Free Web NovelChapter 152: Chapter 152: Ultimatum
Su Li didn’t know what he was thinking, but she said nothing in response to his offer.
’How could I possibly ask Tang Yuanxiao for help?’
She glanced at Little Tang Mo on her other side and said in a low voice.
"Tang Yuanxiao, you don’t have to do this. It won’t change anything."
’He knows perfectly well I won’t go to him.’
The eager light in Tang Yuanxiao’s eyes dimmed for a moment. He quickly rallied, however, and focused on his work without answering.
When he didn’t reply, Su Li continued, "Thank you for your help. How much did you spend on all this? I’ll pay you..."
"It wasn’t much," Tang Yuanxiao finally said. But when Su Li tried to ask again, he clammed up completely, refusing to speak. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
Exasperated, Su Li had no choice but to drop the subject.
Tang Yuanxiao banged and hammered away for a long time, only stopping when he felt that everything was more or less fixed.
"What did your supervisor say when you left today? When will he approve it?"
Su Li asked Tang Yuanxiao in a low voice.
"I don’t know yet." Tang Yuanxiao felt a little guilty.
The supervisor had been dragging his feet. Besides the general principle of encouraging reconciliation over separation, it was also partly because of him.
The supervisor knew he didn’t want a divorce, so...
However, he had a proper talk with his supervisor this morning and told him not to consider his feelings in the matter.
’You can’t force happiness. Since Su Li wants a divorce so badly, the best thing to do is let her have it.’
’Just as Su Li said, the more I drag this out and make excuses, the more she’ll despise me.’
’I’m a man, and a man shouldn’t act like this. If we get divorced, we get divorced. The right thing to do is to start over, pursue her again, and win her back.’
’That’s what a man ought to do.’
This was the conclusion Tang Yuanxiao had reached after a sleepless night.
’I’m already not as good as Little Tang Mo in her eyes. I can’t sink any lower.’
’So, this morning I told the supervisor to stop taking the blame for me and just approve it.’
Lost in these thoughts, Tang Yuanxiao mulled it over for a moment before speaking. "But I don’t think it will be dragged out much longer."
"Mm." Su Li thought for a moment. "I think they’ll want to talk to me again. I’ll go back tomorrow and have a proper talk with them."
’There’s no point in dragging this out.’
"Tomorrow? We could also go today. Momo and I can go with you. It’ll be safe, and you won’t be bored on the way."
Tang Yuanxiao’s eyes lit up as he made the suggestion, but...
Su Li was completely unmoved. "I’ll go tomorrow."
Little Tang Mo quickly added, "I’ll go with Mom."
Tang Yuanxiao, who had to return to base, "..."
Little Tang Mo much preferred Su Li’s place to the family compound. He lounged comfortably on the sofa and ruthlessly twisted the knife in his father’s heart.
"Dad, I’m not going with you. You can go back by yourself."
Tang Yuanxiao’s heart shattered into smithereens.
Su Li and Little Tang Mo paid no mind to Tang Yuanxiao’s shattered heart. The two of them were chatting away excitedly.
"Mom, you’re amazing! This place looks so nice now. But there’s no little bed for me. I want a little bed..."
"We’ll go buy you one in a bit. But we won’t get a small bed; we’ll get a bigger one."
"Okay..."
The forgotten Tang Yuanxiao had no choice but to pick up the pieces of his shattered heart, glue them back together, and try to join the mother and son’s conversation.
Little Tang Mo saw how pathetic he looked. Remembering this was his father, after all—an important relationship—he took pity and reluctantly included him.
Only then did Tang Yuanxiao have a chance to ask Su Li which university she had gotten into.
After hearing the name of the university, Tang Yuanxiao felt the distance between him and Su Li had suddenly widened by a huge gap.
Among his colleagues’ military dependents, it wasn’t just Miao Zhi who took the college entrance exam, but she was the only one who passed. freeωebnovēl.c૦m
When Miao Zhi got into college, Mr. Miao was ecstatic. When he ran into Tang Yuanxiao, he even made a point of inviting him, saying they absolutely had to celebrate properly.
From the looks of it, the scale of the celebration would rival a wedding banquet.
And what Miao Zhi had gotten into was just a vocational college...
He felt guilty for using the word ’just,’ since everyone knew that even getting into a vocational college was incredibly difficult.
But after hearing which school Su Li got into, he couldn’t help but think ’but.’ He had to.
There’s no harm without comparison. Comparing Miao Zhi’s school to Su Li’s, he had no choice but to think in terms of ’buts’.
Thinking about what Miao Zhi had said before, Tang Yuanxiao didn’t even know what to say.
Besides, Tang Yuanxiao felt uneasy about Miao Zhi’s celebration banquet.
"Su Li, let’s throw a banquet for you too, before school starts."
Tang Yuanxiao genuinely wanted to do this for Su Li. Miao Zhi was doted on by her parents, so her getting into college was treated as a huge deal.
But on Su Li’s side? Even if Mrs. Tang knew Su Li got into a university, she would never think of throwing a banquet or anything for her.
And as for him, he had been too shocked, and with the great mountain of divorce weighing on him, he hadn’t thought of it right away either.
Thinking about all this, Tang Yuanxiao felt a pang of guilt.
’No wonder my image is so poor in Su Li’s eyes.’
’No matter what, I have to work harder and be more thoughtful to change this image.’
Tang Yuanxiao was completely sincere. He truly felt that Su Li had been wronged and had already started planning who to invite, determined to make it bigger and more lively than Miao Zhi’s celebration. But Su Li refused.
Of course Su Li would refuse.
"No need. Why would we have a banquet?"
She had already received all the blessings she wanted and deserved from Yin Cuihua, Li Hongqin, and the others.
She didn’t feel wronged at all.
"Getting into university is a joyous occasion. It should be celebrated with a big fuss, so you don’t have to hear those nasty comments in the future."
Tang Yuanxiao gritted his teeth. "You don’t have to feel burdened by it. No one will say anything about you."
"I just don’t want to. I don’t know anyone here, so there’s no need. We already celebrated back in the county town and invited people we know."
Su Li refused again.
Tang Yuanxiao was at a loss. Eventually, he had to leave, returning to the base all alone.
Without Tang Yuanxiao, Su Li and Little Tang Mo had an absolutely wonderful time shopping and decorating the room.
When he was with Su Li, Little Tang Mo was all smiles, so happy he felt like he could fly.
The next day, Su Li took Little Tang Mo back to the military family compound.
Just as she had imagined, she and Tang Yuanxiao were both called in for another talk.
It was the same old story: they were urged to reconcile, not to separate.
Su Li’s patience was exhausted. Besides insisting on the divorce, she finally delivered an ultimatum.
"...I hope it will be approved as soon as possible. Otherwise, I will resort to other methods."
"Other methods? What other methods are you thinking of?"
The supervisor was getting a headache.
Su Li’s tone was light but resolute. "If it really comes to it, I’ll sue for divorce. I’ve only been waiting for your decision because I don’t want to take that step."
The supervisor was taken aback.
He knew Su Li was no simple woman, but he never expected her to be *this* formidable.
The fact that she could mention suing so nonchalantly proved she was no stranger to legal matters.
If this matter escalated to a lawsuit, it would look really bad.
The supervisor looked at the stony-faced Tang Yuanxiao and sighed.
"I understand what you mean."
This time, the supervisor didn’t say anything like, "let’s discuss it some more."
That night, Su Li got the definitive news from Tang Yuanxiao. Because of her insistence, the matter was settled.
