My Alleged Husband

Chapter 291 - 271 Can’t Live_1

Xia Jing, because of her own lie, angered Zhang Zhentian and drove him out from their home, yet she didn’t think she was wrong. Instead, she believed that it was Zhang Zhentian who was being petty.

After Zhang Zhentian left his own home, he constantly reflected on himself. Had all he done for Xia Jing been worth it? Looking back, he realized that to be with Xia Jing, he had done so many things to disappoint his father, so many unsatisfactory things. He had recklessly been with her, forsaking everything else. But what was the result? A series of lies? If that was indeed the case, why did he insist on keeping her by his side, making neither of them happy? Was this really the outcome he wanted? For Xia Jing’s sake, he had abandoned his entire inheritance, his rights to succession. But in return, Xia Jing was not grateful but instead hurt him again and again. She used their marriage as a bargaining chip in her tests, committing countless outrageous acts to test their relationship. He had tolerated it all, merely because he didn’t want her to leave him. In Zhang Zhentian’s heart, he felt that as long as he could always see his wife, he would be satisfied. He didn’t care what harm she did to him or what wrongs she committed; he only cared that the woman he loved the most was by his side every day.

"Should I really give up on everything? Was everything I’ve done so far in vain?" muttered Zhang Zhentian to himself.

Having pondered alone for a very long time, he eventually decided to return home. His return was not to reconcile with Xia Jing, nor to show weakness, but to make a significant decision—he wanted to divorce Xia Jing!

He believed he had given so much for the woman he loved and received nothing in return. With not even a single sincere word of thanks, he didn’t want to continue living a life worse than death. He had thought that as long as he could watch over his beloved by his side, he could give up everything. But now he realized that such a thing was, in fact, impossible.

When Xia Jing saw Zhang Zhentian return home, she thought it was because Zhang Zhentian realized his mistake and shouldn’t have pressed her to tell him the whole truth. She assumed that Zhang Zhentian had returned home to apologize to her. However, she never expected that her husband’s return was not to apologize but, instead, to part with her forever!

"What’s the matter? Gone for such a long time and you finally deign to come back. Have you realized your mistake? You must think you were wrong to pressure me into revealing the truth, so you’ve come back to apologize to me, right?" Xia Jing thought Zhang Zhentian had come back to apologize, and she spoke to her husband in a reluctantly tolerant manner.

Zhang Zhentian didn’t expect that Xia Jing would fail to recognize her mistake in this issue and still act as if he was the one in the wrong, which only strengthened his resolve.

"Oh, why should I apologize to you? Could it be that I’ve done something wrong?" Zhang Zhentian countered Xia Jing.

"If you clearly knew you were wrong and wanted to come back to apologize to me, why didn’t you just say so? Why beat around the bush? I wouldn’t laugh at you for admitting a mistake. A mistake is a mistake, so what’s there to be embarrassed about? Don’t you think it was wrong of you to pressure me into revealing the truth that hurt our feelings for each other? It has happened already, and I won’t blame you. As long as you honestly admit your error, we can still have a happy life together. Why wouldn’t you want that?"

Zhang Zhentian could hardly believe that these were the words his beloved woman was saying to him. Why should all the blame be laid on him? Was he destined to take the fall for her his whole life? Hadn’t he already taken enough blame for his wife? Why should he take the blame for this issue, too, when the mistake was so clearly hers? Didn’t she realize it was her fault?

"Sorry, but I didn’t come back to admit I was wrong. There’s something important I need to tell you!"

"If you have something to say, just say it. Don’t hem and haw here. If you’re a real man, say it straight out. Beating around the bush is pointless!"

"Since you put it that way, I won’t stand on ceremony with you. I’ll come straight to the point. I think we’re no longer suitable to continue living together..." Zhang Zhentian finally spoke the words that were in his heart, waiting for Xia Jing’s response.

Upon hearing her husband utter such words, Xia Jing thought Zhang Zhentian was joking with her. She believed that Zhang Zhentian could never leave her, no matter what. How could he possibly say something about divorce to her?

"Are you joking with me? After over a decade of marriage, who doesn’t know that Zhang Zhentian is a man who can’t live without me, Xia Jing? Are you saying this to prove something to me today? To prove that you can live without me, or do you have some other purpose?"

"You’re right. We’ve been married for over a decade, and everyone knows that there was never a moment when I, Zhang Zhentian, could leave you, Xia Jing. But is it because of this that you think I can’t spend the rest of my life without you? We’ve weathered many storms together, endured great hardships, and we’ve survived them all. But today, I truly can’t go on living with you anymore. What you’ve done this time has deeply disappointed me. I can’t accept the lies, one after another. I could overlook all the lies you’ve told me before, but not this one. You even lied about your own health to deceive your loved ones. Why should I desperately cling on, keeping you tied to my side, depriving you of your freedom? Maybe what you want isn’t me but the freedom you envision. Since you yearn for freedom so much, I’ll give it to you. Go chase your freedom, live the rest of your life with it, and find another man willing to pursue that freedom with you. I have no objections to it all, as long as we’re completely divorced. Our respective weddings and funerals will have nothing to do with each other. Then, won’t everyone be happy?"

"You can’t possibly be saying this because you have a woman on the side and you want to get rid of me quickly to bring your mistress home, can you? Don’t delude yourself. That’s never going to happen. I will never let you bring that mistress into the Zhang Family. Even if I must die, I will die here, and my epitaph will read ’Wife of Zhang Zhentian.’ I will never let you get rid of me in this lifetime. So stop trying to shake me off; it’s futile and won’t change my determination to spend my life with you!"