This woman—clamoring and making a scene about wanting a divorce on the one hand, while secretly tattling behind his back on the other. She knew perfectly well that if Jiang Yazhu found out about this, she'd never agree to their divorce.
Shen Wanci, I really did underestimate you!
Jiang Yazhu, on the contrary, was stunned. “You didn't sleep together? Then the red mark on your neck…”
Mid-sentence, her eyes suddenly went wide. “Are you tangled up with that Jian Weining woman again? Is that mark on your neck from her? You're trying to make me drop dead from anger, aren't you?! I'm telling you—whether it was before or now, I will absolutely never agree to you being with her!”
If there hadn't been only one pillow on the bed, she'd have hurled it at him a second time for sure.
Bo Jingzhou instinctively touched his neck. “You've got it wrong.”
He didn't explain the details, just went into the bathroom with a frown.
Downstairs, Shen Wanci walked out of the hospital under the scorching sun. Qin Yuezhi sent her a message, inviting her out to dinner that evening.
Seeing it was still early and that she didn't need to go to the studio, she made a trip to the supermarket and bought some daily necessities.
After work, Qin Yuezhi drove over to pick her up. “I closed a big deal today, so I'm taking you out for a good meal—to celebrate you finally getting free of that impotent man, Bo Jingzhou!”
Shen Wanci smiled and teased, “If that ever reaches your dad's ears, he'll beat you half to death.”
That man was Bo Jingzhou, after all—he controlled more than half of the capital's economy, a renowned rising tycoon in the business world. Who would dare offend him? If Bo Jingzhou ever heard Qin Yuezhi say such a thing, never mind that antique shop—even the Qin family enterprise might not be safe.
“I'm only saying it in front of you. You know me better than that.”
When they arrived at the dining spot, Shen Wanci looked at the dazzlingly lit club before her, half in disbelief. “This is what you meant by a good meal?”
Yelan was the most exclusive club in the capital—expensive, with no shortage of entertainments—though its food was famously bland and tasteless. But no one who came here came for the food.
“Isn't a six-figure bill good enough? Tonight we're going to celebrate properly—we're not leaving until we're drunk! I've long disliked that dull, austere life of yours. To think you actually stuck it out for three years. Bo Jingzhou used to come here plenty; this time it's our turn to enjoy it!”
In her married years, Shen Wanci had lived like a nun—company and home, two points on a single line. It really was a far cry from the wild, unrestrained self she'd been before marriage.
The server led the way up front, but Qin Yuezhi noticed Shen Wanci had been listless the whole way, and assumed she was upset over the divorce. “If you're sad, go ahead and have a good cry in a bit. There's no one else here tonight anyway—I won't laugh at you.”
“…”
Shen Wanci had no wish to cry. The thing was… nothing had gotten done today.
It was precisely because the divorce hadn't gone through that she was so down, and on top of Jiang Yazhu's condition, she'd been distracted the whole time.
She said dully, “It didn't go through.”
The club was too noisy, and Qin Yuezhi didn't catch it. “What?”
“Bo Jingzhou and I—we didn't get divorced today.”
Once she'd heard clearly, Qin Yuezhi fell silent in an instant. After a long moment, she asked uncertainly, “Is it that you don't want to divorce him?”
She'd seen with her own eyes the feelings Shen Wanci had for Bo Jingzhou. Though the man had been rather cold to her after marriage, he'd never shortchanged her materially. Back when Wanci had been driven to a dead end, it was he who'd pulled her up out of the abyss.
Women tended to be the sentimental sort, prone to developing a different kind of feeling for the man who plays the hero and rescues them.
Not to mention they'd shared three years of married life.
Shen Wanci stayed dazed, not responding for a long while. It wasn't that she didn't want the divorce—on the contrary, her resolve to divorce was firm. But what had happened today wasn't something she could explain in a moment or two.
Qin Yuezhi kept rambling on by her own assumptions: “If you don't want the divorce, then just find an excuse not to go through with it! Or drop a hint to your mother-in-law and stall him—given how much she dotes on you, if she found out what Bo Jingzhou's been up to, she'd surely break that scoundrel's legs!”
Shen Wanci was amused by her rich imagination, and rather wanted to hear what else she might come up with.
“And then?”
“And then keep leaving him out to dry! Men are all cheap creatures—the more you ignore them, the more they think you're some rare treasure! Look at Jian Weining—she's mastered this art of playing hard to get to perfection. If you could learn even a fraction of her skill, wouldn't Bo Jingzhou be putty in your hands?”
As they talked, the two of them entered their private room.
Meanwhile, at a bend in the corridor not far off, a man who had caught the gist of their conversation said to a server, “Let's go to the third floor.”
Yelan was all about class hierarchy—the membership card reflected one's stratum. By his status, Gu Chenye should have gone to the top floor, but… who told him to happen to spot his good brother's wife here?
And besides, he'd just noticed several groups of people with ill intent in the club, fixing their eyes on the two women.
Gu Chenye dialed Bo Jingzhou's number. “Hey, your wife's at Yelan.”
At that moment Bo Jingzhou was dropping Jian Weining off at the foot of her residential building. She'd heard from somewhere that Jiang Yazhu had fallen ill and been hospitalized, and had actually gone to the hospital to visit her in person—only to be coldly mocked and scolded by Jiang Yazhu, then driven out of the ward.
Receiving this call now, the man frowned. “What's she doing there?”
“Discussing with someone how to play hard to get with you—to leave you hanging so you can't help yourself! She even said she'd have your mom stall you so you'd have no chance to divorce.”
Bo Jingzhou: “…”
He narrowed his eyes, his gaze turning calm and unfathomable.
Gu Chenye said nothing more, just gave him the room number and hung up.
“Jingzhou, what's wrong?” Jian Weining, in the car, sensed his bad mood after the call, and the atmosphere inside congealed at a visible pace.
Bo Jingzhou shook his head, not answering. After stopping the car, he said, “Go up on your own. Your injury hasn't healed yet—don't rush back into dancing.”
“Jingzhou,” Jian Weining bit her lip, “are you—are you still blaming me for mentioning Yucheng in front of Wanci yesterday?”
Bo Jingzhou knit his brows, lowered his head, and lit a cigarette. The smoke spread out, veiling his expression. “No. From now on, don't go provoking her.”
“Is it me provoking her? I only mentioned a name, and she struck someone. Haven't you spoiled her into being utterly lawless?”
By the end, her voice rose faintly, carrying a touch of resentment.
When the cigarette was finished, Bo Jingzhou unhurriedly ground out the butt. “I have things to do, so I'll go first. As for yesterday, whatever compensation you need, feel free to name it.”
Jian Weining looked at him, so angry her eyes had reddened. “You'll compensate me? What gives you the right to make it up on her behalf? She's the one who hit me, she's the one who should apologize…”
At last she reined in her voice and let out a long breath. “Fine. You want to make it up for her? Then divorce her and marry me!”
But Bo Jingzhou shot her a glance. “Your position as lead dancer—you don't want it anymore?”
The dance company Jian Weining had joined ranked among the top three in the world, and the lead dancer's spot was something everyone dreamed of.
That one sentence was enough to silence her, and to make her understand his bottom line.
Finding it tedious, Bo Jingzhou tapped his fingers impatiently against the steering wheel. “Get out.”
“Jingzhou, I…”
The man turned his head, those pitch-black eyes in the dark night cold as a pool of water that could freeze a person solid. “You know I've never had much patience—don't make me say it twice.”
Twenty minutes later, when Bo Jingzhou arrived at Yelan, he happened to see several male hosts walking into the private room Shen Wanci was in.
Through the half-open door of the room, he could see the woman's face, flushed an especially alluring red from the wine…