Volume 1, Chapter 68: There is Only One Way Not to Get a Divorce: Spousal Bereavement!

Jiang Yunmiao was wearing white loungewear draped with a plaid cashmere shawl. Her hair was slightly messy, and she looked frail.

Her complexion was somewhat pale, and those deep, once-lively eyes were now dim and devoid of light, as if they had turned into a pool of stagnant water.

She looked at him with that empty gaze, her thin, pale lips curling into a faint, elusive sneer. Her gentle face was entirely stripped of warmth, replaced by sharpness and chill.

The intensity and passion that once belonged there had completely vanished from her eyes.

Duan Yixiao's heart skipped a beat, a cold shiver running through his entire body, and he even instinctively took a half-step back.

Jiang Yunmiao was looking at him as if he were a complete stranger—no, she had always been polite and gentle even to strangers. At this moment, Duan Yixiao could not read her at all, having no idea what she was thinking or what she wanted.

"What? Wasn't it you who insisted on talking to me?" Jiang Yunmiao gazed at him with a frigid look, utterly devoid of warmth.

Duan Yixiao was momentarily at a loss for words. He licked his lips and took a long while to find his voice. "You... how are you?"

"As you can see, I am blessed with a stubborn survival instinct." She glanced at the light filtering through the window, where floating dust particles cast a remarkably cold and desolate aura around her.

Another brief silence followed.

Duan Yixiao felt a tight constriction in his throat. "The... the child?"

Jiang Yunmiao suddenly smiled, a smile that seemed like ice frozen over a bitter winter pool. "The child? Do you deserve to ask? What qualification do you have to ask about her?"

"I..."

Her attitude made him exceptionally uneasy. His hands seemed to have nowhere to rest, and he clenched them rigidly by his sides.

Even though the door was already open, he did not dare to step a single half-step inside.

"Of course we have the qualification! A-Xiao is the child's father, and that is something no one can change! We have the right to know if the child is safe!" Zhou Manhua suddenly interrupted, wearing an air of self-righteousness.

"Ms. Zhou, don't you find it laughable to say something like that? Everything happening right now is thanks to you!" Jiang Yunmiao shot her a cold, scathing look.

"I did nothing of the sort! You fell down the stairs because you were clumsy. Don't spit venom and frame me!" Zhou Manhua appeared extremely agitated, trying her utmost to distance herself from the incident.

"Then shall we ask the police to decide?" Jiang Yunmiao looked at her coldly.

Zhou Manhua's eyes darted about like a frightened bird, and she instantly fell silent.

"Mom, you should go outside first."

Duan Yixiao suddenly realized that Zhou Manhua's unreasonable whining would only make matters increasingly complicated.

Reluctant, Zhou Manhua muttered, "Well, don't you dare agree to her exorbitant demands. At most, give her this much."

She covertly stretched out a hand toward him, which happened to fall right into Lu Shennshen's line of sight.

"I wonder how much Ms. Zhou's hand represents? Five billion? It is true that I was impolite just now, and you actually came with sincerity." Lu Shennshen was capable of bending and stretching, tossing her a flattering hat.

Zhou Manhua almost coughed up blood. "Five billion? Have you all lost your minds? You're so young, yet your appetites are this huge—aren't you afraid of choking to death?" Even if all of Duan Yixiao's assets were pooled together, he couldn't scrape together five billion.

"Ah? Not five billion? Did I misunderstand? Five hundred million?" Lu Shennshen raised a hand to stroke her brow, putting on a troubled expression. "Five hundred million might be a bit low, but we can talk about it."

"In your dreams! Just her? The daughter of a housekeeper, what makes her worth five hundred million? Giving her five million is already an act of supreme mercy on my part." Zhou Manhua spat out angrily, beside herself with rage.

As soon as she finished speaking, the air suddenly grew quiet.

Jiang Yunmiao, Wen Ying, Lu Shennshen, and Li Yu all turned to look at her in unison, wearing expressions that clearly said, "You really ought to go get your brain checked."

"You want to dismiss me with five million?" Jiang Yunmiao cast a cold, indifferent glance at Duan Yixiao. Although she sat there frail and haggard, she radiated the imposing aura of a decisive monarch looking down upon all living beings.

Duan Yixiao furrowed his brow deeply. "I didn't mean that. You know I don't want to divorce you."

"How else could you marry a wealthy heiress if you don't divorce me? Duan Yixiao, we've reached this point, there's no need to pretend anymore. Make it snappy so I can clear the seat for you as soon as possible."

Duan Yixiao felt a profound sorrow in his heart. Having shared a deep bond through thick and thin with Jiang Yunmiao for so long, he knew very well that she had already adopted the posture of a business negotiator.

"What will it take for us not to divorce?" Duan Yixiao had spent the entire previous night thinking before he finally realized that he did not want a divorce.

He had known Jiang Yunmiao for a full twelve years, from their youth to the threshold of thirty. How many twelve years does a person have in a lifetime?

Affection was a luxury item to him.

Ever since he was a child, he knew he was different from other kids—he didn't have a father. Because of this, he endured endless mockery and pointing fingers.

In the past, getting together with Chen Nianke was a shortcut for him.

And now, being with Chen Nianke was because she gave him a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.

Jiang Yunmiao was simply too brilliant and too formidable! Even more exceptional than he had ever imagined.

Many unresolved problems would be instantly solved the moment they fell into her hands.

Sometimes, he even felt that even without him, Jiang Yunmiao could have built up the empire of Yi Jiangshan all the same.

A veteran co-founder of their startup had once joked, "Jiang Yunmiao is the main artery of Yi Jiangshan. Without Jiang Yunmiao, there would be no Yi Jiangshan."

Many times, when he was being relentlessly cornered at drinking tables and negotiations stalled, Jiang Yunmiao would arrive just in time, solving the problems with a few words and turning the tide.

Because of this, he bore immense pressure.

For a period of time, whenever he saw Jiang Yunmiao, he felt like he was merely her foil.

Even Duan Zhenhong, a man who had seen countless people, praised him for having good eyes to have married such a smart and capable wife.

Isn't it ironic?

The first time Duan Zhenhong ever complimented him was because of Jiang Yunmiao.

Even the attention he managed to gain from Duan Zhenhong was solely because Jiang Yunmiao had successfully secured several major partnerships, transforming Yi Jiangshan into a unicorn company in everyone's eyes.

Therefore, when Jiang Yunmiao became pregnant again, he was secretly overjoyed, believing that the opportunity for him to finally prove himself had arrived.

Upon seeing Jiang Yunmiao suffer from severe morning sickness, he had persuaded her to pause her work and rest at home.

He simply hadn't expected that Chen Nianke would return to the country at that exact time.

Chen Nianke and Jiang Yunmiao possessed completely contrasting personalities.

People, after all, are prone to fatigue, weariness, and moments of straying. When Chen Nianke recounted her hardships living abroad, Duan Yixiao could not help but feel a stirring of compassion.

At first, he was supremely confident that he could maintain proper boundaries between men and women.

Events proved, however, that he had overestimated himself.

Encouraged by temptation after temptation, he lowered his bottom line bit by bit until he completely lost control in the end.

And he never anticipated that this would drag his marriage to the brink of ruin.

Jiang Yunmiao moved her lips, half-joking and half-serious. "There is only one way not to get divorced, and that is for one of us to become a widow. Which one do you choose?"