Chapter 15#
Phoenix Man (1)#
The wailing “mother” Wang immediately shut up. He looked at his son, his expression somewhat embarrassed: “Everything was fine, why suddenly talk about divorce?”
Whether it was man and man or man and woman, in their village, getting a divorce meant being laughed at. The gossiping men and women in the village would snicker behind their backs.
His son was capable—had a master’s degree, bought an apartment in the big city, and married a spouse from the big city whose family had money.
Even though it was a man, men could still give birth and manage a household; he himself was a man. The state encouraged citizens to have children, and as long as you registered, the cost of surgery could be fully reimbursed.
Besides, boys weren’t as delicate as girls. Although the birth rate wasn’t as high, the bride price was lower. He didn’t see anything wrong with having a son-in-law who was a man.
What’s more, Qiao Yi was a city youth, an only child, and his family was well-off. They hadn’t asked for any bride price and had even bought a house and a car.
His son’s partner was good-looking, came from a well-off family, had a high education—such a son-in-law made him quite proud in the village.
He hadn’t been here many days before he felt that Qiao Yi was too unreasonable. Not only did he do nothing, but he also dressed like this. As an elder and a sort of mother-in-law, he naturally had to put Qiao Yi in his place. He really hadn’t expected to tear the family apart.
After all, when they got married, his son had said that given his current circumstances, it would be very hard to find a partner like Qiao Yi. Moreover, Wang Cheng’s current boss was an old friend of Qiao Yi’s parents; it was precisely because of this connection that the boss had promoted him.
If this marriage fell apart, his son would surely blame him, and his own husband might even scold him for being a troublemaker.
He backed down and showed weakness: “I just saw you dressed like this. You’re a married man, not young anymore. In the village, dressing like this would get you cursed at.”
He probably shouldn’t have said that, because Lu Yi remembered: no one in this life had ever dared to point at his nose and curse. Even Qiao Yi had never suffered such an insult.
“Right, your mother… your father didn’t say it, but I almost forgot. Earlier, he pointed at me and called me a ‘slut,’ then inexplicably slapped me. I, Qiao Yi, married you—I’m not here to be your servant or your plaything. Since your family has so little respect for me, this marriage is no longer worth keeping.”
Wang Cheng naturally didn’t want a divorce either: “Qiao Yi, you’re angry right now, too impulsive. Calm down first. If there’s something to say, we can talk it out properly.”
He shot a glance at his biological father: “My dad started it by hitting you, that was wrong. He’s not very educated, and his cursing only goes so far. It’s his fault for making you uncomfortable. Dad, apologize to Qiao Yi.”
Father Wang was somewhat reluctant—he had come to assert his authority over his daughter-in-law, not to grovel. But there was no choice; Qiao Yi was using divorce to scare them and had them completely under his thumb. Though extremely unwilling, he still awkwardly said, “I did wrong, I was muddled. Qiao Yi, what can’t be smoothed over between husband and husband? Forgive me, alright?”
Wang Cheng tried to smooth things over: “Qiao Yi, look, Dad has apologized. Be generous. Since you already dislocated Dad’s hand, for my sake, forgive him this once, okay?”
Lu Yi absolutely did not want to forgive these two, but he was Qiao Yi now. Qiao Yi had deep feelings for Wang Cheng, and the civil affairs bureau was already closed. He hesitated for a second, then relented: “Take him to see a doctor. And from now on, keep him from meddling in my affairs.”
If he acted too strangely all at once, they would surely notice something was off. Better to take it steady and safe.
He could actually reset the dislocated arm himself, but thinking of the fate that had befallen the original Qiao Yi, he figured it was better to let Father Wang suffer a little longer.
Wang Cheng drove his father to the hospital for X-rays and bone setting, while Lu Yi looked in the mirror and hypnotized himself: “You are Qiao Yi now. Qiao Yi. Qiao Yi.”
After three repetitions, he stood up, went to the kitchen to boil two eggs, and applied the original owner’s sheet mask. He pulled open the wardrobe, frowned, and rummaged for a long time before finding a white shirt and a pair of black pencil pants.
At least he looked barely passable in the mirror.
He tried to sort through the original owner’s memories. Many details were fuzzy, but he still remembered the phone password and the deposit amount.
Apart from the fact that men could give birth through surgical modification, everything else was much the same as in his original world. For example, marriage law protected pre-marital property. Qiao Yi’s current house and car were all pre-marital property, with clear evidence.
Some dates on the passbook could also prove that certain deposits were his pre-marital property. If they divorced, even without a prior notarization, he could provide proof.
However, after the marriage, “he” had bought a car for Wang Cheng and spent a considerable amount of money on him.
That small sum meant nothing to Lu Yi, but to someone like Qiao Yi—a moderately well-off family—it was quite a large amount.
Still, if he could get a smooth divorce, the money would be well spent. He pressed his forehead—the original Qiao Yi was an ordinary bachelor’s degree holder. In college, aside from the CET-6 English certificate, the National Computer Grade 2 certificate, and a driver’s license, he hadn’t obtained any high-value certifications.
Currently, he worked as an art director at a game company, mainly through connections from his parents’ generation.
He didn’t know whether this world would freeze or become something else after he completed his task. There wasn’t even a clear standard for completing it; he would have to explore and summarize on his own.
In any case, he had two goals: completely change Qiao Yi’s fate and completely change Wang Cheng’s fate.
He summed it up: the original Qiao Yi’s ending was utterly miserable and pathetic, and the reason for his failure was that he was blind and picked a man from the trash.
To change Qiao Yi’s fate, he needed to change jobs, change marriage partners, and protect Qiao Yi’s assets.
To change Wang Cheng’s fate, besides turning his status from widowed and remarried to divorced and remarried, he also had to prevent him from following the established path of marrying that gentle, virtuous white moonlight and having children.
The information he had was too vague. He only knew that the white moonlight later got together with Wang Cheng, but he didn’t know her name, what she looked like—not even her appearance. Apart from being gentle, virtuous, and capable, he knew nothing about her.
Forget it; he wouldn’t think about that other person for now. First, he had to solve his own problems.
He pulled out the original owner’s phone, found his parents’ number, and called Qiao Yi’s mother.
The call was quickly answered: “Son, what’s wrong? Why aren’t you asleep this late?”
Qiao Yi glanced at the phone’s time—it was barely nine in the evening. Perhaps driven by the body’s emotions, the word “Mom” that he thought he couldn’t say came out very naturally: “Mom, it’s nothing. I just want to change jobs.”
Qiao’s mother was surprised: “Isn’t your job going well? Why suddenly want to change?”
Her son studied art, and this was a professional match. The work was easy, stable, and the salary wasn’t bad. The key was that if he quit suddenly, he would have to account for it to their friend.
“My current job, Wang Cheng knows about it. He also knows where my company is.”
Qiao’s mother didn’t think that was a good enough reason: “So what if Wang Cheng knows? It’s not like you’re doing anything shameful. Why be afraid of your partner knowing?”
Even though she hadn’t been in favor of the marriage at first, Wang Cheng was indeed an outstanding individual. The key was that her son liked him. As a mother, how could she play the villain and forcefully separate the young couple?
Qiao Yi finally stated his real purpose: “I want to divorce Wang Cheng.”
Qiao’s mother’s voice suddenly went up: “What nonsense are you talking? Divorce?!”
Her reaction was more intense than Qiao Yi expected: “But Mom, weren’t you against this marriage before?”
He couldn’t quite understand why she was reacting like this.
“Before was before. Before marriage and after marriage are different. Do you think getting married is like buying groceries—marry when you want, divorce when you want?”
As a mother, she naturally wanted her son to marry, have children, and live happily. But if her son didn’t want children, that wasn’t too critical—at least he’d have a partner, so he wouldn’t be too lonely in old age.
Even though she wasn’t entirely satisfied with that partner, he didn’t seem to have done anything outrageous.
Divorce was not easy in most cases because it involved both families, finances, and children, and sometimes even social pressure.
Qiao Yi was silent for a moment, then decided to tell on them: “I came home earlier, and then Wang Cheng’s father called me a slut and slapped me. Then Wang Cheng wanted me to apologize to his father.”
The line was silent for a long time, and then the voices of both Qiao’s mother and Qiao’s father rang out: “How dare he hit my son? Divorce! You must divorce!”