Chapter 3

The traditional Chinese medicine specialist was an elderly man with graying hair. When Ye Xiaoyu entered, he didn’t immediately ask for her condition but nodded and signaled for her to place her hand on the pulse pillow.

Traditional Chinese medicine, huh?

It wasn’t that it wasn’t a good option.

Ye Xiaoyu stretched out her hand.

The elderly doctor silently checked her pulse for a long time, without speaking.

Ye Xiaoyu grew increasingly nervous, her heart pounding, swallowing nervously, and asking, “Doctor, I’m not dying of some incurable disease, right? High blood pressure? Diabetes? Heart disease? Cerebral thrombosis? Respiratory failure? Am I going to die? Is there any hope left?”

She was displaying classic hypochondria.

This wasn’t surprising. People from the future more or less suffered from illness anxiety, and search engines were partially to blame, as people learned of countless diseases and their severe consequences without truly understanding them

“Can’t die!”

The old Chinese doctor replied irritably. After years of seeing all sorts of patients, the only one who immediately suspected they had a terminal illness and rattled off a list of symptoms was the person in front of him. He explained, “Your pulse… it’s interesting.”

Ye Xiaoyu was nervous:
“What do you mean?”

“Not floating, not sinking, neither fast nor slow, rhythmic and strong—this is a sign of full Qi and blood, with strong internal organs, indicating your vitality is very strong.” The old doctor was happy when he felt such a pulse, as it represented health.

But looking at the person in front of him, who appeared weak and overweight, and having nearly suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning, it didn’t quite match the pulse.

The old doctor, normally confident in his skills, spent a long time confirming the diagnosis through observation, questioning, and feeling the pulse.

Ye Xiaoyu thought about it. Neither she nor the original owner could have such a healthy pulse. This might be a perk from crossing into another world—being reborn meant there must be a strong life force inside. It made sense when she thought of it that way.

But being reborn was something no one dared to speculate on, and the old doctor found it amazing, which was normal.

Ye Xiaoyu asked again, “Do I need medicine?”

The old doctor replied, “Nonsense! If you’re not sick, why would I prescribe medicine!”

Ye Xiaoyu, not wanting to leave empty-handed, pressed on: “Doctor, do you have any weight loss prescriptions? I want to lose a little weight to avoid getting any diseases.”

“Obesity is mainly caused by imbalances in the internal organs, with the essence from food and water failing to nourish the body, instead turning into fat and phlegm, which accumulates in the skin. It’s especially due to Qi deficiency.” The old doctor continued, “Traditional Chinese medicine does have weight loss decoctions, but we also emphasize that medicine should not be taken recklessly.”

Since Ye Xiaoyu was healthy, he didn’t prescribe any medicine but advised a diet with less salt and oil and recommended some food remedies, like white lentils, red beans, mung beans, coix seeds, yam, winter melon, etc. These help expel dampness from the body. He also suggested wild licorice from the countryside, steeped in water, as a remedy. The secret to weight loss, he said, was “control your mouth, and move your legs.”

Out of kindness, after being tricked by various health products in the future, Ye Xiaoyu felt like sending the old doctor a banner reading “Benevolence Benefits All.” She had only paid 2 yuan for the consultation fee.

After leaving the hospital, Ye Xiaoyu didn’t go straight home. She rubbed her belly and walked around the area. There were many restaurants nearby—some with storefronts, some street vendors—business was highly competitive.

She chose a relatively clean street stall and sat down.

It was after lunch but before dinner, so the place was not crowded. The owner was very friendly, constantly wiping the table and pulling out chairs for her.

Ye Xiaoyu ordered two liang of chicken wontons, 0.8 yuan, plus a sesame cake with meat, totaling 1.5 yuan.

The wontons were thin-skinned and packed with filling, delicious and flavorful. The broth was warm and comforting. The sesame cake with meat was also tasty, with tender meat filling and fragrant sesame seeds.

Ye Xiaoyu gave a thumbs-up, and the owner proudly said, “I learned this skill from my grandmother. She was the best chef in our area, famous for her red and white affairs. I’m quick to learn, and this pan-fried bun I learned from southerners.”

“Impressive!”

Ye Xiaoyu clapped like a seal.

But thinking about her own go-to dishes—instant noodles, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, stir-fried pork with green peppers—she couldn’t help but smile.

If it were 10 or 20 years ago, when the country was just opening up, Ye Xiaoyu might have been able to start a food stall with her simple but novel cooking skills and earn her first money.

Now, though, there were so many talented people around. Even if she worked hard to come up with a new dish, the effort wouldn’t match the reward.

That plan was a pass.

Fortunately, Ye Xiaoyu never seriously considered making money through cooking. She only came to eat because she was hungry, and her attention to the market was just an old habit from her previous job. After eating, she packed two baskets of dumplings to take home, wrapped in neat squares of kraft paper by the owner.

She then took the bus back.

When she got off the bus, it was around the time when people were finishing work, so she encountered more familiar faces. People greeted each other, whether they were familiar or not, and after a short distance, her face ached from all the smiling.

As she entered the building, she saw her neighbor, Old Lady Li, peeking her head out.

Ye Xiaoyu gave her a half-smile. The more Old Lady fidgeted, the more it showed that she was guilty and concerned about the curse Ye Xiaoyu had said in the morning.

She opened the door and froze.

In the middle of the living room, sitting on a peachwood chair, was a man. He wasn’t old, not even 30, and his face wasn’t bad, but his mannerisms were like those of a sleazy old man who had spent decades at a drinking table—greasy and unpleasant.

He opened his mouth with a tone full of superiority: “Where have you been? You don’t even know how to cook? What kind of wife are you?”

Ye Xiaoyu replied, “Yang Ligang, I won’t agree to the divorce you mentioned.”

“Won’t agree?” Yang Ligang sneered twice, as if hearing a great joke. “Look at you, this yellow-faced woman, what face do you have to say no? Ye Xiaoyu, whether you agree or not, we’ll go to the civil affairs bureau tomorrow and finalize this. If you dare not agree, just wait…”

Hu Wanwan was nearly three months pregnant, and the wedding banquet was coming up. He wanted to make it grand to show off, trying to impress some leaders or wealthy people. He definitely didn’t want to be with the yellow-faced woman in front of him.

“Bah!” Ye Xiaoyu spat in his face. “You’re good-looking? Why don’t you go look at yourself in the mirror? With those shifty eyes and that face like a toad, are you a bird or a beast? I was blind when I married you.”

Yang Ligang didn’t expect Ye Xiaoyu, who usually spoke softly and endured everything, to stand up to him. He froze for a moment before exploding in rage.

But as soon as he stood up to slap her, Ye Xiaoyu nimbly dodged, and when he wasn’t looking, she kicked him twice, with one foot landing squarely in his groin.

Yang Ligang let out a pained cry.

Ye Xiaoyu picked up the kitchen knife she had prepared earlier and struck the table three times.
Pointing at him with a fierce look, as if she wanted to eat his flesh, break his bones, and drink his blood: “Come on! Today, it’s either you die or I die; neither of us is leaving this room!”

Yang Ligang was already a cowardly man, all bark and no bite. He was intimidating only toward Ye Xiaoyu, acting arrogant with ordinary workers and fawning over his superiors. When he faced someone tough, he would lose his nerve and back down.

But he couldn’t let it go like that. He steeled himself and shouted back, “What are you being so fierce for?! Which wife points a knife at her husband like you do?”

“Are you even a man?” Ye Xiaoyu looked him up and down with extreme disdain. “You want a divorce? Fine, that’s doable.”

“First, our son stays with me.”

Yang Ligang: “You’re dreaming!”

“Who’s dreaming? You think I’d leave our son with you? Do you even know what he likes to eat or what he hates? Do you know how old he is? Do you know his birthday? Leave my son with you? So you and that little mistress of yours can abuse him together? Do you believe I won’t cut off your little thing right now? Then you’ll have to thank me when you’re looking for your little fourth, fifth, or sixth mistress!”

“You!”

Ye Xiaoyu interrupted, “You what? First, remember this: our son stays with me. Second, either leave this apartment to me or give me 150,000.”

“No way!” This time, his reaction was even stronger; his neck turned red with anger. It was clear that, in Yang Ligang’s mind, their son wasn’t even as important as the house. What a scumbag.

Ye Xiaoyu’s voice wasn’t loud, but every word was clear and biting with anger: “Yang Ligang, you’ve been to school, right? You know that in a divorce, assets are split in half, right? Even if you file for divorce, I’m still entitled to half of this house. Not just the house, but also the TV in your mistress’s place. And you’re the one at fault here. Your mistress has already delivered the evidence right to my door. There are plenty of witnesses, even the sales clerk who sold the TV can testify about your hidden assets after marriage. And that baby your mistress is carrying is solid proof. Any one of these pieces of evidence could land you in court, and according to the law, you’d walk away with nothing. Just the current value of this house alone means 150,000 is already a low offer.”

The original weak-willed person had allowed these two scoundrels to become more brazen. The mistress, who didn’t seem to have a brain, even delivered the evidence to their door herself.

Indeed, since the late 1980s, casual affairs between men and women could no longer be prosecuted as hooliganism, which led to many businessmen abandoning their wives and children. But state-owned enterprises, such as the factory where Yang Ligang worked, still couldn’t openly behave like that.

Let alone making it public or using the media to spread the news.

No one would deliberately air their private matters in the newspapers, and Yang Ligang couldn’t believe that the timid Ye Xiaoyu would do such a thing. But she had already prepared envelopes and letters, and was holding a kitchen knife, as if she had been driven mad.

This crazy woman.

Yang Ligang took a step back, then another, his heart full of fear.

Ye Xiaoyu continued to speak relentlessly: “If this blows up, do you think you’ll keep your position as the director of the state-run Electric Machinery Factory? People like you would’ve been shot a few years ago. Now, even though that won’t happen, we’re in the capital city, and the Electric Machinery Factory is one of the top state-run companies in Yanjing. If such a scumbag director is exposed, as a leader of a state-run enterprise with moral corruption, getting fired would be the least of your worries. I could even get a few media outlets to publish photos and let the whole country know the name ‘Yang Ligang,’ leaving your reputation in ruins.”

Yang Ligang was both ashamed and furious:

“Keep your voice down!”

“Not getting divorced? Not getting divorced?” The mistress in his mind wasn’t nearly as important as himself.

“Keep my voice down? You do those dirty and disgusting things, yet you don’t know how to avoid people?” Ye Xiaoyu found it laughable. “Let’s get something straight: I’m the one who wants the divorce, not you.”

As she spoke, she dragged the kitchen knife back and forth, as if warning Yang Ligang that if he uttered the words “I don’t want a divorce,” the blade would be in motion.

Ye Xiaoyu continued to demand: “Two things must happen for this divorce. I know you have money. Not to mention, your parents are both retired government workers, especially your father, a civil servant who earns more than I do every month. Over the years, who knows how much money he has saved privately. You’ve learned from him well. All these years, you’ve been living off me, this woman. People would think you’re a live-in son-in-law, eating soft rice. If I wanted, I could publicize this, showing how you’ve been living off me. I’ve even kept records. I could put it on display at the factory, and ‘soft rice’ director would be a perfect title for you. Do you think you could find another job after being fired from the factory?”

“You’re unreasonable!” Yang Ligang spat, then turned to leave. He was afraid if he stayed, she might actually do something crazy. This madwoman had completely lost all rationality.

Ye Xiaoyu wasn’t afraid of him and shouted after him: “Three days, I’m giving you three days to prepare everything, and then we’ll go to the Civil Affairs Bureau to get the divorce.”