On the kingsize bed, the man's large hands tightly gripped the woman's waist, his thin-lipped mouth slowly moving toward her ear. His deep voice made it impossible to discern any emotion.
In a quiet voice, he asked, "Wen Nuan, isn't it time for you to get a divorce?"
The woman's face changed, but only for a moment before returning to normal. She slowly extended her fair arms and wound them around the man's neck, "If I divorce, will you provide for me?"
Gently, the man's hand grazed the woman's neck, eyeing the conspicuous dark red mark on her otherwise exquisite and fair clavicle. The affectionate smile on his face suddenly turned vicious.
He had not touched her these past few days. That was not his doing.
"What are you thinking about? Hmm?" The man's slender fingers finally paused on the mark, rubbing lightly.
People who handle guns regularly tend to develop calluses. Wen Nuan found his touch uncomfortable, slightly sidestepping to avoid his contact.
The woman's evasive action apparently vexed the man, "How is it? He can touch you, but I can't?"
The struggling woman was taken aback, she unconsciously looked down but could only see the man's large hands around her neck.
The man's deep eyes were fixed on her face, not missing the slightest change in her expression.
After a long silence, the man, who had laid on top of her, suddenly got up with a swift movement.
His slender fingers gently swept over the silk quilt, then busied themselves with the buttons on his shirt cuff, paying no further attention to the woman on the bed.
Wen Nuan could only stare at the man's lowered eyes, as if even his emotions were masked by his eyelashes, leaving a face devoid of expression behind.
What a good-looking man, even his indifferent demeanor was captivating.
Mocking herself, Wen Nuan chuckled. If he were not handsome, how could she have watched him for over ten years, and still not had enough?
Even though she couldn't clearly discern his expression, Wen Nuan knew—Lu Nanxi, he was mad.
Wen Nuan also knew that he was waiting for her explanation, yet she still chose to remain silent.
After a while, the man left, leaving behind only the harsh sound of a slamming door, no words, no second glance at her.
Wen Nuan rolled over and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
She was scared just now, scared that he would recklessly carry on regardless. Luckily, she knew Lu Nanxi well enough.
Her fingers traced around her neck where the man had touched, seeming to still hold his residual warmth.
It wasn't that Wen Nuan didn't want to explain, it was that she had nothing plausible to explain.
Was she supposed to tell him that she had pinched her own neck to make a kiss mark, just to make sure he wouldn't touch her?
However, he had just said... divorce.
Wen Nuan scoffed at herself, could she really divorce?
If she could make her own decisions, then she would have never married Han Ziqian in the first place.
Or perhaps, he had forgotten who had driven her to desperation in the first place, leaving her with no choice but to choose Han Ziqian.
He could forget all about that, as long as she remembered, it was fine.
Wen Nuan stopped staring at the door in a daze, slowly got up and straightened her clothes.
This presidential suite at Shengyuan was booked by Lu Nanxi back when she was homeless. Here, Wen Nuan had spent some of the darkest months of her life.
But to her surprise, this place eventually turned into a private meeting spot for Lu Nanxi and her. To put it nicely, it might be called a rendezvous, but not so nicely, it could be seen as a place to satiate desires.
Warm bitterly smiled. When her father named her "Warm", he probably hoped that she'd live a warm, stable, and clean life, but reality was cruelly ironic.
She was neither warm, nor stable, nor clean.
In just a few months' time, she had experienced almost all the absurd and disgusting things in the world.
That day, she had just finished her graduation performance when she learned the shocking news from others—The Wen Group had gone bankrupt.
Just when it rains, it pours.
The news of the Wen Group's bankruptcy spread like wildfire, acting as the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. Those who had been oppressed by the Wen family, or had coveted something from them, all joined the fray to trample on the Wen family.
Soon, Wen Yuanjian was exposed for accepting bribes, and for tax evasion through issuing fraudulent receipts amounting to billions.
After the police intervention and investigation, in just a week, Wen Yuanjian was sentenced to death, permanently deprived of his political rights, and had all his personal assets confiscated.
Although Warm was not a law major, she had a basic understanding of the law. If it wasn't for someone fanning the flames behind the scenes, how could someone be sentenced so quickly within a week of indictment?
Warm would never forget the day Wen Yuanjian was executed. She knelt helplessly on the ground, desperately pleading with Lu Nanxi to save Wen Yuanjian, to save the Wen family.
At that time, she couldn't find anyone else, her only brother was far away overseas and had practically vanished from the face of the earth since the Wen family was in trouble.
Her only hope was pinned on Lu Nanxi, the man she had loved for over a decade. But all she got in response was a tightly closed door and a sentence of icy mockery.
Lu Nanxi said, "Now that the Wen family is bankrupt, do you think you're still of any use to me?"
Never in her wildest imaginations did Warm think that, to Lu Nanxi, she was just a tool, a tool to connect him to the Wen family.
The affection she thought spanned over a decade was merely an act, disposable at any given time.
Yet it was true, leaving her no choice but to believe it.
She must have done something terrible in her past life, like harming her own family, to be trampled on like this in this life.
The abrupt vibration of the phone on the tea table jerked Wen Nuan back from her self-pity.
After taking a glance at her phone, her frown deepened.
It was a call from Han Ziqian's mother; to be exact, her own mother too.
However, deep down, Wen Nuan didn't really like her mother-in-law. The reason was simple: if someone didn't like you, wouldn't it be odd for you to like them?
Initially, upon finding out that Zhao Luoyun didn't like her, Wen Nuan still made an effort to win her over to improve the mother-daughter-in-law relationship.
She would accompany her shopping, playing cards, going to beauty salons, and giving her presents... Wen Nuan did everything she could think of.
But over time, Wen Nuan realized that no matter what she did, Zhao Luoyun would never be satisfied with her, because she simply didn't like her as her daughter-in-law.
Wen Nuan truly couldn't do something as foolish as paying back unkindness with kindness, thus from that day onward, she would avoid Zhao Luoyun as much as she could.
However, there were times when she simply couldn't avoid her, like now for instance.
Although she knew that the call couldn't possibly bring any good news, Wen Nuan still answered it, her brows furrowed.
"Mom, what can I do for you…"
"Get back to the old house now." Zhao Luoyun cut Wen Nuan off abruptly.
"Did something happen?"
