Chapter 24 - Making An Example Out of Her (1)
It was 9 AM in the morning. Ye Zhiqiang arrived at the tea house on time, bringing only two men with him. On Shu Yan’s side, she had with her Shu Jianyang and also two others.
The purpose of today was to negotiate, not to fight.
“Yanyan. We are, after all, a married couple. And we have two children together. Is this really necessary?” Ye Zhiqiang said as he looked at the divorce papers that Shu Yan had drafted up, leaving him with absolutely nothing.
“Ye Zhiqiang, you want to talk about being a married couple? Why didn’t you mention that when you were forcing me to have a divorce? And didn’t you send someone after me yesterday? If I wasn’t cautious enough, would I be sitting here right now? What leg do you have to stand on to say such a thing?” Shu Yan let out a sigh. She was so angry at him. “Alright. We all knew what is going on here. You can stop pretending now. Stop with the bullsh*t and just say whether you agree to my terms or not. If you're good with it, sign the papers and we are divorced. If not, I will see you in court and we will let the country decide.”
This was the early 90s and a person’s personal behavior was very important in the society. Shu Yan had all the evidence that she needed. If they were to go to court, she would definitely win the case.
“You sure you want to go to court? If we go to court, all the photos will become evidence for everybody in court and the jury to see. There’s no embarrassing photos of me so I don’t really care one way or another,” Shu Yan said nonchalantly.
“Shu Yan,” Ye Zhiqiang said through gritted teeth. He couldn’t figure out how the woman who was dumb like a pig just a few days ago would turn into someone so sharp.
“I’m not deaf,” Shu Yan said as she scanned over him, beginning to lose her patience.
Ye Zhiqiang took a deep breath, suppressing his anger, and said, “Just think about it, I am still the father of our two children. When I said I wanted a divorce, I never said I’d leave you penniless, right? This is a little extreme, don’t you think?”
“I don’t want to be extreme, but you guys had gone too far.” Shu Yan sat up straight and stared squarely at Ye Zhiqiang.
From her memories, Ye Zhiqiang started being abusive to the original owner about 6 months ago and wanted to get her to leave on her own accord. When that failed, he started picking on her and beating her. She was beaten six times in two months’ time. During that time, Li Jiaojiao would also go to their place periodically and say all sorts of things to insult the original owner and walk all over her. The original owner only committed suicide because she had no other options left.
No matter what kind of a person the original owner was, she was pushed to her death by the two of them. A life, just like that, was gone. No, Shu Yan did not feel that she was being extreme.
Neither one of them would budge, so the conversation could not go on. Ye Zhiqiang left in a huff. He would not be left penniless. Even if they were to go to court, that would take time. That would buy him time to figure something out.
He wanted to drag this out, but Shu Yan didn’t. She couldn’t keep on living in fear. Even if she could handle it, it wouldn’t be fair for the two children.
“What do you have in mind?” Shu Jianyang asked. “I can have someone jump him. He’d be much more amenable after we’ve broke an arm and a leg.”
Shu Yan wasn’t sure what to say to that. Her cousin might look tall and handsome, and even seem very gentlemanly and refined when he was just sitting there quietly, but deep down under, he was still a ruthless man. He didn’t get to where he is today by being nice.
“Third Brother, there are laws in the society. That’s kidnapping, blackmailing, and assault. If he takes it to court, we will be the side in the wrong.”
Being a gangster was not mainstream after all. Shu Jianyang had gave it his all in assisting her, Shu Yan, on the other hand, would also like to be able to help him out in some ways.
“Then what are you suggesting?” After the last few days of being with her, Shu Jianyang no longer looked at her as an ignorant village woman. Instead, he truly looked at her as a peer of his.