Chapter 13: A Capitalist's Marriage Proposal is Like Charity
Chapter 13
Jiang Zhiyan has always been proud and arrogant. When they first got together, Xia Zhiyu always went along with him. But after they had been together for a while, their roles were reversed.
Especially when Xia Zhiyu cries.
Jiang Zhiyan couldn't bear to see Xia Zhiyu shed a single tear.
The wooden bird lay forlornly on the table, the toolbox open, with various rarely used tools scattered all over the floor.
The central air conditioning was running in the room, maintaining a constant temperature and humidity of 26 degrees Celsius. Jiang Zhiyan was covered in sweat, his collar soaked with sweat.
He held his breath and carefully sorted the screws and plastic components he had just removed into several small piles according to their location and type, afraid that he might accidentally blow away these tiny screws.
I bought this bird clock from a handmade shop. It's a completely handmade product with complex craftsmanship. Various sizes of gears are combined together, and it's easy to assemble it backwards if you're not careful.
Xia Zhiyu sat next to Jiang Zhiyan, holding a flashlight, sniffling, her eyes brimming with tears, watching Jiang Zhiyan carefully tighten the screws.
"Shine the light to the right."
Xia Zhiyu obediently moved in a different direction.
"They've gone against me again," Jiang Zhiyan sighed inwardly, and habitually changed her words.
"Shine the light where you're holding the pen."
Xia Zhiyu's inability to distinguish left from right has been a long-standing problem. At first, Jiang Zhiyan couldn't understand how someone could have such a poor sense of direction. He would turn around and try to figure out the direction before even opening the navigation app.
During a later physical examination, he even asked the doctor if Xia Zhiyu's cerebellum was underdeveloped and if she needed any nutritional supplements, which angered Xia Zhiyu so much that she beat him up.
Unfortunately, the juvenile fish is developing healthily, and its poor sense of direction is purely innate.
He can't tell left from right, and he can't read a map. How can he be a full-time travel blogger? And he keeps running off to remote mountain villages. Heaven knows how scared he was when he looked at Xia Zhiyu's social media account.
Mountainous area, torrential rain, homestay, unfamiliar villagers—any two of these combined would terrify Jiang Zhiyan, let alone the fact that all four keywords appeared at the top of Xia Zhiyu's homepage.
Jiang Zhiyan had no idea how she managed to watch the entire 25-minute travel vlog with her heart pounding.
"It's just that the battery is dead," Jiang Zhiyan breathed a sigh of relief. "I'll just replace it with a size AA battery."
Xia Zhiyu's eyes lit up instantly, and she asked urgently, "Do you have any AA batteries at home? I'll go down and buy some now?"
"no."
He dared not let Xia Zhiyu go out to buy it so late at night; what if this silly fish got snatched away by someone else?
It doesn't matter if the soldiers are lost, but we can't lose our wives.
But Jiang Zhiyan couldn't utter a single kind word.
He pressed the tip of his tongue against his palate and gave a cryptic chuckle.
"You're going to buy it? Can you even tell the difference between AA and AAA batteries?"
Xia Zhiyu retorted, "I have eyes and can read."
“My fish is so amazing,” Jiang Zhiyan said casually, her expression relaxed.
He pinched Xia Zhiyu's slightly red cheeks from crying, his thumb sinking into the soft flesh, delicate and smooth, leaving a pinkish-white fingerprint with a light pinch, as tender as a thin-skinned peach.
He spent so much good stuff feeding Xia Zhiyu, and she finally gained some weight, but it all went to her face.
You heartless bastard.
After scolding him, she coaxed him to do the work.
Jiang Zhiyan mischievously tightened his fingers a little.
"Be gentle, you're pinching me too hard."
Xia Zhiyu tilted her head back and slapped Jiang Zhiyan's hand, her brows furrowing in displeasure.
"We're not done arguing yet, this is just a truce, don't you dare lay a hand on me."
Jiang Zhiyan's smile faded, and his dark gaze pressed down on Xia Zhiyu, making her feel somewhat uncomfortable.
The breath that had been building up inside him suddenly surged up.
Jiang Zhiyan is not an easy person to talk to. His personality is characterized by assertiveness, pride, and calmness. Like all the privileged sons of heaven, he also lacks the patience to coax girls, let alone apologize after an argument.
Jiang Zhiyan would only apologize to her in a hoarse voice after he had been too rough on the bed.
Normally, Jiang Zhiyan would never apologize; he would simply raise the issue and then distance himself from it, leaving Xia Zhiyu to deal with it on her own.
This time, she absolutely wouldn't let Jiang Zhiyan get away with it so easily again.
If Jiang Zhiyan still dares to blame her for all the arguments...
Xia Zhiyu's fist hardened again.
-
The rabbit is about to unleash its berserk mode.
Jiang Zhiyan raised an eyebrow, and ambiguously picked up a strand of Xia Zhiyu's long hair that fell in front of her, twirling it between his fingers.
"Yuyu, you can't be so heartless. I was waiting for you in the garage to pick you up, and we just had a fight when we got back. I was fixing your things, and you still have the heart to argue with me?"
"And you clearly knew I would pick you up, so why didn't you even send me a message about what time you would finish? I had to ask the hotel manager several times if you were done yet."
In the past, if he and Xia Zhiyu had dinner together at the same time and were not far apart, Xia Zhiyu would take the initiative to tell Jiang Zhiyan what time they would finish, so that Jiang Zhiyan would not miss the time to pick her up.
Her hair was gently tugged twice, making a strong impression. Jiang Zhiyan held her hair with a light touch, one hand on the dining table, leaning forward, his tall figure exuding a powerful aura.
Why doesn't Jiang Zhiyan play by the rules?
Xia Zhiyu's back stiffened, and she couldn't help but move back a little, her lower back pressing against the dining table. The coolness against her burning skin made her stubbornly retort:
"I didn't make you wait. Even if you didn't wait for me, I could have come back by myself."
"Who would message you? How would I know if you're still going to send Liu Miaoqi a gift? I'm not going to bother you."
The second half of his sentence was spoken in a lower voice, with a sour tone, as if it had been soaked in vinegar water.
Normally she's as gentle as a lamb, but she suddenly became so fierce after getting jealous.
Jiang Zhiyan chuckled enigmatically, his warm breath tickling Xia Zhiyu's ear, his voice deep and magnetic at the end.
"So that's why you didn't message me today? So what you drank tonight wasn't wine, but Shanxi vinegar?"
The teasing tone was clear.
Xia Zhiyu retorted, "You're still criticizing me. I was just having a normal conversation with Bian Lin, and you rushed over here with a red face, making me think I did something wrong."
Jiang Zhiyan was much more defiant than her. "Who told you to talk to him? Don't do it again. That kid clearly has no good intentions."
Xia Zhiyu: "It's clearly your eyes that are dirty and your heart that are wicked; you see no one as a good person!"
“That’s a bit too subjective, Lawyer Xia,” Jiang Zhiyan said with a smile that didn’t change. He flicked Xia Zhiyu’s nose with his fingertips. “I came to the conclusion that he is not a good person by combining subjective and objective factors.”
His warm lips landed on her forehead, as if soothing a frightened little animal.
"Alright, let's not talk about these irrelevant people anymore. We have spare batteries at home, so you don't need to go down and buy any. So, Yu Yu, are you sure you won't be angry with me anymore?"
The last syllable was deliberately drawn out, with a slightly sticky tone, and his palm was pressed against her lower back, his actions ambiguous.
Jiang Zhiyan is very good at using coquetry to achieve his goals in front of her.
His eyes drooped innocently, looking at her pitifully, as if that would make him forget the hurtful things he had just said.
That's so cunning!
Xia Zhiyu reached out and pressed hard against Jiang Zhiyan's chest, the pectoral muscles under her fingertips were full and soft.
Jiang Zhiyan chuckled softly, the vibration of his vocal cords sending a shiver through Xia Zhiyu's heart, a tingling sensation shooting straight to the top of her head.
That's so seductive!
"Jiang Zhiyan!"
Xia Zhiyu was both ashamed and annoyed. She hated Jiang Zhiyan's attempt to smooth things over with his good looks. He had so many problems that hadn't been resolved yet, and he already wanted to take her to bed. How could they go on living like this without communication?
"Can't we just have a proper talk?"
...
Xia Xiaojiang lightly jumped onto Xia Zhiyu's lap, found a comfortable spot to curl up, narrowed her emerald vertical pupils, and lazily yawned.
The repaired clock sat on the coffee table, and time ticked away.
"The marriage is a misunderstanding. No one has mentioned it to me. Liu Miaoqi and I are just colleagues. I took care of her out of respect for her father, but I have never crossed any lines. As for those people in the law firm who are gossiping, you don't need to pay attention to them. I will go to the firm and make our relationship public."
"If you still feel insecure, how about we have an engagement party?"
Jiang Zhiyan avoided the key issues and didn't give Xia Zhiyu a chance to speak, trying to gloss over the argument with a few words.
Xia Zhiyu shifted her gaze from Xia Xiaojiang and quietly focused on Jiang Zhiyan.
They sat very close together, and she could clearly feel Jiang Zhiyan's slightly elevated body temperature. The soft indoor light reflected in Jiang Zhiyan's eyes, and the usually proud and aloof man showed a rare hint of nervousness.
Xia Zhiyu lowered her eyes as if to avoid him, sat a little further away from Jiang Zhiyan, and said softly:
"Zhiyan, I want to resign."
Wanting and needing are two different things.
Jiang Zhiyan keenly realized that Xia Zhiyu's tone still had room for softening.
Have you thought this through?
"right."
"Become a full-time self-media blogger?"
"right."
Xia Zhiyu placed her cool fingertips into Xia Xiaojiang's soft belly, her heart pounding wildly in her chest.
This was the first time she had discussed becoming a full-time self-media blogger with Jiang Zhiyan.
When she first started creating the account, she wanted to tell Jiang Zhiyan, but Jiang Zhiyan was very busy at the time, so Xia Zhiyu thought she would tell Jiang Zhiyan after she had achieved some success.
Ten thousand, twenty thousand, thirty thousand... Her fans are growing, but every time she musters up the courage to talk to Jiang Zhiyan, there are always various reasons that stop her.
Looking back, Xia Zhiyu realized that she was simply unwilling to face Jiang Zhiyan's judgment of her worth.
She didn't want to hear Jiang Zhiyan's condescending comments.
But Xia Zhiyu couldn't help but wonder if Jiang Zhiyan would look at her differently if she got better grades, more fans, and higher page views.
Xia Zhiyu desperately wanted to gain Jiang Zhiyan's approval.
“But you’ve only been practicing independently for a year now, and I’m planning to assign you one or two new cases to handle on your own. If you give up the legal profession now, wouldn’t your two years of law master’s degree and one year of internship be wasted?”
"And Yu Yu, haven't you realized yet? You're actually very suited to be a lawyer. You're meticulous, cautious, and thorough in your work. You already look like an independent lawyer."
Jiang Zhiyan's tone was very gentle, completely unlike the harsh denial and rebuke Xia Zhiyu had expected.
She paused for a moment, unsure how to respond.
If Jiang Zhiyan had maintained his previous sharp attitude, Xia Zhiyu would definitely have said the words of breaking up without hesitation.
But Jiang Zhiyan did not.
After a brief pause, seeing that Xia Zhiyu didn't object, Jiang Zhiyan's tone became slightly forceful.
"Regarding the self-media industry, after I saw your account, I specifically contacted your previous clients at the MCM company to learn some information."
Xia Zhiyu froze, her heart pounding in her chest. She was at a loss, not expecting Jiang Zhiyan to actually go out of his way to learn about the self-media industry.
Jiang Zhiyan clearly disliked her working in the self-media industry when she was in college.
Before Xia Zhiyu could even ask a question...
Jiang Zhiyan didn't stop, continuing to calmly analyze the pros and cons of the industry with Xia Zhiyu.
"The entry barrier is low, and there are a lot of people who make a living based on their looks. This means that most bloggers are easily replaceable, and it is not easy to leave a deep impression on the audience. Moreover, the hype surrounding self-media has passed. Although the industry still has some popularity, it is actually on a downward trend."
"If you want to create your own media content, the most important thing is to find your personal unique characteristics."
Jiang Zhiyan's words hit the nail on the head regarding Xia Zhiyu's worries, and she almost thought that Jiang Zhiyan was a good comrade-in-arms on the same side as her.
"So, Yu Yu, do you think your videos have a personal touch now?"
The mere word "yes" stuck in her throat, unable to be uttered. After a long while, Xia Zhiyu's shoulders visibly slumped at her sides, and she said dejectedly:
"No."
Jiang Zhiyan smiled slightly, his inherent strength subtly revealed.
"My suggestion is that you continue to be a lawyer first. You can treat self-media as a side job. When you have enough ideas and energy, you can improve these. Anyway, you have plenty of time. I can also help you find a style."
"What do you think, Fishy? I think you can consider my suggestion."
...
While Jiang Zhiyan was taking a shower, Xia Zhiyu sent all of their conversation to Fang Xinle.
Lele: [Is this how he tried to argue with you?]
Xia Zhiyu felt a little guilty and subconsciously turned over, turning her back to the sound of running water in the bathroom.
Little Fish and Big Rain: [I think what he said makes sense, and the idea of "riding a donkey while looking for a horse" seems plausible...]
Xia Zhiyu felt something was off.
Fang Xinle didn't even type a word this time, but sent a string of voice messages:
"Are you stupid? Jiang Zhiyan has been asking you 'should or shouldn't' the whole time. Why doesn't he ask you 'whether you want to'? It's because he's guilty. He knows perfectly well that you don't want to be a lawyer, so he keeps quiet about it and just talks nonsense about the drawbacks of working in social media."
Fang Xinle was so anxious that he started speaking with a Beijing accent.
Another voice message came in.
Xia Zhiyu clicked on it, and Fang Xinle said with righteous indignation:
"Besides, where can you find a stable industry these days? Our company has laid off several people this year, all of them were temporary layoffs. They were all smiling and happy at work yesterday, and they were laid off today. Where can you find a stable industry in this world?"
“You’re even more special. Who knows, Jiang Zhiyan might break up with you one day. What will you do then? You’ll still have to resign, and you’ll still leave empty-handed.”
"You can't entrust your life and fortune to Jiang Zhiyan!"
When Jiang Zhiyan opened the bathroom door while drying her hair, she only heard the last sentence.
He frowned. "What bad things has Fang Xinle said about me this time?"
Xia Zhiyu snapped the power button off and shrank under the covers, leaving only her eyes peeking out to glance at Jiang Zhiyan, her complaints a mixture of truth and falsehood.
"Lele said, 'I can't rely entirely on my income from working at the law firm. After all, the market environment has been bad these past two years, so I need to diversify my ways of making money.'"
The implication is that she also wants to work part-time as a self-media creator.
Jiang Zhiyan understood this meaning, and his hand paused.
"What she said is true; the overall environment is indeed not very good."
"So, how about we get married? That way, you can legally and legitimately take half of all my assets."
"Isn't this a quick and stable way to make money, a sure-fire way to earn more than your booming stocks and salary?"
"How about we get married right after this case is over? We won't even need to take time off work, and it won't interfere with our jobs."
Separate?
These two sharp words gripped Xia Zhiyu's throat, making her breathing extremely difficult.
She stiffly tilted her head back, her heart skipped a beat, and a chilling feeling quickly spread throughout her body.
Is that what he thinks of her?
Jiang Zhiyan was looking down at her, his expression cold and stern, his words clearly revealing an arrogance he couldn't be bothered to hide.
The marriage proposal felt like a handout.
A note from the author:
----------------------
Starting this Sunday (September 7th) after it becomes a paid service, I will update daily at midnight every night!
A super long chapter will be updated at midnight on September 7th! It features exciting arguments and breakups—don't miss it! [Let me see!]
P.S.: I'm stuck at a very romantic word count!
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