The 99th Divorce

Yu Lili quickly got up and went to the door of Ou Ming’s room. She hadn’t even taken a sip of her tea.

Jiao Ziqing took one look at her and left the house.

Nobody had expected that the wait outside the door would end up lasting more than an hour. Throughout that period of time, Ou Ming did not step out once.

Yu Lili stood by the door. Her mind was a complete blank. Suddenly, her cell phone vibrated and chimed. It was a text message.

She opened the text message and saw that it was from Ou Ming.

He sent a text message?

It was a string of numbers. 98545496636336746822

What did that mean?

Yu Lili stared at it for a long while, but she couldn’t decipher it. She called Ou Ming and could hear the muffled sound of his phone ringing on the other side of the door.

She was ready for Ou Ming to answer the call anytime. Regardless of how many times she called him, he did not answer.

Feeling utterly defeated, Yu Lili stood rooted to the spot, unmoving. Suddenly, the door opened. She was filled with happiness. Just as she was about to rush up and call out to him, she changed her mind and kept quiet, not daring to move.

What is he up to?

Ou Ming walked out and called, “Mom, if that Yu woman comes by again, don’t let her in.”

When Yu Lili heard that, she felt as if her world had stopped spinning.

What does Ou Ming mean by that? Am I not allowed to come anymore? Who was it in the first place who kept asking for me and wanting me to accompany him these past few days?

Ou Ming didn’t seem to sense that there was someone standing around nearby. He hollered, “Mom, are you there?”

There was no reply.

Ou Ming turned around to return to his room. When he was about to shut the door, Yu Lili rushed up and forced it open.

His hand paused as he asked, “You didn’t leave?”

“Why? Why did you ask your mom not to let me in in future? What’s that supposed to mean?” Yu Lili asked.

“I just sent you a text message,” Ou Ming said. “Didn’t you see it?”

“Text message…”

A moment of realization dawned on her when she recalled the string of numbers. Ou Ming had probably pressed the wrong keys when the keyboard was in number mode instead of letter mode.

“Yeah,” Ou Ming answered curtly without sensing anything was amiss.

Yu Lili didn’t dare reveal that what he had sent was a jumble of numbers. Instead, she continued to play dumb and said, “I didn’t see it. I’ll look at it later.”

Ou Ming had been used to a traditional nine-key keypad. All Yu Lili had to do was key in the same numbers in that keypad to decipher Ou Ming’s original message.

“Then, leave,” Ou Ming commanded as he pushed hard against the door. But, he still wasn’t able to shut it.

Yu Lili used all her strength to resist and yelled, “Why are you chasing me away? Did I do something wrong?”

You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m the one at fault, Ou Ming though, but he could not voice it out loud.

“Or, rather, what was it I said that upset you?” Yu Lili asked. “Will you please tell me? Why did your mood take such a bad turn? Why are you chasing me away all of a sudden? Ou Ming, you’re already in such a state, please don’t get mad at me, OK?”

“What do you mean that I’m already in such a state?” Ou Ming released the door. His expression darkened. “I’m handicapped and blind now. So I don’t even have the right to get angry anymore, is that it?”

“No…” Yu Lili was stunned.

“Then, what did you mean by that? Did you think that I should beg you to be with me? Who needs you? Leave, Yu Lili. I don’t want to hear you!” Other than a somber expression, there was nothing else on Ou Ming’s face.

Yu Lili looked at him and knew that he must have been in a dismal mood. Otherwise, he would never have said something like that to her. Especially given the circumstances…