Chapter 39
"Won't he keep pressing the issue?" Gao Yinxi worried.
In her opinion, Xu Zhuwen was the best choice for Qian Song.
This person has no money, no career, no children, and a lot of debt. His retirement will be a problem.
Although she doesn't have much money, she at least has a stable job, a generous pension, and a house with Xu Zhuwen.
From a retirement perspective, Xu Zhuwen is a great safe haven.
“If he dares to pester me, I won’t let him off easily.” A sharp glint flashed in Xu Zhuwen’s eyes.
Li Chi'an raised his teacup, "Cheers to the new students!"
The three cups clinked together, making a crisp sound.
Xu Zhuwen slammed her wine glass down on the coffee table, making a loud noise. "Men will cheat, they'll scheme, they'll turn around and make you pay! Work won't! Your company won't!" Her voice was clear and her tone resolute. "Your company will only give you a payslip! They'll provide the five social insurances and one housing fund! Even if the year-end bonus is small, it's still a million times better than some people's breakup bills!"
She laughed when she said that.
Gao Yinxi laughed heartily across from her, "Brilliant! A wise saying! At least your company won't sleep with you for years and then make you split the cost of hotel rooms and other expenses!"
She blurted this out without holding back, causing all three of them to burst into laughter. The laughter, filled with unbridled joy, echoed freely in the cozy apartment, dispelling the last trace of gloom that had lingered in Xu Zhuwen's heart.
“I used to think that as long as I had enough money to spend, that was fine.” As she laughed, tears suddenly welled up in Xu Zhuwen’s eyes. “Never before have I felt that money is so important as I do now.”
"Women's liberation is only a little over a hundred years old," Li Chian said. "Those predecessors made such great contributions so that I could go out and work openly. We've gotten so used to it that we don't realize its importance."
“People must consciously study how to make money,” Gao Yinxi added. “A woman’s confidence comes from herself.”
Neither our family of origin nor our spouse can be our eternal safe haven. Only by becoming excellent, having independent economic capabilities, and possessing a strong inner self can we have the most reliable protection and firmly grasp our destiny in our own hands.
"Ultimately, we all have to take responsibility for ourselves." Li Chian deeply understands this.
Xu Zhuwen was still very sad, "I thought we could form a family together."
Approaching forty, she really wanted a home of her own, especially after her younger brother got married, her parents kept urging her to get married.
“Perhaps you haven’t experienced real married life, which is why you have this obsession,” Li Chi’an said. “I haven’t walked the path you’ve walked, so I can’t say that your thinking is wrong. But based on my own experience, I think women shouldn’t always think about finding a home. They should think, wherever I am, that’s my home.”
Only when you truly believe that you can only rely on yourself will you create with your own hands.
Otherwise, people's minds are never on themselves; they always want to find shortcuts, endure hardship, hide, escape, and think about whether there are other ways to go.
This is a very dangerous thing.
“Cultivate your ability to create your own future, protect your wealth, and live a good life,” Gao Yinxi said with a smile. “Wenwen, at least you have been free and have lived according to your own ideas for so many years. Look at our An’an baby, she got married early, and the only good thing is that she is still very young after the divorce.”
Xu Zhuwen raised her hand and gently tapped Gao Yinxi.
Li Chi'an chuckled to himself, "My acting is enough to make you laugh for the rest of your lives for the next twenty years, right?"
"No, no." Gao Yinxi put down her wine glass and laughed. "It's only because you're a housewife who's made a comeback that I can make a few jokes. If you were really having a hard time, I wouldn't have mentioned it at all."
The three joked and laughed for a while before returning to the topic of Qian Song.
“So, every month, Ms. Li would transfer money to Qian Song’s account with the note ‘investment dividends’, but his company…” Xu Zhuwen put his laptop on the coffee table, “His company has been established for so long, but it hasn’t made a profit yet.”
Gao Yinxi frowned, picked up Xu Zhuwen's laptop that had been slammed on the coffee table, and examined it carefully. "His independent brand is entirely dependent on this Mr. Li for funding."
The computer screen in front of her was lit up, displaying a "Joint Purchase Agreement for Pension Funds," with Qian Song and Ms. Li's names side by side, and the signing date was six months ago.
"A 49-year-old who's unmarried and childless, turns out she'd already made retirement plans with someone else," Xu Zhuwen said with a bitter smile. "How could someone be so disgusting?"
“It really is disgusting.” Li Chian nodded.
Xu Zhuwen became increasingly agitated. Thinking of what Qian Song had said that afternoon, she was so angry that she wanted to smash her cup. "Hey, you know what? I didn't want to throw all this rubbish in his face at first, but he said I was disgusting and even called me a Black Widow. You know what? I was absolutely furious."
"So you just made him look bad?"
"Absolutely."
“I think we can also take a look at his company’s designs.” Gao Yinxi’s eyes lit up with an idea. “Wenwen, just remember one thing: as long as Qian Song doesn’t let you go, you don’t let him go either. Anyway, you’re upright and honest, and you have plenty of integrity.”
Li Chi'an pulled another bottle of wine from the cabinet. "Come on, open another one! I bought this directly from a French winery."
Xu Zhuwen and Gao Yinxi immediately stood up and rushed towards the wine in her hand.
Li Chi'an smiled and handed them the wine, saying, "You can drink it yourselves. I'm going to check on my son."
Xu Zhuwen and Gao Yinxi immediately lowered their voices, even walking quietly.
Li Chi'an turned around with a slight smile, pushed open the door to her son's room, and saw her son sleeping soundly in bed under the motion-sensor light.
She reached out, touched the air conditioner remote he had placed on the bay window, and lowered the temperature by another degree. Then, she put the blanket that the little guy had kicked off back over him before quietly leaving.
In this complex urban jungle of interpersonal relationships, there are always people who need each other's support and to move forward together. Some are spouses, some are family and friends, but the most important thing is ourselves.
Neither be a pushover without principles nor a cold-blooded egoist, but rather find a balance between emotion and reason.
...
On the other side of the ocean, Chen Li was accompanying Lin Ying to her prenatal checkup.
The tiny figure was clearly visible on the ultrasound screen.
"It's a boy," the doctor said with a smile.
Chen Li gripped Lin Ying's hand tightly, his eyes flashing with a complex light.
In the third week postpartum, Chen Li received an urgent call while she was buying baby formula at the supermarket.
"Chen Li, something terrible has happened! Come back quickly!"
When Chen Li rushed to the house where he and Lin Ying were living, he found it in a mess. Lin Ying was throwing a tantrum again, and the expensive nanny was standing in a corner of the house holding the child, looking very anxious.
The baby in her arms was crying incessantly.
This has been a common occurrence in our family since the child was born, but Lin Ying's emotions were particularly strong today.
"What's wrong, baby?" Chen Li tossed the formula to the nanny. "Take him away."
The nanny is a Cantonese person who has recently arrived in the United States. She can understand Mandarin, but she doesn't speak it very well. She usually communicates in Cantonese and English.
"My aunt and mother have been dismissed from their posts," Lin Ying cried, hitting Chen Li.
Chen's face drained of color. "How could this be?"
He recoiled abruptly, his face filled with disbelief. "Did you just receive that message?"
"If I hadn't received any news, would I have made up something?" Lin Ying broke down in tears. "My mom said it was all our fault, it's all our fault."
"This is impossible." Chen Li's lips parted slightly, but it was as if he couldn't breathe. "How could my aunt and mother suffer such a severe punishment?"
Although he and Lin Ying are not married yet, in order to show his closeness to the Lin family, he has long since changed how he addresses the elders of the Lin family.
Of course, the other party also accepted his form of address.
"I hope it's impossible too." Lin Ying pushed Chen Li a few times. "Isn't it all because of your good ex-wife that she made such a big fuss, causing our family to bear all the responsibility? How could she be so vicious? What did we do to her that she would do this to kill us all?"
How could that be?
how so?
If Lin Ying's aunt and mother are both dismissed from their posts, and the Lin family is severely punished and purged, will he still have any hope of returning to China?
Chen Li seemed to have been struck by lightning, completely frozen, like a piece of wood, letting Lin Ying push, shove, and scold him.
Every muscle in his body was locked, only his Adam's apple bobbed violently up and down, his eyes were initially blank, then surged with a monstrous wave of horror.
In addition, he also thought about what would happen to his son if the Lin family fell.
What about his son with Lin Ying?
What should we do?
A week later, U.S. immigration officials knocked on their door.
Chen Li's work visa has been revoked, and they must leave the country within a specified period.
On the flight back home, Lin Ying held her newborn baby and silently shed tears, while Chen Li gazed at the sea of clouds outside the window, his fists clenched tightly.
The plane landed in Hong Kong and then transited through Heung Hoi City.
No one picked them up at the airport, so the two took a taxi directly to the Lin family's house.
The Lin family was in chaos. When Lin Ying and Chen Li returned with the child, only Lin Ying's parents glanced at the child with grim expressions and gave them two small red envelopes as a token gesture. No one else from the Lin family came to visit them.
Now, the Lin family's relatives and friends hate the Lin family. It can be said that Lin Ying single-handedly ruined the plans of three generations of the Lin family.
Lin Yin couldn't stand this cold treatment. She thought of the generous gifts her elders had given her when her cousins got married and had children, and felt very wronged.
Unable to contain herself, she made a scene at home against Mr. and Mrs. Lin, saying that they looked down on her and her child.
But Lin's parents were too busy taking care of themselves to even kick her out of the house, let alone satisfy her crying and tantrums!
Lin Ying yelled at her parents, "I knew you'd rather I died out there and didn't want me to come back."
Lin's mother was in poor health. She had suffered a lot of physical and mental torment recently. Her temples were gray, and she looked more than ten years older in just a few months.
Seeing her daughter's unreasonable behavior, she felt heartbroken. "We know we don't want you to come back, so go away, go wherever you want!"
Sitting on the sofa, Lin's father was also furious, his face turning ashen. "If it weren't for the fact that your mother and I only have this one daughter, we wouldn't even have opened the door for you when you came home this time. You've completely disgraced our family."
Chen Li stood nervously to the side, not sitting down since he entered the room.
Lin's mother even exchanged a few words with him, but Lin's father didn't even give him a glance.
"Fine, I'll get out, I'll get out, okay!" Lin Ying cried and shouted, picked up her bag, put on her high heels, and rushed out of the house.
Holding the baby, Chen Li bowed and apologized to Lin's parents, "Yingying just finished her postpartum period and her body is still very weak. She hasn't fully recovered yet, so it's understandable that she's emotional. Please be understanding. We'll be leaving now, and we'll bring Yaoyao to visit you again when we have time."
After saying that, he paused for a moment. Seeing that Lin's father's expression had not softened at all, he said a few more words to Lin's mother, and then slunk away with his son in his arms.
Chen Li also felt that coming to the Lin family today was beneath him, but he had no choice but to be subservient to them.
Even a starved camel is bigger than a horse.
Now he has completely lost his personal connections and resources, and the only person he can rely on is the Lin family.
...
The divorce proceedings were faster than Chen Li had imagined.
The lawyer calmly told Chen Li that since he was the party at fault in the marriage and currently had no stable income, the possibility of him obtaining custody was almost zero.
“But that’s my son!” Chen Li roared in the law firm.
Li Chi'an sat quietly opposite, looking coldly at the haggard Chen Li, "You have another son."
"Chen Zui is my son."
No man would not want another son.
After all, he was his first child, and he was almost in elementary school. He was well-behaved, adorable, and intelligent. Moreover, this son was his only bargaining chip to keep his ex-wife in check.
“I have the right to custody of my son.” Li Chi’an said calmly, but his attitude was firm.
Where did you send Zui Zui?
Chen Li knew that arguing with Li Chi'an here was pointless, and he already had enough arguments in his life.
"After the divorce, if you want to see him, I can let you see him."
...
On the day of the court hearing, Chen Li saw his son, Chen Zui, who was wearing brand new clothes and had grown taller.
The child sat in the audience, watching his parents clash in court with wide eyes.
When the judge finally announced that custody would be awarded to Li Chian, Chen's youngest child did something that Li Chian did not expect: he suddenly ran over and hugged Chen's leg.
"Dad, don't you want me anymore?"
Chen Li knelt down and hugged his son tightly. "No, Daddy has never abandoned you. It's your mother who prevents me from seeing you."
Her son's words pierced Li Chi'an's heart like needles, but Chen Li's words also made her angry. She walked behind her son and looked coldly at this man who was putting on an act in public. "Chen Li, you don't need to poison our son's mind here. Planting a bad seed about his mother in his heart will only give you the pleasure of revenge, but it will not do any good for your son. You are the one who cheated, you are the one who had a child with someone else, and you didn't even say goodbye to your son before going to America with someone else to be someone else's father."
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