Divorce Is An Absolute Must! - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Amnesia

◎Oh no, she seems to have lost her mind◎

A fair-skinned girl in her early twenties lies in a hospital bed. She has a bruise on her forehead and a delicate face.

Her eyelids flutter, and she awakens from a deep sleep.

“A person’s body is long. If she doesn’t curl up, she can roll a few times and stop. If she curls into a ball, she’ll roll all the way to the bottom.”

“She has some bl00d clots in her brain, a minor contusion on her knee, and a scrape on her elbow. The doctor says it’s not a big deal.”

“Zhu Qing is such a bad luck star. Other people have a week of bad luck, but she has a full-year, non-stop VIP package.”

As Zhu Qing regains consciousness, her head throbs with pain. Hearing these chirping voices, she snaps awake in anger.

“Qian… Can… Can,” she says, gritting her teeth. “Get out.”

Qian Cancan, munching on a guava, turns her head and smiles. “Oh, the jinx is awake.”

She hangs up the phone and presses the nurse call button for Zhu Qing.

Zhu Qing opens her eyes and looks around. She vaguely remembers falling, but she has no memory of what happened after.

It’s like when she had her tonsils removed as a child. The doctor told her to count to three, but before she could finish, she fell into the deepest sleep of her life. She was completely out, and when she woke up, she was in a daze, not knowing who or where she was.

Zhu Qing is in that exact state now.

“Does anything else hurt?” Qian Cancan walks over and inspects her, marveling. “Look at this selfless and great person, sacrificing herself to save the flowers of our country. You’re so amazing.”

Zhu Qing rubs her temple. “Huh?” she says. “What happened?”

Qian Cancan explains, “There was a child climbing on the staircase railing, about to fall. You rushed over like a flash to catch them. You caught the person, but you twisted your ankle and rolled gracefully down the entire flight of stairs.”

Zhu Qing: “…”

She can hear the sarcasm in Qian Cancan’s voice.

Saving someone only to fall down the stairs herself… Yes, that does sound a bit dumb.

“Who were you on the phone with?” Zhu Qing struggles to sit up. Her head is a little dizzy, and her whole body aches as if she’s been beaten up.

Qian Cancan is her childhood friend and bestie. True to her name, she’s rich, loves to show off, is always cheerful, and has an active imagination, creating entire dramas even when no one is paying attention.

Zhu Qing is too lazy to argue with her. Qian Cancan doesn’t have many friends, so Zhu Qing is curious who she would talk about herself with in such a familiar tone.

Qian Cancan says offhand, “Qian Chu.”

“Who is Qian Chu?” Zhu Qing takes a cup to rinse her mouth.

Qian Cancan asks in surprise, “Your wife’s assistant.”

“Pffft—”

Zhu Qing sprays a mist of water.

She starts coughing violently, her face turning red. “Wh-what?”

Zhu Qing’s eyes are wide open. She feels like she has fake ears.

Where did a wife come from?!

Qian Cancan’s freshly curled bangs have gone flat. She pulls out a tissue to wipe her face, then expressionlessly throws the soggy tissue on Zhu Qing’s face.

“Explain yourself,” Zhu Qing says, tossing the cup aside. “Wife… Is she a celebrity I’m a fan of? A fictional character?”

She and Qian Cancan always casually call beautiful women “wife,” so maybe Qian Cancan meant that kind of wife?

Qian Cancan’s gaze becomes serious. “It’s true that you’re a fan, but I’m talking about your actual wife.”

Zhu Qing starts to wonder if she has a habit of collecting figurines.

Qian Cancan reminds her, “You’re already married.”

Zhu Qing: “……!?”

Ignoring the flustered Zhu Qing, Qian Cancan quickly grabs the doctor who just arrived, her voice full of panic. “This is terrible! She seems to have gone crazy. She doesn’t remember having a wife. Doctor, please take a look!”

The doctor asks her about her condition and tentatively concludes that Zhu Qing has some memory loss.

“Didn’t I just attend my graduation ceremony? I haven’t even gotten my diploma yet,” Zhu Qing says, looking bewildered. “Why don’t I remember getting married?”

The doctor pushes up his glasses and answers her questions patiently. “Because you forgot.”

Zhu Qing argues loudly, “If I forgot, how do I not know that I forgot?“

Qian Cancan and the doctor ignore her.

Qian Cancan is very anxious. “How could this happen? The X-ray was fine, wasn’t it?”

The doctor is calm. “Short-term memory loss is a common form of amnesia. The brain has a strong ability to repair itself. Generally, there’s no need to worry unless there’s an organic lesion.”

Qian Cancan presses, “So, can she recover?”

The doctor reassures her, “It’s highly likely. Short-term memory loss doesn’t have a big impact on the patient, especially when the memory loss is only a little over a year. I suggest the patient stay positive and live her life.”

Amnesia can be a big or small deal. Some people wake up and don’t even remember who they are, which affects their mental health. But for a patient like Zhu Qing, who has no detectable brain damage and has only lost a little over a year of memories, the hospital doesn’t really consider her a “patient.”

After the doctor leaves, Qian Cancan pats Zhu Qing and says in a tone of “counting your blessings,” “At least you’re not crazy.”

Zhu Qing stares at Qian Cancan suspiciously. “Is this a prank? Did your family open a new hospital? You even hired a doctor. You’re really going all out. I’m such a free spirit; how could I get married so young? You’re lying to me, aren’t you?”

Qian Cancan rolls her eyes. She thinks, You’re the one who begged and begged for your wife. After you fell in love, you stopped drinking, stopped clubbing, and went home after work. You moved in together and got engaged so quickly. Who’s to blame for getting married young?

Qian Cancan brings over a mirror, places it in front of Zhu Qing, and gestures with a bow. “Please, take a look.”

Zhu Qing stares at the mirror but can’t see anything different. “What for? So I can admire my looks? I’m still so beautiful.”

Qian Cancan rolls her eyes again, then shouts, “Look at your dark circles! Your dark circles are GONE! The dark circles that have been under your eyes since high school, more stubborn than the stains on the plastic chairs at the barbecue joint outside my house, are gone!”

Zhu Qing instantly acts like she’s discovered a new continent, making an “Ooooh~” sound.

She had thought she was wearing makeup that covered her dark circles and hadn’t realized her skin was now in such good condition without it.

“How could I have such good skin?” Zhu Qing asks, wide-eyed and shocked as she looks at Qian Cancan. “Did you put hormones on my face?”

Qian Cancan is in awe of Zhu Qing’s constant skepticism and habit of assuming the worst of others. The last bit of pity in her heart disappears, and she says sinisterly, “Do you want to know why?”

Zhu Qing, the night owl, nods frantically.

Qian Cancan gives a benevolent, Buddha-like smile, and her voice is slow and even.

“Because, you’ve become a virtuous wife.”

Zhu Qing: “!!!?????”

Qian Cancan, in a dramatic announcer’s voice, says with feeling, “In the year since you got married, you went from being a rock and roll girl who never came home and could drink a thousand cups of alcohol, to a virtuous wife who cooks, never messes around, and is perfect for the home. You never came home after 10 p.m. and never went out to have fun, but you were happy with it, you were content, and you did it willingly. You are no longer the ghost-fire girl who pulled all-nighters! You have become a love-struck fool drowned in romance! You…”

Zhu Qing covers Qian Cancan’s mouth in horror. “Don’t say things from a horror movie in broad daylight.”

Qian Cancan pulls her hand away, and with a look of fear on Zhu Qing’s face, she slowly pulls out her phone.

“Since your own phone was smashed into six pieces, all the evidence is now here.”

Zhu Qing’s shocked gaze shifts to the fruit-branded phone, her eyes practically piercing through it.

“Where do you want to start looking? At your daily life photos? Or your wedding photos? Forget it, let’s just go straight to the kiss.”

With an excited heart and trembling hands, Zhu Qing takes Qian Cancan’s phone.

The phone shows a private social media post from nearly a year ago. A long, sentimental message congratulates Zhu Qing, who was a lifelong single and a late bloomer, on finally finding someone, and it’s accompanied by a nine-photo grid.

Just as Zhu Qing is about to read the sentimental text, Qian Cancan quickly taps to open the photos.

A two-person photo instantly fills the entire screen.

The first photo is of the two of them kissing on a beach. Someone is holding Zhu Qing’s thighs and lifting her up. Zhu Qing has her hands on the other person’s shoulders, slightly bowing her head to meet their lips.

They are both dressed discreetly in silk mermaid-style dresses, casting a hazy silhouette on the shimmering sea.

Seeing her intimate photo so abruptly, Zhu Qing feels a strange sense of unfamiliarity, as if someone has taken her face and pasted it onto someone else’s.

Zhu Qing endures the discomfort and continues looking. As she looks, her attention is gradually drawn to the other person.

She has to admit, the photos are incredibly well-shot. The composition, lighting, and atmosphere of every single one are professional quality.

“You can look for your marriage certificate when you get home. You really are married and even had a wedding on a small island abroad,” Qian Cancan says, scrolling through the photos, her voice firm and strong. “Look, isn’t this you!”

Zhu Qing is stunned and hasn’t yet processed a single thing when she suddenly notices one of the photos. “Wait a minute!”

“Who is this?” Zhu Qing asks, pointing to a little girl in the picture. She and the other person are each holding one of the girl’s hands. “Do I have a child with her?!”

“That’s Xiaobao, your wife’s child,” Qian Cancan says. “You cherish both her and her mother.”

As the photos scroll by, no matter how confused Zhu Qing is, she can recognize that it is indeed her. She enters a state of blankness and mutters to herself, “I… I was kissed.”

Qian Cancan slaps Zhu Qing’s thigh hard. “That’s right! You’re no longer pure!”

Zhu Qing: “…”

Zhu Qing rubs her face, looks directly at Qian Cancan, and says in a serious tone, “Tell me, who is she?”

The person in the photo looks a little familiar. Not like someone she knows personally, but she feels like she’s seen that face before.

Putting aside that strange sense of familiarity, what’s more surprising is how incredibly good-looking she is.

“She looks like a celebrity. Did I make a lot of money in the past year?” Zhu Qing quickly discards that possibility as soon as she says it. She thinks for a moment, then looks at Qian Cancan with hope in her eyes. “Did you set me up with her?”

Qian Cancan is too exhausted to get angry. She really wants to post a social media update: How does your unreliable friend, after getting amnesia, find new ways to challenge the limits of human intelligence? Live stream, come watch!

Qian Cancan says with a fake smile, “I couldn’t afford to set you up with her.”

Before Zhu Qing can say anything, Qian Cancan opens a search page and finds a picture.

“Li Lan, a rising icon, a new top star who dominated the trending searches on the Night of the Waves. Beautiful, aloof, a stunning masterpiece…”

Li Lan?!

The person on the screen has an even greater impact than the photos from the social media post.

Li Lan is a model. When she wears makeup and looks directly at the camera, she has a powerful life force. Combined with her aloof and exquisite features, her slightly lowered gaze reveals a commanding aura. Her perfect bone structure and skin create a face that is flawless from every angle.

The popular celebrities you often see on TV are utterly overshadowed by Li Lan’s beauty in high-definition, sharpened photos.

She… actually married a celebrity.

Zhu Qing flops down on the bed. The wound on her head throbs. She rubs her face hard, unable to believe it. Shock and bewilderment are like two bolts of lightning that hit her, leaving her charred. “How could I be worthy of having her as my wife? What is going on…”

The photos are hard to fake, and Qian Cancan wouldn’t have planted a trap in her social media months in advance just to prank her. Everything points to only one explanation: she is indeed married, and her wife is Li Lan.

That incredibly beautiful, aloof superstar is, without a doubt, her wife.

A real, honest-to-goodness, WIFE!!!

Zhu Qing is speechless, staring blankly.

Seeing that Zhu Qing has finally returned to a normal state of mind, Qian Cancan thinks for a moment and says, “I get it. I asked the same thing back then.”

Zhu Qing turns her face to Qian Cancan. Li Lan and her are worlds apart. People who shouldn’t have any connection. How could they be together? “Tell me the details.”

Could it be that Li Lan likes her simple style?

After seeing all the flashy and extravagant things, did she want a “virtuous and homey” partner? But she wasn’t like that at all! She loved clubbing and parties, not being homey!

Qian Cancan mercilessly reveals the truth: “I took you to a party. You got drunk, stumbled into Li Lan’s room, and then did that and that. Afterward, you ran away, and you only owned up to it when Xiaobao caught you.”

Zhu Qing’s mouth forms a huge “O”.

That rough and brazen style does sound like her. Zhu Qing can’t find a single thing to refute it for a few seconds. After she calms down, she asks suspiciously, “I’m a person who’s only heard about s3x, not seen it. Do you not find it a bit ridiculous that I just… did that to someone?”

She has never even been in a relationship. She hasn’t even kissed anyone. To say she had a drunken one-night stand is like asking a grade-schooler to solve an Olympiad math problem.

Qian Cancan’s voice is strange. “Exactly. Because you didn’t know what you were doing, you really put her through a lot. Li Lan had an event to attend the next day, and you almost made her miss it.”

Before Zhu Qing can speak, Qian Cancan turns her head and, with a look of pity and solemnity, delivers the final verdict. “But it doesn’t matter now. She’s going to divorce you.”

Zhu Qing nearly chokes, barely able to catch her breath. “Wait, why are we getting divorced?”

Qian Cancan can’t take it anymore. “Because you don’t fulfill your spousal duties and you hit her!”

Zhu Qing: “!!”

Am I even human?!