Chapter 14: What If Both Couples Divorce?

At noon, Qiao Ran sat on the flag-raising platform with her chin in her hands, watching waves of students stream out of the classrooms.

Lu Xiangnan brushed chalk dust off his clothes and came out last.

He stood at the classroom door, looking around, until his gaze settled on the flag platform in the playground.

“Why have you come again?” he asked, walking over.

Qiao Ran was in a poor mood and barely looked at him. “What? Am I embarrassing you?”

During their previous two meetings, she’d called him hubby and little brother so sweetly. He wasn’t used to her sudden coldness, and it left him with an empty feeling in his chest.

“That’s not what I meant,” he explained.

“Hmph!” She gave a proud sniff, then held out her hand. “I need to borrow five yuan.”

Xiangnan checked his pockets. “It’s in my dormitory. Come with me.”

At least he’d said something sensible.

Qiao Ran got up and followed him, drawing many strange looks along the way. From the glances and whispers, it was clear how mismatched people thought she and Xiangnan were.

The teachers’ dormitory rooms were meant for two, but most teachers lived in town, so few stayed there. Xiangnan had his room to himself.

It was simply furnished with a desk, bookcase, chair, and bed. Everything was neat and clean, from the desk and cabinet to the floor. Not a speck of dust lay in the corners.

Not only was his appearance exactly to Qiao Ran’s taste; his personality and love of cleanliness appealed to her too.

He unlocked a cabinet, took five yuan from between the pages of a yellowed notebook, and handed it to her.

“It’s a loan,” she said. “I’ll pay you back.”

“We’re family. There’s no need to call it a loan. You don’t have much income at home. If you need money, just tell me.”

Oh? Who did he think he was looking down on?

Qiao Ran’s competitive spirit flared. “If I say I’ll repay you, I will. Twice—no, ten times over.”

Xiangnan looked startled, then a nearly imperceptible smile touched his lips. “All right. I’ll wait.”

Hearing that his sister-in-law had undergone surgery for acute appendicitis, he asked the school for leave and accompanied Qiao Ran to the hospital.

On the way they bought soy milk, brown sugar, and canned food. Xiangnan also wanted a tin of malted milk powder, but when Qiao Ran heard it cost forty-six yuan and eighty fen, she firmly stopped him.

Her best friend might be delicate, but for now she really didn’t deserve supplements that expensive.

It wasn’t that Qiao Ran was stingy; after all, it wasn’t her money. But she had another plan. If she started a little business later, she might ask Xiangnan for capital, so she’d better help him save.

At the hospital, Xia Xiaoqi lay listening to Liu Chunhua go on and on about the surgery and medical bills, sighing that a year’s work had been for nothing.

The more Xiaoqi listened, the more irritated she became. Though weak, she had to retort. “Enough. Are you done? I’ve worked like an ox for your family all year, and I’m not even worth a medical bill? If I died, wouldn’t it cost money to find your son another wife? Wouldn’t she want a bride price and a house? Can’t you work out which costs more?”

That wretched girl dared talk back!

Chunhua puffed up like a toad on a riverbank. “Worked like an ox all year? You’ve been married in less than half a year.” She pointed at Xiaoqi. “Don’t you know whether it cost my son anything to marry? Who was it that insisted on marrying him? My son’s an army officer. Girls line up to marry him. He doesn’t even like the likes of you. Sooner or later he’ll divorce you.”

“Then tell him to do it now. If he doesn’t, he’s my grandson.” Xiaoqi refused to back down. “You’re the only one who thinks your son is a treasure. To me he’s worth nothing. Girls lining up to marry him? The men who want me could circle halfway around the earth. If I took a fancy to your son, your ancestors must have done eight generations of good deeds.”

“You… you sharp-tongued girl!” Chunhua panted with rage. “Just wait until Yanbei comes home. I’ll make him divorce you and marry Dongmei from next door.”

“What’s this Dongmei do, collect scrap? Does she specialize in secondhand trash?”

Chunhua pressed the spot beneath her nose and sat on the bed to catch her breath. If they kept arguing, she feared she might drop dead of anger.

When Qiao Ran and Xiangnan came in, the two women had turned away from each other, one facing east and the other west, neither speaking.

“Oh, why are you here?” Seeing her eldest son, Chunhua felt a little better. She stood up. “Why aren’t you at school? Don’t you have classes this afternoon?”

“Qiao Ni told me Xiaofang was in the hospital, so I came to see her. I’ll go back to school shortly.”

He set the nourishing foods on the table and asked Xiaoqi whether her wound hurt.

“Yes,” she answered irritably. “If your mother keeps upsetting me, it’ll split right open.”

Xiangnan studied Xiaoqi with dark eyes, then glanced at Qiao Ran. Without a word, he picked up the thermos and went to the water room to fill it.

Chunhua hurried after him.

In the corridor, she said, “Call your brother and tell him to come home.”

“He’s too far away. By the time he gets here, Xiaofang will probably have been discharged.”

“Perfect. Then they can get the divorce done.”

“Divorce?” Xiangnan stared at her. “Did Yanbei say he wanted one?”

“You know your brother was dead set against the marriage in the first place.” Chunhua was confident. “I had the final say when they married, and I’ll have it for the divorce too. They’re getting divorced.”

Xiangnan considered how close his sister-in-law and his wife had become lately.

“What if both couples divorce at once? The villagers will laugh behind our backs.”

“What do you mean, both couples—” Chunhua fell silent.

She couldn’t read a word and had little education, but suddenly understood what her son meant. Her daughters-in-law had become unusually close.

Could they really demand divorces together?

Given their recent tempers, it didn’t seem impossible.

Chunhua felt thoroughly miserable. What a predicament.

“Then don’t call your brother home yet. I’ll put up with her a little longer.”