Chapter 65
Chapter 65
Huang Yuanrui looked He Qian over and said, “You don’t know me, but I know you.”
He Qian said nothing, just lowered her head and sipped her tea.
Huang Yuanrui continued in a superior tone, “Qin Song and I have been together for over two years, almost three now.”
He Qian still said nothing, still sipping her tea with her head down.
Huang Yuanrui felt this woman was simply unnervingly calm. It was as if she couldn’t even hear what she was saying.
The mistress had come swaggering right to her door, yet as the lawful wife, her reaction was like listening to someone else’s story.
Huang Yuanrui stared at her, puzzled. “Hey… did you hear what I just said?”
He Qian finally, reluctantly, lifted her face from the teacup. Huang Yuanrui noticed that He Qian’s skin was very white.
Huang Yuanrui felt that even with makeup, she herself wasn’t that white.
What kind of white was it?
We normally describe something white using words like ‘milky white,’ ‘ivory white,’ ‘powdery white’…
Huang Yuanrui thought He Qian’s face… was a grayish white.
Her cheeks had almost no color, and her lips, which should have been reddish, were colorless too. This made her whole face look somewhat gray.
Huang Yuanrui then looked at He Qian’s hands-even her fingers and nails were that same white-tinged-with-gray color.
Huang Yuanrui instinctively glanced at her own hands. She had kind of forgotten what nail beds were supposed to look like.
If she remembered correctly, they should be a pinkish, plump color. But Huang Yuanrui had long nail extensions on, which covered up the original color.
Huang Yuanrui had only heard from Qin Song that He Qian was very thin, and had seen photos of her on Qin Song’s phone, but she hadn’t expected He Qian to look so emaciated in real life-so malnourished and anemic-looking.
She felt very cold, and looked up sharply at the air conditioner in Qin Song’s house, which was blowing cold air full blast.
Huang Yuanrui wondered: Isn’t He Qian cold? Or was it precisely because she sat for long periods indoors under the cold air that her complexion had turned so deathly pale?
He Qian was still holding that teacup, and she stared fixedly at Huang Yuanrui.
Huang Yuanrui cleared her throat and went on, “I came to you today to put everything on the table. Qin Song and I have been together for quite a while. He’s spent a lot of money on me, and he’s serious about me. I’m originally from the south, and I came all the way north just for him…”
Halfway through, she stopped again.
She sat with her back to the window, He Qian facing it. The midday sun streamed in, falling on He Qian’s face but reflecting not a trace of luster.
Huang Yuanrui found this truly… strange. How dry was He Qian’s skin, that it didn’t produce even the slightest bit of oil? She couldn’t understand how anyone’s skin could be so dry it had no sheen at all.
Realizing she had zoned out again, Huang Yuanrui shook her head, trying hard to focus as she continued, “I came all the way north for him… Your marriage isn’t filled with deep affection, and you have no children, so you might as well…”
No good. Huang Yuanrui felt her concentration slipping more and more. Her eyes kept involuntarily trying to close.
Like when you’ve put in pupil-dilating drops and are forced to look at the sun, her eyes gradually became so hard to keep open that she could only squint, peering at He Qian through the slits of her eyelids.
She thought back to why her eyes had suddenly started feeling uncomfortable. Maybe there was something wrong with the colored contacts she was wearing today.
They were supposed to be replaced every six months, and she had been wearing them for over six months.
He Qian finally put down her teacup, stood up, and walked toward Huang Yuanrui.
Huang Yuanrui’s mind was perfectly clear-she wasn’t sleepy at all-but her eyes just wouldn’t open, no matter what.
She felt that her struggle to open her eyes looked too undignified in front of He Qian, and she really wished she could just dig out her contacts with one grab.
She gave up on opening her eyes entirely and simply leaned back on the sofa, pretending to rest with her eyes closed.
The moment she leaned back, she suddenly realized something: from the moment she’d walked in, He Qian hadn’t said a single word.
She wasn’t mute, so why wasn’t she talking?
Huang Yuanrui heard He Qian getting closer and closer. It seemed He Qian didn’t want to sit on her own sofa and was moving to Huang Yuanrui’s.
Huang Yuanrui asked with her eyes closed, “Do you have any questions for me now?”
He Qian’s voice sounded right by her ear: “How much do you know about our marriage?”
Huang Yuanrui jumped. She had thought He Qian was still on her way over; hearing the voice, she realized He Qian was already sitting right beside her.
He Qian’s voice was very hoarse, even rough, somewhat androgynous-not quite male or female. This was completely different from what Huang Yuanrui had imagined.
Huang Yuanrui feigned calm and said, “I know a fair amount, not too much and not too little. You’ve been married for eight or nine years, right? Your relationship and life together have always been quite stable. By stable, I mean you basically have no feelings for each other, and you don’t have children.”
He Qian grunted a hoarse “Mm.”
Huang Yuanrui felt colder and colder. She was wearing very little today, and goosebumps had risen on her chilled thighs.
She couldn’t help asking, “Why do you keep the AC so low at your place? Aren’t you cold?”
He Qian said, “Low…? It’s all right. I stay in this temperature year-round.”
Huang Yuanrui thought of how Qin Song had calmly drunk a mouthful of scalding hot soup a few days ago and thought sarcastically, The two of you really are a match in some ways. Your senses are equally numb.
He Qian said, “Are you cold? If you are, I’ll get you a sheet to cover yourself with.”
Huang Yuanrui said stubbornly, “I’m not cold. It’s just a lot colder than outside.”
Huang Yuanrui’s confidence suddenly wasn’t quite as strong anymore.
She had originally planned to show up at the door in full force and demand that the other woman get divorced. She hadn’t expected this woman not to cry or make a scene, and even show concern for whether she was cold.
Huang Yuanrui now felt caught in an awkward position, neither able to push forward nor back down, and she didn’t even know how to continue.
He Qian broke the silence. “So you want us to get divorced now?”
Huang Yuanrui said, “Yeah. That’s why I came. What do you think?”
He Qian said softly, “Actually, it doesn’t matter… You can marry him too.”
Huang Yuanrui thought she had misheard. “What? What do you mean, I can marry him too? Wouldn’t that make him guilty of bigamy?”
He Qian hesitated. “Not exactly… I don’t really mind.”
Huang Yuanrui said, “You don’t… You don’t mind, but I do! No, seriously, what are you thinking? Your husband has two wives at the same time and you don’t mind? Aren’t you jealous?”
He Qian said, “Anyway, you and I aren’t the same.”
Huang Yuanrui felt like this conversation had completely stopped making sense, just like when she’d talked to “Ma Dong-seok” a few days ago.
Was there something wrong with the way she expressed herself, or was there something wrong with He Qian’s ability to understand?
She felt as if she and He Qian weren’t even discussing the same thing.
Huang Yuanrui said, “Of course you and I aren’t the same. We’re completely different types of people! But no matter how different we are, Qin Song can’t live with two people at the same time!”
He Qian said, “I won’t disturb you two.”
Huang Yuanrui said, “Are you being serious right now, or are you saying the opposite of what you mean because you’re upset?”
He Qian said, “Of course I’m serious.”
Huang Yuanrui said, “Fine, then I’ll be honest with you too. I came here today intending to pick a fight with you. I was even prepared for us to grab each other by the hair and start brawling. But I didn’t expect you to be this soft. You’re not jealous at all, and you can even accept another woman sharing a man with you! I really don’t know what you’re thinking!”
He Qian said, “I’m not that soft…”
Huang Yuanrui said, “You’re not? I can’t accept sharing my husband with someone else! Name whatever terms you want for the divorce. If Qin Song won’t agree, I’ll figure out a way to make him agree! But the two of you have to get divorced. I really want to marry him!”
He Qian said somewhat sadly, “All right, then. After the divorce, I’ll go back to my hometown.”
Huang Yuanrui said, “You’re agreeing just like that?”
He Qian said, “Mm.”
Huang Yuanrui said, “If you don’t ask for some conditions, I won’t feel at ease.”
He Qian said, “It’s fine. Life in my hometown is pretty good too. If you feel uneasy about it, you can have Qin Song bring me something during the holidays.”
Huang Yuanrui said, “Such as?”
He Qian said, “Clothes, money, things like that.”
Huang Yuanrui said, “When you said bring you something, I thought you meant having him bring some local specialties from City A for your parents… Local specialties are fine, but we need to have a proper talk about the money part.”
He Qian said, “Talk about what?”
Huang Yuanrui said, “When you get divorced, you can ask him for a sum of money. A woman living on her own needs some financial security, right? But once I marry him, all his money will have to be managed by me. That will be our marital property. At that point, what reason would there be to give money to you?”
He Qian said, “But…”
Huang Yuanrui said, “No buts! If you want money, have him give it to you in one lump sum! But he can’t keep giving it to you little by little afterward! What would it look like if he kept in touch with you all the time after the divorce?”
He Qian said, “All right…”
Huang Yuanrui’s heart softened a little. After hesitating for a moment, she said, “With a weak personality like yours, you’re bound to get bullied if you live alone in the future. Ask him for more money, enough for you to spend for the rest of your life back in your hometown. And from now on, don’t look for another man and don’t get married again. With your personality, wouldn’t you get bullied to death?”
He Qian said, “Mm, I think so too…”
Huang Yuanrui went on, “After you’re divorced, if you feel lonely, find yourself a pretty boy to have fun with. But settle the bill each time, and never get carried away. Don’t let another man trick you out of your money again. If that happens, you’ll really have nothing left. If you come looking for Qin Song for money then, I won’t give you any!”
He Qian seemed to be moved by Huang Yuanrui’s words. She sniffled and gently took Huang Yuanrui’s hand.
Huang Yuanrui still had her eyes closed. When He Qian took her hand, she was so startled she nearly jumped up.