Chapter 808 - Please Divorce My Brother (2)
Chapter 808 - Please Divorce My Brother (2)
Li Meili wasn't expecting that Tang Moyu and her little buns would visit her unannounced today. Zhang Jiren had left that morning when he received a phone call from Zhang Xianzhe, summoning him to come to the Zhang mansion at once. She was worried that the Zhang family would blame him for their upcoming divorce and would force him to do something more from this marriage.
While it's true that Li Meili had given her husband her shares at Li Group, giving Zhang Jiren an advantage and opening to join her family business, Li Meili had no idea that Zhang Jiren wasn't interested in it one bit, and had decided to pass it on her young daughter's name.
"Moyu, what brought you here?" she asked her best friend while the twins tried to make Leyan laugh who was seated on her l.a.p. Li Meili adjusted her daughter as Leyan squealed in glee seeing her cousins' funny faces.
"I haven't seen you and Leyan for a while, that's why," Tang Moyu answered, watching her friend intently. Had Li Meili somehow noticed the changes in Zhang Jiren these days? She wished that these two would be on the same page and admit that they truly cared about each other. It was time for Li Meili and Zhang Jiren to admit that what they had was not based on their contractual marriage anymore.
Li Meili allowed Elder Lan and her family's housekeeper to take away Leyan to give her a bath and feed her while she accompanied her guest. The Tang twins followed after their young cousin, curious to see how babies were being taken care of by their elders. They thought that watching Leyan would give them an idea about babies.
"What's with Xiao Bao and Little Star? Aren't they overly curious about Leyan? I have never seen them act like that before." Li Meili chuckled as she watched the twins murmuring in low voices as they followed their elders.
"That's because we're expecting another child, Meili," Tang Moyu answered with a slight smile. "I'm pregnant."
Li Meili's eyes widened in surprise before she rose from her seat to give her friend a hug.
"Oh, my! Congratulations! This is really good news," She told the empress. "I'm sure Feng Tianyi was ecstatic with the news," she said before returning to her seat, content upon seeing that her best friend was finally living a life she deserved.
"That he was. He's been doting on me more these days. It's hard to convince him to calm down," Tang Moyu said in response. "What about you and Zhang Jiren? The time limit you set for this marriage is running out, isn't it?" she asked her friend, not missing how the smile on Li Meili's face faltered and her mood dampened by her question.
"Jiren has already prepared for it," Li Meili said in a low voice, her eyes avoiding her friend's curious gaze.
"Meili, are you sure this is what you wanted? You really want to divorce him now? What about you and Leyan?" Tang Moyu's patience was already running thin seeing Li Meili trying to ignore and acknowledge the feelings she obviously had now with Zhang Jiren.
"I was the one who asked him to enter a contractual marriage with me. What right do I have to stop him from divorcing me?" The Black Nightingale tried to reason out, but it was futile as Tang Moyu already knew what was happening between her and Zhang Jiren.
How could the empress pretend not to know what Li Meili was thinking? How could she ignore the fact that the sole reason why Zhang Jiren wanted to divorce her this early was to spare her in case his treatments didn't end well?
One was denying her feelings for her husband, while the other didn't have the courage to fight for the happiness he also deserved. Tang Moyu loved Li Meili and her twin brother, but right now, they were giving her headaches, constantly worrying about them. If they loved each other, why couldn't they just admit it rather than jump into baseless assumptions about each other.
"Meili, for someone who's good at giving advice to her friends, you surely don't know how to deal with your own problems," the empress sighed dejectedly.
Li Meili blinked twice at that but understood what Tang Moyu was implying. Was she really that obvious? She wondered. But Zhang Jiren had already voiced out his intention to get divorced. Thinking about it, what kind of logical reason could she give if he was to ask her why she didn't want to end their marriage?
"Haven't you wasted enough time running away from Beixuan before because you accepted the glaring truth that you love him? Do you really have to do this and lose Zhang Jiren the same way, Meili?"
That wasn't something Li Meili expected to hear from her best friend. Her lips quivered, eyes looked away in shame. It wasn't surprising that Tang Moyu knew what was going on in her mind, but for her to understand how she felt for Zhang Jiren… this…
'Don't tell me I am in love with my husband?' She thought which immediately stunned her once she realized the implications of her recent thoughts she had for Zhang Jiren.
"I—" Li Meili was rendered speechless. How could she miss it? Now that Tang Moyu mentioned it, wasn't this almost the same as what happened to her and Beixuan a long time ago? The only difference was that Tang Beixuan persistently pursued her while Zhang Jiren's unwavering support and presence was what drew her into him.
Tang Moyu noticed the sudden change on Li Meili's face and wondered if her friend had finally realized it. However, it wouldn't be enough for her. It was one thing for Li Meili to acknowledge her feelings, but as Zhang Jiren's elder sister, Tang Moyu needed to protect him this time. She pulled out the folder she brought with her and passed it to Li Meili
Li Meili furrowed her brows in confusion, not understanding what this was about. She opened the folder, her eyes widening as she read the first page of the doc.u.ment. It was the divorce papers Zhang Jiren mentioned earlier, and he already signed his part.
She felt her heart sink, her eyes glimmered in tears as she realized that Zhang Jiren was really letting her go.
"Meili, I know I shouldn't get involved with your affairs, but I cannot bear to see him suffer any longer," Tang Moyu said, which confused the hell out of Li Meili. "If you don't love him nor feel a single thing for him in return, please divorce my brother."
Just as Li Meili thought she heard enough, what Tang Moyu called Zhang Jiren caught her off guard. What did Tang Moyu mean by that? Did she just call Zhang Jiren her brother?
"Meili, I already lost Beixuan, and you know how much regret I have knowing I wasn't able to protect him— to care for him when he was still alive. Zhang Jiren...." She paused and looked at her friend, straight in her eyes.
"He's my supposedly dead twin brother. You might be wondering why he was missing for a few weeks now and thinking that he was seeing another woman, but that's not the case." Tang Moyu was visibly pained as she thought about her brother.
"He's sick, Meili and could be dying."