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    On the Wedding Night, I Transmigrated to After the Divorce – Chapter 1

    by Little Panda

    Young Miss Yu

    Jiejie, Wife, Darling

    Yu Yan lay flat on the hospital bed, her eyes shut tight, her face pale. The white liquid in the glass IV bottle dripped into the transparent tube, in time with the ticking of the wall clock. A cut on her fair forehead was bandaged with gauze, from which a trace of blood had seeped.

    Sensation returned before consciousness. Yu Yan unconsciously turned her head, her nose pressing into the quilt. The hospital bedding was saturated with the strong, damp, and unfamiliar smell of disinfectant. It was unpleasant.

    Yu Yan frowned and stirred, struggling to sit up, but her body and eyelids were heavy, as if wrapped in the thick, black, briny water of the deep sea. Even breathing was difficult.

    Lu Yu pushed the door open. The old woman in the next bed said to her, “Miss, I think your friend is awake.”

    Lu Yu looked at Yu Yan, who was lying in the center bed. “You’re awake?”

    Carrying a takeout container she’d brought from downstairs, Lu Yu sat on the stool by the bed. Seeing Yu Yan’s deeply furrowed brow, she reached out and poked her cheek. “You awake?”

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

    It seemed she was.

    Lu Yu pulled out the small overbed table, opened the food container, and said, “I bought you food. Get up and eat now that you’re awake. The doctor said you fainted yesterday from low blood sugar. What happened? Why weren’t you eating? You’ve made such a mess of yourself.”

    “You even hit your head, but it’s not a serious injury. Don’t worry, it’ll heal quickly.”

    Yu Yan’s consciousness became a clear point submerged at the bottom of the sea, burdened by the powerlessness of opening her mouth to breathe but finding no oxygen. Slowly, drawn by Lu Yu’s familiar chatter, she began to float upward. The muffled, sharp ringing in her ears, like they were filled with seawater, abruptly stopped—Yu Yan felt the relief of struggling free from ghost pressing on the bed1.

    She opened her eyes, only to squeeze them shut again against the hospital’s glaring white lights. Her chest heaved violently, as if she’d just woken from a sweat-drenched nightmare.

    A moment later, she blinked in a daze, staring at the delicate face before her. After a brief second of unfamiliarity from the long separation, a flood of recognition washed over her. Yu Yan froze, her eyes widening as she sat up in bed, thinking she must be dreaming.

    “…Lu Yu?”

    What was she doing here?

    “Hm?” Lu Yu answered, glancing at her. “What’s with that expression? Did you hit your head so hard you don’t recognize me?”

    “I…” It had only been a few years, how could she not recognize her? Yu Yan swallowed hard, her voice painfully hoarse. “Didn’t you say you couldn’t come?”

    The takeout container was unwrapped, and the savory aroma of braised pork ribs with rice wafted over. Lu Yu found it appetizing enough. She answered the question, “Couldn’t come to what?”

    “……”

    Yu Yan realized there was a much more serious problem.

    She looked at the food in the plastic container on the table, then glanced around the room. Her eyes inadvertently met those of the old lady in the next bed. Yu Yan’s expression was utterly lost.

    “Little girl, does your head still hurt?”

    The old lady’s voice was kind and gentle, her eyes crinkling with a smile. Yu Yan said, “Ah… yes, Grandma. It does, a little.”

    Was she still asleep?

    —Before her was a hospital room so plain it was almost dilapidated. It had clearly not been renovated; the whitewashed walls were so old the paint was peeling, and they were covered in dirty marks. The bed board was incredibly hard, and she wondered if there was even a mattress. This wasn’t even a private suite—it was a ward with four beds crammed into it.

    A sense of dread washed over Yu Yan. This was the first time she had ever stayed in a multi-person ward like this.

    The old lady in the next bed had a broken arm, and her daughter was sitting by the bed feeding her. Mixed with the smell of food was an indescribable, musty, acrid odor, perhaps coming from the bathroom. It made it hard for Yu Yan to breathe, and she felt a wave of nausea.

    Where was this place? Was she back in the country? Wasn’t she in Ireland, getting married to Fu Yunqing? How did she get back here? And why was Lu Yu here too?

    Didn’t she say she didn’t have time to come to the wedding?

    Her mind was spinning with questions. Yu Yan clearly remembered she and Fu Yunqing had just finished the ceremony and returned to their bridal suite at the manor. They were just about to… when her vision suddenly went black and she fainted. But how could she wake up back in the country?

    Was she that sick? But even if she needed treatment back home, it shouldn’t be in an environment like this. Who sent her here? Was it Yu Lan or Fu Yunqing?

    This was too much.

    Could it have been Lu Yu?

    Lying under a quilt that had likely been used by countless others, smelling the foul odors, Yu Yan couldn’t bear it. She wanted to get out of bed and leave immediately, but she didn’t dare pull the IV needle from the back of her hand. All she could do was shove the quilt aside in disgust.

    She raised a hand to her faintly throbbing forehead and flinched as her fingers touched the gauze.

    She was terrified of pain, and even more terrified of death.

    “What are you doing?” Lu Yu pulled the quilt back over her. “Time to eat.”

    Yu Yan immediately snatched the corner of the quilt and tossed it away again, as if it were garbage.

    Lu Yu asked, “What is wrong with you?”

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

    “Change rooms?”

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

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

    Yu Yan paused. “You’re the one who brought me here?”

    Lu Yu said, “…Yes.”

    “Who recommended this hospital to you?” Yu Yan was suddenly speechless and furious. “Lu Yu, I know you’re broke right now, but you don’t have to pay for this. My mom will obviously reimburse you. How could you send me to a place like this? Where is my mom? Where’s Fu Yunqing?” Yu Yan truly couldn’t understand how Yu Lan could entrust her to someone as unreliable as Lu Yu.

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

    Seeing the transparent plastic takeout box on the table, Yu Yan grew even more displeased. “Why did you buy me this kind of food? I’m not eating it. We haven’t seen each other in a few years, what do you take me for? You…”

    “…Haven’t seen each other in a few years?”

    Lu Yu’s heart began to beat faster.

    “How many years has it been since we last saw each other?”

    “We haven’t seen each other since you left for university. It’s been three or four years, right? Have you gone stupid? Why are you acting so strange?”

    “…” Lu Yu stared at her, her heart filled with unease.

    The Yu Yan before her had a long-lost familiarity. From the moment she woke up, every glance, every word, even every intonation was filled with a vibrant life force. She was emotional, temperamental, naturally radiant, and justifiably proud. Her disdain for the surroundings, the takeout, and for Lu Yu herself—it was all the perfect picture of a pampered Young Miss.

    Just like… the Yu Yan from three years ago.

    “Young Miss…” The long-unspoken title slipped from Lu Yu’s lips. “Did you… lose your memory?”

    Yu Yan thought Lu Yu had gone mad. It turned out she was the one on the verge of insanity.

    “Hello, the number you have dialed is not in service…”

    She didn’t know how many times she had dialed the number, but the receiver only played back the cold, mechanical female voice. Yu Lan’s phone wouldn’t connect. WeChat messages and texts went unanswered. This was a situation Yu Yan had never encountered before.

    Lu Yu said it was 2025. Their family had gone bankrupt, and her mom was on the run from creditors. How could she have time to answer her phone?

    What was this? Was this some kind of mistake? 2025, bankrupt, on the run? Impossible, how could it be…

    Yu Yan didn’t believe it. She refused to believe it. She absolutely would not believe it…

    The keyhole was hard to find in the dim light. After a moment of metal scraping, there was a crisp click. The door swung open, and Lu Yu stepped into the gloomy stairwell. The familiar face before her was now framed by a completely alien world, and a wave of panic washed over Yu Yan once more. Her friend’s utterly abstract words were now taking concrete form right before her eyes.

    This was the kind of dump she lived in now.

    An old, broken, small2 apartment of less than fifty square meters, with no elevator. The hallway light had been broken for ages and never repaired. The lights were on in the living room, clearly illuminating the cracks and peeling paint on the yellowish-white walls, which were coated in a layer of grime from the years. Since it was on the third floor, the apartment had terrible soundproofing; even the conversations of passersby below became noise.

    Lu Yu plopped down on the sofa and set a bag she was carrying on the coffee table. Yu Yan recognized the pink packaging—it was from a restaurant whose roast goose she loved. A tiny spark of comfort ignited in Yu Yan’s heart.

    Cantonese-style roast goose

    See? It’s not that bad, right?

    The living room was too small for a proper dining table, so they ate on small stools pulled up to the coffee table. Knowing she had forgotten this routine, Lu Yu pulled a stool out for her, patting it to signal for her to sit. “Seeing as you’re a patient, and a pitiful amnesiac at that, I’ll humor you a little.”

    “Feeling terribly wronged, aren’t you? Waking up to find your world has collapsed,” she asked with a smile.

    “But you’d better get used to this life, and fast. At our current spending level, we can only afford this maybe once every three months.”

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

    “…” Yu Yan’s heart sank three levels deeper.

    Of course she felt wronged. She felt wronged to death.

    Her injury wasn’t serious, so Yu Yan was discharged that afternoon.

    Discovering her amnesia had nearly scared Lu Yu to death. The strange thing was, another brain scan showed nothing more than a mild concussion; they couldn’t find anything else wrong.

    Yu Yan would rather die than stay another minute in that wretched hospital ward. The doctor told her to rest at home—though of course, this dump of an apartment wasn’t much better than the hospital.

    Fortunately, Lu Yu kept the place clean and tidy, so it had a cozy feel that didn’t trigger the same visceral rejection Yu Yan had felt at the hospital.

    So what was their current spending level? Lu Yu had given up her stable teaching post3 in the northwest and returned to Yuncheng. She now worked at a travel agency, earning a little over ten thousand a month. In a city where every inch of land is worth a fortune4, she spent nearly two-fifths of that to rent this old, broken, small apartment, while also covering the living expenses of Yu Yan, a good-for-nothing who was useless without her mother’s money.

    Yu Yan took back her earlier thought. Lu Yu wasn’t crazy or stupid. Lu Yu was the most loyal best friend anyone could ask for.

    But that didn’t stop Yu Yan from feeling utterly hopeless. The shock of it all was too much. It was still so, so hard to accept. She huddled next to Lu Yu, sighing, on the verge of tears. She didn’t even want to eat her favorite roast goose anymore.

    Lu Yu, however, was patient. She calmly comforted her while unwrapping the food.

    But Yu Yan couldn’t accept it. She was so unwilling to accept it. Surely no one in the world could accept such a tragic story.

    Once more, she defiantly unlocked her phone and began scrolling through her WeChat contacts. Thankfully, her password was the same as it was three years ago, and there was also facial recognition. What would she have done if she couldn’t open it?

    “Who are you looking for?” Lu Yu asked, glancing over.

    “Fu Yunqing. What’s her WeChat ID? Why isn’t she here…” Yu Yan scrolled through the list, then typed “Fu Yunqing” into the search bar. Nothing. She tried several other searches: Fu-jiejie, Wife, Jiejie, Darling. Still nothing. Nothing at all.

    The author has something to say:

    Long time no see. I’ll be updating every night at 8 PM.

    So, was the contact name before Jiejie, Wife, or Darling?

    Footnotes

    1. 'Ghost pressing on the bed' (guǐ yā chuáng) is the traditional Chinese term for sleep paralysis, the sensation of being awake but unable to move, often accompanied by a feeling of pressure on the chest.
    2. 'Old, dilapidated, and small' (lǎo pò xiǎo) is a common Chinese slang term for older, poorly maintained, small residential units in urban areas, often in walk-up buildings without elevators.
    3. A 'biānzhì' is a position within the established personnel quota of a state-owned enterprise or government institution in China. It offers great job security, benefits, and social standing, making it highly sought-after. Giving one up is a major life decision.
    4. An idiom, 'cùn tǔ cùn jīn,' literally 'an inch of land, an inch of gold,' used to describe extremely expensive real estate.

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