Wife, please behave yourself.

Chapter 11 Emotional Counseling
Inside the bookstore.

Liu Changcun frowned, his fingertips tapping erratically on the cash register table.

The empty shop made him anxious.

It doesn't make money.

The bookstore doesn't make any money at all.

Not only have we not had any customers come in, we haven't even seen a fly.

The script has already been submitted to An Zhaoran internally; all that's left is to wait patiently.

Putting the script aside, just spending all day tending to an unprofitable bookstore is enough to cause anxiety.

Liu Changcun felt that things couldn't continue like this.

Although the bookstore is owned by the owner, there is no need to worry about rent.

However, they have a 60-square-meter storefront that doesn't make a penny, and they still have to factor in the cost of purchasing books for the bookstore.

This is a losing proposition no matter how you look at it.

Liu Changcun left the cashier and wandered around the bookstore.

He looked around, picked up a book at random, and flipped through it. When he found that it was a book similar to "Yilin" from his previous life, he hurriedly put it back as if he had been smeared with excrement.

After looking around, he figured out where the problem lay.

The problem with books.

Despite being in a prime location near a school, they abandoned such a large student population and instead started selling books that only adults would be interested in.

Isn't this just deliberately going against money?

Comics, novels, and the book rental service offered by the bookstore.

It's a business that seems incredibly profitable no matter how you look at it.

Perhaps Liu Changcun didn't sell these youth-oriented books in the bookstore near the school because he didn't want to mislead young people.

But for him now, such thoughts are undoubtedly unnecessary worries.

Every generation is predicting the decline of the times.

Parents in the last century said that comic books made their children lose their ambition and drive away their studies.

People after the turn of the millennium said that internet cafes ruined their children's future.

In a while, smartphones will become the reason why children lose their motivation to learn.

The excuses are always changing, but in reality, whenever parents feel that their children are disobedient, they will inexplicably shift the blame to other things.

They didn't even consider whether it was because they weren't paying enough attention.

Liu Changcun does not believe that simply reading comics or novels can turn an excellent student into a poor student.

Being a man of action, he immediately pulled out his phone, ready to contact his suppliers.

However, he had just taken out his phone.

The figure that appeared at the store entrance caught his eye.

Look at Ning Mengyao, who works at the flower shop next door, holding a large pot of lemon tea in her hands.

When they parted last night, the other person said they would bring some lemon tea this morning, and sure enough, she came to the bookstore early to keep the appointment.

However, she looked very different today than she did last night.

Ning Mengyao had dark circles under her eyes.

His already tired complexion looked even worse than usual.

Just looking at her gives you the feeling that she might collapse at any moment.

Liu Changcun stepped forward and looked at the fake smile on the other person's face.

He hurriedly took the large pot of lemon tea from the other person.

"I thought you were just saying it casually yesterday."

"..."

Liu Changcun's words received no response.

With a forced smile on her face, Ning Mengyao seemed to have lost the strength to speak.

I forced myself to shake my head, then turned around and prepared to leave the bookstore.

In the past, when the two met, although they weren't particularly close, they would usually chat for a while.

Seeing that the other party left without saying a word, Liu Changcun, who was holding a lemon tea, felt a little strange, but he did not go up to ask any questions.

After all, they were just strangers who were only slightly acquainted.

It hasn't reached the point where they actively show concern.

After watching Ning Mengyao leave, Liu Changcun, who was holding the lemon tea, prepared to put it on the ground.

I had just put down the bucket in my hand when I looked up and met the figure outside the door.

The entrance to the bookstore.

Ning Mengyao revealed half of her body.

With her face downcast, she seemed lost in thought, or perhaps sensing someone watching her, she slowly lifted her lowered eyelids.

Are you busy right now...?

"Not too busy."

Liu Changcun responded and changed his mind, having originally intended to call the supplier.

He put the phone he was holding back into his pocket.

Seeing Ning Mengyao re-enter the store, he casually pulled out a plastic stool from the bookshelf by the door and gestured for her to sit down.

He gently thanked her and then sat down on the stool.

After Liu Changcun pulled out a stool and sat down, she placed her hands on her lap, clenching them tightly, before slowly turning her gaze to the side.

Can I ask you a question?

"Go ahead."

"that is……"

Ning Mengyao's clenched hands tightened and loosened uncomfortably; she wasn't sure whether she should ask the other person.

However, in this city, she had hardly any friends and couldn't find anyone to talk to or consult with.

Liu Changcun, with whom I had some interaction... perhaps qualifies as half of one.

"It's about a friend of mine..."

"Oh." "She feels that she's been communicating less and less with her husband lately, and... she also feels that something's wrong with him."

With a narrowed eye, Liu Changcun sensed a sense of déjà vu from the other person's words.

"Yesterday, I even saw him help my female colleague call a car. Before she left, she waved goodbye to him. It seems like their relationship is quite special..."

The long, thin eyelashes trembled uncontrollably.

The look in his eyes as he gazed at Liu Changcun held a hint of expectation.

Do you think...this is normal?

"It's normal."

He nodded in response.

Liu Changcun's answer surprised the nervous Ning Mengyao. She was stunned for a moment and looked to the side with a very interesting expression on her face.

"Is it normal?"

"Of course it's normal, we're almost at the point of negotiation."

"..."

"But he has a wife..."

Ning Mengyao's voice rose uncontrollably.

The suspicions that had already formed in their minds were successfully swayed by Liu Changcun's words.

Ning Mengyao is very conservative.

In her view, married men and women should abide by the basic morals of marriage and can communicate with the opposite sex, but such communication should be normal and healthy.

Just like her relationship with Liu Changcun.

The other party has a family, and so do I.

We hadn't seen each other for several days, and when we did meet, we only exchanged a few words briefly.

If it weren't for the fact that she was harassed by customers when she first joined the flower shop, and Liu Changcun stepped in to help her out.

It's possible that the two of them won't have any communication at all.

"It's abnormal to have a wife, but if we let things continue like this, we might get divorced at any time."

"How could I possibly get a divorce?"

"You? Aren't you your friend?"

"..."

Liu Changcun, standing beside him, squinted, as if he had noticed something.

This kind of gaze made Ning Mengyao very uncomfortable. She didn't think that having problems in her marriage was something to be proud of.

He quickly dodged away and lowered his face again.

"My friend can't possibly get a divorce..."

From campus to society, nearly ten years of getting along had made her feel that this relationship was incredibly strong.

It was Li Mingche who pulled her out of the abyss.

Ning Mengyao felt that she would never meet a man who treated her as well as he did in her life.

Liu Changcun was unaware of his own experiences with Li Mingche, and therefore he would never understand how strong a relationship could be, from school days to marriage.

“My friend and her husband have known each other since they were in school, a ten-year relationship... there’s no way he could change his mind.”

The similar experience made Liu Changcun, who was listening, want to laugh.

Especially Ning Mengyao's naive idea.

"Do you think a ten-year relationship is unbreakable?"

Liu Changcun and Lin Wanran have been married for fifteen years, but they have known each other for eighteen years.

How many eighteen-year periods does one have in a lifetime?
Such relationships always end in divorce. No matter how sweet the relationship was, incompatible people will eventually separate.

"My ex-wife and I have known each other for eighteen years and have a son and a daughter. Our relationship started in college, but we still got divorced in the end."

"..."

Ning Mengyao, who had been looking down, was shocked by these words.

She slowly looked up at the other person, as if she had heard something unbelievable.

"You...you're divorced?"

"I left last week."

"how come……"

Ning Mengyao didn't know much about the bookstore owner.

I had only heard from him that he was married and had two children, but this was the first time I had heard about his and his wife's experiences.

Her relationship with Lee Myung-cheol lasted longer than hers, and it also started in school.

It's like a microcosm of her marriage with her husband.

Just thinking about it makes my already heavy heart ache uncontrollably.

"How could it have taken so long... How could you two get divorced..."

It sounded like an unconscious murmur.

Liu Changcun's experience dealt Ning Mengyao a very heavy blow.

Nothing is impossible in this world.

As someone who had been through it all, Liu Changcun gave the other party this reply.

He got up from his seat, went to the bookshelf, picked up a book, and returned to Ning Mengyao.

Looking down at the woman in front of him, who was still in shock and unable to recover.

"Just like this book, 'The World's Ten Greatest Unsolved Mysteries,' there are too many unbelievable things that humans could never find the truth about even after a lifetime of searching."

He took the book and handed it to the woman in front of him.

Looking at Ning Mengyao's clearly visible dark circles and her haggard, broken appearance, he saw...

He sounded like someone who'd been there, but also like someone promoting books.

"How about it, do you want to borrow it back and take a good look?"

"Always fixated on the little things in marriage."

"Such a person... will be trapped in lies and betrayal for the rest of his life."

(End of this chapter)