Gu Meiting knew her husband better than anyone. Just moments ago, she’d insisted repeatedly that Jiang Chen knew nothing of this, that he was still down the mountain, hadn’t returned yet.
But once she left the main residence, she didn’t head down the mountain at all—instead she turned right into the grove, walked a few steps, then suddenly snapped furiously, “Jiang Chen, get out here! Stop hiding!”
The moment she spoke, a figure slowly dropped down from a tree—none other than Jiang Chen. He’d been watching from the sidelines this entire time. Furious as he was, he still hadn’t dared step forward to confront Han Ziqing—he understood better than anyone that he could never win against her. Stepping forward would only earn him a scolding.
“What’s there to hide from, are you coming or not!” Gu Meiting got straight to the point—no need for further explanation, she knew Jiang Chen understood perfectly well.
Jiang Chen laughed coldly at once. “Gu Meiting, don’t you think me hiding out here is already showing you enormous respect?”
“Respect! My own respect has already been trampled underfoot by that woman, don’t you dare talk to me about respect. Let me tell you, my father has spoken—you’re coming with me right now!”
Gu Meiting reached out and grabbed his hand, pulling him along. She had to act while she still had this burst of anger fueling her, or she’d lose her nerve to drag him along at all.
But there was no room for discussion. Jiang Chen wrenched his hand free violently and said coldly, “Gu Meiting, are you still going to play dumb with me? Can’t you understand plain words?”
“Then what do you want me to do?” Gu Meiting demanded loudly.
“Go ask your father and mother why I’m the coward here. Me hiding, me refusing to show my face—what do you think that’s for? It’s for their sake, so I wouldn’t have to clash directly with Han Ziqing! If they really want me to show my face, I’ll tear that mouth of hers apart myself!” Jiang Chen said furiously.
“If you’ve got the guts, go ahead and tear it apart!” Gu Meiting sneered.
What exactly did Jiang Chen mean by this?
Jiang Chen was simply afraid. If he truly showed his face, a man so obsessed with his own dignity, he certainly wasn’t about to play the coward, wasn’t about to meekly hand his own face over to Han Ziqing to slap.
If he stepped forward, he’d have to make a show of it, put on airs of grandeur, reason with Han Ziqing—or else resort to force.
But he couldn’t out-argue her on reason or ethics, and he wasn’t even certain he could win in a fight!
That kind of capability, he simply didn’t have—if he did, he’d have already been flaunting it long ago!
So what was he to do?
He still had other means at his disposal! He didn’t want to apologize, didn’t want to lose face, so he pretended to know nothing, hid away, dressed it up as giving the two elders face, as showing magnanimous restraint, letting Han Ziqing rage and curse all she wanted—he could bear it all.
But his own true thoughts could never escape his wife’s eyes.
Gu Meiting pointed straight toward the main residence, roaring like a tigress. “Go on then! Go! She called you a live-in husband, called you a coward, and you’re not going to bear it? No one’s asking you to be magnanimous! My parents already told you to go! Han Ziqing even wants to march over to your Jiang family to demand an explanation! If you’ve got any spine at all, go tear her mouth apart right now!”
Faced with Gu Meiting’s roaring, Jiang Chen had no answer at all, only scoffing repeatedly. “This young master doesn’t fight with women!”
“Pah! Jiang Chen, don’t make me lose all respect for you!”
Gu Meiting had thrown all caution to the wind now. Even if it meant tearing her marriage apart, she wasn’t willing to sever ties with the Gu family—if that happened, she’d have to go back to the Jiang family for good, and just the thought of living day and night under that mother-in-law’s roof, of being scolded for wasting food over the tiniest leftover scraps, made her unbearably restless!
She’d rather have Jiang Chen take a slap from Han Ziqing than have herself and her child reduced to paupers on Liuxian Island!
When she’d first met Jiang Chen, she’d assumed the Jiang family really was what it appeared to be on the surface—not enormously wealthy, but at least comfortably well-off. But after marrying in, once she’d tried to take control of the household finances, she’d discovered it was all a facade—her father-in-law’s fertile fields weren’t even his own, merely land he managed on behalf of relatives, earning a meager wage each month!
Her entire dowry had been taken by Jiang Chen, only to fall into the hands of his shrewd mother instead. That dowry alone could have transformed the Jiang family’s circumstances entirely, but that mother-in-law had been utterly determined to hoard it away. The Jiang family put on a grand show outside, but at home, they counted every extra mouthful of food!
How could she, the proud eldest daughter of the Gu family, possibly endure such a thing!
At the Jiang household, Jiang Chen was the picture of filial devotion to his parents, obedient to their every word. Her only option had been to drag him to the Gu estate, to keep him there—otherwise her entire life would have been ruined at the Jiang family!
“You look down on me! Fine! Gu Meiting, go tell your father I’m heading straight back to the Jiang family right now. Tell Han Ziqing, if she’s got the nerve, she can come find me there!”
Pushed to his limit, Jiang Chen finally snapped, turning to leave.
“Go then, go ahead! I dare you not to come back! Let me tell you, my father means it this time—if you don’t come, he’s going to cut ties with us! Take one more step and see what happens!” Gu Meiting shouted a warning.
Jiang Chen scoffed coldly and kept striding forward. If he left and Gu Meiting stayed behind, he’d have grounds to divorce her—he didn’t believe for a second the Gu family could afford that kind of disgrace. And of course, he was even more certain that Gu Meiting would never be willing to give up everything and follow him.
As he walked, he counted smugly to himself, confident that before he even reached ten, Gu Meiting would come chasing after him, begging him to stop.
Once this proud eldest daughter finally lowered her high and mighty airs, he’d step in with a plan, tell her exactly what to do!
But Gu Meiting didn’t chase after him at all, her alarmingly red eyes fixed unblinkingly on his retreating back. She was counting too, confident that by the time she reached ten, Jiang Chen would stop, unable to keep up the act.
This man needed the Gu family even more than she did!
Taking a step back, even if he truly left, she was prepared to go all in too—rather than cut ties with the Gu family, she’d rather be divorced by the Jiang family.
Let her parents and Han Ziqing deal with the Gu family’s reputation however they wished—she would never give up her status as the eldest daughter!
“Seven… eight… nine…”
Jiang Chen’s counting grew slower and slower, his steps grew slower too, and still no sound came of Gu Meiting calling him back. That final “ten” simply wouldn’t come out. At last, he could keep up the pretense no longer, could bear it no longer. He stopped abruptly, spun around, and strode back toward Gu Meiting, saying furiously, “Meiting, we can’t really let ourselves be bullied like this!”
“Come apologize with me right now!” Gu Meiting shouted furiously.
“Why should I be the one apologizing, when it’s clearly your fault! Who told you to go looking for trouble with Han Ziqing when you had nothing better to do!” Jiang Chen shot back!
“Are you trying to fight with me right now? If you’ve got the nerve, go fight with Han Ziqing! Let me tell you, even if I caused this trouble, you’re my husband, you’re the one who has to clean it up! Come with me right now!” Gu Meiting said, immediately yanking his arm.
This time, Jiang Chen didn’t pull away. Instead he grasped her hand, and the fury from moments ago vanished entirely, replaced by a look of dejection, sorrow pooling thick and unspoken in his eyes, staring at Gu Meiting.
Gu Meiting immediately looked away. What she could never bear was exactly this pitiable, sympathy-inducing look in Jiang Chen’s eyes—hadn’t it been precisely those self-pitying eyes that had made her fall hopelessly in love with this man in the first place? She’d thought she would be his savior, never imagining she’d end up dragged down with him instead!
“Let’s go!” Gu Meiting said furiously.
“Ting-ting, are you saying you’re ashamed of me for having no ability? Do you think everything Han Ziqing said was right?” Jiang Chen said flatly.
Gu Meiting’s chest tightened. She didn’t answer.
Jiang Chen suddenly flung his hand wide and laughed bitterly. “That’s right, isn’t it—Jiang Chen has no ability, Jiang Chen is a coward, can’t even support his own wife and child, freeloading off the Gu family! I’m useless! And it’s because of me that you have to suffer all this humiliation!”
With that, he suddenly drove a fist hard into his own chest!
“Don’t!” Gu Meiting cried out in alarm, rushing forward to grab his hand, but Jiang Chen wrenched free and struck himself several more times, his chest thudding with each blow!
“Ha ha… Ting-ting, you never should have met me, never should have met me at all!”
“Please don’t do this, please, it’s not like that, I don’t— it’s all Han Ziqing’s fault, that shameless wretch, relying on Jun Beiyue as her backing, relying on Beiyue being the Gu family’s heir, relying on my parents never abandoning Beiyue—that’s exactly why she dares to trample all over us!” Gu Meiting hurriedly explained. “Jiang Chen, you’ve done nothing wrong, you haven’t freeloaded off the Gu family for nothing, you’ve done so much for this family, the Gu family can’t do without you! Jiang Chen, you’re not at fault—you have plenty of ability, your only fault is being born into the Jiang family!”
Jiang Chen sighed bitterly, again and again, but still pushed Gu Meiting away, striking the pose of a man resolved never to look back, saying with tragic grandeur, “Gu Meiting, fine, I’ll go. As a man, I have nothing else to give you—at least let me clean up this mess for you. That slap—let me take it in your place!”
With that, he made to leave with solemn righteousness. Gu Meiting hurriedly grabbed him. Never one for steady resolve to begin with, seeing Jiang Chen so wounded in his pride, her heart ached unbearably. “No! We’re not apologizing, we’ve done nothing wrong! It’s Han Ziqing who’s gone too far!”
Seeing this, Jiang Chen appeared to struggle, though he barely exerted any real effort, and said helplessly, “Meiting, I can’t let you cut ties with your parents over this. They’ve raised you all these years—we’d be committing an act of terrible filial disrespect.”
Gu Meiting thought hard but couldn’t find any solution, growing anxious. “If we really go apologize, if we really let her hit you—how will we ever hold our heads up in front of her again? How will we ever get by in the Gu family after this? Think of something!”
Jiang Chen furrowed his brow, equally anxious. “This… this…”
Just like countless arguments before, neither of them was willing to truly break apart—they understood each other too well. Every quarrel, in the end, always resolved into a shared pursuit of mutual benefit!
They calmed down, needing to negotiate properly.
“Meiting, what if we did this?” Jiang Chen pondered for a long while before finally speaking.
“How?” Gu Meiting asked eagerly—this was exactly what she’d been waiting for.
“We go over there. I’ll show even greater magnanimity, apologize on our behalf, explain why we’ve been living at the Gu estate. If Han Ziqing accepts it, wonderful. If she doesn’t accept it, then— then we’ll make it clear to your parents that it was Han Ziqing who drove us out, not the two of them. We’ll remember their kindness, and we’ll leave,” Jiang Chen said earnestly.