Chapter 96: It’s Me!

She hesitated for a moment. “Let me think it over.”

Her father’s case was not something love and sentiment could be weighed against. Xia Xiyue had said that traces of that woman had already been found in Riverfront City.

She wanted to wait for Lu Yan to crack her father’s case, but those manuscripts could not wait.

Han Lanzhi nodded with relief. “All right.”

“If I get divorced, will you still keep helping the Zhao family demand my father’s manuscripts from me?” Shen Qingyi looked at Han Lanzhi, her expression solemn and earnest.

Han Lanzhi smiled. “Do you think I’m asking for them on the Zhao family’s behalf?”

“If not, then what?”

“If you truly have the manuscripts, the two of us don’t need to rely on anyone at all. We can stand on equal footing with the Xia family.” Han Lanzhi was no fool.

By then, Qingyi and the young man from the Xia family would be a proper match.

“I’ll say this again: I don’t have any manuscripts.” After saying that, Shen Qingyi asked, “Are you not living well in the Zhao family?”

Han Lanzhi knew perfectly well whether there were manuscripts or not, but this was not the time to argue about it. She let the smile fade from her face. “How could I not be living well? Otherwise, could I have stayed there for four years? Food, clothing, and every necessity are all the best. But what good is that compared to being able to control your own life?

When your Uncle Zhao was young, he loved me. He was in a difficult position back then, so I chose to marry your father instead.”

Shen Qingyi heard the implication in her words. “Do you want to leave the Zhao family?”

Han Lanzhi smiled. “You always take everything so rigidly, just as your father taught you. I never said I would definitely leave the Zhao family, but if a better choice comes along, I’ll leave without hesitation.

If not, then I’ll stay there for now.”

Shen Qingyi was somewhat surprised by her mother’s words, but she did not say more. As long as her mother was willing to step forward and testify for her father personally, the rest of it was beyond her concern.

“I need time to think about where Anan and I will go after the divorce.”

When Han Lanzhi heard that, she more or less understood her daughter’s decision. She nodded. “If you’re willing, come with Mom to the Zhao family.”

Shen Qingyi refused at once. “I’m not going!”

Han Lanzhi did not press her. She took an envelope from her bag and handed it to Shen Qingyi. “Take it.”

Shen Qingyi hesitated and did not reach out.

“I’m your mother. I may have been a little cold before, but I’m not going to harm you. If you leave the research institute compound, you’ll need somewhere to stay.” Han Lanzhi was thinking of her.

Only then did Shen Qingyi reach out and take it.

The envelope was thick. Shen Qingyi guessed what was inside.

“I’m going back first. Think it through as soon as you can. If anything comes up, come to me.” After speaking, she took out a business card from her bag and handed it over.

Shen Qingyi accepted the card and looked at this mother of hers, both familiar and strange, and for a moment felt a little dazed.

It took a long while before she turned and walked back toward home.

Just as she reached the door, Anan rushed out, his dark grape-like eyes full of concern. “Mom, did Grandma bully you?”

Seeing her son’s anxious little face, Shen Qingyi smiled. “No.”

Li Caiqing, who had been waiting in the hall, also breathed a sigh of relief. “I’ll go get lunch ready.”

“All right, go on.”

Shen Qingyi took Anan’s hand and led him inside. In a gentle voice, she said, “Mom is going back to the room to work for a bit. You play on your own for a while. If you get hungry, unwrap that pastry and eat it.”

Though Anan was a little reluctant, he still nodded obediently. “Okay.”

After speaking, he trotted back to the sofa in his little plastic sandals, pattering softly, and sat down again to continue fiddling with his tape recorder.

Shen Qingyi went into the room, closed the door, and sat at the desk. She opened the envelope Han Lanzhi had just given her. As expected, inside was a thick stack of banknotes.

She counted them: a full ten thousand yuan. That was no small sum.

She put the money away and thought about Lu Yan. He had said before that if she found someone better, he would agree to a divorce. Their bond was more duty than love.

So divorce was not difficult.

Only Anan—how was she supposed to bring it up? He loved his father so much.

At the thought of this, Shen Qingyi felt restless.

She sat there in silence for quite a while. After settling her thoughts, she took out her notebook again and began to draw.

At the dinner table that afternoon, Shen Qingyi ate with some absent-mindedness.

Li Caiqing spoke excitedly about her plan to set up a stall. “Sister-in-law, I want to have someone make a cart, then hang the bags on the stall and sell them. But I’m afraid there won’t be enough time. I’ll borrow a handcart first, then buy a piece of cloth to lay underneath.”

Shen Qingyi was pulled back from her thoughts by her words. “All right. I’ll draw the design for the cart. Once it’s done, we’ll find someone to make it.”

“Mm.”

“No need to borrow a handcart. On the first day, don’t bring too many out—about twenty will do. Otherwise, if they don’t sell, carrying them back and forth will be troublesome. Just bring a piece of light-colored cloth as well. We’ll go scout the stall location tomorrow,” Shen Qingyi instructed.

Li Caiqing smiled. “I’ve already chosen the spot. Over by the vegetable market—go out and turn left, there’s an open space. People from the outskirts often bring vegetables there to sell, and they don’t charge a stall fee.”

Shen Qingyi thought it over. “Then let’s go together tomorrow. I’ll take another look.”

“Sure!”

Having settled it, Li Caiqing felt much more at ease.

After dinner, Shen Qingyi, as usual, returned to her room to work. Li Caiqing washed the dishes, and Anan read a book.

It was already the end of August, and by afternoon the weather had clearly turned cooler. Shen Qingyi watched the sun sink beyond the window and hesitated over whether she should call Lu Yan back.

Just then, she heard a voice at the door. “Is Comrade Shen Qingyi back?”

Shen Qingyi recognized the voice and got up from the room. “I’m here.”

The visitor was a shop assistant from the supply and marketing cooperative. When she saw Shen Qingyi, her face lit up with a smile. “Hurry and take a call. It’s been made several times already, but you were never in.”

Anan quickly turned around. “Is it Daddy’s call?”

The shop assistant replied, “Yes!”

Anan slid off the sofa at once and ran to Shen Qingyi. “I’m coming with you.”

Seeing how delighted he was, Shen Qingyi felt complicated emotions stirring in her chest.

She held Anan’s hand and walked all the way to the supply and marketing cooperative. After sitting down by the phone, less than half a minute passed before it rang again. Shen Qingyi picked it up and spoke first. “Hello?”

When Lu Yan heard Shen Qingyi’s voice, his heart leapt to his throat. It took him a long while to steady himself. “Qingyi, it’s me. Did your trip to Riverfront City go smoothly?”

Shen Qingyi thought that Li Caiqing must have mentioned her trip there. “Mm, I had someone I knew guiding me. It went pretty smoothly.”

After she answered, silence fell over both ends of the line.

“Qingyi!”

“Lu Yan!”

They spoke at the same time again, then fell silent at the same time.

In the end, Lu Yan spoke first. “You go ahead.”

“You’ve been working there for a while now, and you’ve also gotten a good sense of this project’s progress. Can you estimate roughly how long it will take to finish?” Shen Qingyi asked.

Lu Yan had indeed made such an estimate based on the current pace. “The fastest would still take about two months.”

In the original plan, the quickest estimate was at least half a year. If progress went poorly, it might even be dragged out until the end of the year.

Fortunately, the leaders in Lincheng were capable and had sent over an additional batch of technical staff and construction workers.

“All right. Then I’ll wait for you,” Shen Qingyi said. She did not want to affect Lu Yan’s mood at work, so she still thought it best to wait until his job was finished before bringing up the divorce.

It was meant to be a tender line, yet Lu Yan heard within it a note of heaviness. “What’s wrong? Is there something you want to tell me?”

“Yes. When you come back, I’ll discuss it with you then.”

At those words, Lu Yan’s heart thudded once and sank to the bottom of the sea.