Su Jia felt that she may be considered to be an ambitious woman, although she thought it was only natural for a person to reach higher and challenge themselves. She wasn't inconsiderate nor cold hearted, she also had people that she loved and would not throw aside in a mad rush to achieve her goals.
Even knowing that, there are times that Su Jia has been misunderstood by those loved ones in the past. She remembers there was a time that she had a short falling out with her younger brother, Su Lin, but it was quickly resolved after speaking to each other.
"Why, exactly, are you scheming against me?" Su Jia confronted her husband with a growing headache, her irritation reaching a fever pitch. After nearly eight years of peaceful cooperation, her purely political marriage had become a battleground.
And to think, she had let many opportunities go to keep this stupid man feeling content! Didn't he understand the meaning of sacrifice? She couldn't help but feel regret for treating their stable relationship as a given.
"What are you talking about?" Zhang Li snapped grumpily, continuing to busy himself with paperwork on his desk as though he didn't have time to deal with her nonsense.
"My parent's company is being attacked from all sides by a shell corporation linked to your company. Do you think I'm an idiot? Why are you doing such a thing?" Since he didn't seem to have any intentions of answering her question, Su Jia elaborated in a straight forward way. Between spouses, was there a need to beat around the bush?
"Your parents are not you. Why should I hold back against those that try and bully my business with outdated tactics? Should I ignore it simply because the business belongs to the Su family?" He laughed derisively, finally looking up from his paperwork and glaring at his wife with a deep emotion contained in his eyes. "If they didn't want to be fought with, then they shouldn't have picked a fight! Su Jia, this is something you should also remember!"
A chill shot up her spine, the inexplicable appearance of such a deep seated hatred seemed to come overnight. What kind of situation occurred to make him doubt Su Jia in such a way? She was at a loss, but ultimately the reason was inconsequential to the circumstance, so she merely pushed away her grievances and hardened her own glare.
"My family's company will one day be my company, do I need to explain such simple concepts to you?" The business woman snorted coldly, slamming a palm onto his desk and sneering at his contemptful expression. "If my parents have been 'bullying' you, then why not speak to me? You're disregarding our partnership too much! Zhang Li, have you forgotten that we are allies?"
"I'm not the one who forgot that." Zhang Li remarked righteously as his eyes narrowed in annoyance, his vague words only further worsening her mood.
What could Su Jia say to such a person? He no longer had any intention of behaving as her husband and she had too much pride to allow him to trample her family's company without resisting.
"You seem like you've been thinking of many things on your own." Her strained expression fell slack, a faint trace of grief in her eyes as she finally turned away from his cold glare. "I'll send the divorce papers later. Since you no longer care about this partnership, neither will I. If you want to continue being successful, then you should consider not burning any more bridges."
The last bit of her advice, which Su Jia had given over her shoulder and while smirking bitterly at his expression, had turned his face red with anger and he came to his two feet with the intention to vent his fury at her.
Su Jia didn't give him even a bit more of her time and hurriedly left his study, ignoring the sounds of something being knocked from his desk in anger and curses that were more vulgar than she'd usually heard from the man. His assistant outside, Yuan Yu, called out to her to speak about something, but she only waved him off and left.
"Mom, I'm coming back home for now." Su Jia stated matter of factly over the phone, ignoring her bombardment of questions after hearing those words. "Zhang Li no longer intends to act as a partner, naturally I have to divorce him. Tell Dad to launch a counterattack on the Zhang family's assets and I'll do the same, I'll be going to the company right after dropping off some things at home."
"Ah Jia, do you really have to go this far? That Zhang Li is usually such a good child, what did he do this time to deserve this treatment? Do you really want to throw away all those good years together?"
Mother Su was worried that her impulsive daughter would be unable to find anyone to match her if she divorced the Zhang's child. It had taken so long for her workaholic daughter that expressed no interest in men to finally find a person she liked, and then she suddenly married him with little warning while still young! With things like this, how long would it be before the Su's were able to see their grandchildren?
"Haven't I already told you that I could always leave the company to Xiao Lin or his children if I didn't manage to have any myself?" The woman sighed, already aware of where her mother's mind had headed. Su Lin wasn't as competent as her, but he had potential on his own. "Rather than staying in such a hostile marriage, it's better to find someone else. Don't you agree?"
"...Well, if that's how you feel. I also think that your happiness is most important."
For all the goodwill that Zhang Li had laboriously raised with Mother Su over so many years, it was only enough to receive that short protest in his defense. Although she wasn't as capable as her husband or her children, she also possessed a shrewd personality and understood her daughter's stubborn personality the best.
"Good, let Xiao Lin know the circumstances as well. I'll see you shortly."
Su Jia hung up the call and breathed out a long sigh. Just a week ago, Zhang Li was talking about having children soon. How could his attitude change so much? It's not something that she can understand, she felt it was better to just cut unstable people like him from her life altogether.
After driving for a while longer, she arrived at the Su family home and hurried to her old room. After greeting some of the old servants, she dropped off the bag of necessities from her husband and her's home and entered her father's study to talk with him.
"Dad, I'm home." Su Jia knocked on the door and entered, greeted by the sight of Mother Su arguing about something with a laughing Father Su.
"Well, well, speak of the devil!" His smile grew as he saw his daughter, gesturing for her to come in with mirth in his eyes. Mother Su at his side sighed and also sent her a welcoming smile. "Daughter, I heard you finally dumped that leech, Zhang Li?"
"Dear!" Mother Su scowled and playfully smacked his shoulder, reluctantly smiling when he only shrugged at her objection.
This relationship, one of genuine love, was something that Su Jia hadn't ever had with Zhang Li. At least in the past they could rely on each other, but now she could only think that he'd been hiding whatever misgivings he had.
"As of now, Zhang Li is no longer part of our family. We can retract our protection over his business, and in fact we should retaliate for his actions earlier." Su Jia immediately cut to the chase, explaining her plan in clear details to her father.
"That's fine with me. That man really dares to claim that we were attacking him, how could I make a move on my son in law?" Father Su's face wrinkles in genuine grievance, grumbling out his complaints. "Stupid brat, he'll regret it when he sees that he made an enemy of the Su family!"
"I'm glad that you agree." Su Jia smiled happily at him, her heart moved upon seeing that her parents had no intention of siding against her and instead supported her without hesitation. "Xiao Lin must be at the company now? You can send him over to my office tomorrow, I'll have to trouble him to take over a branch earlier than I thought."
"Alright, it's about time for him to have more responsibility." Father Su nodded approvingly. "Your mother said that you planned to attack the Zhang family's holdings with your company as well?"
"It will depend. I already tied up so many resources in helping him grow, it'll be a huge blow once he realizes how much he was relying on me after I take everything back." She laughed coldly at the thought of that idiot wrecking his study at home in his anger. "Attacking from both sides might not even be necessary, we'll see how long it takes for Zhang Li's company to collapse."
"You really are my daughter!" Father Su laughed happily, looking completely satisfied with his daughter's words. After a moment, he sighed and became somewhat serious. "If that Zhang Li really hadn't touched your heart in all this time, then divorcing him is only right. A marriage should be between two people who love and respect the other! He's blind to not see your value!"
"Dad…" Su Jia said quietly, a bit of sorrow in her eyes at the thought of those peaceful past eight years. "You're right. I was too naive, marrying for the sake of uniting our two families. After feelings between us didn't sprout even after a few years, we should've just amicably split our separate ways."
"No, no, forget I said anything." Father Su, thinking that his daughter had taken his words as a scolding, hurriedly corrected himself with a smile. "It's good that the two of you had signed that agreement before your marriage. It would be terrible if that man was entitled to half of your company after this, it would also be troubling if children were tying you two together! With things like this, it's actually very good. Only a few years were wasted, there's no reason to be sad about such a person."
Hearing her husband rambling on and on to try and cheer up their daughter, Mother Su smiled comfortingly and looked to Su Jia with maternal warmth radiating from her gaze.
"In other words, your father also believes your happiness is most important. If Xiao Lin was here, I'm sure he would say the same."
As Su Jia was feeling touched from her parent's kindness, she ended up staying and chatting with them for a while before leaving for her company.
We're a third of the way through the introduction now. I'll be updating this story every day for as long as I'm able! If that changes for any reason, then I'll leave an announcement on a chapter. If you enjoyed, then why not leave a comment? Even if it's just something small, I like to know that someone is reading and enjoying what I write!
Thanks for reading, see you all next time~