Chapter 41: Divorce Doesn’t Necessarily Require a Head-On Confrontation Part 2

Li Wuhui’s expression improved a little, but then she remembered something else. “I remember you used to only sleep on a specific brand and model of mattress. So what are you going to do now in Mang City?”

Hearing Li Wuhui ask this, Qiu Yiran fell silent for a moment, then woodenly shook her head.

“Actually, I don’t feel much about these things anymore. The mattress? It’s a hard one the landlady bought locally. She said it’s good for the waist, but I didn’t feel anything when I slept on it.”

At this point, Qiu Yiran smiled again. “And you probably don’t know, but I can eat pineapple and onions now too.”

She reported this like a child proudly showing off how well-behaved she was. But Li Wuhui knew—

These habits that might sound a bit picky or demanding, and the changes to them, meant something profound for a person.

Qiu Yiran had lost many of her former stubbornnesses, big and small, good and bad… She was like someone corroded by pain, who had shut out the agony along with all her emotions and desires.

“When did it start?” Li Wuhui couldn’t help but ask.

“When did it start? Let me think—”

Qiu Yiran looked dull while thinking, as if she were laboriously winding the spring in her brain.

“It was after Great-Aunt passed away one time. After the funeral, I wandered around on the road, not knowing where I ended up. Suddenly, I felt hungry, so I ordered some fried noodles. Only after eating did I realize there were onions in it. Strangely, that day I found out it didn’t bother me.”

“After that, I stopped bothering to pick out the onions, because it tastes the same either way.”

She smiled at Li Wuhui again. “Pineapple was probably the same; I ate it without realizing. That’s when I discovered that what a person eats or what mattress they sleep on doesn’t really make a difference.”

After Qiu Yiran finished speaking, Li Wuhui didn’t respond for a long time.

She even seemed to have forgotten to breathe, just keeping her eyes lowered quietly for a very long time before saying, “Pick them out from now on anyway.”

“Why?” Qiu Yiran was a bit confused.

Did Li Wuhui want her to be picky?

“Whether it’s pineapple or onions,” Li Wuhui said softly, “anything you don’t like, pick it out for yourself from now on—just like how you always ordered my favorite foods when we ate together. Do that for yourself too.”

Qiu Yiran was stunned.

“The mattress too,” Li Wuhui said with her eyes lowered. “After we get back to Mang City, buy yourself a better, more comfortable one. Don’t just rent any old place and use whatever’s there. If you can’t find that brand in Mang City, contact… contact Xu Wuyi. No matter what, she can definitely get it for you.”

Qiu Yiran didn’t speak, just poked at the fried rice on her plate.

“In short, Qiu Yiran,” Li Wuhui exhaled,

“eat the food you like, sleep on the mattress you like. If you promise me you can do that,”

she said, then—like she was afraid Qiu Yiran wouldn’t agree—stiffly used her last remaining bargaining chip as leverage.

“I’ll only agree to divorce you after we reach Paris.”

Li Wuhui knew she was being utterly shameless. Before they set off, she had promised not to waver on the divorce at all. But now, not even halfway through the journey, she was already adding conditions. Still, even making such a stiff demand, she didn’t regret it—because she no longer cared what image she cut in Qiu Yiran’s eyes.

She was already the Bad Egg anyway.

Going back on her word was just the lightest of her offenses.

Unexpectedly, though, Qiu Yiran didn’t object to the extra condition proposed by Bad Egg Li Wuhui. She just stayed silent for a long time.

Then nodded in agreement. “Got it.”

Realizing her throat was dry, Qiu Yiran slowly took a sip of water, rubbed her uncomfortable eyes, and explained to Li Wuhui, “I think I need to go back and take a nap. Have lunch and tomorrow’s breakfast and lunch delivered to the room; I won’t come out to eat.”

Seeing Qiu Yiran’s eyes, weary and brimming with unshed tears, Li Wuhui reluctantly nodded in agreement.

“Call me if you need anything.”

–

That call never came.

It wasn’t until the next afternoon that Li Wuhui received a text from Qiu Yiran: 【Car’s fixed. We can hit the road tomorrow. Get ready; I’m heading to the shop to check it over.】

Seeing the message, Li Wuhui furrowed her brow.

From after lunch yesterday, Qiu Yiran hadn’t left her room or contacted her for a full twenty-four hours straight.

She had wanted to knock on the door several times before.

But remembering Qiu Yiran’s prior instructions and the Wangwang Xuebing incident, she stopped herself at the door each time.

In the end—

She had no choice.

Each time, she just picked up the trash Qiu Yiran left outside the door for housekeeping to take away.

She was like a punctual alarm clock, showing up on schedule to take out Qiu Yiran’s trash.

And taking the chance to see what Qiu Yiran had eaten that meal, how much, whether she’d ordered her favorites or just picked the first thing on the hotel menu…

Qiu Yiran probably had no idea her trash collector was Li Wuhui.

And Li Wuhui knew her own behavior was straight out of a creepy ghost story.

But she quickly convinced herself otherwise—

She wasn’t perverted enough to hoard all of Qiu Yiran’s trash and surround herself with it.

So she could tell—

Qiu Yiran was really trying to follow her advice. Over three meals, she’d carefully chosen her food. The portions were still small, but at least the three meals weren’t random repeats; she’d tried the hotel’s recommended dishes.

Li Wuhui relaxed a little.

But she still had no idea what Qiu Yiran had been doing in her room for twenty-four hours. Surely not just sleeping the whole time.

After endless guessing with no answers, this loss of control—or any sense of being kept in the dark—felt awful.

She hadn’t changed; she was still desperate to know Qiu Yiran’s every move.

She was just forcing herself to hold back.

Until she got that text.

Li Wuhui couldn’t resist and followed her to the auto shop.

Qiu Yiran must have sent the message only after arriving at the shop herself.

So by the time Li Wuhui took a cab there, their car was already fixed and parked out front, washed clean and shining like a brand-new little yellow ox.

Qiu Yiran was wearing the outfit Li Wuhui had picked out for her: white down jacket, down vest, fleece pants, hat that covered her ears… She looked thicker all over than before.

Today, she had her prosthetic leg on, no crutches; the fleece pants hid the prosthetic and her right leg, making her look no different from anyone else.

As Li Wuhui got out of the cab and walked over, Qiu Yiran was shaking hands with the shop owner, settling the bill. Then she walked to the car on her own, pulled a strand of white gauze from her jacket pocket—

It was what Xuebing had left her.

Qiu Yiran stood in the wind, the ear flaps on her hat flapping around. She carefully tied the torn-off strand of white gauze to the left outside rearview mirror.

Then let go—

The white gauze fluttered gently in the wind.

Qiu Yiran stood there watching for a bit, then reached out to tie it tighter.

As if afraid the wind would blow it away and disappoint Xuebing’s intentions, she tied it very securely.

She observed it closely for a good while after.

Only then did she relax her clenched jaw.

When she finally turned around, there was still a faint heaviness on her face.

Then she spotted Li Wuhui.

The heaviness in her eyes turned to surprise. “How long have you been here?”

As if she wasn’t surprised Li Wuhui had come, just that she’d appeared silently behind her.

“Before you tied this strand of white gauze.” Li Wuhui said.

She walked over, hands in her pockets, avoiding the fluttering white gauze to stare straight into Qiu Yiran’s eyes. “It’s already tied on the car—why aren’t you happy about it?”

Li Wuhui asked directly.

Qiu Yiran was stunned for a moment before giving a dazed smile. “I don’t know where Xuebing and the other one went.”

She looked at the white gauze fluttering in the wind. Even though Li Wuhui hadn’t asked, she explained anyway. “These past couple days, I’ve been thinking about how to handle Xuebing’s gesture. Keeping it stuffed in my bag felt off, and carrying it around, I was afraid I’d lose it from my pocket someday.”

“So you tied it to the car?” Li Wuhui asked.

“Yeah.” Qiu Yiran reached out and touched the fluttering white gauze. The feeling was oddly wondrous. “Consider it a blessing for Wangwang and Xuebing. Since it’s from her wedding head veil, I hope the two of them can stay together longer.”

It seemed Qiu Yiran had been deeply touched by Wangwang and Xuebing—whether it was sadness or mustering the courage to pray for them… This was exactly what Li Wuhui had hoped to see.

She hadn’t seen Qiu Yiran feel this way in a long time.

Li Wuhui couldn’t help but watch her a little longer. Once Qiu Yiran seemed to have made up her mind and moved past it, she finally looked away.

“They will.”

Uncharacteristically, Li Wuhui offered her blessing to these two strangers. Something she used to find corny and pointless.

After saying those two words, Li Wuhui didn’t look at Qiu Yiran’s surprised expression. She walked around to the passenger side, opened the door, and got in.

The moment she opened the door, she knew there was a reason Qiu Yiran had come early—

Qiu Yiran had tidied up the car interior ahead of time, sprayed it with an orange-scented air freshener, placed Li Wuhui’s lumbar pillow properly, and restocked the front storage with hunger-busting little biscuits.

Of course, not Turmeric Little Person Biscuits.

Kazakhstan didn’t sell them.

But Li Wuhui was already satisfied. She looked up and saw the new car charm Qiu Yiran had hung—

It was a handmade knitted one, not the old Santa Claus. A knitted wind chime with two fish knitted together, one above the other.

Pink bodies, black eyes, orange mouths, white tails…

It was those two kissing fish they couldn’t take with them.

Qiu Yiran, still standing by the door checking if the white gauze was secure, hadn’t expected Li Wuhui to just open the passenger door and get right in.

She hadn’t even sorted out what she wanted to say.

The sun was shining, and through the car door, Qiu Yiran discreetly rubbed her hands—sore from knitting these past couple days—and stole a glance at Li Wuhui in the passenger seat.

Li Wuhui’s gaze was fixed on those two fish.

It didn’t shift for a long time.

Nor did she make any other move.

It was as if many centuries had passed.

Finally, Li Wuhui slowly reached out and very carefully touched it—

The Kazakhstan sun was bright that day, shining through blue skies and white clouds. The two kissing fish’s mouths gently touched, producing a crisp wind chime sound.

Like the sound of sunlight and clouds giggling in conversation.

Li Wuhui seemed intrigued by it. Once the chime settled, she pushed it again like a child.

The fish mouths touched, and the wind chime rang out ding-a-ling.

Li Wuhui pushed it tirelessly many times.

Finally satisfied, she curled her fingers back, then looked through the glass at Qiu Yiran, still standing outside—

With a somewhat curious gaze.

Qiu Yiran finally let out a sigh of relief.

It seemed Li Wuhui hadn’t noticed that this Knitted Wind Chime looked really unrefined, completely inferior to the quality goods sold by some stall owner at the market.

Although this was already the result after Qiu Yiran had repeatedly taken it apart and put it back together.

Seeing that Li Wuhui didn’t dislike it, Qiu Yiran finally set her mind at ease.

She opened the door and sat in the driver’s seat. Under Li Wuhui’s gaze, she nervously fiddled with the steering wheel in her hands.

“I’ve had nothing to do these past couple of days, and I was bored in the hotel, so I just whipped this up casually.”

Li Wuhui didn’t speak.

Qiu Yiran pursed her lips again and suddenly lost her confidence. “Why aren’t you saying anything? Is it that ugly?”

She didn’t know what Li Wuhui had thought of upon seeing those two fish, but she guessed that the fish she had put so much effort into raising kept dying one after another—a very sad affair.

Especially for Li Wuhui, who viewed separation as betrayal, being abandoned over and over must have been particularly painful.

But Qiu Yiran didn’t want to imbue this minor matter with any deeper meaning. She simply hoped—

Just as Li Wuhui had said before, that after bringing these two fish to Paris, Li Wuhui would regain the confidence to raise fish again.

She figured that even if they were destined to part ways, it didn’t have to mean ending this journey at each other’s throats.

Divorce didn’t preclude genuinely caring for the other person, just as Li Wuhui had been doing—like how Li Wuhui hoped she would eat the foods she loved.

She merely hoped that, after the divorce, Li Wuhui could live a little better.

“Ugly it is, then.”

So Qiu Yiran tried to keep her tone light and joking as she spoke to the still-dazed Li Wuhui.

“But these two fish should never die again.”