The 99th Divorce

When Shen Zhilie heard those words, he tapped Ye Qianqian gently on her head and admonished, “Whether or not it’ll be smooth-sailing won’t be up to my grandmother. If you’re willing to marry me, and we get married, that makes it smooth-sailing.”

“What about your grandmother’s objections?”

“It doesn’t matter. She’ll come around.”

Ye Qianqian felt there was something inappropriate about their actions. She frowned as she thought about it, and asked, “I think that there might be an ounce of accuracy in your grandmother’s words. In the past, she said that Youyou was destined to be married twice, and now, Youyou is indeed in a second marriage. In the future, what if I…”

What if she didn’t live past twenty-eight and indeed passed on…

“That’s impossible,” Shen Zhilie casually broke Ye Qianqian off. “Grandma was just talking nonsense. She calls herself a semi-celestial. Therefore, her words are also only semi-believable. Regarding whatever she said about Youyou, I’m guessing that a huge motivation behind her support for them to divorce was simply to prove the validity of her words.”

Ye Qianqian was shocked. Shen Zhilie continued, “My grandmother has very rarely been doubted or questioned by anyone her whole life. When she’s made up her mind about something, she doesn’t change her mind easily. She suffers from paranoia.”

“Is that an illness?”

“Yeah, it’s a mental illness. It’s not severe, but it’s hard to treat. Moreover, my grandmother is extremely uncooperative.” Shen Zhillie stroked Ye Qianqian gently on her head and said softly, “Grandma is used to getting her way, but I won’t allow her to affect us.”

“All right…”

Ye Qianqian still felt going ahead with marriage in secret wasn’t right. She looked inside the room and said, “Maybe it’s better if I were to leave first. Something about this whole situation just feels off. I’ve never had a boyfriend before, and I’ve never had to meet a boyfriend’s parents, but isn’t it inappropriate for us to be staying together? I think we should sleep in separate rooms.”

“It’s fine. My parents are very open-minded.”

“No. It just doesn’t feel right to me. I don’t think it’s normal for a girl to share a room with her boyfriend when meeting his parents for the first time.”

When Shen Zhilie saw how insistent Ye Qianqian was being, he thought for a moment and said, “All right, then. I’ll move into a hotel with you.”

“What? You’re coming with me?”

“Yeah. Alternatively, you could sleep next door. The room beside mine is empty. It used to be Sister Manting’s, but it’s empty now.”

“That… doesn’t sound like a good idea.” Ye Qianqian blinked her eyes. The notion sounded off to her.

“So we’ll move to a hotel, but do you think my parents will think that we’ve eloped?”

Ye Qianqian was speechless. After some consideration, Ye Qianqian finally decided to move into Shen Manting’s room.

Shen Zhilie dropped his parents a word before retrieving the key and opening the door for Ye Qianqian. He made the bed with clean bedding and tidied the room quickly. Then, he ushered Ye Qianqian in.

The room was very clean, and it didn’t have the musky smell that usually accompanies uninhabited places. A photograph of Shen Manting was by the side of the bed. She was sitting in front of a piano with an elegant smile on her face and looked very beautiful.

Shen Manting was indeed very pretty. It was no wonder that Shen Luo’an couldn’t control himself. But to have to suffer such a fate…

At the thought of Shen Manting, Ye Qianqian looked at Shen Zhilie and asked, “I heard that Shen Manting was an orphan that your grandmother brought back. But Shen Manting was already more or less grown-up by then. Where did your grandmother suddenly get the idea to adopt a girl as her granddaughter?”

Shen Zhilie looked surprised. “I never expected you to be interested in this matter.”

He sat by Ye Qianqian’s bedside and replied, “What else could it have been other than her superstitions! She insisted that Sister Manting was destined for fortune, and her horoscope was very similar to my long-lost sister’s.”

…