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

Chapter 79 Amazement
Just as Ruan Muhuai was about to put all the photocopied papers he had arranged into a bookshelf, he heard the door open.

Then came the sound of a wheelchair.

Jiang Xia followed the rows of bookshelves until she finally found him, and saw the folder in his hand that he hadn't had time to put back on the shelf. "You had someone investigate me behind my back?"

A question uttered with anger immediately took the initiative.

At the same time, she wheeled herself closer and reached out her hand to Ruan Muhuai: "Give it to me."

Ruan Muhuai frowned almost imperceptibly, then raised his hand and, taking advantage of his height, said, "Take it yourself."

Jiang Xia tried her best to reach out, but she couldn't reach it no matter what. Helpless, she had no choice but to grit her teeth and stand up by holding onto the bookshelf on one side. But Ruan Muhuai also held the folder in his hand high above his head.

She gritted her teeth in anger: "Ruan Muhuai!"

"What are you pretending to be ignorant of the law for? It's illegal to investigate someone behind their back without permission! Even if you're married, it's not allowed!" Jiang Xia's face was extremely cold with anger. As she spoke, she caught a glimpse of a book on the bookshelf out of the corner of her eye, pulled it out, and threw it at him.

"Open your eyes and look carefully! Study the Fa properly!"

Then, Ruan Muhuai, who was then handed the torture tablet, was left speechless.

His brows furrowed as he walked toward her, returning the criminal law document to the bookshelf. Using his height, he pressed her against his chest and the bookshelf, lowering his head to speak, their breaths mingling intimately.

Why are you so agitated? What, are you hiding a secret?

A casual remark struck Jiang Xia's heart with deadly accuracy.

Her evasive eyes quickly lowered, her long eyelashes perfectly concealing the turmoil in them. "A secret?"

Jiang Xia let out a cold laugh.

But in that instant, she suddenly realized that Ruan Muhuai probably didn't know anything yet, otherwise he would never have asked such a question.

With that, Jiang Xia felt more confident and looked him straight in the eye again: "Who doesn't have embarrassing stories or secrets from their childhood? You know what you know, but don't try to threaten me with those old, trivial things."

Just some embarrassing thing from childhood?

Ruan Muhuai lowered his gaze questioningly, "What kind of person were you before?"

Jiang Xia: "..."

The question is irrelevant and doesn't make sense.

She looked at him carefully, puzzled: "Are you alright?"

Ruan Muhuai withdrew his gaze unhappily, grabbed Jiang Xia's wrist, and pressed her back into the wheelchair. While pushing her around the bookshelf, he continued his thoughts: "You weren't a bookworm when you were little, were you?"

Considering Jiang Xia's illustrious resume from childhood to adulthood, Ruan Muhuai couldn't quite picture what Jiang Xia was like back then; he could only vaguely recall...

An introverted girl who is always diligently studying, doing practice problems and memorizing, doesn't make friends, is very unsociable, and is easily overlooked.

This is probably why Jiang Xia was unwilling to let him investigate, and why, after so many years of marriage, she has never mentioned her original intentions.

Jiang Xia sneered and, instead of answering, retorted with a question: "What's it to you?"

Ruan Muhuai took a deep breath and, having already pushed her into the open office area, released the wheelchair. "Don't make me remind you, we're still husband and wife."

Jiangxia ignored him.

Her doubts had long been dispelled, and she was no longer in the mood to waste any more energy arguing with him. She pressed her wheelchair and prepared to leave.

"Did something happen to you when you were a child in the orphanage?" Ruan Muhuai's question interrupted Jiang Xia's attempt to leave.

She turned her head to look at him expressionlessly: "Why do you ask that?"

Because during her post-operative delirium, she mistook him for her father and thought she had a younger sister, repeatedly saying... "Dad, don't hurt my sister."

There must be something hidden here.

Ruan Muhuai didn't mention any of that. He just leaned against his desk and looked at her with interest: "If you don't want me to investigate you, then tell me the truth."

That's it again.

Jiang Xia was extremely annoyed. After a long while, she finally let out a sigh: "Do I really have to know?"

Ruan Muhuai didn't speak, but he could see the struggle in Jiang Xia's heart. There must be a secret she was ashamed to tell.

Over the years, the two of them have never had a proper conversation. In the past, their conversations always revolved around their son, and they always ended up arguing without getting to the bottom of it.

Now that he had a basic understanding of Jiang Xia's past, like a gap that had been torn open, why not take this opportunity to talk things out all at once?

With this in mind, Ruan Muhuai walked around the desk and came to the wheelchair again. He even condescended to squat down in front of her, and his voice softened considerably, though the words he uttered were still as harsh as ever.

"You need to understand that there are many things that I can't hide from you unless I don't want to. Jiang Xia, you can choose not to tell me, but the final result will definitely not be what you want."

Jiang Xia looked at him with annoyance and disappointment. Through his gaze, it seemed as if she was looking at someone in the distance, or as if she was peering into the depths of a distant memory.

"Do you know what poverty feels like? It's being poor and having no one to rely on."

"I used to be like this. I don't remember when it started, but I guess it was after I could remember things. No one was obligated to support me or pay for my education. The only person I could rely on was myself."

If Jiang Xia hadn't been so disappointed in him that she had lost all love and her heart was dead, she would never have been able to say these words. It wasn't that she wanted to hide them, but rather... she felt too inferior in front of the person she liked.

Before marriage, Jiang Xia worked so hard and saved a lot of money, but the most expensive clothes she wore never cost more than 500 yuan.

She's never even tried Australian lobster or king crab, let alone the common roadside crayfish.

For her, childhood was not only nonexistent, but also far too long.

"So I can't save anyone, and I can't help anyone... Someone died in the orphanage before, they said he died of illness, but who can tell who really died and who didn't?"

After saying this, Jiang Xia didn't look at Ruan Muhuai again, and wheeled herself around him and left the study.

Ruan Muhuai slowly stood up, and suddenly understood everything.

Although he couldn't experience it firsthand, he understood Jiangxia.

But I can't help but look at it with new respect...

"What kind of depression could Jiang Xia have? You're overthinking it!"

Not long ago, when he was drinking with Pei Li, he casually mentioned that Jiang Xia had been diagnosed with severe depressive tendencies. Since Pei Li's girlfriend had depression and committed suicide last year, no one knew about this condition better than Pei Li.

Pei Li, holding a wine glass and a cigarette, was uncharacteristically serious: "To be honest, almost everyone has a tendency to be depressed. When you're in a bad mood, you can become melancholic."

"But how could your sister-in-law be like that? You haven't made sure she's short of money."

But in reality, that's not the case.

(End of this chapter)