Divorce

"Back then, because your family was poor and couldn't even afford to let you find a wife, we let you marry into our family. That saved you the betrothal money.

"In order to maintain your reputation, our Lan family has never mentioned to the public that you're a live-in son-in-law." Lan Shu's eyes were filled with cold mockery as she said softly.

When Xu Yunjie heard this, he immediately understood what Lan Shu meant.

She was indirectly calling him an ingrate who didn't know how to be grateful!

Even so, Xu Yunjie didn't care about anything else at the thought of spending the rest of his life with a lazy and ugly woman like Lan Shu.

"Tell me a number. How much will it cost for you to divorce me?"

"That's not right. You're talking as if I want your money, but you're just returning my family's money," Lan Shu said, correcting the problem in Xu Yunjie's words.

This was because if he said that, even if she got the money in the future, people would say that she was a greedy woman who extorted Xu Yunjie.

Hence, she had to make it clear so that others would not gossip about her in the future.

Xu Yunjie choked at Lan Shu's correction. "Alright, then tell me how much money I need to return to your family."

Lan Shu didn't stand on ceremony and immediately started calculating.

"200 catties of food is 80 yuan according to the current price. Including the 100 yuan we gave your family, it's a total of 180 yuan.

"When you were in school, you were jealous of other students wearing watches. Not long after, you got a new watch that was bought by my family. It cost more than 160 yuan. Coupled with your tuition fees, two years of food expenses, and food and clothing expenses, you owe our family at least 600 yuan. I've already given you a discount.

"There's also the fact that I'll suffer a loss in this divorce. You're giving me the label of a divorcee for no reason. If I were to get married again, it'd be a second marriage. You have to compensate me."

Lan Shu spoke very quickly, not giving Xu Yunjie any chance to react.

"I know that your family is poor and can't afford to pay up, so I'll just add another 100 yuan. It's a total of 700 yuan."

Hearing this number, Xu Yunjie's originally dark expression immediately froze.

"700 yuan?"

He worked as a technician in a machinery factory. Now, he only earned 46 yuan a month. In the first two months when he joined, he only earned 30 yuan. In a year, he only earned a little more than 500 yuan.

Excluding his daily expenses, he only had 300 yuan in his hands.

It was because of this 300 yuan that he had the confidence to propose a divorce.

But now, the money he was so proud of wasn't even enough to clear half his debt with the Lan family?

At this moment, Xu Yunjie suspected that Lan Shu was deliberately using this method to make him stay.

She didn't want a divorce, so she was using money to shut his mouth!

In the past, he might have temporarily given up on the idea of a divorce because of money, but not now!

His girlfriend from the city, Li Xiumei, had recently contacted him.

Next month, Xiumei would come to the county to look for him. He had to get rid of his marriage before then so that he could have a future with Xiumei.

It was said that Xiumei's father worked in the municipal government. If he could be with Xiumei, he would not just be a small technician in a factory in the future!

It was now or never. He had to seize the opportunity!

"Alright! So be it. As long as you divorce me, I'll give you the money."

Although Xu Yunjie agreed to the money, he left himself some leeway.

He would pay, but not that much at once.

With his salary, as long as he saved up, he would be able to pay it back in a year.

However, Lan Shu did not follow his train of thought.

Lan Shu said, "Give me the money first. I'll only divorce you after I get the money."

Lan Shu didn't know what Xu Yunjie was thinking. Her usual way of thinking was that it was easy to borrow money but difficult to pay it back.

In her era, people who owed money were all trash.

She did not want to waste her energy and time just to get her money back.

This stumped Xu Yunjie. He didn't have that much money at the moment.

However, in order to get a divorce, Xu Yunjie gritted his teeth. "Alright! Give me three days. I'll give you the money after three days!"

Although he didn't have enough money now, as long as he could get a divorce, he was willing to borrow some money from others first.

With his secure job, there would definitely be colleagues who would give him face.

After the two of them agreed on a time to return the money and get a divorce, Xu Yunjie immediately left the room.

Although it was the afternoon break, it was not easy for him to borrow 400 yuan in three days, so he could not stay.

…

Lan Shu was the only one left in the cramped staff dormitory.

She had time to find the source of the stench in the room without anyone disturbing her.

After a careful inspection, she found a pile of smelly socks under the bed.

It was only because the host's family background was not bad that she had so many spare socks. If it were an ordinary family, it would be good enough to have two to three pairs of socks.

After throwing the socks into the basin at the door to temporarily cover up the stench, Lan Shu finally had the time to think about her current situation.

Originally, Lan Shu was just taking an afternoon nap. When she didn't wake up, the soul in her body was replaced.

When Xu Yunjie came back from work and saw that the room was messy and smelly, he was furious. He immediately brought up the matter that he had been planning for a long time and asked for a divorce.

Now that things had come to this, Lan Shu could only think about how she should live a stable life in this era after the divorce.

However, before she could think about it carefully, she suddenly felt a pain in her stomach. Lan Shu was not unfamiliar with this feeling of her period.

If it was in the past, she wouldn't be troubled by its arrival.

However, she rummaged through the room and didn't see a single roll of toilet paper inside, let alone a sanitary pad.

In this era, sanitary pads might have yet to exist in the country!

Even when she was talking about divorce with Xu Yunjie, Lan Shu could remain calm in the face of adversity. However, now that she was on her period, she started to panic a little.

Hence, Lan Shu immediately went out.

The most important thing now was to buy some tissue paper and settle her period first.

…

On the second floor of the mechanical factory's staff dormitory, Xu Yunjie's wife, who had come from her hometown, had given all the neighbors an eye-opening experience.

In this era where the slogan 'Work is the most glorious' was used, there were very few people who were lazy.

Therefore, when the neighbors saw a lazy person like Xu Yunjie's wife, they all avoided her, afraid that they would provoke her and not be able to shake her off!

Mrs. He lived next door to Xu Yunjie, and their rooms were separated by a thick wall. She had heard the quarrel between the Xu couple.

Although she could not hear the details clearly, she could hear the word 'divorce' clearly!

She had long felt that Xu Yunjie's greedy and prodigal wife was not worthy of Xu Yunjie. Now that the two of them were divorced, Xu Yunjie would no longer be burdened.

In this day and age, divorce was not a good thing. It would greatly affect one's reputation. However, Mrs. He felt that with Xu Yunjie's appearance and job, even if he got a divorce, he could still marry another wife.

Just as she was thinking about it, someone knocked on her door from the outside.

"Who is it?"

Mrs. He opened the door and looked up to see Xu Yunjie's wife, who had greasy hair and a fat body!

She subconsciously prepared to close the door, but Lan Shu's fat palm blocked the door frame…