“Ouch, gentle, be gentle…”
At two in the afternoon, Wen Huan sat in the shabby clinic wearing a little white dress. Her long, thick black hair cascaded over her chest, accentuating the shimmering tears in her eyes and the pitiful red marks on her knees. She looked like a wounded lily, having just been carried to this small clinic by her husband for treatment.
The female nurse applying the medicine couldn’t help but blush.
Because Wen Huan was simply too beautiful.
Although her injuries weren’t serious at all, faced with such transcendent, gender-defying beauty, the nurse felt nothing but sympathy, not a hint of disdain.
But Wen Huan wasn’t crying over nothing. She had just awakened a memory, realizing that the world she lived in was actually the setting of a massive, obsessive CEO redemption novel.
Her husband, Pei Jingyi, was the male lead of this novel.
And she, Wen Huan, was the male lead’s malicious, pretentious, and materialistic ex-wife.
Originally, she was just the daughter of an ordinary nanny in the Pei household. After graduation, she came to stay with her mother temporarily. But one time, taking advantage of Pei Jingyi being drunk, she had shamelessly climbed into his bed. Not only did she sleep with him, but she also got pregnant and forced him to marry her.
During their three years of marriage, Pei Jingyi was cold and loveless. Fortunately, Wen Huan reveled in the immense wealth of being Mrs. Pei, living happily day by day.
But then one day, Pei Jingyi suddenly “crashed” and went bankrupt!
That massive Pei Group was also “kicked out” just like that!
Wen Huan was taken by Pei Jingyi, moving from a luxurious estate into a dilapidated old rental apartment. Their means of transportation went from a garage full of luxury cars to a single second-hand Wuling Hongguang.
The most terrifying part was that Pei Jingyi went to work as an assistant at a friend’s company, earning a monthly salary of only 5,200 yuan.
Unable to bear this sudden, drastic drop in lifestyle, Wen Huan began making a huge fuss, demanding a divorce. She believed that as long as she kicked Pei Jingyi to the curb, her beauty alone would surely allow her to regain her former luxurious life.
But unexpectedly, fifteen minutes ago, while making a scene, Wen Huan slipped on the wet, slick concrete stairs and fell.
The good news: Wen Huan didn’t tumble far before Pei Jingyi caught her in time, so she wasn’t seriously injured.
The bad news: Wen Huan discovered her identity as the malicious ex-wife and realized that after the divorce, not only did she not live a good life, but she essentially stopped living altogether!
Because not long after leaving Pei Jingyi, Wen Huan was imprisoned by the novel’s deranged antagonist and ultimately died tragically by drowning while trying to escape.
But without Wen Huan, Pei Jingyi, under the halo of the male lead, not only made a comeback but also met his true destined heroine.
She was a wealthy heiress who had been reborn. When Pei Jingyi was bankrupt and down on his luck, she shone upon him like a ray of redemptive light. Not only did she not look down on his poverty, but she also stepped in early as a stepmother to lovingly care for Pei Jingyi’s son, relieving him of parenting pressures while he worked.
Thus, in just a year, Pei Jingyi returned to the peak. His power and influence not only surpassed what they were before, but he also transformed from his cold self into a gentle, good man, holding a grand, century-defining wedding for his true love.
But the child Wen Huan had with Pei Jingyi, perhaps due to Wen Huan’s inferior genes in his bloodline, even under the heroine’s upbringing, didn’t turn out well. He grew up to be a delinquent, getting killed in a gang fight, stabbed to death by random blades.
This further tarnished Wen Huan’s reputation as a mother.
In comparison, the children the female lead gave birth to for Pei Jingyi—three babies in one pregnancy—were not only well-behaved and adorable but all grew up to become industry leaders. This meant the female lead was always pursued for parenting advice whenever she appeared in public.
Wen Huan read this ending and burst into tears right in the small clinic. No one could console her—truly, no one.
Was it such a crime that she simply didn’t want to suffer alongside a man?
But no matter what, staying alive was the most important thing now!
Although Pei Jingyi didn’t love her, as long as she didn’t leave him, Wen Huan could temporarily avoid death.
After all, it would be a year before Pei Jingyi regained power and married his true love.
By then, it would still be time for Wen Huan to divorce Pei Jingyi.
Perhaps, considering that Wen Huan hadn’t kicked him while he was down or abandoned him midway, Pei Jingyi might even give his ex-wife a little extra money during their amicable divorce.
As for the hardships of this one year, Wen Huan didn’t want to endure them, but it wasn’t as if she hadn’t experienced such things before.
Living in rented rooms and eating cheap meals—how could Pei Jingyi, who had only recently fallen into poverty, compare to Wen Huan, who had been born poor?
Once she realized this, Wen Huan sniffled, her slender, pale fingers gently clutching the hem of her little white dress, and decided to stop crying.
Unaware of all this, the nurse finished bandaging Wen Huan’s wound and finally found the right words:
“Miss, you got hurt because of a fight with your husband, right?”
“From the way your husband rushed you here, looking so anxious and worried, he must really love you. Is there some misunderstanding between you two?”
“Oh, speak of the devil! Handsome, come quick and comfort your wife. Don’t let her shed those little pearls anymore.”
The nurse waved enthusiastically toward the door of the examination room before quickly leaving.
With such an incredibly good-looking couple, just looking at them made her want to smile like a doting aunt. The nurse genuinely wished them well.
Following the nurse’s words, Wen Huan’s beautiful eyes instinctively turned toward the door. Her damp eyelashes, like butterflies wet from rain, trembled slightly as the man came into view.
It was Pei Jingyi, returning after paying the bill.
Before his bankruptcy, this man had always worn semi-permanent black high-end suits. But now, dressed in the simplest white shirt and black pants, his cool, distinguished demeanor and sculpted, handsome face still made him look exceptionally mature and captivating, as if nothing could ever faze him.
However, when he saw Wen Huan with her dress hiked up to her thighs, revealing her long, straight legs, his brow slowly furrowed.
This was the expression Wen Huan feared most from Pei Jingyi.
She wanted to escape but couldn’t, her round, cute toes instinctively curling tight.
But Pei Jingyi had already stepped forward, pulling her dress down from her knees. The darkness in his eyes deepened. “Wen Huan, how long are you going to keep this up?”
Wen Huan didn’t know how to answer, and the cramped examination room felt stifling.
After three years of marriage to Pei Jingyi, she felt he not only didn’t like her but even despised her.
So he always dismissed all her emotions as “making a scene,” thinking she was just annoying, a drama queen, and then coldly and harshly scolded her, just like now.
He was nothing like her childhood male friend, who was gentle, considerate, and doted on her.
Feeling resentful, even as Pei Jingyi gathered her dress and lifted her from the stool, holding her firmly against his chest, Wen Huan struggled with all her might.
But she forgot how small the examination room was. Right beside her was a wall, and her elbow slammed directly into it, sending a sharp, numbing pain through her arm.
She couldn’t hold back another tear: “It’s all your fault!”
“…” Pei Jingyi closed his eyes deeply.
It was always like this.
Wen Huan was never happy by his side, especially during this period when she was determined to leave, tormenting herself until bruises covered her body.
Pei Jingyi clenched his jaw, his heart burning like a fire, yet his voice carried no warmth: “Wen Huan, I won’t stop you anymore. I’ll ask you one last time—do you really want to divorce me?”