C9 End the Wrong Marriage Early

Disappointed, Lu Yao asked the nurse when she could be discharged and then left the hospital. When she got home, she went straight to her bedroom and opened her wardrobe.

In less than half an hour she had packed everything she had in two suitcases. She had not brought a lot of things with her when she moved to Shao Yunchen's place. It was only some of the coats that she threw back into the cabinet, as they were too heavy.

Lu Yao took one last look at the apartment she and Shao Yunchen had lived in. She could see traces of them in every corner. She left the keys on top of the shoe cabinet and dragged her suitcases out of the apartment.

From the time that assistant had picked up her call, misgivings had plagued her. She had failed to warm her husband's heart in three whole years, but that did not mean that other women could not.

Besides, this arrangement was a mistake, they both knew that. So why not end the marriage early?

After leaving Shao Yunchen's place, Lu Yao went to her mother's place with her belongings. In her current situation she could not afford pricey hotels.

Lu Yao rang the doorbell a few times but nobody opened the door. Frowning, she took out her phone and called her mother.

The call connected quickly.

"Mom, are you not at home?" Lu Yao asked.

"Ah! No, I'm not at home. I'm exercising outside," Aunt Lu said. "Yao yao, is something wrong? If it's nothing urgent I'll call you back in a while."

Lu Yao did not believe her. Why would she be exercising at this hour? Besides, her mother was always depressed these days. "Mom, where are you exercising? I'll come and find you."

"Don't come, it's a bit far," her mother whispered quickly.

Her mother's voice was low. Lu Yao heard someone shouting loudly in the background. "The customers have all left! Why aren't you clearing the table? Wasting time on a phone call!"

"Mom!" Lu Yao said, exhaling sharply. "Where are you? Tell me the address."

Lu Yao left her suitcases with the neighbor and gave her five hundred yuan. She took a taxi to the restaurant her mother had reluctantly told her about. The moment she entered, she saw her mother bent over, busy cleaning a table.

The wife of the first judge of Southern City, who had lived like a queen for most of her life, was now working as a waitress in a restaurant. Lu Yao felt a pang of sorrow in her heart. Frozen at the doorway, she could not even move her feet. "Mom..."

"Yao yao?" Mrs. Lu felt embarrassed to be seen by her daughter like this. She quickly cleaned the table and after a few words with her manager, signaled Lu Yao to follow her.

They talked in hushed tones in the corner. Lu Yao immediately noticed that her mother's left hand was swollen. She grabbed her arm and asked, "What's this?"

"It's nothing, just a burn."

Mrs. Lu tried her best to downplay the injury, but Lu Yao was having none of it. She dragged her mother out of the restaurant and rushed to the nearby hospital.

Her promptness was justified. The doctor said that it was a second-degree burn that would fester if not treated properly.

"Mom, didn't I tell you to stay at home?" Lu Yao said as they sat on one of the waiting chairs in the hospital corridor. She applied the prescribed medicine to her mother's wound, almost choking on her tears. "It's not like I won't help you with money."

"I have nothing to do at home. I can earn a few hundred dollars a day if I work at the restaurant," her mother whispered.

Mrs. Lu was also on the verge of tears. "If your father hadn't been so stupid, our family would have been fine. I wouldn't worry so much. I would have slept like a baby at night."

"You quit your job right now. I forbid you from stepping inside that restaurant again. I'll give you the money you need," Lu Yao said. "No matter how poor we get, I won't let you suffer. I will think of a solution to father's problem."

"Such a heavy burden... how can I let you carry it?" Her daughter's words relieved Mrs. Lu a little, but she was still worried sick. "Two million… We might as well let your dad rot in jail and not bother about him!"

Lu Yao knew that her mother did not mean that. She cared about her father but was furious at the same time. "Mom, I promise I'll arrange for the money before his hearing. Don't worry."

Mrs. Lu was from a good family. She had known Mr. Lu from the age of eighteen and married him at the tender age of twenty. He had always taken care of her. After giving birth to her daughter, Mrs. Lu had relied on her husband alone for any material concerns. When he got arrested, she had panicked fully. She cried every day. Luckily her daughter was calm enough.

Mrs. Lu nodded, not knowing what else to say.

After buying a week's worth of medicines, Lu Yao and her mother left the doctor. As soon as she stepped out of the elevator to the ground floor of the hospital, she saw something unexpected.