Outside the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau.
Through the rain, Shen Ji finally saw Su Sui, who had arrived with an umbrella.
She stood before him, dressed in bright high heels and a beige trench coat. Even though she had just gotten off work, her white shirt and suit underneath were meticulously tidy.
Perhaps due to her natural beauty, her long, raven-black hair reflected the neon lights of the building, making it gleam brightly.
Although Shen Ji had long grown tired of her attire, the gray of the rainy day couldn't diminish her beauty in the slightest.
“Do you know I called you over twenty times and waited for you here for over an hour for nothing?”
“The company suddenly had foreign guests who needed me to accompany them as a translator, and my phone ran out of battery.”
“How long has it been, Su Sui? Can you stop always using work as an excuse?” Shen Ji was completely unappreciative.
Su Sui grew angry: “Aren’t these facts? Do I not need to work overtime? Do I not want to come earlier? Do you know how busy I am every day?”
“No matter how busy you are, you have to keep your word! And you didn’t even apologize just now!”
Su Sui hesitated for a moment while closing her umbrella, her eyes flickering for two seconds, “...Sorry!”
“Can you show some sincerity?!”
“Ha? Did you ever listen seriously to what I said when I came home from work? You only know how to look at your phone.”
Shen Ji was even more unappreciative: “You keep repeating the same thing over and over; how can I not be annoyed?”
“If you hadn’t been staying home all day fiddling with your novels after you lost your job, would I keep nagging you?!”
“I was doing that to make money!”
“Then where’s the money?!”
“......”
Shen Ji fell silent, and Su Sui also pursed her lips, hugging her left arm with her right hand.
Arguments like today had been going on for two full years between them.
Having known each other for over twenty years, and even getting their marriage certificate during university, they found it hard to imagine how they had reached this point.
“Besides, haven’t you ever annoyed me...?”
“Was I annoying you on purpose?” Shen Ji retorted.
“Then why did your phone keep ringing during work hours?”
“And that senior colleague at your company keeps hovering around you. How could I not call you multiple times at night?”
“I never have any non-work-related interactions with other men. Can you stop overthinking things?!”
“Then can you please show some sincerity?! Not coming home at night, do you think I can not overthink it?!”
“That’s work! Work!”
He and Su Sui were both from Pidu, Chengdu. At that time, Pidu was still called Pixian.
Yes, the Pixian of Pixian Doubanjiang.
They grew up together in the alleys of Pitong Street, childhood sweethearts who saw each other constantly. They chased dragonflies together, scooped up tadpoles, endured scoldings and punishments together, and even bathed in the Qing River together.
They even secretly swapped underwear.
Upon graduation, because Su Sui’s parents strongly disagreed, they even went behind their parents’ backs to the Civil Affairs Bureau and secretly obtained their marriage certificate.
There was no bride price, no dowry, not even a wedding banquet.
Shen Ji firmly believed he would grow old with her.
But ever since the pandemic ended the year before last, everything changed.
That year, Su Sui graduated with a master's degree from a 211 foreign language university and became a management trainee at a foreign company, with an initial salary three times his highest point. As for him, because he had been infected three times, his condition had been poor. Not long after returning to work, his leader, a game planner, approached him for a talk—
“Planner Shen, you know the company’s situation recently; the overall outlook isn’t great.”
“Planner Shen certainly has ability, but it might not be a good fit for the current position.”
“This isn’t Planner Shen’s problem; it’s a need for company strategic adjustment.”
And then...
He was fired.
And because the 2N compensation was not in place, he ended up suing the company, which dragged on for a full year.
Afterward, he struggled to find work due to his educational background, only able to lower his expectations and become a planning assistant, running errands and doing hard labor for eight thousand a month.
As a result, he worked overtime every night, leaving him physically and mentally exhausted.
He couldn't stand this life anymore and dropped out to write online novels at home.
Their conflicts truly began at this time.
Perhaps they had been together for too long and had grown tired, weary, and bored.
Or perhaps she had seen too much in the two years since entering society; their communication gradually fell out of sync, their circles no longer intersected, and the dwindling communication combined with the fading novelty of their newlywed life caused their relationship to plummet to an all-time low due to trivial arguments.
Su Sui held her forehead, “Shen Ji... why do you think I’m so busy? I never ask you to do anything; you can stay home and play all day, but can you just be a bit more normal?”
Ironically, such a comforting remark struck a sore spot for Shen Ji.
These pains were still bearable, but what was most intolerable was her lack of understanding towards him for over twenty years.
If he could still find a good job.
If effort still worked for him, who wouldn't want to try?
As a man, how many are willing to hide behind their wives?
But these...
Just these simple things, she didn't understand.
He became very angry: “Then what do you think I’m staying up all night thinking about?!”
“Then why isn’t there any result?! Aren’t we just trying to get a better house here?!”
“Why is it that all you ever see now is the house?!”
“Then what are we working ourselves to death for?!”
“For life! But life is never centered around a house! It’s not all about the house!”
“But after all these years of effort, all we have here is this house!”
Su Sui bit her lip, glaring at him, “I just hope you can be more serious. Look at you, staying home all day writing novels, what have you become?!”
“What’s wrong with me writing novels? Haven’t I cooked at home?! Haven’t I cleaned?! Don’t I want to pick you up?! You’ve never gotten off work on time! You’ve never had a meal with me on time! So why should I cook? To watch a big table of dishes get cold all by myself?!
“Every time I go to pick you up, you always say you still have work, and then you make me go back! I never said I wanted you to bear the mortgage alone! I supported you through your master’s degree! Why do you think I can’t find a job?!! Can’t you have a little patience? Don’t I want to...!”
A surge of anger rushed to Shen Ji’s head; his teeth chattered, and his hands clenched.
But seeing her stubborn look now, and thinking of the countless arguments they had had over the past few years, Shen Ji deflated.
“Forget it! I’m too lazy to say so much to you. I figured it out long ago; without you now, I’ll only live better. You can go live with your house from now on! Divorce!”
“Divorce... If you want a divorce, then divorce!” Su Sui said, tears welling up, looking as if she was about to cry, “Shen Ji, even if I lived another lifetime, I wouldn’t care about you! Don’t you dare ask me for anything in the future!”
“Don’t be crazy! Another lifetime? I’d have to be blind to marry you again in another lifetime!”
Arguments like these had accompanied them for two full years; under constant contention, life was left with nothing but complaints.
It wasn’t that they hadn’t tried to salvage it.
But with one person dropping out to tinker with novels at home and the other dedicating most of her attention to her career, how could two people whose paths barely intersected return to the feelings of their childhood?
Shen Ji was tired, truly tired.
......
The two walked straight into the Civil Affairs Bureau.
The hall was crowded; over a dozen couples sat on benches in front of the divorce window, waiting. Almost all were young people, completely silent. The air, tinged with the chill of the rainy day, was filled with an indescribable sense of detachment.
And this was after they had waited in line for over a month to get this opportunity.
These days, even getting a divorce required a lottery.
Su Sui and Shen Ji waited for a long time, finally stopping in front of the window.
The staff member was an older woman. She looked up at them, her tone flat:
“Divorce registration, is that right?”
Shen Ji didn’t hear clearly at first, so the Civil Affairs Bureau aunt repeated it in broken Mandarin.
“Yes.”
“Mhm.” Su Sui replied softly, her voice a little hoarse.
The Civil Affairs Bureau aunt handed them two forms, gesturing for them to fill them out.
The two quickly completed the forms. The aunt took the materials, checked them carefully, and then looked down and asked, “Did you bring the divorce agreement?”
Shen Ji took a document from his bag and handed it to the staff member.
Most of the anger from their earlier quarrel had dissipated. At this moment, Su Sui glanced at the agreement, her expression complex.
It clearly stated: the house with the unpaid loan would go to her, the car to him, and the savings would be split equally.
Their marriage was thus clearly divided by a piece of paper.
“Voluntary divorce, is that right?”
“Yes.”
“It is.”
They answered one after another.
“How long have you known each other? Suddenly decided to get a divorce,” the Civil Affairs Bureau aunt asked suddenly, her eyes scanning the document.
“Over 20 years, I guess…” Su Sui answered subconsciously.
The Civil Affairs Bureau aunt, who had been looking down, immediately looked at them again, then shook her head, stamping the document while muttering with some emotion, “Young people these days, playing together naked since childhood, and they still end up at the divorce registration office.”
“Are you sure you want a divorce?” the aunt asked again.
Both Su Sui and Shen Ji nodded, Su Sui a little slower.
The aunt didn't try to dissuade them. After stamping, she said as a matter of routine:
“There’s a thirty-day cooling-off period. If both parties still agree to divorce after thirty days, then come back to get the divorce certificate.”
“We still have to wait thirty days to get it?”
“It’s to prevent young people from making rash decisions and getting a divorce just because of a fight.”
“Huh?” Su Sui was stunned for a moment, “I, he and I are not... We’ve been arguing for two years already.”
The aunt nodded, seemingly having seen too much, and showed little interest in their marital life.
“Take your ID card, household registration booklet, and photocopies, and come back in thirty days.”
Su Sui nodded, took the divorce agreement, and softly said, "Thank you," then stared at the signatures of "Su Sui" and "Shen Ji" at the bottom.
Shen Ji stood up and walked directly out of the civil affairs bureau.
......
Standing on the steps at the entrance, he came under the rain-soaked eaves.
Shen Ji looked up at the falling rain.
They say marriage is the graveyard of love, and that's absolutely true.
Aside from the first year, he had never been happy in the subsequent years.
He had no time to play games, was scolded for working at home, the annoying mortgage piled up like mountains, and the indifference in the living room was like an iceberg.
The world of two gradually became the loneliness of one.
He wanted to find his past happiness, but found that both of them had long been drowned by life, work, and the mortgage.
At this moment, divorced, he now felt a complete... wonderful sensation.
The feeling of freedom.
......
Shen Ji suddenly felt a gaze behind him, and when he turned his head, he found Su Sui, holding the divorce agreement, standing above him. She had been staring at him, her eyes complex, and her thin lips had been moving slightly, as if she was saying something.
She looked at him, and he looked at her.
The two stood there, one above the other, gazing at each other.
Neither of them spoke first, seemingly waiting for the other to break the silence.
"What are you looking at me for?"
Upon hearing this, Su Sui turned her head away, pouted, and whispered, "Who cares to look at a scoundrel like you? I wish I could be further away from you..."
"You think I care to see you, huh!" Shen Ji retorted angrily, also in Sichuan dialect.
After speaking, Shen Ji suddenly noticed that Su Sui's fingers had been clutching the divorce agreement since earlier.
"Just now... did you want to say something to me?"
"No, it's just your illusion."
"Really an illusion?"
"Stop talking nonsense, we're already divorced... what's the point of saying all this...!"
"Alright."
With the pressure gone, Shen Ji felt much more cheerful. He waved his hand, "Anyway, from now on, we owe each other nothing. The rain will definitely get heavier soon, so you should go home early. Don't catch another cold and have a fever for ten days or half a month; your health isn't good to begin with."
Su Sui was quiet for a long time, then looked up and asked him, "Then... what about you? I remember you always caught colds too..."
"Oh, I'm surprised you still remember I always caught colds."
Su Sui didn't answer. Seeing this, Shen Ji didn't retort further, and calmly said, "I'll sleep at an internet cafe. I'll have someone collect my things the day after tomorrow. I'm sure you wouldn't want to see me in the house anyway, so as not to fill the house with your resentment."
"......"
Su Sui stared at him, saying nothing more.
"Never see you again. Oh, no, that should be said after 30 days."
After speaking, Shen Ji glanced at the sky again, and without caring how heavy the rain was, he walked out, waving his hand behind him, without looking back.
Su Sui stood at the entrance, holding the divorce agreement, watching his rapidly receding back.
......
The rain was heavy.
The street was full of pedestrians and tourists, their usual ordinary figures becoming increasingly blurry and indistinct in the falling rain.
Shen Ji was contemplating his next path.
Anyway, he was going to continue writing novels.
This current book, which he had prepared for over half a year, had just been published recently.
The title was "magic codex," a Western fantasy in another world.
As for this game planning stuff...
Let whoever wants to be a planner be one.
High benefits made leaders unhappy, low benefits made players curse, and neither high nor low benefits—who would play your game then?!
The biggest use for a planner was to be thrown out as a scapegoat when the game exploded.
For example, when he was dismissed, it was because a slightly overweight female colleague from the writing team wanted to insert a handsome guy she liked into the game as a supporting character.
And she herself was the prototype for the female character to be released in the next version.
Male players certainly wouldn't know that the character they'd have to pay for and love in the next version was designed based on her, nor would they expect that this female character would wildly praise and admire that male supporting character in the next version—"Brother XX is amazing," "Brother XX, you're here."
Not to mention bringing in personal preferences, wasn't this getting the priorities wrong?
Shen Ji immediately realized this situation and tried to communicate with the writing team, but was rejected.
He reported the situation to the newly appointed lead planner, who also thought there was no problem, after all, she also thought the male supporting character was designed very handsomely and that players would like him.
Please, lead planner, do you want to see who our game's main audience is? Can this work?
As expected.
The game exploded in the next version, with a large number of players shouting slogans of abandoning the game.
And only he went live to bow and apologize.
"Our company treats everyone as people, which is why we're coming to apologize live!"
Then, in the live stream, rows upon rows of comments told him to get lost.
After returning to work after the pandemic, he really did lose his job...
Compared to that, writing novels didn't involve so many external forces.
He could use his experience as a planner, and he didn't have to do things he didn't want to do, or watch a bunch of useless gluttons who did nothing but point fingers.
Shen Ji walked towards the parking lot, all the way to the traffic light intersection.
From this road onwards, the crowd had thinned, and the road began to widen.
The corner of his eye suddenly caught sight of Su Sui still following behind him.
In the rain, she held an umbrella, standing under a streetlamp by the roadside, her graceful reflection shimmering in the puddles at her feet.
"......"
This was nothing, as she also took this road to go home.
Perhaps it was Shen Ji's illusion, but in the brief moment he turned back, the rippling water surface actually reflected two Su Suis: one was an adult woman in a white dress suit, about to become a senior executive at a foreign company; the other was a little girl wearing a Pitong Elementary School uniform, climbing over Shen Ji's fence in the heavy rain...
He was a little dazed.
When did it start?
That girl who once stood side by side on the same starting line, holding hands tightly and running together, had become incredibly unfamiliar.
Shen Ji looked at the rain and thought carefully.
It should have been when they first came to this city, right?
From the moment they got into different universities, their life trajectories began to diverge more and more in their daily lives.
Was he not working hard enough?
He clearly struggled upwards step by step, working until his back couldn't straighten and he couldn't stop urinating, yet he always struggled at the bottom.
Was he not trying hard enough?
He clearly studied system design, numerical balance, plot design, and player preferences over and over again to be a good game planner, yet he only ended up as a scapegoat.
The year Su Sui chose to pursue her master's degree after college, he worked to support her choice.
But in the end, what he got in return was her neglect and misunderstanding after she became busy with work...
Yes, she was busy with work, and her work pressure was also high.
But for over twenty years of emotional connection, if even she didn't understand him, what reason did he have left to believe in life, to believe in love?
Shen Ji stood with his hands in his pockets, looking at the rain. On the utility pole of the convenience store around the corner, a faded recruitment ad for an electronics factory was pasted, and the words "Happiness is fought for!" were dripping with water.
He walked over, suddenly exerted force, tore off the words "Happiness," crumpled them in his hand, and casually threw them into the non-recyclable trash can.
Shen Ji had lived a busy life here for so many years and had roughly figured it out.
There's nothing wrong with being ordinary.
But in an international metropolis like Shanghai, being ordinary... is itself a mistake.
If he could, he really wanted to start over, just as Su Sui had said earlier—
A truck suddenly sped from the side.
The strong light, accompanied by a continuous horn, pierced through the rain, so bright that Shen Ji couldn't open his eyes.
Someone seemed to be calling from behind, but the horn mixed with the rain, and Shen Ji really couldn't hear clearly. Anyway, by the time he reacted, the large truck had rapidly swept through the rain, and in an instant, it was in front of him.
His pupils began to dilate.
For some reason, Shen Ji suddenly remembered Su Sui's first attempt at making soup. The pig trotters soup was boiling on the induction cooker, fogging up the windows of the rental apartment.
"A'Ji, A'Ji! Quick, try the pig trotters soup I made! To celebrate our happy new marriage!"
Boom!
The ear-piercing screech of brake pads overlapped with the crisp sound of a pot lid falling that year. He flew up like a sycamore leaf torn by the wind, and the moment the back of his head hit the streetlight base, countless shattering sounds flooded his ear canals—
"You can't pull yourself together!" The scolding voice was deafening.
"Shen Dog, get lost! Shen Dog, get lost!" The live stream comments exploded in his skull.
"Watch out, it's hot!" Twenty-year-old Su Sui jumped barefoot over the spilled soup stains.
"Monthly manuscript fee: 1582.36 yuan" The author's backend notification was bright red.
"Brother Ji! Catch me!" Fifth-grade Su Sui leaped down from the wall...
"A'Ji!!!"
......
In the spreading pool of blood on the asphalt road, his gaze solidified.
He seemed to see his novel dissolving from his flying phone, the characters turning into tadpoles swimming into the depths of the accumulated water, flowing before his eyes, and there, inexplicably, lay Su Sui's blood-stained silver bangle, its inner rim reflecting the truck's headlights, illuminating the inscription above: "Shen Ji Su Sui Forever United."
Shen Ji suspected he was mistaken; how could the characters of his novel flow downwards? He clearly wrote web novels.
And how could Su Sui's bangle be in the puddle in front, even glowing...?
Wasn't it on her wrist...?
But he could no longer think. By the time the ambulance siren tore through the rain, he was already lying on the ground... without a single breath left.
