My Wife Always Wants to Run Away - Chapter 25

“Wife, aren’t you coming in?”

Jie Xiangyi hesitated for less than two seconds before Tang Jinzhi pulled her inside.

“Wife, your rival is here for you.”

Tang Jinzhi’s voice echoed in her ear, calling her “wife” repeatedly.

Jie Xiangyi felt dizzy, as if she were seeing ghosts. But she didn’t dare miss this crucial moment of Tang Jinzhi calling her “wife.”

What rival?

Steadying her voice, Jie Xiangyi gripped Tang Jinzhi’s hand. “Where did you get this rival?”

Tang Jinzhi scoffed and pointed to the living room. “There. The trouble you brought me.”

Her cold, heartless tone made it impossible to believe she was the same person who had been so passionately calling her “wife” just moments ago.

Seeing Guan Qianqian greeting her in the living room, Jie Xiangyi’s heart sank.

She pulled Tang Jinzhi toward the living room and confronted Guan Qianqian directly: “Rival?”

Under Jie Xiangyi’s icy gaze, Guan Qianqian swallowed nervously.

Jie Xiangyi’s naturally imposing glare swept across the room. Zhang Yueqi, who had been standing on the sofa, obediently climbed down and scurried to Tang Jinzhi’s side, seeking protection.

Jie Xiangyi knew that look all too well—Xiangyi was angry.

Tang Jinzhi, bewildered by the sudden tension, wore a blank expression.

Xiangyi is really angry? Why?

Jie Xiangyi fixed Guan Qianqian with an increasingly cold and piercing gaze.

Guan Qianqian couldn’t withstand such pressure.

She felt like she was sitting not on a sofa, but on a scorching iron plate. She waved her hands frantically, forcing out a dry laugh. “Rival? No, no, haha, I was just teasing them.”

Not a rival?

Tang Jinzhi’s eyes widened slightly. Then what was that provocation earlier, calling me “wife”?

Jie Xiangyi didn’t believe Guan Qianqian for a second. She cut straight to the chase: “Who sent you?”

Among those connected to her family, she could only think of one person.

Guan Qianqian threw her hands up, closed her eyes, and blurted out, “Your sister!”

Without further prompting, Guan Qianqian spilled the beans like a broken dam, her words tumbling out in a rush. “Everyone saw the marriage certificate on your WeChat Moments. Your sister found out and is planning to return to China. She gave me two hundred thousand yuan to come and test the waters.”

“Twenty thousand yuan bought you off? You come running just because she told you to? Does she even have the nerve to come back to China?” Zhang Yueqi, furious, jumped out from behind Tang Jinzhi and raised his foot to kick Guan Qianqian. If Tang Jinzhi hadn’t intervened quickly, the kick would have landed squarely on her.

Jie Xiangyi’s expression was equally dark. Her sister, who hadn’t returned in over a decade, was the last person she wanted to see now.

“This is my home,” she said coldly. “Leave. If she wants to know something, she can ask me herself.”

Zhang Yueqi kicked the air again. “Yeah, get lost!”

Guan Qianqian, her earlier arrogance completely gone, stammered, “But I still need to…”

“Get out!” Zhang Yueqi roared.

Seeing the argument about to escalate again, Tang Jinzhi slammed her hand on the coffee table.

The living room fell silent.

“Enough! Explain yourselves. What sister? What relationship? What’s the history between you?”

Jie Xiangyi pressed her lips together and briefly recounted her family history.

After their mother’s death, her sister had been her only remaining relative. But during Jie Xiangyi’s elementary school years, her sister had left the country without a word, abandoning her and their father.

Jie Xiangyi lived alone for most of the semester before her aunt discovered she was the only one left at home. Eventually, she moved in with her aunt and her extended family, living in her mother’s former home.

Tang Jinzhi frowned deeply as she listened. Though Jie Xiangyi had kept her summary brief, Tang Jinzhi could sense there was more to the story.

Zhang Yueqi grumbled beside them.

Tang Jinzhi glanced at her, then turned back to Guan Qianqian. “I don’t mind you sharing my information. I’ll even cooperate.”

Guan Qianqian stared in disbelief. “Huh?”

Jie Xiangyi tugged disapprovingly at their still-clasped hands.

Tang Jinzhi gave her a reassuring look and pulled them both down to sit.

She turned back to Guan Qianqian. “But I have one condition.”

Guan Qianqian straightened up. “Name it!”

Tang Jinzhi crossed her arms and smiled faintly. “Finders keepers. Of the 200,000, I want half.”

Zhang Yueqi’s eyes darted around. “Then I want half of the remaining 100,000!”

Guan Qianqian: “……”

How broke are they?

Did they really think she needed that extra 200,000? If her family hadn’t learned that Jie Xiangyi’s sister was returning and pressured her to do this to curry favor, she would never have bothered Jie Xiangyi in the first place.

They even came up with the ridiculous idea of pretending to be rivals in love to get closer to her.

She was nearly scared to death by just one glance from Jie Xiangyi.

Guan Qianqian nodded reluctantly. “Fine.”

After a moment’s thought, she couldn’t help but ask Jie Xiangyi, “Is your family really that poor?”

We’re supposed to be a wealthy marriage alliance, aren’t we?!

To Jie Xiangyi, Guan Qianqian’s words sounded like, “Why don’t you give your wife money to spend?”

Jie Xiangyi, still simmering with anger, refused to answer.

Tang Jinzhi steered the conversation back on track. “Alright, let’s transfer the money first. Zhang Yueqi’s 50,000 goes to Jie Xiangyi.”

Guan Qianqian wanted to protest giving money to Zhang Yueqi, but when she met Jie Xiangyi’s gaze, she wilted and nodded in humiliation.

Zhang Yueqi clenched his fists, wanting to object as well, but since Tang Jinzhi had proposed it, Jie Xiangyi would never listen to him. He retreated to the side, silently seething.

After the transfers were completed and the money had arrived, Tang Jinzhi introduced herself. “I’m Tang Jinzhi, 24 years old. I was recently discharged from the hospital. I have amnesia—all I know is that my wife is Jie Xiangyi, and I only communicate with her. That’s it.”

Guan Qianqian stared in disbelief. “Huh?! That’s all? Wait, you have amnesia?”

Tang Jinzhi shrugged. “Yeah, that’s it. That’s all I know. Oh, and tell her this too: stop expressing her concern for her sister in such a disrespectful way. It’s just her way of seeking self-reassurance and indulging in self-pity.”

Guan Qianqian froze, afraid to speak. Was Tang Jinzhi really not afraid of offending Jie Xiangyi’s sister?

Sensing her thoughts, Tang Jinzhi added bluntly, “If she wants me to divorce Jie Xiangyi when she gets back, tell her to cough up fifty million yuan. No fifty million, no deal.”

Tang Jinzhi had made up her mind. She didn’t want the entertainment industry resources her family offered. She planned to go home at some point and convert those resources into fifty million yuan. Only tangible money in hand could give her real peace of mind.

Jie Xiangyi grew even angrier.

“Why didn’t you ask for my opinion? I don’t agree, and I won’t listen to her.”

Tang Jinzhi suddenly remembered she wasn’t alone. She’d almost forgotten to include Jie Xiangyi.

“Oh right, tell her to give Jie Xiangyi fifty million yuan too.”

Jie Xiangyi: “!”

That wasn’t what she meant!

Guan Qianqian forced a smile. “…Okay, I’m going home now.”

She felt like Jie Xiangyi was about to slice her into pieces if she stayed any longer.

Zhang Yueqi, hearing this, also scurried away, leaving the living room to the married couple.

Jie Xiangyi grabbed Tang Jinzhi’s arm forcefully.

“I’m not getting a divorce!”