The Wife From the Contract Marriage Does Not Want to Get Divorced - Chapter 16

The following day was overcast and rainy, with morning mist clinging to the stained-glass windows of the old Xie family mansion.

Xie Mingyuan had just sat down at the dining table and taken a bite of his soft-boiled egg when Manager Zhang from the company’s marketing department called: “President Xie, something has happened! Lu Group headquarters issued a formal red-headed document ten minutes ago they are shutting down our retail stores in D City and H City.”

“What did you say?!”

Xie Mingyuan’s face darkened instantly upon hearing this. The glass of soy milk in his hand hit the table with a heavy thud, splashing everywhere.

Beside him, his wife Zhou Jing found her qipao caught in the crossfire. Her expression turned sour immediately; she was supposed to meet an important client at the foundation today. That elderly lady was a lover of qipao, so Zhou Jing had been preparing her outfit for half a month.

Clutching a wet wipe to scrub her cuff, she caught sight of her husband’s livid, ashen face and swallowed the complaint at the tip of her tongue. “What on earth happened? Losing your temper so early in the morning.”

Hanging up the phone, Xie Mingyuan suppressed his fury and pushed away the tissue his wife offered to wipe his hands. “What happened? The Lu Group is pulling the plug on the Elis stores two of them at once.”

Noticing the empty seat beside his wife, the fire in his eyes became uncontrollable. “What time is it already? Go get Xie Zhiyao down here! I want to know exactly what happened at the Grand Hyatt last night. Didn’t I instruct her long ago to handle things properly?”

Shutting down two Elis stores?

Zhou Jing understood the gravity of the situation. Having been married to Xie Mingyuan for years, she knew exactly what he valued most. She abandoned the stains on her qipao and turned to head upstairs.

Knock, knock.

“Yaoyao? Wake up, your father needs to ask you something.”

Zhou Jing stood in the second-floor hallway knocking on her daughter’s door. Normally, she would have the patience to wait, but with her husband waiting downstairs, she turned the handle and pushed her way in.

She went to the window to draw the curtains first, then walked to the bedside. While patting Xie Zhiyao’s arm, she yanked back the down duvet covering her. “Stop sleeping. Get up, get dressed, and get downstairs.”

Xie Zhiyao, who had been trembling with anxiety all night, hadn’t fallen asleep until three in the morning. She was deep in slumber and had no desire to get out of bed.

She snatched the quilt back from her mother and buried her head under it, her voice muffled and limp: “Mom, we’ll talk later. I’m tired…”

Zhou Jing’s brow furrowed. She couldn’t stand her daughter’s lazy and shiftless attitude. They were both Xie Mingyuan’s offspring, so why was the child born of that woman so gentle, refined, and well-bred?

She couldn’t dwell on it; the more she thought, the angrier she became. She refused to admit that woman was better than her.

“Your father is furious about the Elis store closures and wants an explanation from you. Didn’t you see Xie Siyu at the Grand Hyatt last night?”

Store closures?

Furious?

Xie Zhiyao’s sleepiness vanished instantly. She flipped over and sat up, looking toward the open bedroom door as if trying to see through the walls to her father downstairs.

Agitated, she clawed through her hair and asked, “Mom, are you sure you didn’t hear wrong? Is Elis really being shut down?”

Zhou Jing pursed her lips. “I don’t know the specifics, but your father is livid. Didn’t you say you were going to have Xie Siyu bring Lu Yanqing home for dinner?”

“Don’t even bring it up.”

The thought of it made Xie Zhiyao seethe. She stepped onto the floor barefoot and bolted to the bathroom to wash up.

Xie Siyu was playing mind games with her, and Lu Yanqing was actually protecting her. Damn it—she had already apologized, what more did they want?

Ten minutes later.

Downstairs in the old mansion, Xie Mingyuan stared at the closure documents sent to his inbox by the Lu Group. His temples throbbed as he slammed his hand on the table. “Explain this to me! Did you provoke Siyu again?”

Xie Zhiyao, bare-faced and wrapped in a long cashmere coat over her nightgown, trembled at her father’s rage. She lowered her head and stammered, “I didn’t provoke her. She’s the one using disgusting tactics on me. Lu Yanqing… doesn’t she dislike Xie Siyu?”

The veins in Xie Mingyuan’s neck bulged with anger. Hearing his daughter’s grumbling, how could he not understand what had happened?

His heart began to ache from the stress. “Xie Zhiyao, the house is on fire and you’re still playing these petty, shameful tricks? Don’t you know the Xie family’s business has been declining year after year and we rely on Siyu’s support?”

“Is Lu Yanqing an idiot? Would she help you disparage her own wife in public?”

The more excellent Xie Siyu appeared, the more it highlighted Xie Zhiyao’s stupidity and incompetence. Xie Mingyuan felt a surge of regret he should have treated Xie Siyu better in the early years instead of letting this mother and daughter bully her.

His fists clenched; several times he wanted to strike his younger daughter to wake her up, but he ultimately held back. Gritting his teeth, he commanded, “Go upstairs, change your clothes, and come with me to the Lu Group to apologize!”

Apologize. Always apologizing.

Xie Zhiyao’s eyes turned red. She had apologized last night, but Xie Siyu had been ungrateful. Now her father wanted her to go to the Lu Group; she felt deeply wronged.

She stood her ground, refusing to move.

Seeing her husband on the brink of a breakdown, Zhou Jing stepped forward and patted her daughter’s shoulder to soothe her. “Listen to your father. Let’s solve the immediate problem first.”

She glanced at her husband’s phone on the dining table. Her gaze finally landed on the corporate seal on the closure notice.

There, the three words “Xie Siyu” were written in a flamboyant, powerful script. Like three poisoned silver hairpins, they were driven straight into the Xie family’s lifeblood.

9:00 AM.

Lu Group, 32nd Floor, CEO’s Office.

Xie Siyu sat at her desk. On her computer screen were documents regarding the relocation of “Yun shang” to a space next to the children’s playground on the second floor during the mall’s renovation. Though her eyes were on the screen, she didn’t process a single word.

The image of waking up in the car last night kept surfacing in her mind.

She had opened her eyes to find herself resting on Lu Yanqing’s shoulder. Their hair was intimately entangled. The car was dim, lit only by the faint glow of a nearby streetlight.

A light tap on her phone screen showed it was 1:00 AM.

Lu Yanqing had fallen asleep leaning against the seat back. Even though the back of the Bentley was spacious, sleeping upright was still uncomfortable.

Xie Siyu sat up and gently cradled Lu Yanqing’s cheek with her left hand so she wouldn’t be startled awake.

With her eyes lowered, she noticed that Lu Yanqing’s right ring finger was bare. It took a moment for her to remember that the wedding ring had been removed earlier when she was treating the bruise on Lu Yanqing’s lower back.

She picked up the ring from the center console and carefully slid it back onto the base of Lu Yanqing’s finger. Her gaze was lingering and tender. “Promise me, don’t take off the wedding ring again, okay?”

It was perhaps only at a time like this that Xie Siyu dared to “openly” trace the features of the person she loved. Her eyes swept over Lu Yanqing’s face with a look bordering on greed.

Her fingertips brushed away a stray lock of hair that was bothering her, and finally, her gaze settled on those slightly parted lips.

Just this once.

Xie Siyu closed her eyes, her eyelashes trembling violently. She drew closer, inch by inch, until a kiss as light as a feather fell upon the corner of Lu Yanqing’s lips.

It was a fleeting touch; she didn’t dare linger for a second.

Though she desperately wanted time to stop at that moment, she couldn’t bear to let Lu Yanqing sleep in the car all night. She squeezed Lu Yanqing’s fingertips. “Qingqing, wake up? Let’s go home to sleep.”

Yes, home.

Let’s go home together.

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