Divorce Is An Absolute Must! - Chapter 6

Chapter 6: A heart-to-heart talk

◎Wifey adjusted the limit of your family card◎

Seeing her expression, Li Lan couldn’t bear to tell Zhu Qing that this number was actually rounded up.

When she and Zhu Qing started dating, Zhu Qing was already a kindergarten teacher. To understand her girlfriend better, Li Lan had someone look into Zhu Qing’s work situation.

The bilingual kindergarten was a private one. Zhu Qing’s main job there was as a foreign teacher’s assistant, a contract worker who served the foreign teacher’s teaching activities in the kindergarten. Of course, Li Lan also found out that the foreign teacher’s annual salary was three hundred thousand, while Zhu Qing’s annual salary, after deducting insurance and provident fund… was thirty thousand.

Li Lan felt so heartbroken at the time that she wanted to give Zhu Qing her secondary credit card directly.

However, she also knew Zhu Qing’s personality and that she wouldn’t accept her money directly, so she could only find ways to subtly provide for her in other ways. For example, buying a house and a car for her, bearing all of the household expenses, and buying and giving Zhu Qing whatever she wanted to buy on every holiday when gifts could be given…

“Three thousand!?”

Her thoughts returned to the present. The astonishment and disgust on Zhu Qing’s face made Li Lan feel a sense of helpless emotion.

Li Lan covered her forehead and said, “What do you think about that?”

She had never quite understood why Zhu Qing wanted to be a kindergarten teacher.

The job was busy and tiring, a non-stop rotation from morning to night, dealing with the children’s troubles, the adults’ difficulties, and a salary that was nowhere near proportional to the amount of labor.

Every time Li Lan returned from a business trip and squeezed out a few days of vacation, it was difficult for Zhu Qing to stay home with her.

Li Lan was actually a little dissatisfied in her heart.

Zhu Qing’s eyelids twitched three times, and she blurted out, “Three thousand? I’d rather be kept by you.”

Li Lan’s expression froze, clearly stunned.

After saying it subconsciously, Zhu Qing glanced at Li Lan’s expression and quickly explained, “I don’t mean that I’m a lazy freeloader who sits around at home waiting for you to take care of me. I mean, I can actually earn more money. I’m worth more than a monthly salary of three thousand!”

Zhu Qing’s expression was unusually serious. She thought back to the days when she earned over ten thousand a month. At that time, she still complained that the hourly rate for translation work was not high enough, as it depended on resources, connections, and experience. Now, it seemed like heaven!

Li Lan’s gaze was tangible, fixed on Zhu Qing, as if she wanted to see through her exterior and look directly into her heart.

After a long time, Li Lan said calmly, “That’s good.”

This time it was Zhu Qing’s turn to be stunned.

Good?

Good what?

Zhu Qing belatedly realized that Li Lan was responding to her “I’d rather be kept by you,” and her cheeks turned bright red. “W-w-w-well, that’s still not a good idea.”

The “idea” came out sounding like a cutesy whine.

Zhu Qing bit her lip hard.

She knew Li Lan had a lot of money and wouldn’t even mind keeping ten or eight people, but Zhu Qing, why can’t you keep your mouth shut!

This will make you look like an idiot!

Li Lan let out a cold laugh. “I think it’s very good.”

Zhu Qing shrank her neck, not daring to say another word.

The atmosphere between them became strange.

On this summer morning when they were alone together, Zhu Qing felt she had asked the wrong question and was too embarrassed. So, she stopped pretending and asked the question that had been bugging her for the past few days.

“Li Lan, what do you really think of me?”

Li Lan had long since seen that Zhu Qing had a belly full of questions to ask, but she didn’t expect this to be the one.

She had expected her to ask, “Why are we getting divorced?”, “What’s our situation now?”, or “How did we meet?” After all, anyone who wakes up with a new partner would first question and probe the relationship.

She didn’t expect Zhu Qing to ask for her opinion of her.

Li Lan lowered her hands and leaned back into the chair, a posture of reflection and contemplation.

What was her opinion?

The day she met Zhu Qing was the first time she had such a clear understanding of her own aesthetic preferences.

On a late spring afternoon, on the university lawn, Zhu Qing squatted down to shake hands with a calico cat, a brilliant smile radiating on her face.

As bright as the morning sun, as radiant as the sun itself, it felt as if getting a little closer to her would allow her to be bathed in her warmth.

Li Lan’s family ties were thin. She was a person who was like a lone crane in a cold pond, with a cold heart and little emotion. Her career achievements failed to bring her a continuously growing sense of happiness. Her desires were so insipid that once her wealth accumulated to a certain stage, it was nothing but a number to her.

If she were to say what her opinion of Zhu Qing was, it would probably be that meeting Zhu Qing allowed her to confirm her aesthetic preferences like never before and to realize that she was a living person with feelings and desires.

Any of these words would sound pretentious coming out of her mouth. After a moment of silence, Li Lan lowered her eyes and said coolly, “You’re still young, and you have a bright future ahead of you.”

Who hasn’t been young? Is youth some kind of unchanging asset?

Zhu Qing knew this wasn’t the answer she wanted. She pressed on, “Then do you like me?”

Li Lan didn’t answer this time.

Zhu Qing waited for a long time without a sound and felt she had crossed a line. She said softly, “Okay, if you don’t want to say, then don’t. But you have to answer one question for me.”

Her last tone was very serious.

Li Lan looked up, motioning for Zhu Qing to speak.

Zhu Qing clenched her fists, took a deep breath, her expression serious, her voice clear, and she said each word slowly.

“Did I… cheat?”

Li Lan: …

Zhu Qing’s knuckles were white from clenching. Her eyes were wide, and her lips were a thin line. She was clearly overwhelmed with nervousness.

Li Lan had a strange feeling. She suspected that her answer was very important, and whether it was a “yes” or a “no” could seemingly alter Zhu Qing’s mental state.

Where did this person get all these wild thoughts?

The thought of teasing her flashed through Li Lan’s mind, but she softened.

“No.” The tail of her voice was a faint, almost inaudible sigh.

Zhu Qing let out a breath. Her whole body went from a taut string to a soft marshmallow.

“That’s good.”

Zhu Qing wasn’t foolish enough to ask what the conflict between them was. If Li Lan had been willing to talk, she would have explained it clearly from the beginning.

The fact that she didn’t want to talk now most likely meant that the conflict was still ongoing, but there was still a chance for things to turn around.

As long as she hadn’t cheated, Zhu Qing knew she had a chance.

Zhu Qing stopped asking questions. She quieted down, pulled the mixed vegetable salad in front of her, and ate it all in large bites.

“Here,” Zhu Qing swallowed the last cherry tomato and handed her phone to Li Lan. “This is my photography blogger account. You can check it out and see if you like it.”

The screen showed her homepage. She had about six hundred thousand followers and was considered a somewhat well-known blogger.

Li Lan didn’t know about Zhu Qing’s past or that she had photography skills, so she looked at it very carefully.

Zhu Qing’s style was very similar to herself: fresh and natural. She also liked using natural filters, and the colors she created were very transparent.

A photo of a cat stretching on a bluestone road after a rainy day was pinned to the top of her page. Li Lan liked it very much.

“If you think it’s okay, you can call me whenever you need photos taken,” Zhu Qing said happily.

Li Lan couldn’t refuse. Her cool voice became a little gentler. “Okay.”

…

After breakfast, Li Lan returned to her room, presumably to deal with some work.

After cleaning up the kitchen, Zhu Qing also made time to get to her own things.

The first priority was the kindergarten.

Zhu Qing hadn’t found any groups related to the kindergarten on her WeChat, otherwise, she wouldn’t have just found out that she had such a humble job with a monthly salary of three thousand.

After thinking it over, she set her sights on a well-known app she had never used before.

A white swallow on a blue background.

She tried logging in with her phone number and was successful. As soon as she got online, her phone started “ding, ding, ding.”

Zhu Qing found her supervisor’s contact information and called her.

The kindergarten was very concerned about her condition. They had visited her before she woke up and asked her if she was feeling better as soon as they connected.

Zhu Qing briefly explained her situation.

She was an employee injured on the job and had paid leave. The hospital recommended a two-week recovery period, but with her memory loss, she wasn’t sure if it would affect her future work.

“I might not be able to do my job in the future…” Zhu Qing put on a difficult expression, secretly thinking, Hurry up and express disgust, then fire me and give me worker’s compensation and N++.

“Your health is more important. We’ll evaluate the amnesia issue after your leave ends,” the person from the kindergarten answered with a full display of human kindness. “Even if you can’t handle the job, we’ll give you compensation according to your insurance. Just focus on recovering and get well soon.”

Zhu Qing’s eyebrows twitched. She had never seen a boss so eager to have a “sick” employee. She quickly said, “Besides sick leave, I might need to take an extended leave of absence.”

Zhu Qing cleared her throat and sighed, “Something suddenly came up at home. You know, at my age, I have to start taking care of my family. A little thing can make it so I can’t leave. How would my injury affect my family’s harmony?”

“This illness of mine might be a long one. It’ll probably take two or three months, and with the sick leave, it could easily be four or five months.”

The other end of the line fell silent.

Zhu Qing waited with anticipation.

As far as she knew, a boss who could offer a monthly salary of three thousand in such a valuable city must have a heart blacker than black gold.

He would only be the one to squeeze the last drop of bl00d out of you, not the one to let you take a long leave of absence with money in your pocket and let the boss pay for your life.

Speaking of three thousand, to be able to use a talented college graduate like herself as cheap labor, was it a distortion and regression of society or a decline in human morality…

Just as Zhu Qing was once again uncontrollably lamenting her three-thousand-yuan monthly salary, the other party finally spoke.

“That’s perfect,” the other party’s laugh was sincere and earnest. “The summer vacation will be starting soon after your sick leave ends. You can take a break from June to September. You get paid for every day you work, so you can take as long as you want.”

Zhu Qing: …

Zhu Qing hung up the phone with a cold expression.

She got paid for every day she worked.

She didn’t get paid for taking leave.

She opened her bank account and, sure enough, found that there were only four digits before the decimal point.

A monthly salary of three thousand was a generalization, a beautification. Sometimes you think you have the worst treatment, but if you think about it, maybe you don’t. There could be something worse.

For example, no base salary if you don’t work.

For example, her six-figure savings had become a four-figure one, and she was paying to go to work.

Zhu Qing suppressed the urge to swear, threw her phone on the bed, and felt a headache from anger.

How did she end up with such a job!

Just then, her phone went “ding-a-ling,” with a new message.

Zhu Qing lay there for two minutes, then got up with a deathly pale face and swiped her phone, her heart ashen.

Then, her gaze froze as if she were nailed to the spot.

Her pupils constricted sharply, and her breathing stopped.

The ashen look in Zhu Qing’s eyes sparked, and a bright light burst forth.

She jumped up, her fingers hovering and trembling slightly above the screen.

Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, hundred thousands…

“Family card limit change reminder.

Wifey adjusted the total monthly limit of the family card gifted to you.

The total monthly limit of the family card has been adjusted from ¥50,000 to ¥100,000.”