The 99th Divorce

“Mom, if that’s the case, what spell did Dad cast on you so many years ago that you insisted on marrying him and nobody else?” Ou Ming asked.

When Jiao Ziqing heard her son’s question, she immediately retorted, “That’s not the same thing at all! I came from a similar background as your father! What sort of household does that woman hail from?”

Yu Lili was in the midst of helping Ou Ming neaten his hair. When she heard that comment, she paused her actions.

Ou Ming reached out to hold the hand that was on his head as he continued speaking into the phone. “So, what would you consider a similar background to ours, Mom? Something like Shen Manting’s family?”

Jiao Ziqing laughed humorlessly when she heard that. “At the very least, given the family Shen Manting comes from, I can’t think of any other reason that she’d marry you other than for the fact that she likes you.”

“Is that so?” Ou Ming asked. “You are aware of the fact that Shen Manting isn’t the biological offspring of the Shen family, aren’t you?”

“I don’t care if she’s biologically related to them or not,” Jiao Ziqing said. “If the Shens treat her as family, that means she’s part of the Shen family! Given what’s happened to her now, of course I won’t allow you to marry her.”

“So, what if Yu Lili’s family is like the Shen family?” Ou Ming had carefully laid a trap for Jiao Ziqing with one carefully crafted sentence at a time.

Yu Lili realized it, but Jiao Ziqing had no inkling of what was going on.

When Jiao Ziqing heard that, she felt as if Ou Ming were pulling her leg. “Isn’t she an orphan?”

“Yes. But Granny Shen likes Yu Lili very much,” Ou Ming said. “She has adopted her as a granddaughter. In a few days’ time, I’ll be taking her to the Capital to visit Granny Shen and complete the rituals.”

Jiao Ziqing stopped short when she heard that and asked, “What do you mean?”

“A god-granddaughter. Yu Lili is going to become the goddaughter of Shen Manting’s father, Shen Longyue.” Ou Ming enunciated each word clearly and steadily, voicing out the hard-to-believe fact.

Jiao Ziqing immediately recalled the events a few days prior when Old Mrs. Shen had brought Yu Lili to their house.

It couldn’t have started from then, could it?

Indeed, when Old Mrs. Shen spoke, everything she had said and every action she had taken had been in defense of Yu Lili. That made what Ou Ming was saying highly probable.

“A goddaughter still isn’t the same thing as a biological daughter,” Jiao Ziqing said.

“If the Shens treat her as family, that means she’s part of the family. Isn’t that what you just said?” Ou Ming asked.

Jiao Ziqing had been trapped by her own words and couldn’t formulate a rebuttal.

Just as she was about to say something else, she heard Ou Ming’s voice again. “Mom, it’s getting late. I’m going to sleep. I’ll take her home tomorrow and have her offer you tea.”

“Offer me tea?” When Jiao Ziqing heard those words, she seemed to guess something was amiss. “Hold…”

But before she could vocalize the last two words, the call was disconnected.

Offer me tea? Jiao Ziqing had a bad feeling about it. She picked up her cell phone and gave Ou Ming another call, but he refused to pick up after that.

What did he mean by offering me tea? Bringing a woman home to offer the elders tea was something that was only done for a wife. Have they gotten married?

The instant the thought connected, Jiao Ziqing felt a fury rise up in her chest. She was fuming from the ears as she yelled out, “Lao Ou!”

After Ou Ming disconnected the call, he set his phone to silent. He tossed the phone aside and pushed Yu Lili down onto the bed. Resting his face in the crook of her neck, he said, “Let’s sleep, Wife.”

Yu Lili’s neck started to tickle. She broke out in giggles and coquettishly protested, “Hold on! I haven’t dried my hair yet!”

“Oh. I’ll help you blow it dry. Sit,” Ou Ming said.

Yu Lili sat obediently and suddenly asked, “Are we really going to go back tomorrow?”