In the luxuriously decorated bedroom, a woman had her arms around a man's neck, straddling his lap.
Their lips were locked in a passionate kiss.
From the corner of her eye, the woman glanced at the haggard, aged woman sitting in a wheelchair, her gaze full of provocation and smugness.
The photo was a screenshot taken from a surveillance camera, and it was in extreme high definition.
Zhao Hongliang and Old Madam Zhao's pupils widened drastically. Shock and panic crashed over them like a surging tide, making their very souls tremble violently.
How could she possibly have a photo like this?
It was terrifying!
Zhao Hongliang's jawline was taut, his large hands clenched into fists so tight he wished he could swing them right into Wen Yan's face.
All around them, the guests' mouths dropped open in perfect 'O' shapes.
The woman sitting on Zhao Hongliang's lap—wasn't that a younger-looking Old Madam Zhao?
And the woman in the wheelchair was Liu Yunru!
Old Madam Zhao had even openly provoked Liu Yunru. She was simply inhuman!
"Damn it, I'm going to throw up!"
"A toad in a frog's skin—she might dress plain, but she sure plays wild."
"Old Madam Zhao is acting out a horror story here. What a shameless old hag! This completely shatters my worldview, it's absolutely disgusting!"
Some guests were genuinely so nauseated that they gagged on the spot.
Among the Zhao family, Zhao Yu had the thinnest skin. Facing everyone's bizarre stares and verbal humiliation, he roared at Old Madam Zhao and Zhao Hongliang, "You've thrown away the face of our ancestors for eighteen generations!"
After saying that, he ran out of the banquet hall with a livid face.
Zhao Hongliang and Old Madam Zhao were so ashamed and embarrassed they wished the ground would swallow them whole. They desperately wanted to explain that the photo Wen Yan posted was photoshopped, but given Wen Yan's shrewdness, she definitely had a video in her hands.
There was a surveillance camera installed in Old Madam Zhao's bedroom; this woman must have hired a hacker.
The helper Liu Yunru had invited this time was far more powerful than they had imagined. She had absolutely come prepared.
Unable to do anything about Wen Yan, Old Madam Zhao could only take her anger out on Liu Yunru. "Hongliang and I are true love. You should be deeply grateful to me for even letting you marry into this family. You used to be nothing but a wild, unknown model. Being able to live as a wealthy madam all these years is entirely thanks to me."
"I allowed your son to inherit the Zhao family in the future, you should be content. Getting an outsider to expose our family's scandals—do you not want to live with Hongliang anymore?"
Liu Yunru gradually regained her physical strength and sanity. She had taken in everything that had just happened.
She had only discovered the scandalous affair between her mother-in-law and her husband a couple of days ago.
Although her mind had been muddled at the time, she had clearly seen her mother-in-law's provocation.
If it hadn't been for the anger caused by her mother-in-law, her body wouldn't have grown weaker and weaker.
No wonder Miss Wen said her father-in-law had been angered to death back then. Put in that position, who wouldn't be furious?
Fortunately, however, she was now completely disappointed in Zhao Hongliang.
Without love and without expectations, she wouldn't feel too much heartbreak or despair.
Now, she only wanted to divorce Zhao Hongliang and start a new life.
"I don't want to live with you anymore," Liu Yunru looked at Zhao Hongliang, her face as pale as ashes. "Since you have your own white moonlight, I will grant you your wish. Zhao Hongliang, let's get a divorce!"
Zhao Hongliang frowned deeply. "Liu Yunru, you've been a full-time housewife all these years. If you leave me, can you even survive out there? Also, when we got married, all my assets were notarized as premarital property. You won't get a single thing. If you divorce me, you'll only end up even more destitute on the streets!"
Since they had already completely torn off all pretenses, Zhao Hongliang decided to just smash the cracked pot and completely stopped caring about Liu Yunru's feelings.
Liu Yunru's body swayed unsteadily.
She had long anticipated that Zhao Hongliang wouldn't give her much, but she hadn't expected him to be unwilling to part with even a single cent.
All her sacrifices for the Zhao family over the years—in his eyes, she was nothing more than a useless, full-time nanny!
Thinking of her lost youth and all her hard work, mist welled up in Liu Yunru's eyes.
She finally understood Miss Wen's words: No matter how large someone else's roof is, it's never as good as having your own umbrella.
She shouldn't have given up her own identity for the sake of marriage and family.
However, she was only in her forties; there was still time for everything.
Just as Liu Yunru was prepared to walk away with nothing just to divorce Zhao Hongliang, Wen Yan's cold, clear voice rang out. "President Zhao, I also have intimate videos of you and Old Madam Zhao in my possession. If Liu Yunru doesn't get a share of the assets, I don't mind making the videos public. I imagine the guests attending the birthday banquet today won't just sit idly by either."
Many of those attending the birthday banquet were wealthy noble ladies.
Liu Yunru's plight made them feel sympathetic and pitying.
They absolutely would not allow Liu Yunru, who had nearly lost her life, to walk away with nothing.
"President Zhao, your conscience has truly been eaten by dogs. If Liu Yunru doesn't get her share of the property, I will immediately have my husband cancel all cooperation with your Zhao Group!"
"My Wanye Bank will also stop all loans to your Zhao Group."
"And our Tang family will absolutely never have any dealings with the Zhao Group again."
Faced with the aggressive pressure from the guests, Zhao Hongliang looked like a fierce beast backed into a corner. He was filled with impotent rage, the veins on his forehead throbbing as if they would burst at any moment.
"Fine, fine, fine!" Zhao Hongliang said the word 'fine' three times in a row. "I will give Liu Yunru some assets, but don't even think about taking our son."
As for Zhao Yu, Liu Yunru used to treat him as her very life.
No matter how tired or wronged she felt, as long as she saw her son, she would be filled with hope and motivation.
But Zhao Yu carried Zhao Hongliang's genes in his body; they were all ungrateful wretches who could never be tamed.
Even though she had carried him for ten months and gone through the pain of giving birth to him, she couldn't change him.
Water doesn't freeze into a thousand layers of ice in a single day, and a tire doesn't blow out overnight. When disappointment accumulates too much, it turns into numbness and a chilling of the heart.
Zhao Hongliang thought that by bringing up their son, Liu Yunru would soften her stance. But to his surprise, Liu Yunru did not back down. She looked him straight in the eye and said word by word, "You can keep Zhao Yu. I won't fight for custody!"
Zhao Hongliang clenched his jaw tightly. "Liu Yunru, don't regret this."
"Whoever regrets it is a bastard!"
Under the collective pressure of Wen Yan and the guests, Zhao Hongliang and Liu Yunru went to the marriage registration center and dissolved their marriage.
Liu Yunru had no intention of staying in Gangcheng. She didn't want the real estate or company shares there; she simply asked Zhao Hongliang to cash them out for her.
Zhao Hongliang gave her a check for fifty million.
Wen Yan accompanied Liu Yunru to the Zhao residence to pack her luggage.
Despite being married into the family for so many years, she didn't possess any decent jewelry. She didn't take any clothes with her, only packing some of her premarital belongings.
As they reached the entrance of the Zhao family villa, Wen Yan glanced at Old Madam Zhao, who was glaring hatefully at her and Liu Yunru. She gave a slight tug at the corner of her lips. "Even though you are Zhao Hongliang's white moonlight, your youth is gone. Who would like an old lady with a face full of wrinkles? You probably don't know yet, but recently, Zhao Hongliang has been interacting frequently with Li Liying. The two of them flirt on WeChat from time to time, don't they?"
After saying that, Wen Yan looked over at Zhao Hongliang. "Oh, right, you should go get a physical checkup when you have time. The old lady was worried that if her life-borrowing ritual failed and she went to the underworld first, she had prepared a backup plan in advance!"
