Tang Yinyao wanted to tell Du Jiashu all about the 'good deeds' Xia Liuyue had done, but Du Jiashu was sick and staying at the old family residence, making it impossible to see him.
In the end, she asked a friend within their social circle to organize a gathering, finally managing to meet Du Jiashu on her second day back in the country.
Perhaps due to his recent serious illness, his complexion was pale and weary, his expression listless, and he seemed utterly drained of energy.
He sat in the farthest corner of the private room, holding a glass of wine, looking deeply dejected.
"Brother Jiashu." Tang Yinyao called out affectionately as soon as she entered the room.
Her attitude was as normal as ever.
As if all the unpleasantness from their previous phone call had never happened.
Seeing her arrive, Du Jiashu looked embarrassed and tried to avoid her, quickly leaning back, saying:
"Tang Yinyao, we made things very clear last time. Since you can't accept it, there's no need for us to remain friends either."
"Liuyue would misunderstand."
This was the first time Tang Yinyao had heard Du Jiashu call her by her full name.
Hadn't he always called her 'Yaoyao', 'Yaoyao' before?
Why did it sound so distant now?
She couldn't accept it at all. What hurt most was that Du Jiashu's words seemed to show he cared deeply about Xia Liuyue.
Suppressing her grievances, Tang Yinyao took another small step forward and sat down about half a person's distance away from him.
She said slowly:
"Brother Jiashu, I actually came here this time to tell you something about Xia Liuyue."
Du Jiashu shot her a wary glance.
His instinctive reaction was: "What bad things are you going to say about her behind her back again?"
Tang Yinyao was speechless: "..."
Had Xia Liuyue given Du Jiashu some kind of love potion too? Why was his first reaction always to suspect her.
Tang Yinyao adjusted her emotions, forced out a smile, and quickly said:
"It's not bad things, it's the truth."
"Brother Jiashu, do you remember last time I told you He Chuan wanted to break off our engagement?"
Du Jiashu raised his wine glass and leaned further back, saying coldly, "What does that have to do with me?"
Tang Yinyao finally dropped her bombshell information.
"He Chuan wants to break off the engagement because he has fallen for Xia Liuyue."
Du Jiashu immediately found this unbelievable, saying:
"How is that possible?! They barely know each other, they've only met once. Besides, Yan Hechuan isn't the type to steal someone else's wife."
Tang Yinyao took a deep breath and recounted everything: how Xia Liuyue had disguised her voice, taken advantage of Yan Hechuan's blindness to impersonate her.
"I never expected that the junior I hired to take care of He Chuan was also bribed by Xia Liuyue."
"And most importantly, the two of them admitted they slept together."
As soon as the words left her mouth.
Du Jiashu tightened his grip on the glass, leaped up from the sofa, and exclaimed agitatedly, "Impossible?! How could that be! Liuyue isn't that kind of person."
As he spoke, his voice gradually trailed off.
Because he remembered during their argument, Xia Liuyue had jokingly said, 'I'm going to sleep with Tang Yinyao's man.'
This was something she really might do.
Panic and anxiety flashed through Du Jiashu's heart. So, when she asked for a divorce, it wasn't just to scare him—she really wanted a divorce!
He was deeply shaken, his face darkening.
Tang Yinyao seized the moment to add fuel to the fire, saying:
"Brother Jiashu, Xia Liuyue has gone too far! You're still her husband, how could she do something like this behind your back?"
"Do you remember last time when you said He Chuan warned you to stay away from me? That was actually Xia Liuyue pretending to be me, so he was telling you to stay away from Xia Liuyue."
"And because of her revenge, wuwuwu, He Chuan doesn't want me anymore either."
"She's destroyed two families."
Du Jiashu had no time for Tang Yinyao's lamentations. His mind was swirling with the thought, 'Yan Hechuan has fallen for my wife?'
Then what about Liuyue? Would Liuyue also fall for Yan Hechuan?
This time, he was really going to lose Liuyue...
He seemed like a lost child who had suddenly lost his direction, feeling flustered and at a loss.
Even during these past two days of high fever, staying at the old residence, he had still clung to the fantasy that Liuyue's request for a divorce was just said in anger. Maybe with time, things would slowly mend, and they would reconcile.
But now...
If her affair with Yan Hechuan was real?!
Then, this time, he truly couldn't keep her.
"Brother Jiashu, Brother Jiashu, are you listening?" Seeing Du Jiashu unresponsive, Tang Yinyao waved her hand in front of his face.
Du Jiashu took a deep breath and looked at her with a complicated gaze.
As if he couldn't articulate the bitterness in his heart.
It finally condensed into one sentence.
"Tang Yinyao, this is my retribution."
"I was the one who wronged Liuyue and our child first."
"This is just retribution!"
Seeing his attitude, it seemed he wasn't planning to confront Xia Liuyue.
Tang Yinyao was stunned, saying: "Brother Jiashu, Xia Liuyue did something like this behind your back, and you're not even a little bit angry? You still think it's your own fault?"
Du Jiashu said with a bitter smile:
"It is my fault. When we got married through the arranged alliance, I made it clear to her. I said from beginning to end, I've only ever liked you."
"If we're talking about who made the first mistake, that person should be me."
Listening to his words, hearing him say he had always liked her, Tang Yinyao's vanity was immensely satisfied, and the corners of her mouth couldn't help but turn up.
But the next second, she heard Du Jiashu continue:
"I was too foolish! I never truly understood my own heart. I thought I liked you."
"But the thought of completely losing Liuyue, and our lost child, fills me with such pain, such sorrow."
"Did I really like you? Or did I mistake the companionship we've had since childhood for love, when in reality it might just have been friendship and familial affection..."
Tang Yinyao was completely dumbfounded: "..."
What did Du Jiashu mean? Could it be he was about to tell her that he actually liked Xia Liuyue?
Sure enough.
The next moment, Du Jiashu seemed to be asking her, yet also talking to himself.
"What is real liking? Is it because what you can't have is always the best?"
Somewhat annoyed, Tang Yinyao patted his shoulder and said, "Brother Jiashu, snap out of it! Even if there was some ambiguity between us, we never crossed the line."
"But Xia Liuyue and Yan Hechuan slept together. They truly crossed the line. Don't you plan to get revenge?"
"Don't you plan to make them pay?"
Du Jiashu looked up, his expression confused and bewildered, questioning: "What do you mean, what are you going to do?"
Tang Yinyao's eyes turned gloomy as she spoke fiercely:
"I will absolutely not break off the engagement with He Chuan. Furthermore, I want Xia Liuyue to resolve the issues with our lab equipment and the Maple Leaf Country overseas Chinese suppressing our Tang family. Otherwise, I'll expose this affair."
"I'll make Xia Liuyue a universally despised homewrecker, scorned and cursed by everyone!"
