On Her Wedding Night, She Transmigrated To The Aftermath Of Her Divorce - Chapter 1

Yu Yan lay flat on the hospital bed, her eyes tightly shut, her face pale. White liquid dripped rhythmically from the glass IV bottle into the transparent tube, keeping time with the wall clock. A bandage wrapped around her forehead, where a cut had seeped blood, leaving faint crimson streaks.

Sensation returned before consciousness. Yu Yan instinctively turned her head, her nose pressing against the hospital blanket. The bedding reeked of disinfectant—a damp, unfamiliar, and unpleasant smell.

Yu Yan frowned, shifted, and struggled to sit up. But her body and eyelids felt heavy, as if trapped in the viscous, briny darkness of the ocean’s depths, making even breathing difficult.

Lu Yu pushed the door open and entered. The elderly woman in the next bed said, “Young lady, your friend seems to be waking up.”

Lu Yu looked at Yu Yan, lying in the center bed. “Are you awake?”

Carrying a takeout meal from downstairs, Lu Yu sat on the bedside stool. Seeing Yu Yan’s furrowed brow, she reached out and poked her cheek. “Are you awake now?”

“Mm…” A hoarse sound escaped Yu Yan’s throat.

It seemed she was awake.

Lu Yu pulled out the small table attached to the hospital bed, opened the meal box, and said, “I brought you food. Get up and eat now that you’re awake. The doctor said you fell yesterday because of low blood sugar. What happened? Why weren’t you eating? You’ve worn yourself down so much.”

“You hit your head, but it’s not serious. Don’t worry, you’ll recover soon.”

Yu Yan’s consciousness felt like it had been submerged deep beneath the ocean, suffocating from the need to breathe without air. Slowly, as Lu Yu’s gentle chatter continued, she began to rise, the muffled, piercing ringing in her ears suddenly stopping. Yu Yan felt a sudden sense of relief, as if she had struggled free from a nightmare.

She opened her eyes, squinting at the hospital’s bright white light, her chest heaving as if she had awoken from a sweat-soaked nightmare.

After a moment, she blinked blankly, staring at the delicate face before her. After a fleeting moment of unfamiliarity, a flood of familiarity washed over her. Yu Yan froze, her eyes widening as she sat up, wondering if she was dreaming.

“…Lu Yu?”

Why is she here?

“Hmm?” Lu Yu responded, glancing at her. “What’s with that look? Did you hit your head and forget who I am?”

“I…” It had only been a few years since they last saw each other. How could she possibly not recognize her? Yu Yan swallowed hard, her voice hoarse. “Didn’t you say you couldn’t come?”

Lu Yu unwrapped the takeout, and a savory aroma wafted out—braised pork rib rice. Feeling somewhat hungry, she answered Yu Yan’s question. “What do you mean I couldn’t come?”

“……”

Yu Yan realized something more serious.

She stared at the plastic-wrapped meal on the table, then looked around the room and inadvertently met the gaze of the elderly woman in the next bed. Her eyes were utterly bewildered.

“Still a headache, dear?” the elderly woman asked kindly, her eyes crinkling into a warm smile.

Yu Yan: “Ah… yes, Grandma. It’s a little sore.”

Am I still half-asleep?

Before her lay a standard, somewhat dilapidated hospital room. The unadorned walls, faded and peeling, were marred by dirty smudges. The bed felt unnervingly hard—she wondered if there was even a mattress. This wasn’t even a private suite; four beds filled the space.

Yu Yan felt a growing sense of unease. This was her first time staying in a shared hospital room.

The elderly neighbor had broken her arm, and her daughter sat by the bed feeding her. The smell of the food was mixed with an indescribable, moldy, and musty odor—perhaps coming from the bathroom—making it hard for Yu Yan to breathe and stirring her disgust.

Where was she? Had she returned to China? But hadn’t she just gotten married to Fu Yunqing in Ireland? How did she end up back home? And why was Lu Yu here too? Didn’t she say she was too busy to attend the wedding?

Flooded with questions, Yu Yan clearly remembered returning to the bridal suite at the estate after the wedding ceremony, just as they were about to… Suddenly, her vision went dark, and she fainted. But how could she have woken up back in China?

Was she that sick? Even if she needed to return for treatment, this place didn’t seem right. Who had brought her here? Yu Lan or Fu Yunqing?

This was ridiculous.

Could it be Lu Yu?

Lying under a blanket that had undoubtedly been used by countless others, surrounded by the foul stench, Yu Yan couldn’t bear it. She wanted to get up and leave, but she didn’t dare remove the IV needle from her arm. Instead, she flung the offending blanket aside in disgust.

Yu Yan touched her throbbing forehead, felt the gauze, and immediately withdrew her hand.

She was afraid of pain, even more so of death.

“What are you doing?” Lu Yu asked, tucking the blanket around her. “It’s time to eat.”

Yu Yan yanked the blanket back, tossing it aside like trash.

“What are you doing?” Lu Yu demanded.

“I want to change rooms,” Yu Yan said.

“Change rooms?”

“I don’t want to share. If that’s not possible, transfer me to another hospital. Where’s my mom? Why did she send me to a place like this? What was she thinking?”

Lu Yu was even more confused. “Your mom brought you here?”

Yu Yan froze. “You brought me here?”

“…Yeah.”

“Who recommended this hospital to you?” Yu Yan was both speechless and angry. “Lu Yu, I know you’re broke, but you didn’t even have to pay for this. My mom would have reimbursed you, of course! Why did you send me to a place like this? Where’s my mom? Where’s Fu Yunqing?” Yu Yan couldn’t understand why Yu Lan would entrust her to someone as unreliable as Lu Yu.

Lu Yu was stunned. “Your mom? Fu Yunqing?”

Seeing the transparent plastic box meal on the small tray table, Yu Yan’s expression darkened. “How could you buy me this kind of meal? I won’t eat it.”

“It’s only been a few years since we last saw each other. What are you implying? You…”

“…A few years?”

Lu Yu’s heart began to race.

“How long has it been since we last met?”

“Since you went to university. It’s been three or four years. Are you feeling okay? Why are you acting so strangely?”

Lu Yu looked at her nervously.

The Yu Yan before her felt strangely familiar, as if from a distant past. From the moment she woke up, every glance, every word, even every tone carried a vibrant vitality—full of emotions, temper, and an innate radiance that demanded indulgence. Disdaining the surroundings, the meal, and even Lu Yu herself, she embodied the very image of a pampered young lady.

It was as if she were the Yu Yan from three years ago.

“Miss…” The long-unused term slipped from Lu Yu’s lips. “Have you… lost your memory?”

Yu Yan thought Lu Yu had gone mad, but it turned out she was the one who was about to lose her mind.

“Hello, the number you have dialed is unavailable…”

She didn’t know how many times she’d called this number. The cold, robotic female voice repeated endlessly in the receiver. Yu Lan’s calls didn’t go through, and her WeChat messages and text messages went unanswered. This was a situation Yu Yan had never encountered before.

Lu Yu had said it was now 2025, that their family had gone bankrupt, and her mother was fleeing from debt collectors. She had no time to answer her calls.

What? Are you kidding me? 2025? Bankrupt? Fleeing from debt? How could this be? How could this be…?

Yu Yan refused to believe it. She refused, absolutely refused…

In the dim lighting, the keyhole was difficult to locate. The metal key scraped against the lock for a long moment before there was a crisp click. The door swung open, and Lu Yu stepped into the dimly lit stairwell. The familiar face before her was now set against a completely unfamiliar backdrop, and panic immediately overwhelmed Yu Yan. The abstract words Lu Yu had spoken earlier now materialized before her eyes.

This is where she’s living now.

The old, cramped apartment was less than fifty square meters, without an elevator, and the hallway light had been broken for ages, left unrepaired. The living room light revealed the yellowed walls, covered in cracks and peeling paint, bearing clear witness to the passage of time. On the third floor, the thin walls offered little soundproofing, turning even the chatter of passersby below into intrusive noise.

Lu Yu plopped onto the sofa and set the bag she was carrying on the coffee table. Yu Yan recognized the pink packaging: it was roast goose from her favorite restaurant. A flicker of comfort stirred in her heart.

See? It’s not as bad as I thought.

The living room was too small for a proper dining table, so they ate at the coffee table, pulling up a small stool. Knowing Yu Yan had forgotten the routine, Lu Yu pulled out the stool for her and patted it, gesturing for her to sit. “Considering you’re recovering and even lost your memory, I’m indulging you a little,” she said. “Must feel awful, waking up to find your whole world’s collapsed,” she added with a smile.

“But you’ll have to adjust quickly to your new life. At our current spending level, we can only afford this treat once every three months at most.”

“It cost more than a fifth of my salary.”

Yu Yan’s heart sank further.

Of course she felt wronged—she felt utterly betrayed.

The injuries weren’t serious, and Yu Yan was discharged from the hospital that afternoon.

Discovering her amnesia nearly gave Lu Yu a heart attack. What puzzled her was that further brain scans revealed only a mild concussion, with no other abnormalities.

Yu Yan refused to stay a moment longer in that crummy hospital room. The doctor advised rest at home, though the truth was, this shabby apartment wasn’t much better.

Fortunately, Lu Yu had kept the place clean and tidy, creating a homey atmosphere that didn’t make Yu Yan feel as physically repulsed as she had in the hospital.

What was their current financial situation? Lu Yu had given up her tenured teaching position in the northwest to return to Yuncheng, where she now worked at a travel agency, earning just over 10,000 yuan a month. In Yuncheng, where real estate was insanely expensive, she spent nearly two-fifths of her salary on rent for this cramped, rundown apartment, and also covered all of Yu Yan’s expenses—Yu Yan being the useless freeloader who was utterly dependent on her mother’s money.

Yu Yan retracted her earlier words: Lu Yu wasn’t crazy, she wasn’t stupid—she was the most loyal and generous friend anyone could have.

But that didn’t stop Yu Yan from feeling utterly despairing. The sheer magnitude of everything that had happened was overwhelming. She still couldn’t accept it. Clinging to Lu Yu, she sighed and groaned, wanting to cry, her eyes stinging with unshed tears. Even her beloved roast goose held no appeal anymore.

Lu Yu, ever patient, calmly comforted Yu Yan while tearing into the roast goose.

Yu Yan refused to accept this. How could anyone in the world possibly accept such a tragic story?

Defiantly, she unlocked her phone and began searching through her WeChat contacts. Fortunately, her password was still the same as three years ago, and facial recognition worked—otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to access it.

“Who are you looking for?” Lu Yu glanced over and asked.

“Fu Yunqing. What’s her WeChat ID? Why isn’t she here…” Yu Yan scrolled through, typing “Fu Yunqing” into the search bar. Nothing. She tried variations:

“Sister Fu,” “Wifey,” “Sis,” “Darling”… still nothing.

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