only to default on repayment under the pretext of "business losses." As the amounts grew larger, reaching hundreds of thousands, her mother insisted on a written IOU, stating that he wouldn’t have to repay as long as they remained married. He deliberately wrote "receipt" instead of "IOU," filled it with errors, and pretended to be hurt, saying, "Trust is what matters most between family." When he initiated the divorce, he sneered, "A receipt doesn’t prove a loan. Get lost."
He had also tampered with the divorce agreement, crafting it with cunning precision. It included clauses like, "All assets and debts in each party’s personal accounts shall remain their individual responsibility," "The wife shall not remarry; otherwise, the husband will refuse to pay the monthly child support of 600 yuan for their daughter," "The daughter shall never change her surname; otherwise, the wife shall compensate the husband 1 million yuan," "The wife and her relatives shall not disclose any of the husband’s private matters, including illnesses or character flaws, in any way; otherwise, they shall compensate the husband 1 million yuan"…
The list went on and on.
It took countless losses and deceptions for the once-obedient girl to become this cautious—someone who no longer wished to be compliant, preferring instead to be a cactus, sharp and self-protective.
Mu Yuting was now on high alert, dealing with this scumbag. She hoped this would be the last time she ever had to interact with such trash.
After listening to the agreement, Mu Yuting gathered her thoughts and said, "In the compensation agreement, remove all the nonsense. Briefly state the reason, and directly list the compensation items: medical expenses, lost wages, transportation fees, and emotional distress compensation, along with the corresponding amounts, payment method, and date."
Du Dawei let out an "ah," feigning confusion while fully understanding.
"Also, in the agreement to dissolve the engagement, remove all the nonsense as well. Briefly state the reason—you concealed your illness and resorted to violence, which is why I am terminating the engagement. Focus on the handling of pre-marital assets: I did not accept any betrothal gifts from your family, but you took the money my mother gave for the 'three golds' without buying them for me. That money must be fully refunded to us. The several sets of high-end suits and formal attire my mother bought for you can stay with you, but you must reimburse us their cash value. Also, the tens of thousands of yuan you borrowed from my mother for wedding preparations must be returned in full."
"Finally, add a clause stating that after the dissolution of the engagement, the man and his relatives must not, in any way, disseminate or disclose any of the woman's private information, nor insult, slander, or damage her reputation, or cause disturbances at her home. Otherwise, they must compensate the woman one million yuan."
"Just write these points clearly in both agreements—no need for sentimental nonsense!" Mu Yuting sternly reprimanded him.
"What? Change it to this?" Du Dawei doubted his ears. Since when had Mu Yuting become so shrewd? He hesitated, "That much money—how could I possibly have it?"
"You can think it over carefully. If your parents come to the hospital to harass me, the compensation won't just be this amount."
"Don't be like this, Tingting. Our year-long relationship…"
"Don't bring up feelings—it's bad for the money," Mu Yuting sneered. "Someone like you doesn't have feelings, only self-interest."
"Tingting…"
The call was disconnected. Mu Yuting had hung up proactively. The matter was settled—why waste words on empty talk?
Du Dawei gripped the receiver tightly, his sinister gaze practically murderous.
Should he revise the two agreements or not? If he changed them according to Mu Yuting's demands, he would completely lose the upper hand, forfeit all his gained benefits, and have to "bleed heavily." Of course, Du Dawei was unwilling.
Who would willingly spit out a fortune they had already obtained? Besides, he had already spent half of the money gained from the engagement. If he had to refund the money as per the agreement, he would need to borrow a significant sum from his cousin.
Damn woman! Du Dawei slammed the receiver down and crumpled the two agreements fiercely in his hand.
Back in his solitary detention cell, it wasn't long before he smoothed out the crumpled agreements and began revising them with a pen.
After handling the agreement matter, Mu Yuting's unit leader arrived, along with several colleagues, bringing a fruit basket to visit her in her injured state.
After some polite small talk, the leader and colleagues left, leaving only Sister Qin behind.
"Sister Qin, how are you? Has the leader been giving you a hard time?" Mu Yuting took Sister Qin's hand and asked urgently.
"No, don't worry. I'm a permanent employee and haven't made any major mistakes. I just helped you report it to the police, it's nothing serious." Sister Qin patted the other's hand reassuringly with a warm smile. It's just that she had been assigned a bit more work lately and was somewhat busy. Being divorced and single with her child not around, working a little overtime occasionally wasn't a big deal anyway.
Mu Yuting carefully studied Sister Qin's expression, noticing no change in her demeanor, and felt slightly relieved.
"A-Ting, focus on recovering and don't overthink things. If you run into any difficulties, you can always call me."
"Thank you, Sister Qin. I'm feeling much better and should be back to work in a few days."
After sitting for a short while, Sister Qin mentioned she needed to return to work. Mu Yuting didn't press her to stay longer. Gratitude was something she held in her heart, not just spoken aloud. Once she returned to work, she could take on more tasks to help lighten Sister Qin's load.
After Sister Qin left, Mu Yuting opened the notes app on her phone and continued brainstorming the story she had started yesterday.
She vaguely remembered that Green River's VIP service had launched around the early 2000s. If you posted a story on the site and it was well-written, an editor would message you, offer a contract, and have it mailed to you.
In her previous life, before she passed away from illness, Green River seemed to be preparing for its 12th Author Conference. It was such a pity she missed it. In this life, she was still young. If she focused on writing well, she might get to attend one in the capital someday.
She knew that for online novel authors to succeed, there were only two paths: one was exceptional talent that breaks through all barriers, and the other was outlasting everyone else. The first relied on innate gift, the second on perseverance. You either competed with talent or with endurance.
If she couldn't achieve "exceptional talent breaks through," she could still aim to be the "last one standing." The vast majority of online authors were ordinary people without extraordinary talent. To make it in this industry, one had to work diligently, maintain quality while increasing output—writing six thousand or even ten thousand words daily, never stopping, fighting a war of attrition to become the last one standing.
In this era, consistently updating three thousand words a day was considered quite good. But in the future, daily updates of ten thousand words would become the standard because competition had become so intense.
Fortunately, she came from that era of intense competition. While she couldn't boast about much, hitting ten thousand words a day was something she could manage.
She refined her outline, finalized the title and synopsis, selected the right entry point from the core premise, and began writing the first three chapters, determined to secure a contract on the first try.
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