"Xiao Zhu, why are you siding with outsiders? Who is your childhood friend? Why are you hitting me for this woman?" Zhang Yu quickly got up from the ground, her face red and her neck thick as she pointed at Li Honglian and roared.

"I'm hitting you, Zhang Yu. Who do you think you are? If you were so capable, you wouldn't use your strength to beat your wife. This woman has been married to you for almost ten years, given birth to two children for you, dutifully managed the household chores, and raised the children. Is this how you repay her?"

Lin Xiazhu was furious. If she still had feelings for Zhang Yu just now, she was completely disappointed in him after he started beating his wife as soon as he walked in the door. She didn't know what he had gone through in the past few years to make him so violent and unreasonable, which was too disgusting.

Zhang Yu, however, didn't think he was wrong. He argued, "She's lucky to have married me. Her family used to be so poor. I was the one who helped her two younger brothers and two younger sisters. If it weren't for me, they'd still be living in a mountain valley farming. Look how well her family is doing now!"

She owns houses in both the town and the county seat, and runs a small business. Her two younger brothers have both bought cars. If it weren't for me, they wouldn't have the good life they have today.

Zhang Yu sneered and wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth. She walked over to the sofa opposite Li Honglian and sat down, glaring at her with disgust. She said, "She's been eating and using my things all these years, living a good life with me. How have I ever wronged her? I gave her a large sum of money as compensation in the divorce, plus a house. What more does she want?"

"Pah, shut up! Did you say these words yourself, or did that vixen teach you to say them? Put your hand on your heart and ask yourself, do you feel guilty saying these things? Is your heart black?"

Lin Xiazhu, enraged, threw a cup at Zhang Yu, but it missed, only flying past Zhang Yu's face.

"You..." Zhang Yu looked at her in shock. He knew that if Lin Xiazhu really wanted to hit him, she would not miss. Her slight deviation in accuracy was also a warning to him.

“The righteous and upright Zhang Yu of the past is dead. The person sitting here now is someone I don’t recognize. We are no longer friends. I can’t interfere in your affairs, but I can. She is from my hometown. It’s not easy for a woman to live in the capital. If you dare to bully her, I will not let you off.”

She realized that Zhang Yu had already changed his mind. Don't expect a man who has changed his mind to come back. Even if you force yourselves to stay together, you will only torture each other. There are two kinds of things in the world that you can't control: family matters and matters of the heart.

As the ancients said, even a wise judge cannot settle family disputes. Therefore, it is really difficult to interfere in family affairs. The same is true for matters of the heart. Everything can be influenced, but only feelings are beyond the control of others. Li Honglian has no background or support, and she has no ability to force Zhang Yu to pretend to like her. She will only face Zhang Yu's threats and violence.

Lin Xiazhu felt that Zhang Yu didn't really love that other woman; he was only attracted to her because she was young and beautiful, came from a wealthy family, and was a local from Beijing.

“Xiaozhu, you know that once feelings fade, it’s hard to live together. I’ve done everything I could for Li Honglian. I don’t owe her anything. Being too greedy isn’t a good thing.” Zhang Yu said this while staring intently at Li Honglian, the warning clear in her eyes.

Although Li Honglian did not look up, she could strongly feel Zhang Yu's gaze fixed on her, which made her tremble uncontrollably.

"That's enough, Zhang Yu. Stop staring at Honglian with those venomous eyes of yours." Lin Xiazhu took a deep breath. She saw the bodyguards who had quietly entered after hearing the commotion and gently shook her head to indicate that they didn't need to intervene.

Seeing that she was alright, the bodyguards hid in the shadows, keeping a close watch on the situation.

"Honglian, this man has no heart. He's not worth your tears. If he wants a divorce, then let him. Do you want the child?" This was meant to help her.

"Yes, I want my child. I don't trust them to raise my child." They were referring to Zhang Yu and that woman.

“You depend on me for everything. You can barely manage to live without me, let alone raise the children. If you want to sue me, then see you in court. You won’t win,” Zhang Yu shouted.

"Whether you win or not isn't up to you. You should see if she can beat you." Lin Xiazhu looked at him expressionlessly.

"Xiaozhu, why did you help her?" Zhang Yu couldn't understand. Li Honglian and Lin Xiazhu didn't have a good relationship. They only knew each other because of his good relationship with Lin Xiazhu.

"It's none of your business. You can't control what I want to do. Now you can get out. You're not welcome here." Lin Xiazhu waved her hand, signaling the bodyguards to kick him out.

After coaxing Li Honglian back home, she called Lin Chacha to ask about Zhang Yu. Lin Chacha told her it was true, "I only found out six months later. That bastard Zhang Yu hid it so well that everyone only found out later. I only found out by chance when I took my little fairy to the hospital for her vaccinations that day."

That day, he brought a heavily pregnant woman to her prenatal checkup. I saw it and secretly went to ask the doctor. The doctor said they came for regular checkups and even claimed to be a married couple. How shameless!

"Sis, didn't you see that woman? She's in her early twenties, with such a big belly, yet she's wearing high heels and heavy makeup, and she speaks in such a high-pitched, affected voice. She's definitely not a decent person. I don't know what Zhang Yu, that money-grubbing guy, saw in her."

Lin Chacha kept complaining, clearly disapproving of Zhang Yu's actions.

"I thought you already knew. That kid used to tell you everything, but I didn't expect him to keep it from you this time too."

“I’m not his mother anymore. His mother probably doesn’t even know about this. If he had told me beforehand, this wouldn’t have happened.” Lin Xiazhu found it amusing. Chacha was referring to the past, when Zhang Yu would consult her about any business ventures or investments he wanted to make. In the past few years, she hadn’t been involved at all.

That evening, Lin Xiazhu told Bai Ruan about Zhang Yu's situation. Bai Ruan frowned and asked, "How did Zhang Yu become like this? She started hitting people as soon as she came in. Did she scare you and the baby?"

“I’m very brave, I’m not easily scared. If it weren’t for Honglian’s pitiful state, I really wouldn’t want to get involved in other people’s business. Zhang Yu’s business in the capital is going so smoothly, and we deserve credit for that too. If we hadn’t helped him privately back then, his development would have been more difficult, and perhaps things wouldn’t have changed.” Lin Xiazhu felt regretful, wondering how she could have misjudged people.

“Zhang Yu is an adult with his own thoughts and opinions. How can we control his mind? It seems we never really understood him before. Maybe he’s always been this kind of person, but he just pretended so well before. It’s good that we see through him now.” Bai Ru’an was also a little surprised, not expecting that she would misjudge people.

It seems we'll need to assign more bodyguards to protect Xiaozhu in the future. Otherwise, if Zhang Yu's wife comes looking for Xiaozhu again, and they get into a fight, it would be terrible if Xiaozhu got hurt.

“I haven’t had much contact with them in recent years. We only get together during the Chinese New Year. I don’t see them at other times. Who knows what they’re up to all day? I wonder if Zhang Shengli and Zhang Longfei are like that too?” Lin Xiazhu said, somewhat annoyed.