The 99th Divorce

A good kid? Li Xiao chuckled. He looked at Qin Shuhua and shook his head.

Qin Shuhua was none too happy when she observed her husband’s expression. “What is your expression supposed to mean? You’d better think of something! Not only has that woman been married to someone else before, but she’s also currently in prison. If word of this were to get out, what would other people say of us?”

“I’m sure Li Jinnan knows what he’s doing regarding this matter,” Li Xiao said. “You should stay out of it.”

He waved his hand in the air, clearly not too bothered by it at all. Qin Shuhua wasn’t satisfied.

“No way, Lao Xiao,” she said. “Do you actually mean to approve of them being together?”

“It’s not up to up to me,” he replied. “Didn’t you just say that the girl is now in prison? Even if I were to approve, she has to be released first!”

Qin Shuhua heard that, but she didn’t understand exactly what her husband was trying to say. She looked at him. Her frown deepened with confusion.

Li Xiao got off the couch and turned to walk off, not bothering to entertain her any longer.

Qin Shuhua still couldn’t make out what her husband meant. She ran up to him and asked, “Lao Li, what do you mean?”

Li Xiao was speechless.

“Say something!”

“I’m off to take a shower,” Li Xiao said.

“No! Clarify what you just said!” Qin Shuhua tried to follow him, but she couldn’t catch Li Xiao in time before he headed into the bathroom.

Locked out on the other side of the door, Qin Shuhua stomped her foot in frustration. She picked her cell phone up and made a phone call to her grandson in the Capital.

It was Li Jianqian’s third day in the Capital. Everything in the Capital was different from how it had been in Kingstown. It wasn’t just a change of environment. Everyone around him was also different from the people he knew in Kingstown.

For the past three days, Li Jianqian had dutifully played the role of a good child. When Grandpa told him to eat his meals, he ate his meals. When Grandma offered him some fruit, he accepted it. When Rong Haiyue and Rong Xuan had suggested taking him to the movies, Li Jianqian had only one reply: “OK.”

All the neighbors and acquaintances had praised Li Jianqian for being such a well-behaved child and saving his elders the worry. Only Rong Xuan and Rong Haiyue, as the parties directly involved, knew that this level of good behavior wasn’t exactly a good thing for a child.

Rong Haiyue sat down to have a good talk with his wife. With a worried frown, he asked, “Xuan, are our actions doing the child more harm than good?”

Rong Xuan looked at Rong Haiyue, feeling hesitant to answer.

They had always known that Li Jianqian was a well-behaved and obedient child. Recently, they had discovered that the child didn’t seem very happy.

Rong Xuan sighed and replied, “How about this? Why don’t we send the child back? He’s still young after all. I don’t want him to develop any issues. Dasu is indeed a mature kid, however…”

“Grandma, Grandpa…” Li Jianqian’s voice suddenly rang out.

The husband and wife stiffened in surprise and turned back to look.

Li Jianqian was very thinly clad. On his feet were only a pair of cotton slippers. He asked, “Do you dislike me?”

Upon hearing that question, they knew that the child must have seen or heard something. Their expressions turned awkward. At the same time, they felt a nagging sense of guilt.

Rong Haiyue and Rong Xuan waved Li Jianqian over and said, “Dasu, come over here.”

Li Jianqian obediently walked over. He was so well-behaved that he might as well have been a puppet. His face was emotionless. There wasn’t much reaction from him. However, when compared to his father, it had to be said that he was a little less cold and much more tender.

“Do you not like staying at Grandpa’s house?” Rong Haiyue asked. “I was just discussing with your grandma whether we should send you back to Kingstown and allow you to grow up with your sister and brother.”