Forced to Become the Female Lead's Beloved Wife [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 15

For the next few days, Li Wancheng was preoccupied with engineering projects and didn’t make a special effort to see Wen Yige. It wasn’t until she received the latest anonymous email that she finally arranged to meet her.

They chose a secluded teahouse with minimal foot traffic and settled into a private room by the window.

After the Frost’s Descent, the weather had begun to turn cold. Occasional gusts of wind carried the winter chill, sweeping away large swaths of withered leaves.

Alas, fallen leaves drifted aimlessly, just like people.

“You suddenly called me out. Is there something urgent?” Wen Yige withdrew from her thoughts, picked up her teacup, and took a delicate sip.

As she raised her hand, her sleeve slid down slightly, revealing a wrist that had been carefully concealed. A faint red mark circled her wrist.

Li Wancheng’s sharp eyes noticed immediately. Her voice deepened slightly. “What happened to your wrist?”

The woman’s expression stiffened momentarily. She shook her wrist gently, the red mark disappearing beneath her sleeve once more. “I accidentally bumped it,” she replied casually.

It was the bruise left by Xu Zhou’s grip on her wrist during their last encounter. At the time, it had been a dark bruise, but she hadn’t paid much attention to it. She hadn’t expected it to still be visible a week later.

Li Wancheng wasn’t foolish. The red marks on Wen Yige’s wrist were clearly from being pinched.

“Did Xu Zhou do this?” Even a brief glance revealed the force behind the marks. Seeing her silence, the woman’s eyes grew colder, her heart already knowing the answer.

The sudden interruption had cast a heavy silence over the room. The steam from the hot tea curled upward, dissipating into the air before vanishing completely.

Li Wancheng pushed several photographs across the table. “Take a look at these.”

Wen Yige’s hand paused mid-sip. She scattered the photos across the table, showing neither the shock nor disgust Li Wancheng had anticipated. Instead, she smiled calmly, as if Xu Zhou’s infidelity came as no surprise.

“These things are easy to uncover, aren’t they?” The unspoken implication was clear: anything Li Wancheng could find, she could find as well.

Li Wancheng had already anticipated that these few photos wouldn’t change anything.

“Then what about this?” She handed Wen Yige her phone. Puzzled, Wen Yige took it and unlocked it.

This time, the woman’s face drained of color. Her fingers tightened around the phone as she stared at Li Wancheng in disbelief.

Li Wancheng nodded. “I investigated. The legal representative of Diyu Group is Xu Zhou’s cousin, but the actual controlling shareholder is Xu Zhou himself.”

In other words, Xu Zhou had secretly established a company behind the Wen family’s back and was using his connections with the Wen Corporation to expand its business.

The following photos showed Xu Zhou in meetings at restaurants with several individuals. Wen Yige recognized their faces instantly—they were all senior executives or shareholders of companies with close ties to the Wen Corporation.

She sneered. No wonder some of our collaborative projects have suddenly run into trouble lately. Someone inside must be sabotaging them.

The final item was a video, seemingly filmed in a café. The angle was slightly off, making it difficult to clearly see the faces, but the voices were unmistakable.

The video began with a woman’s coquettish voice: “Xu-ge~ How much longer do I have to wait?”

A moment later, Xu Zhou’s voice replied, sounding utterly smug: “Patience, darling. Once I’ve taken care of everything, the entire Wen Corporation will be ours.”

The rest of the video consisted of their sickeningly sweet banter. Wen Yige had no interest in listening further and immediately turned off her phone.

She didn’t care about Xu Zhou’s infidelity; after all, their marriage was merely a formality. But the Wen Corporation had been built from the ground up by her father, Wen Feng, and her mother. She couldn’t tolerate Xu Zhou daring to covet the company.

If she had discovered this any later, Xu Zhou might have devoured Wen Corporation, leaving only an empty shell.

Li Wancheng, having observed Wen Yige’s reaction, fixed her with a steady gaze, her voice growing more serious. “Yige, do you still plan to continue this marriage?”

Her covert investigation had been leading to this moment—to force Wen Yige to see Xu Zhou’s true nature.

The teapot on the table was empty. Wen Yige’s slender hand lifted the handle, her wrist bending as she slowly tilted the pot, pouring fragrant, scalding tea from its spout.

Xu Zhou’s betrayal and deceit had long since exhausted the meager affection between them. She shook her head, a sudden glint of ruthlessness flashing in her eyes.

“Before I divorce him, I’ll make him spit out everything he’s stolen.”

Though she couldn’t fathom why Li Wancheng had helped her investigate—whether it was out of pure friendship, unwilling to see her deceived, or something more…

Wen Yige dared not delve into the deeper motives behind it.

The two families’ companies were closely intertwined, and due to her health issues, Xu Zhou had been directly managing most of Wen Corporation’s operations since their marriage. Therefore, the divorce required careful planning.

Moreover, given his willingness to commit such acts, it seemed necessary to thoroughly audit the company’s accounts again.

The System watched her huddled in the driver’s seat, eyes closed in rest, and sighed in exasperation. “Are you really going to wait here in this 34-degree weather?”

Lately, Wen Yige had been secretly gathering support within the company. To avoid arousing Xu Zhou’s suspicions, she had moved back home under the pretense of caring for her father. But Xu Zhou seemed to have caught on, and his recent moves had become increasingly aggressive.

Li Wancheng shot the System a glare. If I weren’t worried about him harming Wen Yige, I’d be crazy to freeze my butt off here.

Around 9:30 PM, the gala ended, and guests began streaming out of the hotel.

To avoid drawing attention, Li Wancheng parked across the street. Through the windshield, she could clearly see Xu Zhou and Wen Yige standing side-by-side near the hotel entrance, chatting and laughing with another couple. They appeared perfectly harmonious.

She had texted Wen Yige earlier to say she would pick her up, but after waiting for ages, Wen Yige still hadn’t made a move to leave.

Across the street, after seeing off the couple, Wen Yige turned to leave when someone suddenly grabbed her arm.

“Where do you think you’re going so late at night?”

Xu Zhou had already harbored resentment toward Wen Yige for suddenly reclaiming control of the company. To make matters worse, several projects Diyu had previously secured were inexplicably stalled, and the company’s cash flow was drying up.

Since they were in public, Wen Yige couldn’t openly argue with him. She lowered her voice, “Let go of me!”

Li Wancheng had gotten out of her car the moment she saw Xu Zhou and Wen Yige clashing, standing by the roadside and watching them intently.

Noticing the figure across the street, Xu Zhou tightened his grip on Wen Yige’s arm, narrowed his eyes, and sneered, “What, didn’t get enough catching up with her at the teahouse last time?”

Wen Yige followed his gaze and froze, her voice hardening with anger, “You’re stalking me?”

Across the busy street, separated by a red light, Li Wancheng couldn’t hear their words. Suddenly, a large truck rumbled past, blocking her view. When the road cleared again, she saw Wen Yige clutching her chest and collapsing to the ground, while Xu Zhou had vanished.

“Yige!” Li Wancheng rushed over, heedless of everything else, and cradled the fallen woman in her arms. Uncertain of the extent of her injuries, she dared not move her.

The woman in her arms was pale with pain, her brow furrowed, cold sweat beading on her forehead. Gasping for breath, she spoke in ragged intervals, “Medicine… in the bag.”

Li Wancheng took the handbag from her trembling hands, her fingertips shaking with anxiety. It took two tries to unscrew the medicine bottle’s cap.

She poured out two pills and gently slipped them between Wen Yige’s parted lips. The woman’s lips were icy cold, as if they had been submerged in ice water. After a few minutes, when Wen Yige’s breathing began to steady, the heavy weight in Li Wancheng’s chest finally eased slightly.

The sudden attack had left Wen Yige’s voice particularly weak. Leaning against Li Wancheng’s chest, her lips moved soundlessly.

The night wind howled too loudly for Li Wancheng to hear what she was saying. Still shaken by the ordeal, her only thought was to get Wen Yige to the hospital as quickly as possible.

She slid her forearm under the woman’s knees and slowly lifted her into her arms. “Don’t talk. I’m taking you to the hospital.” Suddenly, her collar was tugged lightly. She looked down at the woman in her arms.

Wen Yige clutched Li Wancheng’s collar, her voice still soft but unexpectedly stubborn. “No… I don’t want to go to the hospital…”

Perhaps genuinely terrified of hospitals, she repeated the words several times. “Take me home, A-Cheng. Take me home…”

The tears came unexpectedly. Li Wancheng frantically wiped them from Wen Yige’s cheeks, then, fearing the biting wind, she wrapped her tighter in her own coat before hoarsely agreeing, “Okay.”

“Let’s go home.”

The woman was surprisingly light, even through the thick layers of clothing. Li Wancheng’s arm easily encircled her waist.

Li Wancheng carried her to the passenger seat, fastened her seatbelt, and then went around to the driver’s side.

The car’s heater quickly warmed the interior, gradually dispelling the chill. Wen Yige closed her eyes wearily, the man’s words echoing relentlessly in her mind.

“Tsk, why are you glaring at me like that? Am I wrong?”

“You wouldn’t want everyone to know that President Wen of the Wen Corporation is actually a disgusting lesbian, would you?”

Seeing the woman’s shock, Xu Zhou’s grin widened triumphantly.

“What? She didn’t tell you?”

“I took those photos of you two kissing and gave them to the Principal.”

Xu Zhou’s deranged expression seemed to burn vividly in her memory. Wen Yige felt as if she were suffocating, her chest gripped so tightly that even breathing hurt.

She turned her head, the car window reflecting her profile. With tears welling in her eyes, she looked like shattered glass, the light refracting into a kaleidoscope of shimmering, distorted reflections.

She raised her fingertips, tracing the outline of the woman’s profile through the air, her heart aching so fiercely she nearly fainted.

Why? Why didn’t you tell me…?

Why did you have to leave me in the most cruel way possible?

Unnoticed, the car had come to a smooth stop. Suddenly, the overwhelming scent of lemons filled the air as Li Wancheng’s hair brushed against her nose, instantly making the cramped car feel even more crowded.

Li Wancheng had intended to help her unbuckle her seatbelt, but instead, she was pulled into a tight embrace. She faintly heard a soft intake of breath, and a dampness touched the skin of her neck, causing her body to stiffen.

Is she… crying again?

The embrace was too tight for Li Wancheng to break free, and fearing her weight might crush the other woman, she braced herself against the seat and coaxed softly, “We’re home now. Let’s get out of the car, okay?”

After a long silence, the embrace only tightened. The woman’s muffled voice, sounding almost fierce, came from below: “Don’t go!”

Her arms were starting to ache from supporting herself for so long. Li Wancheng sighed, resigned, and soothed her, “Okay, okay, I won’t go.”

At least she was finally willing to be close to her again.