By the time I returned home, night had already fallen.
Feng Zhou Yuan was brightly lit. After arriving home, I had Xiao Li drive back.
My in-laws were home, but Pei Heng hadn’t returned.
“Zhiyi, where’s Pei Heng? Didn’t he come back with you?” my mother-in-law asked when she saw me returning alone.
“After the symposium ended, I ran into a friend and went out for a meal with her. I thought Pei Heng had already come home,” I said, feigning surprise.
If I guessed correctly, Pei Heng wouldn’t be returning tonight. With new prey in his sights, his heart had long flown to someone else.
My father-in-law’s face was dark. They hadn’t even returned to C City yet, and Pei Heng was already staying out all night. If they weren’t here, wouldn’t he treat this place like a hotel?
“Call him! If you can’t get through, call every one of his friends!” my father-in-law waved his hand angrily.
My mother-in-law gave me a meaningful look, so I took out my phone and handed it to her.
This kind of scolding task was better left to someone else—my mother-in-law was perfect for the job. Pei Heng would never dare yell at his own mother.
Although I wasn’t close with Pei Heng’s buddies, I still had their phone numbers saved—except for Yu Yifan’s.
My mother-in-law started making calls on speakerphone. After four or five attempts, I heard Lu Xicheng’s voice, “Brother Heng, your wife is calling!”
“Don’t answer!” Pei Heng’s voice was extremely impatient, and my in-laws and I heard it clearly.
There was also the sound of others egging him on in the background. In their eyes, I was nothing but an unloved, resentful wife.
“It’s your mom…” Lu Xicheng whispered.
The teasing immediately stopped.
Pei Heng answered the phone, “Mom?”
“Pei Heng, where are you?! Why didn’t you come home for dinner? Spending every day eating, drinking, and carousing with those playboys—do you want to ruin yourself?” My mother-in-law, usually gentle and refined, now sounded like a tigress.
“I’m just hanging out with a few friends. I’ll be back soon,” Pei Heng replied helplessly.
“Zhiyi also went out with friends for a meal, and she’s already home. I’m giving you half an hour to get back here immediately!” My mother-in-law hung up angrily after hearing a woman’s coquettish laughter on the other end.
She glanced at me, her expression complicated. “Zhiyi, give him a good scolding when he gets back. He has no self-awareness at all!”
I took back my phone and nodded like a wronged daughter-in-law.
Half an hour later, Pei Heng returned full of resentment. I had just finished dinner and was wiping my mouth when his hellish glare sent a chill down my spine.
He was too angry to eat, so he threw his coat on the sofa and went upstairs.
My in-laws didn’t bother asking if he had eaten and continued watching TV on the sofa.
I couldn’t very well join them to watch TV—those over-the-top anti-Japanese dramas were unbearable—so I had no choice but to brace myself and go upstairs.
The sound of running water came from the bathroom, while Pei Heng’s phone lay on the bed. I felt tempted to check its contents. After Wei Lan and I parted ways, had he contacted her again?
I picked up the phone but found it required facial recognition to unlock.
Just as I was feeling disappointed, a text message notification popped up, showing a preview of the message.
It seemed to be a reply from Wei Lan: “I’m sorry, Mr. Pei, I have a boyfriend, and I heard that you…”
The rest was cut off, requiring the phone to be unlocked.
“What are you doing?” Pei Heng’s voice suddenly rang out, cold and sharp.
The next second, my phone was snatched from my hand. He warned me, “Don’t touch my phone again.”
As he spoke, he lowered his head, unlocked the screen, and checked the message he had just received. His expression grew even darker. A man like him could have any woman he wanted—just a crook of his finger, and married women willing to divorce for him could fill a football field. Yet Wei Lan had actually rejected him.
His male pride had suffered an unprecedented blow; his charisma had been profoundly challenged.
“Who is she?” I asked deliberately.
“None of your business,” Pei Heng replied irritably, glancing at me.
“If I’m not mistaken, the rest of her message probably said something like, ‘I heard you’re married. I hope you remain loyal to your marriage and don’t cheat,’ right?” Not only was I unbothered, I even felt proud of my own shrewdness.
I knew Wei Lan’s character well—she would absolutely say something righteous and moral.
Pei Heng sat on the bed and asked coldly, “So?”
I immediately took another divorce agreement out of the drawer. This time, I had made a slight change: I demanded that Pei Heng give me 3% of the shares in Pei Corporation under his name.
After reading it, Pei Heng actually laughed. “3% of the shares? Xu Zhiyi, you have quite the appetite.”
It was worth noting that Pei Corporation had numerous shareholders, big and small, and many of them didn’t even hold 3% of the shares.
I hesitated, unsure how to tactfully tell Pei Heng that if he wasn’t willing to give up 3% now, he would end up giving even more in the future.
In my previous life, it had gone as high as 10%.
“She doesn’t like that you’re married, right? If you pay the price to divorce me, wouldn’t that free you to pursue her without any worries?” I reminded Pei Heng.
“Do you think she’s worth it?” Pei Heng raised an eyebrow, his tone laced with sarcasm.
I was speechless again. Wasn’t she worth it? Later, you would give up everything for her!
It must be that Pei Heng still hadn’t figured out his true feelings, treating Wei Lan like one of his usual flings—the kind he would grow tired of once he had her. That was why he could speak so arrogantly.
I sighed, tore up the divorce agreement, and threw it in the trash. It seemed I would have to prepare another agreement later, this time asking for 10% of the shares.
Pei Heng watched my every move coldly as I headed to the bathroom with a hint of regret to take a shower.
When I came out of the shower, Pei Heng was on the balcony outside the bedroom, talking on the phone. A cigarette was pinched between his fingers, and the smoke, carried by the evening breeze, drifted inside. I couldn’t help but cough twice.
He glanced back at me, hung up the phone, and casually tossed the cigarette butt on the ground, extinguishing it with the tip of his shoe.
“Couldn’t you throw it in the trash? Aunt Liu has a hard enough time cleaning as it is,” I said deliberately as I elegantly applied my skincare products.
I had been giving Liu E extra responsibilities—entrusting her with three meals a day, having her brew my traditional Chinese medicine, and assigning her to clean the master bedroom. Of course, I paid her more than the others.
For this, she was very grateful to me.
“Isn’t that what we hire them for? To do the housework?” Pei Heng sneered. “If they find it tiring, they don’t have to work in this line.”
I shook my head. This man would regret it someday.
Pei Heng lay down on the bed, and just then, my phone rang. It was Qi Zhouyang calling—I was a little surprised.
As soon as I answered, I heard Qi Zhouyang’s slightly desperate voice. “Xu Jie! Help me! I’ve been beaten up…”
“Where are you?” I asked sternly, getting straight to the point.
“Yundian Hotel parking lot!” As soon as Qi Zhouyang finished speaking, the sounds of punches and kicks resumed, along with his cries of pain, before the call abruptly ended.
Without another word, I changed clothes, grabbed my car keys, and prepared to leave.
“What are you going to do?” Pei Heng suddenly questioned coldly.