Chapter 80: Only Fifteen Yuan for Monthly Household Expenses!

No matter how much Lu Zhiwei tried to avoid it, he had no choice but to accept reality: his current wife was Zhou Xinyue.

Xiaowei followed silently behind him, not daring to utter a single word, even though it was freezing cold outside and he wore only a thin sweater. Perhaps he was just used to enduring hardship — as long as there was no beating or starvation, that already counted as a good day.

They walked until they reached the apartment where Lu Zhiwei had lived with Xie Yunshu after their marriage. Only then did Lu Zhiwei stop. This apartment had been bought for him by the Lu family years ago. Later, when he started working at Haicheng Hospital, the commute became inconvenient. It was Xie Yunshu who suggested they move to the staff dormitory.

Afterward, he had Zhou Xinyue move in here instead.

When he turned on the lights, the place was cold and desolate. Lu Zhiwei looked around the apartment, inch by inch, as if he were reliving those early days of marriage. Back then, he had truly wanted to spend his life with Yunshu. He had never lacked female attention, but when he met Xie Yunshu on that blind date, he had still been stunned by her.

In fact, even Xie Yunshu didn’t know that the blind date wasn’t the first time he had seen her.

Outside Haicheng Hospital, an elderly man had been hit by a car. Before Lu Zhiwei could rush over to provide aid, it was Xie Yunshu who had knelt by the old man, pressing her coat against his wounds to stop the bleeding. When she looked up at him, her dark, bright eyes were filled with trust: “Doctor, please save him! He’s bleeding so much!”

He had thought she was a relative of the old man, but later learned she was just a passerby. After that, for some reason, those eyes began appearing in his dreams. When they met again during the blind date, she was sitting across from him, blushing as she introduced herself: “Hello, Dr. Lu. I’m Xie Yunshu.”

He hadn’t heard a word the matchmaker said afterward. He only knew he wanted to spend his life with such a beautiful, brave, and kind-hearted girl.

He enjoyed how good she was to him and even accepted what outsiders said — that Yunshu was marrying “up.” Because aside from him, Xie Yunshu wouldn’t have a better choice. But he, on the other hand, had countless better options than her.

He thought she would never be willing to leave him, which was why, when he suggested divorce, he thought she was just being unreasonable — just too angry!

Now, it was too late for regret…

The cold silence in the apartment was broken by the sound of a small sneeze. Only then did Lu Zhiwei remember that he had brought Xiaowei along. Looking down, he was immediately filled with remorse: “Why are you wearing so little?”

Xiaowei’s face was tinged purple, but he just shook his head quietly: “I’m not cold, Dad.”

But as he spoke, his entire body was trembling, and his lips had turned pale.

Lu Zhiwei, being a doctor, immediately recognized that the child was hypothermic. He crouched down and wrapped the icy-cold Xiaowei in his coat, then looked around for a thick quilt — only to realize that all the bedding in this apartment had been given to Zhou Xinyue.

Lu Zhiwei stood in place silently for a moment before finally picking Xiaowei up and returning to the staff dormitory.

Zhou Xinyue had already tidied up the place. She sat on the bed, her expression changing as she saw Lu Zhiwei return: “Zhiwei, I was too impulsive earlier. Don’t be mad at me. Since we’re married, let’s live properly together, okay?”

She held out her arms to Xiaowei: “Come to Mommy, I was wrong earlier. Will you forgive me?”

Though Xiaowei was still trembling all over, he obediently walked toward her, his voice mechanical: “Okay, Mommy.”

Lu Zhiwei let out a long sigh. Once again, his heart softened. After all, Xiaowei was Zhou Xinyue’s biological son. How could she be truly cruel to her own child? Perhaps she had just acted out of impulse.

“Xinyue, us being together was a mistake. Once this storm passes, we can get divorced. Then you can live your own life — isn’t that better?” He looked gently at Zhou Xinyue, then at Xiaowei again. “Just don’t take things out on the child. He’s only five years old.”

He did feel sorry for Xiaowei, and he genuinely cared for the child. Maybe it was because every time he saw him, the boy was either sick or in the hospital. How could such a young child suffer so much?

Zhou Xinyue lowered her eyes, tears brimming: “Zhiwei, I truly love you. I didn’t dare say it before, afraid Yunshu would misunderstand. But now that fate has brought us together, you have no idea how happy I am.”

Lu Zhiwei wasn’t unaware of Zhou Xinyue’s feelings for him, even though he still had doubts about that night they ended up sleeping together.

But seeing Zhou Xinyue like this, he sighed deeply: “The only person I have feelings for is Yunshu. But since we’re still married, it’s my responsibility to give you some household money. I used to give Yunshu ten yuan a month. You have a child to take care of, but you also earn your own salary — so I’ll give you fifteen yuan a month. I’ll keep a bit for pocket money and use the rest to pay off debts.”

Zhou Xinyue dug her nails into her palms — fifteen yuan a month? How could he even say that with a straight face? He was a chief surgeon, and yet he was only giving her fifteen yuan in household expenses?!

And that was for the whole household!

This meant that with fifteen yuan, she had to serve Lu Zhiwei’s every need and handle all the social obligations of the household. She had married into the Lu family to enjoy life, not to pay out of her own pocket!

But Lu Zhiwei thought he had already been quite generous. Yunshu had managed with just ten yuan — why couldn’t Zhou Xinyue?

“I’ll sleep in the other room. You and Xiaowei can sleep here.” Lu Zhiwei frowned slightly, casually picking up a quilt. He couldn’t accept sleeping in the same bed with Zhou Xinyue. That one time had been a mistake — he would never let it happen again!

Zhou Xinyue clenched her teeth. Was this man really planning to sleep in separate beds for the rest of their lives? When he was with Xie Yunshu, did they sleep apart too?

She had married Lu Zhiwei, sacrificed her reputation, and all she got was an empty house and fifteen measly yuan — how utterly ridiculous!

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The next day, Xie Yunshu got up early. She had gone to the department store yesterday, but all the down jackets had been snatched up. She was so frustrated that she couldn’t sleep. As soon as the sun rose, she got up to go line up early.

Xie Mingcheng, still groggy, heard the noise and got up too. “Sis, I’ll go with you.”

“You stay home and study. It’s freezing out there,” Xie Yunshu said as she quickly pulled on her cotton-padded jacket and a blue outer coat. “I’m just buying clothes, not groceries at the market.”

But Xie Mingcheng had already started putting on his shoes. “Didn’t you say it’s hard to get a down jacket? I’m tall — I can squeeze in.”

Li Fenlan also opened her eyes and chimed in: “You two go together. There’s nothing to do at home anyway. Yunshu, you’re so petite — how are you going to push through a crowd?”

Xie Yunshu thought about it and nodded. “Alright then. Let’s hurry. You’ve no idea how hard it is to get one of those jackets!”