Chapter 71: The Plastic Couple’s Squabble
Chapter 71: The Plastic Couple’s Squabble
Yu Meilin had grabbed a hold of Li Zian’s mistake, and of course, she wouldn’t let go. “You said spouses should be honest with each other. So explain to me, why did you lie and say you were in a Ride-Hailing Car when you were clearly with her?”
Li Zian smiled calmly. “Oh, I remember now. When I was talking to you on the phone, the car I was in was waiting at a red light. There was a sports car right next to it; I don’t know if it was a Ferrari or some other brand. When it started moving, the engine sound was really loud and annoying—probably some young guy showing off. Just because you heard an engine noise, you immediately suspected I was with Mu Chuntao? Don’t you think that’s a bit hasty?”
Yu Meilin thought she had caught Li Zian in a lie. She expected him to feel awkward, nervous, ashamed, and then admit he was wrong. But instead, she got this explanation, and frustratingly, she couldn’t find a way to counter it.
Honestly, was Shanghai short on Ferraris?
Wasn’t it perfectly normal for a Ride-Hailing Car waiting at a red light to have a Ferrari parked beside it?
“If you have any other doubts, just say them. I’ll answer them one by one for you,” Li Zian said, feeling somewhat triumphant inside.
Yu Meilin glared at Li Zian. “Are you insisting on opening a Studio with Mu Chuntao?”
Li Zian nodded. “Yes, I am.”
“Fine. Then I have nothing more to say. It’s getting late. You should get some rest.” Yu Meilin stood up and stormed off angrily.
Li Zian suddenly felt like he had strength but nowhere to use it. He had rolled up his sleeves, ready for a big fight, but Yu Meilin shot an arrow at him and then ran away. He had never seen someone so cowardly.
Yu Meilin angrily went upstairs.
A Ferrari happened to be parked right next to him?
She didn’t believe that nonsense.
Earlier, she hadn’t exposed the truth because she wanted to save face for Li Zian and leave some room. But she hadn’t expected him to lie to her again with another story. She had actually returned with three goals in mind. The last one was to make Li Zian shut down his Studio and come work at her company. But Li Zian stubbornly refused and kept defending Mu Chuntao at every turn. He claimed there was nothing between him and Mu Chuntao—who would believe that?
Over this period, her opinion of Li Zian had changed, and she had built up some goodwill toward him. But now it was all gone.
Li Zian watched Yu Meilin go upstairs, then he also stood up and walked toward the staircase.
You shoot an arrow and then try to run?
Where do you think you’re running to?
Upstairs, Li Zian walked quietly to the master bedroom door.
The door was closed.
Li Zian reached out and knocked.
Several seconds later, Yu Meilin’s voice came from behind the door, sounding a bit nervous and wary. “Is that Grandma?”
“It’s me,” Li Zian said.
“I’m already in bed. Whatever it is, we can talk tomorrow,” Yu Meilin said irritably.
Li Zian knocked twice more.
“What do you want?” Yu Meilin snapped angrily.
Li Zian raised his hand and knocked a third time.
The door opened. Yu Meilin held onto the door, blocking the opening with her body, and glared at Li Zian. “Tell me, what exactly do you want?”
Li Zian wasn’t impatient at all. He even had a smile on his face. “We’re husband and wife. This room is basically my room too. We lived apart before, so that’s one thing, but now we’re living together, and you still won’t let me into this room. Are you hiding some secret in here?”
“Wh-what nonsense are you talking about?” Yu Meilin’s tone clearly changed.
Li Zian stared straight at Yu Meilin. “You asked me to come out of seclusion, and I did. You asked me to help in Yun Di, and I went. You asked me to take care of Grandma, and I did it well. All these years, whatever you asked me to do, I handled it properly. So, why can’t you grant me this one request?”
Yu Meilin avoided Li Zian’s gaze, her tone softening for some reason. “J-just tell me the truth. What exactly do you want today?”
Li Zian said lightly, “Don’t worry. Even though you don’t want to share a room with me, you can rest assured. Even though I’m curious about that kind of thing, I wouldn’t force myself on you. I just want to go in and take a look, then I’ll leave.”
“And if I don’t let you go in and look, what will you do?”
“I don’t know.”
Saying he didn’t know was the real threat.
If things had to break, then let them break.
He had tried hard to maintain this plastic couple relationship for Li Xiaomei’s sake. But not everything in this world turns out the way you want, no matter how hard you try. If it really came to that, he would just have to face reality.
Yu Meilin hesitated for a moment, then stepped back and moved away from the door.
Li Zian walked in.
Yu Meilin didn’t close the door and remained standing in the doorway. “Look around, then leave.”
Li Zian looked left and right, then smiled and said, “A double bed, with only one pillow. You sleep alone in such a wide space, able to roll around as you please—it must be very comfortable, right?”
Yu Meilin furrowed her willow-leaf eyebrows. “What exactly are you trying to say?”
Li Zian walked toward the dresser.
Yu Meilin felt inexplicably nervous. “You’ve looked already, and you’ve made your scene. I don’t want to argue with you. You should go back to your room and rest.”
Li Zian stopped in front of the dresser, turned to look at Yu Meilin, and smiled. “I caused so much trouble for you today, yet you’re still concerned about me. You’re so good.”
“I really don’t want to argue. Go back to your room and rest,” Yu Meilin urged.
Li Zian turned back, pulled open the middle drawer of the dresser, and took out the Photo Album.
Yu Meilin’s face instantly turned pale.
Li Zian flipped directly to the last page, pulled out the photo from the hidden layer, placed it on the dresser, and without saying a word, simply looked at Yu Meilin.
Yu Meilin reached out and closed the door, her emotions suddenly exploding. “You’ve been in my room? How could you do this?”
Li Zian said, “This is also my room. Which law says a Husband can’t enter his wife’s room?”
Yu Meilin quickly walked to the dresser, grabbed the photo, tore it into pieces with two swift moves, and threw it into the wastebasket beside the dresser. Then she said angrily, “Are you satisfied now?”
Li Zian gave a bitter smile. “What am I satisfied about?”
Yu Meilin bit her cherry lips, and her eyes glistened with tears.
Had these four years been easy for her?
Husband and wife should work together. But tonight, Li Zian seemed possessed and came to hurt her too.
Li Zian felt a bit soft-hearted, but he still had to say what needed to be said. “You think I’m pressuring you, even bullying you, right?”
“Isn’t that so? I did keep his photo, but I married you!”
“I think it’s necessary for us to sort out our relationship and these matters.”
“Go on.”
Li Zian said, “Back then, you married me because of your family’s rules and the position of Chairperson at the Dajiang Group, right?”
“I admit it. But didn’t you have your own motives too? You married me because your mother needed medical treatment!”
Li Zian nodded. “I admit that. But after we got married, I wanted to build a life with you properly. Yet you hid it from me for four years, only bringing our daughter to meet me when she was three years old.”
“I gave birth to your daughter and raised her alone until she was three! What more do you want?” Yu Meilin’s heart was full of resentment and grievance.
When couples argue, they often bring up past grievances.
Li Zian fell silent for a moment before speaking. “Whoever speaks louder doesn’t necessarily have the right reasoning. Can you just listen to me properly?”
“And you sneaking into my room and going through my things—does that give you the right?”
Li Zian said, “It was indeed wrong of me to do that. But if it weren’t for your actions, why would I have done it?”
Yu Meilin laughed in extreme anger. “Ha! You sneak into my room and go through my things, and now it’s my fault? You’re really logical!”
Li Zian, however, remained completely unruffled and said calmly, “You gave birth to Xiaomei, and you raised her until she was three. I know it wasn’t easy for you either. But I’m a normal man, and I want to live a normal man’s life. You want me to understand you and remember your contributions. But have you ever thought about how I spent those four years?”
Yu Meilin snorted coldly and said sarcastically, “So that’s what it’s about. Don’t you find that dirty?”
Li Zian smiled. “Dirty? So that’s how you see it. Fine, then I don’t need to reason with you anymore. Let me be straightforward: In Yun Di, I thought you would become a real couple with me, but you said you weren’t ready yet. I felt something was off, so after coming back, I performed a Divination for myself. Guess what the Hexagram Interpretation said?”
Yu Meilin remained silent.
Li Zian continued, “That Hexagram Interpretation said there’s someone in your heart, and I need to wait until you cut off that past connection before we can become a real couple. You never let me into your room, so I guessed you must be hiding some secret in there. Then I performed another Divination, found the Key you hid in the vase, opened the door, entered your room, and found this person you’ve been keeping in your heart.”
Yu Meilin was baffled.
She never expected that Li Zian had learned about the other person in her heart through Divination. Even more absurd, he had even found the hidden Key through Divination!
With a husband who was such a divine fortune-teller, what could possibly be hidden from him?
Li Zian said, “You’re being tough with me, partly because you’re embarrassed and angry. But I really think it’s unnecessary. If you hadn’t asked me to shut down the Studio and stop collaborating with Mu Chuntao today, I wouldn’t have exposed this. But since you brought it up, let’s just lay it all out. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have shamelessly entered your room.”
Yu Meilin’s lips trembled, but no words came out.
“His name is Hank Baynes, right?”
Yu Meilin nodded.
“You tore up the photo he sent you on February 14, 2018. That was Valentine’s Day. You received his photo; I bet you were really happy, right? On that same day, I was probably still farming in the fields, covered in mud. When I got home, I didn’t even have time to wash up and had to rush to cook for your Grandma. Do you think that was appropriate?”
Yu Meilin fell silent again.
“I don’t know if you’re still in contact with him now. But based on your reaction in Yun Di, I’m sure the person in your heart is him, not me. Yet you keep arranging this and that for me, and you won’t even let me make friends. You even suspect I have some shady relationship with someone else. Do you think that’s appropriate?”
“Then do you have a shady relationship with Mu Chuntao?” Yu Meilin finally spoke.
“No,” Li Zian answered firmly.
Mu Chuntao said it was a game, meant to teach him about dating and experiencing the feelings of being in love.
He also admitted it was a game, not real. So, he had no shady relationship with Mu Chuntao.
A nobleman is open and at ease; a petty man is always full of distress.
Yu Meilin was silent for a moment before saying, “You’ve said so much. So what do you want?”
Li Zian also fell silent for a moment before speaking. “I don’t know either. If it weren’t for Xiaomei, I probably wouldn’t be in this house. Since I’ve said this much today, if you want to give me a divorce Agreement, I think I’ll sign it.”
“You…” Yu Meilin stared at Li Zian in stunned disbelief. She never imagined Li Zian would say such a thing to her.
“I have nothing more to say. I’m going back to my room. Think it over yourself.” Li Zian turned and walked toward the door.
Even after Li Zian opened the door, left, and closed it behind him, Yu Meilin remained standing there in a daze, motionless.
Unconsciously, tears streamed down her cheeks.