Before and After Divorce

Xia Tingwan began to slump at his assistant Zhao Nanshu’s home. 

Every day, he either slept in the quilt or sat by the bed in a daze. After nearly ten days of being served like a cat, Zhao Nanshu finally couldn’t stand it.

“Boss, that’s enough for today!”

That night, Zhao Nanshu carried the crayfish takeout in his left hand and a few beers bought by 7-11 in his right. He kicked the door open with a brave and almost comical gesture, and shouted to Xia Tingwan who was still under the quilt: “Crayfish Night – Let’s Forget Men!”

Zhao Nanshu is a gay man with a flame soaring into the sky. He works full-time as Xia Tingwan’s personal assistant. In his spare time, he is a beauty and skin care blogger. More importantly, he is Xia Tingwan’s friend. 

Zhao Nanshu has mastered the full cycle of falling in love, falling out of love, and self-recovery. “Forget all stinky men” is his mantra.

Xia Tingwan was in no mood at first, but for some unknown reason, hearing Zhao Nanshu’s familiar declaration, he felt a strange impulse in his heart.

People have the instinct to save themselves. When they fall into their emotions and unable to climb out, they say they need a sense of ritual.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

So there is a solemn boundary between today and tomorrow.

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“These are thirteen fragrances, this one is spicy, and this one is minced garlic.” Zhao Nanshu stood near the boxes and handed Xia Tingwan a can of beer: “I bought a lot, but It doesn’t matter, I was going to indulge a little today!”

Xia Tingwan’s fingers touched the ice-cold beer, and he couldn’t help but flinch. He hesitated to put the beer aside: “Stopped drinking.” 

After marriage, Su Yan had several conflicts with him about drinking and smoking.

He said that he was not afraid of anything, but he was actually a paper tiger. When Su Yan was really angry and his face sank, his legs began to weaken.

Strangely, after the drunk driving incident, Su Yan didn’t say a word.

But he himself became frightened. It was true that he had not touched a drop of alcohol for the past six months, but Su Yan didn’t seem to notice. 

“Boss, a lovelorn person can’t get out without drinking.” Zhao Nanshu said earnestly.

“I’m not a lovelorn, I’m divorced.” Xia Tingwan explained, but then he felt even more miserable.

He thought to himself, why should he care about Su Yan’s thoughts when he’s divorced? So he opened his beer and drank half a can with his head up.

For a while, Xia Tingwan felt that Zhao Nanshu was right. 

After drinking, the two of them sat lazily on the floor, laughing at the variety show.

Zhao Nanshu told him some small gossip about people in the circle during this period of time. He listened and thought it was a story of another world.

When opening the third can of beer, Xia Tingwan looked at the shrimp shells piled up in the trash can, but his eyes turned red for a moment.

He collapsed slowly and feebly, just laying on the floor and said weakly, “Nanshu, do you still remember the crayfish we ate in Fengxian County?” 

After the first meeting, Su Yan added his wechat, but he didn’t talk much.

During that time, he followed another director to film in Feng County in the mountains for a month. He could only eat some farm stir-fries all day long, so he posted on a circle of friends that he was going crazy to eat crayfish.

Three days later, Su Yan took the chef and driver into the mountain, as well as a car of fresh crayfish raised in a water tank. Xia Tingwan remembered that he was stunned and surprised. When thanking Su Yan, Su Yan smiled and just said, “It’s an honor to finally find an opportunity to invite Mr. Xia to dinner.”

That night, the whole crew ate to their heart’s content and drank a dozen cases of beer. 

In the slightly drunk atmosphere, some people sang loudly, and some people jumped directly into the river to swim naked, making a lot of noise.

He and Su Yan found a secluded lakeside. He was in a hurry to eat, and Su Yan patiently helped him peel the shrimp shells one by one.

“Yes.” After Zhao Nanshu answered subconsciously, he felt that something was wrong. He straightened up and moved to Xia Tingwan’s side: “Oh, boss, did you think…”

“I miss him so much.” Xia Tingwan covered his face with his palms, he took a deep breath, all that was sucked into his chest was nostalgia. The pain made his voice groan: “I miss him so much.” 

“Boss, you, you don’t do this.”

Zhao Nanshu didn’t know what to do. He scratched his head anxiously, but he couldn’t bear to see Xia Tingwan so sad. After struggling for a long time, he finally whispered, “Otherwise, don’t give up and try again?”

“How to try…?”

Xia Tingwan asked softly after a long time. 

“I think,” said Zhao Nanshu, who couldn’t tell whether he was comforting or really thinking, “Mr. Su loves you so much. I’ve never seen anyone love someone so sincerely in my life. You’ve lived together for five years, it’s hard to let go. Look, when I talk about divorce with you, he doesn’t show up. Maybe he himself knows that he can’t bear to see you.”

“Really?”

Xia Tingwan finally managed to prop himself up. A faint hope flickered in his eyes as he looked at Zhao Nanshu.

“Er…” 

Of course, Zhao Nanshu dare not make sure.

He had seen Su Yan’s affectionate appearance, but the person who loved him the most can file for a divorce, who knows if Su Yan had finished saying goodbye to him in his heart at a certain moment and decided never to look back.

He sighed, raised his head and took a sip of beer, and said seriously, “Boss, it doesn’t really matter what Mr. Su thinks.”

“If you still can’t bear to part with it, go and try to make it up. If you fail, you’ll lose face at most. It won’t be worse than now. You’ve rolled your sheets hundreds of times and lost face in front of Mr. Su. Is it still a problem?”