Volume 1, Chapter 40: Abusing the Scum: Zhou Jinghuai, Isn't This What You Wanted?

The door opened, and Zhou Jinghuai walked in.

Knowing it was him, Ye Wu kept her back turned, her tone icy and detached: "Don't ever come here again. No one has any use for your post-event crocodile tears and fake compassion."

Zhou Jinghuai stepped forward, reaching out to hold Ye Wu's shoulder, but she sidestepped to avoid his touch.

With his hand suspended in mid-air, Zhou Jinghuai lowered his voice after a long moment and said, "I won't divorce you, Ye Wu. There is an agreement between us."

"I know I signed for two years."

"Zhou Jinghuai, if you stubbornly refuse a divorce, then I can afford to play the long game. At worst, when the two years are up, I'll take my money and shares and walk away. Nothing will change that outcome."

Ye Wu wore an expression of complete indifference.

Zhou Jinghuai's voice was filled with deep anguish: "Ye Wu, things shouldn't be like this between us."

Ye Wu retorted, "Then how should they be? Zhou Jinghuai, besides money, what else could there possibly be between us?"

...

In the evening, Ye Wu planned to return to her apartment.

Just as she stepped out of the inpatient building, she spotted a black Rolls-Royce Phantom parked by the roadside. Zhou Jinghuai stood beside the car with an air of aristocratic elegance, holding a half-smoked cigarette between his slender fingers, looking as though he were waiting for someone.

Acting as if she hadn't seen him, Ye Wu brushed past Zhou Jinghuai.

The man's arm suddenly reached out and grabbed her. With deep, dark eyes, Zhou Jinghuai spoke in a low, repressed voice: "I'm taking you somewhere."

Ye Wu refused, "I don't want to go."

Yet the man gave her no room for refusal. Zhou Jinghuai was always overbearing, though beneath his dominance lay a trace of gentleness, born from the fear of arousing her disgust.

A moment later, Ye Wu was seated in the passenger seat. "Zhou Jinghuai, I don't have time to indulge in your romantic whims. If you're feeling lonely, I wouldn't mind if you went to find Bai Qianqian or Li Qianqian."

Fastening his seatbelt, Zhou Jinghuai turned his head and said softly, "Tonight is Christmas Eve. Let's spend it together."

Ye Wu remained unmoved.

A softer note crept into Zhou Jinghuai's voice as he asked her, "Do you despise me this much now? Is being with me truly that unbearable for you?"

Ye Wu responded with a cold sneer.

Without another word, Zhou Jinghuai gently pressed the accelerator.

The city's neon lights soon came into view, their dazzling colors washing over the luxurious car body and casting a glow through the dark windows, making the figures of the two inside appear mottled and indistinct.

Perhaps swayed by the atmosphere, Zhou Jinghuai suddenly felt a strong impulse to touch Ye Wu.

No sooner had the man's warmth brushed against the woman's soft skin than Ye Wu pulled her hand away, her voice carrying an absolute, freezing chill: "Zhou Jinghuai, I told you I don't mind you spending money to find someone else."

A woman's indifference is often the ultimate blow to a man's pride.

Zhou Jinghuai was also a proud man. He withdrew his hand and did not dare to cross the line again.

As night fell—

At the Jing City Grand Theater, the architectural contours illuminated by golden lights looked breathtakingly beautiful against the night sky.

The main entrance was lined with rollup banners featuring the violinist Ye Wu loved. Zhou Jinghuai had spent a fortune to hire the musician for a private solo performance—a costly endeavor indeed, requiring a hefty sum of sixty million just to secure the booking.

To buy a smile from his beloved with a thousand pieces of gold, Zhou Jinghuai felt the money was well spent.

Looking at his wife with great gentleness, he said, "The concert I owed you, I'm making up for it today."

Ye Wu did not smile.

She lightly touched the posters, as if caressing her own past foolishness. After a long silence, she said softly, "Zhou Jinghuai, the things you owe me can never be repaid."

Zhou Jinghuai froze.

He had expected Ye Wu to turn and leave, but she stayed.

She sat beside him, listening to the violinist play the exact same piece from their previous encounter. Several times, Zhou Jinghuai reached out to hold her hand, only for Ye Wu to gently evade him.

She did not speak to him, nor did she look at him, treating him as though he were a complete stranger.

When the performance ended and the violinist came out for the final bow, Ye Wu stood up and left.

Walking beneath the sprawling canopy of neon lights, she thought that all lives must reach their finale, much like the end between her and Zhou Jinghuai.

From behind, someone called out, "Ye Wu."

Ye Wu slowly turned her head. A plume of white mist exhaled from her mouth and nose, blurring their vision of one another.

Through the hazy mist, she heard Zhou Jinghuai's trembling voice: "Do you still love me? Ye Wu, are you still capable of loving?"

With tranquil detachment, Ye Wu replied, "I don't know if I'm still capable of loving. But I will never love you again, Zhou Jinghuai."

Zhou Jinghuai, loving you once exhausted every ounce of my strength.

Zhou Jinghuai, loving you once cost me far, far too much.

Zhou Jinghuai, loving you once turned me into someone unrecognizably unlike myself.

Zhou Jinghuai, I can no longer afford to love you!

As that puff of white mist dissipated, Ye Wu saw the reddened rims of the man's eyes.

The next second, Ye Wu was pulled tightly into the man's embrace.

Zhou Jinghuai was unwilling to let go, unwilling to divorce. Holding Ye Wu, he repeated apologies into her ear over and over again, repeatedly swearing that such a thing would never happen again, begging her to trust him one more time.

To these solemn vows and promises of the man, Ye Wu could only find them laughable.

She tilted her head back to gaze at her husband, asking softly, "Why act now, Zhou Jinghuai? You chose Bai Qianqian over my grandmother, you haven't forgotten that, have you Zhou Jinghuai... You chose your cheap mistress outside!"

A vicious slap landed squarely across his face, delivered with the entirety of Ye Wu's remaining strength.

The crisp sound of the slap echoed through the alley again and again, sounding like the tolling of an ancient bell.

Zhou Jinghuai slowly turned his head back. With his fair skin, a distinct red handprint quickly welled up on his cheek. Yet he paid it no mind, instead grabbing Ye Wu's wrist and forcefully dragging her toward the car.

Naturally, Ye Wu refused to cooperate. Once inside the car, both of them were breathing heavily.

Ye Wu stopped resisting...

Leaning against the leather seat, her midnight-dark eyes fixed straight ahead through the windshield, she spoke with absolute calm: "Find the nearest five-star hotel! But Zhou Jinghuai, I'm pressed for time; I only have one hour to spare."

Zhou Jinghuai's dark eyes deepened: "What do you mean?"

Ye Wu emitted a barely perceptible, light chuckle, her tone dripping with heavy mockery: "Isn't this what you wanted when you came looking for me, Zhou Jinghuai? Aside from this, what other function do I, Ye Wu, serve for you?"

Hearing this felt as though Zhou Jinghuai's heart and lungs were being torn apart.

At that crucial moment, his phone rang. Glancing at the screen, he saw it was Bai Qianqian calling.

Ye Wu sneered, "Go keep her company then!"

This single sentence dealt a devastating blow to Zhou Jinghuai. He powered off his phone, his dark eyes staring unblinkingly at Ye Wu: "You said it yourself, we're going to a hotel to get a room?"

The next instant, the black car roared to life. Not a single word was spoken by Zhou Jinghuai for the entire drive.

He was clearly enraged to the extreme.

At the exact same hotel, in the very same presidential suite, Zhou Jinghuai pinned Ye Wu against the wall and kissed her. This kiss carried a mixture of sorrow, anger, and male pride, desperate and rough as he begged the woman for a response.

Yet Ye Wu offered none. Pressed flat against the wall, she lay as rigid and lifeless as a salted fish.

She had told him that whatever he, Zhou Jinghuai, wanted, she would give him. They could get a hotel room, but her time was limited—she only had one hour...

Zhou Jinghuai abruptly halted.

He buried his face in the side of Ye Wu's neck, breathing with restrained, tormented sensuality.

After a long pause, his voice grew hoarse and trembled near-tears: "Awu, will you hold me, please?"