Chapter 3: Divorce 2

3. Divorce (Part 2)

"Yeah, what was I thinking back then?"

Inside the room, Duan Yuran held the hot tea presented by another head maid, Yunzhu, a cold sneer playing on her lips.

She originally did not belong to this world. She had lived for twenty-six years in a space-time filled with modern civilization, only to die young from gastric cancer. When she opened her eyes again, she had become a wailing, hungry infant! After living in a daze for two or three years, she finally regained her conscious awareness and slowly remembered her "previous life"!

The more she saw and learned in this world, the more Duan Yuran felt fortunate that she had been an infant when she transmigrated. This gave her the chance to learn the survival rules of this era bit by bit and slowly "adapt to local customs."

This marriage to Ren Feiteng had been conducted entirely according to the rules of the ancients—marrying based on parental commands and matchmaker's words! From the moment her parents selected a candidate for her husband until the wedding, Duan Yuran had only asked her parents to find a man with a clean background, no bad habits, and who was disciplined regarding women. It didn't matter if his social status was low or his family circumstances were ordinary. After all, this era did not allow for free love or women choosing their own husbands!

Later, after picking and choosing, her parents settled on the Ren family of Pingcheng, a collateral branch of the Duke of Anguo's estate in the capital. After Master Ren passed the provincial examinations to become a *juren*, he stopped his pursuit of the imperial examinations and settled down in Pingcheng to live a peaceful life as a *juren* master, guarding his fertile fields and prosperous shops.

Master Ren and Madam Ren had only one son, and there were only three childless concubines in the inner courtyard, so the household was quite simple. Ren Feiteng was two years older than Duan Yuran and had also passed the provincial examinations, though he had failed to pass the spring imperial examinations once. Because both Master Ren and Madam Ren hoped their son would achieve greatness, they constantly urged Ren Feiteng to strive for progress; there wasn't even a chambermaid in his room.

Her father and elder brother informed Duan Yuran of their investigation into the Ren family and Ren Feiteng, and then allowed her to take a secret glance at Ren Feiteng through a screen before the marriage was finalized. Once Duan Yuran reached fifteen and completed her capping ceremony, she was married into the Ren family.

Duan Yuran had originally thought that this was how ancient couples lived, and as long as she managed the marriage with heart, the affection between a young couple would always be deep. Who could have imagined that on their wedding night, the groom, Ren Feiteng, would solemnly tell Duan Yuran that he already had a sweetheart! Furthermore, he told her that he would only consummate the marriage if she agreed to let his sweetheart enter the door as a co-wife!

Duan Yuran never expected that the first marriage of her two lifetimes would encounter such an absurd beginning!

Everything after that was even more absurd beyond measure! She truly didn't know how she had endured for a year and four months!

Listening to the sorrowful wailing of Concubine Cai—Ren Feiteng's true love—outside the room and the merciless sarcasm of the head maid Bizhu, a sense of irritation rose in Duan Yuran's heart.

Why hadn't Father and Brother obtained the divorce papers yet? Hadn't Madam Ren and Ren Feiteng long since grown to loathe her?

Just as Duan Yuran was considering whether to send a young maid to the inner gate to scout for news, the joyful shout of the maid Zhenzhu came from the courtyard!

"Young Mistress... Miss! Miss! Master and the Eldest Young Master have obtained the divorce papers! We can go home!"

Zhenzhu's loud voice was like a clap of thunder, leaving the servants in Xiaoyue Residence dumbfounded! It also silenced Concubine Cai's weeping!

"Miss..." The head maid Yunzhu, who had been silently serving by her side, looked at her mistress with tearful eyes, so excited she didn't know what to say.

Duan Yuran was stunned at first, then lowered her eyelids to hide the shimmer of moisture in her eyes.