Who knew that within a few years, something happened to those people whom Qiao Nan thought she would no longer have anything to do with? Ever since Fang Shiyou wanted to get back together with Xu Shengnan, that ‘comrade’ had presented a complete set of information to Xu Shengnan so that she knew how his life was after the divorce.
If Xu Shengnan knew about it, it meant Qiao Nan knew as well. After the divorce, the life that Fang Shiyou was leading was definitely not comparable to the times he had when he was together with Xu Shengnan.
Fang Shiyou would occasionally despise Xu Shengnan for not being caring enough as she was too focused on her career. He felt that she was unlike an ordinary woman who would care for her husband. However, Fang Shiyou knew it clearly that if not for Xu Shengnan working so hard, who would have paid the mortgage for the house they were living in now?
It was because Xu Shengnan was paying the mortgage completely on her own that he could place all his wages in his pocket and spend however he liked. He didn’t have to be like other colleagues, who had to hand over most of their wages and make their own lives miserable.
It was just that men were always greedy. He obviously knew that Xu Shengnan was stronger than his colleagues’ wives, but he felt that this wasn’t enough.
However, when the two were really divorced and Fang Shiyou was together with his ‘true love’, he would think of Xu Shengnan’s pros from time to time and even compared his current days to the previous.
Without a capable assistant like Xu Shengnan, Fang Shiyou’s monthly salary was simply not enough. That was the first time Fang Shiyou realized that he could lack money to this extent. More importantly, he realized that life could be so hard-pressed when he was lacking money.
Fang Shiyou didn’t dare to attend gatherings with his colleagues at times, no matter if it was going Dutch or if someone was treating him. If they were going Dutch, Fang Shiyou couldn’t afford it. The meals ordered during such gatherings usually wouldn’t be cheap and would cost him approximately two to three hundred yuan.
If someone was treating him, let’s not be naive. How was it that he didn’t need to return the favor?
The so-called treat was just that it was your treat today but my treat tomorrow. Either way, nobody would be at the losing end.
Before divorcing Xu Shengnan, Fang Shiyou loved to attend such gatherings. Regardless of whether it was going Dutch or taking turns to treat, Fang Shiyou would never refuse. He would do whatever others said. Back then, a lot of people were envious of Fang Shiyou for having married such a virtuous wife who didn’t care how he spent his money at all.
They were unlike him. Among the men who had a family and child, Fang Shiyou was the one who had the most freedom and lived the most comfortably. There were times they wouldn’t attend such gatherings. However, only Fang Shiyou was one of those who would always be attending them.
Back then, Fang Shiyou had enjoyed the envious looks of many people. After getting a divorce with Xu Shengnan and having to bear the burden of the entire family like other men, many of them would give him strange and even gloating looks when he rejected these gatherings time and again.
He didn’t want to lead a good life and had to break up a good family just for one woman. Was there any meaning in letting his life go back for fifty years? Was there a big hole in Fang Shiyou’s brain?
When Fang Shiyou’s wife was still Xu Shengnan, not only did Fang Shiyou attend every gathering, but he would also be dressed nicely. After changing his wife, he looked extremely sloppy and didn’t look as if he had new clothes from the new year.
A lot of people were really jealous that a person like Fang Shiyou could actually marry such a good wife like Xu Shengnan. When they heard that Fang Shiyou had an affair and got a divorce with Xu Shengnan after she had found out about it, they were secretly applauding and were immensely satisfied.
Fang Shiyou didn’t have as high academic qualifications as them. He wasn’t as good-looking and tall as them either. How was it possible that a man who couldn’t compete with them in every way had married such an outstanding wife? Thankfully, things were set right in time.
In short, without Xu Shengnan as his wife, the treatment Fang Shiyou received from his colleagues plummeted. The people who tried to get close to him in the past were now seeing him as a joke instead. Fang Shiyou used to have a lot of face in the past. Now, everyone was just stepping on him.
For a man, nothing was more important than face.
Based on this point alone, Fang Shiyou had sufficient reason to regret giving up Xu Shengnan, who had helped him earn a lot of face, for his ‘true love’. Furthermore, due to economic distress, Fang Shiyou could still tolerate for the sake of his son for a short period of time.
As the saying goes, everything goes wrong for a poor couple. As time went by, Fang Shiyou started to have second thoughts about Xu Shengnan. Aside from the fact that his ‘true love’ might be pregnant with a son, she couldn’t compare to Xu Shengnan in other aspects at all. Even her face was not as pretty as Xu Shengnan’s.
When it came to earning money, his ‘true love’ was nothing compared to Xu Shengnan. After buying a house for her family, Xu Shengnan even shouldered the burden of paying for the mortgage of the house they were living in. If his ‘true love’ was equally capable, how would she have found Fang Shiyou, who had both a wife and a child?
After getting a divorce with Xu Shengnan, the Fang family was very cash-strapped. After losing Xu Shengnan’s salary, the Fang family’s monthly living allowance suffered a huge drop. It wasn’t even one-third of the original amount.
Thankfully, Fang Shiyou had some money from the central provident fund. Otherwise, the Fang family probably couldn’t even spend that one-third of the living allowance.
It wasn’t only Fang Shiyou who couldn’t tolerate it any longer. Even Fang Shiyou’s mother couldn’t hold back and started to complain. “Even when times were tough in the past when I was following your father, we had never suffered this much. Shiyou, the baby is not born yet. Once he is born, his milk powder and diapers will cost money. Things that a child requires are much more expensive than those of an adult. When the time comes, are the three adults in our family not going to eat anymore? Are we just going to feed one child?”
Mother Fang really didn’t dare to imagine how bad their family situation would be once her new daughter-in-law gave birth to the child.
Just the thought of it made Mother Fang realize that she couldn’t face that kind of life at all. Her head felt stiff and she had goosebumps all over. “Shiyou, no. This won’t do. We can’t lead such a life. Don’t you think that that new daughter-in-law now looks at you differently?”
