Chapter 3 A wife from an arranged marriage is still a wife
In the evening, at Manhe Club
The room fell into an eerie atmosphere after the club manager announced that his wife had arrived.
Madam, the only one here with a wife is Zhong Yan.
The girl, who had been silent all along, finally spoke.
Shuyun looked at Zhong Yan and bit her lip: "Are you leaving now? I specifically invited you."
Upon hearing this, Zhong Yan suddenly looked at his friend Gu Beiming with a half-smile. Gu Beiming guiltily touched his nose. The reason was simple: he had told Zhong Yan that he had organized the event in order to get him to come.
“Don’t look at him. I made him do this. You’ve been avoiding me ever since you got married.”
Zhong Yan stood up. "I didn't dodge, I'm busy."
"You were clearly with Ji Tanyuan." Shuyun's voice trembled with tears.
Zhong Yan found it somewhat amusing. "She's my wife. If I don't stay with her, who else would I go with?"
Shuyun's face turned pale. "You admit she's your wife?"
Zhong Yan glanced at Shu Yun, "A wife from an arranged marriage is still a wife."
The betrothal gifts were indeed given out.
"So, will you get a divorce?"
Zhong Yan raised an eyebrow, somewhat amused, but not angry at being offended. He teased, "Shuyun, that's unlucky. I just got married, and you're already asking me about divorce?"
"And I'm not leaving, I'm going to pick her up and introduce you to her."
After saying that, he went out to meet the person.
After Zhong Yan left, Gu Beiming looked at Shu Yun, whose eyes were red, patted her shoulder, and said, "Give up. It's always been the other way around; she's the one who's interested, but he's not."
Shuyun wiped away her tears. "What's there to abandon? It's just a marriage alliance. I can wait."
Zhong Yan has never been interested in matters between men and women, which is why she didn't dare to confess her feelings and silently waited. If Ji Tanyuan didn't interfere, she would definitely be able to wait.
Others chimed in, “Yeah, it’s just a marriage of convenience. It’s the 21st century now. People with no emotional connection to each other and different family upbringings will have different backgrounds. Even if they can’t divorce because of financial interests, they’ll just go their separate ways. It’s not uncommon in our circle.”
Gu Beiming looked at the person who was watching the drama unfold and adding fuel to the fire, "Tsk, you just want to stir things up, huh? These two can't be messing around. Have you ever seen a marriage alliance like theirs?"
A marriage between politics and business can be disastrous if not handled carefully; boldness can be dangerous.
Moreover, with Zhong's father being promoted and transferred, Zhong Yan wouldn't be able to openly indulge in his affections; the facade of their love had to be maintained.
At this point, others chimed in, comforting Shuyun. After all, Shuyun was the one who had grown up with them, while a newly rich outsider like her was someone they looked down upon.
"Putting aside the differences between the North and the South, the values formed by their lifestyles are different. The rich women in Shanghai have a typical socialite culture. When they go out, they must be extravagant, have a grand presence, be fashionable, and have all the social and fame-making activities that are expected in afternoon tea. They are flamboyant and know how to have fun."
"And look at Yanzi's living environment, it is most averse to the evaluation of being overstaffed and incompetent."
"You'd better shut up," Gu Beiming warned coldly.
He put his hands in his pockets and looked at Shuyun, "Don't say anything you shouldn't later. Ayan agreed to the marriage arranged by her family, which shows how important it is. Don't mess up their plans."
Marriage is not just a matter between two people. The Zhong family's marriage alliance with the Ji family, a wealthy family in Shanghai, broke the commercial monopoly of strong alliances in the south and disrupted their marriage matrix, involving a huge struggle between interest groups.
Shuyun looked up at him. "Do you know something?"
Gu Beiming shook his head: "I don't know."
He was just reminding Miss Shu out of consideration for their friendship, so she wouldn't end up being used as a pawn.
...
Ji Tanyuan changed her clothes, wearing a light green cheongsam with a shawl. Her hair was tied up with a jade hairpin, with a few strands falling in the wind to her sides. She was slender, gentle and graceful.
This is the second time the couple has appeared together at a friend's dinner party since their marriage two months ago.
The first time was at the wedding two months ago, which was attended by well-known figures from both the political and business circles.
On that same day, the Ji family's financing was a complete success. The credit crisis caused by the major accident was averted, the capital chain was gradually repaired, and Kyoto Capital, led by Zhong Yan, began to enter the south through the Ji family. The political and business situation in the first-tier financial cities in the south changed.
Everything is on track, so their marriage can't afford any problems right now; if there are any, it risks collapsing.
Both of them were holding their tempers back, like two smooth surfaces facing each other, unlike mortise and tenon joints which either don't fit together or are difficult to separate once they do.
Enter the private room
Suddenly someone at the table said, "I didn't invite her."
The words were spoken to Zhong Yan, so "she" naturally refers to Ji Tanyuan.
The scene suddenly fell silent. Gu Beiming gave the woman a warning look. No matter how hostile she was, the person in question was still there.
Gu Beiming smoothed things over, smiling at Ji Tanyuan: "Tanyuan, you don't know her yet, do you? This is Shuyun, she just came back from abroad. She grew up with Ayan, they're friends."
Ji Tanyuan certainly knew Shuyun. She had investigated Zhong Yan before the marriage. Although she couldn't find out much about him, she could still find out about his social circle.
They say they have a childhood sweetheart they grew up with.
—Shuyun, the youngest daughter of the calligrapher.
Judging from the current hostility of one of the parties involved, the rumors are true.
Zhong Yan placed his hand on Ji Tanyuan's waist, helping her sit down, and said casually, "If I had known it was you who invited us, we wouldn't have come. We would have just sat for a while and then left."
The private room was a modernly decorated room of about 50 square meters, with a table that could seat about 20 people, but there were actually about ten people sitting there. It was a casual get-together with friends.
Shuyun was rebuked, and it was Zhong Yan who rebuked her in a sarcastic way. She knew he was like that before and wouldn't take it to heart when he was rebuked, but now she suddenly felt wronged.
Ji Tanyuan ignored Shu Yun's implicit xenophobia; her attention was first drawn to the person sitting across the table.
Cheng Gengxu, the founder of Gengxu Capital; Rong Xi, the CFO of Furong Group; Zhao Qingye, the Asia-Pacific president of Ming's Pharmaceutical; and one or two other people I didn't recognize, who seemed to be involved in politics, unlike the majority of playboys mentioned in the survey. It turns out this is Zhong Yan's social circle. He is still sitting in the main seat here. Zhong Yan really is a prince.
Zhong Yan whispered in her ear, "Isn't it different from what you investigated?"
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