Forced to Become the Female Lead's Beloved Wife [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 14

The door creaked open slowly, revealing a man in a perfectly tailored suit, his tie knotted with meticulous precision. His steps were unsteady, likely due to the alcohol he’d consumed.

The two women on the sofa remained in the same position, Wen Yige’s leg still resting on Li Wancheng’s lap. From Xu Zhou’s angle, it looked as if Wen Yige were sitting intimately on Li Wancheng’s lap.

Xu Zhou, clearly not expecting another woman at home, paused in the entryway for a moment before chuckling softly.

“Well, well, isn’t this our old classmate?” His voice dripped with barely suppressed flirtatiousness, reeking of nauseating alcohol. “Stealing affairs right in my own home while I’m away?”

Ignoring their darkening expressions, he continued to approach.

Li Wancheng carefully lowered Wen Yige’s leg and stood up to face him, her voice sharp with anger. “She’s injured. Your first reaction should be concern for her well-being, not suspicion.”

Throughout the entire exchange, Xu Zhou hadn’t shown a shred of concern for Wen Yige, casting only a cursory glance at her injury.

She scoffed, “Xu Zhou, you’re truly pathetic.”

As if struck where it hurt most, his voice rose sharply. “Li Wancheng, this is between me and her. What right do you have to interfere?”

Xu Zhou had been drinking heavily with a client earlier that day, only to have the deal fall through. Returning home to this scene, he couldn’t even maintain a facade of composure.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, he regained his confidence and sneered, “Weren’t you so smug before? Now you’re crawling back to the Wen Corporation for a partnership…”

“Enough!” Wen Yige interrupted him sharply.

Xu Zhou glanced down at her with contempt, a hint of amusement in his eyes. “What? Are you going to side with an outsider to lecture me?” He took another step forward.

The air froze, every breath audible as the wind howled faintly outside the window.

The tension between them grew palpable, as if they were about to come to blows.

Ignoring the pain in her ankle, Wen Yige braced herself against the sofa armrest and stood up. She tugged on Li Wancheng’s sleeve, subtly positioning herself to shield her.

She stepped between them, tilting her head slightly to whisper in the woman’s ear, “Wancheng, you should go home now.”

Xu Zhou had been drinking, and she feared for Li Wancheng’s safety. If a conflict erupted, the two women would be at a disadvantage.

When Li Wancheng refused to leave, Wen Yige reassured her in a low voice, “It’s alright. He wouldn’t dare touch me.”

Everything Xu Zhou had achieved depended on the Wen family. He wouldn’t risk jeopardizing that by harming her.

She knew this, and so did Xu Zhou.

After all, they were still married. Li Wancheng understood that as an outsider, she had no right to interfere in their domestic affairs. Staying would only escalate the situation.

“Call me if anything happens,” she said, giving Wen Yige a deep look before bending down to pick up her coat from the sofa. Her voice was soft but carried clearly enough for Xu Zhou to hear.

Once Li Wancheng had left, Xu Zhou sprawled on the sofa, yanking off his tie and tossing it aside. He turned to the silent woman, his gaze sharp. “I’ve heard you’ve been spending a lot of time with Li Wancheng lately.”

Wen Yige frowned, instinctively moving away from him. “That’s none of your business.”

“None of your business?” Xu Zhou sneered, his voice laced with anger, his breath coming in short gasps. “I’m your husband! Don’t I have the right to ask about who you’re seeing?”

His face twisted into a ferocious mask, utterly devoid of his usual gentle demeanor. Wen Yige felt a sudden chill. After all this time, she realized she had never truly seen his true nature.

Perhaps sensing the coldness in her eyes, Xu Zhou’s drunken haze began to clear slightly. Realizing his earlier outburst, he quickly reverted to his usual mild-mannered facade.

“Yige, I didn’t mean to lose my temper. I just had too much to drink.”

His transformation was so swift, it was as if the raging man from moments ago had never existed.

When she remained silent, Xu Zhou reached out to touch her cheek, but she flinched away. The suppressed rage in his heart flared anew.

The scene he had witnessed upon entering the room replayed in his mind. He seized Wen Yige’s wrist and violently shoved her onto the sofa, his bloodshot eyes gleaming with manic intensity.

“Ah, so that’s it! No wonder you never let me touch you. Were you waiting for her all along?”

The alcohol fueled his cowardly pride, transforming it entirely into anger and resentment, slowly devouring him alive.

Wen Yige’s sprained ankle must have collided with something, as a cold sweat instantly drenched her back from the pain. Her wrist throbbed from the man’s brutal grip, leaving her only able to hear his teeth grinding in fury.

“I’m telling you, Wen Yige,” he snarled, “you’ll be mine in life, and mine in death!”

After a long moment, he released her wrist, turned, and slammed the door shut, the force of the impact shaking the entire room.

The man’s ferocious expression and the acrid stench of alcohol seemed to linger in the air. Wen Yige clutched her chest, her breathing growing rapid and shallow. Her face contorted in agony, as if she were trapped in an ice cellar, the pain blurring her vision.

Her heart condition had flared up.

She tried to push herself up from the sofa, but her limbs felt like lead, every movement an agonizing effort, especially with her injured ankle. She managed to roll over with her elbows, only to tumble straight onto the floor. The impact sent searing pain through her bones, and even the thick carpet couldn’t cushion the agony, her brow furrowing in agony.

The medicine was in the nightstand by the bed in the bedroom. Too weak to stand, she could only crawl on her knees, inching her way toward the bedroom.

Fortunately, the distance wasn’t far. By the time she reached the bed, she was utterly exhausted. Her hand trembled uncontrollably as she grabbed the medicine bottle, clumsily poured out two pills, and swallowed them. She closed her eyes and leaned weakly against the edge of the bed.

As the medicine took effect, the agonizing pain in her chest gradually subsided. Wen Yige gasped for breath, still kneeling on the floor.

Her gaze drifted to the pure white wooden doors of the wardrobe. She lowered her brows, scooted forward a few inches, and reached out to pull open the wardrobe door. She retrieved a plush toy from deep inside.

The toy’s fur felt stiff from repeated washing, but she seemed not to notice. She gently pressed her cheek against it, her voice low and tinged with unspeakable tenderness and sorrow as she murmured the name she hadn’t dared to think or utter for years.

“A-Cheng…”

Clutching the Psyduck, as if holding the once-gentle and carefree girl, Wen Yige’s face was instantly drenched in tears. For a fleeting moment, it seemed as if nothing had changed.

She murmured to herself, If only nothing had changed.

Her fingertips traced the uneven surface on the doll’s back—the scar left by her clumsy stitches, a symbol of time’s relentless passage.

It had been about a year ago when she noticed some of the threads on Psyduck’s back had snapped, likely due to age and prolonged storage. She’d retrieved a needle and thread to repair it.

But even after carefully sewing it back together, it still looked different from before. Despite her best efforts to find the closest matching thread, the repair remained noticeable.

It was like a scar on human skin—even after the scab falls off, a faint mark remains.

A sudden wave of confusion washed over her.

If a relationship cracks, can it ever truly be restored to its original state?

First, Xu Zhou’s return was suspiciously coincidental. Even including the time she spent applying the ointment, she had only been there for twenty minutes, yet he managed to arrive within that precise window.

Moreover, even if two women were being overly affectionate, under normal circumstances, he shouldn’t have immediately jumped to the conclusion of infidelity. Especially since she and Wen Yige hadn’t engaged in any inappropriate behavior at all. Unless…

A chilling suspicion began to form in her mind, casting a shadow across her eyes.

He had known about their relationship all along.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sudden ringing of her phone. Li Wancheng glanced at the screen—an unfamiliar number.

When she answered, a stranger’s voice spoke: “Miss Li, it’s me.” The man gave his name, and her eyes darkened slightly. It was the investigator she had hired to look into Xu Zhou.

“What is it?” Li Wancheng frowned. Private investigators rarely have clean hands, so she preferred to avoid unnecessary contact with them. She hadn’t expected him to track down her phone number so directly.

She had already settled the bill for his previous investigation. Why was he calling her now?

The man chuckled twice. “I just happened to be passing by today and saw Xu Zhou enter the Diyu Group. And judging by the time, he stayed inside for quite a while.”

The Diyu Group was a newly established internet company that had suddenly risen to prominence recently. Due to their similar market positioning, they were considered a competitor to the Wen Corporation.

But what was Xu Zhou doing there?

Previously overlooked clues slowly began to connect in her mind, and her heart skipped a beat.

The man seemed confident in her reaction, showing no urgency as he waited for her to speak.

After a moment, Li Wancheng’s voice slowly drifted through the speaker.

“Continue investigating. Contact me immediately if you find anything. I’ll double your payment.”