The Husband From the Original Pairing is Now Divorced - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: At the Door were the Shoes of His Husband and Someone Else

Today was Thursday. Sheng Jia had specifically taken a leave of absence from the kindergarten to get off work early and went to the supermarket to buy fresh fish.

Because July 17th was the sixth anniversary of his marriage to Yu Xianghang.

Water spinach, celery, sea bass, marinated beef…

Sheng Jia was tall, but his frame was quite thin. Pedestrians nearby cast strange glances at him for wearing tightly wrapped long sleeves in the sweltering heat of summer, but he only lowered his gaze and carried his groceries toward home.

His shoulder-length hair was tied back with a black hair tie. As he climbed the stairs, stray strands fell from behind his ears; he stopped to tuck them back, revealing a somewhat pale face.

He had straight, thin eyebrows and naturally curved “smiling eyes.” His nose was slender and straight, and his lips were on the thinner side, but there was a distinct dip in the center of his lower lip, shaped like a flower petal—it looked very kissable.

It was a pity that while his features were not bad, he gave off the impression of a withered rose, haggard to the point of losing all color.

Sheng Jia walked toward the fourth floor with a light step. Originally, he hadn’t held much hope for this year’s anniversary; starting from the year before last, Yu Xianghang had said he didn’t want to celebrate their anniversary and spent almost every occasion sleeping at the office. But this year, he had actually taken the initiative to tell Sheng Jia he wanted to spend it at home.

Filled with anticipation and joy, Sheng Jia returned home early to cook Yu Xianghang’s favorite dishes. However, as he stood before that familiar front door and reached for his keys, he froze.

The door, adorned with Spring Festival couplets and the character for “Fortune,” was slightly ajar. Sheng Jia’s heart instantly leaped into his throat; his breathing tightened.

Was there a thief? Had someone broken in?

Could it be Yu Xianghang? Did he also come home early?

Amidst his racing thoughts, a sound suddenly drifted from inside. That noise caused Sheng Jia’s body to turn rigid; his blood felt like it was flowing backward. Despite the summer heat, cold sweat poured down his forehead as a chill washed over his entire body.

The grocery bags fell to the floor. He stood frozen for a long time before his trembling hand reached out to cautiously push the door open. There, in the entryway, sat two pairs of shoes.

One pair was Yu Xianghang’s leather shoes; the other was a pair of white sneakers.

They were scattered messily on the floor, as if their owners had been in an extreme rush to take them off.

“Hurry… faster—ah, ah!”

Smack. The crisp sound of skin hitting skin rang out.

Sheng Jia heard a young male voice say: “Didn’t you say your husband doesn’t get off work for another two hours? Why so scared?”

Then, his husband replied in that hurried voice he only used in bed: “I’m… I’m not scared. He already knows anyway. He won’t say anything, ah—”

Amidst the suggestive noises of the two people inside came the young man’s laughter. He laughed and asked Yu Xianghang: “Your husband is such a pushover; he won’t be angry even if he knows I’m doing you?”

Yu Xianghang didn’t answer, he only cried out louder.

In an instant, Sheng Jia found it difficult to breathe. His face turned ashen. He looked down at the two pairs of shoes, then up at the living room.

They were even doing it in the bedroom.

On the wedding bed belonging to Sheng Jia and Yu Xianghang.

Everything in his vision felt like melting wax, slowly sliding down. The sofa, the dining table, the floor—everything became distorted, turning into crude lines intertwined together.

A beast clawed its way out of his heart, howling and roaring in pain, beginning to frantically feast on his own flesh and blood.

His fingernails dug deep into his palms, his lips trembled, and his eyes burned. He didn’t know how he managed to stay quiet as he walked back out. By the time he regained his senses, he was already sitting on a bench downstairs in the residential complex.

The sea bass in the bag had been suffocated for too long; it no longer moved. Its white eyes were rolled back, seemingly staring at Sheng Jia.

A summer evening breeze blew past. Sheng Jia smelled the fishy scent coming from the bag in his arms. He lowered his head, slowly tied a knot in the red plastic bag, and then tried to stand up.

I can’t sit here. When they finish, I’ll run into that young man.

But his limbs wouldn’t move. He felt just like that suffocated fish—stiff and unable to budge.

Yu Xianghang was right. He had known for a long time. And he was a pushover.

When he discovered the suggestive chat logs between Yu Xianghang and others, he acted as if he hadn’t seen them. Consequently, Yu Xianghang began messaging others right in front of him.

When he found a torn condom wrapper under the sofa leg, he forced a smile and said he hadn’t noticed the old trash while cleaning—even though the last time they had shared a bed was three years ago.

One incident after another; he had known all along, yet he continued to pretend this marriage was perfectly fine.

Because he really needed Yu Xianghang. He desperately needed the Yu Xianghang who had saved him countless times in the past to continue staying with him, loving him.

The sunset on the horizon was as red as blood. A man came down from the building. Sheng Jia saw those familiar white sneakers.

He looked up, wanting to see what this person looked like. In his haste, he only caught a glimpse of a handsome profile and a tall, upright back.

So, that’s what he looked like. Younger than him, stronger than him, more confident and high-spirited.

Sheng Jia’s tears began to fall. He suddenly remembered what Yu Xianghang had often said in recent years—

“You’re covered in scars and you’re not young anymore. Who else would want you besides me?”

Actually, it wasn’t Yu Xianghang’s fault. It was because he was too terrible, too inferior. The one who had been unworthy of Yu Xianghang all along was himself, so he had no right to criticize Yu Xianghang for looking for someone else now.

Sheng Jia told himself over and over: It’s all my fault. Yu Xianghang has already done well enough. He saved me so many times before and was even willing to marry me later. I’ve already received many years of his love; I can’t expect him to love me for a lifetime.

Yet, a tiny bit of grievance still sprouted in his heart—small, but exceptionally vivid.

Clearly, Yu Xianghang had once said he would love him forever and give him a happy home. Why did everything change starting from the third year of marriage?

The sky slowly darkened. For the first time since getting married, Sheng Jia felt a sense of evasion toward the idea of “going home.” He carried his two bags of groceries toward the convenience store outside the complex.

The moment he stepped into the store, a cool draft of air-conditioning hit him. Sheng Jia shivered, then found a deserted corner to sit down.

There weren’t many customers in the store at this hour; it was very quiet. Probably because it was dinner time and most people had gone home.

Sheng Jia looked out the glass window at the street. He saw a family of three from his building walking toward the complex, holding hands and laughing.

A cartoon backpack hung from the man’s shoulder, while the woman held their son’s hand. The little boy was skipping and talking. Halfway through, his father scooped him up and sat him on his shoulders.

Their faces were all radiant with smiles. From hundreds of meters away, Sheng Jia couldn’t hear their laughter, but he could imagine how happy they were.

Lowering his eyelashes, Sheng Jia’s expression became lonely. At that moment, a male voice suddenly sounded beside him.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Sheng Jia turned his head. At some point, a man wearing a baseball cap and a mask had sat down across from him.

Inside the empty convenience store, he was wrapped up even more tightly than Sheng Jia. His entire face was hidden, leaving only a pair of sharp-lined eyes with upturned corners visible. A few strands of red hair poked out from the edges of his black cap.

The moment he met those eyes, Sheng Jia immediately looked away.

“Seeing you carrying two bags of groceries with such a disappointed look on your face… did you have a fight with your family?”

The man pushed a small, unopened can of juice toward Sheng Jia’s hand. Sheng Jia flinched, pulling his hands from the table and onto his lap, still not speaking.

The man across from him didn’t speak again either. They just sat there quietly together. The man rested his chin on one hand, looking out the window, while Sheng Jia nervously pursed his lips and lowered his head.

“I just had a fight with my family, so I ran out. I saw you sitting here alone and wanted to chat. I don’t mean any harm.”

The man spoke softly in explanation. Seeing that Sheng Jia still hadn’t responded, he stood up as if to leave. But at that moment, Sheng Jia took the initiative to call out to him.

“What… what kind of fight did you have with your family?”

Sheng Jia looked up to ask, but his gaze drifted to the side. He wasn’t very good at dealing with strangers.

The man sat back down and sighed. “My sister wants me to help her watch her kid.”

“Are you unwilling?”

Sheng Jia hadn’t expected this kind of conflict and asked instinctively.

“It’s not that I’m unwilling. It’s just that she wants me to watch the kid for an entire year while she runs off to travel.”

The man’s tone was somewhat helpless, causing Sheng Jia to frown. Out of professional habit, he asked: “What about the father?”

Does the father not care for the child at all?

“Oh, my sister is divorced. That man was a piece of work; leaving the kid with him would be even worse.”

“Domestic violence, cheating—he did every bad thing imaginable. She had to divorce him.”

As he said this, the man’s gaze met Sheng Jia’s directly. For some reason, his eyes held a deep meaning.

Sheng Jia was startled. He felt as if the man was implying something, but then thought it was impossible. After all, they had only met a few minutes ago; it must be a hallucination.

“Then… how did your sister make up her mind to get a divorce?”

Sheng Jia pinched his hands under the table as he asked this stranger.

“You just have to recognize the fact that the other person no longer loves you. Since they chose betrayal and harm, then no matter how much love there was in the past, the moment they made that mistake, it all became bullshit.”

The man’s voice was cold. He emphasized the last word particularly heavily, as if he loathed such behavior to the extreme.

Sheng Jia was dazed and slow to respond.

The man seemed to realize his tone had been out of line, and he softened his voice again.

“Understand that this person doesn’t love you. Approaching the situation with that thought, you’ll find that many decisions are actually easy to make. Besides, divorce isn’t such a big deal. If you feel you should divorce, then just say it out loud.”

A strange feeling rose in Sheng Jia’s heart again. He felt as if the person in front of him was urging him to get a divorce. But no one knew about the situation between him and Yu Xianghang; the people around him only knew he was married, not what the marriage was like on the inside.

“Sorry, because of my sister’s experience, I always end up saying a bit too much whenever this topic comes up.”

The man coughed lightly and apologized to Sheng Jia.

Only then did the wariness and suspicion in Sheng Jia’s eyes slowly fade. He nodded, indicating he understood.

“It’s getting dark. You should head home soon. I should get going too. After all, I was the first one to support my sister’s divorce; it’s no big deal for me to look after the kid for her.”

The man checked the time on his phone and stood up to say goodbye. Just before turning to leave, he stopped again and looked at Sheng Jia, who was still sitting there.

“Even though I’ve been the one talking the whole time, I still want to say one last thing: the grievances and unhappiness you’ve bottled up must be told to that bastard who broke your heart. Let him know what a piece of work he is.”

“And there is definitely someone in this world who supports you. Just like when my sister got divorced—the whole family was frowning, but I still said ‘Happy Divorce’ to her. Go pursue your true happiness from now on.”

The man gave Sheng Jia a mysterious look. He didn’t wait for an answer or do anything else; he simply left those two sentences behind and turned to leave briskly.

There is definitely someone in this world who supports you.

Happy Divorce. Go pursue your true happiness from now on.

That small bit of grievance in Sheng Jia’s heart suddenly expanded rapidly following those two sentences.

He picked up his two bags of groceries and walked toward the complex. He went up to the fourth floor and opened the door as usual.

“Why are you back so late?”

Yu Xianghang stepped out of the bathroom, standing in the living room with a frown as he spoke to Sheng Jia.

Sheng Jia didn’t answer. He placed the two bags in the kitchen. Yu Xianghang’s “Why aren’t you talking?” and “I’m not even angry, who are you giving attitude to?” were ignored.

Why hadn’t he noticed before? Why hadn’t he paid attention?

Yu Xianghang’s increasingly impatient tone after marriage, the constant accusations of “giving attitude,” the habit of having to shower immediately every time he got home…

Actually, he had noticed these cracks long before he discovered the betrayal, hadn’t he?

Yu Xianghang really didn’t love him anymore. Yu Xianghang had truly stopped loving him a long time ago.

Sheng Jia took a deep breath. That feeling was like a balloon being continuously inflated until, finally, it burst with a pop.

He turned around and said to Yu Xianghang: “Xianghang, let’s get a divorce.”