The 99th Divorce

Yu Lili looked up in surprise at Jiao Ziqing and asked, “Is that bowl for me?”

Jiao Ziqing witnessed the obvious disbelief on Yu Lili’s face and suddenly felt uncomfortable. She turned around and said, “Of course. This is what proper upbringing is. I apportioned a bowl for my son. There’s no reason why I shouldn’t apportion a bowl for you too. You, on the other hand, projected your own petty prejudices onto me.”

Jiao Ziqing’s blunt words made Yu Lili’s face redden in embarrassment. Indeed, she had projected her own prejudices on the other party.

Yu Lili put the bowl and chopsticks in her hand down, and walked up, saying, “Thank you. I’m sorry. I misunderstood your actions just now.”

Jiao Ziqing sat to the side of the table and looked at Yu Lili. She tightened her lips and said, “Forget it. The magnanimity a person demonstrates is a reflection of their upbringing. I won’t hold it against you.”

While what Jiao Ziqing had said was fine, the way she had said it made Yu Lili feel unsettled, nonetheless. Wasn’t that a roundabout way of insinuating that I lack magnanimity and a proper upbringing?

Yu Lili sat on the chair. Her initial idea that Ou Ming’s mother was slowly warming up to her disappeared like a puff of smoke. Even as she spooned the porridge into the mouth, she found the taste of the food unappetizing.

After barely a few mouthfuls, Yu Lili couldn’t bring herself to eat any further and laid her bowl down on the table.

“It’s not to your liking?” Ou Ming looked at her. “Are you feeling very unwell? Does it still hurt?”

Yu Lili shook her head. “I don’t have an appetite. I’m not hungry.”

“You have to eat a little more even if you’re not hungry. You haven’t eaten at all the whole day. Your body won’t be able to take it.” Ou Ming’s brows creased together. “Eat a little more. If you really can’t, then just drink a little more of the porridge water.”

Yu Lili looked up subconsciously to glance at Jiao Ziqing. Her heart felt even more uneasy. A worrying thought occurred. Will Ou Ming’s mother find me too delicate? I grew up without parents to pamper her, and here I am still acting like a princess? Maybe she assumes that I am putting on such an act to demonstrate how much Ou Ming cares for me! The more she thought about it, the more upset she became.

Fortunately, Jiao Ziqing remained silent. It was almost as if she hadn’t noticed anything at all.

Yu Lili forced herself to eat another two mouthfuls before giving up altogether and declaring, “I’m full.”

“You’re ill?” Jiao Ziqing couldn’t resist asking. “Why are you making things so complicated? If you want to eat, eat. Otherwise, don’t. Why are you making my son serve you?”

“Mom, don’t all women suffer from this regularly?” Ou Ming asked. “You’re a woman too. She was in so much pain this morning that she couldn’t even stand up straight. I had to call an ambulance to take her to the hospital. They put her on a drip to make her feel a little better.”

Yu Lili couldn’t help but try to predict what Jiao Ziqing would say next. It was likely that she’d say, “Whom are you trying to fool with this delicate act?” Or, perhaps, she would say, “You called an ambulance because of your period? What do you take me for?”

Unexpectedly, Jiao Ziqing said, “That serious? Has it always been that way?”

Yu Lili was caught by surprise and quickly shook her head. “It only started a few years back. I never suffered from this before that.”

“Tch! I heard your living conditions weren’t too good for a few years. Indeed, a person shouldn’t migrate. Once they migrate, bad things happen. Once bad things happen, the body will have to suffer! Sigh.” Jiao Ziqing sounded almost sympathetic.

Yu Lili was used to having every word that Jiao Ziqing uttered carrying a hidden insult. No matter how she thought about it and reconstructed Jiao Ziqing’s sentences, she couldn’t find it.

What exactly did she mean by that statement?

Yu Lili couldn’t figure it out. She looked at Jiao Ziqing and nodded her head hesitantly and agreed. “What you say makes sense.”

The corners of Jiao Ziqing’s lips lifted. She was about to say something but changed her mind. Instead, she said, “I heard that the matriarch of the Shen family is now your grandmother.”