She wanted to live apart from him.
"Shen Wanci, what is the meaning of this divorce agreement?"
Shen Wanci came fully awake the moment she heard Bo Jingzhou's low, grim voice.
"Exactly what it sounds like."
Bo Jingzhou let out a cold laugh. "Before work, come to my office and take this trash back with you. At eight tonight, I expect to see you at Yuting Villa — and your luggage."
Shen Wanci returned his cold laugh in kind: "Bo Jingzhou, are you really..."
Are you out of your mind?
Her voice faltered, and it suddenly dawned on her what his call had really meant.
"You don't need to worry about Jian Weining being branded as the other woman. Only both our families and a small circle of close friends know about our marriage. In everyone else's eyes, you're still that devoted Wang Baochuan — the one who selflessly held back and endured a lonely wait, all so your partner could pursue her career. Now that the clouds have finally parted and the moon shines through, everyone is overjoyed for you."
Bo Jingzhou had only just been photographed taking Jian Weining to the hospital last night, and today she was already filing for divorce. If this agreement ever leaked out, the label of homewrecker would be permanently branded on Jian Weining.
Shen Wanci had barely finished speaking when she realized Bo Jingzhou had already hung up the phone.
This dog…
The hotel she was currently staying at was close to the Bo estate, so Shen Wanci was in no hurry at all—she finished breakfast at her leisure before taking the subway over.
After marrying Bo Jingzhou, she had gone to work at the Bo family at her mother-in-law's request, serving as Bo Jingzhou's personal life assistant.
They called it being an assistant, but really it was just babysitting.
Ordinarily, it meant handling Bo Jingzhou's three meals a day and all manner of trivial domestic chores — the kind of job where you coast along, collect your paycheck, and wait out your days.
No one at the company knew she was Bo Jingzhou's wife — the lady boss of the Bo family's business.
It was pathetic enough to think about — everyone knew about the mistress, yet she, the legitimate wife, had to skulk around like some kind of spy. On the rare occasions she rode in Bo Jingzhou's car to the office, she still had to get out two intersections early.
After arriving at the office, Shen Wanci went straight to her computer and started typing her resignation letter. They were getting a divorce anyway — whoever wanted to play nanny could go right ahead!
Someone walked past her, letting out a surprised "Oh?" — "Assistant Shen, you're resigning? Did that rich-kid boyfriend of yours propose to you?"
Shen Wanci's fingers froze mid-typing. Once, someone had spotted her stepping out of Bo Jingzhou's car, and that person had looked utterly stunned, asking whether she had really come in Director Bo's car.
At the time, she didn't want anyone to know about the nature of their relationship, so she lied and said she had a boyfriend—that it was her boyfriend's car.
So by the next day, word had spread throughout the entire company that she had a wealthy second-generation boyfriend who drove the same luxury car as President Bo.
The reason no one thought to connect it to Bo Jingzhou was that everyone on the thirty-sixth floor knew: meals ordered by Assistant Shen were never touched by President Bo — every single time, they went straight into the trash.
Leave it to Shen Wanci to be the most clueless of all — three meals a day, not a single one skipped.
At that moment, Shen Wanci denied it: "No, we broke up."
"Such a perfect catch, and you were really willing to let him go — if it were me, I'd have cried myself to death by now!" Someone offered sympathies on her behalf, though how much of it was genuine pity and how much was barely concealed schadenfreude was anyone's guess.
Shen Wanci's thoughts drifted to her prize catch of a husband. Her voice was breezy, yet laced with a cutting edge: "A man whose only hard part is his mouth—not even worth keeping around for the New Year?"
"Aren't other places hard?"
"Cough!"
An awkward cough cut through their conversation. Everyone turned—and the moment they saw who was standing in the office doorway, their souls nearly left their bodies in fright.
"CEO Bo…"
The one who coughed was Chen Xu, the CEO's special assistant. He glanced at the CEO beside him and said, "During working hours, personal topics are strictly prohibited—especially ones of a certain color."
Bo Jingzhou's gaze swept across the room before finally settling on Shen Wanci, his dark eyes deep and unreadable. "Assistant Shen, come to my office. Everyone who took part in today's chat will be docked one thousand — go sign your own penalty slips at the finance department."
Everyone present scattered at once. Only Shen Wanci kept typing, her expression unchanged……
Bo Jingzhou's office was minimalist in style. When Shen Wanci walked in, he was holding a document, idly turning it between his fingers, the picture of unhurried ease.
She recognized it — it was the divorce agreement she had asked someone to deliver to the other residence that very morning.
Shen Wanci walked up to the desk and stopped. "President Bo."
The man raised his eyes, his expressionless face betraying neither joy nor anger, yet his voice grew darker with each word: "The only hard thing about you is your mouth, Assistant Shen — and where exactly did you draw that conclusion from?"
Shen Wanci pressed her lips together and played dead. She would have to have been kicked in the head by a donkey to pick up that topic.
The tension held for over ten seconds before Bo Jingzhou finally let the subject drop. He tossed the divorce agreement onto the table—
"Explain what the grounds for divorce written here mean?"
Shen Wanci was silent for a few seconds, then replied with quiet composure: "Exactly what it sounds like."
She wrote it plainly enough — those who know, know.
Three years of marriage with no sexual relations, unable to meet the wife's most basic needs; the husband is suspected of sexual dysfunction.
With each word Bo Jingzhou uttered, Shen Wanci felt her scalp tighten another notch. She suspected this man might lose control in his fury and strangle her to death.
But she was stating an objective fact — three years of marriage, and he had never once touched her.
When he read the line about property division, a cold gleam swept through the man's eyes. "It seems your three years as my assistant weren't wasted — you've certainly familiarized yourself thoroughly with everything under my name. But Shen Wanci, do you really think you have what it takes to walk away with a single cent from me?"
Shen Wanci had long since made up her mind to walk away with nothing, and she was entirely unconcerned about it.
But such indifference, in Bo Jingzhou's eyes, read as provocation. His slender, sharp-knuckled fingers reached over and pinched her chin. "Without me, what would you live on? That five-thousand-yuan salary of yours? Never mind rent — would it even cover the necklace around your neck?"
The mockery laced through every word needed no elaboration.
Shen Wanci tilted her head, trying to pull free from his grasp, but it was no use — his fingers only tightened, and the pain grew worse.
She endured the pain. "This is my business — you don't need to concern yourself with it."
"Heh," Bo Jingzhou sneered, his entire being radiating a vicious aura that could tear her apart. "So you've found a new patron to pick up where the last one left off?"
"……"
Seeing that she said nothing, Bo Jingzhou took her silence as consent.
He suddenly smiled, thin lips curling into a mocking arc, and released his grip on her chin. "There's something you've apparently failed to understand — you have no say in whether we divorce. There are still three months left on the agreement."
But to Shen Wanci, it made no difference at all — he had never treated her as his wife throughout those three years, let alone the final three months.
His attitude now was nothing more than wounded pride — she had been the one to initiate the divorce, and that had cost him face and tarnished Jian Weining's name.
The base nature of men!
It seemed the divorce discussion wasn't going to be resolved today. Shen Wanci simply laid out her stance—
"No matter how much time remains, I will never move back."
Bo Jingzhou looked down at her with a contemptuous squint. "Are you trying to tell me you want to live apart from me, hmm?"