Contractual Marriage: We’re Meant to Be Together

222. Why Am I Seeing Wine?

Translator: Bryan

“The marriage licenses are useless,” the lawyer said awkwardly. “The key is that you two have a prenuptial agreement which makes it clear that your marriage is based on a contract. That contract has your signatures and fingerprints on it, which means it’s legally valid. Just now you said that the contract was signed in duplicate. You and your marriage partner each has one, right?”

Wei Qing was silent for a while before he nodded slowly.

“That makes the situation tricky,” the lawyer said with a shrug. “If he wants to get a divorce, he can extricate himself from the marriage by simply taking out the contract.”

Wei Qing’s eyes became apprehensive. He stared at the contract for two seconds before he looked up and said, “Is there a way to delay it? I mean, is there anything I can do to make it more difficult for him to divorce me?”

“To make it more difficult…” The lawyer pondered for a few seconds, then straightened his glasses and said, “If you just wanna increase the difficulty, then there’s still a way.”

Wei Qing quickly leaned over. “What do I need to do?”

“You can make you two more financially involved.”

Wei Qing frowned. “What do you mean?”

“In other words, when it comes to the ownership of property, you should make it as ambiguous as possible. Whenever there’s a divorce, there is a division of assets. If he wants to divorce you and you refuse by saying the division of assets is unsatisfactory, then the court won’t be able to do anything about it. They can only adopt a conciliatory method to help you two split up the assets first before dealing with the divorce procedures. So, if you want to make it difficult for him to divorce you, the best way is to make sure you two share the ownership of all your assets.”

“Shared ownership of assets…” Wei Qing mumbled. After pondering for a moment, he frowned and said, “But my marriage partner is very clear about our assets. He can make money by himself, and he rarely asks me for money. And it seems the two of us don’t have any common property…”

The lawyer pressed his lips together momentarily and clicked his tongue. “Actually, if you don’t have any common property, you can create some.”

Wei Qing’s eyes lit up, “Create?”

“Well…” The lawyer coughed twice before he said with a faint twinkle in his eyes, “Actually, if the other party has something valuable of which the two of you share the ownership, such as a house, a vehicle, shares, then…”

Having noticed that Wei Qing was becoming more silent, the lawyer forced a smile, “That’s all I can tell you. Considering my identity, it’s inappropriate for me to say anything else. I hope you can understand it, Mr. Wei.”

Having finished speaking, the lawyer stood up and rearranged his suit. “Mr. Wei, let’s call it a day. I have a client to meet later.”

Wei Qing also stood up, held out his hand and said, “Thank you for your time. I will treat you to dinner another time.”

“There’s no need for that,” the lawyer said with a smile. “I hope you and your marriage partner will never divorce.”

“Thank you.”

Yan Chuyang was wandering on the streets. He didn’t want to go home.

On the one hand, the atmosphere at home was really depressing. On the other hand, he was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to keep from talking to Wei Qing after meeting him.

Wei Qing was giving him the silent treatment and was so apathetic every day. Yan Chuyang felt upset whenever he saw him.

He would rather wander around outside than go back to the apartment.

Being a wanderer was better than being ignored by Wei Qing.

Just like that, he strolled around until 9 p.m. He really had nowhere else to go, so Yan Chuyang went home with his backpack on his back.

He thought that Wei Qing wasn’t in.

It was because Wei Qing had been working overtime quite often lately and wouldn’t come back until 10 p.m. Yan Chuyang didn’t know what he was busy with.

But after entering the house, Yan Chuyang was surprised to see that the lights in the living room were on.

Oddly enough, Wei Qing was sitting at the dining table, waiting for him.

When he heard the door open, Wei Qing turned to look at Yan Chuyang standing at the door and said, “You’re back.”

Yan Chuyang nodded and minced to the dining table with disbelief.

At the sight of the tableful of delicacies, he was nearly reduced to tears.

It had been a week since Wei Qing had last cooked him dinner.

It was Nanny Wang who cooked for him every day. When she didn’t have the time, Yan Chuyang would cook himself noodles.

It came to him as a great surprise that Wei Qing personally cooked for him again.

Yan Chuyang repressed his excitement and swallowed secretly. He deliberately said coldly, “You haven’t eaten yet?”

“No,” Wei Qing responded, putting the table napkin on his lap.

Yan Chuyang glanced at the dishes carefully again.

Spaghetti, tomato fried with beef, and his favorite creamy corn soup… Also, there was actually… red wine!

Yan Chuyang squinted his eyes in disbelief. What was going on? He couldn’t drink. Wei Qing never kept any alcoholic drinks at home, fearing that the boy might drink.

What was going on exactly? There was even wine on the table.

Yan Chuyang wondered if Wei Qing had specially cooked this meal for him.

Yan Chuyang wrenched his eyes from the food, turned his head and said tentatively, “You may eat without me. I’m going upstairs.” With that, he began to walk towards the staircase. His feet felt so heavy.

“You don’t want to grab a bite?” Wei Qing suddenly said.

Yan Chuyang halted and snorted, “Will you let me do that?”

“Do you want to eat?”

Yan Chuyang glared at him. Recalling the annoying way Wei Qing had been treating him, the boy had an urge to say he didn’t.

But when those words sprang to his lips, he held them back. Instead, he said, “… Yeah.”

Wei Qing lifted his eyebrows, “If you want to eat, sit down.”

Yan Chuyang stood there awkwardly for a moment before he resigned himself to the situation and walked over obediently.

He thought, “Forget it. I’ll have plenty of chances to get my revenge. It’s unnecessary to say no to such yummy foods.”

A quarrel would cost him a delicious meal. It was not worth it.

Wei Qing took a napkin and placed it on Yan Chuyang’s lap. Yan Chuyang stroked the bottle of red wine curiously and said, “What’s with the wine?”

“I had nothing else to do, so I took it out to make dinner more enjoyable. Let’s drink some.”

Yan Chuyang frowned, “But didn’t you tell me not to drink?”

“It’s okay.” Wei Qing raised his hand, picked up the corkscrew, stuck it into the stopper and turned it twice before pulling out cork with a pleasant sound.