Chapter 1: After Pa.s.sing Through This Door, I Have No Thoughts of Coming Out Again
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The chill from autumn crept into the air — the night sky was overcast, and the rain poured mercilessly amidst the flashes of lightning and the thunder cras.h.i.+ng. There were little pedestrians, and only dim yellow lighting reflected on the roads which were continuously being washed by the rain.
“Sir — please catch up to the red Porsche in front — I’ll pay you double.” An Xiaoning had her eyes fixed ahead, and she continued to press the driver.
“Alright, sure, sit tight.” The driver stepped on the accelerator and sped closer towards the luxury car.
Finally, it followed the car to the entrance of a supermarket at Riverside Promenade.
An Xiaoning immediately handed the fare over to the driver and said, “Sir, can I sit in your car for a few minutes?”
“Sure, Miss. How is the person in that car related to you?”
“He’s my husband.” An Xiaoning kept a straight face and said bluntly, “He’s with my cousin.”
Upon hearing this, the driver seemed to have thought of something and sat there with his eyes riveted ahead — he genuinely sympathized with An Xiaoning, who was beside him.
The downpour became heavier. After more than ten minutes, the Porsche that was in front started moving.
An Xiaoning clenched her teeth, rummaged through her bag to find her spare car keys, and crossed her bag over her shoulder to one side, resolutely alighting from the car.
But the driver did not leave. He wanted to see what she was going to do instead.
An Xiaoning swiftly walked to the front of the Porsche and used the spare keys to open the car — the woman in the car screamed and was pulled out of the car by her hair. Her body was unclothed. Subsequently, the man was also kicked out of the car undressed.
What really left the driver dumbfounded was that An Xiaoning drove the car away immediately — leaving the adulterous pair in their bare skin, with no covering on their most important body parts, standing outside the supermarket and s.h.i.+vering uncontrollably from the cold.
In the car, the lingering message of her husband’s affair with her cousin left An Xiaoning gripping the steering wheel with her hands trembling and her emotions gradually going out of control.
At last, she stopped the car and leaned on the steering wheel, wailing uncontrollably. At a young age, she was sent to the mountains to practice her religion and was sent back home when her master pa.s.sed away — only to be forced to marry the influential s.h.i.+ Shaochuan. On the day of the wedding, s.h.i.+ Shaochuan made his disdain for her clear, declaring that he would make her a living widow and would never lay a finger on her his whole life.
Since their marriage, two years had gone past. He really did not touch her once and even seldom spoke to her. He would rather sleep with other women than with her on the same bed.
An Xiaoning had turned a blind eye to the other women he had been with last time, but she did not expect that he would even lay his hands on her own cousin…
After crying for a full half hour, she finally composed her emotions and went home.
“Young mistress — the matriarch and madam have flown into a rage. Be careful.”
“I know. Thanks, Uncle Lin.” An Xiaoning hastened her footsteps and, in one breath, she walked to the entrance of the living room.
As one foot entered the room, a cold porcelain cup landed accurately on her forehead. Bright red blood oozed out and trickled down her forehead. Matriarch s.h.i.+ swiftly cast her a fierce glance, which pierced through her like a knife. “An Xiaoning, what big guts you have, you have the nerve to leave Shaochuan naked at Riverside Promenade! If this goes on the news, I’ll hold you responsible for it!”
“So what if it goes on the news? Did I ask him to sleep with my cousin?”
“Weren’t you the one who let your cousin live here? Now you’re putting the blame on Shaochuan when you were the one who caused this — if you didn’t let that little vixen live here, would this have happened?!” Matriarch s.h.i.+ furiously slammed the table. “You’ve been married for two years — you can’t even get pregnant — even a chicken would have laid its eggs already!”
An Xiaoning smirked in amus.e.m.e.nt. “I’m still a virgin now, grandma. You tell me, how can I get pregnant by myself?”
“What!” Matriarch s.h.i.+ cried out in alarm. She stared speechlessly at her daughter-in-law and said, “This you can’t blame on Shaochuan — he’s even willing to sleep with your cousin but not you. It must mean that you are of such a poor standard and don’t possess any charm at all.”
“What you mean is, I’m the one in the wrong no matter what. Then what more do I have to say?”
s.h.i.+ Shaochuan came downstairs, his face looking ghastly. He placed the divorce agreement on the table. “Sign it, and get out of this house immediately.”
Mother s.h.i.+ went forward to persuade. “Shaochuan, when your grandfather was alive, he forbade both of you from getting divorced. You have to abide by it.”
s.h.i.+ Shaochuan did not look at his own mother and turned to his grandmother instead. “Today, if you and my mother disagree with this divorce, I will not set foot in this house ever again. When I got married, I already told both of you that I don’t like her — I hate her — I would rather marry a pig or dog than marry her, but grandfather insisted on this. Now, are all of you satisfied?”
Matriarch s.h.i.+ fixed her gaze at him. “Have you really thought through this?”
“I’ve long thought through this.”
“Then just get a divorce. Your grandfather is not around anymore — even if he learns about this and gets angry in the underworld, your grandmother has your back.”
On s.h.i.+ Shaochuan’s face emerged a glimpse of a smile. He had yet to open his mouth to get An Xiaoning to sign the papers, but the papers were already signed.
“Smart enough of you.” He snorted coldly, signed his own name, then pa.s.sed her a copy. “See you at eight o’clock tomorrow at the Civil Affairs Bureau. Now you can get out of here with nothing in your possession.”
An Xiaoning suddenly laughed. “Sure. Many thanks to Master s.h.i.+ for returning me my freedom — I’ll go and pack my belongings now and get out of here immediately with no delay.”
She did not care about the blood stain which had dried on her forehead, or the flabbergasted looks on the others, and returned to the bedroom. She quickly packed her clothes and carried her luggage downstairs. Without looking back at the s.h.i.+ family again, she went out in the heavy rain.
—
She did not know where she could go from there — there was no place for her in her family. She had little money, and she only knew fortune-telling and communicating with spirits. All she could do now was to use her strengths to live on well.
Standing outside a household to seek shelter from the rain, she used the internet from her phone to search for the youngest corporate businessman in S Nation. Eventually fixing her target as Jin Qingyan, she read about his family and all of his information. As her eyes landed on information on his mother, An Xiaoning threw her phone into her pocket and quickly moved to another neighborhood district.
She stood before a door. She was about to reach out to press the doorbell, but a flash of blinding light projected from the side and a white Bentley speeding in the rain stopped behind her.
An Xiaoning turned around, her eyes fighting hard against the rain to look at the male driver.
The car door opened, and a s.h.i.+ny leather shoe landed. Jin Qingyan held a black umbrella in one hand and slowly walked to her. The umbrella landed above her head. His low and deep voice was masculine and attractive. “A woman should cherish herself — how can you stand outside in the rain?”
An Xiaoning gazed at his looks, her heart slightly moved. “Can you invite me in to sit?”
With a long deep look and a significant smile, he inquired, “You’re not afraid that you won’t be able to get out after you enter?”
An Xiaoning pursed her lips. “After pa.s.sing through this door, I have no thoughts of coming out again.”