After the call ended, she felt a sense of relief. Staring at the stars, she murmured, "Cheng Yuan, goodbye."
*
The divorce process was going very poorly.
Shen Yue had contacted the lawyer and set up a meeting time, but when the day came, the lawyer stood her up, saying he had an urgent matter and had gone abroad, with no return date.
Shen Yue apologized, "It's all my fault. I should have confirmed with him."
Jiang Xiao patted Shen Yue's hand. "It's okay. We'll find someone else."
She immediately contacted other lawyers, but as soon as they heard it was a divorce case involving the president of Cheng Group, they all found excuses to refuse.
"Miss Jiang, this divorce case of yours is probably very difficult. I'm not up to it."
"Sorry, Miss Jiang. I'm too swamped with cases right now to take yours. Maybe try other lawyers."
"…Miss Jiang, I'm abroad and can't come back for now. You'd better find someone else."
Jiang Xiao made several calls, and the result was almost the same: no time, can't take it.
One or two refusals could be coincidence, but too many meant something was wrong. Shen Yue said, "Could there be someone pulling strings behind the scenes?"
Jiang Xiao shook her head. "I'm not sure."
Suddenly, a handsome face popped into her mind, coldly telling her to give up and stop making a fuss.
"Do you think it's Cheng Yuan?" Jiang Xiao asked Shen Yue.
Shen Yue had the same feeling and nodded. "Possibly."
Left with no choice, Jiang Xiao approached the Jiang Group's in-house lawyer and asked him to inquire. Soon, the result came back.
"Miss, my friend said the Cheng Group president's assistant contacted lawyers in the industry, telling them not to take your case."
Jiang Xiao's heart sank. It really was Cheng Yuan.
He…
Was so despicable.
*
After being away for five days, Jiang Xiao voluntarily returned to Shengshi Haoting. Cheng Yuan was there too. In the dining room, the man was eating breakfast slowly, with the day's newspaper beside him.
His expression was indifferent, unreadable.
He didn't even look up when he heard footsteps, continuing his meal.
When the maid saw Jiang Xiao enter, she smiled and greeted, "Madam, have you eaten? I'll prepare something for you."
Jiang Xiao opened her mouth, but before she could speak, Cheng Yuan cut her off. "No need. She's not eating."
Over the past few days, Jiang Xiao had been busy looking for lawyers, losing weight and looking more fragile than before. On top of that, she had a poor appetite, and her complexion wasn't as rosy as before.
Anyone with a heart would feel sorry for her at this moment.
But Cheng Yuan was unmoved. After saying that, he added, "Aunt Zhou, leave us."
Aunt Zhou looked at Cheng Yuan, then at Jiang Xiao, nodded, and left the dining room.
Jiang Xiao put down her bag, walked over, pulled out a chair, and sat down. "Was it you who threatened the lawyers not to take my case?"
"Cheng Yuan, don't you think you've gone too far?"
Cheng Yuan put down his spoon, wiped the corner of his mouth with a napkin, slowly looked up, and met her gaze. "I told you, I won't agree to a divorce. I also warned you not to make useless efforts. But you wouldn't listen."
"So, this is all my fault?" Jiang Xiao bit her lip and swallowed. "You blame me for scheming to marry you, humiliating me for three years. Now that I've woken up and agreed to divorce, you refuse. Cheng Yuan, what exactly do you want from me?"
Cheng Yuan threw away the napkin, stood up, walked over to Jiang Xiao, grabbed her chin, and forced her head up. "Just be a good Mrs. Cheng and don't think about anything else."
He pressed his fingers against her lips, cruelly rubbing them. "Jiang Xiao, I told you that night: once you get into my bed, you can never get out."
"You were the one who climbed in."
He let go of her face and said coldly, "I don't like this tie. Get me another one."
"Now."
Jiang Xiao bit her lip, went upstairs, found a few ties from the drawer, came down, and matched them one by one.
For some reason, Cheng Yuan seemed irritable. He glanced at them casually. "None of these work. Get more."
Jiang Xiao brought a few more. This time, Cheng Yuan didn't even look. He swiped them all away, grabbed her waist, pinned her down on the sofa, and leaned in. "Are you doing this on purpose?"
She had an old injury on her waist that ached when the weather was bad. She had undergone treatment for over half a year last year and had seen improvement, with few flare-ups in the past six months. But now, with Cheng Yuan pressing down like this, her condition worsened. Her face pale, she said, "…I'm not."
Cheng Yuan: "You'd better not be."
He casually picked up a tie, fastened it, and left in the car.
Aunt Zhou came out with a glass of milk. "Madam, the master asked me to prepare this for you."
Jiang Xiao stared at the milk glass and laughed bitterly. "What's this? A slap and then a candy?"
Aunt Zhou didn't dare say anything. "Madam, you look unwell. You should drink the milk."
Jiang Xiao had no mood to drink. She waved her hand. "Put it back."
She went upstairs, found her suitcase, and packed all the clothes from the wardrobe. As for the jewelry, she took those bought with her money and left those not bought with her money.
Since she planned to separate, she would do it thoroughly.
While doing this, Jiang Xiao wasn't afraid that Cheng Yuan would find out in advance, because he had never cared about her or paid attention to her belongings.
*
The next day, Cheng Yuan went to France for business negotiations. Jiang Xiao took this opportunity to handle the divorce. Since lawyers in Jingbei City didn't dare take her case, she had to go to Jiang Group's lawyer.
She specifically told the lawyer not to tell her parents.
But walls have ears. Father Jiang and Mother Jiang found out anyway.
They flew back from Milan that same day, called Jiang Xiao home, and had a heartfelt talk.
"Xiao Xiao, have you really thought this through?" Mother Jiang asked.
"Yes." Jiang Xiao sniffled. "Mom, I'm sorry for embarrassing you."
"Nonsense." Mother Jiang comforted her. "Mom and Dad don't feel embarrassed at all."
"Your mother is right. As long as it's your decision, we support it." Father Jiang patted Jiang Xiao's shoulder. "But I have to remind you: once you take that step, there's no turning back. Are you sure you want to separate?"
Jiang Xiao: "Yes, separate."
Worried that Jiang Xiao was in a bad mood, Father Jiang asked Mother Jiang to accompany her to a resort and told her to turn off her phone and not answer anyone's calls.
Mother Jiang understood Father Jiang's intention. "Don't worry, I'll take good care of Xiao Xiao."
The jewel in their palm—even if she was wrong, they would support her, let alone when she wasn't.
"Are you really going to do that?" Mother Jiang asked.
Father Jiang took off his glasses, pinched the bridge of his nose, and put them back on. "Back then, Elder Master Cheng personally came to propose, so we agreed to Xiao Xiao marrying into the Cheng family. If she wants to separate, I have to meet with him first."
Jiang Xiao didn't know about Father Jiang's plan to meet Elder Master Cheng. She happily played with her mother at the resort. In fact, this was the first time in three years of marriage that she had gone out to relax so freely.
Before, she was always worried about Cheng Yuan, afraid he couldn't take care of himself.
Now that she no longer had those concerns, she realized what happiness really meant.
But her joy didn't last long. Cheng Yuan called.
"Jiang Xiao, you're really not being good."