The 99th Divorce

When Ou Ming heard Yu Lili’s self-deprecating words, he felt extremely unsettled. The woman in front of him clearly had tears threatening to fall from her reddened eyes, but not an ounce of that was betrayed in her voice.

If he really couldn’t see, he would have been convinced by her act. Just ask luck would have it, he could see. He could see everything. This woman had always been stubborn and tough.

Being weak occasionally was nothing to be ashamed about. Was it really that hard for her to allow herself to be weak for a moment?

His heart ached. Ou Ming looked down, not daring to look up, and asked, “I know I made a lot of mistakes. Will you give me another chance?”

Yu Lili cradled his face in the palm of her hands. She finally lost her control. Her voice shook with emotion as she said, “I should be the one saying that to you.”

Tears threatened to spill over. Yu Lili quickly looked up, willing the tears to go back into her eyes. She took a few deep breaths before saying, “Give me a chance to make a choice, Ou Ming. I don’t want to be with you anymore.”

He was always asking her for chances, and she had always given them. But, every chance she gave him brought her an extra wave of humiliation. Each and every chance…

“I will settle the issue with my mom. We won’t return there in future. We’ll stay someplace else. You’ll never have to meet my mom again.” As Ou Ming spoke, he reached out for Yu Lili’s hand. “Let’s go back to Kingstown tomorrow. We’ll go to the government office and get married. We can obtain our marriage certificates…”

“Ou Ming, you’re always doing this.” Yu Lili flung his hand off. “You’re always doing as you please. You’re always assuming that your actions are always right. You’ve never cared about the feelings of others.”

Yu Lili glanced at Ou Ming. With a resigned laughter, she bent down and picked up the showerhead. She lifted up his hand that was bound in cast and slathered shower gel all over his body.

“Uncle Wen should be here by tomorrow to pick you up,” she said. “If you want to go to the government office, go ahead. It doesn’t matter whom you marry, be it Shen Manting, Zhang Manting, or Li Manting. I know my status. I will never interfere in your life ever again. Neither will I enter your world. So, you don’t have to worry about placating me. I have money now. I’m a comic artist. I don’t need to rely on you to live, and I don’t need you to take responsibility for me. After you go back, live a good life. Just treat it as I never existed. Can you do that?”

Her voice started to trail off. Her throat began to hurt, and her heart began to bleed. Tears began to fall. She could no longer control her voice, but she still refused to cry out loud.

She bit her bottom lip and increased the water pressure as she rinsed the shower gel off Ou Ming’s body. He observed Yu Lili’s reaction from the bottom of his eyes and pulled her over to him.

Holding her in an embrace, he murmured, “No. I won’t allow it. There is no Shen Manting, Zhang Manting, or Li Manting. I only want Yu Lili. I don’t want to marry anyone other than you.”

Yu Lili only laughed bitterly and placed the showerhead back in its place. In a moment, the water began beating down on her head. She closed her eyes, and began to unbutton her blouse one button at a time. Very soon, she shrugged off her top.

Ou Ming quickly cast his eyes down. His throat ran dry, and he swallowed hard. Pretending as if he knew nothing, he reached his hand out to feel something. Unexpectedly, Yu Lili caught hold of his hand.