She was living in a novel? Her husband, whose mind was filled with nothing but romance, was the male lead? And she herself was the vicious supporting female character?
Xu Yan felt she should not simply believe this inexplicable information. Yet when she thought of Fu Ruiming's recent unusual behavior, the corner of her mouth twitched. That subsequent plot really was something Fu Ruiming was capable of.
Although Xu Yan was the eldest daughter, the Xu Family still clung to the most traditional notion that family property should pass only to sons, never daughters. Thus, despite her exceptional abilities, she could not get involved in the family business and could only watch her wastrel younger brother live off the family's glory, eating his fill and waiting to die. She herself had even been sent out by the family to enter a marriage alliance!
She had known since childhood that she would have no say in her marriage, and she did not make a fuss or act coy about it. Nor was she resigned to becoming nothing more than a pawn in a family marriage alliance. Naturally, she had to choose a marriage partner who could help her career and her bid to seize power.
The Xu and Fu families could be considered longtime family friends. Both primarily worked in culture- and entertainment-related industries. The Fu Family mainly invested in online platforms, television stations, and cinema chains, while the Xu Family leaned toward content production. A union between them was naturally an alliance of the strong.
As the second son, Fu Ruiming had a simpler background than the eldest and was easier to manipulate. Although being the second son meant he had not inherited the Fu Family's core businesses, he still controlled a major platform like Fruit Video.
However, it was the Fu Family who had first proposed their marriage. Fu Ruiming's parents felt that Xu Yan was sensible, obedient, and exceptionally capable, making her a good choice for a daughter-in-law.
Fu Ruiming had not hesitated much either. Once Xu Yan promised she would not interfere in his private affairs after their marriage, he agreed to the marriage alliance.
Everything had gone smoothly. During their two years of marriage, they had each taken what they needed without interfering with the other. Through Fu Ruiming, she had also successfully broken free of the Xu Group. On the pretext of helping her husband, she served as vice president of Fruit Video while using its resources to develop her own company.
Fu Ruiming had gained quite a few benefits as well. With the support of the Xu Group's cultural and entertainment content, Fruit Video had leaped from last place among the three video companies to become the leading platform.
Yet things had changed a month ago. Fu Ruiming had actually insisted on divorcing her no matter what, and was even willing to give her a breakup settlement exceeding what their prenuptial agreement stipulated!
Xu Yan had noticed something unusual about Fu Ruiming. While telling him she would take her time to consider it, she had someone investigate privately. She then discovered that he had been keeping a little-known actress in a gilded nest, and that she was also the reason he wanted a divorce.
She found it laughable. Did a rotten cucumber like Fu Ruiming think he was some devoted lover?
Of course, she did not believe Ling Xiao Rui felt any true love for Fu Ruiming either. After all, as far as she knew, Fu Ruiming was still involved with plenty of other women while he was with Ling Xiao Rui. She felt that no woman without a hole in her brain could possibly fall in love with Fu Ruiming. Most likely, she had her eye on his money.
What she wanted was Fruit Video's resources, not those few paltry melons and dates of cash. Naturally, she was unwilling to divorce Fu Ruiming. After some thought, she decided to throw money at Ling Xiao Rui to make her leave.
Unexpectedly, however, Ling Xiao Rui rejected her, saying through tears, "I love Fu Ruiming. It's never been about his money. Miss Xu, you didn't marry him for love in the first place, so why cling to him so desperately?"
Naturally, Xu Yan did not believe Ling Xiao Rui's claims. She merely felt that Ling Xiao Rui had much bigger ambitions and would probably be difficult to deal with, and was considering a new way to send her packing.
But according to what Ye Jin was saying now, these two were actually in love? Ling Xiao Rui had even fallen in love with Fu Ruiming, who had □□ her? And she herself would be driven into bankruptcy by Fu Ruiming and end up giving herself to an old man?
Ah! What a fucking absurd plot! Was she really living in a normal world?
Xu Yan raised her head and looked at the two people still embracing not far away, the disgust in her heart growing stronger.
Hah. She worked herself to the bone helping Fruit Video invest in new projects and negotiating for as many benefits as possible, yet he ignored the business partners present and cared only about venting his sweetheart's anger. His time as CEO really had run its course.
Sooner or later, she would seize the seat beneath his ass!
But now was not the time to tear away all pretense. Fu Ruiming could be shameless and disregard the impact on the company, but she could not.
She spoke as calmly as she could. "Then what do you want?"
Fu Ruiming held Ling Xiao Rui, gently soothing the woman in his arms, but turned to tell Xu Yan, "Naturally, I want you to apologize to her. And you've occupied the place that should have belonged to Xiao Rui for two years. Agree to a divorce and give it up sooner rather than later. Ours was a political marriage to begin with. If you're more agreeable, I can give you a bigger share of the benefits when we divorce."
The disgust in Xu Yan's heart deepened, but someone else was even angrier than she was.
[What the hell does this scumbag mean? What does he mean, Xu Yan occupied someone else's place? He makes it sound like Xu Yan forced him to sign the marriage papers. Does he have no fucking clue how he treated Ling Xiao Rui two years ago? He hit her, cursed at her, gave her the silent treatment, and had countless women on the side. There was no way he would have married Ling Xiao Rui back then, so why pretend to be so devoted now!]
[Even if your marriage to Xu Yan was a political alliance, she was still your business partner. Forcing her to terminate the contract without warning counts as stabbing her in the back, doesn't it? Forget doing business. Just go bankrupt already. Still, he's a lawless □□ offender to begin with, so it's hardly surprising he'd do something like this.]
Hearing Ye Jin's furious inward rant, Xu Yan actually felt much of her revulsion fade.
Exactly. Why bother getting worked up over a rotten person like Fu Ruiming?
Since Fu Ruiming and Ling Xiao Rui were truly in love, she was destined to be unable to salvage her marriage. In that case, she needed to use the divorce to secure as many benefits for herself as possible.
Once she thought that through, she grew even calmer. "Mr. Fu, you know our marriage was a joint decision made by both families. Ending it also requires both families' consent. Besides, do you think our divorce won't affect your Fruit Video at all?"