Chapter 706: A Million Times for You (68)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“I wish I could tell the world that I’m now your wife, Mrs. Ling!” she exclaimed excitedly.
He allowed her to go about her brazen ways in broad daylight and lowered his head to kiss her forehead. “You have my permission.”
Jin Qingyue raised her chin and tiptoed to kiss him on his cheek. They got into a hot and pa.s.sionate kiss right outside the Civil Administrations Office.
That was bound to make the news.
Once they got inside the car, Jin Qingyue announced the news of her marriage on her social media page.
There was a discussion on a forum, which was t.i.tled: “Even a woman like Jin Qingyue can get married again. Did you know?”
The content read: “Jin Qingyue is just riding on the coattails of her brother, Jin Qingyan. The whole world knows about her scandalous past and feud with her ex-husband. She dumped her daughter back to her ex-husband and married Ling Ciye. How atrocious! Is she the only woman left in this world? Ling Ciye has such poor taste in women. I can’t believe he’d fancy a secondhand good like Jin Qingyue. I really wonder what men are thinking. I’m a pure and demure virgin, yet I’m still alone and can’t find myself a boyfriend!”
However, there were two schools of thoughts amongst netizens.
Some netizens who stood against the discussion thread owner said, “Just because a woman is divorced doesn’t mean she can’t marry again. Do you really expect her to follow ancient traditions and become a nun for the rest of her life just because her reputation is tarnished? Is she supposed to willingly accept being berated, as well as to accept the criticisms from you people? This is too unfair for women! They’re a good-looking couple and a match made in heaven. What rights have you devils got to oppose to their relations.h.i.+p!?!”
Those netizens who showed their support for the discussion forum felt that such an eligible bachelor like Ling Ciye deserved a better woman. They thought that Jin Qingyue was obviously incompatible with Ling Ciye and did not deserve him at all!
The discussion thread owner gradually garnered more “likes” for his or her opinion, and a heated argument soon broke out online on the discussion forum.
Jin Qingyue had already read all the comments left by the netizens. Although she despised the malicious comments left by unruly and sn.o.bbish netizens, their negativity did not manage to become a wet blanket to her immense joy.
Regardless of what the netizens said, she and Ling Ciye were already married and, thus, the opinions of outsiders wouldn’t matter as long as Ling Ciye adored her and did not mind her past.
In order to prevent her mood from being ruined, she decided to stop looking at the comments.
Instead, she packed her luggage into the trunk and headed to the airport. They had already planned to go on a romantic honeymoon trip at a selected destination, to return only after the New Year.
Just as she was about to switch her mobile phone off after boarding the plane, she received an incoming call from s.h.i.+ Shaochuan.
“You may have given me Bao’er’s custody, but shouldn’t you also contribute to her maintenance fees?” said s.h.i.+ Shaochuan.
“How much do you want?” she asked calmly.
“Ten thousand dollars every month.”
Jin Qingyue and Ling Ciye were sitting in the first cla.s.s cabin. Leaning her head against Ling Ciye’s shoulder, Jin Qingyue answered, “Did you ever pay a single cent throughout the years I raised her single-handedly? s.h.i.+ Shaochuan, your skin is getting as thick as a dictionary. If you can’t afford to raise her, don’t keep vying with me for her custody. I’ve already given you the custody rights and yet you still have the cheek to ask me for maintenance fees. Haha, I’ll give you three thousand dollars a month, no more than that. Give me your bank account number.”
“Fine, three thousand it is. I just saw the news. Did you and Ling Ciye get married?”
“Yes we did, you must be disappointed, aren’t you? Did you really think that I would be left on the shelf?” Jin Qingyue taunted, filled with immense joy.
“Are you was.h.i.+ng your hands off Bao’er just because you’ve given me the rights to her custody? Bao’er said that she’d like to go to your place for a few days.”
Jin Qingyue knew that Jin Bao’er would not have said that, especially since the latter was so insistent on staying with s.h.i.+ Shaochuan previously. She reckoned that he only said that for the sake of keeping her from living a peaceful life.
“I’m sorry, but I’m on my way to my honeymoon trip right now. Since you and Bao’er yearn to stay with each other so greatly, you two shall get along with each other properly. By the way, I forgot to tell you that I’ll only start paying you the three-thousand-dollar monthly maintenance fee five years from now. Well, that’s because you didn’t fork out a single cent to provide for her ever since she was born. I’ll stop paying for her maintenance once she reaches the age of eighteen. That’s all I have to say to you.”
She immediately ended the call, not giving s.h.i.+ Shaochuan the chance to retort at all.
She switched her phone off straight away and hugged her man’s arm blissfully, grazing her face against his clothes affectionately.
“Trust him to have the cheek to ask you for maintenance fees,” Ling Ciye remarked.
“He’s just trying to upset me. I can’t be bothered, though,” said Jin Qingyue, sitting up straight.
“That’s good.” He put an arm around her shoulder and smiled.
——
An Xiaoning could finally take a day off. Although the weather was fair that day, it was still as cold as before, which was to the dismay of An Xiaoning, who was susceptible to cold temperatures.
She decided to drive alone to a renowned hot spring center on the mountain.
An Xiaoning planned to soak in the hot spring for a few hours and check into the in-house hotel for the night before leaving the next morning.
The hot spring was situated on the middle part of the mountain, and the pool was made of stones piled together. Thick fumes of steam were streaming from the hot water.
The pools were available in two sizes; the larger one was made for public sharing while the smaller one was meant for individuals who wanted to have a pool to themselves. Needless to say, it was much costlier than the public pool.
An Xiaoning decided to opt for the smaller pool.
In fact, it was not exactly very small and had a length of about five meters, spanning across a width of two to three meters. It also had a depth of one and a half meters.
She changed into her swimsuit in the hotel room and exited with just a long quilt jacket that ended right below her calf.
The small pool was separated from the other areas with a st.u.r.dy wooden part.i.tion wall.
There was also a dragon sculpture made of stone, which doubled as a water feature — water continuously spouted from the dragon’s mouth and into the pool.
Once she entered the room, she removed her quilt jacket and hung her towel at the side before walking down the stairs to enter the pool.
She immediately felt a strong sense of relief and comfort the moment she submerged her body into the warm water.
An Xiaoning rinsed her face with the water and leaned back against the stone wall of the tub with her mouth slightly open, resting her arms on the edge of the tub while enjoying the relaxing moment.
In hindsight, she had never quite gotten such a good rest.
When she was still married to Jin Qingyan in the past, she used to soak in the hot spring in Wei Ni Estate every other day during winter to warm herself up.
One would be wasting one’s life if one did not live comfortably.
The air was fresh on the mountain, and An Xiaoning took in deep whiffs of the fresh air while soaking in the hot spring.
She felt extremely relaxed and at ease without the disturbance of annoying souls.
Yet, someone showed up and disrupted her peace.
An Xiaoning turned her head to the side and met the eyes of the ill-intentioned Jin Qingyan.
“Why are you here?” she questioned, glowering at him.
“Do you own this place? Am I not allowed to patronize it?” he retorted.
He removed his coat and plunged into the middle of the hot spring tub.
“You just don’t stop shadowing me, do you? Jin Qingyan, why don’t you go and die?”
“Wouldn’t you have to spend the rest of your life alone if I’m dead? Life would be so boring without my company.”
An Xiaoning guffawed sarcastically and scoffed, “Do you actually think I wouldn’t be able to carry on with life just because you’re not around? Life goes on, and the earth will never stop revolving, regardless of whether you’re present or now. Would we have b.u.mped into each other here if you weren’t shadowing me?”
He leaned against An Xiaoning, who turned around gracefully and moved to the seat opposite him, clearly not wanting to be beside him at all.