The divorce comeback system arrived right after I was born.

Boston.

The November wind was already carrying a biting chill.

A black limousine was parked in front of a Victorian brownstone apartment building in the Back Bay area.

Lin Wanwan opened the car door, wrapped her coat tighter around herself, and the driver attentively carried two suitcases from the trunk to the steps.

Su Man got out of the car and looked up at the old building with its cast iron balcony.

Although the building is old, it is well-maintained, with black and white checkerboard marble floor tiles in the lobby.

"It's alright." Su Man nodded reluctantly. "But I showed you a high-rise apartment with floor-to-ceiling windows, access control, a swimming pool, and a 24-hour reception. The security is much better than here. Your dad has already called me three times to scold me since he found out you're going to be alone in Boston—"

Lin Wanwan pulled up the handle of her suitcase.

"Sister Man, this is enough. I don't need such a big house; I feel uncomfortable living alone."

"Are you uncomfortable?" Su Man lowered her voice. "What's wrong with you living in a nicer place?"

"Those all belong to my dad."

Lin Wanwan interrupted her, her tone calm.

"I chose this place myself and rented it with my own money."

Su Man looked at her.

"You don't want Chen Zhi's five million, and you don't use the credit card your dad gave you. What are you so hard on yourself for? It's not like you don't have money—"

"I know I have money."

Lin Wanwan carried her suitcase over the threshold, turned around and smiled at Su Man.

Her face, without makeup, looked somewhat pale.

"But I wonder, when no one is arranging everything for me, can I get by on my own?"

Su Man stared blankly at the girl in front of her, lost in thought.

Lin Wanwan dragged her suitcase to the apartment door and pushed it open.

It's a one-bedroom apartment, but the south-facing bay window provides excellent natural light. The landlord left behind a gray fabric sofa and an oak desk. The kitchen is fully equipped with pots, pans, and dishes.

It's clean and warm, the kind of house a normal international student would rent.

Su Man walked around the room.

"The furniture is complete... but when have you ever cooked for yourself since you were a child? When have you ever paid your own utility bills?"

"I can learn it myself."

Lin Wanwan pushed her suitcase to the corner of the bedroom and started zipping it up.

Su Man stood in the center of the living room, watching this girl, who had been pampered since childhood, now squatting on the ground, deftly unpacking her luggage and folding her clothes one by one and putting them into the wardrobe.

"Wanwan..." Su Man's nose felt a little sore.

"Sister Man, your flight back to China is this afternoon, hurry to the airport, don't be late."

Lin Wanwan stood up and pushed Su Man toward the door.

"Send me a WeChat message when you arrive in Beijing. I will attend the online meeting next month on time."

Su Man was pushed out the door, and she took one last look at her through the door frame.

"Anything, anything—call me."

"Okay, okay."

"Promise me you won't wrong yourself."

"I promise you, goodbye, Sister Man."

Lin Wanwan waved her hand and closed the door.

With a soft click of the door lock, the footsteps in the hallway gradually faded away.

The room fell completely silent.

Lin Wanwan leaned against the door and stood there for a long time.

The occasional sirens of police cars could be heard outside the window. It was my first time in an unfamiliar environment and city, and a wave of loneliness washed over me.

She took off her coat and hung it on the hook behind the door, rolled up the sleeves of her sweater, and went to the bathroom to find a rag.

Collect the water and wring it dry.

Start by wiping the windowsill, bit by bit.

Four whole hours.

It wasn't until it was completely dark that the house finally felt alive again, like someone had lived there.

Exhausted, Lin Wanwan collapsed onto the sofa, stared blankly at the ceiling for a while, then forced herself to sit up, pulled over the largest suitcase, and unzipped it.

Clothes, sheet music, and toiletries were taken out one by one.

At the very bottom of the suitcase, there was something wrapped in more than a dozen layers of bubble wrap.

Lin Wanwan carefully took it out, found a pair of scissors, and cut the tape layer by layer.

Inside was a small white porcelain basin with a red heart painted on it.

In the pot is a cactus covered in thorns.

After more than ten hours of flight and turbulence, the cactus looked somewhat shriveled, and even a few of the spines on one side were broken.

She could leave behind those expensive skincare products, but she used half of her suitcase to protect this inexpensive cactus.

Lin Wanwan held it in her hands, walked to the windowsill that had just been wiped clean, and gently put it down.

She went to the kitchen, filled a small glass with water, and poured it little by little into the dry soil.

The water quickly seeped in.

She looked at the inexpensive plant, her vision gradually blurring.

On the morning of May 21st, the hotel room was filled with red roses, and the boy with a pricked finger, holding up a cactus and begging for mercy, flashed through my mind like scenes from a movie.

"If you forget your birthday again, I'll stick this in your face."

That's what she said at the time.

But now, the roses have long since withered, and the prickly cactus has been taken by her to halfway around the world.

Lin Wanwan sniffed and gently touched the broken thorn.

"You must live well."

She said in a low voice.

……

Night had completely fallen in Boston.

After tidying up the house, Lin Wanwan's stomach started growling.

She rummaged through her luggage and found nothing to eat except a bag of dried tangerine peel candy that Su Man had stuffed in.

She put on her coat, grabbed her wallet, and went downstairs.

There is a 24-hour convenience store on the corner of the apartment building.

Pushing open the glass door, the wind chimes on the door rang once.

There weren't many customers in the store. Behind the cashier stood an obese white woman, looking down at her phone.

Lin Wanwan took a sandwich, a carton of milk, and a few toiletries before walking to the cashier.

"Twenty-four dollars and fifty cents."

After scanning the barcode, the white woman quickly recited a number.

Lin Wanwan was stunned for a moment.

Although her spoken English is not particularly fluent, she can still do basic arithmetic.

These items together cost at most fifteen yuan.

She glanced at the display screen on the cash register and noticed that it had scanned the prices of two high-end razors.

"Excuse me," Lin Wanwan pointed to the screen, "I didn't buy these."

The white woman finally raised her head and looked Lin Wanwan up and down.

Looking at the petite Asian girl, the middle-aged woman rolled her eyes and spoke with great impatience.

"The machine won't make mistakes. Pay or leave."

Four months ago, if Lin Wanwan had encountered this situation, her first reaction would have been complete helplessness.

She would instinctively step back and then look at Chen Zhi with pleading eyes.

Chen Zhi would definitely step forward and either use fluent English or his fists to silence the other party.

But now, Chen Zhi is gone.

Lin Wanwan stood still, her hands in her coat pockets, clutching her wallet tightly.

She took a deep breath, met the white woman's disdainful gaze, and spoke.

"I told you, I didn't buy these. Please check the items on the counter. If you refuse, I will call the police and have them check the surveillance footage."

Her pronunciation was somewhat halting, but her tone was unusually firm.

The white woman clearly hadn't expected this seemingly delicate Asian girl to be so assertive.

She glanced at the store's security camera, then at Lin Wanwan's unwavering gaze.

"Whatever."

The woman muttered a curse and reluctantly operated the cash register a few times, deleting the extra entries.

"Fifteen dollars."

Lin Wanwan paid, picked up her things, and walked out of the convenience store.

A cold wind swept over me.

She let out a long breath and found that her palms were sweaty.

But I felt a sense of ease I had never felt before.

She did it.

She can protect herself even without Chen Zhi.

White debris drifted down from under the streetlights.

Lin Wanwan stretched out her hand, and a snowflake landed in her palm, quickly melting into water.

It's snowing in Boston.

She wrapped her coat tighter, carried a plastic bag full of food, and walked back through the thin layer of snow.

At the street corner, there is a commercial building.

A huge electronic broadcast screen hangs on the exterior wall of the building.

Normally, this screen plays various GG (Goblin) videos, but at this moment, an English financial news flash has appeared on the screen.

The female host's voice echoed through the snow-covered streets.

"Chinese AI unicorn DeepSpace Tech has surpassed a valuation of 100 billion, becoming the youngest company in history to reach a 100-billion valuation."

(China's AI unicorn Deep Space Technology's valuation has surpassed 100 billion US dollars, making it the youngest company in history to reach this valuation.)

Lin Wanwan stopped in her tracks.

She looked up.

A photograph appeared on the giant screen.

Chen Zhi, dressed in a dark blue suit, stood in the center of the stage.

On the screen behind him was a long string of numbers: 100 billion.

Even though they were separated by half the globe, even though they were separated by a screen, Lin Wanwan could still clearly see the smug and arrogant smile on his face.

The snow fell heavier and heavier, landing on Lin Wanwan's eyelashes.

She tilted her head back and watched quietly for a long time.

She didn't look away until the news footage switched to other content.

Congratulations, Chen Zhi.

She said something softly, put her frozen hands back into her pockets, and turned to walk into the heavy snow that blanketed Boston.