บท 55: Zhiyuan's resilience

But the calmer he was, it meant the more dangerous the situation would become.

Xinyi smiled. "Grandpa. We are back."

Zhiyuan nodded.

Han Huizhong said, "Xinyi. Get back to your room."

Xinyi felt the strange tension in the atmosphere. On one side, she saw Han Mingli and Han Guang snickering at them.

"What's wrong, Grandpa?"

Zhiyuan faintly realized what must have happened.

Han Huizhong shot a deadly glare at her. "In your room. Right now."

She stiffened.

Han Guang sneered. "Xinyi, you are floating in the clouds too much these days. Do you think Uncle will tolerate your nuisance just because he favors you a little? He is an elder and you should listen to him, but here you are arguing against him."

Han Mingli said, "Yes Xinyi. You are taking too much advantage of Uncle's liking towards you."

Xinyi quickly said, "I am just asking-"

But then she felt Zhiyuan placing his hand on her shoulder. "You are tired too, Xinyi. Grandpa is right. Go back to the room and rest with Siying."

She glanced back and forth between them. "And you?"

"I will be back."

Xinyi hesitatingly agreed. Han Huizhong was furious about something, and it only meant bad news. She got more and more worried about Zhiyuan, but in front of Han Huizhong's dominating presence, she could say nothing.

As she slowly walked away, she heard Han Guang mockingly sneering at her. She bit her lip and anxiously fiddled with her dress.

Zhiyuan...

Han Huizhong took one step towards Zhiyuan and coldly smiled.

"Mr. Han Zhiyuan. So, you still have the face to come back when you got your wife sick AND get seen in one room with your ex-lover?"

As I expected... Grandpa knows what happened on the trip, Zhiyuan thought.

"You see, my pathetic grandson. You just had one job to do on the trip, and that was to take care of your family and come back without being a part of any hassle. It seems you forgot my warning I gave you when I had agreed to this trip."

"Grandpa-"

"You let Zhu Xiaosi poison Xinyi's food. You let him trick you with Siying's disappearance, and you let him trap for you to be seen in one room with that woman which, in the end, your sickly and pale wife had to come to your aid and save you from the mess and your stupidity."

He grabbed his collar and narrowed his eyes. "Tell me, Zhiyuan. Was it that you really fell for Zhu Xiaosi's trap or...did you want to spend some cozy time with your reunited ex-lover, leaving your sick wife on the bed?"

Han Guang sneered. "I always knew that Zhiyuan was still stuck in his past. Admit it, Zhiyuan, that you still love Caihong."

Han Mingli mocked. "It might be true that Zhu Xiaosi would have tricked you, but...did you really not touch Caihong before you got exposed? After all, meeting her after seven years would have definitely triggered your feelings you were holding back all this time."

This was the perfect chance to throw more discord between the grandfather and grandson. The more Han Huizhong would hate him, the sooner he would throw Zhiyuan out of the Han Corps and family, eventually making it vulnerable for Han Guang to grab everything for her son, Han Keung.

Zhiyuan's gaze darkened. He clenched his fist. "Grandpa. Just because Caihong and I had a history together doesn't mean that I will humiliate Xinyi like that. Do you really think I would degrade myself to that level?"

Han Huizhong burst into laughter. But it had an eerie ring to it that sent chills across the spine. "Let's not talk about Xinyi's humiliation, alright? Especially not you. But now I cannot trust her with you. I already never trusted you, but today it will be all over."

He threw some papers on his face. "Divorce Xinyi."

Zhiyuan froze. He saw the papers fluttering down on the floor where faintly read the word divorce.

Divorce?

Han Huizhong smiled. "I will end it all today. Don't waste time and sign on them."

Zhiyuan stood rooted to the spot. It wasn't the first time. Before the trip too, Han Huizhong had told Zhiyuan to divorce Xinyi in exchange for letting them go together.

But his feelings at that time and right now felt completely different to him.

Now, there was a strange sense of dread he never felt before. He never wanted to divorce Xinyi only out of responsibility as her husband and their child's father.

But today his hands were trembling. There wasn't the sense of responsibility he always felt, but something else growing in his heart that he couldn't put his finger on.

He remembered the time she fell on him in their room and he had embraced her. He remembered her pale figure, anxiously rushing towards him to help him. He remembered her long eyelashes as he had stood closer to her on the deck after the incident.

Even if he didn't understand it himself, it gave him the answer.

"I will not divorce Xinyi."

Silence.

Han Guang gasped. "Even after all that happened, you are still refusing to divorce Xinyi?"

Once Zhiyuan divorced Xinyi, she would be finally out of the Han family. So, how could Han Guang miss this chance?

"Don't be so stubborn, Zhiyuan."

Zhiyuan quietly looked at them in a warning. "I already said what I wanted to."

Han Huizhong stared at him for a few moments before the smile vanished from his face. He raised his stick and crashed it hard on Zhiyuan.

Even Han Guang and Han Mingli were taken aback.

Zhiyuan stumbled back due to the great force with which he hit him.

Han Huizhong oozed such a dangerous aura that it became difficult to breathe.

"Han Zhiyuan. I think you misunderstand me. I am not asking you to divorce Xinyi. I am ordering you to divorce Xinyi."

A sharp pain shot in his arm, but Zhiyuan met his dark and cold gaze head-on without faltering. "You are right to say that I was careless. Xinyi got sick because I wasn't alert enough. I didn't expect Xiaosi to lay a trap, but I have no excuses to make. You can beat me all you want for that mistake. But I won't divorce Xinyi."