“Fine.” Jian Zhi couldn’t be bothered to explain.
Wen Tingyan took a step forward, suddenly standing so close she could clearly see the fine lines around his tired eyes.
They say one should stand firm at thirty, yet he hadn’t even reached thirty and already bore the marks of time.
“Jian Zhi.” He grasped her shoulders, his faint cologne drifting toward her. “Haven’t I treated you well all these years?”
As he spoke, exhaustion leaked from his furrowed brow and the dark circles beneath his eyes.
She sighed softly.
Well.
She admitted he had tried his best to treat her well – food, clothing, shelter, money, even toward her grandmother and family, he spent lavishly without hesitation.
But Wen Tingyan, this kindness of yours… I’d rather you had just given me a sum of money back then to compensate for my crippled leg…
“If I’ve never wronged you, how could you bear to do this?” His eyes actually reddened as he spoke. “How could you bear to join forces with outsiders against me like this? Isn’t what’s mine also yours? Isn’t my career your career? Isn’t my money your money? Aren’t we one as husband and wife?”
So now he remembers we’re supposed to be one? Wasn’t he always standing by his brothers and Luo Yucheng, treating me as the outsider?
“Wen Tingyan.” She took a deep breath. “So now you finally remember we’re husband and wife?”
His gaze faltered slightly, more weariness washing over him. “You’re still hung up on what happened with Cheng Cheng. She was just trying to help me with good intentions. She knew Mr. Wu prefers business partners with stable family relationships and good marital bonds, so she didn’t explain during afternoon tea that day. But what does that change? Does that mean I’m no longer your husband? On our marriage certificate, in the civil affairs system, I’ll always be your husband!”
“Actually, it wasn’t necessary.” Jian Zhi responded flatly.
“What wasn’t necessary?” He frowned, not understanding her meaning.
“It wasn’t necessary to help you with good intentions, nor to pretend. We just need to…”
“Shut up!” He guessed what she was about to say and cut her off roughly. “Do you really think he’ll marry you if you get divorced? Don’t be naive.”
Having said this, he released her shoulders and quickly walked away.
The wind blew past, carrying the scent of his cologne.
It was the same perfume Luo Yucheng had worn tonight.
She didn’t like this fragrance – mixed in the air, it made even breathing feel suffocating.
She turned and entered the building.
Returning home, she discovered the flowers she had brought back last night, along with the vase, had fallen to the floor, the vase shattered to pieces.
Aunt Chen wasn’t home at the moment.
It seemed he was truly angry.
She had to admit he was work-obsessed – otherwise he wouldn’t have built such a successful company before turning thirty.
He placed great importance on the cooperation with Mr. Wu. Having ruined it tonight, he was certainly angry. But what did that have to do with her? Was she the one who had impersonated someone’s wife and ruined the cooperation?
As she knelt to clean up the broken vase, someone opened the door and Aunt Chen’s voice followed. “Madam, let me do that.”
Aunt Chen hurried over, worried she might cut her hands, and took over the task.
“Madam, I just went out to pick up some clothes.” Some garments required professional care, which she had gone to collect.
After saying this, she hesitated but continued, “I just saw the master.”
“Hmm.” Jian Zhi’s response was somewhat indifferent. She had seen him too, and watched him leave with her own eyes.
“What is that gentleman doing alone by the lake?”
What else could he be doing?
The project fell through, so he’s just cooling off alone.
“It’s fine, no need to worry.” If this were before, how concerned would she have been?
Five years of marriage were also five years of her accompanying Wen Tingyan through his entrepreneurial journey. She used to worry whether he was tired, whether he faced unfair treatment outside, whether he was losing money, whether he encountered setbacks, and whether those setbacks made him sad…
Her heart moved with his rhythm.
So she arranged his meals meticulously, carefully maintained their home, wanting to create a warm harbor for him. Even when he consistently returned late, she hoped he could rest comfortably the moment he stepped through the door…
Unfortunately, it seemed he didn’t need any of it.
Well then, let whoever he actually wants worry about him.
She planned to take a bath, look up some study abroad information, and then go to sleep.
But algorithms could be so annoying sometimes, always showing you things you’d rather not see.
When she opened Xiaohongshu, Luo Yucheng’s post appeared right on her homepage again.
Posted just minutes ago, documenting tonight’s events.
A photo of interlocked hands—Wen Tingyan’s hand holding hers.
The caption read: He has always been like a great tree—proud, spirited, standing unwavering through any storm. Yet tonight, he endured humiliation for my sake. Thank you for standing against the whole world for me. Even if ten thousand people point fingers at you, in my heart, you remain as majestic as a mountain.
Jian Zhi smiled bitterly and tapped “dislike” on the post, hoping she wouldn’t see it again.
Fortunately, she never compared her position in Wen Tingyan’s heart with Luo Yucheng’s.
Otherwise, she would be utterly defeated.
Wen Tingyan treated his career as his life, yet he could so easily abandon a collaboration project just because Luo Yucheng might face discomfort—and do it with such dramatic flair. In Luo Yucheng’s words, he was “standing against the whole world” for her, “sheltering her like a mountain.”
She assumed Wen Tingyan wouldn’t come home tonight, but he returned after she had already gone to bed.
She was sleeping in the guest room, and she further assumed he wouldn’t bother her—after all, from his perspective, she had ruined his important plans tonight, if he insisted on blaming her.
But she was wrong again.
He came and pushed the door.
She had locked it, so naturally it didn’t open. Then he knocked.
When she didn’t answer, he knocked harder. “Jian Zhi, do you really think this door can keep me out of my own house?”
Indeed, if he wanted to, he could easily kick the door open—though that would be entirely unnecessary.
She got up and opened the door for him.
She thought he might be drunk again, because his mood seemed unusually agitated.
Once more, she was mistaken.
There was no smell of alcohol about him, only the damp night air from the lake nearby. A stray leaf clung to his shoulder.
“Do you need something?” she asked, holding the door.
“This is my house! You’re my wife! Do I need a reason to enter?” His eyes were bloodshot, dark circles still faintly visible beneath them.
“Suit yourself then.” Jian Zhi was tired of this back-and-forth. It served no purpose other than being consumed by negative emotions over and over. She wished these conflicts would resolve quickly, but he refused to let them. Any further discussion would be pointless.
She turned and lay back down on the bed.
“Is that all the reaction I get?” He followed her inside. “Jian Zhi, my project just fell through and that’s all the reaction you have? After all those late nights I pulled, all those meetings I attended, all those versions of the project proposal I drafted—this is all you have to say?”
Always fixating on this issue—it was truly exhausting…
“What else do you want? Should I go plead on your behalf?” Wishful thinking—she wouldn’t go.
“No need.” He stood before her bed, unfastening his cufflinks. “What Wen Tingyan abandons, he never picks up again.”
Jian Zhi let out a cold laugh. That statement needed a qualifier: except for Luo Yucheng.
Then again, perhaps he had never truly given up on Luo Yucheng—it was Luo Yucheng who had abandoned him back then.
“Then why are you throwing a tantrum?”
“Tantrum?” He grabbed his shirt collar and yanked violently, sending all the buttons flying. “Today, I’ll show you exactly what my tantrums look like!”