Divorce Is An Absolute Must! - Chapter 36

Chapter 36: First Love

◎If the other person’s first love contacts them.◎

A soft, warm breath brushed against the back of her hand. Li Lan blinked, her eyelashes lightly sweeping across Zhu Qing’s palm, a ticklish sensation.

Zhu Qing kissed the back of her hand again, her movements incredibly gentle.

Next, cool ointment was applied to the reddened area, and a chilly sensation spread along her nerves.

“I really don’t know what’s going on in that head of yours.” Zhu Qing gritted her teeth, her voice a low whisper in the night, sending a shiver down Li Lan’s spine.

Li Lan finally regained her sight. Zhu Qing was kneeling on the bed with one leg and standing on the other, her back slightly bent as she carefully applied the ointment to Li Lan’s hand.

Li Lan felt a little awkward and moved her arm, which earned her a stern “Don’t move” from Zhu Qing.

She was quite bossy.

Li Lan calmed her breathing. After watching for two seconds, she suddenly said, “This is Yunnan, not Sichuan.”

Zhu Qing looked up. “I know.”

Li Lan said, “Are you sure you know?”

Zhu Qing said, “The local tourism bureau sent me a text message as soon as I got off the plane, asking me to visit the beautiful scenery of Yunnan.”

Li Lan said, “Oh,” and then quickly added, “So where did you learn to change your face so quickly?”

After all that buildup, it was just to mock her. Zhu Qing didn’t stop what she was doing. She let out a laugh, a little jab in her tone. “I didn’t.”

“You were just complaining with a pitiful look on your face that I shouldn’t ignore you, and now…” Li Lan’s gaze swept over Zhu Qing’s posture and then meaningfully landed on her lips. “You’re quite something.”

Zhu Qing huffed. I have many skills.

“Are you short on cash?” Li Lan asked suddenly.

Zhu Qing was confused. “You’re talking about money right now?!”

Was Li Lan going to reward her for taking care of her? If so, Zhu Qing couldn’t guarantee what she would do. Enough is enough, and she’s not going to endure it anymore.

Li Lan was stunned for a moment and then laughed. “No, I mean you were great today. If you can keep it up, the show will be filmed smoothly, it’ll air as planned, and you’ll be a little rich lady once the final payment is settled.”

“I’m already a rich lady,” Zhu Qing said. “I own half of your assets from our marriage.”

“That’s true,” Li Lan nodded. “As long as you’re willing to spend.”

Zhu Qing finished applying the ointment. She rubbed the remaining ointment on her own hand and looked down at Li Lan for a while.

“Let me massage your arm. You did a lot of work today,” Zhu Qing said in a low, negotiating tone.

Li Lan lay on the bed, lazy. “No.”

In reality, Zhu Qing had done more work than her. Li Lan’s weight and years of malnutrition had always kept her physical strength below that of the average person. She used to need a lot of sleep to recover after working for a few days straight, but now she didn’t have much time to rest. She never expected Zhu Qing to see her problem after spending such a short time with her since losing her memory.

“You’re so fussy,” Zhu Qing complained and directly took Li Lan’s arm to massage it lightly. “Don’t tense up. Relax your muscles.”

Li Lan cried out in pain. “Be gentle.”

Zhu Qing wasn’t using any force at all. It was just that Li Lan’s body was too weak. “This is an acupuncture point. Why are you so frail?”

Li Lan really wanted to argue that she wasn’t frail; she exercised regularly. She just… didn’t eat much.

“I secretly used the production crew’s scale to weigh myself yesterday,” Zhu Qing said with confidence. “I gained two pounds. What about you?”

Before they came on the show, they had a discussion about who needed to eat more. The conclusion was that Zhu Qing was thinner and needed to eat more. But now, it was clear that Li Lan couldn’t lose any more weight, and Zhu Qing was starting to gain, but Li Lan remained the same.

Zhu Qing knew that cameras added weight and that Li Lan, as a model, naturally had to control her diet to look thin yet beautiful on camera. The premise of this look was being thin, and then being beautiful.

“Have you ever tried to gain some weight?” Zhu Qing asked in a low voice. “Maybe you’ll gain weight in your body but not your face.”

Li Lan had never gained weight since she was a child, and she had maintained this figure ever since she started working. She hesitated. “I don’t know. I can try.”

Zhu Qing was satisfied with the answer, and her lips curled into a smile. “I don’t know what you need all this money for. We have a house and a car now. You don’t have to work so hard.”

“Hard?” Li Lan lightly shook her head. For someone from her background, many people were hoping to sacrifice their health for a chance to make a lot of money. The money she earned was commensurate with what she put in.

“I’m worried about your health,” Zhu Qing said. “If your body fails, you’ll have nothing. You have to put your health first.”

Li Lan had no choice but to agree.

“I don’t know what you’re worried about, and I don’t know what I did,” Zhu Qing said as she gently massaged Li Lan’s temple, her technique very professional. “But no matter what, your health is the most important thing. I want you to be healthy.”

Li Lan didn’t think there was anything wrong with her health. She was only 30, at the age to be a professional, not in her seventies or eighties. But Zhu Qing was very serious, so she didn’t dare to dampen her spirits. Today’s Zhu Qing was especially bold, which made her a little afraid to say anything.

“Okay, I’ll take care of my body,” Li Lan said.

Zhu Qing narrowed her eyes, calculating Li Lan’s schedule for the next few days. This show wasn’t that troublesome, but it couldn’t be called a relaxing vacation. When Li Lan finally accepted her, they should go on a real vacation.

“Don’t make me wait too long,” Zhu Qing said.

Li Lan: …

…

The second episode of the show was a full two hours long, with more content than the first. Each group was given 30 minutes of screen time. Hu Xu and Liu Yini first went to chat with the villagers, causing a lot of funny moments because of the language barrier. But they used the 300 points given by the production crew to exchange for a bunch of things that were rare in the village. Liu Yini asked about the elderly in the village and gave them some expensive herbs and tonics she had brought. They later took a car to visit the market and filmed many interesting trinkets, showing the local customs of the southwestern mountains.

The actor and actress also had many good moments. Most of the tools in the wooden house were for farming, and the only thing they had for fishing was a net with holes big enough for a fist to fit through. Sun Qi tried to spear a fish with a wooden stick but kept failing. In the end, it was Xu Yuzhi who used rocks to block the wooden basket and caught two fish. The two also talked about many funny stories from their childhood, which was a treat for fans who wanted to hear gossip about the celebrity couple.

Qi Yao and Yu Ling, however, went the route of showing how pitiful they were. Qi Yao didn’t manage to do anything right. He almost suffocated himself while trying to get rid of bugs, which also affected Yu Ling’s breathing. He got the fertilizer ratio wrong and almost burned the seedlings to death. This kind of footage was either pathetic or stupid. The production crew didn’t want to offend the company behind Qi Yao, so they could only make them look pitiful. Fortunately, Yu Ling was genuinely pitiable. A delicate young girl was sent to carry manure and even threw up from the toxic gas Qi Yao created. She instantly gained a lot of new fans and even had two trending topics.

Li Lan and Zhu Qing, on the other hand, went about things as planned. Li Lan’s popularity was still very high. She was already beautiful, and the reality show, which removed the masks of the cameras and showed who was short, who had bad proportions, and who was at a disadvantage, made Li Lan stand out even more. Zhu Qing also gained a lot of fans for her honest and hardworking nature after cooking all day.

Except for a certain group that was slowly gaining traction.

“Everyone, remember, this is a romance show. Is there something on your mind if you’re not shipping the couples?”

“Who said they’re not shipping them? Don’t you think the way Zhu Qing and Li Lan interact is very ambiguous?”

“This is what love after marriage looks like.”

“My little amnesiac girlfriend is a newborn calf that’s not afraid of tigers. She has no concept of the camera.”

“Zhu Qing when she remembers the camera: glaring at the camera and covering it with a tomato. Zhu Qing when she forgets the camera: giving the camera half of her back.”

“But Li Lan is spoiling her. She has never said no to Zhu Qing. I also want a sister to revolve around me, with her eyes always on me.”

“Zhu Qing looks at Li Lan: Big sister, big sister; Li Lan looks at Zhu Qing: Wife.”

When Zhu Qing saw these comments, she suspected that Li Lan had hired an online mob.

“Qian Chu said she only hires mobs on Weibo to suppress negative comments. No one manages the comments on the video,” Li Lan admitted honestly. “Otherwise, which couple would the audience ship? The older couple and the middle-aged couple are already a template for a loving couple. The younger couple has Qi Yao, so we’re the only fresh ones.”

This was also an unexpected bonus. For all the seasons this show had been on the air, most of the popular couples were either those who had secretly gotten married and hadn’t shown their faces in public or the younger ones. Excluding those two, only Li Lan and Zhu Qing were easy to ship.

Qian Chu’s call came at the right time. “You can get a little closer on purpose. Couple fans are still fans. I think the results from the last two episodes are good.”

Zhu Qing quickly ratted out Li Lan. “I’m already being very proactive. It’s mainly Teacher Li who’s reserved. She keeps covering my mouth.”

“Shouldn’t I be covering your mouth?” Li Lan said with a slight smile. “You always have a problem with Qi Yao. He reaches for food, and you turn the table. He talks, and you look down. If I don’t watch you for a second, you’ll lose your facial expression management.”

“Miss Zhu,” Qian Chu’s tone immediately became serious. “We agreed that you would be taciturn.”

Zhu Qing: …

“I am taciturn,” Zhu Qing argued. “Look at the last two episodes. I didn’t say much, right? As for Qi Yao, that’s not my fault. He doesn’t like Teacher Li, so of course, I’m not going to be nice to him.”

Li Lan was surprised. “How do you know he doesn’t like me?”

“Because when you reached for food, he turned the table, and when you talked, he looked down!” Zhu Qing said.

It turned out Zhu Qing was purely retaliating.

“He…” Qian Chu was speechless. After a moment of hesitation, she turned her attention to Li Lan. “President Lan, is Qi Yao still holding a grudge against you for the last photoshoot?”

Li Lan shook her head calmly. “I don’t know.”

“Even Zhu Qing can tell that Qi Yao’s attitude is off… No, I have to rewatch the show. Qi Yao even posted a sarcastic blog post about you after the last photoshoot. Even though he didn’t name you, his fans might dig it up,” Qian Chu said as if facing a formidable enemy. “You two can figure it out on your own. Just remember to be loving! Very loving! Forever and ever!”

After hanging up, Zhu Qing said suspiciously, “Last photoshoot? When was that? Did you two know each other before the show? Why was he being sarcastic? Is he sick?”

Li Lan didn’t know which question to answer first, so she just told her the truth from beginning to end. “It was on a business trip after you lost your memory. When we were shooting, he was not only late but also unfamiliar with the script, which delayed the filming. I showed him how to act, and it might have hit a sore spot for him. He threw a fit and didn’t want to film anymore.”

The company behind Qi Yao was Meiyu Media, one of the two major players in the industry, and they were putting a lot of resources into him, wanting to make him the next big male star.

Li Lan chose her words carefully as she explained to Zhu Qing. “So just keep your distance from him and don’t confront him.”

Zhu Qing’s entire face scrunched up. “Then is the person behind you, oh right, Miss Yang, more powerful than Meiyu Media? Since his connections are so strong, do we have to act subservient?”

Li Lan was speechless and only expressed her condemnation with her eyes.

“Oh, okay, I guess we don’t have to,” Zhu Qing said. “But I feel like he’s a landmine, and he could explode at any moment. I should be careful. Especially since he has a problem with you, I’ll have a bigger problem with him sooner or later.”

Li Lan was helpless. Her little girlfriend, who had just graduated from college and hadn’t entered the real world—no, she had been in it for a year but had forgotten everything—always had a naive and straightforward sense of fearlessness.

“Alright. Just remember to call me before you do anything,” Li Lan could only say this.

Zhu Qing obediently nodded. “Okay.”

Li Lan sighed. This is exhausting.

…

This was the fourth day Li Lan and Zhu Qing had been there. There were two more days of filming in the wooden house, and on the sixth day, they would fly to Africa to begin the next leg of their journey. To make the show more interesting and to give the guests a day to rest, the production crew arranged today’s filming indoors.

[First, let’s start our first segment, the Heartbeat Q&A Blind Box. Each pair of guests will draw two questions, a “Red Question” and a “Gold Question,” and answer them separately. After revealing their answers, the other three groups will ask follow-up questions. First, let’s invite Teacher Hu and Teacher Liu to choose their questions.]

The Red Questions were in a box with a flame drawn on it and looked tricky. The Gold Questions were in a golden wooden box and looked very appealing.

After they drew their questions, they read them out.

Red Question: “After getting married, have you ever developed feelings for someone else? To what extent?”

As soon as the question was read, the entire room went “Oh~” with exaggerated and shocked expressions.

Zhu Qing grabbed Li Lan’s sleeve and whispered, “This is a little intense.”

Sun Qi was sweating profusely. “This is a purely provocative question!”

Hu Xu and Liu Yini, however, smiled generously and wrote down their answers.

“No.”

Hu Xu said with a smile, “Same-s3x marriage only became legal a few years ago. We haven’t been married for long, but we’ve been together for most of our lives. The only person I’ve ever had a crush on in this life is her.”

Liu Yini smiled sweetly. “We’re over a hundred years old combined. When we were young, we were emotional. Who doesn’t like a good-looking person and new things? But once you choose your person, loyalty is the most important thing.”

A question that was so tricky was answered perfectly by two people who had lived their lives and broke the question’s premise. The others were relieved but also worried that the next questions would be even more pointed. Everyone’s questions were gentle and not prying. Next, it was time for the Gold Question.

“What did your partner wear on your first date?”

Hu Xu reminisced, “She had a long braid and wore a white dress with a blue floral pattern, a fitted waist, and puffy sleeves. She had on little milky white leather shoes. Back then, we weren’t allowed to wear bright colors. I was so afraid that someone would see her that I took off my clothes, wrapped her up, and ran all the way home with her.”

Liu Yini couldn’t help but laugh. “You were wearing a blue suit with big shoulder pads and a long suit skirt. It was ugly. You took off your suit, and you were left with just your shirt. You were so nervous that you were soaked in sweat, and there was a big salt stain on your back.”

Hu Xu was a little embarrassed. “Why are you bringing that up? They asked what you wore.”

Everyone burst into laughter. The atmosphere was harmonious and warm. Zhu Qing’s heart felt warm as she watched. But as she watched, she couldn’t be happy anymore because the production crew didn’t call on the actor and actress. Instead, they looked directly at Li Lan.

“The next same-s3x couple, please come forward to draw your questions.”

Oh my God, they didn’t go in age order!

Li Lan came forward with the questions, and when the two looked at them, they both fell silent.

“If your partner’s first love suddenly contacted her, how do you think she would respond?”