Tang Ning blinked, feeling a little deflated.
She’d been caught again.
Her wrist was gripped tightly in Mr. Jiang’s hand. She turned back, forcing a bright smile: “I left something in the coffee shop. I’m just going back to grab it.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“I left my brain there.”
“…”
Jiang Linye’s body stiffened slightly. He could tell—she really didn’t want to see him.
Before coming here, he’d cleared his entire morning. First, he went to see her neurologist.
The external injury on her head had healed nicely. If no other abnormal symptoms appeared, she could already be considered recovered.
But when he asked about the amnesia, the doctor just shook his head: “This kind of thing is influenced too much by external factors. I can’t say for sure. She might remember bits and pieces of the past from time to time, or one day she might suddenly recall everything. Mr. Jiang, the switch for her memory is in her hands. I can’t control it.”
So he drove straight to Lin Zhi’s studio.
Visitors doing psychological counseling always sign confidentiality agreements with the therapist. Lin Zhi barely said anything truthful, just circled around him in endless loops.
Jiang Linye’s patience ran out fast. He knew Tang Ning suffered from insomnia and anxiety, but he didn’t know to what extent. Over the past few years, every one of her assistants had sent him complete copies of her whereabouts, yet he’d never once seen “psychological consultation” listed.
She knew he would see them.
So she always avoided the assistants.
That made him wonder: was it that she didn’t need family support, or had she already convinced herself she wouldn’t get any?
“Mr. Jiang.” Before he left, Lin Zhi called out to him.
The young woman’s appearance and demeanor were completely non-threatening, her smile gentle. Then, still smiling warmly, she delivered one final stab: “Don’t you think it’s already a bit too late that you only came to find me after five years?”
Jiang Linye thought about it and realized—yeah, that one hurt too.
But Lin Zhi had also given him an idea.
He suddenly realized that, judging by Tang Ning’s current childish behavior of ignoring him completely the moment they fought, her memory definitely hadn’t fully returned.
She might have remembered some parts, but she still wasn’t that twenty-five-year-old Tang Ning who was calm to the point of being almost cruel.
…Then maybe he still had a chance.
So Jiang Linye immediately rushed over to Xingchuan Pet.
She still wouldn’t pick up his calls or reply to his messages, but he knew she was nearby, so he simply waited on the spot.
And what came back was two people.
His little spoiled wife, and the biggest hidden love rival from his high school days. The two of them were chatting and laughing as they crossed the street toward him. He even saw Xia Fangjue instinctively reach out and pull Tang Ning back a little when they crossed—perfect distance, the kind that didn’t make people uncomfortable.
Jiang Linye almost couldn’t hold back. He strode forward and grabbed her.
Tang Ning felt awkward and tried to pull away: “Don’t—don’t pull…”
He held back his temper and spoke softly: “Ningning, let’s talk.”
In front of an outsider, Tang Ning couldn’t lose her temper: “What’s there to talk about…”
“You want a divorce.” Jiang Linye’s expression was terrifyingly calm. He spoke in a low voice, “Aren’t you going to come back and discuss property division?”
Tang Ning’s head snapped up: “Great! Then let’s go right now. Let’s head back immediately.”
Jiang Linye: “…”
He took a deep breath.
“Let go of me.” Tang Ning spoke quietly. “Wait here for a second. I’ll go get my cat and then we’ll talk.”
Once they talked, that would be it. After the talk, she’d move out of Rose Court, take her share of the assets, and live her happy rich-lady life.
“Cat?” Jiang Linye’s brows furrowed. His instincts screamed danger, but he didn’t dare say anything harsh in case she exploded and beat him like she was thrashing a chick. “You know you’re allergic, right?”
Tang Ning honestly shook her head: “No idea.”
Allergies usually showed up early in life, unlike other illnesses. But in her memory, she’d been perfectly healthy for her first twenty years.
“You forgot.” Jiang Linye forced himself to stay patient and explained to her, “You really didn’t have allergy symptoms before. It started in the second year after our marriage. Once in mid-spring, you got exposed to willow catkins and it triggered rhinitis. After that you became allergic to a lot of things. Desensitization treatment went on and off for two years before…”
Tang Ning didn’t want to hear him ramble. She only cared about one thing: “Are you letting go or not.”
Jiang Linye stared at her. After a long silence, his voice came out hoarse: “Okay.”
Then he slowly released her.
Xia Fangjue didn’t follow. He kept a certain distance from the two of them and leaned against the car, watching the whole scene. From a few steps away, he couldn’t hear their conversation, but he could see both their expressions clearly.
Still…
He rubbed his chin.
It didn’t look like the negotiation was going very well.
Once free from Jiang Linye’s grip, Tang Ning walked back to Xia Fangjue’s side: “Let’s go get the cat.”
Xia Fangjue nodded. Sensing Jiang Linye’s unfriendly stare, he turned back with a smile: “Long time no see, old classmate.”
His voice was pleasant, carrying a hint of probing. Jiang Linye turned around and met his eyes directly.
The sky was high and clear, clouds calm, wind gentle, sunlight bright. The layers of clouds in the sky hung silent like an oil painting.
The young man in front of him hadn’t changed much—tall and slender, no glasses, a very gentle smile on his face, still carrying that faint scholarly aura.
Jiang Linye’s brows furrowed slightly. He didn’t respond.
He’d originally planned to just wait there, but the moment he saw this guy, he immediately decided to follow: “Ningning, I’ll go in with you.”
Tang Ning didn’t say yes or no. She slipped past Xia Fangjue like a little fox and darted away in a flash.
As if she really didn’t want to be caught by Jiang Linye.
Jiang Linye had no intention of pressing the issue. He just followed behind, matching her pace step for step.
As the two brushed past him, Xia Fangjue paused thoughtfully, lifted his head, and watched.
Their gazes met for only a brief moment.
Jiang Linye’s face showed almost no expression—this guy had a way of staring at people that always made them feel uneasy after a while.
Xia Fangjue looked back at him with a smiling glint in his eyes, then casually, almost absentmindedly, remembered that midsummer when he was seventeen.
The basketball hit the floor in the court, producing intermittent thumping sounds—thud, thud, thud.
Someone tackled him hard; his shoulder blade slammed against the floor. The shouting and cheering of his classmates suddenly felt very, very far away.
Jiang Linye pinned his shoulders down, staring at him intently, voice pressed extremely low:
“But what can I do? The person Tang Ning likes is me.”
He practically ground his teeth.
“—She’s mine.”
At the entrance of the pet hospital, people came and went; sunlight fell quietly.
Xia Fangjue watched Tang Ning and Jiang Linye enter one after the other. For no particular reason, he again remembered the day he saw her at the summit venue—walking hurriedly, eyes red-rimmed.
He thought for a moment, didn’t rush inside, and instead bent down to open the small gift box.
Rivers, lakes, seas, sun, moon, stars—the watch face gave off an expensive, muted glow.
Xia Fangjue gave a silent laugh, took out the men’s half of the couple’s watch— and then, slowly and deliberately, fastened it onto his own wrist.
To be honest, Jiang Linye felt that ever since Tang Ning lost her memory, she had become somewhat procrastinating in doing things.
But today she was unusually decisive—not a single minute wasted. She quickly picked up the cat, explained the situation to Sheng Xinglai, said goodbye to Xia Fangjue, then rushed back to the car like a little whirlwind.
As if she couldn’t wait to have the divorce talk with him.
He didn’t know whether he should coldly grip her chin and demand if she really wanted to kick him away that badly, or whether he should praise her and say: even with amnesia, the little one is still so financially sharp—really impressive.
Either way felt wrong.
Distracted, he drove the car home like it was flying.
Yingying-guai had just been neutered and hadn’t fully realized what had happened to its cat life yet. Once the anesthesia wore off, it started arching and wriggling, trying to crawl out. Tang Ning carefully unzipped the cat carrier:
“I’ll let you out for some air, but don’t run around, okay?”
Yingying-guai was extremely obedient: “Mew.”
But the moment it slowly poked its head out and saw the stone-faced man sitting in the driver’s seat, the little cat instantly went full Sparta, screaming at the top of its lungs:
“MEEOW!! MEEOW!!”
Jiang Linye’s scalp went numb from the shrieking. Tolerating a non-meowing cat in his car was already his absolute limit.
“What’s wrong with it?”
Tang Ning looked guilty: “Maybe… maybe it’s an enemy reunion—eyes red with hatred?”
Jiang Linye: “……?”
Tang Ning had no intention of explaining. She secretly blinked, thinking wickedly to herself—
If only the little cat had enough strength right now, it would have already broken free, pounced on him, and bitten his balls to pieces.
A moment later, the car stopped at Rose Half Lane.
Tang Ning opened the door and got out. The housekeeper and other staff at home greeted “Madam” warmly. Knowing this was the last time she would ever come back here, her mood was actually quite cheerful. She smiled and greeted everyone back one by one.
Jiang Linye’s face still showed no emotion—his expression unreadable, mood impossible to guess—as he followed behind her.
The house finally seemed to have a little bit of sound in it.
Passing through the garden and the glass corridor, Tang Ning carried the cat, pushed aside the huge pile of plush toys that had somehow multiplied like cells on the sofa, and picked a corner to sit down:
“Come on, President Jiang, you sit too.”
Jiang Linye’s jaw tightened. He wanted to say that all these toys were bought for her, but the words reached his mouth and he swallowed them back.
He sat down in silence.
“Alright, now let’s talk about our marriage that’s hanging by a thread.”
Tang Ning pulled out a sheet of paper.
“Based on what I know now, the reason we got married was because of the funding crisis Tang Corporation faced five years ago, right?”
—Right. He took advantage of the fire, not only snatching the shares she held, but also tricking her into his bed.
But Jiang Linye said nothing.
His silence didn’t stop Tang Ning from rambling on by herself:
“I gave up my portion of shares in Tang Corporation. In exchange, you helped me figure things out and—most importantly—took care of Dad.”
Mainly taking care of Dad.
Tang Ning had always felt that losing the company wouldn’t matter, but Dad had to be okay.
Jiang Linye replied coolly, “Mm.”
“But right from the start, you had no intention of helping me. When I called you, you refused.”
Tang Ning could still remember the feeling of a bucket of ice water being dumped over her head under the blazing sun. He had asked her why the hell he should help her.
“Almost none of my friends could do anything either, so I went to Yu Mingyuan, but he made… very… very difficult, unreasonable demands? And since literally no one else could help, I agreed?”
Not just agreed.
Even now, when Jiang Linye thinks back, he still feels like he was pissed to the point of insanity.
Long before she called him, he had already been working behind the scenes to help her. At that time he wasn’t even in the country, but he knew every move the Tang family made better than anyone. Back when he was starting his own business, Old Tang had helped him enormously—money, connections, anything he wanted, as long as it didn’t involve getting close to his daughter.
But then Old Tang went back on his word.
Desire fed greed. From the very beginning, Jiang Linye wanted everything and planned to let go of nothing.
Yet the moment he ran his mouth on that phone call, the very next second Tang Ning went straight to Yu Mingyuan.
The Jiang Linye of back then: “???”
No exaggeration—he genuinely wanted to die together with Yu Mingyuan right then and there. He booked the earliest flight back to the country, fully intending to come home and strangle some sense into this naive, sweet, silly young miss. Fortunately, Tang Ning’s brain wasn’t quite that broken. At the very last moment she pulled back, and then—naturally—came looking for him instead.
But…
Later, whenever Jiang Linye had a rare moment of conscience, he would secretly think:
In a way, he wasn’t any more saintly or upright than Yu Mingyuan either : )
Sunlight passed silently through the courtyard. The living room fell quiet for a long moment.
“Something like that,” Jiang Linye said lightly. “That’s all you remembered?”
Tang Ning didn’t answer, but from the look on her face, he already knew.
For some reason, he suddenly felt a tiny, secret thrill of joy. Right now, he hoped Tang Ning would never remember anything else for the rest of her life.
“Did we also sign a prenup?”
The little cat had fallen asleep in her arms. She stared blankly for a while, then suddenly remembered.
“Can you show me the agreement? Once I read it, I’m sure I’ll remember more.”
Remember more?
Don’t even think about it.
Jiang Linye’s face was expressionless: “No.”
Tang Ning: “…”
Seeing her expression darken, Jiang Linye gave a light cough.
“There’s nothing special written in it. Mainly just equity division.”
Tang Ning used to hold a portion of Tang Corporation’s shares, but five years ago Mr. Jiang took advantage of the crisis and got them all into his hands. The equity transfer happened after the marriage. During that period Tang Ning’s mind wasn’t clear, and Jiang Linye deliberately avoided mentioning anything about premarital property agreements. As a result, in all his shares and assets, Tang Ning was an invisible partner.
Later, in the second year of their marriage, Tang Ning founded TJ. Jiang Linye, as an investor, held a similar controlling stake. Marriage between business partners has pros and cons: she could always get support from him, but she would also forever be held back by him.
But twenty-year-old Tang Ning obviously hadn’t thought that far ahead.
She asked him in an almost innocent tone:
“If we divorce, do I have to pay you money?”
Jiang Linye gave a cold laugh and deliberately exaggerated to scare her:
“No need to pay. But if we divorce, I will only divide assets with you—I won’t divide equity. The moment you walk out this door, Tang Corporation and TJ will have nothing to do with you ever again. You’ll just get a lump sum as compensation.”
He paused, then the capitalist Jiang Linye lifted his head, staring at her with a look that practically screamed “please, please look hesitant and scared right now,” and asked coldly:
“You still want to divorce under those conditions?”
Tang Ning listened, hugging the cat, completely stunned.
Seeing her expression, Jiang Linye felt victory was already in his grasp.
All these years, Tang Ning had been very clear: if business partners divorce, the shares they hold are treated as joint marital property and divided. From every angle, that would be disastrous for the company.
But she also could never completely give up her shares. Tang Corporation was the lifelong blood and sweat of Old Tang—her father was her real weak spot.
And then, the very next second.
The very next second.
Tang Ning’s eyes filled with tears: “There’s actually such a good deal?!”
Jiang Linye: “…?”
As long as there’s money, Tang Ning thought. Anyway, she used to just collect dividends from Tang Corporation’s shares—it’s better to let Jiang Linye take them and make money. She had already given everything away; her father loved her so much he would never blame her. She understood every version of herself at every age and never regretted any decision she made back then.
As for the rest… what else did Jiang Linye have that was worth her lingering over? If she didn’t divorce him, what exactly was she staying for—his world-class good dick?
“Divorce! Yes!”
Tang Ning was trembling with excitement.
“Let’s do it right now!”