AMRWFA -Chapter 317 Do You Want a Divorce?

It wasn’t that Ruan Yaoyao believed women should be this way. She simply didn’t want to “cause trouble.” In her view, since society’s customs and agreements were already like this, it was easier to just follow the established rules.

If Ruan Tingting had other ideas, that wasn’t impossible either—as long as she still worked within those “accepted rules” and found loopholes in them.

Ruan Tingting had never thought about divorce. She had resented the Ruan family for arranging her business marriage, and she had also resented Leng Shuwen for being despicable, but she had never once considered divorce.

Just like Ruan Yaoyao, Ruan Tingting also knew she had been “ruined by upbringing”—a woman who couldn’t survive without a man.

If she divorced, she wouldn’t be able to support herself at all, let alone fight for custody of her children.

Ruan Tingting’s eyes turned red as she said, “Sis, Ranran is a girl. She’s already fourteen. If I get divorced, no one will take care of her. Leng Shuwen will definitely arrange a business marriage for her. If I stay married, I can still say a few things, I can still interfere. But if I divorce, I won’t even have a say. And what about Hejun and Heguang? They’re still in school…”

“Then wait until they graduate from university before you think about it?”

Ruan Tingting hesitated. “…Do I have to get divorced? Can’t I just not think about it?”

“You can,” Ruan Yaoyao said calmly. “But don’t use other people as excuses. Think it through carefully—it’s you who doesn’t want to leave, not because of this or that reason. Don’t blame your unhappiness on your children. What do they have to do with it? It’s just that you don’t have the courage to divorce. And if you don’t, then you have to bear everything that comes with your marriage yourself.”

“Sis… you don’t care about me anymore!” Ruan Tingting said pitifully.

Ruan Yaoyao rolled her eyes. “I never did.”

Ruan Tingting got angry, but there was nothing she could do.

Because what she said was true—her sister had never “cared” for her in that way.

Now, helping her once and even taking the blame for her had already been beyond her expectations. If not for this incident, she wouldn’t have even known there was still a sister in Yaoyao’s heart.

She wanted to be moved, but Ruan Yaoyao’s cold attitude made it impossible.

Not moved… but she also couldn’t deny that Ruan Yaoyao had helped her.

Ruan Yaoyao said, “Go back and cut ties with those people. Clean it up properly. You’re not young anymore—there’s no need for this kind of mess. I took the blame for you this time. What about next time? Am I supposed to keep covering for you? And that so-called ‘trusted person’ of yours…”

“He’s going to betray me in the future?” Ruan Tingting immediately asked.

“Otherwise, how do you think your precious daughter will find out later? Did she see it with some kind of clairvoyance? There’s no such thing as a perfectly sealed secret. He will definitely use this to threaten you in the future.”

“Then what do I do? I can’t just… kill him to silence him, right?” Ruan Tingting panicked.

In the end, what she was most worried about was her husband finding out.

“Remember this: that child was stillborn. You know nothing else. You only asked him to help handle the child, but that child wasn’t yours—it was mine. You were helping me, so you took the blame for me. Don’t wait until he threatens you to explain it to your husband. You tell him yourself today, after you go back.”

……

Yu Xiangqiao and Xu Nannan stared at Ruan Yaoyao with bright eyes. In that moment, they felt like she was glowing.

Even though what she did wasn’t exactly moral—helping to cover up things from a brother-in-law—but when her sister had trouble, she really stepped up. Who wouldn’t want a sister like that?

It’s just a pity they didn’t have such a sister.

Xu Nannan was even worse off—she didn’t even have a sister.

Even though there was now someone claiming to be her younger sister, Xu Anzhi, that child was only three years old. By the time she could help cover things up, Xu Nannan would already be old.

Sigh…

Why don’t I have a good best friend who’s willing to take the blame for me?

“Achoo…”

Ruan Yaoyao rubbed her nose, feeling like someone was cursing her.

After sending Ruan Tingting off, she didn’t forget to remind the others not to let anything slip.

Yu Xiangqiao and Xu Nannan immediately swore, “Mom, don’t worry, we won’t say a word.”

As for men—better not involve them in this.

And even if they did, if anyone questioned them later, they would just say it was Mom who didn’t allow it. They couldn’t be expected to be dishonest, could they?

Meanwhile, after returning home, Ruan Tingting kept rehearsing her words over and over in her mind, afraid she would slip in front of Leng Shuwen.

But she also knew her sister was right—she had to push through this. If she couldn’t, everything between her and her husband would be over.

——

Everything seemed perfectly planned… until one sentence from Xu Lianghan after work completely broke Yu Xiangqiao’s defenses.

“Are you sure? What if she can hear Mom’s thoughts?”

Yu Xiangqiao: ???!!!

Oh no!

She had forgotten about that.

She immediately @-ed Xu Nannan and Ruan Zhihe in their group chat, asking what to do.

【Did she hear Mom’s thoughts when she came today?】

【Don’t know. I was too busy gossiping, didn’t pay attention.】

【Same, the situation was too tense. Aunt Xu said more than she thought, I didn’t notice either.】

【Maybe we should tell her to delay it a bit? We should first test whether her husband can hear Mom’s thoughts, right? If he can’t, then fine. But if he can…】

【Who’s going to tell her?】

……

After dinner, Ruan Tingting finally brought it up with Leng Shuwen.

“I have something to tell you.”

“What is it?”

Ruan Tingting glanced at their son and daughter still in the living room. “Let’s go upstairs.”

“Alright.”

Leng Shuwen agreed and went upstairs with her.

But just as Ruan Tingting was gathering her courage to speak, his phone rang.

“If it’s not urgent, let’s talk later. I need to take this meeting call—I still have a short video conference tonight.”

“Okay, we’ll talk after your meeting then. It’s not urgent.”

The words that had been at the tip of her tongue were swallowed back down. Hearing he was busy, she actually felt a strange sense of relief—she could delay it again.

After he left, Ruan Tingting received a phone call.

It was Xu Nannan.

There was no talk about thoughts or anything like that. She simply told her not to bring it up for now, that there were still some issues, and to wait a few days until they confirmed everything was fine.

Ruan Tingting didn’t think much of it and assumed it was Ruan Yaoyao’s message. Without hesitation, she agreed.

An hour later, when Leng Shuwen finished his meeting and came out, Ruan Tingting waved her hand.

“It’s fine. It’s been handled.”

Leng Shuwen didn’t ask further.

If it was handled, then it wasn’t important. If it had been serious, she would have told him.

Instead, he asked about the children’s studies and told her to pay more attention to their daughter. She was at a sensitive age, and since he was busy with work and also a man, it wasn’t very appropriate for him.

In truth, although Leng Shuwen had many flaws, he was a fairly “qualified father” to his three children and was willing to invest time and effort into them.

He followed the rule that sons should be distanced from mothers and daughters from fathers, carefully maintaining boundaries with his daughter so she would learn how to properly interact with men.

Because of this, in his daughter’s eyes, he seemed distant and favored his two sons more. But in his own view, he was simply following the proper rules.

How should one put it?

Sometimes, Leng Shuwen was very stubborn—he strictly followed rigid “rules” that were hard for others to accept, and he couldn’t be reasoned with.

People who disliked him, disliked him for it. People who liked him, liked him for it.

The former, for example, Ruan Yaoyao.

The latter, for example, Ruan Tingting.

The same sisters, yet their attitudes toward Leng Shuwen were completely different.