The Vanishing Beauty - Chapter 2 - 5

Chapter 2 - 5

Having had a bit to drink, Yu Jia finally began to open up.

"That's how it should be," Yu Jia chided Yu Shuang. "Do what is appropriate at the right time. Society has its rules, and families have their rules. Marriage exists to protect women; why wouldn't we take advantage of that little perk? If we don't, we're putting ourselves at too great a disadvantage."

Yu Shuang retorted bluntly, "I don't need protection."

Yu Jia tried to reason with her patiently. "It's not about whether you need it or not; it's the prevailing trend. Marriage is monogamous, and women suffer less as a result. If it were like the old days with three wives and four concubines, who would you even reason with?"

"Why not have one wife and multiple husbands?"

"That's just debauchery," Yu Jia said gravely.

Silence fell for a moment. Yu Jia continued, "Xiaoshuang, since you're satisfied with him and he's easy on the eyes, you should get along properly." Yu Shuang had no choice but to say she understood. Yu Jia then added, "Xiaorui, you need to hurry up too." Yu Meng chimed in, "Xiaobai is already pursuing Rui." Yu Rui hastily denied it, telling her not to talk nonsense, as nothing of the sort was happening. Yu Jia asked what Xiaobai she was talking about.

Yu Meng recounted everything about dining with Bai Yuankai and his driving Yu Rui back home. Yu Jia said she had an impression of him. Yu Rui lacked confidence; ever since that encounter at the dinner table, Bai Yuankai hadn't contacted her again. Since he remained silent, she couldn't take the initiative to reach out. She was a woman, after all, and needed to maintain a basic sense of reserve.

Yu Meng blamed Yu Shuang, saying she should have called Xiaobai over today.

Yu Shuang teased, "Call him over for what—to foot the bill?"

Yu Meng didn't take the bait. Instead, she asked Yu Jia how her brother-in-law had been lately.

"He's alright, just busy," she could only reply vaguely.

A tiny bit of wine remained at the bottom of the bottle. It was poured out and shared. Raising her glass, Yu Meng announced, "Taking advantage of Shuang's romantic celebration, I have an announcement to make."

Everyone looked at her. Yu Rui had an inkling; she had helped Sister Meng pack up her clothes. Yu Shuang didn't care much. Yu Jia grew tense, holding her glass up and staring fixedly at Meng.

"I got a certificate."

Thinking it was a continuing education certificate, Yu Jia assumed she was studying again.

"What are you up to now?" Yu Jia asked, knowing that Meng loved to stir up trouble.

"The green-covered kind," Yu Meng added.

Ominous.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Yu Jia asked.

"I am officially divorced—" Yu Meng didn't sound distressed in the least.

A bolt from the blue. Yu Jia couldn't even hold her glass steady. She simply couldn't stomach the word "divorced."

They actually divorced? She had originally assumed they were just a couple throwing a tantrum—they'd fight today and make up tomorrow, or at worst, patch things up the day after. Who would have thought it had actually become reality?

She herself would never, under any circumstances, get a divorce. The very moment she married, she had already made up her mind to run this marathon of life for the rest of her days, never quitting halfway through. Which couple didn't experience friction in their daily lives? When problems arose, you solved them; it didn't have to end in bankruptcy or total collapse.

"How—" Yu Jia's voice sounded somewhat mournful.

"Don't try to lecture me," Yu Meng parried, ready for any counter-attack.

"Old Luan, he—" Yu Jia could only force out a truncated sentence.

There was no renewing past ties now.

"You don't understand him. I can't go on living with him," Yu Meng lowered her voice. The joyful atmosphere had vanished entirely. "Everything had to be done his way, I had to obey him, and I wasn't allowed a single dissenting opinion."

"Don't all men act like that..." Yu Jia didn't want to lecture her, but she couldn't help herself. She couldn't accept this all at once.

"There are many things I don't want to talk about, things that shouldn't be brought out into the open," Yu Meng reached for another cigarette. "When all is said and done, I simply don't love him."

Yu Jia was startled. As for love, she never talked about it, and rarely even thought about it. The word wasn't new to her, but it felt provocative. Drowsy from the wine she had consumed, Yu Shuang was just like that whenever she drank a little. Yu Rui sat off to the side, listening quietly.

Love was a luxury; let alone someone Sister Meng's age, even she didn't dare touch it lightly. Like a moth flying into a flame, you'd end up shattered to pieces if you weren't careful.

"Then in the past... all these years... how did..." Yu Jia stammered a bit, her worldview shaken and trembling.

Yu Meng said, "In the past, I didn't understand myself. I thought that finding someone with decent prospects and potential, someone who looked presentable when taken out, was enough. When you're young and your horizons are narrow, that's all you can see. It's different now. Even if I leave him, he can turn around and find someone better. He might even find a young girl. He has nothing to lose. I'm giving him his freedom without tying myself down. Sis, didn't you say society has its rules? I've walked all those paths—getting married, having children, building a family, and completing the mission. Really, how much youth do we have left? It's gone. Why shouldn't I live for myself? Anyway, that's how I see it. As for Luan Chengyun and me, our fate as husband and wife ends here. I wish him well."

Yu Shuang headed to the restroom, and Yu Rui followed her. When immortals fight, it's best for mortals to stay out of the way.

Shuang simply found it all troublesome. Marriage was troublesome, divorce was troublesome, and bitter grudges were far too troublesome. Rui, on the other hand, admired Sister Meng's courage to shatter the mold, yet simultaneously felt she was somewhat hypocritical—talking as though she cared nothing for money and only pursued spiritual fulfillment.

Still, when all was said and done, Yu Rui envied Yu Meng. On the road of life, Yu Meng had already walked halfway, completed the tasks assigned by society, and was now embarking on another adventure. She could live for herself. Yu Rui couldn't. She had never been married, had never given birth, and everything was still an unknown. Her disadvantage was that she was no longer young; her advantage was that she wasn't terribly old yet, at least.

The boat was already sailed.

Yu Meng's attitude was resolute. Yu Jia couldn't help thinking of mistresses, caught-in-the-act affairs, domestic violence, and other imaginable horrors. For all these years, Luan Chengyun had been running around and staying busy outside; it was inevitable. It was just that Yu Meng couldn't bring herself to voice those grievances, swallowing her suffering alone. It wasn't until they got back home, finished their showers, and climbed into bed that she finally felt it. Di Liren sat beside her, still reading Das Kapital.

Yu Jia suddenly felt a sense of relief. For all these years, at least Liren had his work unit keeping him in line, and since he was a scholar, he didn't have any glamorous or scandalous stories trailing behind him. Even so, the news ultimately left a heavy ache in her heart.

Yu Jia sighed three times in a row.

Liren assumed she was still fretting over Sisi going abroad. Closing his book, he said, "Children have their own paths, and adults have theirs. It's no use being reluctant to let go."

Yu Jia froze for a moment.

She said nothing, sitting there in a daze.

"Open your mind a bit." Liren still spoke with the tone of a political education instructor. He really should have been a teacher.

Yu Jia turned her head to look at her husband. The light fell obliquely across his face, casting half of it in shadow.

"Yu Meng and Luan have divorced." Yu Jia's tone was like reading an obituary. And indeed, what had died was a marriage.

Di Liren didn't seem particularly surprised. He placed his book back on the bedside table and took off his watch—something he usually only did when going to sleep, as he needed to keep a constant grasp on time. Slipping under the covers, Liren tucked his neck in and offered no comment. He had known Luan Chengyun for many years and their relationship was quite good; when Liren first arrived in the big city, Luan was the one who threw a welcoming reception for him.

Yu Jia looked down at him. She was surprised by her husband's reaction. Or had Luan Chengyun already told him? How long had it even been? Why did the whole world seem to know?

"Did Luan tell you?" she asked.

Liren replied, "Why would he tell me?"

"Then what's with that look on your face?" she complained, dissatisfied.

"I'm heading toward the age of knowing heaven's mandate; what is there left to make a fuss about?" Di Liren rolled over, turning his back to his wife.

Liren's perception was similar to Yu Meng's—both believed that life was bitterly short. In the second half, why not seize the day for a bit of pleasure?

Yu Jia simply couldn't understand it; she felt her good days had only just begun. One had to exercise restraint and self-control, living life steadily like a long stream of water nourishing a field.

"Nobody can't live without someone else," Liren said with a hint of mockery. "Everyone gets by." He added, "Life is just what it is." With that, Liren brought up work again. His transfer to the university publishing house was showing some promise.

"Just take an administrative role; it's easier to pick up," Liren said.

Yu Jia couldn't collect her thoughts, and a night's sleep failed to let them settle. Though they were close sisters, it was ultimately someone else's family business. They could interfere in Yu Shuang's blind dates, but Yu Meng's divorce was off-limits. Yet Yu Jia's initial intention wasn't to interfere; she simply wanted to understand more so she could balance her own inner thoughts. After finishing her housework in the morning, she sat alone on the sofa. Her phone rested right on the edge of the coffee table.

She picked it up, then put it back down. She repeated this motion several times.

She was on fairly familiar terms with Luan Chengyun, but they rarely socialized privately. She was the "eldest sister"—in name only, a title friends gave her out of politeness. Occasionally she took it seriously, and occasionally she felt she shouldn't.

In the end, she made the call. Over the phone, Luan Chengyun was very cordial, seeming entirely unaffected by the divorce.

"What's going on?" Things had reached this point, so she skipped the pleasantries and asked directly.

"I wasn't the one who asked for it." Luan Chengyun put aside those cordial smokescreens.

"This isn't a game!"

"How is she?"

"Not good," Yu Jia lied.

"She wouldn't be."

"And you just agreed to it like that?"

"What else could I do? My mistakes, I own up to them. You know her temper better than I do."

"You two had feelings for each other... back then... back then..." Yu Jia knew the whole story. To win Yu Meng over, Luan Chengyun had once slashed himself several times—pretending to be a patient just to have her take care of him.

"I still have feelings for her now."

"Then why mess up?"

"I don't know," Luan Chengyun said. "We're all human, and I'm just an ordinary man; it was bound to happen." He chuckled softly over the phone. "Not that anyone would believe me."

Yu Jia believed him even less. She was a respectable woman who loathed wandering, unfaithful middle-aged men. Luan Chengyun had a good relationship with Liren. Although Liren rarely mentioned Yu Jia or domestic life, Luan Chengyun believed that not talking about it was, in itself, an attitude.

"You..." Yu Jia was choked with anger. Luan Chengyun's brazenness bordered on shamelessness. Yet she couldn't possibly start confronting and cross-examining another man's wife over the phone. He had already admitted it; what more could she say? Kick a man when he was down? That would look far too ugly.

"I agree to remarry, anytime," he stated his stance.

"She only has two small apartments, what about the villa?"

"Did she ask you to call and ask that?"

"No."

"Murdoch only gave his ex-wife two houses when he divorced," Luan Chengyun said. "Having too many houses isn't good for her. I don't need her to support our son; I pay all the tuition."

"That's your son!" Yu Jia tried her best to control her emotions. She actually wanted to curse him out as a bastard. "If it's convenient, please pass along the message that I agree to remarry." Right before hanging up, Luan Chengyun emphasized it once more.