The 99th Divorce

Shen Manting immediately stiffened and snapped her head to look face Old Mrs. Shen.

Guan Queye is dead?

That girl had been plagued by mental illnesses for many years. Under Shen Luo’an’s care, how did she just die out of the blue?

Observing Old Mrs. Shen’s slightly sorrowful expression, Shen Manting was caught off guard. She snorted in disbelief. “Granny, what joke are you trying to play…”

“Manting, you should know by now that I’m not the sort of person to play jokes.”

Old Mrs. Shen looked at Shen Manting and elaborated. “She died on the day of her wedding to Shen Luo’an. She died from poisoning.”

“By whom?” Shen Manting sensed that there was a lot more to her illness than it seemed. “How did she die like that out of the blue?”

“No one knows. The current conclusion drawn is that it was Shen Luo’an.” Old Mrs. Shen sighed wearily and said, “But I know Luo’an well enough to know that he isn’t such a person.”

Shen Manting laughed humorlessly when she heard that and seemingly muttered to herself, “Who really knows what he’s like behind closed doors…”

“Manting.” The tone of Old Mrs. Shen’s voice was filled with meaning as she said, “I know that Shen Luo’an did you wrong, he has already been imprisoned. He’s been sentenced to 20 years.”

Shen Manting was washing the vegetables. When she heard those words, her heart felt as if it was being pierced.

The information caught her off-guard. She jerked back in shock.

“Twenty years?”

Shen Manting gently repeated the two words back to herself. It was hard to guess her mood.

She should have been rejoicing. Instead, her emotions were indescribably complicated.

She hadn’t expected Shen Luo’an to ever meet with such a day.

“Yeah, 20 years.” Old Mrs. Shen stood up and said, “After the 20 years have passed, the child you share will have grown up to become an adult by then. Even if something were to happen to Shen Luo’an in these 20 years, he can at least rest assured in the fact that he is not without progeny.”

Shen Manting was further stunned. She stood frozen to the spot in disbelief.

How had she found out?

Old Mrs. Shen walked up to her and looked at her hands, which were submerged in water. She said, “When the time comes that he’s finally released if you would allow the child to call him ‘Father,’ I believe that would be a blessing for Shen Luo’an.”

Shen Manting felt as if she was stuck between a rock and a hard place. She awkwardly laughed. “What child are you talking about? I have no idea what you’re saying.”

Old Mrs. Shen had long expected that she wouldn’t admit it, so she didn’t respond to her question. Instead, she forged on. “The child needs to grow up in a better environment. Come back with me, Manting.”

“Granny, I don’t know where you heard that information from, but there is no child. Whatever Shen Luo’an and I had between us was a mistake to begin with.”

Manting retrieved the clean vegetables from the water as she said, “Such a ridiculous situation was never meant to continue. This works out well. Shen Luo’an is in prison, and I am free to return to my own life, Granny.”

“Manting…”

“Thank you for your care all this while.” Shen Manting interrupted the old lady’s words and said, “Please just treat it as if you never met me. Can you do that? Just treat it as if we never knew each other, that you never brought me back to the Shen family and I never met Shen Luo’an.”

“Manting…”

“Granny, I can’t go back.” Shen Manting choked on her words. “Shen Luo’an has never treated me as a human.”

Old Mrs. Shen had never expected Shen Manting to say that. Her expression grew annoyed as she countered, “Everyone can bear witness how well Shen Luo’an treated you! Although he didn’t marry you, he still remained at home with you, didn’t he? Come back, Manting. You did share some good times after all.”