Chapter 1: What the Hell is the Midlife Comeback System?
Chapter 1: Chapter 1: What the Hell is the Midlife Comeback System?
In July 2024, the weather in Mengzhong City was a bit sweltering.
A man and a woman sat closely together at a small round table outside a milk tea shop. The man still had a bit of youthful handsomeness, while the woman was dressed in an exquisitely charming manner.
The girl was the first to speak. "I discussed it with my mom."
Zhang Yan glanced at his girlfriend, Cheng Lu, and asked nervously, "What did she say?"
"My mom said she isn’t entirely opposed to our marriage, but you have to agree to all her conditions."
"What conditions?"
Cheng Lu took a sip of her milk tea to clear her throat before speaking unhurriedly.
"Thirty-six thousand for the traditional gold jewelry, twenty thousand for the diamond ring, fifteen thousand for the wedding photos, eight thousand for the getting-in-the-car fee, eight thousand for the getting-out-of-the-car fee, ten thousand for the car-escorting fee, twenty thousand for the threshold-crossing fee, and fifty thousand for the address-changing fee.
"When my brother escorts me out of the house, you have to give him a big red envelope. Fifty thousand will do, no need for too much.
"As for the eight bridal escorts, three hundred each is fine."
Those cold numbers completely drained Zhang Yan’s excitement. He asked bitterly, "Baby, is there anything else?"
Cheng Lu rolled her eyes slightly. "That’s all for the miscellaneous stuff for now. Oh, and the bride price. My mom said two hundred and eighty-eight thousand, and not a penny less."
Seeing her boyfriend’s face suddenly turn deathly pale, she quickly added, "But I pleaded and begged her all night, and finally got her to lower it to one hundred and eighty-eight thousand. Look, baby, I haven’t even married into your family yet, and I’m already saving money for you. Don’t I love you so much?"
Seeing his girlfriend "siding with him" to save him a hundred thousand, the hopelessly love-struck Zhang Yan actually felt a little touched.
Right at that moment, a sudden sound echoed in his mind—DING!
[At twenty-two, you took the bankbook your parents carefully handed you, got married, and took out a loan to buy a house.]
[You only found out later that it was their life savings, scraped together by selling their old house and emptying all their accounts. Afterward, they shamelessly squeezed into a relative’s home, living as unwelcome guests at the mercy of others’ moods every day.]
[This year marked the beginning of your tragic life.]
[After getting married, the workaholic in you strove to pay off the mortgage early. You came home later and later, and arguments with your wife became increasingly frequent. The following year, your wife gave birth to a daughter.]
[You worked harder and harder. Because you trusted your wife completely, you took on all the long-term business trips with generous allowances that others refused, hoping to buy a house for your parents soon. Three years later, your wife gave birth to another daughter.]
[The mounting expenses made it impossible for you to save money. But facing your wife and daughters, it was hard to say no, so you could only push yourself harder.]
[Ten years later, Cheng Lu gave birth to a third daughter for you. You, who had to ask your wife for cigarette money all year round, had completely lost hope of giving your parents a good life again. But looking at your newborn daughter—your own flesh and blood after all—you gritted your teeth and endured the hardship.]
[At thirty-eight, riddled with occupational diseases, you finally noticed your wife’s abnormal behavior. After a paternity test, you discovered that none of the three children were yours!]
[When you confronted her, your wife berated you: "You value bloodlines too much, you’re worse than an animal!" If you wanted a divorce, she demanded you pay child support and take half of your assets.]
[Reaching middle age, you were left with almost nothing. Filled with extreme despair, you even considered ending it all.]
[The Midlife Comeback System has loaded successfully.]
[System Activation Task: Immediately and resolutely divorce your wife, Cheng Lu, to start your comeback and new life.]
[Reward: 3,000,000 yuan, and unlocking other System functions.]
Absorbing the information in his mind, Zhang Yan froze.
Married for sixteen years, raising three kids, and none of them were his?! He had worked his fingers to the bone all those years, ruining his health, only to be raising someone else’s children?!
A rush of hot blood surged to his head, practically making his hair stand on end. But then, he paused again.
"Wait, I’m only twenty-two, fresh out of college! Is this my future? Brother Tongzi, did you arrive a bit too early?" he thought.
Seeing her boyfriend staying silent, Cheng Lu grew somewhat dissatisfied. "What are you thinking about? I’m talking about serious business here. Are you even listening to me?!"
Zhang Yan turned his head and looked at the girlfriend he had been dating for just a year.
Although Cheng Lu wasn’t quite a campus belle-level goddess, she was undeniably pretty—more than enough to be considered a class or department belle. Coupled with her excellent fashion sense and her bag of tricks for teasing young men, she had no shortage of simps fawning over her.
During their senior year, she had broken up with her ex-boyfriend for some unknown reason. Relying on his handsome looks, thoughtfulness, gentleness, and his determination to dump most of his living expenses into courting her, Zhang Yan finally stood out from Cheng Lu’s crowd of suitors.
He had often felt smug about it, considering himself a winner in life for snatching the goddess away from so many competitors.
But now, looking at his girlfriend again, his feelings were much more complicated. The shocking information from the system acted like a bucket of cold water poured over the love-struck Zhang Yan’s head.
He wondered if she was really that kind of person.
However, they had nearly a year of history together. Besides, those events were all in the future and hadn’t happened yet. Perhaps things could still be salvaged?
Thinking of this, the somewhat self-deceiving Zhang Yan spoke up sincerely to negotiate.
"Baby, you know I come from an ordinary family in a small town. My parents don’t have much in savings. If my family coughs up this much money, their retirement will be a huge problem.
"The economy is so bad right now, and finding a job is tough. I really can’t afford all that. How about we keep the wedding simple and save the money for our future life together?"
Zhang Yan believed that if Cheng Lu truly cared for him, she would understand his difficulties as long as he explained them sincerely. After all, they were going to start a family. If their debt was too high, it would be a massive burden on their household.
Who would have thought that Cheng Lu’s previously pleasant expression would instantly morph into one of rage? She erupted, firing off like a machine gun.
"I already begged my mom to lower it by a hundred thousand! What more do you want from me?
"My mom’s stance is very firm. These are already the absolute lowest amounts I fought to get for you, and you’re still not satisfied?
"Do you have any idea that the line of men waiting to marry me could stretch all the way to the school gates?
"I chose you back then just because you treated me well. And this is how you treat me?
"My mom definitely won’t back down on this. If you don’t agree, let’s just postpone the wedding."
This was Cheng Lu’s usual trick for handling Zhang Yan. Whenever she was in the wrong, she would launch a preemptive strike like a machine gun, act as if she were deeply wronged, and finally threaten a breakup. Then, Zhang Yan would obediently compromise and admit fault.
But today was different.
Having been warned by the system, Zhang Yan’s mind was completely clear. Cheng Lu’s answer and attitude completely shattered his last shred of self-deceiving hope. She wasn’t considering his feelings at all. How was she a partner worth spending his life with? She was nothing but a vibrantly patterned, bloodsucking female mosquito!
There was no way in hell he was marrying her!
Zhang Yan took a deep breath and said coldly, "I don’t think we need to postpone the wedding. Let’s just break up."
Cheng Lu looked in disbelief at her usually obedient boyfriend, having no idea what had gone wrong.