But even if there are signs of something happening, it will still be shocking when it actually happens.
Feng Juan was incredulous. "Zhao Yuan and Zhou Heping...they have two children together. How could they get divorced so suddenly?"
Yun Qiao was also very curious about the inside story.
Divorce is a big deal these days. Even in the cadre compound, it caused a huge uproar. For several days, the only thing neighbors talked about when they met was their divorce.
What's more, Zhou Heping is a second marriage.
If a couple divorces after the first marriage, it can be said that their personalities are not compatible and they just can't get along. If a couple divorces after the second marriage, it can be seen by others that there is something wrong with the man.
However, Zhou Heping didn't seem to mind other people's criticism of him. He went to get off work and came home as usual every day, and was very graceful when greeting people. He didn't seem to be affected by the divorce at all.
In contrast, Zhao Yuan looked haggard and had tired eyes, as if she had been exhausted.
She came to Yun Qiao's house on her own initiative to return the review materials she had borrowed from her before the college entrance examination.
Yun Qiao took the book and put it aside. He then glanced at Zhao Yuan's face and asked in a low voice, "Are you really getting divorced?"
Zhao Yuan nodded and said softly, "I left the same day after the exam."
Yun Qiao opened his eyes wide in surprise: "So early?!"
"It's so early." Zhao Yuan had a calm expression on her face, her drooping eyelashes covering her eyes, making it impossible to tell her true emotions.
She spoke calmly, seemingly devoid of any emotion, "After finishing my last exam, I walked out of the classroom and saw him standing outside the classroom, next to the flower bed, waiting for me. He was waiting to pick me up to get my divorce certificate."
Yun Qiao frowned when he heard this. "Why are you so anxious? Can't you wait until the next day?"
"Maybe this marriage with me has made him extremely miserable. He can't stand it even for a second longer." Zhao Yuan said with a wry smile: "He was able to endure until the end of my college entrance examination and it didn't affect my exams. I am already quite satisfied. What else can I ask for?"
Yun Qiao looked at her with a hint of heartache in his eyes: "You two have two children together, how did it come to this?"
Zhao Yuan shook her head. "It wouldn't have come to this for a good reason. Our marriage was wrong from the start."
"Why do you say that?" Yun Qiao asked her.
Zhao Yuan didn't answer, but just kept talking to herself: "Sister Yunqiao, do you know? Zhou Heping and I got married after just knowing each other for three days."
"When I was little, my family was extremely poor. We lived in a large compound in the east of the city that was crammed with more than a dozen families. I was already 18 years old, and I still slept in the same bed with my two younger sisters."
"My family was poor and couldn't afford to send our children to school. My younger sister dropped out, but I was the only one who insisted on studying. My father hit me with an iron hook from the coal stove, and even bent the hook, but I didn't let go."
"My dad couldn't persuade me and agreed to let me go back to school, but my family didn't have the money to pay for my education, so I earned it all myself, from childhood on. I scavenged scraps, made paper boxes, collected coal cores, and helped classmates copy their homework. Every year, I saved up every penny."
"I stumbled through junior high school like this. After graduating, I had no money to continue my studies, so I took the exam to get a childcare certificate and found a way to get into a government kindergarten, where I became a childcare worker."
"I came here to marry a cadre's son, but even if the cadre's son liked me, he wouldn't like my family. Zhou Heping is an exception."
"Everyone around them knew about his affair with his ex-wife. He loved her, but couldn't handle the pressure from his family, so he divorced her. Even after the divorce, he couldn't let go and clung to her for years. So much so that when he started dating someone new, his ex-wife refused to reconcile. The situation became so heated that she even jumped into the river."
"I took advantage of someone's misfortune. If this hadn't happened, I wouldn't have been able to marry into this cadre compound no matter how many chances I was given."
"My in-laws all looked down on me. To gain a firm foothold, I got pregnant right after I got married. My first child was a girl. To satisfy my in-laws, I disregarded my own health and gave birth to two children in less than three years. I thought people are all kind-hearted, and even if Zhou Heping didn't like me, I could slowly warm his heart..."
"But only you know whether your life is good or not."
Zhao Yuan smiled bitterly and said, "Zhou Heping has never cared about me. He even disliked the fact that I had two children."
"I could have endured it all, but the college entrance exam was reinstated. I think this is God giving me hope, so I don't want to give in any longer."
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