Green turtle
"Today, I'm divorcing you! Get out!" The fiery woman turned around gracefully, ready to leave the scene.
"So handsome!" Zhu Qinghe shook her head and sighed, taking out a handful of sunflower seeds from the snack bag hanging on Shen Wumei's arm.
He even generously offered it to Shen Wumei: "Want some?"
Shen Wumei hesitated for a moment, then slid half of it from her palm, since she had nothing better to do anyway.
After the fiery first wife left with a flourish, the skinny young man was left standing there dumbfounded. The girl in the pink dress had probably cried herself to sleep, and her voice gradually faded away.
"Is it all over? Can we leave now?" Shen Wumei felt that this farce was about to end.
I don't know what's so interesting about it. Are all the people in Licheng so idle these days?
As he was thinking this, he didn't even realize that he had just been happily eating sunflower seeds and watching the show.
Zhu Qinghe shook her head mysteriously: "In my opinion, there will be a twist later."
Sure enough, the skinny young master suddenly took a few steps in that direction and shouted, "Wife, wife, I was wrong, please don't abandon me!"
What kind of drama is this?
The girl in the pink dress was caught off guard by the skinny young man's "deeply affectionate" apology and plea for forgiveness. She immediately stopped pretending to cry.
"Young Master Wang, didn't you... say you were going to divorce your wife and marry me?"
The skinny young master rolled his eyes dismissively: "You're overthinking it. I just wanted to annoy my wife. My relationship with you was just a fling. I didn't expect my wife to misunderstand. You'd better leave now."
Zhu Qinghe thought that if she were that girl in the pink dress, she would definitely slap her across the face right now.
The girl in the pink dress stared at the skinny young man as if she hadn't reacted yet, while the skinny young man had already impatiently turned around to find his wife.
The girl in the pink dress grabbed his arm and said pitifully, "Young Master Wang, you can't do this to me. You promised to marry me, and besides..." She seemed hesitant to speak, but the situation was urgent, so she gritted her teeth and shouted, "I'm already pregnant with your child!"
His words caused an uproar among those around him.
Zhu Qinghe clicked her tongue lightly, thinking, "As expected, there's no limit to how melodramatic this can get."
The skinny young master was taken aback, and after a moment, a cold disgust appeared on his face. He raised his arm and flung the woman in the pink dress away, spitting out, "Who knows whose bastard you're carrying? I'm not going to be that cuckold."
The woman in the pink dress collapsed to the ground, her face turning deathly pale with anger: "You...you!"
The skinny young master shouted at the people around him, "What are you looking at? Get out of here! Don't you have anything to do?"
The onlookers, having had their fill of the spectacle, slowly dispersed, whispering amongst themselves and casting disdainful glances at the two.
Coincidentally, the place where the woman in the pink dress fell was not far from Zhu Qinghe and the others. Zhu Qinghe kindly bent down and helped the woman in the pink dress to her feet.
She wasn't concerned about her; after all, her actions were truly despicable. But if, as she claimed, she was pregnant, then regardless, the child was ultimately innocent.
She couldn't just stand by and do nothing.
The woman in the pink dress was extremely embarrassed. After being helped up, she rubbed her eyes as if she wanted to say something, but when she looked up, she saw Shen Wumei standing to the side in white, looking like an immortal. She was immediately captivated.
She had never seen such a handsome young man.
If she could have a night with such a person, she would be willing to die immediately.
Thinking of this, she shyly tucked her stray hairs behind her ear and said softly, "Thank you, young master."
Zhu Qinghe: "..."
Girl, are you alright? I was the one who helped you up.
Shen Wumei was also baffled, but he couldn't be bothered with all this nonsense and simply grabbed Zhu Qinghe's wrist: "Let's go."
Zhu Qinghe nodded, and the two turned and left. The woman in the pink dress stood there, gazing longingly at Shen Wumei's retreating figure. "So beautiful."
But the people around her were really in the way, so she reached out to block Zhu Qinghe's figure, her smile quirky, making her look much better that way.
Why am I encountering so many strange people on Qixi Festival?
Zhu Qinghe even wanted to have her fortune told; was she having a run of bad luck today?
Seeing that she hadn't spoken for a long time, Shen Wumei asked her, "What's wrong? Are you tired? We still have to release the lanterns later."
Zhu Qinghe's expression turned serious: "I have a feeling something is going to happen."
Spending too much time with Shen Wumei made her feel like a murder could happen at any moment.
Shen Wumei held her hand: "Don't worry, today is Qixi Festival, a good day, nothing should happen."
"Ah—someone's dead!" someone shouted, and the surrounding crowd fell into a small commotion.
...Nothing should happen...right?
The two stood facing each other amidst the crowd from all directions. Zhu Qinghe sighed and said helplessly, "Let's go, Lord Shen, your plan to release the lanterns is ruined."
The deceased was none other than the skinny young master from earlier. He had just been pulled from the moat by the boatman and had clearly drowned.
"This must have been an accident."
"I think it's mostly retribution. Look at what he did, even God couldn't stand it anymore."
A crowd of onlookers gathered in waves. Shen Wumei squeezed through the crowd, and Mo Wu's eyes lit up: "Boss, what are you doing here?"
Wasn't he on a date with Miss Zhu?
Looking back, he saw Zhu Qinghe in a green dress standing behind him, holding a string of candied hawthorns with only two pieces left.
Shen Wumei: "We were nearby and came as soon as we heard the news."
Mo Wu: "..."
No wonder he's the boss; even on a date with a girl, he runs into a murder case. I don't know whether to praise his dedication or lament his bad luck.
"What's going on?" Shen Wumei asked.
"The person drowned recently. The boat captain only discovered the body when he bumped into it while transporting cargo."
Zhu Qinghe glanced at him and realized that the unlucky boat captain huddled to the side was the same person who had rented the boat to them that morning.
"Boatman, we meet again." Zhu Qinghe went to greet him.
The boatman looked up and recognized Zhu Qinghe, then inwardly cried out, "Girl, I have no idea what happened. His death has nothing to do with me!"
"You officials must investigate this case thoroughly and clear my name!"
Because of this incident, he won't be able to sell his entire shipment for a good price.
How unlucky I am!
"Don't worry, our Lord Shen will definitely clear your name. You just need to cooperate with them and write a statement. There's nothing to worry about."
The boat captain nodded repeatedly.
Zhu Qinghe glanced at the crowd of onlookers but didn't see the feisty first wife or the beautiful woman from before.
Based on the previous plot, if it was murder, these two people would undoubtedly have the strongest motive.
But to put on such a show in front of everyone and then die right afterward seems a bit too obvious.
It seemed more like someone was using this opportunity to mislead people. For some reason, Zhu Qinghe felt inexplicably like she was being spied on.
She looked back and saw only a hooded black figure walking away against the flow of people.
Zhu Qinghe frowned.
The body was transported back to the government office, and the family of the skinny young master was notified... oh no, he should be called Young Master Wang now.
The skinny young master was named Wang Ji, a name that sounded auspicious, but he was actually quite thin and had never had much luck.
He boasted of his exceptional talent and outstanding abilities, but after years of hard study, he failed to even pass the lowest level of the imperial examinations and was unwilling to do manual labor.
Relying on his decent handwriting, he opened a calligraphy shop, writing letters for people. Some young men would also ask him to write sentimental poems to use in their pursuit of girls.
He gradually became proficient in this skill through exposure and observation.
He won over the eldest daughter of the Yu family, the feisty one, with his beautiful handwriting and sweet talk.
The Yu family sells fish and has been doing so for over ten years, making quite a bit of money.
Mr. and Mrs. Yu had a daughter late in life and wanted to give her the best of everything. Fearing that their daughter would suffer in the future, they decided to find her a husband who would live with her in her family.
And so, Wang Ji naturally married into the Yu family.
Unexpectedly, after marrying into the family, he became dishonest, looking down on his father-in-law's family and wife, who were just fishmongers with no education and no spiritual connection with him.
He spent his days indulging in debauchery and frequenting brothels with the money his wife earned selling fish.
Shui Hong, the girl from Xi Xiang Ju, is his old flame. Oh, I forgot to mention, Shui Hong is the girl in the pink dress today.
Well, this story, although it sounds pretty dramatic, ultimately boils down to the things between men and women.
It's quite common. While it's not impossible to kill someone for that, Zhu Qinghe felt there was absolutely no need for it.
When Miss Yu came to see the body, her expression was very indifferent, as if Wang Ji's life or death had nothing to do with her.
However, Zhu Qinghe still keenly noticed that her eyes were a little red. After all, they had been husband and wife for several years, and there must have been some feelings between them.
Even though the feelings have been gradually worn away by repeated disappointments, some past memories will always surface when facing life and death, such as those moments when the heart was moved.
Zhu Qinghe sighed and said softly, "Please accept my condolences."
Miss Yu glanced at her and said with a self-deprecating laugh, "You were there at the time, so you should know what he did."
“When I first found out he had done these things, I wished he would just die. What had our family done to wrong him? What had I done to wrong him? Why did he treat me like this? He wasn’t like this when he married me.”
"But now he's really dead. He has no other relatives. His whole family died when he was a child. You could say I'm his only relative."
"I don't know whether I should be happy or sad."
Miss Yu remained silent for a while. She was still wearing the apron she wore when selling fish, which even had white water stains and dried gray-black fish scales on it.
“I actually know that he looks down on me because I am illiterate and do not understand poetry and songs.”
“But I didn’t know any of these things back then. He said he didn’t care. He said he liked my cheerful and generous personality, unlike those so-called talented women who put on airs.”
"So, he was lying to me all along."
Zhu Qinghe didn't know what to say. She hadn't experienced these things and couldn't understand these feelings.
But no matter what, she thought that even if one day the person she liked stopped liking her, she would never cling to them. Letting go sooner would probably be the best relief for everyone.
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