Volume 1, Chapter 66: Now That You Mention It, I'm Wide Awake

Duan Mingrui's sleepiness was instantly swept away, and he snapped fully awake. He knew a thing or two about Jiang Yunmiao's situation—specifically, that there was something fishy about her pregnancy. So what did she mean by pulling a stunt like this?

His damned curiosity was instantly piqued.

However, he still respected Lu Congzhi. "Let me ask Dr. Lu first. If he agrees, I'll give you her number."

Unable to think of any other way, Duan Yixiao had no choice but to say, "Fine!"

After waiting for more than two hours, Duan Mingrui finally informed him that Lu Congzhi had refused.

In the end, he intercepted Lu Congzhi at the hospital entrance as the doctor arrived for his shift.

"Hello, Dr. Lu!"

Duan Yixiao got straight to the point, revealing his intentions.

Lu Congzhi lifted his gaze, his eyes bottomless and radiating a chilling frost. His voice was as cold and devoid of warmth as the weather at that moment: "I'm sorry, I cannot help you with this."

"How can you not help? I just want to go inside and take a look at my wife! By what right does your hospital block me?" Duan Yixiao was on the verge of a breakdown.

Finally, he threatened the hospital that if they did not let him see Jiang Yunmiao, he would call the police! He had reasonable grounds to suspect that the hospital's refusal to let him see Jiang Yunmiao meant something might have happened to her, and the hospital was trying to cover it up.

Not wanting to make things difficult for the hospital, Jiang Yunmiao agreed to let him enter the inpatient ward.

Even so, he was still stopped at the door of her hospital room.

"Qingcheng's Chili Pepper is logging on for battle! I'm going to scold him so hard he'll wish he could crawl back into his mother's womb and abort himself!" Lu Shenshen rolled up her sleeves aggressively, exuding an air of supreme dominance.

Having heard quite a few of Duan Yixiao's deeds over the past few days, Li Yu had also accumulated a stomach full of anger and was just looking for somewhere to vent. And here came the punching bag.

"I'm going with you! I want to see what kind of face he has left to come and check on you!"

Hearing the sound of the door opening, Duan Yixiao felt a surge of excitement as his brain raced to organize what he wanted to say to Jiang Yunmiao.

As it turned out, Lu Shenshen and Li Yu walked out and closed the door behind them.

"Duan Yixiao, what are you barking for like a stray dog? Wasn't it enough that your mother and your mistress drove Yunmiao into premature labor? Do you still refuse to let her have peace?" Lu Shenshen crossed her arms over her chest. A smile hung on the corners of her lips, but it was cold, callous, and dripping with disdain.

Having not closed his eyes all night, Duan Yixiao's once handsome and spirited face was now plastered with exhaustion and haggardness. Lu Shenshen's accusations stirred a quiet unease in his heart. "Yunmiao... how is she?"

"How is she? You're her husband, and you're asking me? How on earth do you have the face to ask?" Lu Shenshen rolled her eyes at him, every glance wrapped like a knife.

"Where were you when Yunmiao was pushed downstairs and left lying in a pool of blood? Where were you when Yunmiao was lying on the operating table? Where were you when she was kept awake night after night by the torment of her surgical incision? Duan Yixiao, are you even human? Do you deserve to be her husband?" The more Li Yu spoke, the angrier she became. She clenched her fists tightly, terrified she might lose control and punch him right then and there.

With every word Li Yu uttered, Duan Yixiao's expression grew a shade uglier. "This is a misunderstanding. No one pushed her. It was just an accident..." He had already learned the sequence of events from Chen Nianke and Zhou Manhua, and since their accounts differed somewhat from Li Yu's, he instinctively mounted a defense.

"A misunderstanding? An accident?" Lu Shenshen let out a thoroughly unmasked scoff of derision. "That's what Chen Nianke told you, isn't it? Duan Yixiao, the person lying inside is your wife! And you're still trying to protect your little mistress! Has your conscience been eaten by dogs? Have you forgotten how you even managed to get to where you are today?"

Duan Yixiao's expression instantly turned sharp. With an ice-cold glare at Lu Shenshen and Li Yu, he snapped ungraciously, "Enough! I don't need anyone's permission to see Yunmiao. She is my wife, and I will explain everything to her myself. Move aside!"

He had bustled about all night, going to great lengths to find Jiang Yunmiao, only to have everyone block him and stand on moral high grounds to lecture him. By what right should he still have to endure this kind of grievance today?

He was no longer that powerless youth of the past, fraught with controversy and stripped of all defense. Now, he held Yijiangshan in his left hand and half of the Duan family empire in his right—why should he still be pointed at and cursed to his face?

So he snapped!

This was a matter between him and Jiang Yunmiao, and no one else had any right to interfere.

"Yunmiao doesn't want to see you right now!" Lu Shenshen looked at him with contempt. The more frightened and guilty one felt, the louder one shouted. That description fit Duan Yixiao to a tee. He hadn't learned much in the way of actual competence, but he had managed to commit every single act devoid of humanity!

"You have no right to stop me. Get lost! Otherwise, don't blame me for being unpolite." Duan Yixiao's gaze grew increasingly fierce and menacing, as if he had lost control of his reason.

"If you want to see Yunmiao, fine! Come back with a signed copy of the divorce agreement. The updated divorce agreement should already have been sent to your email." Li Yu was not afraid of him at all; looking at him now, she saw nothing more than a clown performing on a stage.

Duan Yixiao clenched his fists, his expression lethal and grim.

It felt as though a massive tear had ripped open inside his heart, with no hope of ever healing again.

"Until I see Yunmiao with my own eyes, I will not sign any divorce agreement!"

Lu Shenshen shrugged. "Then there's nothing we can do."

"If you don't move out of the way right now, don't blame me for getting physical." Duan Yixiao warned in a cold voice.

He aggressively raised his hand to shove the two women aside, but before his hand could even touch them, Li Yu lashed out and kicked him squarely in the body. "How utterly hilarious! Even now, you still don't realize what kind of pathetic piece of trash you are! We tried talking to you politely, but you refused, insisting on learning the hard way instead."

Duan Yixiao had not expected Li Yu to actually know martial arts. Taken completely off guard, he was forced back several steps. The spot on his waist where Li Yu's kick had landed felt as though it had fractured, aching with an unbearable, stabbing pain.

He gritted his teeth to weather the wave of agony, then glared at the two women with a ferocious expression. "I'll say it one last time: I want to see Yunmiao! Otherwise, I'm calling the police. I have reasonable grounds to suspect you are holding my wife captive," he threatened darkly.

Lu Shenshen laughed out of sheer fury, completely unfazed. "Go ahead. And while you're at it, make sure to tell the police how your mother and your mistress brutally harmed a pregnant wife."

"You! You both—" Duan Yixiao was consumed by rage, his deep eyes churning with a violent storm. Yet, he was utterly powerless against Lu Shenshen and Li Yu.

In the end, he could only slink away in defeat to figure out another plan.

Upon returning home in utter disgrace, Zhou Manhua immediately swarmed him. "Well? Did you see Jiang Yunmiao? How is she? What did she say? And the baby? How is the baby?"

Her rapid-fire barrage of questions drove Duan Yixiao to the brink of madness. "Mom, can you just let me have some peace and quiet!"

He ripped off his coat, tossed it onto the sofa, and stormed up the stairs two steps at a time.

Ten minutes later, he opened his email and found the latest divorce agreement Jiang Yunmiao had sent him. The property division ratio had instantly shifted from fifty-fifty to forty-sixty, with forty for him and sixty for her.

He slammed his fist furiously against the desk. Jiang Yunmiao really dared to raise her price on the spot and open her mouth like a lion!