Volume One, Chapter 10: Marriage Is for a Better Life—And Divorce Even More So!

"Someone has reported that you had an outsider stay overnight in your room."
Aunt Wang looked at Xu Yiyi and said, "Ms. Xu, you know the dormitory is provided for university staff only; outsiders are not permitted to stay. That's the school’s rule. When you moved in, the staff at the logistics office should have made this clear to you."
"Aunt Wang, could you please make an exception, just this once?"
Xu Yiyi pleaded.
Aunt Wang replied with some difficulty, "Ms. Xu, it's not up to me. I'm just a temp worker; I do whatever the supervisors tell me. All these years, have you ever seen me give anyone a hard time? I get along with everyone."
"Aunt Wang, my friend—"
Not wanting Xu Yiyi to be put on the spot, Sang Wan stepped forward and cut her off, then turned to Aunt Wang. "Auntie, I’ll leave as soon as I finish dinner, I promise I won’t stay the night!"
"Good, good… Then hurry up and eat, I’ll be going now!"
Aunt Wang nodded and, before leaving, even closed the door for Xu Yiyi.

The savory steam filled the room, but Xu Yiyi’s face was grim. "It must have been Lu Jinnian!"
All the women living in this building worked at Imperial University. Family and close friends came and went; sometimes people even brought their boyfriends to stay over, and no one ever said a thing.
Even if you bumped into someone in the hallway, the most you’d get was a teasing question about when the wedding would be, and a reminder to hand out wedding candies.
Who would be so idle as to care whether someone else was hosting outsiders in their dorm?
After thinking it over, only that bastard Lu Jinnian could have done it.
Xu Yiyi cursed him furiously.

Sourness welled up in Sang Wan’s heart, though she didn’t show it.
She smiled, handing Xu Yiyi a pair of chopsticks. "No matter who it was, the truth is, we are really at fault. Even if the sky is falling, you have to eat first. Come on, let’s eat..."
"What about you?"
"I’ll stay at a hotel tonight… Alright, don’t frown like that. Trust me, I’ll be fine."
Xu Yiyi’s face drooped, as if she were the one being thrown out.
Sang Wan coaxed her for quite a while before she finally managed a smile.
They finished their hot pot in lively banter.
Xu Yiyi went to the bathroom and came back.
Sang Wan waved her phone, showing her the hotel reservation page. "I happen to have an interview tomorrow, so I booked a hotel right next to the company. At least I won’t have to rush in the morning."
"Alright."
Xu Yiyi nodded, wrapping her arms around Sang Wan, guilt-ridden.
After their meal, they cleaned up and took out the trash.
Linking arms, they strolled in the night breeze all the way to the subway station at the campus gate.

She used to drive luxury cars everywhere.
But now, Sang Wan couldn’t even bring herself to take a taxi.
Standing at the subway entrance, Sang Wan turned to face Xu Yiyi and gave her a hug, her eyes red from tears. "I know what you’re going to say—that I’m foolish, that I’m stubborn. But Yiyi, I have no regrets!"
Lu Jinnian was in the wrong. If she got a lawyer involved, not to mention the Lu family’s fortune, even just the houses and cars under Lu Jinnian’s name, she could easily get at least half.
"But when I married him, it was never about the houses or the cars."
All she ever wanted was a simple life together, to build a little home that belonged to just the two of them.

A family of two, three meals a day, four seasons a year.
Then maybe one or two children, and a lifetime of warmth and happiness.
"Rather than wasting time in endless lawsuits with him, I’d rather end things cleanly and decisively."
"I’ll work hard. With my abilities, I can buy my own house and car."
"Marriage is for happiness, and so is divorce. Yiyi, I believe in myself!"
Xu Yiyi was convinced.
"I believe in you, too!"
Taking a deep breath, Xu Yiyi hugged Sang Wan tightly, encouraging her, "You better work hard! I’m waiting for you to reach the top and take me with you. Don’t make me wait until I’m old and gray. By then, even if you could, I wouldn’t be able to keep up…"
"Alright, I will!"
Sang Wan laughed.

It took two subway transfers to get to the hotel.
When the door closed behind her and darkness filled the room, Sang Wan felt as if all the strength had been drained from her. Back against the door, she slid slowly to the floor.
She hugged her knees and buried her face in them, her expression bleak.
She had lied to Yiyi.
There was no interview.

In the week she’d stayed at Xu Yiyi’s dorm, she had sent out more than a thousand resumes.
From architect and assistant architect to administrative and logistics assistant, she’d spoken to more HR managers than she could count.
The moment they learned she was married with a child, most dropped her immediately.
When they found out she had only one year of work experience in all these years, even more crossed her off their list.
The handful of companies left probably just took pity on her as an outstanding Imperial University graduate, giving her a vague "We’ll let you know about the interview," and then never getting back to her.
A whole week had passed, and she hadn’t received a single serious interview call.
They say the sky never truly traps anyone.
But for a moment, Sang Wan felt she was standing at the edge of a cliff.
A wild wind was howling, and a tempest was about to hit at any moment.
She couldn’t move forward, nor could she retreat.

Ding!
A special notification tone from the job app sounded.
Sang Wan froze, then quickly came to herself.
She looked just in time to see an "Interview Notification" email pop up on her phone screen.
It was from a company called Huajian Architectural Design.
Checking her history, she realized she’d never sent a resume to this firm.
The company’s size and the projects it had handled were unimpressive, not even within her selection criteria.
Only the salary was outrageously high.
Fifteen thousand a month.

Plus extra housing, phone, and transportation allowances.
If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Sang Wan had never believed in pies falling from the sky, especially not when she was at her lowest.
Before she could even ask, the HR manager noticed she had read the interview email and sent her a message: [Ms. Sang, I’ve reviewed your resume and am very interested in your background and experience. Do you have time to come in for an interview tomorrow morning?]
Sang Wan hesitated, then asked: [May I ask what the job entails?]
The reply came: [Administrative assistant. We’re a start-up company, and the boss is an architect who travels a lot, so we need an assistant. At the same time, the assistant will need to act as a personal secretary as well.]
Frequent travel.
Personal secretary.
She instantly grasped the subtext.
Sang Wan’s face grew cold as she replied decisively, [No, thank you!]
She tossed her phone aside and the screen faded to black.
The room plunged into total darkness, and Sang Wan was submerged in a tide of exhaustion and helplessness.
Then she remembered the hundred thousand yuan still untouched in her bank account. Even if she couldn’t find work for another three to five months, she’d have enough to live on. Sang Wan pulled herself together.
She showered, changed clothes, and opened her backpack—only to discover what Xu Yiyi had packed for her.
Not only had she included two sets of clean clothes, but between them, she’d tucked in two boxes of face masks and several skincare products.
Just as Sang Wan had once done for her.
Her fatigue vanished.
Wearing a face mask, she lay in bed chatting with Xu Yiyi for a while, and drifted off to sleep amid the noisy backdrop of the television.

The next morning, she was roused by the shrill ringing of her phone.
Glancing at the screen, she saw a familiar number.
Lu Jinnian.
Sang Wan hung up without hesitation.
The phone rang again.
The divorce wasn’t finalized, so she couldn’t block or delete him.
Even if she turned off her phone, she couldn’t avoid him forever.
Sang Wan answered, "What do you want?"