Chapter 103: So What?

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“Besides, Bai Tianyu has already returned to the provincial capital with her father, Bai Qiming, more than twenty days ago. Since then, I have had no contact with her at all.”

“And besides, she is only eighteen. I’m already twenty-six. How could anything improper have happened between us?”

At that, Su Qingli’s expression shifted slightly. Then she carried on as if she hadn’t heard a word Jiang Hao had just said.

Jiang Hao knew she had heard him. He went on, “And then there is Gao Xiaoqin. She is the general manager of Jadepeak Bank. I met her because I had handled a few matters there and kept quite a bit of money in her bank, so she treated me as a preferred client. That’s why she was so especially warm toward me.”

“It was only that. I have absolutely nothing with her like you think.”

“On that day, Gao Xiaoqin and I just had lunch.”

At this, Jiang Hao finally stopped.

Su Qingli put the clean bowls aside, took a towel to wipe her hands, then turned to face him. “So what of it?”

Jiang Hao was stunned.
He had truly not expected her to say those words: “So what?”

“You’ve got me wrong, haven’t you, Jiang Hao? We’re going to divorce—just the paperwork is left, and once it’s done, we won’t be husband and wife anymore. So whatever you’re doing with another woman, whatever may have happened, has nothing to do with me. Even if nothing happened, it has nothing to do with me either. And now you have no need to explain any of this to me.”

“But aren’t we not divorced yet?” Jiang Hao said bitterly.

On earlier occasions when Su Qingli had gone to find him, Jiang Hao had always been loftily aloof, while Su Qingli had spoken to him in a subdued, deferential tone.

Now, the balance had suddenly shifted.

“It makes no difference, Jiang Hao,” Su Qingli said, shaking her head with cold indifference.

Jiang Hao exhaled and took out a cigarette, lighting it.

“No smoking here.” Su Qingli said, and immediately removed the cigarette from his lips, crushed it into a knot, and tossed it into the trash bin.

He sighed once more. “Fine. I won’t skirt the point. I don’t want a divorce, Su Qingli. Yes, you heard me right. I don’t want to divorce, and I won’t agree to it.”

At this, Su Qingli stood still in shock.
A long time passed before she came back to herself.

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“I’m serious. I’m not joking.”

Jiang Hao stepped closer and spoke earnestly.

Su Qingli stepped back a little, then laughed.

But it was not a happy laugh; it was the kind of laugh one gives at a joke that is funny in a cruel way.

“Are you making fun of me?”

Su Qingli shook her head.
“I already told you: I’m serious. I won’t agree to a divorce. I tore those two divorce agreements apart and threw them in the trash, and I absolutely will never sign a divorce agreement again,” Jiang Hao said with firm resolve, his tone suddenly heavier.

Su Qingli pulled a stool and sat down as if she had taken a blow.

After a while, she looked up and spread her hands helplessly before him. “You didn’t want to divorce then, and yet you forced it, humiliating me again and again in front of other people.”

“And now you come looking for me, ask for my help, and keep repeating that you don’t want a divorce?”

“Jiang Hao, what do you think I am? A toy you can take when you want and throw away when you’re done?”

“Right. In your eyes I’m not worth more than a stuffed doll.”

She said it with a smile, but the smile was steeped in sorrow.
While she spoke, her eyes were already turning red, and two lines of tears spilled down.

Jiang Hao hurriedly pulled out a tissue packet, took one out to wipe her tears away, but Su Qingli pushed him away forcefully.

“Stop it! Stop playing with me, Jiang Hao, I’m done! Can you just leave? Please—can’t we just get divorced? Leave me alone, I’m really at my limit!”

She cried out, shaking her head repeatedly.

Jiang Hao’s heart ached.
He truly regretted that he had once treated Su Qingli with such coldness, and that he had ignored her explanations again and again.

But there is no medicine for regret. No matter how much he regretted it now, it could still be done nothing.

“Qingli, I’m serious now. I know whatever I’m saying at this moment you may not believe, but I still hope you’ll give me one chance.”

“Did you ever give me a chance when I asked for one?” Su Qingli shouted in grief and fury.

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Jiang Hao was silent.

He did not know what else to say.

After a while, Su Qingli sniffed and wiped her tears with the back of her hand.

“Go. My mood is bad today. Let’s talk another time when I’m calmer.”
She pointed to the doorway of the back kitchen.

Yet Jiang Hao did not leave.

Not only did he not leave, he suddenly went down hard to his knees with a soft thud.

Su Qingli stood up at once from the stool, genuinely shocked. She had never once expected Jiang Hao to kneel before her.
When they married, Jiang Hao had not knelt.

“What are you doing? Do you think this can make up for the hurt you caused me?” Su Qingli cried, her voice trembling.

In a grave tone, Jiang Hao said, “Of course not. I only want to apologize. But if you can give me a chance, I promise I’ll treat you well from now on. I’ll make up for what I did in the past.”

Su Qingli hesitated.

She knew that although Jiang Hao looked ordinary, no different from any other man, he was in fact a man of pride and backbone. Precisely because of that, after the kidney-theft scheme orchestrated by Zhang Liping and Wang Junan, Jiang Hao had become so furious and had entirely lost hope in Su family.

Now he had not even demanded an apology on his knees, yet he had done it himself.
At the very least, that proved he was sincere.

After a long hesitation, Su Qingli finally softened. In a low voice she said, “Let’s put the divorce matter on hold for now. As for everything else, we’ll talk about it later.”

She had given him a chance.

Though she never clearly said it was a chance to atone for his wrongs, her meaning was unmistakable.

Jiang Hao was overjoyed, yet he did not rise from the floor.

His face was full of a bright smile. “Thank you, Qingli.”