A Peach Wood Comb

The relationship between Zhou Yuqian and Li Yueqin had been tumultuous this past month, turning their home into a battleground, with kitchen utensils now serving as weapons. This latest quarrel was sparked when Li Yueqin asked, “Why didn’t you come home last week?” Zhou Yuqian didn’t respond. She lowered her voice and asked again, “Don’t you love me anymore?” Zhou Yuqian still didn’t answer. Feeling she had humbled herself to talk to him, and he was still indifferent, she slammed the bowl down with a “bang” and resorted to her old lines: “I gave up my career for you, willingly became a housewife, and this is how you treat me. People say once you have something, you stop valuing it, and I didn’t believe it…” Zhou Yuqian picked up a napkin, gracefully wiped his mouth, and interrupted, “In our first year of marriage, you said you didn’t believe it. Now, in our seventh year, if you still believe it, that would be a ghost.” With an angry swipe, the tablecloth was flung aside, and an expensive set of Versace tableware shattered on the floor, but she didn’t care; there was still a set of Hermès in the kitchen. The war resumed; the German Zwilling knife and fork transformed into weapons. Zhou Yuqian snatched them away, but Li Yueqin took the opportunity to slap him across the face. Zhou Yuqian stood far away, the air dropping below zero, each word he spoke freezing into ice: “Do you think you’re worth my love?” He moved to the Nanling villa, abandoning the last of his hopes and deciding to divorce. Li Yueqin had finally succeeded in driving Zhou Yuqian to his mistress and received the divorce agreement sent by Zhou Yuqian’s lawyer. Besides a generous alimony that allowed her to indulge herself, she also got a house. Suddenly, she woke up to reality: Zhou Yuqian was no longer the man who proposed to her with a diamond ring before marriage; she was not the precious gem more valuable than diamonds, nor the admired Li Yueqin, now thirty, fading in beauty. Over the seven years of their marriage, they had spent six years arguing, what could be more wasteful than that? She did not sign the divorce agreement but had her lawyer convey to Zhou Yuqian that they should both calm down for a while. Clearly, she did not realize that the one who most needed to calm down was herself. This war had no winners, including Lai Hui, although in the eyes of others, she seemed to have gained a great deal. In reality, she was quite depressed; previously, Zhou Yuqian visited only two or three times a week, but now he was there every night. It was like a laid-back employee suddenly getting a strict new boss; besides not being able to slack off, she had to work overtime day and night, the only benefit being overtime pay, which she didn’t need. By the weekend, Lai Hui woke up, clutching her forehead in agony, with Zhou Yuqian’s arms around her, making her reluctant to get up for fear of waking him. Her Saturdays used to be her day off, but now… She couldn’t remember how many nights Zhou Yuqian had spent here; if this continued, she was considering telling her benefactor, even at the risk of offending him, that she didn’t want to work overtime anymore.