The Secret of the Yoga Club: The Women's Identity is Not Simple

After the bedroom door was ajar, the living room fell silent, with only the faint hum of the dining room chandelier remaining. There was still quite a bit of food left on the table; Niu Niu had devoured almost half of the sweet and sour pork ribs, the bones neatly piled around the edge of the plate.

The wine glass still held half a glass of red wine, which gleamed a deep red under the light.

Ouyang Qian put down her chopsticks, leaned back in her chair, and tucked a stray hair behind her ear with her index and middle fingers. Her fingers were slender with small knuckles, and her nails were cut very short and unpainted.

The kitchen lights were off, leaving only the living room and dining room lights on, casting soft shadows on her face as the light shone down from above.

"Shall we sit on the terrace?" She stood up, picked up a teacup from the table, and said, "I'll make myself a pot of tea to help me sober up!"

"OK."

The terrace is outside the living room. When the sliding door is opened, a cool night breeze blows in.

The area is not large, and it is covered with anti-corrosion wood flooring. When you step on it, you can feel a slight elasticity and hear a dull creaking sound from the wood.

Two rattan chairs and a low table were placed there. A pot of pothos was placed on the corner of the table, its leaves hanging down and resting on the table. The light from the street lamp shone up from downstairs, passing through the gaps in the pothos leaves and spreading a blurry, mottled warm color on the wooden floor.

In the distance, the buildings were lit up with scattered lights, and the night sky was tinged with gray-orange by the city's light pollution, with hardly any stars visible.

Someone was making a phone call on their balcony, speaking very softly, and I couldn't hear what they were saying, but the sound gradually drifted over.

Ouyang Qian brought out the teapot and two cups and placed them on the low table. As she bent down to put the teapot down, the neckline of her knitted cardigan opened slightly with the movement.

Lin Feng sat in the rattan chair and looked up to see the lines of her chest. Without the restraint of a bra, it swayed slightly naturally. As she straightened up, the fabric was pulled back up, and nothing could be seen.

Ouyang Qian sat down opposite her, leaning back in her chair with her legs crossed, one hand holding a teacup, the other casually resting on the armrest. Her gaze fell on the gaps between the buildings in the distance, where she could see a short section of an elevated highway, car headlights like a string of flowing points of light, red taillights and white headlights crisscrossing and flowing in different directions.

The two remained silent for a while.

The tea is Tieguanyin, with a strong orchid fragrance and a faint, sweet aroma carried on the night breeze.

Lin Feng picked up his teacup and took a sip. The tea was a little hot, so he blew on it and started to speak, "Director Ouyang, may I ask you a question that's not quite appropriate?"

Ouyang Qian didn't turn around; her gaze remained fixed on the distant traffic. "Ask away."

"You're a good catch, why did you get divorced?"

Ouyang Qian paused for a moment while holding the teacup.

It wasn't a big movement, but Lin Feng noticed it: her fingers tightened for a moment on the rim of the glass, then relaxed. She turned her gaze from the distance to the glass in her hand, remaining silent for a moment.

The night breeze blew her hair forward.

He circled his fingers around the rim of the cup, then spoke, his voice a little lower than before.

"If it's inconvenient..."

"There wasn't anything inconvenient about it. My ex-husband was arranged by my dad. It was a good match; his family was in the building materials business, and it was quite large." She paused, as if recalling something, "Both sides were in business, so the marriage was beneficial to everyone. I was twenty-six at the time, and I felt that listening to my parents was the right thing to do, so I agreed."

Lin Feng didn't speak, he just listened while holding his teacup.

"After we got engaged, I found out he had a physical problem—he couldn't perform sexually," she said calmly, as if she were talking about something unrelated to herself. "And he wasn't interested in women at all."

Lin Feng's hand, which was holding a teacup, froze in mid-air.

I expected to hear the usual answers like incompatibility or being apart for long periods, but instead, she spoke with such frankness that it was almost naked. I paused for two seconds, picked up my cup, and took another sip, trying to hide my surprise.

"You don't have to say what you don't want to say after that," he said.

"There's nothing I can't say," Ouyang Qian glanced at him, her gaze calm. "It's been many years, and we just happen to be talking about it today."

He shifted the position of his crossed legs, and the rattan chair creaked slightly. "He wanted me to cover for him and ensure that neither of us would interfere with the other's lives. Besides, his family was quite well-known back in our hometown, and if word got out, his parents would be utterly humiliated. My dad's business was going through a transition period at the time, and he needed his family's resources and connections, so I agreed."

"Does your dad know about that person's situation?"

"I don't know." Ouyang Qian shook her head. "I haven't told anyone. It wouldn't do him any good to talk about it, and it wouldn't do me any good either. I just told my dad that we've discussed it and decided to focus on our careers first; we're not in a rush to have children."

She picked up her teacup and took a sip. The tea had cooled down a bit. Ouyang Qian took a big gulp. "After we got married, we lived separately. I rented an apartment and lived in a villa near him. We would go back together for a meal during holidays or to do a play. We only saw each other three or four times a month. I didn't have to deal with his family or his parents. To be honest, those years weren't too bad."

Lin Feng looked at Ouyang Qian. Her profile was clearly defined in his peripheral vision, with a sharp jawline. When she spoke, her eyes were always on the overpass in the distance, as if she were telling someone else's story.

"After a long time without children, both families started pressuring us," she continued, her voice still steady. "After two years of this, his mother started getting sarcastic. She said I wasn't serious and that girls these days don't want to have children. My mother was also pressuring us. In the end, we had no choice but to do IVF, and that's how Niu Niu came to be."

"Then he—"

"He has no reason to disagree." Ouyang Qian picked up her teacup, found it was empty, and poured herself another cup.

The sound of tea being poured into a cup was particularly clear on the quiet terrace. "Having a child is perfect for him; it can shut up both sets of parents. His parents won't be watching his private life anymore."

Ouyang Qian put down the teapot, leaned back in the rattan chair, tilted her head back slightly, and looked at the gray-orange night sky above.

There was a few seconds of silence.

"Later... I found out that he had secretly had a son with someone else."

Lin Feng's hand, which was holding the teacup, stopped again.

"It's not about finding a woman, it's about finding a surrogate." Her tone remained calm, but her fingers circled the rim of the glass a little faster. "Although he has erectile dysfunction, his sperm quality is normal. Actually, Niu Niu is just a prop to him, raised here by me to make his parents feel that the family is complete. What he really wants is a son, a son who can carry on the family line."

"How did you find out?"

"Once, his company had a project that required his signature, and I delivered the documents for him. I found a surrogacy agreement in his desk drawer. It wasn't that he hid it poorly; perhaps he never intended to hide it at all." Ouyang Qian placed her teacup on the low table, making a soft sound. "He probably thought I would never enter his office; that day was an accident."

A night breeze rustled the leaves of the pothos plant. The traffic on the overpass in the distance had thinned out a bit.

"I filed for divorce, and he didn't drag it out; he'd probably been waiting for this day." Ouyang Qian picked up her teacup and took another sip, her expression barely changing, even a slight smile playing on her lips. "The assets that were due were divided, Niu Niu is with me, and child support is deposited into my account on time every month. My dad's business was stable by then, and he didn't need to put up with their attitude anymore. The matter was settled in less than two months; everyone was happy!"