The 99th Divorce

The night passed silently and peacefully.

When Ye Qianqian awoke, Shen Zhilie wasn’t on the bed.

His side was empty. Ye Qianqian felt that something was amiss.

Was the guy still in a bad mood?

Ye Qianqian got out of bed and walked out. Shen Zhilie wasn’t on the couch either.

When Ye Qianqian found the bathroom empty as well, she began to worry.

She didn’t want to go back with him to see his parents. Why was the guy playing the disappearing act on her for that?

She looked around and called out, “Shen Zhilie!”

There was no reply.

Ye Qianqian ran back to the bedroom and retrieved her cell phone. She immediately called Shen Zhilie.

The line connected, and Shen Zhilie answered the call.

“Hello?” He sounded alert. There was a lot of background noise behind him.

When Ye Qianqian heard the sounds, she was silent for a moment before asking, “Where are you?”

“I’m outside buying breakfast. I heard that this eatery is really good. I’m still in the queue. Just give me a moment. I’ll be back soon.”

Ye Qianqian heaved a sigh of relief. “Alright. Bye.”

As she disconnected the call, Ye Qianqian suddenly felt an emptiness in her heart.

She had been scared at the thought that he might have had abandoned her.

She checked her cell phone for the time. It was 8:30 a.m., so not very early by any measure.

Shen Zhilie had been tossing and turning half the night. It had probably been close to 4 a.m. by the time he’d fallen asleep.

Considering that he’d awoken so early in the morning, would his body be able to take it?

Ye Qianqian felt a little guilty. She contemplated for a long moment before releasing a sigh. She placed her cell phone back on the table to charge and headed into the bathroom to take a shower.

–

The time in the Capital was after 1 p.m.

Luo Ran was in the midst of his afternoon nap when he was awakened by the notification from Shen Zhilie’s WeChat message.

Shen Zhilie only contacted him every once in a blue moon. Whenever he did, it was either to ask him out for a meal or for a drink. This was the first time it was for neither.

Just as Luo Ran was trying to wrap his head around that fact, he found out that Shen Zhilie was asking him for solutions to his girlfriend problems.

Excuse me?

Since when had this dude gotten himself a girlfriend?

Faced with Luo Ran’s bombardment of questions, Shen Zhilie wasn’t in the mood to explain himself. He simply spilled the beans regarding the whole matter and his resulting troubles.

After getting himself better acquainted with their situation, Luo Ran shrugged the situation off and admonished, “Are you stupid? Even though I might believe you, who else in their right mind would? For all you know, your girlfriend might think that is what you said to all your ex-girlfriends!”

Shen Zhilie felt as if a bullet went through his heart. He did feel that something was amiss the previous night.

“What should I do now? I can’t take back those words. What can I do to save the situation?”

Luo Ran’s interest was piqued. He replied, “Are you for real? Just how pretty is this lady to have captured your heart so quickly? Judging from your actions, are you really intending to marry her?”

“Of course! Why would I be putting so much effort into this if I wasn’t intending to marry her? Just cut to the chase. Tell me what I should do, will you?”

“That’s easy. Most women just like to hear sweet nothings. Just sweeten your lips and the whole situation will be solved.”

“Bullsh*t!” Shen Zhilie refuted vehemently. “My life would be so much easier if this woman were like other women. Let me tell you something. Last night, she said that she was going to take me by force. In the end, I found that she was actually a virgin! I…”

“You’re shameless. As if you weren’t a virgin yourself! And you still have the gall to speak of others?” Luo Ran’s expression was one of disdain. “Could the reason why she doesn’t want to marry you be because your little guy didn’t perform well?”

“Shut up! She’s not that sort of a person!”