After the divorce, my ex-husband's cousin tricked me into getting a marriage certificate.

Xu Weiyan glared at Yu Mao, "You're really not tired of me? Then why did you say you didn't want to sleep in the same bed with me?"

Yu Mao walked over, hesitated for a moment, then hugged Xu Weiyan and coaxed her, "How could I be tired of you? I'm just having trouble painting lately and I'm feeling down. Don't overthink it. I apologize, okay?"

Xu Weiyan twitched her lips. "Okay, I accept your apology, but in the future, let's talk things out properly. Don't say things like today that made me misunderstand and hurt."

Yu Mao patiently replied, "Okay, I understand. Can I make breakfast now? Oil-splashed noodles."

Xu Weiyan pushed Yu Mao away, "I know, go wash your face and brush your teeth, and take a shower while you're at it, you smell like alcohol."

Yu Mao raised an eyebrow as he watched Xu Weiyan turn and go to the kitchen.

He was thinking to himself that he needed to find a new sugar daddy as soon as possible.

After he finished showering, Xu Weiyan brought out the oil-splashed noodles and said to him, "I have to go back to school later, so I might not be able to come back in time to cook lunch. I'll pack lunch from the school cafeteria."

As Yu Mao sat down, he said, "You don't need to worry about me. I'm going out later too, and I'll have lunch outside by myself."

Xu Weiyan looked at Yu Mao warily: "Where are you going?"

Yu Mao raised his eyelids to look at Xu Weiyan, "I'm going back to the art academy to find my teacher, and I'll take my paintings to him to see. I'll ask him to keep an eye out for any bosses who would be willing to sponsor my art exhibition."

Xu Weiyan breathed a sigh of relief, "Okay, I'll transfer you a thousand yuan. You can treat your teacher to a meal."

Yu Mao scoffed, "What can you buy someone with a thousand yuan?"

Xu Weiyan: "You know our current situation. I'm divorced from Qi Mu'an, so I can't ask him for money anymore. I only have a few tens of thousands of yuan on hand, so we have to be careful with our money."

Yu Mao put down his chopsticks, a hint of complaint in his eyes. "Speaking of this, I've been wanting to ask you this for a while now. Aren't you planning to go out and look for a job? You know you only have a few tens of thousands of yuan. How long can that last?"

Xu Weiyan: "I'm going back to school later to ask my advisor for help in finding me a job."

Yu Mao: That's more like it. If you don't go out to work, the two of us will starve.

Xu Weiyan picked up her chopsticks and ate her noodles, her face gloomy.

Yu Mao glanced at Xu Weiyan, thought for a moment, and coaxed, "You've worked hard these past two years. I'm not an ungrateful person. Once I successfully hold my art exhibition and sell the paintings, we'll have money."

"So hang in there a little longer. It's the darkness before dawn, so it's tough, but think about the better days to come. We'll definitely get through this."

Xu Weiyan's expression softened a bit, and she replied softly, "I'm not afraid of hardship, I'm just afraid that when you achieve success, you won't recognize me anymore."

Yu Mao: "Silly girl, how could I not recognize you? I remember you in my heart."

Xu Weiyan paused, picked up her phone and transferred two thousand yuan to Yu Mao. "Is two thousand yuan enough? Treat the teacher to a meal."

Yu Mao smiled with satisfaction, "That's enough, you're still the best to me."

After finishing his noodles, Yu Mao picked out his favorite painting, called a car, and first took Xu Weiyan to her school before heading to the art academy.

Upon arriving at the art academy, he took the painting to his teacher Zhang Yulin's home.

Zhang Yulin was somewhat displeased when he saw Yu Mao and asked, "Yu Mao, is there something you need?"

Yu Mao could tell that Zhang Yulin didn't seem to welcome his arrival, but he still forced himself to say, "Excuse me, Teacher Zhang, I'm sorry to bother you. I brought a painting with me and would like you to take a look at it. May I come in and talk to you?"

Zhang Yulin thought for a moment, then stepped aside to let Yu Mao into the house.

Yu Mao placed the painting on Zhang Yulin's dining table and introduced it, saying, "Teacher Zhang, this is one of the paintings I completed last month. Could you please take a look and see if I have made any progress in the past two years?"

Zhang Yulin walked over and glanced at Yu Mao's painting. After a moment of silence, he said, "Yu Mao, just say what's on your mind. Don't beat around the bush with the teacher. I have to go to class later."

Seeing this, Yu Mao had no choice but to state his purpose directly: "Teacher Zhang, aren't you very familiar with all the major galleries in Beijing? Could you please help me send this painting to them for a look?"

"Or I could exhibit it in their gallery and see if I can find a sponsor to sponsor an exhibition for me..."

Zhang Yulin interrupted Yu Mao, saying, "I'm sorry, I can't help you with this. None of the people in our art academy can help you either."

Yu Mao asked in surprise, "Teacher Zhang, what do you mean by that?"

Zhang Yulin paused for a moment, then said, "Yu Mao, the art circle in Beijing isn't very big. We all know about your two-year cohabitation with a married woman. The entire art world knows about it."

“You young people have more advanced ideas and may not care about moral matters, but most people, such as us teachers, are more conservative and cannot agree with this kind of thing.”

Yu Mao didn't expect this to reach the Academy of Fine Arts, so he hurriedly explained, "Professor Zhang, please let me explain. Actually, Wei Yan and her husband have been separated for two years, but they just haven't gone through the divorce proceedings yet."

"They went through divorce proceedings some time ago."

Zhang Yulin stared at Yu Mao and said, "Yu Mao, it's a fact that you lived with a married woman, and it's also a fact that she supported you for two years. Even if she got divorced, it was because your cohabitation was exposed that she got divorced."

"Alright, you don't need to say anything more. Don't come looking for me again. Please leave."

After Zhang Yulin finished speaking, he walked to the door, opened the main gate, and saw the guests off.

Having no other choice, Yu Mao picked up his painting and left.

Zhang Yulin closed the door, returned to the living room, picked up the phone on the coffee table, dialed, and the other party answered quickly.

Zhang Yulin: "Dean Chen, you are truly a prophet. Yu Mao just came to my house, wanting me to help recommend his paintings to galleries and help him find sponsors to hold an exhibition. I refused."

Chen Simiao: "You did a great job. We must draw a clear line with him and not let it affect our relationship with the Qi Group."

Zhang Yulin: "I understand. I will talk to a few gallery owners I have a good relationship with to prevent Yu Mao from messing around in the name of our art academy and embarrassing our academy."

Chen Simiao: "Okay, keep a close eye on things and make sure nothing goes wrong."

Yu Mao carried the painting downstairs, his heart burning with pent-up anger.

He originally hoped that Zhang Yulin could help him secure sponsorships, but Xu Weiyan's divorce became a public scandal.

He was also implicated and was criticized and despised by the teacher.

According to Zhang Yulin, not only the Academy of Fine Arts, but also everyone in the art world of northern Beijing knew about it.

He deeply regretted provoking Xu Weiyan; if she weren't Qi Mu'an's wife, this matter wouldn't have attracted so much attention.

Even after she divorced Qi Mu'an, she still attracted attention from others.

After much deliberation, Yu Mao realized that breaking up with Xu Weiyan was the only way out, otherwise she would drag him down for the rest of his life.

It could even seriously affect his future.

It's not worth ruining your future for a woman like that.

Anyway, Xu Weiyan doesn't have much money now, so there's no point in keeping her. It's not a pity to break up with her.

Let's make that decision. He'll find another woman who's willing to support his career as soon as possible, and then he'll move away.

On the other hand, Xu Weiyan went straight to her mentor Huang Zongyi's office as soon as she arrived at the school.