The Wife From the Contract Marriage Does Not Want to Get Divorced - Chapter 4

The chill of early spring lingered, and the wind blowing against one’s face was still somewhat cold. In the flower beds below the hospital, the golden-edged wintercreeper grew lush and leafy, brimming with green vitality.

“Nice acting.”

Lu Yanqing and Xie Siyu walked side-by-side. Lu Yanqing wasn’t sure if the old man had truly believed the web of lies they had woven. One lie required countless others to cover it up, and there would always come a day when it would be exposed. “About those words just now…”

“We will come to the hospital to visit Grandpa Lu every Sunday.”

Xie Siyu stopped in her tracks and turned to look at Lu Yanqing. Her hands were behind her back, unconsciously rubbing the wedding ring on her ring finger. “We enter the ward holding hands, and we send him three photos of us together every week.”

She suddenly curled her lips into a smile, yet her eyes seemed frozen with an unmelting mist. “Since President Lu has decided to extend the marriage contract, please make sure to fulfill the terms of the agreement.”

The sound of children playing drifted from the lawn.

Lu Yanqing looked at Xie Siyu’s hair fluttering in the wind. For a fleeting moment, she seemed to see the scene in the coffee shop from three years ago was she just as “considerate” back then?

“Why help me keep up the deception?”

In this commercial marriage, no matter how one looked at it, Xie Siyu was the one at a disadvantage. Lu Yanqing had decided to extend the contract only because her grandfather’s health was failing.

Originally, she thought Xie Siyu would refuse.

Xie Siyu tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, her voice carrying a hint of indefinable endurance: “Just consider it…”

The rest of the sentence rolled in her throat before surfacing: “…weaving a fairy tale for Grandpa.”

Lu Yanqing felt there was more to Xie Siyu’s words than met the ear.

Thinking it over, she realized Xie Siyu was right. Her grandfather was eighty-two years old, and his health was not what it used to be. In the final moments of his life, happiness was naturally the most important thing.

A storefront had become available at the West Suburb branch. The light-luxury jewelry brand “Yuegui Fang” wanted to move into the mall, but the conditions they proposed were nearly harsh. The Marketing and Sales departments had been arguing over this matter for an entire week.

Since they were to fulfill the agreement, it was naturally impossible to live apart. Lu Yanqing didn’t want to return to the wedding house alone, so she followed Xie Siyu back to the company.

President’s Office.

Lu Yanqing fiddled with her new phone it was the same model as Xie Siyu’s, even the wallpaper was the default starry sky image.

“Did you really install a tracker?”

She intentionally shook the phone.

Xie Siyu looked up from her documents, her gaze gentle yet candid: “Yes.”

Lu Yanqing was left speechless. Instead, she felt uncomfortable under Xie Siyu’s blunt gaze and took both phones over to the sofa area to sit down.

She tinkered for a long time, waiting for the information to transfer to the new phone.

“Who was the brand representative you met at the cafe downstairs earlier?”

Sitting idly was truly boring. After hesitating for a while, Lu Yanqing walked to the desk and pulled up a chair.

She and Xie Siyu would be spending a lot of time together in the future; she had to adapt.

Upon hearing this, Xie Siyu put down her fountain pen and pulled out the materials regarding Yuegui Fang’s entry into Shuangqi Yunjing from a pile of documents. “Zhang Qingyue, the General Manager for the Asia-Pacific region of Yuegui Fang, demands that the store be located at the ‘Golden Eye’ position at the mall entrance. However, that spot currently has a tenant with two years left on their lease.”

Lu Yanqing wasn’t shy; she took the materials and began flipping through them. “It’s the ‘Yunshang’ Chinese Tea House, right? I remember the tea house’s monthly revenue was stable at around 1.2 million, specializing in twenty-four solar terms tea snacks.”

Of course, she was speaking of the marketing data from three years ago.

When Lu Yanqing flipped to the second page, Xie Siyu pressed her hand against the edge of the paper. With her other hand, she used a fountain pen to underline the tea house’s monthly revenue for the first half of the year, speaking in a strictly professional tone: “If the data submitted by the tea house over the past year is accurate, their turnover is indeed showing a downward trend.”

“Yuegui Fang is a world-renowned light-luxury jewelry brand. Their entry into Shuangqi Yunjing will certainly bring considerable profits.”

Lu Yanqing’s gaze fell on the data circled by Xie Siyu. She understood the dilemma; Yunshang was a long-time client of the Lu Group. Their contract had not expired. If they terminated it early, not only would it sour the relationship, but the company would also have to pay Yunshang a one-time compensation of three times their monthly revenue.

“If your stomach is upset, you shouldn’t drink coffee, right?”

In just ten minutes, Lu Yanqing had seen Xie Siyu take several sips of coffee. Recalling that this person had gone to the hospital for an IV due to stomach distress with the mark of the indwelling needle still on the inside of her wrist and had only eaten half a bowl of shrimp porridge at Yunshen Fang at noon, she finally couldn’t help but speak up.

Xie Siyu raised an eyebrow at Lu Yanqing, her fingers rubbing the outer wall of the ceramic cup. She remained silent.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to control you. I just thought that drinking coffee when your stomach is uncomfortable… forget it, just act like I didn’t say anything.”

It wasn’t the first time Lu Yanqing had cared for someone, but her relationship with Xie Siyu was indeed a bit special.

Even though they had been married for nearly three years, to her, it currently felt like they were still newlyweds.

They were truly… not close at all.

Staying any longer would be awkward, so she decided to go outside for some fresh air. Compared to three years ago, there were subtle changes in the secretarial department.

But just as she stood up, she heard Xie Siyu’s gentle voice: “Then I’ll trouble President Lu to change it to milk for me.”

The Pantry.

Lu Yanqing rinsed the ceramic cup that had held the coffee three times. She sniffed it and found the smell lingered, so she decided to switch to a new cup.

Just as she opened the storage cabinet, a crystal-clear glass caught her eye. Liu Yao, a secretary, explained: “President Lu, use this glass. It’s microwave-safe; the procurement department just sent it up yesterday.”

“Thank you.”

Lu Yanqing took the glass, rinsed it under the tap again, dried it with a paper towel, poured the milk in, and set the microwave for three minutes.

Wiping the moisture from her hands, Lu Yanqing crumpled the paper towel and asked Liu Yao casually: “Does President Xie… often have stomach discomfort?”

She had seen Xie Siyu swallowing tablets in the office earlier; they were likely medicine for stomach pain?

Liu Yao’s hand, which was organizing tea bags, paused. “A few days ago, I accompanied President Xie on a field trip. She fainted from the pain in the car. I took her to the hospital, and the report showed a gastric ulcer. The doctor recommended hospitalization.”

She paused, looking at Lu Yanqing with a complex gaze before slowly continuing, “But President Xie only finds time to go to the hospital for an IV when she can spare a moment.”

When Xie Siyu was being consulted that day, Liu Yao had stood at the door and heard her describe the symptoms to the doctor: upper abdominal pain, occasional acid reflux, and a loss of appetite.

“Last year’s annual meeting.”

Liu Yao suddenly lowered her voice. “President Xie fainted during her speech. It was only after she was sent to the hospital that they discovered she had gastric bleeding.”

Three years ago, when Lu Yanqing “went abroad,” Xie Siyu had promoted her to be her special assistant. Normally, she shouldn’t be the one saying these things, but after staying by Xie Siyu’s side all these years, she truly felt aggrieved for her.

As an outsider, her heart ached for her.

There was no third person in the pantry. Liu Yao took a heavy breath and did something overstepping.

She opened her phone gallery and found several photos of Xie Siyu’s food orders. “I took these randomly. Most of the times are concentrated around ten o’clock at night. Over these years… President Xie’s diet has been very irregular.”

Lu Yanqing noticed a consistent note at the bottom of the orders: No spicy food, leave at the front desk.

Her pupils contracted slightly. No wonder Xie Siyu only ate shrimp porridge at noon. Was it because she originally couldn’t eat spicy food, or because of the gastric ulcer?

Ding—

The microwave finished, breaking the heavy atmosphere in the pantry.

Lu Yanqing put on an oven mitt and took the glass out of the microwave. Noticing Liu Yao’s hesitation and unease, she comforted her gently: “Thank you for telling me this. You will remain President Xie’s special assistant in the future.”

Meanwhile, at the Elevator Lobby.

Lu Yanqi pulled his tie loose, his briefcase hitting the elevator wall with a dull thud.

The floor numbers jumping on the LCD screen seemed to be mocking him he had just been given the cold shoulder at Yuegui Fang. Zhang Qingyue’s words, “I only talk to President Xie,” were still ringing in his ears.

“Is the Marketing Department full of useless people?”

He kicked the shoe of the assistant behind him, slamming a folder against the other’s shoulder repeatedly. Spittle flew everywhere: “That woman surnamed Xie refuses to sign. Can’t you people just throw the proposal in her face?”

Assistant Yang endured Lu Yanqi’s rage, shrinking into a corner with the documents without saying a word.

“Deputy Director, everyone in the group chat is saying…”

The elevator reached the 32nd floor. The furious Lu Yanqi stepped out, completely ignoring his assistant’s words. Upon seeing Liu Yao, he threw the documents in his hand toward her: “Tell that outsider to sign immediately, or else don’t blame me for…”

“Or else don’t blame you for what?”

A cold voice rang out in the noisy corridor. Lu Yanqing stood there, holding a cup of warm milk, looking down at the papers scattered all over the floor.

“P-President Lu?”

Assistant Yang gasped. The person from the photos flooding the group chat was now standing right in front of him. He didn’t dare look at Lu Yanqi’s darkened face and hurriedly knelt to pick up the materials.

Lu Yanqi swallowed his curses. He carefully sized up this cousin who had been missing for three years: a beige windbreaker wrapped around her thin frame, but the sharpness between her brows was an exact match for their grandfather’s.

On the same floor, Xie Siyu heard the commotion and stepped out of her office. Her expression was gentle, yet her words brooked no compromise. “Manager Zhang demands the Golden Eye position. The proposal submitted by your department, Deputy Director Lu, is not feasible…”

“It’s not your place to tell me how to do my job!”

Lu Yanqi didn’t dare vent his anger on Lu Yanqing, but he had zero respect for Xie Siyu. He snatched the unorganized materials from his assistant and slammed them onto a nearby desk. The sharp edge of a paper grazed the back of Xie Siyu’s hand. “Don’t think that just because you’ve made the old man happy, you can sit securely in the position of Lu Group’s CEO.”

Slam!

Lu Yanqing slammed the glass cup heavily onto the desk. The milk inside splashed out, sliding slowly down the side of the glass, mirroring the coldness freezing in her eyes. “Deputy Director Lu, do I need to remind you of the recruitment accident at the D-City branch in the second quarter three years ago?”

Lu Yanqi’s face changed instantly.

That scandal, which he had suppressed where a signed brand was suspected of plagiarism was exactly what Lu Yanqing had stayed up all night to resolve with the legal team.

“Xie Siyu, the ‘outsider’ you speak of, has expanded Shuangqi Yunjing from 19 locations to 27 in three years.”

Lu Yanqing stepped onto a stray page of the proposal, her heel grinding into the signature of “Lu Yanqi.” “Meanwhile, the projects you’ve handled have seen a 10% year-on-year increase in complaint rates.”

The surrounding onlookers began to whisper.

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