Said Not to Fall in Love - Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Zhou Yubai’s crisis arrived faster than I had expected.

His firm had originally been negotiating a round of independent financing.

When the Zhou Family found out, they intercepted it directly.

Their condition was simple.

Divorce me.

Accept the marriage alliance with the Su Family again.

Zhou Yubai refused.

So the next day, three of his firm’s major clients suspended their cooperation at the same time.

When I found out, he was in the kitchen chopping vegetables.

His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, his movements steady.

As if nothing had happened.

I stood in the doorway with my phone in hand.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

He didn’t turn around.

“It’s nothing.”

“Three clients pulling their orders is nothing?”

“It’ll be handled.”

“How?”

Zhou Yubai set the kitchen knife down.

“Wen Yi, this is my business.”

I was so angry I laughed.

“When you were helping me, why didn’t you say the Nan’an Project was my business?”

He fell silent.

I walked over and picked up his phone.

On the screen was a message from Zhou’s Mother.

Just one sentence.

Marriage has always been a transaction. Don’t forget why you married her.

I stared at it for a long time.

Suddenly, my chest felt so tight it hurt.

“Zhou Yubai.”

He looked at me.

I asked, “Do you regret it?”

“No.”

Too fast.

So fast it didn’t sound like an answer he had weighed at all.

I tightened my grip on the phone.

“We were only ever each taking what we needed. If getting divorced will help you get your clients back, you can bring it up.”

Zhou Yubai’s expression turned cold, inch by inch.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean the agreement still stands. I won’t drag you down.”

He stared at me.

“You think you’re dragging me down right now?”

I said nothing.

All at once, he let out a laugh.

There wasn’t a trace of warmth in it.

“Wen Yi, you really know how to push people away.”

With that, he turned and went into the study.

The door didn’t close hard.

But I stood where I was, feeling as if that door had slammed straight into my heart.

That night, I didn’t go directly to the fund.

That would have looked too much like a husband and wife funneling benefits to each other.

I dug out every old renovation proposal for the Nan’an Project from three years ago and found the version Zhou Yubai’s firm had submitted, the one Wen Corporation had rejected.

It was twelve percent cheaper.

It preserved the original street-facing facades.

The only problem was that back then, he didn’t have the Zhou Family’s backing. No one dared bet on a firm that had only just gone independent.

I read through his project proposal all night.

The next morning, I took the materials to meet with the overseas fund.

I didn’t ask them to save Zhou Yubai.

I asked them to participate in Wen Corporation’s public roadshow.

The roadshow list would include the Gu Family’s suppliers, as well as Zhou Yubai’s firm.

If Zhou Yubai won, I would withdraw from the review and accept accountability from the board.

By the time Zhou Yubai found out, it was already afternoon.

He rushed to the café, his expression even worse than it had been on that rainy night.

“Wen Yi, what are you doing?”

I closed the file.

“Protecting our shared interests under the agreement.”

He looked at me.

There was anger in his eyes, and something else too.

“You don’t need to take the hit for me.”

“I’m not taking the hit for you.”

I stood and walked up to him.

“I’m your wife. At least for now.”

The moment the words left my mouth, even I froze.

Zhou Yubai froze too.

The café was very quiet.

After a long while, he asked in a low voice, “Does a contractual wife count too?”

I looked at him.

“A contractual wife still has to have some loyalty.”

The hand hanging at his side slowly clenched into a fist.

That roadshow dragged on for three weeks in the end.

Of the three clients the Zhou Family had pulled away, only one came back.

Zhou Yubai stopped work on his new office and shelved his firm’s expansion plan.

I was also called to account twice at board meetings.

They said I was opening doors for my husband.

I laid out the blind review scores, my recusal statement, and the full video recording, one by one.

“If he loses, I’ll accept that too.”

Later, Zhou Yubai won.

Not because I was his wife.

But because his proposal really was better than the Gu Family’s.

When we got home that day, the food in the kitchen was no longer edible.

Zhou Yubai cooked a bowl of noodles from scratch.

The two of us shared it.

Halfway through, he suddenly said, “Wen Yi.”

“Hm?”

“Don’t ever say you’ll help me by divorcing me again.”

I looked up.

He wasn’t looking at me.

“I don’t like hearing it.”