Chapter 17 Ding Xian, when you were pursuing me, did you...

The woman facing me had her hair styled in a traditional Chinese woman's hair, with her glittering gold jewelry standing out. She wore a standard top and bottom, with a right-fastening front and exquisitely ornate lace trim.

The women on the other side were dressed in the same style, but their clothes had almost no decorations. Their braids were simply braided into two pigtails with two pearls woven into the ends. Yao Xiaoyu could distinguish the three of them without even hearing them speak.

The first wife is a woman from the Meng family, the true love is Miss Tan, and there is also a fickle man surnamed Su.

Yao Xiaoyu only knew their surnames, not their given names, so she could only use them as pronouns.

The Meng family girl despised Miss Tan's behavior, but perhaps due to her upbringing, the most hurtful words she could utter were "vixen" and "shameless." However, Miss Tan's upbringing seemed to be similar to that of the Meng family girl, and she was so angry that her face turned red.

But she didn't argue with the Meng family girl; instead, she looked at the man beside her and repeatedly asked the same question:

"Su Junwen, when you were being romantic with me, did you officially separate from your wife at home?"

Romantic is a direct translation of the English word "Romantic," which originally means romantic. However, in Shanghai during this era, it also referred to love. People in this era were mostly reserved, and being romantic with someone was a euphemism for being in a romantic relationship.

But this guy's name is Su Junwen. His appearance doesn't quite match his name. He's neither handsome nor has any scholarly air about him.

"Qingyue, I..."

Su Junwen feigned pain, but Tan Qingyue remained unmoved.

"Don't say anything irrelevant, just answer me, is it true or not?"

Yao Xiaoyu's eyes lit up. The probability of a woman who could grasp the main contradiction was low in this era. She never expected to meet one today. Wait, that Meng family girl also seems to have a surprise.

"I truly love you..."

Su Junwen spoke affectionately to Tan Qingyue, but was unfortunately interrupted—

"Don't change the subject, just tell me, have you broken up?"

There are plenty of handsome and outstanding men abroad, but if Su Junwen hadn't been so caring towards her and claimed to be single, how could she have possibly taken their relationship to the next level?

She had said back in school that she would never be anyone's mistress, but she was still forced into it... Tan Qingyue looked at Su Junwen's face and felt like vomiting.

"She was just a mistake in my life..."

Su Junwen pretended not to hear and continued to whisper sweet nothings to Su Qingyue. The veins on Su Qingyue's forehead bulged out one by one. Yao Xiaoyu saw her fists clenching tightly and made a bet with herself in her heart when this Miss Su would explode.

"Smack!"

That was awesome!

Wait, something doesn't seem right?!

Yao Xiaoyu stared dumbfounded at Meng's daughter, whose hand had been placed on her stomach due to inertia. Su Junwen was also clearly stunned by the unexpected slap, covering his face and opening his mouth, but unable to say anything useful.

“Mingzhu, you…”

"Don't call me that."

Meng Mingzhu said with a look of annoyance, then turned to look at Tan Qingyue. Although she still didn't have a good expression, she no longer had any hostility.

"I don't know of any other proof of separation, but I haven't received either a divorce agreement or a letter of termination."

When Su Junwen returned to China, they had a sweet and loving relationship for a while, but things gradually cooled down afterward. Recently, he said he wanted to break up, and she got agitated, which is why she has been somewhat out of control lately.

"I didn't see any news about his divorce when I read the newspaper."

Publishing a divorce notice in the newspaper is not common now, but it does happen. Most divorces are unilateral, but some are between both parties.

When Tan Qingyue finished speaking, her gaze fell on Su Junwen like a knife, as if she wanted to cut off pieces of flesh from his chest to see what color his heart really was.

When she said she had a difficult childhood and that she only wanted one person for life, what was this man thinking?

Tan Qingyue looked at the speechless man in front of her and was too lazy to investigate further. Her mentor had previously thought she was talented and hardworking and invited her to become his student to pursue a master's degree, which she had refused at the time, but it was not too late now.

"Clap clap clap—"

A series of slaps rang out like popping beans. By the time Tan Qingyue stopped her numb hands, Su Junwen was completely unable to look at her. Meng Mingzhu was stunned by this unexpected development and subconsciously took two steps back.

Do all women who have gone to university have such strong hands?

Looking at Su Junwen's face, which was as red as a balloon, Tan Qingyue finally felt a little better. She was somewhat glad that she had listened to her teacher's dietary advice and hadn't followed the ladylike route of eating her fill in one bite.

When she was studying at a prestigious university in the Golden Triangle, she didn't just fill her stomach with dry bread every day. Instead, she would braise a lot of beef every week and put it in the refrigerator. When she was hungry, she would take it out, heat it up, and eat it with milk. She also bought a large frying pan to fry eggs for herself every morning. [1]

In addition, Tan Qingyue did not give up her daily exercise, hiking, cycling and playing tennis. Her originally thin body quickly became strong due to the large intake of meat, eggs and milk and sufficient exercise. This is why she was able to give someone a good beating today, instead of slapping someone as if it were just tickling, and turning anger into a means of flirting.

"Su Junwen, I'm telling you, we're over. I'll tell the newspapers about our breakup. Just you wait."

Su Junwen's spat-out teeth hurt Tan Qingyue's foot. She glanced at the man who had fallen to the ground and then ran her small leather shoe over his third leg.

Stripping away the romantic filter, Tan Qingyue truly couldn't understand how she had fallen for it in the first place. This thing had even been trying to seduce her body and force her into an unlawful act!

"ah--"

"I didn't mean to break up your family..."

The explanations and screams faded as the distance increased, but Yao Xiaoyu couldn't help but keep turning back—she really wanted to know what happened next.

But Zhou Chunhua has to go to work, and this short period of time is already the limit.

Damn it, once she's made enough money, she'll definitely hire a few bodyguards so she can go wherever she wants!

Looking at her reluctant granddaughter, Zhou Chunhua, although she didn't know when her little fish had developed such a habit of watching the excitement, decided to find out later and tell the little fish if there was any result regarding the He family and the Su family.

Yao Xiaoyu had no idea that her grandmother was planning to let her have a sequel. She was slightly disappointed by the story's lack of an ending, but then she turned her attention back to thinking about whether to buy pork or fish today.

The day they received the money was the day the family ate meat. The wages for copying books for the Yao family were relatively fixed, hovering between eight and nine coins per thousand characters. Eating meat every now and then wasn't a big burden.

I could see the meat stall in the distance. The smoked fish hanging on it was gone, but there was still a large piece of lean meat left.

Great, no need to make a choice anymore.

Yao Xiaoyu asked for some sliced ​​lean meat and also asked the owner to bring a few large bones. The owner's skills were quite good; the bones were all white and there wasn't a single piece of meat to be found.

"Mom, we'll have bone porridge for lunch, and put meat in it for dinner."

Today is not Sunday. Yao Xiaoli has to go to school and Yao Tianrui has to go to work. They both bring their own lunch with them, so the family can only get together in the evening.

"OK."

Wenrou agreed, and at noon the Yao family had pork bone porridge, which was a little better than the usual winter melon porridge, but not by much. Yao Xiaoyu's mouth watered, and she looked forward to dinner even more.

afternoon.

Yao Xiaoyu sat upright at the table and decided on the female lead's name: Ding Xian.

The story is simple: it begins with a husband who has returned from studying abroad looking down on his wife, Ding Xian, who stays at home and takes care of the household chores. He chooses to publish a divorce notice in the newspaper and plans to find true love.

Ding Xian's parents did not understand the meaning of peaceful separation, believing that the woman in the family must remain faithful to her husband until death, and refused to let Ding Xian return home. At this time, her in-laws appeared and persuaded Ding Xian to divorce but not leave the family.

But her in-laws didn't have good intentions; the family's expenses were entirely covered by Ding Xian's dowry...

After the female lead was established, Yao Xiaoyu wrote much more smoothly. However, perhaps influenced by the scenes on the way back today, the true love that her husband found did not become the villain in the story. Instead, she was turned into a woman who had read books but whose heart had not truly stood firm.

Ding Xian's increasingly better life also influenced her, causing this woman to wake up as well. At the end of the story, the two started a new life and even took in another woman who had divorced from the Ding family, finding her a job.

"The love line doesn't seem very obvious."

After writing the last word, Yao Xiaoyu flipped through the entire book, looking at the maid protecting Ding Xian's dowry, the lady recommending jobs to Ding Xian, and the flower girl passing on crucial information to Ding Xian. She scratched her head in some difficulty.

The male lead she arranged for Ding Xian was a middle school teacher, who was knowledgeable, reasonable, and gentle. However, according to the plot, Ding Xian would not get to know him until the middle to later stages of the story, and only when the book was finished would a little bit of love begin to blossom.

Yao Xiaoyu didn't write the outline quickly. She spent about half an hour agonizing over the male lead's scenes before her family returned home, and it was time for the Yao family to have dinner.

For dinner, they had vegetable and pork porridge. The pork, which was simply blanched, was very tender, but the fibers were distinct and it broke apart easily with a bite. There was no unpleasant fishy smell either. Yao Xiaoyu was a little disappointed that Wenrou hadn't added an egg. If there had been egg drop soup in it, it would have tasted even better.

"Was this porridge made at noon? It's all turned into mush."

Zhou Chunhua scooped up a small half bowl, drinking it as she asked, explaining that she had already eaten at the place where the food was cooked, and this was just a quick bite.

"Yes, I made extra bone stew for lunch to save time."

It's certainly convenient, but the delicious pork paired with the not-so-delicious porridge just feels like something's missing.

Yao Xiaoyu drank bowl after bowl of wine and finally made up her mind: first, she would write 10,000 words and submit it. If it didn't pass the editor's review, she would change the outline!

A note from the author:

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[1] The Golden Triangle: another name for Oxford University. Oxford University first admitted female students in 1879.

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