“Divorce?”
“Wait, no. Why are you suddenly talking about divorce?”
Father Bai and Mother Bai stared wide-eyed at their eldest daughter. They never expected that their steady, reliable firstborn would show up at their doorstep out of the blue and drop such a bombshell on them.
Bai Lian looked at her shocked parents and her three younger sisters, bitterness welling up inside her. If she could avoid it, she wouldn’t be at this point either. But Qin Shengli’s evasive eyes over the past few days told her that things had already taken a turn for the worst.
They had been married for many years, having fallen in love and married freely. They also had two daughters together. She truly didn’t want to let go. But having handled countless family disputes at work, Bai Lian knew that if it really came to divorce, she might not be able to win custody of both daughters.
So after several days of careful thought, she decided to ask her family for help.
“I’m not asking for a divorce right now. But if Qin Shengli really has found someone else, then I’ll have no choice but to take that step. So right now, I need your help.”
Only with her family on her side, backing her up, would she have a chance to go up against the Qin family.
“How… how could things have gotten to this point?” Mother Bai still couldn’t process it. Both before and after marriage, her own life had gone smoothly. Apart from a period when her in-laws made things difficult for her because she hadn’t borne a son, she had never encountered any major setbacks.
Now her eldest daughter had suddenly come home alone, talking about divorce. She truly didn’t know what to do.
Seeing this, Father Bai reached out and comfortingly patted his wife’s shoulder. Then he looked at his eldest daughter. He knew she was steady and reliable—she wouldn’t speak lightly. If she was saying that divorce might be necessary, then Qin Shengli must have done something truly unbearable.
—
The Bai family then listened as Bai Lian recounted everything that had happened over this period.
It started with her mother-in-law pushing for a son over two months ago, followed by the snide remarks after her youngest sister’s engagement to the factory director’s son fell through, then her mother-in-law’s petty tricks of serving cornbread at every meal, and finally Qin Shengli’s current evasiveness.
Many of these things Bai Lian had kept hidden before. Now that the Bai family had heard it all, their expressions were grim.
Father Bai in particular was furious. Just the other day, he had gone to talk with Qin Shengli, and the man had promised him earnestly that he would take good care of his wife and daughters. Now, in the blink of an eye, he might have someone else. Father Bai felt utterly fooled.
Bai Lan sat to the side, not sure what to say.
When she had come home from work that evening, before anyone had even eaten, her elder sister had shown up alone. The scene reminded everyone of the time Bai Lian had come back late at night with her two daughters.
And this time, Bai Lian had come alone. Everyone already had a bad feeling.
But they never imagined the truth would be so shocking.
Bai Lan had thought people in this era were more simple and honest, not facing as many temptations as people in later generations. She never expected Qin Shengli to be suspected of infidelity—and ten to one, they were just short of evidence.
Bai Lian understood her family’s shock. She was shocked herself. Despite all his flaws, Qin Shengli wasn’t a bad person. She couldn’t figure out why he would get involved with someone else. But this wasn’t the time for wallowing. She needed to take control of the situation.
“So, Mom and Dad, what I need now is for you to help me find evidence. That way, I can stay in control. At the very least, I won’t leave my two daughters with the Qin family.”
Bai Lian’s calm, rational determination to fight for her rights once again earned Bai Lan’s admiration. It also snapped Father Bai and Mother Bai back to reality.
“Daughter, don’t worry. School’s out for summer break anyway. You bring Xiaofen and Xiaofang here tomorrow. I’ll find someone to keep an eye on Qin Shengli right now. If that boy hasn’t strayed, fine. But if he has, your father won’t let him off easy.”
With that, Father Bai stood up and walked straight out the door, not even stopping for dinner.
…
Bai Lian didn’t leave immediately. She stayed a while longer to talk with Mother Bai, reassuring her until she calmed down. Only then did she turn to look at her three younger sisters.
She knew that if she really went through with a divorce, it would definitely affect them. In this day and age, if a family had a divorce, the women in that family would lose face.
By bringing up divorce now, her sisters probably thought she was being selfish.
Bai Lan saw what was on her elder sister’s mind and shook her head. “Elder Sister, this is your life. You can arrange it however you see fit. I have no objections—I’ll only support you.”
For a calm, rational approach like her sister’s, Bai Lan was all in, one hundred percent.
Bai Li nodded along as well. She also believed her sister’s happiness was more important than anything else. If she wasn’t happy living with the Qin family, she could come back. They had even kept her old room.
Bai Ping saw that both of her sisters were agreeing. She opened her mouth, hesitated, and finally nodded too.
But after Bai Lian left, Bai Ping couldn’t help muttering, “Elder Sister said herself she only suspects something—there’s no evidence yet. Maybe it’s all a misunderstanding! We don’t even know for sure, and she’s already talking about preparing for divorce. That’s a bit much, don’t you think? Right, Little Sister?”
Bai Lan, who had been about to eat, looked up at this. Before she could retort, Mother Bai unhesitatingly scolded her: “Your elder sister is in trouble. As her parents, we can only support her. No matter what she decides in the end, you are her sisters. You don’t have to support her, but don’t say things like that!”
This was the first time Bai Lan had seen Mother Bai scold Bai Ping like this.
Not just during the days she’d been here since her穿越—even searching through her memories, there was no such instance. Because Bai Ping had been frail since childhood. Apparently, she hadn’t gotten enough nutrition in the womb, as her twin sister Bai Li had absorbed it all. So after birth, she had been thin and small.
Because of this, the family had always given in to her. Second Sister Bai Li in particular, having heard neighbors talk about that prenatal story since she was little, had always been very accommodating toward Bai Ping.
Now Bai Li also glared at her younger sister because of those words.
Seeing her family’s reaction, Bai Ping’s chest heaved with anger. They didn’t understand anything!
In the end, Bai Ping stormed off to her room without eating.
—
Mother Bai stood up as if to stop her, but then sat back down with a sigh. “Don’t blame Pingping too much. She’s probably afraid that Chengcai’s mother will look down on her.”
Bai Lan immediately recalled the situation with the Qiu family. The Qius were capable people. Bai Ping’s job as a sales clerk had been secured through the Qiu family’s connections. So she had always seemed to stand a little lower than them.
“I never approved of her relying on the Qius to get that job. Xiao Li had already given up her own job so Pingping wouldn’t have to go to the countryside. But that girl turned her nose up at it because it was a temporary position. Then she went and had the Qius arrange a job for her at the department store.”
Mother Bai sighed. “So you two got your jobs on your own. When you marry, you won’t have to bow down to your in-laws either.”
Bai Ping couldn’t hear Mother Bai’s sighs. After running back to her room, she lay down on her bed, drew the curtain, and fumed in silence.
How could they understand her situation?
How could Elder Sister get divorced?
She really didn’t think her brother-in-law would be unfaithful. Besides, given her sister’s situation—with two daughters—if she left her husband, she wouldn’t find anyone better.
And if her sister got divorced, many of Bai Ping’s own plans would have to change.
Bai Ping decided she couldn’t just let things take their worst course. She sat up abruptly on the bed and began thinking about what she should do next.
—
Over the next few days, Father Bai found nothing. Bai Lan asked him several times, but each time he brushed her off, saying a young, unmarried girl shouldn’t get involved in such ugly matters.
Bai Lan understood that people’s attitudes were just like that in this era. Matters involving infidelity weren’t something an unmarried young woman should be too close to.
So she stopped asking Father Bai and instead began subtly probing Xu Jianbei for the latest developments in the Qin household.
Xu Jianbei simply assumed the Qin family had done something else wrong. He started making frequent trips to the steel factory.
All that running around turned up some clues. Faced with the information his friend Cao Changsheng had provided, Xu Jianbei found himself with a headache.
But he couldn’t hide it from Bai Lan. Luckily, the next day was the weekend. Early in the morning, he went to meet her.
…
“Did you find something?”
Bai Lan felt a bit embarrassed asking Xu Jianbei to help her investigate. Mainly because this involved her elder sister’s privacy, and having her boyfriend know about it felt a little strange. But among everyone she knew, Xu Jianbei was the most likely to dig up information.
Xu Jianbei looked at Bai Lan, hesitating.
“How about we have breakfast first? After that, we can find a quiet place to talk.”
Otherwise, he was afraid Bai Lan would get so upset she wouldn’t want to eat.
Seeing the insistence in Xu Jianbei’s eyes, Bai Lan nodded. She figured he must have found out something bad. They ate breakfast at a nearby state-run restaurant. They had come to the city center, planning to talk and then buy a few things at the department store.
But just as they finished eating and were about to leave the restaurant, they saw someone passing by the entrance. Bai Lan looked closely—it was none other than Qin Shengli.
He looked haggard, his hands shoved in his pockets, wearing a nervous expression.
She was about to stand up and go after him when Xu Jianbei, sitting beside her, grabbed her arm.
“Wait…”
No sooner had Xu Jianbei spoken than another familiar figure hurried past the entrance. It looked like she was chasing after Qin Shengli.
“Come on, let’s follow them.”
Seeing that they had both gone, Bai Lan immediately took Xu Jianbei’s hand and went after them.
This time, Xu Jianbei didn’t stop her. Instead, he quickened his pace to guide Bai Lan, afraid she might trip in her urgency.
They didn’t have to go far. Just down an alley near the state-run restaurant, they found Qin Shengli’s trail.
Bai Lan and Xu Jianbei hid around the corner of the alley, where they could easily hear the conversation between the two.
—
“Brother-in-law, the more I called you, the faster you ran. I have something important to tell you!”
Bai Ping looked at Qin Shengli and complained irritably. She had been trying to find him for days. At first, she heard he was away on a business trip and couldn’t be found at the steel factory. Then, when she finally learned he was back, the man kept running away every time he saw her.
If it weren’t for her own plans, she wouldn’t even care whether he lived or died. He had been away for a few days—he probably didn’t even know that her father had already set people to catch him in the act.
A flash of impatience crossed Qin Shengli’s eyes. He forced himself to say, “What exactly is so important that it can’t wait? I really have urgent business to take care of!”
As he spoke, Qin Shengli paced back and forth in place, looking genuinely anxious.
Seeing this, Bai Ping sneered inwardly, but her face showed urgency as she quickly explained in a few words that her elder sister was thinking about divorce.
Hidden around the corner, Bai Lan overheard Bai Ping’s words and was so angry she nearly jumped out to give her a piece of her mind. But she managed to hold back. She wanted to see what Bai Ping’s real goal was. She had always felt there was something off about her, but she never expected her to come and tip off Qin Shengli.
“Brother-in-law, I really think Big Sister has misunderstood you. You should clear up the misunderstanding with her as soon as possible.”
Bai Ping spoke as if baring her heart. But Qin Shengli looked as if he had been struck by lightning.
He gritted his teeth. “Thank you, Xiaoping. This really is a misunderstanding. I truly have something urgent to deal with right now. You go back first and help me keep your sister calm. Really, once I take care of this, everything will be resolved. There won’t be a divorce—you can rest a hundred percent assured!”
Seeing Qin Shengli speak with such determination, Bai Ping, who had been anxious for days, relaxed a little. But before leaving, she didn’t forget to remind him again: “Anyway, just get home as soon as you can and explain things to Big Sister.”
The two quickly went their separate ways. Qin Shengli disappeared into the alley like a fish in water.
Seeing this, Bai Lan stamped her foot, wanting to follow him. But Bai Ping was still standing there, not moving. She thought about just going over and giving Bai Ping a piece of her mind to vent her anger. But she knew this wasn’t the time to act impulsively.
If Bai Ping had come to tip off Qin Shengli, it meant she truly didn’t want her elder sister to get divorced. No divorce meant no damage to the family’s reputation. But was she really that afraid of Qiu Chengcai’s parents?
Xu Jianbei felt the intense shift in Bai Lan’s emotions. He reached out and put an arm around her shoulder. “Come on. I know where your brother-in-law is headed.”
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