Divorce Is An Absolute Must! - Chapter 37

Chapter 37: Grievances

◎If you have a grievance, why are you seeking out my wife?!◎

“Oh my gosh, the production crew has no shame.” Xu Yuzhi stared at the two of them. “What are you going to say about your first love?”

Yu Ling silently picked up the bird’s nest in front of her. He Guangtong helped her get the endorsement deal for the bird’s nest brand, so all her hard work these past few days was worth it. Now she could calmly drink her bird’s nest and watch the show.

Qi Yao nudged her with his elbow. “What should we say?”

Yu Ling kept her eyes straight ahead. “Just tell the truth.”

“You have to cooperate with me,” Qi Yao said in a low voice. “Get closer to me.” He then leaned towards Yu Ling, his shoulder brushing against her arm, and turned his face to smile, as if they were very close.

Yu Ling also smiled, maintaining her composure. “Okay.”

Everyone’s attention returned to Li Lan and Zhu Qing, eagerly awaiting their answers.

Li Lan was the first to regain her composure. She cleared her throat. “You first.”

Zhu Qing’s eyes almost popped out. She looked at Li Lan in disbelief. You’re letting me go first?? With a question like this, she was letting her go first?! Li Lan was too much!

“My first love,” Zhu Qing said through gritted teeth, “I don’t remember clearly. I think it was in elementary school.”

Li Lan’s brow twitched slightly. She turned to look at her. “You don’t remember?”

“I think it was my deskmate,” Zhu Qing said honestly. “I liked playing with her. She had two little braids. I had short hair as a child to make it easy, so I really liked girls who could braid their hair.”

Zhu Qing’s expression of recollection seemed genuine. She really considered her good friend from elementary school to be her first love. Love, with feelings comes love, with love comes infatuation. Friendship is also a feeling, friendship is also love, and friendship can also be a love… what the heck?

Li Lan looked at her seriously for a few seconds and said nothing.

Yu Ling couldn’t help but say, “Sister Zhu Qing, the question about a first love refers to someone you were actually ‘in love’ with, not a good friend or a crush.”

Zhu Qing was shocked. “No way? Crushes don’t count? Are you looking down on crushes?”

Li Lan said calmly, “Have you ever had a crush?”

“I think so. In junior high…”

Li Lan interrupted her. “At the earliest, in high school.”

Zhu Qing racked her brain. “After high school, I didn’t. I’ve never been in a relationship. The first time I was in a relationship with you, we got married.”

The corners of Li Lan’s lips were about to turn up, but she pressed them together and didn’t ask any more questions.

It was the first time the production crew had encountered such a straightforward person. The director couldn’t help but blurt out, “Besides being in a relationship, have you ever had a crush on anyone?”

Li Lan smiled at the director. “That’s a second question.”

The director laughed. “Alright, we’ll count it as the remaining Gold Question.”

Under the gaze of everyone, Zhu Qing cautiously said, “I have.”

Li Lan suddenly turned her head.

Zhu Qing tried to be careful with her words. She thought for a moment. “I’ve already answered.”

Hu Xu, who loved to watch a good show, said, “That’s not enough! You can’t just say you have. You have to give us details. Who was it, and where and when?”

Li Lan pursed her lips and stepped in. “You can’t bully her like that. The question was about contacting a first love, and I haven’t answered yet.”

Hu Xu waved her hand nonchalantly. “You’re not important. You don’t have a first love.”

Li Lan: …

Even though she really wanted Zhu Qing to continue and say who she had a crush on, just as Hu Xu said, when and where, who the person was, what they looked like, why she had a crush on them, if she had a crush on herself when she first saw her, what was the difference between her crush on herself and her crush on her…

In short, Li Lan really wanted to press her, but with her eight years of experience, she controlled herself and acted like a mature adult.

“I really don’t have a first love as the question defines it,” Li Lan said unhurriedly. “Just like Zhu Qing, it was love at first sight for us. We are each other’s only one.”

“As for having a crush on someone,” Li Lan said softly, “I haven’t.”

Sun Qi was extremely curious. “So you’ve only ever had a crush on Zhu Qing? You never had a partner when you were younger? You’ve been so faithful all this time?”

Li Lan nodded. “Yes.”

His tone was so curious that Xu Yuzhi, who had been echoing him, said quietly at the end, “Why are you so suspicious? You find it hard to understand and empathize with faithfulness, don’t you?”

Sun Qi didn’t clarify this time. Instead, he looked at Xu Yuzhi with confidence and said with a smile, “Of course I can empathize. Because I’ve only ever been with you. I chased you for a long time until you broke up with five other men before I finally won you over.”

Xu Yuzhi finally remembered her past romantic history. She coughed indifferently. “A gentleman is a good suitor. It’s not my fault.”

Li Lan and Zhu Qing got through this segment without any trouble.

The question of “have you ever had a crush on someone other than your partner” was a last-minute addition by the director, who wanted to pry some information out of Zhu Qing. But they didn’t expect the next group to draw the same question.

Yu Ling raised her hand. “This question has already been answered. Can we ask for a different one?”

The director, who loved drama, said, “You can answer it again.”

A look of obvious conflict appeared on Yu Ling’s small face. Her beautiful eyes scanned the cameras one by one and finally looked at Li Lan before quickly looking away. She lowered her head and smiled. After a moment of shyness, she said generously, “I have.”

Qi Yao, meanwhile, looked at Yu Ling with an ambiguous gaze and said in a low voice, “Me too.”

Xu Yuzhi joined the fun. “Lingling is blushing! Look at these two lovebirds. Young people are so shy.”

Yu Ling looked up, her eyes trembling. There was a delicate, fragile beauty that made people want to protect her, but there was also a hint of disapproval in her eyes.

Qi Yao looked at Yu Ling with an embarrassed but very pointed gaze. He was a good-looking and refined young actor who had a very popular period drama role. He was just starting to gather a fan base, and his company wanted him to build some couple fans to solidify his position, so he was trying his best to play along, but so far, the results were not good.

“What kind of girls does Qi Yao like?” Sun Qi asked while eating a piece of fruit.

Qi Yao blushed a little. “It’s hard to say.”

Sun Qi laughed. “What kind of boys does Lingling like?”

Yu Ling was stunned for a moment. She stared at the food on her plate. “Pretty ones.”

“Is Qi Yao pretty enough?” Xu Yuzhi was amused. “Boys should be young. Young faces are soft and pretty.”

Yu Ling smiled. “Everyone here is pretty.” She was playing it safe and not really entertaining Qi Yao’s advances. Qi Yao was a little impatient and said directly, “Then what do you think of me?”

Everyone’s eyes fell on them. Yu Ling subconsciously looked at Li Lan again. Her repeated glances attracted Zhu Qing’s attention. Zhu Qing looked at her, then at Li Lan, feeling a little strange. Why did Yu Ling keep looking at her wife when she was answering questions? Li Lan wasn’t even sitting across from her.

Yu Ling said, “You’re great.”

“Then would you have a crush on someone like me?” Qi Yao continued to press.

Yu Ling paused for several seconds. She maintained her expression and said softly, “Maybe, but the person I had a crush on wasn’t you.”

Qi Yao’s face changed, and he looked very upset. Since his debut, he had always been praised and never had to put up with being ignored, especially not so many times. His temper was about to get the best of him, and his expression was about to break.

At that moment, Li Lan suddenly raised her glass and changed the subject. “We’ve been talking so much, but did you notice anything different about the yogurt we’re eating today?”

Zhu Qing was stunned for a moment and immediately answered, “There’s bird’s nest in it.”

Yu Ling also chimed in with a slogan for the ad, and the topic was successfully changed. Only Qi Yao’s face remained grim.

After the first segment ended, everyone went back to their rooms to rest. There would be more physical games in the afternoon.

Before returning to her room, Yu Ling suddenly called out to Li Lan.

“Teacher Li, I have something I need to talk to you about. Can you come out for a moment?” Yu Ling said softly.

Li Lan frowned, glanced at her, and then looked at Zhu Qing. Zhu Qing had already stepped inside the door. She took another step inside and nodded at Li Lan, being understanding. “Go ahead. Come back soon.”

After Li Lan left, Zhu Qing paused her hand on the doorknob and quickly walked to the other side of the room. The wooden house had one drawback: there were occasional gaps between the walls. Zhu Qing had already discovered these gaps and was now following Li Lan and Yu Ling’s backs through them. When the two reached the end of the hallway and turned to go to the back of the house, Zhu Qing tiptoed out and went to the closest wooden storage room. The sound of their voices faintly drifted over.

Yu Ling was the first to speak, her voice filled with suppressed grievances. “Teacher Li, I really don’t want to be in the same group as Qi Yao. He’s a little too aggressive and has a bad temper. He’s not a normal person.”

Li Lan’s tone was very serious. “Have you talked to Miss Yang about this?”

Zhu Qing, who was eavesdropping, caught the key phrase, and a look of confusion appeared on her face. Miss Yang? Why is she involved again? Is she also a big shot behind Yu Ling? No, did Yu Ling also have connections?! And Li Lan and Yu Ling knew each other before. Why would Yu Ling look for Li Lan if she didn’t want to be with Qi Yao? Could Li Lan help her? Could she make a decision?

“I have. Miss Yang said he wouldn’t dare cause trouble unless he was willing to give up his career, so she told me to bear with it,” Yu Ling said, on the verge of tears. “But I really can’t stand it anymore. I’m afraid he’ll hit me one day. You don’t know how bad his emotional control is.”

A brief sobbing sound followed. Yu Ling said, “You can see that he dares to show his face on camera, so you can imagine how difficult he is to get along with in private.”

Zhu Qing felt a little sympathetic. She also hated Qi Yao. She could completely understand Yu Ling’s feelings about a man who was overly aggressive.

But.

What did this have to do with her wife? She should be looking for the production crew or someone else who could manage Qi Yao! Zhu Qing’s eyes fell on Li Lan, and she thought to herself, I’m going to listen to what Li Lan says.

Li Lan said without much emotion, “I suggest you talk to Miss Yang again. She’s not someone you can’t reason with.” Li Lan then glanced at the time, ready to leave. “Is there anything else?”

When Yu Ling heard this, she was on the verge of a breakdown. She grabbed Li Lan’s sleeve. “Teacher Li, please don’t go. I’m really scared,” Yu Ling said, her voice trembling. “Miss Yang said I could come to you if I needed anything. Can you please not leave and stay with me for a little while longer?”

Zhu Qing’s hair stood on end when she heard this.

Yu Ling was crying so pitifully. She was already pretty, and now, with her crying, she looked like a delicate pear blossom covered in rain. Anyone would feel sorry for her. Zhu Qing was fuming, but she had to admit that some people were just born to be likable. If Yu Ling had been holding her hand and crying, Zhu Qing might have been a little soft-hearted.

But!

Zhu Qing glared at Li Lan, fuming. My self-control might not be great, but Li Lan’s has to be!

Under Zhu Qing’s silent glare, Li Lan paused, and then slowly but firmly pulled her sleeve out of Yu Ling’s hand.

“Teacher Li,” Yu Ling pleaded.

Li Lan smoothed her sleeve and lightly folded her hands. Her voice was calm and without any emotion. “Like I said, you should talk to Miss Yang about this. She’ll give you a satisfactory solution.” She then turned around, as if she had just remembered something. She said in a low voice, “Didn’t you just get the bird’s nest endorsement deal? Miss Yang gave it to you as a form of compensation. If you’re not satisfied, you can continue to negotiate with her and ask for more compensation.”

Yu Ling’s face instantly went pale. “You… you think I’m just pretending to be pitiful, that I’ve already gotten enough compensation and am still here being ungrateful?!”

Li Lan didn’t respond right away. From Zhu Qing’s perspective, she could only see Li Lan’s straight back. She was tall, slender, and elegant, and she looked good no matter what. Of course, it would have been even better if the person standing in front of her wasn’t a tearful and pitiful Yu Ling.

Li Lan said indifferently, “What do you want me to do? Comfort you? Stand up for you? Fight for you?”

Yu Ling knew she was in the wrong. She said in a low voice, “Miss Yang said I could come to you.”

“If you’re looking for care and comfort from me, I can tell you very clearly that you’ve come to the wrong person.” Li Lan wasn’t being deliberately cold. She wasn’t even showing any personal emotions. She was just calmly stating a fact. “I don’t have much sympathy. The older I get, the more detached I become. I’ll give you help on camera to the best of my ability, but that’s all. You’ve already debuted, so you have to learn to face these things yourself. Crying won’t help.”

Yu Ling stood there trembling. Zhu Qing felt that a gust of wind would knock her over. Yu Ling bit her lip tightly. “I’m just very scared and anxious. I’m the youngest on the show, I don’t know anyone, and my partner is this kind of person. I can’t sleep at night… If Teacher Li doesn’t want to listen, I won’t say anymore. But I wasn’t like this at the beginning. I came to the show happily, hoping to make friends, do tasks together, and talk to a celebrity I like, but all of that fell through. I’m not happy at all now.”

Li Lan looked at the time again. She couldn’t understand, and she even found it a little absurd. “You only came on the second day, and if we include the travel time, you only have ten days of filming.” Just ten days, a seven-figure endorsement deal, and a top-tier show, and she was unhappy because she couldn’t make friends.

Li Lan didn’t want to say anything more. She turned and left.

Yu Ling stood there, watching her back for a long time. Her eyes were still filled with a sorrowful sadness, but if you looked closely, there was a subtle, almost unnoticeable scrutiny hidden deep within her eyes. Her soft gaze seemed to condense into a thin, sharp needle, pricking the other person almost imperceptibly.

When Li Lan returned to the room, Zhu Qing was sitting by the window, lost in thought.

“Why is the window open? There are bugs,” Li Lan said, walking over to quietly close the window for her. Seeing that she was deep in thought, she also took out some bug spray and sprayed it around Zhu Qing.

Zhu Qing felt a little uncomfortable. She felt that there was something off about Yu Ling, especially that last look in her eyes. She couldn’t understand it at all.

“What did Yu Ling want?” Zhu Qing was still a little dazed.

Li Lan took out her phone to reply to messages. She didn’t look up. “Nothing.”

Zhu Qing said, “Oh,” and then tilted her head. “Nothing, but you talked for so long?”

Li Lan couldn’t help but laugh. “It was really nothing. She just had some negative emotions and wanted to complain to someone. I didn’t stay and chat for long, really.”

Just had some negative emotions and didn’t chat for long.

“Is it reasonable for her to complain to you?”

“No, it’s not reasonable, it’s not appropriate, it’s not what she should’ve done. I came back right away,” Yu Ling was essentially tattling on Qi Yao and trying to get her support. Li Lan didn’t want Zhu Qing to focus on Qi Yao again. Zhu Qing already disliked Qi Yao and had a simple sense of justice, which could make her a target. She could only cover it up by saying, “I’ll make sure to bring you with me next time.”

Next time for sure, meant stay out of it this time.

Zhu Qing really didn’t want to act like a jealous person, but Li Lan was very good at avoiding the main point. She was disregarding the facts and making up excuses, blurring the focus and fobbing her off.

Seeing that she wasn’t saying anything, Li Lan wanted to explain a little more. She noticed a stray hair sticking up on Zhu Qing’s head and subconsciously raised her hand to smooth it down.

“Pa—”

A crisp sound. Zhu Qing slapped her hand away.

Li Lan was a little shocked. She looked down. Zhu Qing was staring at her sleeve with a resentful and angry expression.