The 99th Divorce

The taxi soon disappeared around the corner. Wen Fenglin turned and headed into the Ou residence. He pressed the doorbell. The inhabitants, clearly busy with something inside, took a long time to answer the door.

Jiao Ziqing finally answered the door. Her eyes were red. She looked extremely upset.

The instant she laid eyes on Wen Fenglin, she started howling, “How could you say that Yu Lili was a good lady? Do you know what she has done? She hit my son! She hit him until his face was bleeding! Lao Ou and you must have been blind! Such a woman… sob sob…” She couldn’t bring herself to finish the sentence. “We have to convince Xiao Ou to go to the hospital. He’s bled so much. I don’t want it to cause any further complications.”

She quickly led Wen Fenglin up the stairs to the second story. When they reached his room, they realized the door was locked.

Jiao Ziqing knocked on the door, but there was no reply.

Inside the room, Ou Ming lay on the bed. Ou Huojin stood to the side, looking at him with an unfathomable expression. That pair of eyes that once looked identical to Ou Ming’s were sharp and perceptive.

He looked at his son on the bed and said meaningfully, “You’re a grown-up, and there are many things that your parents should not interfere in. But, you crossed the line today. You’re the one who chased after, and now you’re the one who insulted and humiliated her. Why on earth did you do that?”

Ou Ming heard it, but he didn’t open his eyes. In a bored voice, he replied, “Don’t the both of you dislike her? Now that I’ve broken up with her, shouldn’t you be happy?”

“Is that the only reason?” his father asked. “And, here I thought it was because you didn’t want to burden that child that you said those things to chase her away.”

As Ou Huojin spoke, he directed his eyes toward Ou Ming. Indeed, judging from Ou Ming’s desolate expression, he knew that he had hit the mark. His child’s temperament followed after his, so Ou Huojin understood his thinking more or less.

But, even he would never have said such hurtful words to another person. Once such words were spoken aloud, just like Yu Lili had said, they could never be taken back. His son had clearly burnt his bridges.

“You will regret it,” Ou Huojin said bluntly.

Ou Ming heard him. Regret was already beginning to engulf him. Even now, he was already regretting it with every fiber of his being.

But… could he regret it? Was there any chance for him to regret it?

Yu Lili was still young. She was only 25. Such a good girl should not be wasted on a handicapped person.

Ou Ming could not even tell what his own future would be. He couldn’t take such a gamble on her life.

His head started to spin. He felt a bone-crushing pressure around his skull. The two sides of his face were burning up.

Ou Ming didn’t dare make a sound. He knew that if he complained that he wasn’t feeling well, Jiao Ziqing would never let Yu Lili off.

But, Ou Ming couldn’t take it anymore. His head was hurting. Slowly, everything around him started to slip away.

…

Yu Lili took Old Mrs. Shen out for a meal. When they returned to the hotel, they found Shen Zhilie by the hotel lobby eating a bowl of beef noodles. He carried an extremely begrudging expression.

When he saw them, he glared at Yu Lili but continued eating nonetheless. In a voice tinged with envy and jealousy, he said, “The both of you went out without me? How could you?”

Old Mrs. Shen looked a little self-satisfied as she replied, “So, we didn’t bring you along. What can you do about it?”