Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Zhou Yan’s mother came to see me the next day.

She was sitting in the hotel lobby, carrying a thermal food jar.

She had never liked me before. She said I was too domineering, not the kind of woman who knew how to take care of a man. At every family gathering, she would say in front of all the relatives, “It’s good that Jianwei is capable, but a woman should still put her family first.”

Today, the moment she saw me, her eyes turned red.

“Jianwei, Zhou Yan was foolish. Don’t hold it against him.”

I sat down. “Auntie, if you have something to say, just say it.”

She pushed the thermal jar toward me. “I made some soup. You two are a young couple living your lives together. What marriage doesn’t have its bumps? It was wrong of him to hit you, but he’s under a lot of pressure too. The company just collapsed overnight. What’s he supposed to do now?”

I didn’t touch the soup.

“Adults are responsible for their own actions.”

She sighed. “That’s true, but you two don’t even have children yet. If you really get divorced, his reputation will be ruined, and he’ll lose his job too. It won’t do you any good either.”

I smiled. “Why wouldn’t it do me any good?”

Her expression stiffened.

“A woman who’s been divorced… it never sounds good.”

“And hitting his wife, protecting a suspected leaker, and falsifying expenses sound good?”

I left her speechless for a long while.

After a moment, she changed her tone. “Then what about the house? Could you leave it to Zhou Yan? He’s a man. He needs a place to stay. Don’t you still have your office building?”

Only then did I finally lift my eyes.

So the soup had only been the appetizer.

What she really wanted was the house.

I pushed the asset list my lawyer had prepared toward her.

“The down payment, mortgage, and renovations for the marital home were all paid by me. Most of Zhou Yan’s salary after we married went toward his personal spending and what he called client maintenance. Auntie, if you insist on asking for the house, I can have my lawyer submit the questionable reimbursements and personal transfers as well.”

Her hand trembled.

“You’re trying to drive him to his death.”

I said, “I’m not the one driving him anywhere. You’re all just used to taking things from me, then calling me cruel when I stop giving.”

Her lips turned pale.

I stood. “Take the soup back with you. I won’t be drinking it.”

When I walked out of the lobby, I saw Zhou Yan standing outside the glass doors.

He had probably heard everything.

This time, he didn’t storm in and accuse me.

He only looked at me, and for the first time, there was fear in his eyes.

Not fear of losing me.

Fear of losing the entire life he had borrowed from me.