CH 47.2

Fu Zheng questioned her closely on the details, but Ding Hui's response remained the same. "I'm really not purposefully hiding anything from you. I promised to help Shu Ning, so I'm definitely going to tell you everything I know. Yu Feiyuan, how shall I put it, is just an ordinary employee. There's nothing outstanding about him, but also nothing to criticize."

"What about the emotional aspect? Is Yu Feiyuan having an affair with any colleagues? Is he in too close of contact with any other women?"

In custody disputes, to prove that the other side wasn't suitable to raise a child, it was also possible to use the cheating angle. Fu Zheng meticulously asked all the questions Ning Wan had wanted to know the answers to.

Unfortunately, Ding Hui answered in the negative. "No, he has neither a close opposite-sex nor same-sex friend in the company. In short, he's quite ordinary. There's nothing unusual about him."

Ding Hui's bearing was natural, and her expression didn't look feigned. It seemed that it might be impossible to find a breakthrough at work.

Just as Ning Wan and Fu Zheng were about to put away their recording pens, Ding Hui  bit her lip, as if hesitant to speak. Catching it Ning Wan said almost immediately, "Is there anything else you wanted to add?"

Ding Hui glanced at the recording pen, and sure enough, seemed to struggle to make a decision.

Understanding, Ning Wan had Fu Zheng turn off his recording pen. "Is what you would like to say inconvenient to be recorded?"

Seeing that the recorder had been turned off, Ding Hui seemed to relax. "Nothing important, but maybe just my own read on the situation. I could be biased."

She pursed her lips. "I don't know if it's appropriate for me to say these things, and I hope you won't tell Shu Ning about them. I'm not a party in the lawsuit, so I can't say whether the accusation of domestic violence is true or false, but it's not surprising to me that they're divorcing."

"Why so?"

"Although Yu Feiyuan is dedicated and has been with the company for a long time, to tell the truth he's not as accomplished as Shu Ning. It wasn't apparent in the past, but when you watch Shu Ning you really feel like she was born to work at our company. She has a true gift for mechanics. That's not to say that Yu Feiyuan is bad; he's very serious about his work, but he lacks Shu Ning's ingenuity. He's a practical and logical worker but... how can I put it?"

Ding Hui paused. "Shu Ning is like a gifted student who is both smart and conscientious, while Yu Feiyuan is a diligent but mediocre student. They graduated from the same school, and were mentored by the same advisor, but the gap in talent is obvious. It's like what they say about the gap between a genius and an ordinary person. No matter how hard they work, ordinary people can never catch up with a genius."

Fu Zheng glanced at Ding Hui. "But what does this have to do with their marriage? Shu Ning seems to have a very gentle personality. Even if she's excellent at work, it shouldn't put pressure on Yu Feiyuan. Since she isn't the aggressive type, it isn't as though this is a matchup between a strong woman and a weak man. After all, she actually listens to Yu Feiyuan."

"No, there's no problems with Shu Ning at all. It's Yu Feiyuan with the problem... I thought I was just being over-sensitive, but now in hindsight, I feel like there were some subtleties that were overlooked."

Ding Hui sipped her tea. "In the past when us colleagues praised Shu Ning, Yu Feiyuan would always say, 'Don't praise her. Before she started working she was a full-time housewife, her ideas are too fanciful'... stuff like that. When others praised her he would always say things like this, but if she made a mistake, while everyone was comforting her he would criticize her harshly, sometimes even for little mistakes that no one else noticed. I didn't think much of it at first. It seemed to me that perhaps he had great expectations for his wife, so he was strict with her on purpose. But now that I think about it... Even though he's obviously very nice to any other colleague, he's a little harsh on his wife... "

Ning Wan thought of Yu Feiyuan's attitude towards Shu Ning when she had wanted to send out her resume. She suggested abruptly, "Do you feel like he's suppressing Shu Ning?"

"Yes!" Ding Hui said as if she had had a sudden realization. "That's exactly the feeling. When other people praise her, he plays down her excellence as if to keep her from being proud; when she makes a mistake, he exaggerates as if he wants everyone to know. Its always made me feel as if Yu Feiyuan was actually jealous of Shu Ning, that he can't bear to see anything good happen to her because the both of them are in the same field, and when she's there, his lack of ability is apparent by comparison."

That was exactly it. It was obvious that Yu Feiyuan had worked with Ding Hui for far longer, but in her impression of them as a person, Ding Hui was overflowing with praise for Shu Ning, while Yu Feiyuan was just a vague-faced colleague who had no obvious faults.

"I'm not the only one who thinks so. I've heard several of our colleagues mention it. Even our director thinks that Shu Ning is amazing. If she hadn't resigned, they would have made an exception and given her a promotion this year. Meanwhile Yu Feiyuan, who has been with the company for many years, still hasn't been promoted yet. When the opportunity came around, he was actually in the running since he was hardworking and had been with us for a while. But then Shu Ning came along, who was more capable than he was. Even though she hasn't been with us long, she managed to pinpoint the crux of the issues with several products that had had a lot of complaints. It was a significant accomplishment. On top of that, she has a mild temper, a great talent, and is universally praised among the other employees. The director decided that she would get the promotion."

"Yu Feiyuan and Shu Ning belong to the same department, so if Shu Ning gets promoted, it's impossible to promote Yu Feiyuan. But we didn't take it seriously. We even joked that since they were husband and wife anyway, it wasn't like they were losing out on anything."

Ning Wan felt that she had finally caught the key thread from among the messy clues. "So after Shu Ning resigned, Yu Feiyuan was promoted?"

"Yes," Ding Hui said, then added with some embarrassment, "I'm sorry, this is all just my wild guess. Every family has their own difficulties. Only they know the ins and outs of their matters..."

It really was a delicate matter, as she had said. However, Ning Wan felt a conjecture gradually coming together in her heart. Shu Ning had always thought that Yu Feiyuan didn't want her to work due to male chauvinism, because of the idea that men should support their families, and women should not leave the home to earn money. But... was it possible that Yu Feiyuan's real motive was not wanting Shu Ning, who was in his same discipline yet more capable than he, to appear in the workplace?

If feelings like jealousy were possible between sisters, then why not between husband and wife?

From the details of the past that Shu Ning had shared, she and Yu Feiyuan had undoubtedly once been happily in love, but had Yu Feiyuan's love also contained jealousy of Shu Ning's brilliance? Was that why he had always suppressed her, whether intentionally or unintentionally, as if to cut off her wings and forever imprison her in the trap of parenthood?

Ding Hui was obviously full of regret over Shu Ning's resignation. "To be honest, it's an absolute waste that a talent like Shu Ning isn't working in this industry. When I first heard that she was going to resign and return to being a housewife, I advised her strongly against it. She and I got married at about the same age and had children around the same time. But the rewards for persevering are so great. At least I have my own foothold and career, instead of my life revolving everyday around a husband and children in the same one-third of an acre1."

"A person isn't made to just do nothing. Her child is still young right now, so she still has a lot to do, but when her child is older and has her own world and circle and doesn't need her so much, what will she do all day every day? She's a talented woman who is able to keep up with the pace of work even coming back at this age, but in a few more years she won't be able to come back even if she wants to..."

She sounded both regretful while also thanking her lucky stars. "Thankfully my husband is very supportive of my career. When I'm busy working overtime, he takes care of the kids. Shu Ning has always said that because she's a woman, she needs to help out Yu Feiyuan, but doesn't marriage mean helping each other? Why does it feel like she's always the one considering Yu Feiyuan's feelings and choices? If her marriage with Yu Feiyuan means that she's forced to sacrifice herself, then to be honest it's really not a good marriage, whether Yu Feiyuan is violent or not."

Ding Hui didn't give off as gentle a feeling as Shu Ning. However, she was more rational than Shu Ning, her thoughts clearer. She was thorough and capable, knowing what she wanted and how to live for herself. She had made a completely different choice from Shu Ning, and gotten a completely different life.

She glanced at the time and smiled at Ning Wan and Fu Zheng. "Lunch break is almost over. Please contact me if you have any follow-up questions. I have to head back to work now."

Although they had spoken with with Ding Hui for a long time, they hadn't actually gotten much valuable evidence pertaining to the custody dispute. From her words, it wasn't difficult to infer that Yu Feiyuan was usually quite 'normal'. He might not have much sense of existence, but he felt all right.

"Do we still need to go to Shu Ning and Yu Feiyuan's school?" Fu Zheng pursed his lips. "Should we change our way of thinking and think of some other approach?"

It was a good point, but Ning Wan decided to go to the school anyway. She still had a few things to confirm.

Shu Ning and Yu Feiyuan had graduated from a top university in Rong City, and their advisor had been Gu Yejun, a household name in the field of mechanical engineering.

Ning Wan gave Shu Ning a call and asked, "Could you set up an appointment with Professor Gu for us? There are a few things we'd like to look into from that side too."

But Shu Ning, who hadn't hesitated much about Ding Hui, refused. "I've already been graduated for years. Professor Gu probably doesn't even remember me, and is what happened in my student days really useful for my current situation? Professor Gu is very busy, and I don't think he'll receive you... Besides, I don't want my teacher to know about my divorce from Feiyuan. After all, he can't possibly have any evidence that would help me fight for custody."

Her words were reasonable, but they weren't what Ning Wan wanted to know. She had a very important guess that needed to be confirmed. But without a referral from Shu Ning, she wouldn't be able to say the real reason she was there out of respect for Shu Ning's privacy, so it would be even harder to get reliable information from Gu Yejun.

Just as she was hesitating on whether to give up going to the school, Fu Zheng, who was with her, said, "Since you feel the need to go, let's give it a go." His gaze was gentle. "I'll go with you."

Fu Zheng had a nice voice, bewitching and magnetic, and Ning Wan was thrown off-balance. However, the way he said this, telling her to trust her intuition, and the four words 'I'll go with you' all made her heart beat faster. Even though she was obviously out handling a case, it seemed as though like she had done something improper.

She shook off the foolish ideas in her head, cleared her throat, pretended to be calm and said, "Then let's go. Whether Professor Gu is willing or not, at least we'll have tried."

If they did their best, even if they didn't get the information they wanted, they would at least have a clear conscience.