Cruel Defeat
Her calm voice exploded like thunder in Li WangJin's ears.
"No! I will not have a divorce!" His voice was very determined. Even though he had thought about a divorce previously, now wasn't the time. If they divorced now, he stood to lose too much.
"JunRong, that was an accident." His voice was hoarse. "We were both drunk that day."
Fang JunRong pulled a stack of photos from her purse and angled them straight at his face. "Oh, were you also drunk when you two were hugging?"
She had gotten all the pictures from Sun Mei.
Li WangJin opened his mouth a bit. "I…" He looked at his son reflexively and hoped Li ShiZe would help defend him. He knew very well how significant her children were to her.
Li ShiZe received his dad's look and sighed inwardly. He understood why his father, as a man, would want to cheat on his mother. But, it was pretty bad form to cheat with someone so close to home. And his mother was too overly rash for wanting a divorce over something like this. The thought that his family matters would become fodder for gossiping in their circle made Li ShiZe very uncomfortable.
He looked over at Jiang YaGe. Jiang YaGe was in a trance, deeply sorrowful. She muttered to herself, "How could Aunty do something like that? How could she do this to me?"
Looking at Yage, Li ShiZe's anger lessened. Not only was his mother the victim of this, but so was YaGe. YaGe tended to feel responsible for everything that happened. Now that she had discovered this, she must feel very awful.
He couldn't help but speak up for her, "Mom, YaGe is innocent."
Fang XueBo whipped his head around when he heard that, eyebrows furrowed. "You're on her side?"
Fang JunRong had already gotten used to his love-trumps-all attitude. Plus, having been reborn, she no longer looked at him as her son, so she was calm after hearing that and didn't feel hurt.
Fang XueBo was quite different from her. He had always had a good impression of this nephew. He never would have thought that after Li WangJin's disgusting behavior and Jiang YaGe's involvement in this whole thing, Li ShiZe sided with the
Jiang YaGe gave Li ShiZe an appreciative look and said softly, "You don't need to speak up for me. It was my fault. Had I noticed it sooner, I would have tried to stop them. It is my place to be on the receiving end of Mom's anger."
Her weak voice and pale look made her look like a fragile flower under a storm. Li ShiZe's heart ached even more. His voice was even more decisive. He said to Fang JunRong with assertion, "Mom, this has nothing to do with YaGe. I understand you are mad at Dad, but you shouldn't take it out on YaGe."
Fang JunRong glanced at Jiang YaGe and said, "That's right. Her eyes are mere decorations. She goes out with them every day but hasn't noticed a thing. If she isn't going to use her eyes, she should just donate them."
Li ShiZe scowled, "Mom, how could you say something like that? That would hurt YaGe when she heard it."
Fang JunRong has a certain level of admiration for Jiang YaGe. In just a month after she had arrived, she was able to charm her BBQ-Pork son. To the point that she was the only one he could see anymore.
She nodded and said, "Yes, I am cold and cruel. And someone as heartless as me isn't good enough to be your mother. No need to call me Mom anymore in the future." She snickered, "Any way you look at it, I'm the biggest victim here, betrayed by both of them. But, for some reason, the harm done to me doesn't measure up to Jiang YaGe's tears. Fine, consider that I have raised a worthless son. It's my fault that I never learned how to cry."
When she finished, she coldly turned away from Li ShiZe.
Fang XueBo's hands were shaking from anger. His nephew was a good person before. Whatever had happened to him?
Li ShiZe paled; his assertive tone weakened, and he seemed frantic. "That's not what I meant…"
He had always taken advantage of his mother's love for him. In his mind, Fang JunRong would always defend him and be on his side. He hadn't expected that the privilege could ever be revoked.
He sensed that his mother was distraught this time.
"Mom…" He muttered.
Fang JunRong no longer wanted to talk to him. She turned to Li WangJin, "Just sign the divorce papers."
Li WangJin recollected himself and spoke in a decisive tone, "I will not have a divorce." He then pleaded, "Give me one more chance, please? I don't want to lose you."
Fang JunRong wanted to puke from his disgusting words. She prodded expressionlessly, "Okay, so you don't want to have a divorce? Then, we'll sign an agreement. If you cheat on me again, you will leave with nothing. Plus, I don't want to see Jiang YaGe or Wang SiXian ever again. You must send them both away immediately."
She said that purposefully, knowing that Li WangJin would never agree.
Sure enough, Li WangJin was speechless right away. All the sweet nothings that he could conjure up caught in the middle of his throat. He had already been fed up with Fang JunRong's aggressiveness as of late and planned to divorce her sooner or later. If he were to sign the agreement now, all his prospects would be gone.
It wasn't hard for Fang XueBo to figure out what was going through Li WangJin's mind when he saw the look on him. He snickered. "I knew it. All you've said were just empty words. So you can't part with them, huh? How did you find the guts to say you don't want a divorce?"
He had thought about asking his sister to give it some more thought and not act too rashly. Now, seeing the behaviors of the father and son duo, Fang XueBo felt that they must get a divorce! All he could say was that that man was too good at hiding his true self and had everyone fooled in the past.
Li WangJin had no retort, but he suddenly recalled something else. With an accusatory tone, he asked, "How did you get a hold of that video? Did you install surveillance cameras in the house?"
Fang JunRong spoke indifferently, "You seemed to have forgotten: that is my house. This video was given to me. As long as you agree to a divorce, I will not leak the video." Granted, she could only guarantee that she wouldn't pass it on. If it came from Sun Mei's end, that has nothing to do with her.
Li WangJin was frantic. He had no idea how many more videos his wife had. If she were to distribute them, all the good reputation that he had spent years building would be gone overnight. He ran his hands through his hair and mussed it up. He has, after all, a pretty good idea of Fang JunRong's personality. Once she had made up her mind, nothing could change it. He worried she'd leak the videos to get back at him.
That was a consequence he could not handle.
Li WangJin took a deep breath and put on a look of both despair and sorrow. "Okay, if you insist on having a divorce, then we will have a divorce."
Looking on the bright side, most of the employees at the company were his men; it'd be impossible for Fang JunRong to take it over. As long as he still has the company, even if it hurt him at the beginning, he could recover and still be Boss Li at the top of the food chain in
Fang JunRong walked up the stairs and said, "Okay. I already contacted the lawyer before I came over. He can come by anytime."
Li WangJin didn't look so good. Even though he prepared to divorce Fang JunRong, seeing how eager she was over it, his affection toward her in the past seemed one-sided.
Fang JunRong was rarely involved in the company's business, but she has Xu WeiWei there. In recent months, Xu WeiWei had collected plenty of information for her, so Fang JunRong had a pretty good idea of what was happening in their properties.
Li WangJin and Fang JunRong's combined shares in Ayron Corporation reached 20 billion yuan. Meifang Corporation, a company specializing in skin care products, had just gone IPO and was smaller in comparison. But the land it was on was pricey, so its market price was still at 6 billion yuan; their other stocks, cash, and properties made up 15 billion yuan. Then there were the antiques and paintings Li WangJin had been buying over the years. Their face values came out to 5 billion yuan. After all, the value of antiques has appreciated in recent years
As for the jewelry and cars, Fang JunRong didn't even throw them into the formula. She gathered that Li WangJin wouldn't have the guts to ask her to throw her jewelry into the mix.
As this has come up too abruptly, Li WangJin hadn't had the chance to do anything shady. The two of them spent the next two days listing out all of their possessions and properties.
Li WangJin said, "I was in the wrong after all. Why don't you take everything other than the company?"
Even though it pained him a lot to give up on so much, he needed the money-making company, so that was a decision that he had to make.
"I will even give you all the antiques I had purchased." In that case, even if words about his affair had gotten out, others would still feel that he was a decent man as he had given Fang JunRong over half of their assets.
"I don't think so. Seeing the work of Xu FangWeng would remind me of you. They'd only annoy me. You can keep them. Besides, a decent person shouldn't take something that others value. As they were your precious collection, it would be wrong for me to take them."
Those were but Li WangJin's excuses to encroach on their assets. Fang JunRong would never be the idiot who'd accept that pile of worthless papers.
"You get Ayron Corporation and your collection of paintings; I take the rest. But those two add up to over 24 billion yuan. I will be on the losing end if we divide them up that way. You are, after all, the side who was at fault." She paused for a bit, "Why don't we do this? You pay me another 3 billion yuan on top of that."
She felt she was already being exceedingly forgiving and didn't push the envelope too far. Li WangJin could come up with 3 billion if he tried; he would simply be tight for a little while afterward. She recalled a piece of land that they owned. It was in the countryside area currently, but that land would be under development a year from now into two city centers. The value of that real estate would increase by over tenfold.
Li WangJin was about to puke blood. He knew very well that if he were to sell his antiques, he would be lucky to get 100 million yuan for them. If they divided their assets that way, he would only have 15 billion yuan. That was like scraping off a big chunk of flesh from his body. He couldn't possibly let that happen.
Fang JunRong said coolly, "I don't like Xu FengWeng's work because of you. Why don't we do this? If you insist on me taking them, I'll hold an auction and convert them all to cash."
What made Li WangJin think she would want to keep those as keepsakes?
Li WangJin froze and exclaimed, "You can't do that!" He couldn't allow an appraisal by an expert. Once the result became public, his reputation would be destroyed.
He gritted his teeth and said, "You are right. I don't think I can hand over my precious collection. I will compensate you in other ways."
He was dazed. What had happened? Wasn't he the one who planned on transferring most of their joint assets before he divorced her?
He looked up at her. His wife, who has now begun to calm down, seemed so unfamiliar to him.