After staying in her hotel room for so many days, Jiang Hua finally went down to the restaurant to eat.
She sat at a table by herself in a corner near a pillar by the window. She wore a light-colored, long cotton-linen dress, her waist-length hair coiled into a bun at the back of her head and secured with a crystal stamen hairpin. Jiang Hua was quiet and still, dignified and gentle. Framed by the scenery outside the floor-to-ceiling window, she was as beautiful as a figure stepping out of a painting. Her sharp chin and fair, delicate skin seemed to glow with a white light under the sun.
Jiang Hua’s features were of the striking, vibrant type; at a glance, she exuded a dazzling nobility. Even a single strand of her hair seemed so precious that a second look would feel like a profanation. Even in a crowd, she could steal one’s heart and soul in an instant.
After finishing her meal, Jiang Hua went to the restroom with the help of a waitress.
As she was about to wash her hands, a girl who looked to be in her early twenties suddenly ran into the restroom. She was wearing a white dress, her face innocent, her expression frantic and anxious. Panting for breath, she glanced back toward the hallway, as if someone was chasing her.
Jiang Hua saw her through the gap in the stall door.
Before long, two bodyguards grabbed the girl hiding in the restroom and dragged her out.
Immediately, a fierce argument erupted from the doorway.
“Let go! Let go of me!” the girl cried.
“Pei Zhan! What will it take for you to let me go!”
“I told you! I have a boyfriend! I’ll never like you, much less be with a man who’s already married!”
A man in a suit and leather shoes walked over from the corner of the hallway. He was tall and slender, his presence carrying a sharp, powerful sense of oppression. “Why couldn’t you just stay obediently at the villa? If you needed anything, you could have called me.”
“I’ll give you two choices now. One, go back to school, finish your studies, come home on time every day, and break off all contact with that so-called boyfriend of yours.”
“Two… be locked up in Fan Hua Si Jin, forbidden from going anywhere.”
Tears immediately streamed from Song Qingran’s eyes.
As the bodyguards restrained Song Qingran, Pei Zhan raised a hand and carefully wiped the clear tears from the corner of her eye. “Have you decided which to choose?”
His voice was gentle, yet it held a commanding force that permitted no refusal.
“I don’t want either!”
“You bastard! Go to hell!”
Song Qingran struggled several times but couldn’t break free from the bodyguards’ grip.
Pei Zhan’s deep-set eyes narrowed, the emotions in their depths churning with a hint of displeasure—a sign that he was getting angry.
“Still haven’t learned your lesson after all this time. In that case, you’ll stay at home and go nowhere.”
Song Qingran, as if she had lost her mind, broke down and roared at him, “…Fine! You say your marriage is just for show! If you have the guts, divorce her and marry me!”
“Then I’ll be with you, and I’ll consider a relationship between us…”
“Pei Zhan, I’m telling you! I would rather die than be a third party!”
Pei Zhan’s expression darkened. His tone, devoid of joy or anger, was cool as he commanded, “Send her back to Fan Hua Si Jin.”
Song Qingran hadn’t expected him to find her so quickly. She had gone through so much trouble to escape from Fan Hua Si Jin.
Song Qingran threatened, “If you treat me like this, aren’t you afraid I’ll tell her?”
Pei Zhan knew exactly who the ‘her’ Song Qingran was referring to.
Pei Zhan’s gaze instantly dimmed. “Take her away.”
“Yes, sir,” the bodyguards replied.
After Song Qingran was forcibly taken away, Pei Zhan’s phone screen lit up. He picked it up, glanced at it, then put it back in his pocket.
Divorce?
An indecipherable, sharp glint flashed through Pei Zhan’s deep, somber eyes.
As the man turned to leave, he glanced sideways at the area from which a dim, yellow light emanated.
Just then, Zuo Xiangnan walked over. Pei Zhan ordered in a cold voice, “Clean this up.”
Zuo Xiangnan nodded. “Yes, sir.”
Only after it was quiet outside did the waitress push Jiang Hua out.
Jiang Hua suppressed the suffocating pain in her heart and managed a faint smile. “Please take me back to my room upstairs.”
“Of course, miss.”
Just as they were exiting, they suddenly came face-to-face with someone.
Zuo Xiangnan’s pupils constricted.
The young missus?
What is she doing here?
Isn’t she supposed to be at Hua Yuan?
Did she see everything that just happened?
Zuo Xiangnan, who had always remained composed through major storms, suddenly began to lose his cool.
He couldn’t imagine the bloody tempest that was about to unfold!
In stark contrast to Zuo Xiangnan’s stunned expression, Jiang Hua’s was extremely cold. She didn’t look at the person who had arrived, instead passing by Zuo Xiangnan as if he were a stranger.
While Zuo Xiangnan was still frozen in place, he heard Jiang Hua’s lukewarm voice. “I’ll pretend that nothing just happened.”
“There’s no need to tell him about my being here.”
The waitress pushing the wheelchair from behind thought these words were for her and replied, “Of course, miss.”
But Zuo Xiangnan knew perfectly well who the words were truly meant for.
However, Zuo Xiangnan found it hard to believe that such words would come from Jiang Hua’s mouth.
After witnessing that scene, shouldn’t Jiang Hua have immediately stepped forward and caused a huge, hysterical ruckus?
But the Jiang Hua right now was abnormally calm…
What was wrong with Jiang Hua?
He couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
Jiang Hua returned to her room to pack. Xu Qiulan soon arrived to take her back to Hua Yuan, as things there had been mostly taken care of.
The cold air from the AC in the Bentley business car quickly dispelled the heat.
Pei Zhan held his phone, seemingly waiting for something, and closed his eyes in thought. “How has she been lately?”
Pei Zhan had already switched to a new phone. Most of the important data had been transferred, except for some lost photos…
Those photos were mostly selfies Jiang Hua had taken with his phone. They took up memory and there was no need to keep them, so he simply didn’t bother recovering them.
That one sentence made Zuo Xiangnan’s heart leap into his throat, pounding wildly. His hands gripped the steering wheel tightly. “The young missus should be resting at home.”
Unbeknownst to Pei Zhan, a drop of cold sweat had already trickled down Zuo Xiangnan’s temple.
Pei Zhan had once been a low-level employee. When he was promoted to sales manager the following year, Zuo Xiangnan became his assistant. He had stayed by his side as Pei Zhan climbed all the way to the position of General Manager of Jiang’s Jewelry Group, and he, in turn, had risen with him, remaining his assistant.
Following Pei Zhan, Zuo Xiangnan had witnessed all sorts of corporate battles and schemes.
But never before had he felt as tormented as he did now.
In the end, Zuo Xiangnan had lied and not told him the truth.
Pei Zhan said nothing more.
He just had an indescribable, strange feeling in his heart.
Soon, he suppressed that flicker of strangeness.
Pei Zhan arrived back at Hua Yuan before Jiang Hua.
In the underground parking garage, seeing that the Porsche Jiang Hua drove herself was not there, Pei Zhan’s brow furrowed darkly.
He unlocked the door with his fingerprint and returned to the marital home he hadn’t been back to in a long time.
He saw that everything inside was brand new.
The furniture had been replaced with a new set. The living room, which used to be filled with Jiang Hua’s things, had been completely cleared out. Even the glamour shots of her that had hung on the wall were all gone, and the space had returned to its former coldness.
Pei Zhan went to the master bedroom. The wedding photo was still hanging on the wall, but in the open closet, only Pei Zhan’s pitifully few shirts and suit jackets hung in a corner.
Jiang Hua used to love shopping, buying all sorts of clothes that filled the closet. Now, her clothes had been completely cleared out.
Pei Zhan had just stepped inside when he heard the sound of the door outside the bedroom opening.