What Are Your Tastes? chapter 76
Divorce
“Mom.”
Lu Yunchu’s eyes widened in disbelief, especially as he saw Wu Lan’s gaze—half worried, half awkward—which made it hard for him to gauge her true feelings.
“Auntie,” Zhou Yanchuan invited her to sit, “Please, have a seat. I’ll go get some fruit.”
“Okay, thank you.”
Zhou Yanchuan gently closed the door.
Lu Yunchu still felt disoriented, as if an unspoken understanding had been reached between the two of them without his knowledge.
It had been nearly half a year since their last unhappy encounter, and during that time, he had tried several times to contact Wu Lan, only to find himself blocked.
Had Wu Lan forgiven him? Was she still angry, or was she just soft-hearted because of his injury? Lu Yunchu couldn’t be sure.
“Mom,” he didn’t want to gain Wu Lan’s sympathy because of his injury, “I’m much better now.”
“Yunchu, I know,” Wu Lan hesitated before speaking, “Mr. Zhou has told me.”
Lu Yunchu’s grip tightened on the quilt, his thoughts more chaotic. He had never mentioned his emotional state to Wu Lan, but her and Zhou Yanchuan’s behavior indirectly revealed that she knew everything.
“Has Yanchuan—did he tell you anything else?”
“Other things…” Wu Lan nodded, “I knew about your situation in June.”
“He—he contacted you?”
“No, I met Mr. Zhou in S City,” she avoided looking directly at Lu Yunchu, “Actually, last week, I… removed your number from my blacklist.”
Wu Lan hadn’t spoken so calmly with him in a long time. Lu Yunchu wasn’t sure if Zhou Yanchuan had told her something or if she had genuinely come to terms with things on her own.
Before he could sort out his emotions, Zhou Yanchuan returned with the fruit and seamlessly joined their conversation. “Auntie, just call me Yanchuan. No need to be so formal.”
Wu Lan, who was less accustomed to such straightforwardness and had only seen him a few times, was momentarily at a loss for words. Noticing her discomfort, Zhou Yanchuan blushed slightly. Only Lu Yunchu, observing them, suddenly chuckled.
“It’s getting late,” Zhou Yanchuan set aside the formality of names and offered his phone, “Let’s order something to eat. Auntie, please let us know if there’s anything you want.”
Lu Yunchu had no appetite and couldn’t eat anything stimulating. Wu Lan also had no particular requests. Zhou Yanchuan took the initiative to order plain porridge, noodles, and a few side dishes. When the takeout arrived downstairs, he brought it up, and they had dinner together.
They didn’t intentionally avoid each other’s company. Zhou Yanchuan prepared the tray and utensils, and served the steaming hot porridge with ease. Wu Lan observed quietly without showing any disgust, though her gaze occasionally shifted as if there were unspoken words. Lu Yunchu suspected it might be related to Lu Changming.
If Wu Lan knew about his injury, then Lu Changming must have known as well, yet he seemed to have completely forgotten his son’s existence and hadn’t come to visit.
Of course, Lu Yunchu wasn’t surprised by his father’s behavior. Whenever he suffered any illness or injury as a child, Lu Changming’s reaction was always one of indifference, at most furrowing his brow and asking in a disinterested manner, as if a sick child was an inconvenience.
Used to his attitude, Lu Yunchu naturally held no expectations.
“Yunchu,” Wu Lan said during dinner, “Focus on recovering. I’ll stay until you’re discharged.”
Was she going to return to Lu Changming’s side… Lu Yunchu’s question lingered on his lips but remained unspoken. He didn’t want to mention his father’s name during this reunion with his mother.
However, his assumptions were not entirely correct. A few days later, he learned from Wu Lan about an unexpected decision.
In the following days, as his condition gradually improved and symptoms like dizziness and nausea disappeared, he occasionally wore a hat and took short walks downstairs. Wu Lan stayed at a nearby hotel and visited him at the hospital daily.
One afternoon, she accompanied him to the hospital garden. The garden was lush with vegetation, and the shade of the trees made it less hot. There were only two or three patients around, and it was quiet.
“Yunchu, why don’t you sit for a while?”
“I’m fine,” Lu Yunchu said, sensing again the hesitation in her demeanor. He simply followed her suggestion and sat down on a bench in the garden. “Mom, is there something you want to say?”
“Ah,” she sighed softly, “Yunchu, have you ever hated me?”
“Why do you ask that?”
“I just feel that in the past…,” Wu Lan sat beside him, “I might not have always respected your feelings.”
“What’s the point of dwelling on the past?” Lu Yunchu felt a bit aggrieved about the slap he had received, but he understood that it was precisely because he couldn’t harbor resentment towards Wu Lan that he had some lingering grievances. “I’m really happy that you came to see me.”
“Yes,” she said with a look of regret, then continued after a pause, “What if your father and I get divorced… how would you feel about that?”
This was something Lu Yunchu hadn’t expected at all. “Are you planning to get a divorce?”
Wu Lan bit her lip tightly. “Yes.”
Lu Yunchu’s biggest wish as a child was for Wu Lan to divorce Lu Changming and take him away from the Lu family. However, over the years, after repeated disappointments, he became increasingly convinced that Wu Lan and Lu Changming were more like a joint fate, and he was the one who had to leave the family as an outsider.
But just when he had lost hope, Wu Lan told him she wanted a divorce.
“I thought you would never leave him…” Lu Yunchu turned his head. “Can you tell me why you suddenly changed your mind?”
Wu Lan didn’t answer and stood up from the bench again.
“Does it have anything to do with me?” he asked.
“Maybe a little,” she said slowly, “I told him you were injured, almost burned to death, but he…”
“It doesn’t matter,” Lu Yunchu guessed what Lu Changming’s reaction might have been, “I don’t care what he thinks.”
Wu Lan shook her head helplessly. “But I can’t stand it anymore.” Her face was pale under the sunlight. “If he had any sense of humanity at all, he wouldn’t be so indifferent.”
“Actually, it’s not entirely because of you. It just made me think of a lot of things.
“He never loved me; he only liked that woman with the surname Du, but he didn’t have the courage to truly marry her. We’re just a pair of laughable… superficial spouses.”
Seeing her like this, Lu Yunchu clenched his hands. His words from half a year ago had indeed touched a sore spot for her.
The perspective of an onlooker is too naive, but for the person involved to see clearly, it’s as difficult as a bird breaking its wings.
“I think about all the compromises I made in the past, and how I distanced myself from you because of him. Thirty years of this… it was not worth it.”
“Mom,” Lu Yunchu stood by her side, “Then don’t hesitate. You know what you need to do.”
“Yes, I’ve already contacted a lawyer to handle it,” she said with a hint of sarcasm. “Your maternal grandfather’s family is no longer what it used to be; they can’t help Lu Changming at all. He seems to have been waiting for me to bring it up.”
“Mom,” Lu Yunchu didn’t know how to comfort her, and said somewhat awkwardly, “Don’t be sad.”
At least for Wu Lan, a divorce might not be a bad thing.
“It’s fine. Mr. Zh—Yanchuan might be back. Let’s go upstairs.”
During the hospital stay, having only hospital or outside meals, Zhou Yanchuan wanted to make some nourishing soup for Lu Yunchu. He had returned home for a bit at noon, saying he would be back soon.
He had indeed been in the ward for a short while, but didn’t see Lu Yunchu and Wu Lan, so he guessed they were in the small garden. The food was in a thermos and couldn’t cool down immediately, so he waited patiently.
Lu Yunchu had left his phone behind, lying on the pillow. An unfamiliar call came in, and Zhou Yanchuan wasn’t sure if it was important, so he answered it.
“Hello, is this Mr. Lu?”
“He’s not here right now,” Zhou Yanchuan said. “Is there something I can relay?”
“Yes, Mr. Lu ordered a pair of men’s rings from our store, and they have arrived. They can be picked up at any time.”