Chapter 4
Chapter 4
The thirty-day cooling-off period was neither long nor short.
It was enough time for Song Wantang to pack Yuan Shiyu’s shirts from the walk-in closet into cardboard boxes, one by one. It was also enough time for her to realize that the man who had said “let’s get a divorce” hadn’t looked back even once.
The divorce agreement was delivered by a lawyer. The division of assets was clean-generous, even.
She would get the large flat they had lived in after marriage.
She would get the car.
He was even willing to cash out a portion of the hospital dividends under his name and give them to her.
At the end of the clauses, there was only one sentence: Both parties have no children and no joint debts.
As Song Wantang looked at the words “no children,” her heart felt as if someone had given it a sharp twist.
Lu Zhiheng came to the shop to see her once.
He was a university classmate of hers who now worked as a lawyer, occasionally helping her handle contracts for the shop. After reading the divorce agreement, he frowned and asked, “Do you really intend to sign this?”
“What else can I do?”
“Yuan Shiyu’s agreement looks more like a will than a divorce settlement.”
Song Wantang looked up at him. “What do you mean?”
Lu Zhiheng pondered for a moment before shaking his head. “I just find it strange. He’s giving you everything he should give you in advance, as if he’s putting his affairs in order.”
Song Wantang didn’t say anything, lowering her head to continue modifying a wedding dress sample.
The needle pricked her finger, and a bead of blood immediately surfaced, dripping onto the white lace and blooming into a jarring spot of red.
She suddenly remembered that Yuan Shiyu had indeed been acting a bit off lately.
He had lost a lot of weight, his face was always pale, and he often carried medicine in his shirt pocket. One time last month when he came home, he stood in the foyer changing his shoes and suddenly leaned against the shoe cabinet, closing his eyes for a long time. When she asked him what was wrong, he simply said it was low blood sugar.
But as soon as these thoughts surfaced, she suppressed them.
No matter how strange he was acting, it wasn’t an excuse for him to go behind her back to take care of another woman and child.
On the nineteenth day of the cooling-off period, Zhou Lan paid a personal visit to the shop.
She sat poised on the guest sofa, her fingertip tapping the rim of her teacup as she spoke leisurely. “Dr. Gu comes from a clean family background, has a respectable job, and knows her place. She and Shiyu will be in the same system in the future where they can look after each other. No matter how you look at it, it’s better than you two torturing each other like this.”
Song Wantang looked at her and suddenly smiled.
“Auntie, do you think that as long as I sign the papers, Yuan Shiyu will follow the path you’ve arranged for him?”
Zhou Lan’s expression shifted slightly.
Song Wantang pushed forward the page of the agreement she had already signed.
“I will sign. But it’s not for the sake of fulfilling anyone’s wishes.”
“It’s because I’m tired, too.”
She spoke calmly, though her hands beneath her sleeves were trembling slightly.
The divorce appointment was set for 10:00 AM, thirty days later.
She thought that would be the end.
She didn’t expect that it would only be the beginning of another truth.