Divorced

By the time Lu Yang finally let Chen Yuchuan go, he was sore and exhausted and sleepy. But he didn’t want to fall asleep. He kept talking with his eyes closed, and Lu Yang would respond to everything he said.

This time, it wasn’t that he couldn’t fall asleep, but that he was so tired, he couldn’t fall asleep. It may also be because he was reluctant to fall asleep. So, even though his throat was sore, he still muttered to Lu Yang for a long time.

At first, he thought Lu Yang’s “continue tomorrow” was a joke, but the next day, he realized that it wasn’t a joke at all. Lu Yang seemed to be trying to make up for the past year.

Chen Yuchuan didn’t want to cry, but he couldn’t hold back his physical tears, and in the end he even cried a little uncontrollably.

In the past, even when he and Lu Yang were crazy, they rarely did it this much. This time, he felt like every inch of his skin was crushed by Lu Yang.

In the end, Chen Yuchuan scolded Lu Yang while crying. The more he scolded Lu Yang, the more Lu Yang tossed him. Chen Yuchuan’s mouth didn’t stop, and he kept on scolding.

When Chen Yuchuan cried, Lu Yang kissed his tears. When Chen Yuchuan cursed, Lu Yang covered his mouth, and finally stopped to coax him.

“Don’t cry, don’t scold, your voice is hoarse.”

Chen Yuchuan’s eyes were swollen. There was no deterrent in his gaze when he stared at Lu Yang and said, “Lu Yang, you’re not a fucking human. If you fuck me to death today, you won’t have a husband anymore…”

After he’d finished scolding Lu Yang, he covered himself with the comforter and rolled a few times so that it was wrapped tightly around him. He was like a silkworm chrysalis, with only his head exposed, looking quite silly.

Afraid that he would suffocate himself, Lu Yang tugged the comforter down. “Don’t wrap yourself up in it. Come out and take a shower.”

“I can’t afford to. I don’t want to go. I won’t take a shower…” Chen Yuchuan said no.

Lu Yang picked Chen Yuchuan up, comforter and all. After their shower, he changed the sheets and the comforter, and finally slept with Chen Yuchuan in his arms.

At work the next day Chen Yuchuan was in high spirits. When they said that people in good spirits were happy, they were probably talking about Chen Yuchuan’s current state.

He scolded Lu Yang to his face, but the moment he turned around and walked out the door, he began whistling. By the time he entered the company, his eyebrows were raised and the corners of his eyes were crinkled into a constant smile.

At noon a week later, Ling Qun sent Chen Yuchuan a message asking him to go to the bar to play. Chen Yuchuan just wanted to go home after getting off work and so he told Ling Qun that he’ll go another day.

After a momentary pause, Ling Qun sent Chen Yuchuan a video from Qi Yun’s wedding day. Surprisingly, the protagonists in the video weren’t the newly married couple, but Chen Yuchuan and Lu Yang themselves.

Ling Qun sent another message: I cut it. Take a look at the way Lu Yang was looking at you.

Ling Qun then sent two more photos. One photo was at the hotel box and the other was at the table. There were several people in the photo. In one photo, Chen Yuchuan and Lu Yang were standing, drinking a glass of wine, and as he drank, Chen Yuchuan was looking at Lu Yang’s face.

Chen Yuchuan remembered this photo very clearly. It was taken after he and Lu Yang got their marriage certificate.

On the one hand, Lu Yang’s parents hadn’t quite accepted Chen Yuchuan at that time, and Lu Xianfeng even said that they wouldn’t attend their wedding.

Another reason was that Cui Xiujun had a lot of health issues at the time. In the first two years of her illness, she was exhausted in all aspects of her body. Although the kidney transplant was a success in the end, she needed to take anti-rejection drugs for a long time.

Their wedding date was originally set for May, but it was postponed twice because of Cui Xiujun’s hospitalization. Then it was postponed again until September and then finally, canceled altogether.

In the end, all Chen Yuchuan and Lu Yang got were their marriage certificates, and afterward, they invited some close relatives and friends for a celebratory dinner.

Lu Yang later proposed that he wanted to make up for the lack of a wedding, but Chen Yuchuan was too lazy to move and kept putting it off.

He remembered very clearly that he and Lu Yang received their certificates in September, a very ordinary day.

At the time, they had tossed very late into the night, and so when Chen Yuchuan woke up late the next day, he didn’t want to drive to work by himself. Instead, he asked Lu Yang to see him off.

There should have been no traffic jams on the road after the morning rush hour. But on that day, there was an accident on the elevated section of the Second Loop Road, and so they were stuck on the road for half an hour.

Chen Yuchuan yawned in the passenger seat.

“Sleep a little longer if you’re still tired,” Lu Yang said, touching the back of Chen Yuchuan’s head.

“I’m tired, but not enough to sleep.” Chen Yuchuan yawned again and looked out the window.

In September, the hottest time of the summer season had already passed. The morning sun gleamed on the glass windows, and it wasn’t too terrible. Even if the air conditioner wasn’t turned on, the temperature was still very comfortable.

Chen Yuchuan yawned a few more times and noticed a small and inconspicuous photo studio on the side of the street.

The photography studio wasn’t big, and there were many photos posted on the glass windows; photos of men and women, old and young, as well as various ID photos with various blue and red backgrounds. From the photos, it could be seen that the photographer was good at taking pictures.

“What are you looking at?”

Lu Yang saw that Chen Yuchuan was looking out the window, and turned his head to follow his line of sight. Immediately, he noticed the photography studio by the roadside and the photos on the glass window. Finally, his eyes locked on the marriage certificate of a male couple.

“Just look at that photo, it’s pretty good.” Chen Yuchuan pointed, turned his head and yawned again. Then he stretched his neck and glanced forward. “How much longer would this take?”

“Not too long.”

As Lu Yang had predicted, within two minutes, the congested traffic in front began to move a little bit.

Originally they were supposed to get on the elevated road, but Lu Yang put on the turn signal and drove the car onto the side road instead.

Chen Yuchuan reminded him, “You’re going the wrong way.”

“That’s right,” Lu Yang said. “Let’s go take a photo first, and then go get our certificate.”

By the time Lu Yang finished speaking, Chen Yuchuan was no longer sleepy. “What certificate?”

Lu Yang stopped at the entrance of the photography studio. After turning off the car, he held Chen Yuchuan’s hand, turning the ring around on his finger. “A marriage certificate.”

“But will your parents agree?” Chen Yuchuan asked anxiously.

“The weather is so nice today, and so I just want to do it today,” Lu Yang said. “I’m the one getting married, not my parents.”

When Lu Yang pulled him out of the car, Chen Yuchuan looked down at his clothes and said, “I’m not wearing anything official. Will that be okay?”

Lu Yang only said one word –

Okay!

And so they ended up taking a photo for their marriage certificate in that studio. That day, Lu Yang was wearing a black suit and Chen Yuchuan was wearing a white round neck T-shirt.

As he sat next to Lu Yang, he was glad that he had just cut his hair, and he became particularly energetic, neither sleepy nor yawning.

Although he didn’t particularly like taking pictures, he was really happy that day. He smiled at the camera, showing his white teeth, and tilted his head toward Lu Yang’s shoulder. If the photographer hadn’t reminded him to look ahead, he would have been watching Lu Yang the entire time.

In the photo, Lu Yang was also smiling. His hand holding Chen Yuchuan’s hand was sweaty, probably because the air conditioning wasn’t turned on.

It didn’t take them long to receive the photo. After half an hour of waiting, they took the photo to Cui Xiujun to pick up Chen Yuchuan’s household registration book, and then they drove to Lu Yang’s parents’ house.

Lu Xianfeng wasn’t at home, and Man Yunxin didn’t stop them after hearing them say that they wanted to get a marriage certificate. She and Chen Yuchuan had met several times in private. And after some time had passed, she had grown to like Chen Yuchuan a lot.

She quickly gave them the household registration book, and also gave Chen Yuchuan a red envelope, which was regarded as a formal acceptance of him.

Overjoyed, Chen Yuchuan pulled Man Yunxin aside and said several baskets of nice words to her.

There wasn’t much change on Man Yunxin’s face, but she was still secretly happy in her heart.

When Chen Yuchuan and Lu Yang brought all the documents to the Civil Affairs Bureau, it happened to be lunch time, and so the workers wouldn’t return until two in the afternoon.

They had lunch directly at the restaurant across from the Civil Affairs Bureau. When two o’clock finally arrived, as Chen Yuchuan was being pulled up a few steps by Lu Yang, he heard an angry roar behind him.

“Lu Yang…”

It was Lu Xianfeng..

Lu Yang turned back and greeted his father. Chen Yuchuan stood next to him and also greeted Lu Xianfeng with a smile.

Lu Xianfeng glared at Chen Yuchuan, and so Chen Yuchuan said first, “Dad, from morning to night, I’ll be calling you dad from now on. Once Lu Yang and I enter this door and come back out, we’ll be legally married. I’ll call you dad every day in the future, so you best get used to it now.”

Lu Xianfeng snorted, ignored Chen Yuchuan, and threw a few pieces of paper to Lu Yang. Lu Yang caught them and looked at them.

Chen Yuchuan was also curious so he leaned over to take a look. When he read the contents on the paper, he scratched his head. “You have nearly investigated all 18 generations of my ancestors. It even had that one time when my father got into a fight with someone. And the time my grandfather stole two chickens in the village and was taken to the police station. Dad, don’t even bother wasting your time. My grandfather was gone when I was born, and I’ve never even met him.”

Lu Yang also felt that his father had gone a bit overboard. But watching his dad working so hard, yet always being at a disadvantage made him want to laugh a little.

Chen Yuchuan tore up the papers in Lu Yang’s hand and threw them into the trash can beside him. He then held Lu Yang’s arm and said, “Based on your criteria of choosing a daughter-in-law, I guess I’m only qualified to be a cinder maid at your place. For my part, don’t say that my grandfather stole two chickens, even if I was the one who stole two chickens, Lu Yang and I would still get married today. He’ll enter the Civil Affairs Bureau, and he’ll marry me. I won’t let him go.”

Chen Yuchuan held his head high, and said this very arrogantly, as if he was a mountain king who’d kidnapped his bride, or the bride was robbing the mountain king for a marriage. It was unclear whether Chen Yuchuan was the mountain king or the bride.

Later, when Chen Yuchuan and Lu Yang came out of the Civil Affairs Bureau, they carried the little red book in their pockets.

After Chen Yuchuan got into the car, he took it out and looked at it. When he got home, he sat on the sofa and looked at it. After taking a shower, he laid on the bed to look at it, to the point that he’d memorized Lu Yang’s number.

When Lu Ying returned from his shower, Chen Yuchuan was still lying on the bed, looking at the little red book with his long legs crossed.

”The red color of this marriage certificate is so beautiful. It’s quite festive to look at.” Chen Yuchuan took the two marriage certificates and threw them at Lu Yang.

Lu Yang sat in the bed and lay back on Chen Yuchuan’s stomach, using it as a pillow. He opened and closed the marriage certificate a few times.

Chen Yuchuan ran his fingers through Lu Yang’s wet hair and said, “Do we need a marriage certificate for divorce? Let’s tear up the marriage certificate. If we tear it up, we won’t be able to be separated…”

Lu Yang covered Chen Yuchuan’s mouth with the marriage certificate and said, ”Chen Yuchuan, shut up.”

Knowing that he had said something wrong, he pushed the marriage certificate away from his mouth and said, ”Pei, what I just said doesn’t count…“

Chen Yuchuan laughed like a fool, moved his waist and said, “I’ll never leave you and you’ll never leave me.”

Lu Yang wanted to cover Chen Yuchuan’s mouth again, but this time, he struggled a bit, dodged a little, and Lu Yang’s fingers just swept the corner of his mouth.

He held Lu Yang’s wrist and said seriously, “Yang ge, you know that I have a bad temper, and sometimes I’m impulsive. We’ll have to be together for decades in the future. If I ask you for a divorce one day, it must be on impulse. Don’t ever listen to me, it’s not true…”

Lu Yang also nodded seriously.

Chen Yuchuan said again, “Let’s not talk about it anymore, okay?”

”Okay, let’s not mention it.”

Now, as Chen Yuchuan looked at the photo of him and Lu Yang drinking wine on his cell phone, his heart was still very sweet.

He looked at it for a long time, and finally forwarded it to Lu Yang, adding the message:

Do you remember what you said to me the day we got our certificates?

Lu Yang looked at the photos for a long time. Although he already had them saved in his photo album, he still saved them again.

Just then, his assistant came in to deliver some documents. Lu Yang glanced at the message Chen Yuchuan had sent with the photo, and replied: What did I say?

Chen Yuchuan looked at Lu Yang’s message, raised his eyebrows, but didn’t reply back.

When he got off work later that evening, Chen Yuchuan went back to the old apartment. In the past, their marriage certificates were stacked together in the drawer of the bedside table. However, he‘d forgotten where he’d put the divorce certificate. He couldn’t remember if he‘d thrown it away on the day of the divorce.

When getting a divorce, a marriage certificate was required. On the day of divorce, the marriage certificate would then be invalidated. Thus, when remarrying, the divorce certificate was required. Chen Yuchuan also wanted to go back and look for his ring.

That day when Lu Yang came back home to pack, he had put the bottle of iodine cotton balls, along with the ring, in the drawer of the coffee table.

Therefore, when he arrived at the apartment, he sent a text message to Lu Yang. Excited, he went to open the door, only to freeze. This time, he was 100% certain that someone had entered the apartment.

They had said before that they would install surveillance cameras in the apartment. However, they had never had time. First of all, they had too many New Year’s events to attend, and secondly, they had already moved out so they weren’t in a hurry.

He opened the door and took two steps back. After confirming that there was no one inside, he didn’t rush in but turned on the lights first.

As soon as the living room lights came on and he saw the tragic state of the room, his blood pressure rose with anger.

A thief had broken into the house. The shoe cabinet in the entrance was open, and there were only two pairs of shoes in it. The living room was a mess. The two sofas were turned over. All the drawers were open, the contents scattered on the ground, and even the TV was turned upside down. The bedroom door and the second bedroom door were also open.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck…” Chen Yuchuan scolded.

Because Chen Yuchuan had experienced it once before, he didn’t rush in. He recorded a video with his mobile phone, then called the police, and sent the recorded video to Lu Yang.

The last time it happened, they had lost a lot of cash. The camera monitoring the street wasn’t as good as it was now, and therefore, the thief was never caught.

After that, he no longer left valuable things and cash at home.

The police came quickly, and after taking photos and collecting evidence, he asked Chen Yuchuan to check if there was anything missing.

After taking a look around, Chen Yuchuan discovered that all the things that looked valuable were gone. There were two watches missing in the bedroom, along with some silver jewelry he’d bought when he and Lu Yang had gone traveling together, and some jade, which looked good but was actually fake. They had bought it for fun, and it wasn’t worth much money.

He alerted the police officer to the things he had lost and then moved on to take a look at the sofa and the coffee table. When he tried to find his ring in the drawer, he couldn’t find it. The only items left were the cotton balls.

He thought that maybe the ring had been accidentally misplaced somewhere and was unwilling to even let go of the trash can and the sofa. But even after searching everywhere, he still couldn’t find his ring.

“Mr. Police Officer, I also lost my ring. My wedding ring is very important to me.”

Lu Yang was one his way home when he saw the message that Chen Yuchuan sent him. His immediate reaction was to turn the car around.

When he arrived, Chen Yuchuan had already tidied up the messy home, and only the drawer of the coffee table was still left open.

“Xiao Chuan’er…” Lu Yang said as he entered the apartment.