Chapter 32
Seeing that Shen Huan didn't respond, the doctor continued to answer her questions: "I can't rule out the possibility of amnesia 100%, but the patient does not have any indications in this regard, such as nonsense, inability to remember people, hostility towards people he used to know, etc."
So Li Ting just didn't want her anymore, he wanted Chang Yueqing.
Chen Huan stood by the closed elevator door, his fingers scrolling up and down the address book, about to press Chang Yueqing's name, but after thinking it over, he decided to call Lu Xiaofan.
Lu Xiaofan told her not to call his ex-wife, "Just pretend you didn't understand. Put it off for a day. He'll be clear-headed in a couple of days, and his ideas will change. Don't be stupid. If you give in now, you won't be able to get it back in the next eight or ten years. Take his phone away, and don't let him and Chang Yueqing have a fight."
Shen Huan walked to the stairwell. She wrinkled her nose and thought for a moment. She took a deep breath and confessed to Lu Xiaofan, "I think Li Ting might be looking for help. I'm useless. The others..." She was about to mention Lou Hetai's name, but stopped herself in time. "The others might be won over by Meng Zixuan. He trusts Chang Yueqing more."
"You're so overwhelmed by the company's mess that you don't even dare go home. Why are you still planning for Lao Li? Lao Li was so tall that he dared to swim in the sea, and then he just lay down on the hospital bed. Did he plan for you? Chang Yueqing has entered your house. Even if Li Ting is still the boss of the company in the future, it has nothing to do with you. Even if you don't want to live with him, take this opportunity to challenge him and ask him to give you some benefits and sign an agreement. If you divorce at this juncture, won't it just confirm his suspicion of sexually harassing his subordinates? If you miss this opportunity, you'll never get it again."
"Li Ting will gradually get better." Shen Huan said: "I will take this opportunity to force him, he will bear a grudge. He is a person who remembers both kindness and grudges."
Lu Xiaofan said that it depends on whether you want the immediate benefits in real money, or believe that Li Ting will remember your kindness.
After hanging up the phone, Shen Huan stood in the stairwell. She understood what Lu Xiaofan meant - she should take Li Ting's phone away in the name of care, transfer him to a health care center, keep it secret from the company, filter all his messages and calls, and use this time to gain the most benefits for herself.
But Chen Huan couldn't do it. The company's management was incredibly shrewd. Lu Xiaofan could come up with a plan that Lou Hetai, who had followed Li Ting for ten years, couldn't have anticipated. Wan Lin, with his wits about him, couldn't have failed to anticipate. Xi Yuhui was a die-hard Meng Zixian fan, and Gao Yufei always had his own agenda. They ignored Chen Huan, a hyena, picking up scraps of flesh from behind the lions and leopards. But if she dared to take a bite of the warm, bloody flesh, they would have killed her.
Even if Li Ting was fickle about her, even if he was now powerless, he was the only one who still cared about her. Chen Huan was like a dogtail grass swaying in the wind, without the skills and ambition to establish her own family. She could only cling to the foot of a tree, and her only value was to satisfy others. Sometimes, this satisfaction included offering her own marriage.
Someone behind her called out to her, saying they were blocking the stairs. Chen Huan came to her senses and quickly moved aside, clutching her phone as she headed for the ward. The past two years had been a comfortable life, given to her on credit by Li Ting. She had a respectable reputation, endless pocket money, and a pretentious self-esteem. When Li Ting was full of confidence, he'd made a necklace out of his company shares and adorned it around her neck. If Li Ting ever fell on hard times, Chang Yueqing was his only refuge.
Shen Huan didn't intend to embarrass each other. Standing at the door of the ward, she called Chang Yueqing.
Walking back to the ward, she didn't say anything harsh, nor did she make any resolution. She spoke slowly, fearing that Li Ting couldn't hear her clearly.
"People outside think I'm with you because your company is big, you're rich, and you have a lot of influence. They're right. I'm a timid, irresponsible, and somewhat vain woman, and you've fulfilled all my extravagant hopes.
"But that doesn't stop me from loving you seriously. I always long to be closer to you. When you're not around, I wonder how the days can go by faster. When you're back, I hope tonight won't pass. That's all I think about all day long.
"I am such an incompetent person that my love is worthless. Now that I'm staying by your side, I can only interfere with what you want to do in a very ugly way."
She said that when he was unconscious, many people came to her and asked for shares in the parent company. "I didn't contribute money or technology to these shares. You gave them to me for no reason.
"You think I'm constantly calculating the shareholdings you entrusted to me, control of the parent company's branches, and how to secure my position as Mrs. Li. To be honest, I did try when I first married you, but I soon realized I wasn't smart enough or determined enough to do these calculations.
"I can't be your good wife, so I just take whatever you give me, and I'll wait wherever you tell me to go. I love you passively, weakly, and spinelessly. The only courageous thing I've done for you is not handing over my shares during this period. I didn't do that when Chang Yueqing came to me with kind words, and I didn't do that when Wu Ruifeng came with four or five people.
"This is the trust you once placed in me, and I want to return it to you intact after you wake up.
"Now you're awake. Take the shares back, or give them to Chang Yueqing. Anyone you can assign can handle the affairs of Yixiang and Ronghui better than I can. Do you want a divorce tomorrow, or wait until the rumors die down before completing the formalities? I'm willing to cooperate."
"But I can't love you anymore. Let's end it."
She said this and stood up to leave, ignoring the clatter of Li Ting slamming the bed behind her. She felt like she had lost a lot: six years of her youth, a ton of money, a say in the company. But she finally didn't have to deal with Xuan Tao's troubled past, didn't have to worry about another Lin Jing or Yao Li, and didn't have to carefully serve this man who always treated her like a pendant.
After leaving the hospital, Chen Huan packed her schoolbag and flew to Rhode Island to attend Evelyn Collins's wedding. Li Ting called her repeatedly. She hadn't realized he still had the stubbornness of a twenty-year-old. He chuckled and laughed on the other end of the line, making Chen Huan laugh even as she wiped her tears. Later, Chen Huan told him she had thought it through. Li Ting finally stopped calling her.
Two days later, Chang Yueqing called her. She said she was only there to help him with some trouble at the company, and asked why they had to make such a fuss. She spoke politely, but when Chen Huan called Yun Jingli and asked Jin Tuo to pick up something for her and take it to the old house in the east of the city, Jin Tuo quietly told her, "Madam, Madam Chang is on the second floor. She said all the calls in the house must go through her. If you want to get something, I have to inform Madam Chang. Please forgive me."
After the wedding, Shen Huan took a train to New York's Kennedy Airport. A hurricane was blowing through New York. It was perfect timing. She didn't want to go back and face Li Ting and Chang Yueqing.
When Meng Zixian said he was coming to pick her up, Shen Huan's first reaction was that he also wanted the shares. Although, based on her understanding of Meng Zixian, he would not try to get close to her for such a thing. He would say it directly.
But things had grown apart between them, and she no longer understood him.
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