Chapter Three: Let's Find a Day to Get Divorced

They took their seats at the dining table. Jiang Chiyu pulled out a chair for Old Mrs. Yan first, then seated herself on the old woman's right, directly across from Yan Chuanzhou.

Old Mrs. Yan’s eyes held a sharp glint; she immediately understood that the young couple had been feuding. What surprised her, however, was that Jiang Chiyu was actually willing to fall out with Yan Chuanzhou. In the past, Jiang Chiyu had been like a limpet, desperate to cling to him at every waking moment.

But this was for the best. It was time for her grandson to taste some bitterness; after all, a man never cherishes what comes too easily. Old Mrs. Yan thoroughly approved of Jiang Chiyu’s current attitude.

The old woman casually placed a river shrimp into Yan Chuanzhou’s bowl, her gaze deep and meaningful. "Chiyu loves these. Why don't you peel a few for her? A man should cherish his own wife; those outsiders are nothing but vampires who drain a person of their blood and bones."

The pointed nature of her words was clear.

Yan Chuanzhou looked up, meeting his grandmother’s gaze with a face full of impatience, only to be kicked by her under the table a second later. Feeling the threat in the old woman’s eyes, he glanced at Jiang Chiyu. She was currently swallowing a shrimp—shell and all—without a second thought. Sighing, he picked up his knife and fork to get to work.

For Jiang Chiyu, who had once licked blood on the battlefield, food shortages were a common occurrence, which had instilled in her a habit of never being a picky eater. Her philosophy was simple: as long as she didn't starve to death, anything was edible.

Though she was adept with blades of war, these miniature dining utensils were foreign to her, so she had simply swallowed the shrimp whole. Seeing Yan Chuanzhou’s clean and efficient technique, she learned it at a glance. She then took the peeled shrimp he offered and placed it into Old Mrs. Yan’s bowl. "Thank you, Mr. Yan, but it is better to show filial piety to Grandmother. I have hands; I can manage on my own."

With that, she mimicked his movements and peeled a shrimp for herself for the first time. The taste was indeed superior.

Seeing the look of satisfaction on Jiang Chiyu’s face, Yan Chuanzhou felt only irritation. It was the first time he had taken care of her, and he had been rejected—something she would have begged for in the past. *Jiang Chiyu, well played,* he thought, imagining the scene of her begging for his forgiveness later. *If you have the guts, keep acting indifferent. I want to see how long you can keep up this charade.*

Yet, he didn't realize that the expression on his face had already betrayed him completely. Old Mrs. Yan saw it clearly: her grandson was falling in love without even realizing it, and he just needed a little more fuel to spark the fire.

"Sister Chiyu! You arrived and no one even told me? You should have at least let me pick you up personally!" Before he even entered the room, Yan Guiyuan’s voice boomed from the doorway.

Jiang Chiyu looked toward the sound, and before she could even make out his face, a dark shadow flashed before her and pulled her into a tight embrace.

"You brat, so you finally know how to come back? Let go of Chiyu, you have no decorum!" Old Mrs. Yan grabbed her cane and gave Yan Guiyuan a sharp rap.

With a muffled grunt, Yan Guiyuan obediently let go, chirped a polite "Great-Grandmother," and then turned to Yan Chuanzhou. His playful demeanor vanished instantly, and he muttered a reluctant "Uncle."

He sat down next to Jiang Chiyu and began eagerly piling food into her bowl. "Sister Chiyu, you must eat more. You look like you’ve lost weight since I last saw you."

Jiang Chiyu looked at the mountain of food in her bowl, feeling slightly overwhelmed. She glanced at Yan Chuanzhou’s cold, aloof expression and couldn't help but sigh; one was as cold as ice, the other as hot as fire—the Yan family truly was full of "characters."

"Sister Chiyu deserves to be held in the palm of someone’s hand. I bet you were bullied on that show. There are all kinds of weirdos out there—the worst case, just quit the show. I’ll make money to support you," Yan Guiyuan said, acting like a petulant child as he stood up for her.

"Absolutely not!" Jiang Chiyu slammed the table, her attitude firm and resolute, as if she were prepared to die rather than comply. If she lived off someone else, her dream of sudden wealth would turn into a total disaster!

The whole room was stunned, and everyone turned to look at her in surprise.

The silence was stifling. Realizing the atmosphere had turned strange, Jiang Chiyu sheepishly withdrew her hand and explained calmly, "What I mean is, although women have traditionally been expected to tend to the family, I still want to carve out a career based on my own merits."

Yan Guiyuan quickly smoothed things over. "Right, right, my mistake. Sister Chiyu values her career; she even fell out with her family over it. Now that her career is finally picking up, she’s at a critical stage and can't be careless."

The Jiang and Yan families were well-matched in status. When Jiang Chiyu returned to the country, she had insisted on entering the entertainment industry. Her father had set a condition: she could only leave home if she registered her marriage with Yan Chuanzhou. Once she entered the industry, she could no longer rely on the Jiang name; she would have to make it on her own.

They had expected her to give up, but she agreed to everything. The next morning, she registered her marriage with Yan Chuanzhou, and by the afternoon, she had signed a contract with an entertainment company.

Both parties were reluctant in this marriage. Fortunately, Jiang Chiyu had fallen for Yan Chuanzhou at first sight and had unilaterally maintained this relationship, which remained unknown to the outside world—until now.

Speaking of this, Yan Guiyuan began to feel a sense of regret. "If I had been born four years earlier and was the same age as Sister Chiyu, we could have been the ones to register our marriage. I would have treated you well after we wed; it wouldn't be like this at all."

"You brat, talking nonsense again." Old Mrs. Yan glared at him, though a strange thought flickered in her heart.

Yan Guiyuan didn't care. "It’s true! Uncle never even planned to go public. There was no wedding, no honeymoon—what kind of marriage is this? Now there are endless scandals, and he’s dead set on divorce. If I hadn't been a minor at the time, this never would have fallen to Uncle."

Hearing this, Jiang Chiyu finally realized that Yan Chuanzhou truly didn't like the original owner—he even detested her. But upon reflection, this actually saved her a lot of trouble. She would find an excuse to divorce him in a few days; it would be clean and simple.

As she calculated her plan, Yan Chuanzhou felt he had done nothing wrong. He kept glancing at her, only to see Jiang Chiyu lost in thought, her chopsticks poking aimlessly at her bowl. She seemed to have lost her appetite, her mood visibly low.

This left a sour, uncomfortable feeling in his chest.

The other two also noticed something off about her. Yan Guiyuan seized the moment to fan the flames. "But it doesn't matter. Marriages can be ended. I still have a chance, right, Grandmother?"

He threw the question to Old Mrs. Yan, looking at her with hopeful eyes.

Old Mrs. Yan smiled broadly. "I just want Chiyu to be a granddaughter-in-law in our Yan family. A great-granddaughter-in-law is still a granddaughter-in-law."

Yan Guiyuan was overjoyed and turned to look at Yan Chuanzhou with a provocative grin.

A wave of inexplicable bitterness flooded Yan Chuanzhou’s chest. Even with things at this point, Jiang Chiyu remained silent, which made him feel frantic. He gripped his knife and fork tightly, his eyes fixed on her, waiting anxiously for her answer.

After a moment of contemplation, Jiang Chiyu’s expression turned calm, as if she had finally made up her mind. She spoke to the room:

"Marriage is a major life event, traditionally decided by the parents and matchmakers. But since we both look at each other with nothing but aversion, there is no need to torture one another. Let’s pick a day and get a divorce."

In that moment, the strings of Yan Chuanzhou’s heart suddenly snapped.