The Ninety-Ninth Divorce

"Liu Xingyuan, my, my best friend is right. You're simply not good enough for me."

"A woman like me deserves royalty, deserves a domineering prince, deserves someone better—not just a mere head of the Liu clan like you."

"So, let's get divorced."

"This time, I mean it. There's no turning back."

"Even if you kneel and beg me like before, I'll never agree to get back together with you."

When A Xin said these words, the various young ladies and maidservants in the tavern all folded their arms, quite amused, waiting for the next good show to unfold.

Like Liu Xingyuan's steward, they had witnessed far too many times how Liu Xingyuan always begged A Xin to take him back.

This time, they didn't think it would be any different.

But Liu Xingyuan suddenly felt exhausted.

Exhausted to death!

As though a burden of a thousand pounds had been pressed onto his shoulders.

Asking for a divorce again and again, begging for reconciliation again and again.

Ninety-nine times already!

He was spent, body and soul!

And at this moment, as he looked again at A Xin's face—which he had once thought possessed beauty that could topple cities and kingdoms—he suddenly felt it was nothing special. With his status, even if he couldn't find someone with A Xin's stunning looks, he could easily find plenty who were just slightly less beautiful.

If one couldn't compare to A Xin, what about several?

Why did he have to hang himself on this one crooked tree?

So Liu Xingyuan let out a slight breath.

And said, "Fine."

This "fine" wasn't very loud; in the tavern, he could barely hear it himself, yet it carried weight.

"What? What?"

A Xin thought she had misheard; even her drunkenness faded a bit. "Liu Xingyuan, what did you say?"

"I said fine." Liu Xingyuan said calmly, "I agree."

"You... you agree?"

"I agree." Liu Xingyuan's tone was light, but his attitude was extremely resolute. "However, it's not a divorce—I'm divorcing you."

"Our Liu clan is a major household on the Qingshou Plain, with countless servants and maids under our command. As the head of the clan, I manage everything. Marrying you, the daughter of a farming family, I don't allow you to propose a divorce."

"There's only me divorcing you—no such thing as a mutual divorce."

The more Liu Xingyuan spoke, the stronger and more determined his tone became, gradually taking on an irrefutable decisiveness and firmness—closer and closer to his usual demeanor when handling clan affairs, until the two merged into one.

"Now, do you hear clearly?"

A Xin stood frozen in place.

Her drunkenness had completely worn off.

This wasn't right. Shouldn't Liu Xingyuan be begging her to take him back?

How... did he agree to the divorce?

And... he wanted to divorce her?

Was she having a drunken hallucination?

Yes, it must be a hallucination.

So A Xin shouted harshly, "Fine, Liu Xingyuan, you said it. Don't you dare regret it and come begging me to take you back again."

"I'm telling you, I'll never pay you any attention ever again!"

A Xin unleashed her strongest attack.

But facing this imposing threat of "I'll never pay you any attention ever again," what had once terrified Liu Xingyuan now seemed utterly ridiculous.

He didn't even glance at A Xin. Instead, he swept his gaze over the stunned young ladies and maidservants around them.

His voice was low, his tone filled with undeniable authority. "Your families all depend on my Liu clan for their survival."

"And yet you dare to disrespect me time and again—no, not just time and again, but countless times—as though you don't hold the Liu clan in any regard at all."

"Hmph!"

"Well, go back and tell your fathers and brothers, tell the heads of your families, that from today onward, the Liu clan will no longer have any cooperation with your families."

"All previous collaborations are canceled as well."

"And you can add this: this is all entirely because of you."

Now it was the turn of those young ladies and maidservants to explode.

What did he mean by this? He was cutting off their families' livelihoods?!

If they went back and said this, wouldn't they be beaten half to death?

No, no, this wasn't like Liu Xingyuan at all. Had something gone wrong somewhere?

Was it...

A tactic of playing hard to get?

Given these young ladies' and maidservants' understanding, that was the only thing they could think of.

Playing hard to get!

So someone took the lead.

"Oh, our esteemed head of the Liu clan has changed his tactics? No more begging, just playing hard to get? Ha! Our A Xin might be a bit naive, but we're not. We won't let A Xin fall for this kind of trick."

With someone leading the way and prompting, the noise instantly erupted.

"Our A Xin is such a wonderful woman. For her to marry you was nothing short of your Liu family's ancestral graves emitting auspicious smoke. Now, instead of thinking how to treat our A Xin well, you come up with this kind of scheme? You've disappointed our A Xin so much."

"All those royal nobles and domineering princes pursuing A Xin never dared to use a tactic of playing hard to get on her. And you, just some insignificant head of the Liu clan, dare to use such a method? Let me tell you, our A Xin isn't going to fall for it."

A Xin also snapped out of her daze and immediately chimed in.

"That's right, I won't fall for it."

"Liu Xingyuan, your behavior tonight has really disappointed me. I swear, from now on, I will never forgive you again!"

A Xin shouted loudly, her voice reaching Liu Xingyuan's ears, but it grew fainter and fainter as Liu Xingyuan turned and strode out of the tavern.

At the door, he even gave an order, telling the tavern owner that from now on, none of the people currently inside were to be served there again.

The tavern owner didn't dare to defy Liu Xingyuan and immediately nodded in agreement.

Only then did Liu Xingyuan stride into the night.

He felt an unprecedented lightness all over his body, as though the great mountain pressing down on him had suddenly collapsed.

And the chain reaction—like a landslide or a tidal wave—that he had expected never came. In his heart, besides a faint sense of joy, there was not a hint of sadness.

"So letting go of A Xin is this simple. It seems I was just too caught up in it before."

Letting out a slight breath, Liu Xingyuan instructed the steward: "Return to the clan. Gather everyone. I have a major decision to announce."

"And be sure to avoid anyone from Pukou City."

The steward, long accustomed to Liu Xingyuan's side, immediately understood the unspoken meaning in these words. He looked up in shock. The young master, always cautious in everything...

This time he was making a decision so quickly?

So resolutely?

Unbelievable!

...

"Xingyuan, have you really decided this?"

Within the Liu clan, several elders felt Xingyuan's decision was somewhat hasty and asked one after another.

Liu Xingyuan didn't go into too many details about interests. Instead, he drew from his own personal experience and spoke a few words.

"Surrendering to General Zhang Shi and pledging allegiance to the Duke is for one thing only: to ensure that every eligible man in our Liu clan can find a wife and that no one in our clan need worry about household matters."

To be the head of the Liu clan, Liu Xingyuan knew exactly how to strike a chord. With one sentence, he pierced directly into everyone's hearts.

Yes, the Liu family clan was absolutely one of the top households in Qingshou Plain. But even for a powerful clan like theirs, many of the men within the clan were still unmarried.

This was all because in Yunjing, the betrothal gift prices were outrageously high, and on top of that, most women were far too capricious, making demands that sent chills down one’s spine—like even daring to pray for such things at a temple.

Not to mention that almost every household had family troubles they couldn’t handle. Every day was a mess, overwhelming and unbearable.

The vast majority of people simply couldn’t take it anymore.

Thus, Liu Xingyuan’s decision received unanimous support from the Liu family clan.

Immediately, members of the Liu clan each took up their duties: those who needed to work on calculating the sweet potato yield went off to do that right away; those who needed to inventory the estate to report to Zhang Shi hurriedly began counting; and those who needed to stall and fool the soldiers of Pukou City sprang into action.

Of course... Liu Xingyuan hadn’t forgotten his promise to A Xin, and even to A Xin’s close friends.

So, in a brief moment of leisure, he wrote a letter of divorce.

He also sent people door to door to announce the termination of all cooperation with the Liu family clan.

By daybreak, he personally led a group, carrying all the prepared materials, and headed straight for Zhang Shi’s military camp.

From afar, after spotting the camp, Liu Xingyuan, still mounted on his horse, felt a surge of lingering fear. He thought to himself: Good thing I came early to pledge allegiance. Otherwise, faced with such a majestic, disciplined army, once their horses charged in, the Liu family clan would be utterly finished.

“So, from this perspective, I have to thank A Xin. Without her ninety-nine divorces, I might never have found such resolve.”

“Would never have secured the Liu family clan’s safety!”

…

“Report!”

Inside the military camp, a personal guard rushed in to announce: “General, a group of people outside the camp seeks an audience with you. The leader claims to be Liu Xingyuan, the helm of the Liu family clan on Qingshou Plain.”

“Huh?”

Zhang Shi sprang up from his seat.

“Liu Xingyuan? Are you sure?”

“I’m sure!” The guard, aware of the situation, said: “I even specifically asked again. That man is indeed Liu Xingyuan, the helm of the Liu family clan on Qingshou Plain.”

“And this time, he’s brought all the clan’s account books, saying he’s come to surrender.”

Surrender!

Those two words struck straight into Zhang Shi’s heart. Almost involuntarily, his face lit up with joy, and a hint of disbelief gleamed in his eyes.

“So it really works, huh?”

“It’s really this effective?”

“Damn, things actually ended up this simple. No wonder that reckless bastard Wang Ming could be undefeated in battle?”

“Turns out he really did nothing!”

Zhang Shi’s understanding of Wang Ming grew deeper.

“Quick, call them in.”

Before long, Liu Xingyuan and the others arrived.

Just as Liu Xingyuan was about to kneel and surrender, Zhang Shi helped him up, smiling: “Pledge allegiance is fine; why say surrender? I’m thrilled that you’re willing to come.”

He had Liu Xingyuan sit down, then took the account books handed over by Liu Xingyuan, reading them while listening to Liu Xingyuan’s report.

Once Liu Xingyuan had finished speaking, Zhang Shi even took the time to ask more about Liu Xingyuan’s wife, wanting to understand how much Liu Xingyuan’s decision to pledge allegiance was influenced by his romance.

After reading through the account books, hearing Liu Xingyuan’s report on behalf of the Liu clan, and figuring out that Liu Xingyuan’s choice to come was largely due to his wife A Xin—

Zhang Shi’s eyes shone with brilliance!

“Indeed, indeed...”

“It really is because of love!”

“Haha, good, good, and good again!”

Zhang Shi’s heart was ecstatic; the smile on his lips was hard to suppress.

His confidence also soared.

And this time, with concrete actions yielding fruitful results, the principles he had mindlessly adhered to before began to loosen, crumble, and in an unconscious shift, transform into a brand-new understanding.

It also brought a monumental change to his overall demeanor.

He stood up and said: “Great, then there’s no time to waste. Let’s head to the Liu family clan now.”

“General Zhang Shi...” Liu Xingyuan quickly reminded him: “There are still some soldiers from Pukou City there...”

Before Liu Xingyuan could finish, Zhang Shi waved his hand grandly: “Just rabble, not worth mentioning. I’ll dispatch a cavalry unit ahead to root out that minor problem for you.”

With this newly forming system of understanding, Zhang Shi didn’t overwrite his past combat experience but instead gradually blended them together, moving closer and closer to the state that Ren Tianye called “The art of war lies in a single mind.”

At such a moment, he would naturally employ his lightning-fast tactics.

Even if he wasn’t going personally, his personal guards dealing with a few scattered soldiers from Pukou City was a simple task.

And so, by the time they arrived, the Liu family clan had been fully taken over by Zhang Shi. Zhang Shi’s original targets—the sweet potatoes—were also entirely in his grasp!

Zhang Shi was overjoyed, and Liu Xingyuan beamed as well. But for some, there was only despair.

“Young master...” A steward ran over and said: “The families of those people have come, bringing their young misses and maids to apologize bare-backed and beg you to give them a way out.”

“Huh?”

Liu Xingyuan raised an eyebrow slightly.

They’re coming already?

Ha, what a joke.

These families had always relied on the Liu family clan. You could say the Liu clan was their lifeline. But none of them were blind—they all sat by while their own young misses and maids hurled harsh words at him, mocking and ridiculing him.

Before, they all pretended not to see it, even using it as gossip over tea.

Now that he’d given up on A Xin, and cut ties with them—

Panicked?

Where were they when it mattered?

Liu Xingyuan’s heart turned cold as iron.

Still, under the current circumstances, he couldn’t handle this on his own whim; at the very least, he needed General Zhang Shi’s approval.

Zhang Shi was gazing at the vast piles of sweet potatoes.

He had originally thought that taking Qingshou Plain would weaken Pukou City, cutting off its water and food supplies to fulfill the siege plan assigned by the duke.

But now, with these unexpected sweet potatoes, they could greatly supplement the army’s provisions.

In fact, counting what they got from Gu Qing plus these sweet potatoes from Qingshou Plain, even if the army dawdled a few extra days, they’d have no worries about food supplies.

With such achievements, Zhang Shi looked upon Liu Xingyuan with great favor.

And since Zhang Shi had already learned what happened with Liu Xingyuan earlier—well, needless to say, he would take charge on Liu Xingyuan’s behalf.

So he ordered: “Bring those people here.”

“Yes.”

The steward dared not delay; he hurried off to fetch them.

…