Divorce Is An Absolute Must! - Chapter 3
Chapter 3: Rich
◎Someone built a whole empire for her◎
The private hospital’s ward was quite nice. The bed was soft, and the room was spacious. Zhu Qing stayed for two more days. The doctor couldn’t find any other problems and gave her a bunch of check-ups. After a psychiatric evaluation showed no issues, Zhu Qing was allowed to be discharged.
Before leaving the hospital, Zhu Qing logged into her WeChat and found Li Lan’s chatbox, hesitating whether she should tell her about her discharge.
In the two days she was hospitalized, Li Lan had three meals a day sent from a hotel. And based on Zhu Qing’s observation of Qian Cancan’s expression before and after paying the bills, she highly suspected that Qian Cancan hadn’t managed to beat the assistant named ‘Qian Chu’ to the payment.
She ate their food and stayed on their dime; she should probably say something about leaving.
With that thought, Zhu Qing quickly typed a line of text.
“I have recovered and am discharged.”
After successfully sending the message, Zhu Qing stared at the line and felt it was too dry.
“I’m going home.”
After sending this one, Zhu Qing quickly turned off the screen, her ears a little red.
Downstairs, Qian Cancan drove a flashy electric-pink sports car to pick Zhu Qing up and take her home.
“All your luggage is here. If you left anything behind, I’m not responsible for it. Go get it yourself,” Qian Cancan said.
Zhu Qing was only focused on the sports car, with an envious look in her eyes. “Is this your fourth mistress?” She remembered that Qian Cancan had changed cars three times already.
Qian Cancan, wearing sunglasses, controlled the steering wheel with one hand and shook her head leisurely. “Nonono, this is your car.”
Zhu Qing: ?！？
Qian Cancan said, “Consider it Li Lan’s betrothal gift to you. She wanted to give you a car before the marriage, and she let me pick the model, so I chose this one.”
A hint of glee rose in Zhu Qing’s heart. “I…”
Qian Cancan looked at her, expecting to read a bit of gratitude in her eyes and to be praised highly.
Be grateful for Li Lan’s generous gift, be grateful for her own help in choosing and picking up the car for her, and be grateful for all of it.
“I finally got my driver’s license,” Zhu Qing clapped her hands and said proudly. “I knew they couldn’t call me a menace on the road; I’m clearly the future queen of the road!”
“Hehe,” Qian Cancan turned her head back, her face cold as she shattered Zhu Qing’s fantasy. “How could that be? You failed your driving test, so you need to re-register.”
Zhu Qing: …
Half a minute later, Zhu Qing stroked the car’s leather interior. “This car looks very expensive.”
Qian Cancan said casually, “It’s alright. Just barely a seven-figure number.”
Zhu Qing wanted to pinch someone. She gritted her teeth and said, “I’m going to fight you rich people to the death.”
Qian Cancan stopped her with a look. “Be careful. That little trinket by your hand is worth a month of your salary.”
The car happened to stop at a red light. Zhu Qing reached out her hand directly. “I’ll strangle all you rich people!”
Qian Cancan said angrily, “What are you pinching me for? This is your car. It’s an asset under your name!”
Zhu Qing’s fist-waving went offline immediately. “Under my name?”
“Yeah, an asset under your name. Your name is on the title.”
Zhu Qing was speechless.
It wasn’t that she was deaf and hadn’t heard, but she subconsciously thought that even if Li Lan gave her the car, it was just her casually throwing her the car keys and letting her drive it, not actually giving her the car.
Zhu Qing herself majored in foreign trade. She had worked at all sorts of companies in college. The rich people she knew all had the same modus operandi.
The house is for you to live in; the car is for you to drive. But upon investigation, the car and the house are under the company’s name and are often used as collateral for loans. Once there’s a risk, you lose everything. It’s a very deep game.
Li Lan was also a big boss herself, so there’s no way she wouldn’t know the difference.
So there was only one possibility: she really wanted to give Zhu Qing a fixed asset that truly belonged to her.
Zhu Qing shrank back into her seat and covered her heart, which was suddenly beating faster, with a strange emotion welling up inside her.
Qian Cancan didn’t know what she said that had such a magical effect on Zhu Qing, making her as quiet as a chicken, but she was happy about it.
After getting on the city’s expressway, the scenery on the side of the road became more and more familiar. Zhu Qing looked at it and felt something was off.
“Where are you going?” Zhu Qing asked after she recovered.
The road looked like the one leading to the rental apartment she lived in before graduation.
Qian Cancan told her Zhu Qing’s original address.
Zhu Qing was stunned. It really was the rental apartment. “I’m married now, and I’m still living in a rental?”
During her senior year of college, Zhu Qing often ran around doing part-time jobs. She shared a flat with others. The location was great, close to the subway and a shopping mall, but the rent was also expensive. A large chunk of her monthly income was spent on rent.
But the commute was short. She was the kind of person who would rather spend all her money than lose three hours of rest every day. Besides, the apartments in that area were seven to eight hundred thousand per square meter. She was quite satisfied with being able to enjoy it by paying so little in rent.
But then again, she was married. The marital home was her old rental. This made Zhu Qing feel inadequate. Her partner was a big star, a delicate flower that she had so rudely snatched and stuffed into a shared apartment. Oh, wait, given the current situation where they were on the verge of breaking up, Li Lan might not even want to set foot here…
“Li Lan bought the apartment,” Qian Cancan said in a very casual tone, as if it were a random item bought on the side of the road. “She saw that you liked the apartment, so she bought it and moved in with Xiao Bao.”
Zhu Qing’s eyes widened instantly, and she stammered, “B-bought it?”
Qian Cancan’s family was also wealthy. Although her net income didn’t match Li Lan’s, the accumulated assets over several generations meant that houses and cars were not an issue, so she wasn’t as surprised as Zhu Qing.
Zhu Qing was still in shock.
The apartment, which cost over a million, was just… bought?
Even more shocking than a seven-figure car was a house with an eight-figure price tag!
An eight-figure number!
Zhu Qing, who was grateful for basking in the glory of the new era by working her fingers to the bone for tens of thousands of dollars a month, couldn’t fathom how someone could casually buy a house for an eight-figure number!
Zhu Qing cleared her throat, unable to hold back her question. She stammered for a bit, but finally couldn’t help but ask, “So, can I… live in this house too?”
Qian Cancan said, “Why not? The house was bought after you were married, so it’s both of your joint property.”
Zhu Qing went offline again.
Was this the plot of a bossy CEO drama? Zhu Qing’s mind conjured an image of Li Lan’s cold, reserved face, the elegant bossy CEO holding a gold card, arrogantly slapping it on the table. “Woman, want to buy a house? Take this and spend.”
A strange heat rose on Zhu Qing’s face.
Qian Cancan said in confusion, “Why are you blushing like a tea kettle?”
Zhu Qing didn’t even look up. “Go away.”
Qian Cancan rolled her eyes and turned the steering wheel to enter the neighborhood.
To let Zhu Qing get some sun, the sports car had its top down the whole way. As soon as it turned up the hill, she saw the security guard poking his head out of his booth.
Zhu Qing glanced at him. It was the same security guard who used to look down on tenants and often gave her a sideways glance. Just as she was about to ask him to open the gate, the gate recognized the license plate, and the barrier automatically lifted.
“You’re back.” The security guard said with a smile.
Zhu Qing nodded awkwardly. “Ah.”
Tenants couldn’t have their faces or license plates registered, only owners could. Zhu Qing cleared her throat, feeling guilty about borrowing someone else’s power.
Before entering the building, Zhu Qing pulled on Qian Cancan’s arm.
She used all her strength to hold herself back. “Are we just going to walk in?”
“You can jump in.”
“No, what I mean is, let me calm down first.”
Zhu Qing refused to get out of the elevator. One hand was unconsciously pulling at the edge of her sweater, her knuckles curling and uncurling repeatedly.
Seeing her reaction, Qian Cancan’s voice involuntarily softened. “What’s wrong?”
“This apartment,” Zhu Qing bit her lip. Her normally rough nerves suddenly became sensitive as she approached the familiar door. “It’s the apartment I used to have to share with others.”
Her perception of this apartment had always been that she had to keep her job, work hard to earn a salary, and spend a large portion of her income to get the right to live in one of the secondary bedrooms.
What she had owned with all her might was just a small, time-limited living space.
But at this moment, this apartment had been bought, and it all belonged to Li Lan.
The difference was self-evident.
“Yeah, this is your apartment now. You don’t have to live in a rental anymore,” Qian Cancan said. “Why, do you still like sharing an apartment with others?”
Zhu Qing’s expression went blank for a moment, and then she shook her head vigorously. “No, the thing I hate the most is sharing an apartment with others.”
Qian Cancan pulled her forward. “Then hurry up and go inside. The luggage is so heavy. I’m exhausted.”
Zhu Qing finally reached the door.
This flat was a little over 170 square meters. She had shared it with a couple and a grad student. The couple lived in the master bedroom, the grad student lived in the smallest study, and she lived in the second bedroom.
The shoe cabinet at the entrance was a shared space. The couple had a male partner, and she and the grad student tacitly avoided putting their shoes outside the door.
But even so, the couple often made a mess of the entryway.
Zhu Qing loved her small bedroom but disliked the other people in the space. From the day she rented the apartment, she had been planning to save money, hoping that one day she could own a home that was completely her own and settle down in a corner of this city.
But at this moment, the entryway was clean, with only a fluffy rug on the floor with a yellow-eyed black cat on a white background.
The old, ordinary security door had been replaced with a Grade A door, with a low-key black alloy panel that felt great. When Zhu Qing placed her thumb on the smart lock, the fingerprint was recognized, and the door opened automatically.
To the side of the entrance was a wall of flowers, filled with small potted plants, including her favorite pansies and geraniums.
Looking further inside, the messy living room and the decor filled with other people’s traces had all disappeared. The house had been completely renovated and decorated in the same creamy style as her bedroom.
Pure white furniture, a corner full of anime figurines, a retro TV cabinet, a soft creamy sofa…
Unlike what Zhu Qing had imagined, the house wasn’t in a light luxury Italian style or a Nordic French style. Nor did it have expensive “only use rare materials” decor. The feeling this house gave Zhu Qing was that if this house were hers, this is how she would decorate it.
This apartment, from the inside out, catered to her preferences. It was almost blatantly telling her, This is for you; this is yours.
Zhu Qing walked to the windowsill and saw a small rattan tea table and a half-sphere swing next to it. Her expression was a little dazed for a moment.
She remembered that her biggest wish as a child was to have a small swing at home.
This was her private space, where she could nestle in and enjoy the feeling of floating.
These hidden, tiny things that were not worth mentioning to outsiders and that she had never hoped to get from anyone else were all presented to her the moment she opened the door.
Zhu Qing felt like she had been completely spoiled, and she was overwhelmed and bewildered.