Chapter 1: A Cheap Husband

“Lu Dingquan, let’s get a divorce…”

Jiang Ning woke up with the words already on her lips.

She instinctively felt something was wrong and immediately shut her mouth.

Wasn’t she just chugging beer at the celebratory banquet?

As a 19th-tier actress specializing in villain roles, she had previously played a vicious, obsessive female supporting character in a period drama. The role spanned a mere three episodes.

She tried to seduce the male lead, a young intellectual, but was outsmarted and framed.

For the sake of her reputation, she was forced to marry the male supporting character.

After a disastrous divorce, she was humiliated by thugs and attempted suicide.

In just three episodes, Jiang Ning utilized her lifetime of villainous acting skills to portray a lost and unredeemable obsessive housewife, leaving everyone praising her performance. They called her the epitome of “foolishly obsessed” and “obsessively manipulative.”

The drama had already aired, and whenever her scenes came on, the comments section would be flooded with messages like “I can’t watch,” “This is infuriating,” and “When does Jiang Pu go offline? I’m ready to set off fireworks!”

One comment, however, seemed to carry a deep resentment.

“This actress is so good! She’s making me sick. I suspect she’s just acting true to herself. I’m using all my resentment to pray that she gets sucked into the script and wreaks havoc on others, just don’t come out and torment the viewers!”

Jiang Ning couldn’t help but wonder if that viewer had connections.

Because…

She seemed to have actually transmigrated.

She was clearly at the viewing party, celebrating the drama’s success with chicken feet and beer, but when she opened her eyes again, she found herself in a strange yet familiar setting.

A white-walled, green-painted office, with antique wooden cabinets and a large desk, and an old pale blue ceiling fan creaking overhead…

Wasn’t this the set where she filmed the divorce scene?

However, the man in front of her was a stranger.

In the drama, the actor playing her ex-husband, Lu Dingquan, was also a supporting character specialist.

Since his character was an honest man in the script, enduring the protagonist’s antics, the actor chosen wasn’t particularly outstanding. He was passably handsome, but looked like a bitter and downtrodden honest man.

The original character was so annoying that when she finally got divorced, viewers showered the male supporting character with flowers in the comments, celebrating his escape from misery and awarding him the title of “Happy Ex-Husband.”

Yet, as Jiang Ning looked at the man before her, her eyelashes blinked in disbelief, again and again.

What was going on?

He wasn’t the actor who played her counterpart.

So after transmigrating into the script, even her partner had changed?

Behind the heavy wooden desk in the office, the man’s dark eyes were half-lowered, his body straight and tall.

He wore a semi-worn jacket over his shirt, and even while sitting, he appeared broad-shouldered and long-legged.

Under his short black hair was a face with sharp and striking features, his facial contours were distinct, his nose bridge was particularly prominent, and his thin lips were slightly pursed, exuding an exceptionally cold aura when he wasn’t speaking.

Jiang Ning’s lips moved, but thankfully, she swallowed the lines from the script in time.

In the backstory, the original character was already married to her ex-husband.

As a demobilized soldier, her ex-husband had transitioned to become the factory director of a machinery factory. It sounded impressive, but in reality, the factory was struggling, and they couldn’t even pay wages.

After reluctantly marrying her ex-husband, the original character was constantly dissatisfied, acting foolishly and recklessly, and less than six months into their marriage, she came to the factory to demand a divorce.

On the surface, she claimed it was because he was poor, but the real reason was that she was unhappy with his poverty and wanted to have an affair.

That’s right, the original character’s crush, the young intellectual, had reappeared. She hadn’t learned her lesson from her previous failed attempt to seduce him, and now she was itching to try again.

Jiang Ning’s head ached.

She had transmigrated, so she couldn’t follow the original plot, but what about this marriage?

Should she get a divorce or not?

At noon, sunlight streamed through the window, and Lu Dingquan’s pen tip paused on the thin paper.

Hearing the woman’s movements across from him, she had barged in just now, looking impatient, but how come she suddenly stopped mid-sentence?

He raised his eyes faintly, seeing Jiang Ning’s uncertain expression.

To be fair, she was originally very beautiful, but…

A subtle expression flickered in the man’s dark eyes, his brow furrowed slightly, and he spoke in a low, deep voice:

“What do you want to say? Finish your sentence.”

His sudden words startled Jiang Ning.

She looked up, the man behind the desk was expressionless, unyielding.

As a newcomer, she was even a little afraid to meet his gaze.

It was a bit like how a 19th-tier trash actress would feel when facing a wealthy investor, wanting to shrink into a quail, but still having to put on a smile.

The ex-husband in this world was indeed handsome, but why was he so intimidating?

Jiang Ning forced a smile, “I, I was just saying…”

“Want a divorce?” Lu Dingquan casually tossed aside his pen.

His gaze was calm, as if he didn’t care: “Divorce, I agree.”

Jiang Ning: ??

So easy?

In the original drama, they had argued for a long time, making a scene that the entire factory knew about the factory director’s wife wanting to have an affair, and only then did the ex-husband reluctantly agree to the divorce.

She immediately grinned sheepishly, “Since you… you agree, then I won’t force it.”

“Lu Dingquan, we were only brought together by a twist of fate. Since we have no feelings for each other, I don’t want to hold you back. If you agree, then, then let’s just part ways amicably…”

Jiang Ning tried to make her words sound polite.

She still had to survive in this world, and under no circumstances could she end up like the original character, hated by everyone.

But thinking about it, it was quite strange. The so-called original character was actually a role she had played herself.

Lu Dingquan stood up, his long hand casually loosened the collar of his shirt, and calmly looked at her.

He stood up, and Jiang Ning realized how tall he was, blocking most of the sunlight from the window.

She heard the man speak unhurriedly:

“You’re right, let’s part ways amicably.”

“After the divorce, your monthly allowance of forty yuan, I can finally save.”

The polite smile Jiang Ning was about to raise froze on her lips.

Huh? What allowance?

Lu Dingquan personally poured a cup of tea, a layer of clear water bubbles floated on the white enamel cup, and he continued to remind her calmly:

“The money you owe, you’ll have to figure out how to pay it back yourself. Don’t worry, as husband and wife, I’ll put in a good word and let them give you a month or two of grace.”

?

Jiang Ning wasn’t just dumbfounded, she was completely baffled.

What debt? There was no such thing in the script!

However, Lu Dingquan had already handed her the teacup, his brows were slightly furrowed, and he looked at her with a calm expression as she stood there, half-stunned.

At that moment, it was as if a bunch of random information had suddenly flooded into Jiang Ning’s mind, causing her a splitting headache.

Before she could fully process it, something flashed through her mind.

She instinctively opened her mouth and hurriedly said, “I, I was just kidding! Husband, you can’t divorce me!”

“Director Lu…” Just then, someone pushed open the door from outside.

As if they had heard something they shouldn’t have, the person was stunned and speechless, “Factory, Factory Director… I, I, I went the wrong way!”

“Bang,” the door was slammed shut again.

Leaving Jiang Ning’s awkwardness echoing in the room.