Chapter 820: 415: Fate and Blessings (First Update)

Lawrence Winters had thought she would be trading barbs with Kenneth Osborne, but instead Kenneth turned around and left, clean and decisive. He walked away so resolutely that Lawrence actually felt a little lost.

It was as if all those years of childhood sweetheart days between them had been fake.

Did he really not feel the least bit of reluctance, not even try to hold on to her?

Even though it was Lawrence who first brought up divorce, and even forced Kenneth to get the divorce certificate, when Kenneth turned around and left without a word, she still felt a little empty inside.

Her feelings were so tangled they’d reached the extreme; she felt like her brain wasn’t enough to process it all.

Edward Foster had been quite happy at first, but when he turned and saw the dazed look on Lawrence’s face, all the joy in his heart vanished in an instant.

There was even a faint sourness and bitterness.

He let out a short snort and said, "Lawrence, someone like that isn’t worth your time. If he doesn’t cherish you, someone else naturally will. I..."

Before he could finish, Lawrence already cut him off and said calmly, "Mr. Foster, I’m in a really bad mood. I want to go home. Thank you for bringing me food. I’ll repay you if I get the chance in the future."

With that, she quickly left the Civil Affairs Bureau, got into her car, and sped off.

Edward took a deep breath and told himself that the Long March of ten thousand miles had just reached the first step towards victory; as long as he didn’t give up, he would eventually win in the end!

Thinking this, his mood lifted again. Humming a tune, he walked to his own car and soon drove away.

...

On sheer anger and lonely bravado alone, Lawrence had forced Kenneth to divorce her.

Once the matter was settled, her rationality slowly returned, and she suddenly realized that getting the divorce certificate had actually been the easiest part.

Next she still had to face her mother Gabrielle Winters’s fury—that was the truly fatal part!

How was she supposed to tell Gabrielle that she and Kenneth were already divorced?

They hadn’t even been married for a year, hadn’t held a banquet, hadn’t had a ceremony, and they were already divorced!

Lawrence didn’t know why, but her first instinct was that this was something she absolutely could not let Gabrielle find out, or her mother would be furious, might even be so mad she’d lose her head and offer up her own daughter as a sacrificial flag!

Lawrence’s mind was full of strange thoughts all the way until she got back to their big flat, where she was still plotting where best to hide the divorce certificate...

Otherwise, if her mother found it, her hand would fly up and she’d get slapped...

Lawrence had it all figured out in her head, but the moment she stepped out of the elevator and into the living room, she knew instantly that things were bad.

On the corner sofa in the middle of the living room, her mother Gabrielle was glaring at her, face full of anger.

Her stepfather Nick Zeller was sitting right next to Gabrielle, constantly patting her back to help her breathe easier.

The Daoist, on the other hand, was cheerfully brewing tea all by himself.

He nodded at Lawrence. "You’re back."

He said it as if she’d just gone out to the market and come back with a pound of pork.

Lawrence instinctively hid the Coach accordion bag containing the divorce certificate behind her back.

Gabrielle rolled her eyes in exasperation. "What are you hiding for? You think I’ve never seen a divorce certificate before?"

Lawrence’s heart tightened, and only then did she understand why she’d been so afraid of Gabrielle finding out about her divorce...

Because divorcing Lawrence’s father was the one pain in Gabrielle’s life that could never be spoken of.

From a young age, Lawrence knew that whenever her mother thought of that incident, she’d be unhappy, and would even secretly cry.

Lawrence’s memory was especially good; she could even remember, back when she was still a baby, Gabrielle holding her, nursing her, tears sliding down her face and dripping onto her chubby infant cheeks.

The tears rolled down her round, peachy face into her mouth, and she still remembered the taste of tears mixed with sweet milk—it was salty.

So in Lawrence’s mind there was a deeply rooted impression: divorce had a devastating impact on her mother, Gabrielle.

Now that she thought of it, she regretted her impulsiveness a little, but when she’d made that decision, it hadn’t even occurred to her what kind of impact it would have on her family.

She clearly valued her family the most and would not allow anyone or anything to hurt them in the slightest, not even Kenneth.

So why was it that the one who ended up hurting them was herself?

In an instant countless thoughts flashed through Lawrence’s mind, and she began to feel somewhat doubtful about her own decision.

She didn’t think she shouldn’t have gotten divorced; she just thought she should have handled it better.

Not like this, taking care of the head and ignoring the tail, like a mule with a blindfold on, charging forward regardless— even if there was a cliff ahead, she’d still jump.

Given the way she’d handled problems over the years, this really wasn’t her usual standard, let alone some kind of above-and-beyond performance.