Chapter 43: Big Business

Qiangzi was someone she had only known for about ten days. Usually, when he spoke, he was shy and awkward, never really bold or thick-skinned. Seeing him so openly happy like this was a first.

Xie Yunshu was confused: “What do you mean ‘it’s done’?”

Who exactly did he give that lunchbox to?

Qiangzi calmed down a bit. His face, tanned from years of hard work, showed a bit of embarrassment: “I just thought I’d give it a try. The project department leaders have to eat too, right? Your cooking is good and varied, so I gave the lunchbox to Manager Shen. After he ate, he said it was delicious!”

Xie Yunshu blinked: “So?”

“So he said he wants you to supply meals just for them…” Qiangzi scratched his messy hair and gave her a silly grin: “Yunshu sis, at first I was afraid it wouldn’t work out, so I didn’t dare tell you. That lunchbox—do you want the money for it or not?”

Xie Yunshu sighed deeply. The guy just landed her a “big business” deal and she was still worrying about a few cents for lunch? She wasn’t heartless!

“But you took the lunchbox and gave it to the manager. What do you eat then?” She lifted the pot lid, helplessly staring at him: “There’s not even a single vegetable leaf left!”

Qiangzi seemed to just remember he needed to eat too. He rubbed his belly: “Nothing left. We can eat together tonight.”

Going hungry was nothing new for him—just part of daily life. Though the afternoon might be tough without food.

So he spent the money but didn’t even get a steamed bun?

Xie Yunshu wasn’t sure whether to call him stingy or just dumb. She took the last steamed bun out of the box: “This is all that’s left. You can have this first, but there’s no pickled vegetables or chili left.”

Qiangzi took it and glanced at the pot with just a little vegetable soup left, then smiled: “Well, there’s still some vegetable soup. Yunshu sis, since you can’t sell it now, you might as well let me have it? I’ll pay you a yuan for the bun tomorrow, okay?”

Xie Yunshu didn’t know whether to feel bitter or angry. She gave him a glare and poured all the leftover vegetable soup into his bowl, huffing: “You’re really annoying—always mooching off my veggies, and now you want to pay me for the bun! What for? I don’t need your five cents! Just eat it quickly and get back to work!”

Qiangzi chuckled dryly and finished the bun with the vegetable soup. Then he remembered something: “Oh, right! Manager Tian said if you have time, go to the project department before 5 pm today. He wants to talk to you about supplying lunchboxes.”

“Got it.” Xie Yunshu’s tone was anything but gentle. She pulled out a snack from her pocket and stuffed it toward him: “Eat this if you get hungry this afternoon. I don’t want to owe anyone any favors!”

Without waiting for his response, she hopped on the tricycle and left. Since there was business to discuss, she had to hurry to the market to buy ingredients and then head to the construction site. She had originally planned to visit Lu Zhixing this afternoon to talk about signing the divorce papers.

The one week she had mentioned before had passed, but now she could only delay for one more day—making money was more important.

After watching so many hardships on the construction site, she increasingly felt that worldly suffering was far greater, and love was insignificant.

Relying solely on a man’s love to sustain her life was ridiculous and sad.

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At the Lu family home, Cheng Yuxiang couldn’t hold back her anger as she looked at the silent Lu Zhixing.

She suppressed her rage and asked again: “How did the talk with Xie Yunshu go? She didn’t even apologize to Xueting. Your sister has been having nightmares every night! She hit people—do you just let that go?”

Since the last unpleasant encounter with Xie Yunshu, Lu Zhixing had been in a bad mood, even ignoring Zhou Xiaoyue’s repeated attempts to win his sympathy.

Xie Yunshu had hit both Lu Xueting and him!

To this day, he refused to believe that her love for him was completely gone, yet still he didn’t want a divorce. For the thousand-plus yuan compensation, he didn’t want his family to know, so he borrowed money from friends.

Maybe if he gave her the money, she’d change her mind…

Seeing Lu Zhixing silent, Cheng Yuxiang got even angrier: “Zhixing, a woman like that is a disgrace to our Lu family! I never agreed when you got married. I only nodded because she seemed to understand her place.”

“But now? All her low-class roots have come out! Hitting people, causing trouble, crying and making scenes! If you don’t divorce her, who knows what she’ll do next—maybe she’ll even leech off our Lu family for her little brother!”

“She’s still living off you. What face does she have to make a fuss?”

Lu Zhixing frowned deeply: “Mom, Yunshu isn’t living off me.”

After a year of marriage, most of his salary had gone to Zhou Xiaoyue’s family. Except for the appliances they bought when they first married, everything else was bought by Yunshu herself…

Lu Jianwei sat at the desk and put down the piece of clothing he was holding. “Yuxiang, don’t keep pressuring him. Zhixing should decide his marriage on his own.”

Cheng Yuxiang’s temper flared: “Decide on his own? What do you mean—still want that Xie Yunshu as a daughter-in-law?”

“What else can we do?”

Lu Jianwei looked serious and snorted coldly: “Divorce isn’t so simple. Would the Xie family agree? Yunshu’s temper isn’t easy to handle. If things get out of hand, how could I still advance at the government office? She wouldn’t agree to divorce.”

Lu Zhixing moved his lips but said nothing.

“But it can’t go on like this forever.” Lu Jianwei gave him a stern look and ordered: “Make your wife come home and write a guarantee—no more making things difficult for Xiaoyue. The position of Lu family daughter-in-law still belongs to her.”

Xie Yunshu feared that Xiaoyue posed a threat to her place. Now that he said this, she could relax—he trusted she would lower her pride.

Lu Zhixing’s expression was complicated: “What if she refuses?”

Lu Jianwei frowned: “Refuse or not, she has to agree—unless she really doesn’t want to be the Lu family daughter-in-law anymore.”

But she seemed really unwilling…

Lu Zhixing was silent for a moment before slowly speaking: “Dad, I won’t divorce Yunshu. She has suffered too.”

Cheng Yuxiang angrily slammed the table: “Suffered? She married into our Lu family—she should count herself lucky! If she hadn’t married you, could she have lived in such a nice place and enjoyed good food every day? Just a lousy job lost and she thinks we’d starve her? I think she’s just upset because she won’t have money to support her own family anymore!”

But after marriage, Xie Yunshu never asked her daughter for a single cent, afraid Lu family would look down on her.

The father pressured him to divorce, Yunshu also wanted to divorce, but just thinking about it made Lu Zhixing’s chest ache unbearably.

Back in the empty house, without a trace of her presence, she truly left clean and ruthless—without sparing a shred of kindness…