That dinner ended on a sour note.
Shen Chengyan left by slamming the door.
Jiang Yu also lost her appetite.
The enormous villa was left with only her.
She cleaned up the dining table, then went to the living room and saw the contract scattered on the coffee table, the black pen that had been thrown onto the floor, and the medicine.
She picked up the contract and the pen, then lay down on the sofa and sighed.
After sighing, she messaged the lawyer.
“Is it illegal to forge my husband’s signature?”
The lawyer: “……”
The lawyer: “We can proceed with litigation.”
The lawyer: “But for litigation, you’ll need evidence of a broken marriage, such as domestic violence, infidelity, separation, etc.”
The lawyer: “Of course, forced divorce is also possible, but since your primary goal is a high settlement, without leverage of the other party’s fault, it will be difficult.”
The lawyer: “I still recommend an amicable divorce. It’s better to negotiate property and compensation rather than go to court.”
Jiang Yu’s head hurt.
She hadn’t expected divorce to be this troublesome.
But what was truly troublesome wasn’t the divorce itself—it was getting money out of Shen Chengyan.
She wasn’t going to leave with nothing.
She wanted money.
If she couldn’t have a lot of love,
then she would have a lot of money.
That had been her first wish in life, made when she bought her first birthday cake at eighteen.
……
After reflecting half the night, the first thing Jiang Yu did after waking up the next morning was message Shen Chengyan.
“Hubby, does your stomach still hurt?”
As expected, there was no reply.
Half an hour later, after washing up, she sent another message.
“I’ll cook some stomach-friendly dishes for you. You can eat them when you come back tonight.”
Another half hour passed.
“Hubby, I won’t make you angry anymore. Let’s sit down properly and talk about the divorce.”
Still no reply.
She called him.
She had been blocked.
Jiang Yu threw her phone onto the sofa and laughed.
“Damn it…”
She did yoga for half an hour to calm herself down.
Very quickly, she came to terms with it.
It wasn’t like this was the first time.
Even when they were dating, he had always been like this.
Blocking her, ignoring her, disappearing whenever he wanted.
She had endured it before—she would endure it again.
She would endure it until the day he signed the divorce papers and she got the money.
Then she would be the one blocking him.
In the afternoon, she met the person who had agreed to buy her car.
They eventually settled on thirty thousand, and the old Volkswagen was sold.
After completing all procedures and returning home, it was almost dark.
She transferred the money to Guo Yaoyao’s account, and the girl asked again uneasily, “Sis, you’re really not doing fraud, right?”
Jiang Yu told her to focus on studying and stop thinking nonsense.
At 8:30 p.m., she finished cooking, but Shen Chengyan still hadn’t returned.
She tried calling him again—still blocked.
She took photos of the food and sent them anyway.
“I made your favorite steamed beef. Very tender.”
“Learned a new dish. Not sure if you’ll like it.”
“I tried it. It’s bad. Don’t eat it.”
When they were dating, after arguments, she used to do the same thing—sending him endless messages after being blocked.
Except back then, she wanted to marry him.
Now, she wanted to divorce him.
In this terrible relationship, she had always been the only one maintaining it.
He had never once coaxed her the way she coaxed him.
If not for her shameless persistence, they would never have gotten married.
That night at ten, Jiang Yu lay in bed scrolling her phone, thinking about the lawyer’s advice regarding separation.
She silently downloaded a rental app.
There were plenty of listings, but few she liked.
Renting a place could never compare to living in a standalone villa.
After browsing for over an hour, she reluctantly selected a few places and scheduled viewings.
Just as she exited the app, she received a private message on a secondhand platform asking if she was selling bags.
She had listed most of her non-luxury clothes and accessories, and her bags on multiple platforms, specifying only same-city transactions.
“LUCK star: I’m in Jiangcheng. I can do a local pickup. Are you free tomorrow to meet and check the bag?”
“SCY big idiot: Sure. I’m free tomorrow afternoon.”
They agreed on time and place.
The next day at noon, Jiang Yu brought the bag and went to the commercial street.
On the way, she called Shen Chengyan again.
Still blocked.
She tossed the phone aside.
In fact, he had blocked her even before they got married.
Even after so many years, she still remembered how painful it had been back then.
It had been her birthday.
She had left home in the morning full of happiness, and returned at night completely shattered.
He had given her a perfect birthday—cake, gifts, everything flawless.
Her handsome, rich, devoted boyfriend had made her feel like the happiest woman alive.
But on the way back, his mood suddenly turned cold.
She had carefully asked what was wrong.
He had snapped at her, criticizing her, saying harsh things.
He said she was empty-headed, just a pretty vase.
He said she was fake and exhausting.
He said she got dizzy from a little sweetness.
He tore her down completely.
Jiang Yu had trembled with anger and argued with him in the car.
Then he blocked her and disappeared.
For two months, she had been anxious every day.
From anger and confusion to self-doubt.
She couldn’t reach him, didn’t know where he was, and didn’t know what she had done wrong.
He wouldn’t even give her an explanation.
She had felt abandoned, crying every night, wondering why he suddenly ignored her on her happiest birthday.
Eventually, she realized the truth.
It wasn’t her fault.
He had simply been trying to cold-shoulder her into breaking up.
She spent a week accepting that fact.
After that, she gave up completely and even planned to leave the city.
Those days were stormy, with constant heavy rain. She stood on the roadside with her suitcase, her umbrella blown away by strong wind. Soaked and disheveled, she couldn’t even get a taxi, and her high-speed train would leave in thirty minutes.
In just a few months, she had gone from the happiest person in the world to the most miserable.
And then a car swerved into her, knocking her into filthy water. Her suitcase rolled away. Her palm was scraped open, rainwater washing over the bleeding wound and her shattered dignity.
The driver blamed her, saying she was trying to scam him and told her to get lost.
The accumulated despair made her feel like she might snap completely.
Just as she wondered whether to go to the police or the hospital, another car rushed up.
She saw the man who had disappeared for two months—Shen Chengyan.
He said nothing.
With a cold, exhausted face, he dragged the driver out of the car and beat him.
It was the first time Jiang Yu had ever seen him lose control—violent, impulsive, and unrestrained.