Refusing Divorce After a Contract Marriage - Chapter 17

Chapter 17: President Jiang’s Secret

As the sun rose from the sea level, its light pierced through the clouds. It was a scene that truly felt magnificent and profound.

In the past, Jiang Chumian never had the luxury of mind to watch a sunrise, or rather, she had seen them, but never one sought out specifically like this one without the breathtaking meeting of sea and sky.

Shen Qingye still had her arm wrapped around Jiang Chumian’s waist. Xiao Jinyu, standing further away with her freshly bought polaroid camera, snapped a candid photo.

Meng Zhu looked at Xiao Jinyu and said with a smile, “You look like the head of a fan club for a ‘ship’.”

Xiao Jinyu grinned at her. “But they just match so well.”

Meng Zhu glanced lightly at Shen Qingye and Jiang Chumian; they did indeed look like a perfect pair. Even she hadn’t expected that one day, Shen Qingye would like someone this much. The old Shen Qingye acted as if no one was good enough for her.

Jiang Chumian stepped out of Shen Qingye’s embrace and took a few photos with her phone. She then felt her phone’s camera quality wasn’t doing the scene justice.

Shen Qingye instinctively handed her own phone over. “Try mine?”

Jiang Chumian didn’t think much of it and took it. The photos she took indeed looked much better.

“Thank you,” Jiang Chumian whispered to her.

Shen Qingye’s lips curled up slightly as she whispered back into her ear, “Chumian, you need to have the awareness that I am your wife.”

Jiang Chumian blinked, looking a bit confused.

“Since I’m your wife, it should be perfectly natural and taken for granted that you use my phone. Doesn’t saying ‘thank you’ feel a bit strange?” Shen Qingye pinched her ear and said with a laugh.

Jiang Chumian’s cheeks turned red, and she nodded obediently. “I understand.”

“Good girl.” Shen Qingye leaned in a bit closer. To onlookers, it looked like she was kissing Jiang Chumian, but in reality, her lips only lightly brushed against her cheek.

Even so, this was a calculated move by Shen Qingye.

“Accident. Didn’t control the distance well,” Shen Qingye added with a whisper.

Jiang Chumian’s face grew even hotter, but she murmured, “It’s fine.”

Shen Qingye watched Jiang Chumian as she stepped away slightly. She was indeed doing this on purpose. From childhood to adulthood, she had always done everything in her power to get what she wanted, and now she was doing the same with Jiang Chumian. Although it might be a bit much, Shen Qingye wanted to test if Jiang Chumian would be repulsed by her contact. So far, it seemed she wasn’t that resistant.

Once the sun had fully risen, the crowd’s enthusiasm faded, and people began heading back to the hotel. Jiang Chumian and Shen Qingye followed Xiao Jinyu and Meng Zhu back.

On the way, Xiao Jinyu proudly presented the photos she had taken to the two of them. Jiang Chumian looked at them; the atmosphere in the photos was so ambiguous that it didn’t look like her and Shen Qingye at all. And yet, it clearly was them undeniably so.

“Thank you, they’re very beautiful.” Jiang Chumian took them and showed them to Shen Qingye.

Shen Qingye couldn’t help but let her lips curl up. “Little Goldfish is quite good at photography.”

Meng Zhu gave Shen Qingye a look of mock-disgust. “Look at that ‘worthless’ (lovestruck) look on your face.”

Shen Qingye shrugged. If she was worthless, so be it. It was her first time wanting to truly date someone; wasn’t she allowed to have a normal human reaction?

“I’m going to buy frames and mount these as soon as we get back.”

“Is that really necessary?” Meng Zhu asked with a groan.

Shen Qingye just laughed, her gaze falling on Jiang Chumian’s hand as she held it. It was so small.

Back at the hotel, the others went to catch up on sleep; apparently, those guys really hadn’t slept all night. Shen Qingye asked Jiang Chumian if she wanted to sleep more, but after a moment’s thought, Jiang Chumian shook her head. Since they were out, and they hadn’t played the night before, it felt wrong to spend the day sleeping.

After eating breakfast at the hotel, Xiao Jinyu suggested they go out and explore on their own. Although this was a seaside area, it wasn’t particularly easy to visit, so Jiang Chumian hadn’t been here many times in her life. Furthermore, the seaside had developed rapidly in recent years and no longer resembled the memories of her childhood.

Walking around and seeing the sights was quite nice. Passing by some stalls, Jiang Chumian even bought a few small toys for herself. She remembered coming here for part-time jobs in the past and seeing children getting small gifts from their parents. Back then, she felt a trace of envy; now, she was buying them for her younger self.

Shen Qingye didn’t know the thoughts in her head, but she didn’t mock her for being childish. Instead, she proactively asked if she wanted to buy certain things. After a morning of wandering, they returned to the hotel while the others were still asleep.

After lunch, since they had to drive back later, they decided to take a nap together. Shen Qingye was a light sleeper and woke up feeling refreshed after an hour. She felt Jiang Chumian stir as she got up; the girl took a groggy look at her before falling back asleep. Shen Qingye smiled and didn’t disturb her.

Around three o’clock, Meng Zhu came over to ask if they wanted to go for karaoke. Shen Qingye glanced at the sleeping Jiang Chumian and said softly, “I’ll ask Chumian.”

“Shen Qingye, you really don’t seem like yourself right now,” Meng Zhu teased.

In response, Shen Qingye just glanced at Xiao Jinyu, who had just walked out of another room. “Since when does the Eldest Miss Meng chase people around?”

Meng Zhu chuckled. “Playing with them is fun.”

Shen Qingye didn’t bother to expose her and closed the door to ask Jiang Chumian if she wanted to play. Jiang Chumian thought about it, sat up in bed, and said, “Let’s go. It would be a bit boring to come all this way and do nothing.”

“You’re afraid I’ll be bored?” Shen Qingye asked with a smile.

Jiang Chumian tilted her head. “Being with me is very boring.” She had always been aware that she wasn’t a particularly interesting person.

Shen Qingye reached out and ruffled her hair. “It’s not.”

Jiang Chumian looked up at her, feeling a warm current rush through her heart.

“Let’s go then. Since we’re here, it would be strange to come all this way just to sleep in a hotel when we could do that at home.” Jiang Chumian pulled back the covers and tried to get ready as quickly as possible.

By the time they arrived, the others were already drinking and singing. These people truly had boundless energy. These were all Xiao Jinyu’s friends; most came from families with some money, but not excessively so. Many were only children with no inheritance drama. Their biggest “struggle” was the fact that they considered themselves “useless” but had to go back and inherit the family business eventually.

Xiao Jinyu had once seen a video online of a Gen Z being called “President” who had to pause a meeting just to go outside and laugh for several minutes, thinking, What kind of person am I to be called ‘President’? Xiao Jinyu shared that same mindset, and so did her friends they were very clear about their own positions.

Shen Qingye felt that these people were much more grounded than the elite second-generation heirs. They loved to play, but at least they weren’t squandering the family fortune.

Playing with these guys inevitably meant drinking. The rowdy afternoon passed quickly. Jiang Chumian was coerced into singing a few songs by Xiao Jinyu. Meng Zhu cooperated, picking out a few love songs; the two of them sang the opening before handing the microphones over to Shen Qingye and Jiang Chumian.

They had a great time. Since they had been drinking and it was already night, they decided not to head back that day. They didn’t go to work the next day either, sleeping in until morning and having a meal before driving back.

Jiang Chumian was the one who drove back, as she figured Shen Qingye had drunk quite a bit the night before. But even after they arrived home, she still felt a bit dazed. It was her first time being this “unrestrained” in her life.

However, after New Year’s Day, Shen Qingye became busy again. Jiang Chumian also had to prepare for the year-end activities; with so many banquets and events at the end of the year, it was the peak time for custom orders from the upper class.

Shen Qingye was busy with the new AI development project. Zhao Kaiguo had invested in this project, and while Shen Qingye was currently personally in charge, Zhao Kaiguo had been trying to seize authority. Using the power of the Shen family, he wanted to give his own subsidiary companies more initiative in the project.

Although Shen Qingye was dissatisfied, she gave Zhao Kaiguo face and said nothing. She even indulged him in planting his own people. While the Jiang family had some opinions, their investment was small, so they had even less say.

By the time the year was ending, all the procedures had been finalized, waiting for the project to officially launch after the Lunar New Year.

Shen Qingye sat in her office, looking at the materials Assistant Lin had brought. “The project hasn’t even started, and he can’t keep his hands to himself? Is Zhao Kaiguo short on funds lately?”

“Probably not, but the Zhao Group recently acquired several of the Shen family’s subsidiaries.”

“Oh, I see. Zhao Kaiguo probably feels more of a sense of achievement using my money to buy my companies.” Shen Qingye’s lips curled. “Let him have the companies then. But the people… he can’t have them. Once the acquisitions are finished, have our people resign.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“President Zhao’s nephew has been frequenting casinos lately and has misappropriated quite a bit of money,” Assistant Lin added.

“It’s his uncle’s money; let him spend more of it.” Shen Qingye narrowed her eyes maliciously, a playful smile playing on her lips. Those who knew her well knew that when she looked like this, she was planning to mess with someone.

Shen Qingye closed the file. “Alright, there are only a few days until the Lunar New Year. Let’s not trouble them for now. Let them have one last good year.”

She sat in her executive chair, legs crossed, a dark chill in her eyes. She would settle all those old scores one by one. Whatever Zhao Kaiguo took from the Shen family, she would take back twice as much.

Jiang Chumian finished her final year-end tasks and saw a document she had received on WeChat. The sender wasn’t an employee of Xiguang, nor even a member of the Shen Group.

“President Jiang, this is the information on the Jiang family subsidiary we are preparing to acquire. Take a look. There’s a meeting tomorrow morning; will you be attending?”

“Yes, I’ll attend.”

After reading the materials, Jiang Chumian discovered that the subsidiary actually had a partnership with the Zhao family. She remembered it belonged to one of Shen Qingye’s uncles. Flipping through the documents, Jiang Chumian found that the Zhao family had been scamming the Jiang family quite badly.

Jiang Chumian thought about it and sent a message to Shen Qingye: “Qingye, how is your relationship with that Uncle Zhao of yours?”

“Not great,” Shen Qingye replied directly.

“Okay, got it.”

“What’s wrong?” Shen Qingye didn’t understand why Jiang Chumian would suddenly ask that.

“Nothing. A subsidiary under the Zhao Group wants to cooperate with a friend’s company, but I feel the Zhao family’s reputation isn’t very good, so they wanted to ask me about the situation.”

“Tell them to find someone else. The Zhao family isn’t good.”

“Okay.”

Jiang Chumian tapped her fingers on the desk. Shen Qingye clearly didn’t think well of the Zhao family, so why was such a large AI development project cooperating with Zhao Kaiguo? Was it simply because Zhao Kaiguo was also a shareholder of the Shen Group?

It didn’t seem likely. Given Shen Qingye’s personality, she wouldn’t let Zhao Kaiguo’s other companies get involved just because of that. It seemed there was something interesting going on here.

She opened WeChat and sent a message to the person who had just sent her the materials: “Investigate the history of the Zhao Group’s rise.” Since she hadn’t dealt with the Zhao Group much since returning to the country, she didn’t know much about them.

“Understood, President Jiang.”

With only a few days left until the Lunar New Year, neither Jiang Chumian nor Shen Qingye made any major moves. The company went on holiday three days before the New Year. It was as cold as ever. Aside from the first two days of the holiday when Xiao Jinyu invited them out, the two stayed at home.

During the holiday, Jiang Chumian didn’t wake up early. Usually, by the time Shen Qingye had finished her morning workout, Jiang Chumian would slowly get out of bed around ten o’clock. Since it was the holiday, she didn’t have Auntie Zhang come over to make breakfast. Jiang Chumian would usually make breakfast herself once she woke up, and after they ate, Shen Qingye would brew two cups of coffee.

It didn’t feel cold indoors. Shen Qingye liked to read books, scroll through her phone, watch mindless videos, or play games. Jiang Chumian was much the same; the two often sat in the living room doing their own things. Of course, sometimes Shen Qingye would drag Jiang Chumian to play games together.

Occasionally, Shen Qingye would turn her head and see Jiang Chumian lost in a daze. When Jiang Chumian daydreams, she seems to detach herself from the world so that nothing can affect her.

This life lasted for two days. It was comfortable, but also a bit boring. On the third day, Jiang Chumian was dragged to the gym by Shen Qingye to continue her fitness journey. Later, she was taken by Shen Qingye to run every morning, the reason being that her body was truly too weak.

Jiang Chumian ran reluctantly, her gaze falling on Shen Qingye’s abdominal muscles ahead. Shen Qingye was truly beautiful; she seemed to possess beauty, strength, nobility, and elegance all at once. Such a person felt like a perfect creation of the Creator.

The two made eye contact, and Jiang Chumian was the first to give a shy smile.

On New Year’s Eve, Jiang Chumian suddenly asked Shen Qingye if they should go buy some groceries to prepare for the New Year. She personally didn’t have much of a habit of celebrating the New Year; before the age of fifteen, she had never celebrated it, and after fifteen, at the Jiang house, she didn’t feel like the New Year had anything to do with her.

But Jiang Chumian was a very thoughtful person; she still considered Shen Qingye.

Shen Qingye casually hung a scarf around her neck. “There’s no need.”

“Grandmother told us to go home, so we only need to head back in a bit,” Shen Qingye said with a curled lip.

Jiang Chumian nodded. “Why didn’t I hear you mention that before?”

Shen Qingye flicked her forehead. “What’s on your mind, little girl? I told you the day before yesterday; did you not hear me?”

Jiang Chumian covered her forehead. “Sorry, maybe the video I was watching was too loud.”

Shen Qingye chuckled. “Then your punishment is to drive today.”

Jiang Chumian nodded. “Okay.”

Support Refusing Divorce After a Contract Marriage