Free Web NovelChapter 2164: Chapter 2165: The Original Spouse Driven Out with Nothing 84
Zhang Yu returned to the rented vacation cabin utterly exhausted. Yes, after looking around for ages, she still ended up renting a small cabin. Even though there were lots of things she had to handle herself and the price was a bit higher, it met her parents’ one requirement: that they could cook for themselves again.
There was nothing to be done. For the old couple, New Year’s Eve had to come with a proper New Year’s Eve dinner. Even overseas, they’d find ways to make that happen. freeweɓnøvel.com
Every day, Zhang Qiang and Han Yu would spend some time skiing at the resort, then head back to their place to rest, buy groceries and cook. The idea was to keep lunch casual, but make sure dinner was plentiful; otherwise, with how much they were burning off every day, how were they supposed to get through the night if they didn’t make up for it?
Even though a ski destination like this had no shortage of good restaurants, the key issue was that eating well meant spending a lot. Even knowing their daughter was making money now and they weren’t exactly short on cash, Zhang Qiang and his wife still wanted to help her save where they could.
Zhang Yu and Lin Zixuan walked step by step toward the cabin, arms full of thick skis. Seeing the warm lights in the night, the young man rubbed his stomach. "I feel so hungry, I could eat a whole cow."
"Me too," Zhang Yu yawned. "Can you take the bus to the ski resort by yourself tomorrow?"
Skiing was great, but after skiing several hours a day these last few days, Zhang Yu was starting to feel it. Even with big dinners at night, it couldn’t fully make up for how much she burned during the day. The pants she’d brought were now hanging loose on her.
Zhao Qiang estimated the time and stood at the window watching. When he saw the two of them approaching, he immediately opened the door, just in time to hear Zhang Yu asking Lin Zixuan to go to the ski resort on his own the next day.
The old man couldn’t help frowning. "You’ve got something on tomorrow."
Huh? Zhang Yu shook her head. "No, I don’t. I’m free tomorrow." Seeing his displeased expression, she realized why he was upset.
"Dad, I’ve been skiing every day these last few days. I’m really tired," Zhang Yu explained.
Oh, that. Zhang Qiang thought back on the past few days: Zhang Yu had been heading out early and coming back late every day. For the young guy, sure, it was tiring, but a night’s rest and he was bouncing around again. For Zhang Yu, though, it was a bit much.
After thinking a moment, Zhang Qiang said, "I’ll go tomorrow."
Letting Xiao Xuan go skiing alone still didn’t sit right with the old man. If anything unexpected happened and there were no family around, he really couldn’t relax.
Zhang Yu glanced at the old man, seeing how anxious he was. "I’ll go tomorrow. But I’ll just ski a little, and then I’ll find a spot to sit in the sun, drink something, and read."
"At the place we had lunch today." They’d discovered a little gem earlier—really nice spot, decent food, just a bit on the pricey side, but nothing they couldn’t handle.
"I’ll go," Zhang Qiang spoke up.
"Forget it. If you go, you think I’ll be at ease? I’ll just use tomorrow to read." Sitting at the ski resort watching people ski, with a drink in hand, was actually pretty nice too.
Seeing their discussion wrap up, Han Yu and Lin Zixuan brought the dishes over to the table. Looking at the steaming food, Zhang Yu rubbed her stomach. "Alright, let’s eat."
After eating, they’d rest a bit, then soak in a hot bath to ease a lot of the fatigue—very satisfying.
Just then, Zhang Yu heard a knock at the door and froze for a second. What was this? Who’d be knocking at this hour?
Ever since they’d moved in, no one had come knocking, aside from hotel staff—and even then, they’d call the internal line first to check if you were in.
Zhang Yu walked to the door. "Who is it?"
"It’s me, Xie Zhen."
Huh? Xie Zhen? Hearing the name, Zhang Yu was stunned. She couldn’t believe this guy would actually come all the way to Europe.
Back home, wasn’t everyone gearing up to take a big bite out of Han Bin, out of the Han family? Or, put another way, trying to grab seventy to eighty percent of the Han family’s assets? At a time like this, as one of the main players, shouldn’t Xie Zhen be back at the company stabilizing the situation and fighting to seize more assets?
Zhang Yu truly didn’t get it. But hearing the voice was indeed Xie Zhen’s, she slowly opened the door. "What are you...?"
Huh? Zhang Yu had thought he’d come alone; she hadn’t expected him to bring someone. One glance told her the person was a woman.
"Come in." Zhang Yu was curious who the woman was, but she still let them in first.
The cabin was warm, and the two quickly took off their scarves, masks, and coats. Zhang Yu took a look at the person Xie Zhen had brought. The woman was a bit older, but then again, Xie Zhen wasn’t that young either.
Maybe because Zhang Yu kept staring, Xie Zhen of course noticed. After greeting Zhang Qiang and the others, he introduced, "This is Luo Jia, Han Bin’s wife."
Huh? Zhang Yu had thought she was Xie Zhen’s girlfriend; she hadn’t expected her to be Han Bin’s wife. What was going on? Zhang Yu wasn’t entirely sure why she’d come—was she hoping Zhang Yu would let Han Bin off?
That Luo Jia would seek her out, Zhang Yu could more or less understand. But why had Xie Zhen brought her over?
Seeing Zhang Yu’s smile turn into a polite one, Xie Zhen and Luo Jia could tell she’d already gone down the wrong track in her head. "We’re not here to plead for Han Bin."
Hearing that, Zhang Yu let out a small "oh," but didn’t fully relax.
"Thank you. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t even know that my brother ended up inside because of Han Bin." Before coming, Luo Jia had gone to see her older brother. "Even though my brother’s behavior in the past was rather outrageous, we never imagined Han Bin would actually do something like that."
"Thank you." Luo Jia stood up and gave Zhang Yu a very respectful bow.
Zhang Yu was really taken aback by this gesture. "You don’t have to, really, you don’t."
If the other party had come in acting tough, Zhang Yu wouldn’t have been the least bit intimidated. But the key now was that the woman was being so polite, she really couldn’t keep up a hard stance. "You really don’t have to. I just did what was convenient for me."
"And I was doing it to go after Han Bin. If he hadn’t come after me first, I really wouldn’t have made it public."
She honestly didn’t feel she needed to be thanked. She’d had her own motives in it too.
"We still have to thank you. Without you, we... we would never have imagined Han Bin would be like this." Luo Jia and Han Bin’s marriage had been a family alliance. "We were classmates; we’d gone to the same school since junior high, then went abroad to study together. There were real feelings between us."
"But I never thought..." There were too many things Luo Jia had never thought of, including that they’d end up where they were now.
Just now, Xie Zhen had briefly told Zhang Yu about Luo Jia’s situation. "He did have feelings for you back then. But feelings, over time, fade away."
"You should know my story too. Back then, Lin Yu was out of my league. So what? That didn’t stop him from having someone else outside, then climbing up to Han Xue and divorcing me."
"I couldn’t figure it out at the time either. The more I thought about it, the more wronged I felt. But so what? Life still goes on. You just stand back up, and that’s that." A pitiful woman, with a good family background, and she still got screwed over by a man all the same.
It was after hearing about how Zhang Yu handled things that Luo Jia came to admire her a lot. She’d begged Xie Zhen many times before he finally agreed.
