After the divorce, my ex-husband and son lined up to pursue me.

Chapter 77 Pressing forward step by step

Jiang Xia gripped her phone, her lips pressed tightly together in frustration.

Despite her reluctance, she had no choice but to face reality. After leaving Jufulou, she hailed a car and drove to the place she had sworn never to set foot in again.

On the way, Jiang Xia called Xu Fei and asked to take half a day off.

Xu Fei thought she was going to the hospital for rehabilitation, and that the fracture had healed a bit, so she couldn't always be in a wheelchair.

Jiang Xia didn't explain much, hung up the phone, and the car quickly arrived at Qiushuiyuan.

When the wheelchair arrived at the door, she used almost all her strength and mentally prepared herself before pressing the doorbell.

The automatic electronic gate slid open quickly, and she walked straight inside in her wheelchair.

The door to the mansion's entrance was open, and when she went inside, she saw that Ruan Muhuai was actually home.

He sat in the living room, dressed in a black brocade loungewear, exuding an elegant, leisurely, and relaxed vibe. He leaned back on the sofa, smoking a cigarette, and only turned his head slightly when he heard the sound of the wheelchair.

His eyes, still cold and indifferent as if filled with a thousand layers of ice, looked at her without any emotion.

"You're back," Ruan Muhuai said, his low, cold voice revealing nothing. "What do you want to eat tonight?"

Jiang Xia glanced upstairs and into the kitchen, but couldn't hear anything, so she guessed that Aunt Chen and Ruan Yuanchao hadn't returned yet.

She felt a weight lifted from her shoulders, but she couldn't hide her anger. She glared at him resentfully and asked, "What do you mean? You're not getting a divorce?"

"Come here," Ruan Muhuai said instead of answering, and even beckoned to her with his finger as usual.

It's like teasing a cat or dog.

Jiang Xia gritted his teeth and walked over in his wheelchair.

Ruan Muhuai's unpredictable eyes never left her, and the moment she leaned closer, he grabbed her arm with the hand holding the cigarette and pulled her into his embrace.

The sudden intimacy left Jiang Xia bewildered, and she instinctively tried to break free.

"Don't move." Ruan Muhuai restrained her hands well, and also checked her right ankle, which was in a cast. "Is it almost healed? Does it still hurt lately?"

These words conveyed no concern whatsoever, and Jiang Xia didn't want his overly compassionate gesture.

"Stop with this nonsense, just tell me..." Jiang Xia struggled, still trying to escape.

"I told you not to move." Ruan Muhuai frowned impatiently, tightening his grip on her. "Jiang Xia, are you brainless? Did I ever say I wanted a divorce?"

"It's you." He then pinched her cheek with one hand. "You're so ungrateful, always insisting on making a scene and causing trouble!"

Jiang Xia struggled and pushed his hand away. "So what now? What do you want to do?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Ruan Muhuai said, a cigarette butt between his teeth, his eyes shrouded in smoke, his gaze enigmatic. "You think dividing the property and taking away our son is the end of it? You underestimate the meaning of the word 'husband and wife'."

indeed.

Jiang Xia admitted that she had oversimplified things before. But that was because she had never inquired about anything related to the Ruan Group after their marriage, and she never expected... that Ruan Muhuai had so much debt under his name!

Indeed, marriage should be between people of similar social standing; people from different social circles and classes shouldn't force themselves to be together.

Having ended up in this predicament, Jiang Xia was filled with bitterness and could not express it.

"Fine, no divorce then." Jiang Xia took a deep breath and lowered her head in a gesture of resignation. "What's the point? Are you just going to wait to be widowed?"

Upon hearing the words 'widowed,' Ruan Muhuai chuckled softly, lifting Jiang Xia's chin with one finger: 'Threatening me? Giving up on treatment?'

He thought for a moment, and as Jiang Xia pushed his hand away, he narrowed his eyes and said, "Absolutely. Your life is yours. You can die as you please."

Ruan Muhuai stood up and avoided her, stubbing out his cigarette in the ashtray. He casually picked up the project proposal from the coffee table and tossed it to Jiang Xia, then asked a surprising question: "What about the Cortex-7 project?"

Jiang Xia, holding the project proposal, was stunned into silence.

“There are many talented people out there. No one is irreplaceable. Even without you, the Cortex-7 project can still move forward. As long as the investment is in place, the project can still achieve fruitful results in a few years.”

Ruan Muhuai spoke eloquently, but his tone was somewhat sarcastic.

After a pause, he continued, "By then, your former mentors and fellow students will be famous and celebrating, while you will have long since become a skeleton and ashes. You have not participated in it, and you have once again let them down by abandoning the project you developed. Are you content with that?"

Clearly, Jiang Xia was not going to accept this.

The Cortex-7 project, while not the only one in her life, was at least a landmark milestone that embodied all her hard work and dedication, and also... her last wish and dream.

Moreover, her sudden abandonment seven years ago has become a guillotine hanging over her head, a stain on her body. Now that she's back, she's disappeared again without explanation. Others are secondary; the most important thing is that she has let herself down!
What is the cruelty of disease, the envy of heaven, the untimely death...? Who doesn't have wishes and dreams? If there is even the slightest possibility, who would willingly give up their life for nothing!
Jiang Xia clutched the project proposal in a huff, then looked at Ruan Muhuai strolling leisurely in front of her, and suddenly realized that he was doing it on purpose again!
They used this cruel and realistic method again to force her to compromise and give in time and time again!
Ruan Muhuai didn't even look at her, slowly pacing around the large living room. "That targeted therapy is indeed in the experimental stage, but Sato is very confident and has a good grasp of it. The first phase of treatment has also ended."

In the two weeks before Jiangxia was discharged from the hospital after her surgery, she had already completed the first phase of the trial drug.

"Looking at it now, the results are quite good." As he said this, Ruan Muhuai slightly raised his chin towards the coffee table.

Jiang Xia withdrew her glare at him, annoyed. Just as she reached for the documents on the coffee table, she caught sight of the top page, which contained her latest medical examination from the hospital last week.

Ruan Muhuai knew everything...

Her every move was impossible to escape his eyes!

That's really... incredibly powerful.

Jiang Xia glared at him angrily, wishing she could throw all the documents in her hand at him!

"The second phase of medication should be taken at least three months apart, but it varies from person to person. At the very least, you should be healthy during this period and there should be no major problems."

So stop acting up and making a scene. Stop using the excuse that you're dying or terminally ill to cause trouble and be unreasonable!
Ruan Muhuai didn't speak so directly or harshly, but the impatience in his eyes was already obvious.

Jiang Xia saw it all clearly, and his eyes turned cold.

But she remained silent, wanting to hear what other outrageous things Ruan Muhuai could come up with!
(End of this chapter)