Chapter 14: Let Me Be Honest With You

Two steamed buns, a stick of fried dough, plus a pickled cucumber spear—this was barely a drop in the bucket for Chen Lie.

He got up, washed the chopsticks, and put them back in the holder. Turning to the two kids peeking in at the kitchen door, he said, “Get ready, we’re going out for a walk.”

Er Dan cheered, “Dad, can we have soda?”

Orange soda!

Chen Lie said, “The money is… with your mom.”

Er Dan’s excitement deflated like a pricked balloon. Soda cost fifteen cents a bottle.

“Why not ask me?” Su Qinghu shifted her gaze from Chen Lie to the crestfallen Er Dan. “Maybe I’d say yes?”

“Would you really?” Er Dan looked at Su Qinghu. “We already had popsicles today. Can we still have soda after that?”

Could life really be this good?

Da Dan noticed the subtle change in Su Qinghu’s expression and spoke up, “The doctor said you shouldn’t have cold things. Last time we bought popsicles, we forgot about that. Since we’d already bought them, we couldn’t waste them, so we had to eat them for you. Soda’s too expensive for us anyway.”

Er Dan: “…”

How come we can’t afford it? Dad just gave Mom a wad of cash!

He pouted and said nothing.

Su Qinghu had forgotten about the popsicles until Er Dan brought it up, and now she hesitated, unsure whether to give in to the kids’ wishes.

But after hearing Da Dan’s words…

The more Su Qinghu thought about it, the more she felt something was off. This little rascal was setting a trap for her!

First, he exposed her craving for popsicles right after being discharged from the hospital. Then, he tried to provoke her into buying soda, while also putting Chen Lie on the spot.

If she gave in, she’d buy the soda. If she didn’t, Chen Lie would be the bad guy…

All these seemingly insignificant things were just practice for Zhang An Yan’s future manipulations!

Would Su Qinghu let him get away with it?

Not a chance!

“Comrade Chen Lie, do you agree to let them have soda?”

She lobbed the question straight at him—if it’s going to hurt, let the one who can handle it take the hit.

Chen Lie listened quietly. When it came to this, he looked at Su Qinghu. “Do you want to go out for a walk?”

He was really asking if she felt up to it. Su Qinghu nodded.

Before coming home, under the blazing sun, on an empty stomach, and feeling weak, she definitely couldn’t have managed. But now, after a bowl of porridge and a rest, she really could go out for a bit.

Er Dan was skeptical. “Didn’t the doctor say you should rest? On the way home, you had to stop and rest eight times—you were even more wiped out than me.”

Da Dan added, “And you said your feet hurt, your head hurt, your legs hurt…”

Su Qinghu: “…”

Wow, how did she not realize these two little rascals were so attentive? They remembered everything she said and did.

And at just the right moment, they’d bring it up to clear the way for themselves—so the whole family could happily go out.

Chen Lie glanced at the kids but said nothing. Instead, he stepped closer to Su Qinghu, using the lightbulb’s glow to check her face.

He was tall and imposing—about 1.86 meters. Standing so close, he gave off an indescribable sense of pressure. Su Qinghu almost stepped back!

“What’s going on?” he asked.

Su Qinghu replied, “…I’ve been a bit overheated these days, and with the weather so hot, I accidentally took paracetamol thinking it was a mint.”

Hold it together! As long as she sounded sincere, she could probably fool him.

Chen Lie narrowed his eyes, silent for a moment. Then he looked down at the kids. “Go get fifty cents from the change box and buy some soda.”

Er Dan, without a care in the world, let out a whoop and dragged Da Dan toward the living room.

There was a small tin box on the living room table, where Su Qinghu had just put some change.

Da Dan didn’t want to go at first, but under Chen Lie’s gaze, he let Er Dan pull him out.

Once the kids went to get the money, Chen Lie and Su Qinghu were left facing each other.

When the kids had the money and called out their goodbyes on their way out, Chen Lie finally said, “Shall we talk in the living room?”

Su Qinghu hesitated. “Is this going to be serious?”

All she’d done was go to the hospital and get her stomach pumped—why did it feel like she was about to be put on trial?

Chen Lie didn’t answer. He just walked out of the kitchen and headed for the living room.

Su Qinghu sighed. She hadn’t even reached the living room yet when she started to confess, though not the whole truth. “Actually, I didn’t take the wrong medicine. I took those pills on purpose.”

Chen Lie stopped in his tracks and turned to look at her.

He didn’t say anything, just waited for her to go on. So Su Qinghu continued, “Before we got our marriage license, you must’ve heard about me from Teacher Sun, right? When we got married, neither of us was really in it for the marriage itself.”

Chen Lie didn’t deny it. The main reason he’d come back this time was to get a divorce. He hadn’t thought much about what would happen after. But when it came time to actually take care of the kids, he realized the problems.

The kids were still young. If he hired a nanny, they might not be as attentive, and if something happened, they might not handle it well. If he sent them to his parents, their health wasn’t up to the task. Getting married seemed like the best option.

But even then, it was just a passing thought—he hadn’t planned to go through with it. He knew such a marriage wouldn’t be fair to the woman.

When he visited Teacher Sun, he hadn’t thought much of it—just went to deliver a letter. The neighborhood was full of teachers. He saw some parents who couldn’t pick up their kids after work leave them with Teacher Sun until seven or eight at night. That’s when he thought maybe he could leave his kids with Teacher Sun, too…

But it was just a thought. Whether it would work depended on Teacher Sun’s health and willingness to take them in.

That day, Teacher Sun had a cough, maybe even pneumonia, so he didn’t bring it up and just planned to leave after his visit.

When Teacher Sun found out he was getting divorced, she hesitated for a long time before finally telling him about Su Qinghu.

She said Su Qinghu was a good student—excellent in both character and academics—but had caught the attention of some local troublemakers. The job she was supposed to get kept being delayed, and a series of problems followed—problems a newly graduated girl with no connections couldn’t solve. In the end, Teacher Sun asked if he could marry her…

He agreed, and told Teacher Sun to explain his own situation to Su Qinghu.

“We’ve been married for five days. The day we got our license, you handed the household over to me and left,” Su Qinghu continued. “In those five days, Da Dan got reported to me for being a troublemaker. Er Dan ruined someone’s precious pomegranate tree. That idiot who said he wanted to pursue me cornered me and said he wanted to sleep with me. I couldn’t take it anymore, so I swallowed the pills…”

Chen Lie’s face instantly turned cold."