A Guide to Divorce for Middle-Aged Lesbian Couples - Chapter 1

“Congratulations, Sixian! That’s a perfect wrap!” The director shouted into a megaphone to the entire crew.

The epic female-lead entrepreneurial drama had concluded perfectly. Su Sixian nodded in gratitude to the staff on set. “Thank you, everyone! Midnight snacks are on the way!”

Amidst the rising waves of thanks, Su Sixian was pulled toward a low-profile electric vehicle by her pale-faced manager, Wang Dahua.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Su Sixian’s heart skipped a beat when she heard the sweet female voice of the GPS announce their destination: the Central Hospital.

“President Shen was in a car accident. The hospital is waiting for you to sign the papers.”

Time was tight, and there was no time to change clothes. Su Sixian could only hurriedly grab a hat from the back seat—sponsored by some brand or another—and use its wide brim to cover most of her face. Even so, her unmistakable celebrity aura drew stares from countless passersby at the hospital.

When she arrived, the CEO’s secretaries, Bona and Annie, were already waiting outside the operating room. A nurse was holding the surgical consent form, waiting for someone to sign.

“May I ask what your relationship to the patient is?”

The nurse looked curiously at this woman, whose temperament was truly extraordinary and who exuded refinement from head to toe.

The hand holding the pen paused for a moment. “I am her designated legal guardian.”

In a reality where the country had not yet legally recognized same-sex marriage, many couples chose the roundabout path of designated guardianship. It wasn’t uncommon for nurses to encounter this during surgical signings.

The nurse took the form and glanced at the signature: “Su… Su Sixian!”

Under the nurse’s irrepressible, shocked gaze, Su Sixian took off her hat and sunglasses, her face and eyes filled with unconcealed anxiety. She bowed slightly to the nurse. “I’m counting on you for the surgery.”

The nurse entered the operating room as if in a dream. Only when the “In Surgery” light turned red did Su Sixian finally breathe a sigh of relief. She sat on a cold gray chair, watching Bona and Annie, who were trying to remain calm but whose uncontrollable trembling betrayed their anxiety.

“How did the accident happen? Wasn’t she supposed to fly to Paris today?”

Bona answered with a conflicted expression, “President Shen changed her itinerary at the last minute.”

Su Sixian took the hot coffee her manager handed her. Only then did she realize how ice-cold her hands had become.

“First, block all news to avoid affecting the company’s stock price. Internally, arrange a suitable reason to explain this period of absence. Then, contact Avril and ask her to end her vacation and return to the country as soon as possible. At a time like this, the company’s finances cannot have any issues.”

“Yes, Madam.”

The two secretaries, who had served Shen Xingchuan for years, received the best emergency plan possible from the mouth of an elite actress who had no background in business. Unlike Shen Xingchuan’s precise, almost oppressive commands, this Madam’s tone was casual, more like a chat.

Only they and a few founding members knew. This woman was the CEO’s partner. Although she never participated in company affairs, as the daughter of Guoke Investments, she possessed a unique aura: innate and perfectly composed.

Shen Xingchuan’s leadership lay in her talent for putting the right people in the right places and cultivating them, step by step, into industry leaders. These two chief secretaries, who had followed her for years, were the cream of the crop.

The two lieutenants, one in black and one in white, walked away with elegant strides to notify the relevant parties in calm tones, as if they weren’t stepping on hospital tiles but on the Oscar red carpet.

The manager draped a blanket over Su Sixian’s legs. “I finally understand the saying: ‘If you can’t make it in showbiz, you have to go home and inherit the family business.'”

Su Sixian took a sip of the sugarless black coffee, it was so bitter it chased away all sleepiness. She leaned against the cold back of the chair and murmured to herself while staring at the surgery light, “As a widow, inheriting a sixty-billion-dollar company left by an ex-wife?”

“Sixty billion! Is this what a wealthy family alliance is like?!” Seeing her manager’s stunned gaze and rapidly twitching fingers, Su Sixian’s face remained as still as water.

“Stop dreaming. Our marriage isn’t protected by domestic law. If something happens to her, not only will the shares be quickly carved up, but there will also be massive disputes over the children’s custody.”

“So you guys didn’t sign any contracts regarding property and child arrangements? Aren’t prenuptial agreements all the rage in wealthy families?!” Wang Dahua, who still knew very little about the two of them, opened her eyes wide.

“Unfortunately, it wasn’t ‘all the rage’ when we got married.”

Though it seemed unlikely, Wang Dahua asked the question she had wanted to ask for a long time: “Are you two… the legendary ‘True Love’ of the elite world?!”

Su Sixian pursed her lips. Remembering something, she suddenly smiled: “If time could be pushed forward by one month, we would have signed a document. Its name is: The Divorce Agreement.”

Avril, who had been lounging on a bikini beach with a handsome man, rushed back to the country as soon as she got the call. She thought the worst-case scenario would be a broken arm or leg, but she never expected that the brain of “Whisper”—as Shen Xingchuan was known—would be completely fried!

Leaning against a soft pillow, Shen Xingchuan felt her vision was a bit blurry. A hospital? Had she been in an accident that damaged her eyesight? She instinctively squinted, looking at Avril standing by the bed. “Excuse me, who are you?”

Avril was stunned. She glanced at the equally dumbfounded secretaries.

Oh! The sky is falling! Our company is going bankrupt! A cold wind seemed to blow through Avril’s heart.

The door opened. Su Sixian, who had barely slept while guarding the bedside for two days and had just managed to eat a bit at the cafeteria, rushed back after receiving Bona’s call.

“Bona, please call Dr. Zhang.” Su Sixian asked Bona to get the doctor who was an old family friend, then took a glasses case out of her handbag and handed the glasses inside to Shen Xingchuan.

She didn’t remember being nearsighted, but after a moment of hesitation, she put them on.

Only when the person turned back into the version she was familiar with did Su Sixian dare to speak: “Shen Xingchuan.”

Although the person in front of her was very beautiful, Shen Xingchuan’s current memory had no record of her.

Su Sixian frowned, realizing the severity of the situation.

“Tell me, how old are you this year?”

“Probably… six… sixteen. Sorry, my memory is a bit blurry. Was I in an accident?”

Avril, who was praying to God, blinked. “Sixteen! The older one became the younger one!”

Su Sixian closed her eyes silently. Annie, stepping in ten-centimeter high heels, covered Avril’s mouth and dragged her away from the scene of what was about to become a bloody murder.

For a moment, only the rejuvenated Shen Xingchuan and the suddenly-turned-auntie Su Sixian remained in the room.

Shen Xingchuan watched in confusion as Su Sixian sat down in the chair by her bed.

“What I am about to say might be hard for you to accept at first. However, I hope you can adapt as quickly as possible.”

For some reason, she felt an extraordinary sense of familiarity and trust toward this woman. Shen Xingchuan nodded and took the small mirror the woman handed her.

The person in the mirror did indeed look somewhat like the sixteen-year-old in her memory. Time had been gentle with her, merely turning her youthful greenness into a mature charm.

“Three days ago, you were in a car accident. You are thirty-six years old this year.”

Su Sixian watched as the other woman’s gaze moved from the mirror to cautiously sizing her up, as if trying to remember something. Unfortunately, the result was obvious.

“And you are?”

“My name is Su Sixian. I am… your wife.” Su Sixian hesitated. She wondered if she should tell this mentally underage child about their relationship in a gentler way. In the end, she decided that a short pain was better than a long one.

Shen Xingchuan’s expression wasn’t as intense as expected, but the violent trembling of her pupils and the clear changes in her facial muscles revealed her inner shock. After a long while, she spoke slowly: “Has society’s level of openness reached this point twenty years later?”

“Of course not. We got our certificate abroad.”

“How did we meet?”

Su Sixian propped one hand on the armrest, gently supporting her exquisite chin. Her eyes held a blurry, distant memory.

“You fell in love with me at first sight and pursued me for years. Even when my grandfather sent people to break your leg, you persisted. It wasn’t until a snowy night twelve years ago that I was moved by your sincerity. We bore the insults and curses of our families, took the earliest flight abroad, and under the blessing of a priest in a church, I accepted your proposal.”

Seeing the other woman lost in thought, Su Sixian felt her performance was going well, truly living up to her title as Movie Queen. She decided to add another touch of drama to their story.

“Sadly, even deep devotion cannot withstand the erosion of time. You found another love and abandoned me. Under various pressures, we loathe each other yet cannot separate. I have cast my pearls before swine, and can only grieve silently in the quiet of the night.”

Shen Xingchuan looked at those amber eyes filled with crystalline tears and mist, the rims of her eyes turning a lovely faint red. Her heart couldn’t help but twitch violently.

She pulled out a tissue and handed it to Su Sixian. Su Sixian took it, appearing as if she were about to burst into tears.

Just as Su Sixian thought the next scene would be a tearful plea for forgiveness or a kneeling confession, she heard Shen Xingchuan say: “We are a family business alliance, aren’t we?”

Her tone was flat, her expression unchanged. The tears in Su Sixian’s eyes hadn’t even fallen before they were forced back in.

“No, I don’t remember us meeting when we were young. Weren’t you raised abroad?”

Shen Xingchuan turned the packaging of the tissues on the nightstand to show her. It was prominently printed with Su Sixian’s endorsement photo.

“You are an actress, and I should be the head of some company. Same-sex marriage would have a strong negative impact on our professions. Moreover, the marriage isn’t recognized domestically, so the cost of separation wouldn’t be too high. Yet, facing an amnesiac partner, you can still perform so dramatically. From this, it’s clear our marriage is stable, but our feelings are not. Aside from an alliance, I can’t think of any other reason. Also, I seem to remember that my leg ailment was congenital.”

The analysis was logical and well-grounded, leaving Su Sixian unable to argue. Is she really amnesiac? Shouldn’t a normal sixteen-year-old be calling for Dad, Mom, teachers, or police officers right now?

Seeing Su Sixian’s slightly stiff expression, Shen Xingchuan said in a measured tone: “This script is too cliché even by the standards of twenty years ago. I wouldn’t recommend acting in it.”

Cliché! Don’t you know that these things are the very essence of our country’s 8:00 PM prime-time hits?!

Su Sixian took a deep breath and flashed a villainous look of top-tier acting, half-smiling: “You believe me just like that? What if I’m a con artist?”

Shen Xingchuan pushed the glasses up the bridge of her nose. “To be able to produce a pair of glasses that matches my current prescription right after a car accident—I have reason to believe you are my partner.”

Dammit! This woman! Is she Conan reincarnated?! Divorce! We’re getting a divorce today!