Chapter 85
Chapter 85
He Qian said, “You don’t mind that I’ve already been married once?”
He Yuchuan smiled and shook his head. “What are you talking about? I’m only worried you’ll mind that I’m poor.”
He Qian said, “How could I…? You know I’ve never cared about things like that.”
He Yuchuan asked, “Do you still have feelings for me?”
He Qian glanced around, then said quietly, “I’ve never felt any distance grow between us.”
Moved, He Yuchuan nodded. “Me too! Even though we haven’t seen each other in all these years and rarely kept in touch, every summer I think back to the summer we met, and every winter I think of the two winters we spent New Year’s together… My feelings for you have never changed either!”
Under the table, He Yuchuan took He Qian’s hand. “Have you… made up your mind now?”
He Qian asked, “Made up my mind about what?”
He Yuchuan said, “About leaving him!”
He Qian said, “I’ve thought about leaving him ten thousand times. I have made up my mind. I just don’t know how to do it.”
He Yuchuan nodded. “That’s enough. I also hope you’re making this decision of your own free will. Otherwise, my wanting to help you would just be wishful thinking on my part.”
He Qian asked, “Then what should we do?”
He Yuchuan’s gaze suddenly turned fierce. “Make him leave with nothing.”
He Qian froze. “Isn’t that… a little too much?”
He Yuchuan said, “Too much? How is it too much?”
He Qian frowned. “He did cheat on me, and he did hurt me. But in all the years we’ve been married, every penny we have was earned by him. He started with nothing and worked his way to where he is now, and our parents’ generation wasn’t really able to help him much along the way. I watched him suffer through so much over the years… Wouldn’t making him leave the marriage with nothing be going too far?”
He Yuchuan gave a cold laugh. “When a man cheats, leaving with nothing is only right and proper. As long as he’s not some shameless, stubborn mutt, this shouldn’t be that hard for him, should it?”
He Qian shook her head. “I still don’t think we should do that… I can ask him to compensate me, but to drive him out directly and take over all his assets… I really can’t bring myself to do it.”
He Yuchuan tilted his head and smiled. “Take over? How can you use a phrase like that about yourself? From the day he cheated, he should have considered the consequences. He can’t hurt you and then pay no price at all, can he?”
He Qian fell silent. She pulled her hand out of He Yuchuan’s and rubbed both hands together again and again.
He Yuchuan glanced at her hands and leaned forward slightly. “You’re always too kind. Excessive kindness will only hurt you.”
He Qian waved a hand. “I’m not that kind. I just don’t want to take things too far.”
He Yuchuan said, “Don’t blame me for being blunt, but you’re a woman who hasn’t worked in nearly ten years. You’re almost completely out of touch with society. If you want to find a job after the divorce, what company is going to hire you?”
He Qian lowered her head and gently swirled the coffee in her cup.
He Yuchuan continued, “What can you do now? How much of your old professional knowledge do you still remember? How much of your past work experience do you still have? Is there anyone who can introduce you to a suitable platform or resources? Or… do you even want to work anymore?”
He Qian sighed and kept shaking her head.
He Yuchuan said, “That’s why, after the divorce, you’ll only be living off your savings until there’s nothing left.”
He Qian set down the cup in her hand and looked out the window in confusion.
He Yuchuan said, “And who was it that brought you to this point, where all you can do is live off what you have until it’s gone? Him again.”
He Yuchuan took a sip of coffee, then went on, “You were originally a proper student who followed the usual path and found a decent job, right? Then why did you lose that job later? Wasn’t it because he made the decision on his own, acted like some macho man, and told you to resign and stay home as a full-time wife?”
He Qian nodded. “Yes, that’s true.”
He Yuchuan said, “You studied from the time you were six or seven until you were in your twenties. Did you study all those years just so you could spend the rest of your life being his simple little wife at home?”
He Qian smiled bitterly. “When you put it that way, I guess you’re not wrong. I really am pathetic.”
He Yuchuan said, “No, this isn’t your fault. All these years, you stayed home to take care of his parents, washed his clothes, cooked his meals, and kept him looking like a decent human being-I absolutely acknowledge the results of your labor. You were an amazing, incredibly successful wife. The only reason he could focus on making money out there without any worries was because you were holding down the fort at home, wasn’t it? If you ask me, more than half of his success is thanks to you.”
He Qian said, “They won’t see it the way you do. They’ll only think it was what I was supposed to do.”
He Yuchuan snapped his fingers. “Exactly! So don’t go empathizing with them and thinking they had it hard. He spent the last ten years using up your life at home. Now you’re middle-aged and out of touch with society-while he’s getting richer and more polished, and then he turns around and finds someone ten years younger than you. Is that fair to you?”
He Qian took a deep breath and looked into He Yuchuan’s eyes. “It’s not fair, but I still think making him leave with nothing is a little cruel…”
He Yuchuan suddenly asked, “Do you know what’s the most valuable thing in your household?”
He Qian said, “Life and health.”
He Yuchuan said, “Sis, could you be a little more practical?”
He Qian said, “The… safe?”
He Yuchuan rolled his eyes. “Were you this dumb answering math questions back in school too?”
He Qian laughed. “Then you tell me. What’s the most valuable?”
He Yuchuan said, “The company.”
He Qian nodded in sudden realization.
Then she asked, “You want me to take his company?”
He Yuchuan slapped a hand to his forehead. “Oh my God… You really are a genius.”
He Qian scratched her head awkwardly. “Even if I took the company, I wouldn’t know how to run it… Maybe we should just forget it…”
He Yuchuan knocked her lightly on the head. “When I called you a genius, did you actually think you were smart? Listen carefully, idiot!”
He Yuchuan held up both hands in fists and shook his left hand. “The house and cars-those are just the eggs.”
Then he shook his right hand. “The company is the golden hen that lays the eggs.”
He Qian looked at him in confusion. “So what do you want me to do?”
He Yuchuan said, “You take the eggs and leave the golden hen to him. Does that still feel excessive to you?”
He Qian seemed to figure it out all at once. She murmured, “If you put it that way, I guess it’s not impossible…”
He Yuchuan let out a breath. “Exactly. That’s more like it! If he wants eggs, let the golden hen lay more for him! He’s such a capable man, with so many connections and resources. He definitely won’t be poor in the future, so don’t worry.”
He Qian was still hesitating.
He Yuchuan said gently, “I know you’re kind. You’ve always thought about other people. Even after you’ve been hurt, you still can’t bear to hurt someone else too badly. But I’m a man, and I understand men better than anyone. No matter what decision a man makes, he won’t let himself suffer a huge loss. If he’s willing to agree to leaving with nothing, that means he has a smooth enough fallback plan to give him that confidence. You don’t need to worry about that.”
He Yuchuan paused, then asked, “Based on what you know about him, do you think he’d agree to leave with nothing?”
He Qian thought it over carefully, then said with certainty, “I do understand that part of his character. If he feels he owes me, there’s a very high chance he’ll agree to leave with nothing. He has a strong sense of responsibility. He won’t run away from what he should take responsibility for.”
After saying that, He Qian suddenly felt a little nervous-she had unconsciously praised Qin Song, and she was a little worried He Yuchuan would get jealous or scold her for being pathetic.
He Yuchuan had no reaction at all. He asked rationally, “How high is ‘very high’?”
He Qian said, “Seventy… percent?”
He Yuchuan said, “Then I’ll find a way to help you push that possibility all the way up to one hundred percent.”
He Qian asked, “How are you going to do that?”
He Yuchuan said, “For the same thing, if you bring it up, the chance of success might be seventy percent. But if he brings it up himself, wouldn’t the success rate be one hundred percent?”
He Qian said, “Why would he bring it up out of nowhere?”
He Yuchuan said, “You can’t go looking for trouble. You have to let trouble come to you, while you play the perfect victim.”