Favoring Qie Over Wife (6)

There were two types of divorce that can be done for an official husband and wife. In an era where male chauvinism was prevalent, the only one who could call for a divorce would be the husband.

If a husband decides to forcefully divorce his wife without her consent, that would mean he found her not virtuous in her conduct, unfilial to her elders, and disrespectful to her husband. That was basically singing her dirty laundry to the public, effectively making her a social pariah and cutting off all of her retreat.

The second type of divorce would be a mutual divorce. Both husband and wife consented to separate, which meant that it was a decision made wholly because the two of them were incompatible. This could give the divorced wife a chance to remarry, which was definitely better than a one-sided divorce.

Song Jia knew that after she left, it will be Li Jia who will take over her body. If at that time she was still married to Zhao Cheng, it would be inevitable that she will become jealous again. Song Jia had a storage space ring that stored several gadgets from the 23rd century. There was one that worked on the brain and could erase specific memories. She could use it to remove Li Jia's memories of her previous life and bury the blood debt in her heart.

Song Jia was determined to not leave any loose ends that could endanger Zhao Cheng after she went back to the modern age. Her boss calculated that Li Jia had the biggest probability of dealing damage to Zhao Cheng, so Song Jia was determined to appease Li Jia. If Li Jia and Zhao Cheng were already divorced and her family was still safe, Li Jia's anger would definitely lessen.

Song Jia had also been planning to matchmake Li Jia with another person that could love her. There was a man in Li Jia's memories that she felt attracted to aside from Zhao Cheng, so this was a good solution. If Li Jia could remarry that man and forget Zhao Cheng, the future of this world would then be secured.

"M—Mutual divorce?" Zhao Cheng thought he heard wrongly and repeated it again.

Song Jia was calm like a still lake as she nodded, "Yes, mutual divorce. Surely, wang ye will not disagree? If qie is gone, then sister Bai will be able to take qie's place and become your second wife. Qie thinks this is a good solution for everyone involved."

Zhao Cheng wondered how she knew that the woman he loved was the future shufei he was discussing with her earlier. But he thought that this solution was good too. He didn't want Bai Mei Lien to be a mere concubine either. As the woman he loved, it was only right that she had the right prestige and status.

After a moment, Zhao Cheng nodded his agreement.

Song Jia smiled. "Qie hopes wang ye fulfills his promise."

The husband was the master of the house. He could do anything he wanted most of the time, and it will be righteous in the eyes of the law. There might be an agreement between them, but that was only if Zhao Cheng was willing to go through with it. Song Jia had high confidence that he would. Since he didn't love the previous owner of this body, why would he insist on keeping her as his wife? This promise benefited both parties, and that was more binding than a legal contract.

Song Jia called for her maidservants to deliver their dinner. Minglan and Ruolan were Li Jia's personal maidservants when she was still the eldest di daughter of Prime Minister Li, so they were closer to her. Their eyes were practically beaming with happiness when they saw that the atmosphere between wang fei and wang ye seemed harmonious.

Tonight's dinner had been changed due to Zhao Cheng's burnt tongue, so there were only light and cold dishes. Both Song Jia and Zhao Cheng's eating gestures and table manners mirrored each other with its elegant and graceful movements, making it seem as if the two had been married for decades. Even the way they sipped their tea were in sync.

After their meal was over, Zhao Cheng said, "Wang fei's benevolence, ben wang will never forget it."

Song Jia's only response was to smile. She knew that he was not reminding her of his status, but rather giving her a solemn vow.

Zhao Cheng still had important documents to read over in his study, so he left rather early. As soon as he was gone, Ruolan said excitedly, "Wang fei, it's clear that wang ye likes you!"

Song Jia raised an eyebrow. Ah? With what eye did you see that he likes me?

She patted Ruolan's cheek with her hand and said, "Silly girl."

Ruolan blew her cheeks. "Wang fei, you're teasing me!"

Minglan could not stand watching her making fool of herself and grabbed her arm. "Stop bothering wang fei and prepare the things we need when visiting the xiangfu tomorrow. We also have to pick a suitable gift for third miss!"

Song Jia waved her hand. "Just give her one my more expensive accessories. Whichever one is fine."

She had tried them on for fun earlier, but the craftsmanship was barely passable. What intricate design? In the advanced technological age that she came from, one could even design a nano-forest that was precise down to the single piece of stone lying on the ground. What precious gemstones? Gold was already out of vogue, and diamonds were considered cheap.

And the make up in this ancient era? Pei, just horrible! Soot derived from burning willow branches to paint their eyebrows? How could one make their eyebrows be on point and on fleek then? The lip stick paper was alright, but Song Jia couldn't help but shudder at the thought of drawing absurd patterns on the lips that most women in the capital seemed to like doing. [1]

[1] Especially in the Sui & Tang Dynasties, it was popular to put powder on the lips and draw patters on them, like cherry lips and in the shape of little flowers.