The 99th Divorce

“Most definitely!” Xiao Zhou declared. “Well, Sister-in-law, I think Brother Shen here as fallen asleep again. I guess that’s all for now. I’m hanging up.”

“Alright. Thanks for your help.”

“Not at all.” Xiao Zhou hung up the phone with his heart beating in his throat and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He passed the cellphone back to Shen Zhilie and uneasily said, “Brother Shen, is it appropriate to lie to your girlfriend like that? I think it’s better if we just told her the truth.”

Shen Zhilie laid on the bed and narrowed his eyes. His face looked ashen.

A tube was inserted into his hand, and a translucent fluid could be seen flowing into his body.

When he heard Xiao Zhou’s suggestion, Shen Zhilie opened his eyes and remarked, “It’ll be worse if we tell her. She will worry.”

“Are you planning to just keep staying in the hospital? Given the severity of your wound, you’ll have to stay here for quite some time. How are you going to handle it without a woman to take care of you?”

“It’s fine. You can get back to work. I’ll handle the rest on my own.”

Xiao Zhou panicked when he heard those words. “You’ll handle the rest on your own, my ass! You lost so much blood! You should be thanking your lucky stars that you’re still alive! If you continue to be stubborn about it, you may very well end up with a permanently handicapped arm! You’d better take good care of your wound, or you’ll regret it in the future!”

“It’s just my bad luck that I had to meet such a patient.” Shen Zhilie laughed humorlessly. He looked at the umpteen stitches on his arms and asked, “What happened to the woman?”

“Sigh, she’s been injected with a tranquilizer and temporarily locked up. Why did she suddenly go crazy out of the blue? It doesn’t make sense, Dr. Shen.”

Shen Zhilie took a deep breath. “Get me a glass of water,” he said.

Xiao Zhou pressed his lips together but did as he was asked.

Shen Zhilie said, “She said that I looked like her ex-boyfriend and wanted me to return her the youth that she wasted on him. She even said that she wanted me to die along with her. Given how handsome I am, it would be such a waste if I died with her. So, I resolutely resisted. She suffered a mental breakdown. After smashing the glass cup, she pierced me a few times with one of the shards.”

Xiao Zhou was both angry and tickled by Shen Zhilie’s words. When he looked at his arm, the laughter died. “You used your bare hand to block her attacks?”

“Of course! If I hadn’t used my hands to block it, I’d have either ended up blind or with my throat slit! In any case, the outcome would have been a lot worse.”

“Tch…” Xiao Zhou clicked his tongue in sympathy. “The fact that she lost her mind isn’t the scariest part. The scariest part is that this lunatic learned mixed martial arts! You had it hard, Dr. Shen.”

“Yeah. Where’s my water?”

“Coming!”

–

Ye Qianqian didn’t sleep well the entire night. When the alarm clock rang the next morning, she had barely gotten a few hours of rest.

She got up and got ready for work. Immediately upon boarding the bus, she gave Shen Zhilie a call.

It seemed that Shen Zhilie wasn’t awake yet. The phone rang for quite some time before he answered it.

“You’re up?” Shen Zhilie’s voice was hoarse with sleep.

When Ye Qianqian heard that voice, she couldn’t help yawning. “Yeah, I’m on the bus on the way to the office now. What time is your flight?”

“Um… at noon, but I have to be there earlier.”

“Alright. Remember to drink some honey water or take some hangover medication. Get yourself some sour plums before you board the plane just in case. It’ll ease the discomfort.”

“OK.”

“Alright. Go back to sleep then. When will you be coming back?”

“In a couple of days. I’ll give you a call when I get back.”

“Alright. Go back to sleep then.”

“OK…” Shen Zhilie’s voice was low and throaty.

Just as Ye Qianqian was about to disconnect the call, Shen Zhilie suddenly spoke again, “Qianqian.”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

The knots that had built up in Ye Qianqian’s heart throughout the whole night immediately loosened, and her mood lifted considerably.