Volume One, Chapter 18: President He Received a Slap
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Jiang Shuwei could not let him touch the painting again. She had spent six days and nights creating it, and she intended to use it to secure a ten-million-yuan contract. It represented the future of her company. No matter who came today, no one was allowed to touch it.
He Jingcheng looked at her with contempt. “Jiang Shuwei, are you really that desperate for a man? Since I won’t give you one, you painted yourself a picture to look at? You must be starving—trying to fill your stomach with imaginary food, are you?”
His mockery made Jiang Shuwei’s face flush red with anger.
Anyone else could ridicule her like that, but not He Jingcheng. He was her husband.
If his wife could not satisfy her physical needs, what right did he have to say such things as her husband?
“He Jingcheng, is that truly how you see me? As someone so utterly disgraceful?” Jiang Shuwei’s chest rose and fell with anger, causing her already fair, tender skin to bloom with a delicate flush.
He Jingcheng had never properly looked at her. Not when they were children, and even less so after they married.
But now, with the two of them locked in confrontation and no outsiders around, he stared at her and realized that she did not look as ugly as he had imagined.
“Jiang Shuwei, still refusing to admit it? Do you need me to expose what you’re really thinking?” After speaking, He Jingcheng took out his phone, found a video, and held it up for her to see. “Late at night, what were you doing with Qin Weizhou? Shall I tell you how many guest rooms this club has? Or perhaps the two of you prefer the outdoors…”
“He Jingcheng.” Watching the video and listening to his wild accusations, Jiang Shuwei shouted angrily, “Stop twisting right and wrong. I was only discussing business with Qin Weizhou. It was nothing shameful.”
“Is that so? What kind of business requires you to go to a club in the middle of the night?”
He Jingcheng pulled out a chair and sat down, but when he noticed paint on it, he kicked it away in disgust and settled onto the sofa nearby instead.
Jiang Shuwei calmed herself and suddenly felt that this argument was meaningless.
He Jingcheng did not care about her and had no affection for her. Even the smallest mistake she made would be blown out of proportion by him.
He was probably eager to seize some evidence against her and complain about her to his grandfather. That way, their divorce would seem perfectly justified.
After they divorced, he could give Su Mian a proper status, and the two of them could openly be together.
“If you hadn’t cut off my contracts, I wouldn’t have risked going to the club to discuss this with Qin Weizhou. When you think about it, you forced me into it.”
As she spoke, Jiang Shuwei slowly rolled up the painting on the table, placed it inside a protective tube, and sealed it.
He Jingcheng watched her with icy eyes, discovering that her ability to argue had improved considerably.
In the past, she had always been quiet wherever she went, as gentle and harmless as a little flower.
“Our marriage hasn’t been made public. Just because outsiders don’t know about it now doesn’t mean they won’t find out someday,” He Jingcheng said coldly.
Jiang Shuwei’s lowered head snapped up, and she fixed her eyes on him.
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He Jingcheng looked around her home. Apart from the area where she painted, everything else was neat and orderly. He continued, “If people find out that Mrs. He is running around outside and showing her face, what will they think of the He family? They’ll surely suspect that the He family cannot even support a woman, and mock us for being incapable.”
Jiang Shuwei blinked.
Seeing that she was listening attentively, He Jingcheng finally came to the point. Leaning forward slightly, he adopted the tone of someone negotiating. “I’ll give you three million in spending money every month. Close this studio.”
Jiang Shuwei finally understood why he had come so early in the morning. In the end, he still wanted her to surrender the office floor for Su Mian’s use. He was even willing to negotiate with her and give her money to spend.
As she bent down to gather the paintboxes from the table, Jiang Shuwei said calmly, “I appreciate your generosity, but three million may only be a fraction of what I’ll earn in the future. My career is the second face I present to the world. I don’t want to lose it.”
He Jingcheng’s handsome eyes instantly hardened. The next second, he stood up and walked to the table, bracing both hands against its surface. His voice carried a chill. “Jiang Shuwei, do you think it’s too little? Or are you determined to oppose me?”
Jiang Shuwei pressed her lips together and thought for a moment before looking at him. “I know you hate me, so no matter what I do, you find fault with it. It was wrong of me to drag you into this marriage. I’ll tell Grandfather and the others about the divorce as soon as possible. Don’t worry. I won’t stand in the way of your relationship with Miss Su. You can be with her now. I won’t object.”
He Jingcheng froze.
Her words sounded completely sincere.
Seeing the man’s expression turn rigid, Jiang Shuwei continued, “Of course, Grandfather and Mother hope that we can remain together, but we both know this marriage cannot last forever. We need to find a compromise—something that will spare them heartbreak while allowing us to complete the divorce as soon as possible.”
He Jingcheng’s handsome eyes widened slightly, and he asked instinctively, “Jiang Shuwei, stop pretending. Do you think acting magnanimous, kind, and tolerant will make me see you differently?”
Jiang Shuwei could not help frowning as she looked at him.
He Jingcheng turned around and half-sat on the edge of the table. Picking up a pen, he dipped it into the paint and lightly drew a line across a blank sheet of paper beside him. “You were once a blank sheet of paper, and I am this paint. The thing you desire most is for me to leave a bold, vivid mark across you, isn’t it?”
A dull ache spread through Jiang Shuwei’s heart. As she looked at He Jingcheng, memories drifted before her eyes like fleeting reflections: the pure, secret love she had carried, the diaries filled with thoughts about him, the nights she had hidden around corners with her heart pounding in her chest. They had indeed been like bold strokes of color, carefully recording the awkwardness of her first awakening feelings.
She had loved him in secret for ten years, but never won his heart.
Her feelings had long been visible to He Jingcheng.
He Jingcheng noticed that the corners of her pursed lips had gone slightly pale, while her eyes still held a glimmer of reddened tears.
He knew it. A woman who had loved him for so many years could not possibly give him up in a single day.
“Jiang Shuwei, as long as you stop opposing me, we don’t have to divorce…”
He Jingcheng walked around the table and stopped in front of her. His features were strikingly beautiful, his bearing refined and elegant. Among Kyoto’s wealthy young ladies, He Jingcheng was the man of their dreams.
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His slender fingers gently clasped Jiang Shuwei’s fair, graceful chin.
He Jingcheng lowered his head and studied her closely. Only then did he realize that her beauty was entirely different from Su Mian’s. Su Mian was like a red rose beneath the blazing sun—bold, passionate, and dazzling.
Jiang Shuwei, by contrast, was like an orchid blooming in a secluded mountain valley: understated and lovely, yet unbearably fragile.
“Jiang Shuwei, perhaps you’re right. We don’t necessarily have to become enemies. We could, to some extent…”
He Jingcheng intended to use his looks to force the woman to surrender the office floor. He did not mind taking advantage of the moment to kiss her.
“Slap!”
His thin lips were just about to touch her flushed ones when a neither light nor heavy slap landed across his handsome left cheek.
The sound rang sharply through the silent living room.
He Jingcheng narrowed his cold eyes. In disbelief, he released her chin and stared at Jiang Shuwei, whose breathing had grown uneven.
When Jiang Shuwei came to her senses, she turned and walked out, clutching her painting tube.
As she reached the door, He Jingcheng shouted furiously, “Jiang Shuwei, come back here!”
Jiang Shuwei stopped at the entrance. When He Jingcheng had tried to kiss her just now, she had realized that she was not nearly as excited as she had imagined. What she felt was only the fury of being humiliated.
For Su Mian’s sake, the noble and aloof He Jingcheng had come to use his charm on her.
How laughable. She, Jiang Shuwei, was not a trash can that could hold every kind of garbage emotion.
She knew perfectly well that Su Mian was the only one in He Jingcheng’s heart.
For Su Mian, he could lower himself and set aside his dignity. But Jiang Shuwei would not foolishly allow him to toy with or humiliate her.
“He Jingcheng, perhaps I once loved you very, very deeply. But now, I don’t think I like you quite so much anymore.”
Jiang Shuwei drew in a deep breath. Once she had steadied her resolve, she spoke with quiet certainty. “To love someone, there must be mutual respect. Love cannot be built upon lies and humiliation.”