The one hurling accusations at Lin Ting was Xia Jingshu.
Jiang Shuchen’s wife, and also Lin Ting’s childhood best friend.
Before the Lin and Jiang families slandered her for colluding with Zhou Ziheng, Xia Jingshu had treated her extremely well—the kind of friend who would take a knife for her.
But after that incident, Xia Jingshu suddenly began treating her like a villain.
Lin Ting didn’t want to affect the relationship between Xia Jingshu and Jiang Shuchen, so she explained:
“Jing Shu, I’ve always seen Shu Chen as an older brother from the neighborhood. I don’t have any of the feelings you imagine toward him.”
“And you know Shu Chen’s character. You should trust him.”
On the other end of the phone, Xia Jingshu scolded fiercely:
“I trust my Jiang Shuchen, but I don’t trust you.”
“People like you will use any means to achieve your goals—despicable and shameless.”
Xia Jingshu had heard about how Lin Ting returned to Pengcheng with her daughter to find Jiang Yu, lying about having cancer and pretending to entrust her child to him.
Xia Jingshu continued, “Since Jiang Yu didn’t fall for your tricks, you’ve set your sights on my Jiang Shuchen, haven’t you? I’m telling you, stay away from Jiang Shuchen. Otherwise, don’t blame me if I show up at your doorstep one day and fight you to the death.”
Lin Ting calmly stated, “I only asked Shu Chen to help me return my daughter’s medical expenses to Jiang Yu. I haven’t done anything else, nor have I set my sights on Shu Chen.”
Xia Jingshu: “Lin Ting, stop pretending. You accepted two million, yet you want to return two thousand in medical expenses. You’re just deliberately finding opportunities to get close to my Jiang Shuchen. Disgusting, cheap, despicable. You really should suffer the consequences, get cancer, and have your life taken by heaven, just as Jiang Yu said.”
Everyone knew about Jiang Yu’s vicious curse.
He truly wished for her death!
What was so scary about death?
The most terrifying thing was, how could Youzi have such a father?
She even doubted whether her initial decision to entrust her child to Jiang Yu had been wise.
Not wanting her own affairs to implicate Shu Chen and cause a crisis in his marriage, she choked back her frustration and promised:
“Don’t worry, I won’t contact Shu Chen again in the future.”
After saying this, she hung up the phone.
Xia Jingshu was still not satisfied.
She took Jiang Shuchen’s phone, opened WeChat, found Lin Ting and Jiang Shuchen’s chat, and blocked Lin Ting.
When Jiang Shuchen came out of the shower, Xia Jingshu was applying a face mask.
He wanted to send Lin Ting a WeChat message, saying that Jiang Yu refused to take back the two thousand yuan in medical expenses—it was Jiang Yu’s way of caring for the child, wanting to use it as nutrition money.
But when he searched for Lin Ting’s contact, her profile picture was gone.
“Jing Shu, did you touch my phone?”
He looked at Xia Jingshu with confusion, and she replied matter-of-factly, “What’s wrong with touching your phone? Isn’t your phone supposed to be open for me to see?”
Jiang Shuchen sat down beside Xia Jingshu. “It is open for you to see, but you shouldn’t delete Xiao Ting’s WeChat.”
Over the years, everyone in the Lin and Jiang families had cut ties with Lin Ting.
Only Jiang Shuchen still kept Lin Ting’s WeChat.
Because he was the only one who suspected that Lin Ting had been wronged back then, though he lacked evidence.
He always felt that this neighbor’s younger sister, so kind and righteous, couldn’t possibly have betrayed Jiang Yu and the Lin family.
Xia Jingshu patted the face mask on her cheeks, then patted the neck mask on her neck. The beautiful eyes that were now visible no longer held their usual delicate charm but had turned fierce:
“I’m warning you, don’t have any more contact with this Lin Ting.”
“Otherwise, we’re getting a divorce.”
Jiang Shuchen knew his wife liked to make unreasonable demands.
He usually indulged her, but when it came to matters of principle, Jiang Shuchen still had his own judgment of right and wrong.
“Jing Shu, Xiao Ting and I are completely innocent, nothing happened between us. Talking about divorce over this is going too far. Even if you don’t trust Xiao Ting because of the medical secrets leak five years ago, you should still trust your husband.”
Jiang Shuchen was getting angry.
He had been too indulgent with Xia Jingshu all along.
But he didn’t want to get angry with his wife, so he gently persuaded:
“Jing Shu, think about it rationally. What kind of person was Xiao Ting before?”
“How can you label her as a bad person just because of one medical secrets incident?”
“You and Xiao Ting used to be so close. If you knew you were wronging her, you’d definitely regret it.”
Xia Jingshu tore off her face mask and threw it into the trash can. Instead of calming down, she grew even angrier.
“Fine, Jiang Shuchen, you must have been bewitched by Lin Ting. Five years ago you spoke up for her, and now you’re doing it again. ‘Xiao Ting’ this, ‘Xiao Ting’ that. Tell me, is there something going on between you two? Have you slept with her?”
Such an unreasonable Xia Jingshu truly angered Jiang Shuchen.
He was so furious his eyes turned red, filled with unspoken grievances and pain.
Swallowing all the hurt and resentment, Jiang Shuchen finally sighed heavily:
“Xia Jingshu, we’ve been married for six years. You know how I’ve treated you. How can you not trust me like this?”
“I’ll sleep in the study tonight. You should think things over carefully.”
With that, he rose from the sofa and walked out of the bedroom without looking back.
The simple-minded Xia Jingshu, seeing Jiang Shuchen defend Lin Ting like this, grabbed a nearby pillow and threw it at him in anger.
“Jiang Shuchen, you bastard! Tell me how far things have gone between you and Lin Ting. Have you slept with her or not?”
The pillow hit Jiang Shuchen’s body—so light, yet his heart ached so deeply.
He stopped but hadn’t yet spoken when Xia Jingshu rushed around him, blocking his path.
“Jiang Shuchen, make it clear to me. Did you sleep with that bitch Lin Ting? She even managed to seduce Zhou Ziheng, a man who keeps his distance from women. Seducing you would be nothing for her. Tell me, did you sleep with her when I wasn’t in Pengcheng the other day?”
In their six years of marriage, Jiang Shuchen had cherished Xia Jingshu, holding her in the palm of his hand. He had never argued with her or even raised his voice.
He thought that giving her endless affection would build mutual trust and ensure lasting love and happiness.
He never expected that their first major marital argument would shatter her trust in him so completely.
He looked at Xia Jingshu with sorrow. “Xia Jingshu, if you don’t even understand or trust what kind of person I am, then I think our marriage is a joke.”
As he tried to leave, Xia Jingshu frantically grabbed his pajamas, blocking him like a shrew. “Jiang Shuchen, what do you mean? Are you trying to divorce me?”
Tears of pain streamed from the corners of Xia Jingshu’s eyes. “Jiang Shuchen, are you going to divorce me for that bitch Lin Ting?”