Divorce: This is a Trivial Matter

Yang Wei fell asleep snuggled up in her quilt. The next morning, her own straight dark hair startled her in the mirror. It took a little while for her to remember that this was what her hair looked like now. Having washed and groomed herself, she studied the rack of clothes in her closet and picked out a round necked white shirt, topping it with a black v-neck sweater. As for pants... khaki commuter pants would do.

Her pink handbag was hanging behind the door. She switched her phone, keys, and makeup into a navy blue bag from the closet.

Inspecting herself in the mirror, Yang Wei patted her face and hurriedly left the house.

Upon arriving at school, the fat security guard posted by the door was shocked to see her. As Yang Wei pa.s.sed him by, she glanced at him, her straight black hair rising gently in the light wind. "Good morning."

"Good.. good morning..." Jaw agape, the fat security guard stared after her receding figure before rushing back to the guard room, yanking out his cell phone, and posting a message to his circle of friends. "Miss Yang"s new hairstyle is so sharp! I don"t know if I like it! "

Inside the office, math teacher Luo was still the first to rush up and greet her. But today, after his first two steps, he stumbled to a stop and stood stock still. "Teacher.... Teacher Yang, did you change your hairstyle?"

"Mmhmm." Yang Wei walked quickly to her spot in the office and put down her bag. Teacher Luo trailed her to her desk, nodding appreciatively the whole way. "Teacher Yang, no matter what sort of hairstyle you have, you pull it off! It looks gorgeous!"

Yang Wei smiled. "Thank you."

Teacher Luo"s eyes widened slightly, and then he leaned forward. "Teacher Yang, you seem to have been in a bad mood these past couple days...?"

"Mmm."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

Yang Wei looked up with a smile. "Could you not talk to me?"

Teacher Luo : "..."

As he floated dejectedly back to his seat, Teacher Yao slid her chair over to Yang Wei"s side in curiousity. "Why did you change your hair all of a sudden? It"s pretty nice. Where did you get it done?"

"D&K."

Teacher Yao"s eyes widened. "That place is crazy expensive! And I"ve heard that it"s for members only!"

Yang Wei pulled out a teal card from her purse and waved it in her face. "Just let me know when you want to head there."

Eyes lighting up, Teacher Yao s.n.a.t.c.hed the card out of her hand to examine it. "Seriously? Oh my G.o.d, it really is a D&K membership card! I hear that their membership requirements are super strict, how on earth did you get it?"

"Just be rich."

Teacher Yao: "......"

Yang Wei slid the card back into her purse as Teacher Dai gave her a call. Yang Wei looked up and smiled at her. "I was just going to hurriedly finish up marking homework."

Mouth moving, Teacher Dai handed her a stack of test papers. "I just need you to help hand these out. It"s self-study in the morning, and then a language exam during first and second period."

Yang Wei smiled and nodded before leaving with the papers.

Glancing at the door, Teacher Luo turned and commented to Teacher Yao, "Today, Teacher Yang"s aura seems quite different from her usual peaceful, gentle self."

Teacher Yao picked up her English book and walked out. "She went from corn silk waves to straight black hair. Your eyes must be pretty sharp for her to still look the same."

Teacher Luo: "..."

He was talking about her aura! Aura!

As soon as Yang Wei walked into the cla.s.sroom, she caused a stir amongst the students. Everyone gave her strange looks. Without turning a hair1ha!, Yang Wei walked onto the podium. She raised the test papers in her hand and smiled at everyone. "Today we"ll be taking the the Chinese language test."

Complaints rang out. Yang Wei had everyone to put away their books, then handed out the tests to the first row. Upon receiving their test papers, many students secretly looked up to observe her. Yang Wei walked a few laps around the cla.s.sroom before returning to the office, allowing the department representative to stand guard on the podium.

As soon as she left, the students began to boil.

"Teacher Yang changed her hairstyle! I almost didn"t recognize her."

"She feels so much more serious than before!"

"Don"t you think it"s like she has "Don"t mess with me" written all over her face?"

"I actually kinda like it."

"I thought the old version of her was better."

"What"s with all this noise? Don"t you all know you"re taking an exam?" Teacher Dai stalked in with a stack of exercise books. The students immediately fell silent and began scribbling industriously on their papers.

In secret, Liang Ming Hao dug out his flip phone to send a text to Fang Cheng Ran. "Uncle! Teacher Yang changed her hair!"

Then having given it a little thought, he realized that his uncle probably hadn"t woken up yet and stuffed his phone back into his back, turning to his examination paper. As was his habit, he leafed through to the last page and glanced at the composition topic for the day.

"_______ has changed."

Liang Ming Hao thought for a moment, then solemnly wrote down the words "Teacher Yang has changed."

On that day, half the compositions that Teacher Dai received were labeled "Teacher Yang has changed".

Once the test was over, Liang Ming Hao finally received a reply from his uncle. "I know, I accompanied her to her haircut."

Liang Ming Hao: -. -

Uncle: What"s that expression for? ←_←

Liang Ming Hao: It means that you"re truly amazing ^_^

Uncle: Good boy.

Liang Ming Hao rolled his eyes and threw the flip phone back into his schoolbag.

During his lunch break, Qi Xiao Yan turned on his phone and flipped through Yang Wei"s Weibo. Her latest post had only a single selfie. When he opened it, his brow creased.

Why the sudden hairstyle change? Even the colour had been re-dyed.

Yang Wei had always liked her curly hair. From time to time, she"d visit the hairdresser to maintain it. Why had she suddenly chopped it all off and straightened it out?

He applied his excellent logic to the problem for a long time, and finally silently saved the picture.

At that very moment, Yang Wei was also browsing Weibo, and a three and a half minute old post on her homepage roused her interest --

" is over! Finally, I"ll be paid! Authors can only be paid once a month, and if it"s less than 800, it won"t be taxed. If it"s more than 800 but less than 4000, then 800 will be deducted and the rest multiplied by the tax rate. Anything over 4000 will be multiplied by 80%, then by the tax rate. How should I take the payment while paying the minimum in taxes?"

There were already several reader suggestions in the comments. Yang Wei fished out the calculator from Teacher Luo"s desk and tapped on it a few times before commenting, "First get 4000, then the rest."

A minute later, she made a second comment. "Wait, no, I re-calculated it. If you take 800 first, there"ll be less taxes for you afterward."

Soon afterward, she received a reply to her comment from someone named "Curly-bae". "The correct method is to take 800 every month, and if the company closes, the rest then."

Yang Wei: "..."

Any time this kind of thing happened, out he scampered!

However, she trusted Qi Xiao Yan"s professional advice. Opening a private message, she sent a text to Wait for Three More Minutes. "Here"s an expert opinion. Take 800 every month, and the rest upon the collapse of Pujiang. That said, 800 yuan a month just isn"t enough to get by. ╮(╯_╰)╭."

Fang Cheng Ran stared at this private message for a few seconds, silent, before quickly tapping on the keyboard: "Which expert told you this?"

Professor, Please Take Medicine: "A Professor of Mathematics."

Narrowing his eyes, Fang Cheng Ran clicked on Yang Wei"s Weibo. It was easy enough to find the mathematician named "Curly-bae".

Curly-bae"s avatar was a digitally painted Q-version of a boy in a white shirt, with slightly curly hair. One could see at a glance from the painting style that both this and Yang Wei"s avatar were done by the same person. He took a look at Curly-bae"s Weibo. Though the account had been registered a year ago, only three posts had ever been made, and all of them forwards from Yang Wei.

The most recent one was a group photo taken in front of a Christmas tree last year.

Fang Cheng Ran"s current mood could be summarized in three words: Thanks a lot.2A Chinese thing that I can"t really translate. Look over here for more info:

Opening the messenger in the lower right corner, he sent Yang Wei a private message. "Your avatar is adorable! Did you draw it yourself?"

Yang Wei replied, "I did~"

Wait for Three More Minutes: You"re amazing! Would you mind making one for me?

Professor, Please Take Medicine: Of course! What do you look like?

Fang Cheng Ran thought for a moment. "Well, I"ve got short hair. Other than that, feel free to play around~"

Having received Yang Wei"s reply, he added a new Weibo post.

Wait for Three More Minutes: I"m gonna take my payment all at once, like the capricious person I am. [doge]

[doge]

Also, I have established my backlog, so from here on out I shall be updating once a week on Sundays!