After being forced to leave the marriage, I became the wife of a top scholar.

Chapter 5 You are no longer qualified!

After returning to the Meng family for several days, Meng Zhan did not come again.

Bai Wanqing knew he was waiting for news from Xue Lei, and she also knew that several letters had been sent from Huaizhou in the past few days, and Meng Zhan was always at a loss when he received them.

Finally, he couldn't wait any longer and went to Bai Wanqing again in the evening with the letter of divorce.

"Bai Wanqing, after these few days, have you thought it through? I no longer have any feelings for you as husband and wife, so why do you still cling to the Meng family?" Meng Zhan said rudely as soon as he opened his mouth.

Bai Wanqing sneered, "Die-hard? Meng Zhan, you're wrong. I just want a divorce!"

Meng Zhan jumped up and down, "Divorce! Do you know that I've only just received my official position, and the appointment hasn't even been finalized yet? Divorce at this time will have a huge impact on me. Are you deliberately trying to embarrass me? We've been husband and wife, why are you being so cruel!"

Bai Wanqing couldn't bear to listen anymore, "If you really cared about the bond between husband and wife, you wouldn't have issued a letter of divorce."

"Don't you know what a letter of divorce means to a woman?"

Meng Zhan said impatiently, "Since that's the case, we don't need to talk anymore. I will send the letter of divorce to the government office tomorrow. You can just wait to receive it."

"Oh? That's convenient then. Why don't you also present this letter I have here, so that the authorities can properly determine whether this letter of divorce is appropriate or not?" Bai Wanqing took out the letter she had found on Xue Lei, which made Meng Zhan's heart leap.

"How did you get this?" Meng Zhan pointed at the envelope, his eyes widening slightly.

Bai Wanqing did not answer. She just gave Meng Zhan a cold look and said, "Meng Zhan, you no longer have the right to negotiate with me."

"I want a divorce!"

Meng Zhanqi clenched his fists, countless thoughts flashing through his mind, but all of them vanished when he saw the envelope in Bai Wanqing's hand.

After a long while, Meng Zhan finally composed himself and regained his composure. "Divorce is fine, but you must leave your dowry behind."

Bai Wanqing never knew that Meng Zhan was so shameless. He had just been sanctimoniously saying that divorce would affect his reputation, but now he was disregarding his reputation and wanted to keep her dowry.

On the one hand, he looked down on her background, and on the other hand, he demanded money from her. Meng Zhan actually did all this. "Meng Zhan, you have already become a sub-prefect, so stop being so ridiculous. A divorced woman can take her dowry with her. You have no right to keep it!"

Meng Zhan certainly knew he had no right to do so. However, he insisted on marrying Liu Feifei. Prefect Liu's family was of high status, so the dowry would naturally be substantial. Otherwise, he wouldn't have insisted on divorcing his wife and would have been eyeing Bai Wanqing's meager funds.

But now that Bai Wanqing has something on him and Liu Feifei, he can't afford to cause any more trouble. If he really implicates the Liu family's reputation, even if Liu Feifei protects him, he will probably still be punished by the Liu family.

He knew that Prefect Liu had always looked down on him, and he couldn't give Prefect Liu any more ammunition to criticize him. It seemed that he would have to think of other ways to arrange the betrothal gifts.

Meng Zhan gritted his teeth and nodded heavily, saying, "Fine! You can take your dowry with you."

"But can you give this letter back to me now?" Meng Zhan glanced at Bai Wanqing with concern.

Bai Wanqing carefully put the letter away and said indifferently, "Don't worry, Lord Meng. When I get the divorce papers, I will return the letter to you. At that time, our Bai and Meng families will be even and have no further connection."

Knowing Bai Wanqing's character, Meng Zhan simply said "okay" and left.

Having reached an agreement on the divorce, Bai Wanqing began to plan her life afterward.

Go back to the Bai family? She didn't know if Aunt Chen, her current stepmother, would accept her divorced daughter! Even if she did, her life would probably be difficult.

Starting her own household? Bai Wanqing smiled bitterly. Given her current situation, which member of the Bai family would be willing to adopt her child? Wouldn't that ruin someone else's child's future?
Seeing her young mistress sighing from time to time, Ruixin ran up to comfort her, "Miss, Miss, don't be sad. It's just that the young master is not lucky. You will definitely find a better husband, a thousand times better than him." Bai Wanqing was amused by Ruixin's words and reached out to lightly tap Ruixin's forehead, "You have such a sweet tongue, you know how to please people."

Ruixin scratched her head and chuckled foolishly. Bai Wanqing simply stopped thinking about it. Tomorrow she still had to go back to the Bai family and tell her father about this in person.

The next morning, Bai Wanqing had just gotten up when she received a divorce agreement from Meng Zhan, along with the date for the divorce, which was set for the day after tomorrow, when the head of the Meng family would be present.

As Ruixin combed Bai Wanqing's hair, she pouted, "This Lord Meng is in such a hurry to send the divorce papers, but we haven't seen them so eager to leave the Meng residence. We haven't even seen them pack a single bundle yet!"

Bai Wanqing smiled calmly, "It's good that I've received the divorce papers now. I'll go back to the Bai family later and have my father sign and put his fingerprint on them, so he won't have to come here again the day after tomorrow and get annoyed by these filthy people."

Bai Wanqing put on a light blue peony-patterned ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress), with a wooden beaded hairpin given to her by her mother tucked behind her ear. She showed no signs of exhaustion. Bai Wanqing looked at herself in the mirror with satisfaction and said to Ruixin, "Now it's ready, let's go."

The two boarded the carriage that had been prepared the day before and headed towards the Bai family's residence.

The Bai family lived on Nanfang Street, which was located to the south of the Meng family and to the north of the Meng family. Fortunately, Huai'an County was not very large, so the two returned to the Bai family in about fifteen minutes.

"Miss, wait here for me, I'll go knock on the door first." Ruixin knocked gently on the door, and Uncle Liu poked his head out from inside.

"Miss, you've arrived!" Uncle Liu hurriedly came out to greet her. He glanced at Bai Wanqing a few times, and Bai Wanqing knew that Uncle Liu was anxious, so she said softly, "Everything has been settled, Uncle Liu, don't worry."

Uncle Liu choked up, "What a tragedy! The Meng family has truly committed a terrible sin!"

Bai Wanqing patted Uncle Liu on the shoulder to indicate that she was alright. As soon as Uncle Liu led Bai Wanqing inside, he asked, "Miss, did you come back today to explain things to the master?"

"Yes!" Bai Wanqing nodded.

Uncle Liu slapped his thigh. “What bad timing! The master just left this morning, saying he was going to a neighboring county, but he didn’t say when he would be back.”

"I wanted to stop the master, but Miss, you told me not to tell him, so I couldn't stop him."

Father wasn't here? This was something Bai Wanqing hadn't expected. Since her mother's death, her father hadn't left his study for quite some time, so it was really unfortunate that he was out today.

Bai Wanqing paused. Now that her father was gone and there was no one else in the house she wanted to see, it seemed that she would have to ask the Bai family patriarch, Uncle Bai, to handle her divorce papers.

"Since Father isn't here, Uncle Liu, I won't sit down." Bai Wanqing said goodbye to Uncle Liu without going inside.

Uncle Liu hesitated, but then he remembered that Chen was now in charge of the Bai family, so he could only nod helplessly. "If you don't want to sit, then don't sit. When the master comes back, I'll send you a message. You can come back and see him. He thinks about you every day."

Bai Wanqing nodded in agreement and prepared to leave with Ruixin, but then she heard Aunt Chen's voice behind her, "Qing'er is back? Uncle Liu! Qing'er is back, why didn't you tell me? And you made Qing'er stand in the courtyard the whole time, what's going on?"

Ruixin and Uncle Liu were both a little embarrassed. When had this young lady (the eldest young lady) ever paid any attention to them when she came home on weekdays? Today, it was as if the sun had risen in the west.

Bai Wanqing remained calm, while Madam Chen acted like a mother and daughter, taking Bai Wanqing's arm and leading her into the flower hall in the backyard. "Qing'er, you've been away for half a year and haven't come back often. Furong and Qinglian have been missing you a lot. They'll be so happy to see you back now."

At this point, Madam Chen turned to Wang Ma behind her and said, "Wang Ma, hurry up and call the second and third young ladies over. Tell them that their eldest sister has returned."

Once inside, Madam Chen naturally offered Bai Wanqing a seat, while she herself took the seat of honor.

Madam Chen looked at Bai Wanqing with a smile, then tentatively asked, "Qing'er, it's been quite a while since your son-in-law posted the results, hasn't it? Why haven't I seen you come to report the good news? What kind of official position did you get?"

(End of this chapter)