Chapter 43: I Disdain It, but I Have No Other Choice

Jiang Zhiyun’s brows furrowed tightly.

Using such a despicable method to test human nature—and to test a man who was nominally her husband, but in reality merely a shield she had found to deal with her family?

This filled her with a profound, physical sense of disgust.

"Dad, there’s no need for this..."

"No need?" Jiang Shicheng’s voice suddenly rose, full of anger. "Jiang Zhiyun! Have you forgotten how you messed things up with your younger brother's affair? I haven't even settled accounts with you for that yet! Now I ask you to handle such a minor task, and you’re making excuses at every turn? Have your wings hardened? Do you think I can no longer control you?!"

"Let me tell you, you must do this! I want to make everyone see clearly what kind of person this man you chose really is!"

On the other end of the phone was her father’s unarguable command.

Jiang Zhiyun slowly closed her eyes, her long eyelashes casting shadows beneath them.

She knew she could not refuse.

In the Jiang family, although she was the president of the Jiang Corporation, fundamentally, she was still the sharpest and most obedient blade in her father's hands—a puppet meant to maintain the family's glory.

"...I understand," she replied in a low voice.

After hanging up, the office returned to a dead silence.

Jiang Zhiyun leaned back in her chair, gazing at the sky outside the window, her eyes somewhat hollow.

A puppet...

She no longer wanted to be a puppet.

She needed to build a power truly her own—a power sufficient to shake off all these shackles.

And Chen Yu... perhaps he would be an unexpected variable?

An idea grew wildly in her heart.

Rather than being passively manipulated by her father to test him, she might as well... take control of everything herself!

Since everyone had already guessed it, why not simply pierce this layer of window paper completely?

Jiang Zhiyun's gaze turned sharp once more.

She picked up the phone and dialed the number of the head of the Public Relations Department.

"Contact the production team of *The Diva Has Arrived* immediately and issue an official announcement."

"Tell them that I, Jiang Zhiyun, and Chen Yu are indeed the 'Diva and Her Civilian Husband' on the show."

The PR director on the other end gasped, but immediately responded, "Understood! Chairman Jiang!"

"In addition," Jiang Zhiyun's lips curved into a smile.

Prepare a press release. The theme will be: To respond to the netizens' doubts about whether my husband truly loves me, I will subject him to a 'true love ultimate test' on the show, to see whether he will bring out all his savings to support me when the family business falls into crisis.

She would package her father's despicable test into a highly anticipated, topical public relations show.

She would turn a family affair into public knowledge.

In this way, no matter what choice Chen Yu made, the initiative would remain firmly in her hands.

As soon as the news was released, the entire internet exploded instantly!

[It's official! It's official! It really is Jiang Zhiyun!]

[Holy crap! My jaw dropped! That slacker of a man—his wife turns out to be an iceberg female CEO worth hundreds of billions?!]

[What kind of fairy-tale novel plot is this? Just take my money already!]

[The ultimate test of true love? Testing a hundred-billion-dollar CEO's marriage with three hundred thousand? The production team really knows how to play!]

[To the person above, didn't you get it? This isn't the production team playing games; this is Jiang Zhiyun playing games! She's roasting that guy named Chen Yu over an open fire!]

[Exactly! Coughing up three hundred thousand is expected; not coughing it up makes him a scumbag, a selfish jerk! Whatever he chooses is wrong! Brilliant, absolutely brilliant!]

Looking at the overwhelming discussions and trending searches online, Jiang Zhiyun’s face remained utterly tranquil.

She turned off the computer, picked up her car keys, and stood up to leave the office.

It was time... to go home.

...

When Jiang Zhiyun pushed open the front door, what greeted her was a scene of extreme harmony.

Under the warm lights of the living room, Chen Yu was slumped bonelessly in the sofa, with one leg crossed over the other, engrossed in his phone, occasionally letting out a low, sneaky chuckle.

Meanwhile, on the carpet beside him, Niannian was sitting obediently, with a thick fairytale picture book spread out in front of her. Her little head bobbed up and down as she watched with rapt attention.

Seeing this, the solid block of ice in Jiang Zhiyun's heart, formed by her father's phone call, quietly melted at the edges.

She even felt a touch of helplessness—how could this man be so carefree? After causing a massive stir outside, he came home acting as if nothing had happened at all?

She changed her shoes, placed her bag and coat in the entryway, and walked over slowly.

"You're back?"

Hearing the movement, Chen Yu raised his head from his phone screen. Seeing it was Jiang Zhiyun, he looked somewhat surprised. "Why are you so early today?"

Niannian also looked up. Seeing her mother, her eyes lit up, and she called out sweetly, "Mom!"

Jiang Zhiyun gave her daughter a rare, gentle smile. Then, her gaze fell back onto Chen Yu.

In an instant, the warmth in her eyes faded.

Then, they turned fragile.

With the acting skills of an award-winning movie star.

Her complexion appeared somewhat pale.

"Chen Yu."

She called out softly.

Chen Yu looked at her appearance, paused for a moment, and put down his phone. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

Jiang Zhiyun walked up to him. She didn't sit down, but simply stood there quietly.

After a long while, she looked at her daughter and asked Niannian to go back to her room first.

Only then did she turn to Chen Yu and say:

"The company... has a problem."

"My dad... he cut off my capital chain."

Chen Yu was momentarily stunned. The playful grin on his face hadn't even had time to fade; it still carried a lazy, spectator-like detachment.

He straightened up lazily from the sofa, picked at his ear, and asked in a tone that bordered on the absurd:

"Your dad cut off your capital chain, and the company is in trouble... What does that have to do with me?"

As soon as those words fell, it was as if a deep-water bomb had been dropped into a calm lake.

Behind the scenes, in the invisible livestream room, monstrous waves instantly surged!

[????????????????????????]

[What did I just hear? The wind was too loud, I didn't catch it clearly. What did he say? What does it have to do with him???]

[Damn! Is this man a demon?! His wife, one of the heirs to the hundred-billion-dollar Jiang Corporation, is facing such a huge crisis, and he actually says it has nothing to do with him?!]

[Is that human speech? Is that something a human being can actually say?! My fists are clenched! Seriously clenched!]

[Living off a woman and still feeling superior, huh? Taking so much of her money, and now that trouble hits, he wants to distance himself? An ingrate! A thorough, absolute ingrate!]

[Goddess Zhiyun, wake up and see him for what he is! What use do you have for a man like this? Divorce him immediately! Make him leave with nothing!]

[I'm so pissed off! I'm so pissed off! I really want to crawl through the internet cable and slap him twice! How can a man be so shameless?]

The fury of the barrage comments was almost scorching enough to burn through the screens, but Chen Yu, sitting at the dead center of the vortex, remained completely oblivious.