Chapter 1

Late at night.

The sky looked as though it had been pierced, with bolts of lightning tearing through the previously pitch-black night. After several flashes, a torrential downpour followed, startling Tang Ruan awake from her sleep.

Outside, it was completely dark, except for the courtyard lights still shining. Inside the room, the occasional flicker of lightning seeped through the not-fully-drawn curtains, casting faint illumination across the otherwise pitch-black space.

Lying in bed, Tang Ruan opened her eyes and blinked. After taking in the layout of the room in the dim light, she let out a soft sigh and murmured to herself, “Still the same.”

Three days ago, Tang Ruan woke up to find her world completely different. She wasn’t lying on her narrow, hard bed, nor did she hear the squeaky hum of her old fan. And this certainly wasn’t her cramped 10-square-meter rental apartment.

Now, she was lying on a luxurious bed with a soft mattress and silky, comfortable bedding that was worlds apart from the cheap set she had bought online. In the morning, sunlight streamed into the room, providing irrefutable proof that this place was nothing like her original world.

After a morning spent piecing things together, Tang Ruan realized she had transmigrated into a novel she had read, After Divorcing the Wealthy Husband. Even more shockingly, she had become the very woman who divorces said wealthy husband.

The novel, After Divorcing the Wealthy Husband, was something Tang Ruan had stumbled upon three months ago. She wasn’t someone with grand hobbies, but she did enjoy reading novels. From middle school through college, and even after starting work, novels had been her way of passing time and escaping into fantasies—such as becoming the beloved daughter of a wealthy family or marrying a tall, handsome, and rich husband who adored her.

Of course—

These dreams were always out of reach in her reality.

In her real world, neither of those things was remotely achievable.

–

When she first read the novel, it was the title and synopsis that piqued her curiosity. The author, with concise language, promised readers the “happy” life of a divorced woman. Coincidentally, the protagonist in the novel shared her name: Tang Ruan.

It wasn’t an uncommon name, so Tang Ruan didn’t think much of it. She only felt pity for the character, lamenting how two people with the same name could lead such vastly different lives.

In the novel, Tang Ruan was born into a loving and wealthy family. Her parents were successful businesspeople, with wealth that could be described as boundless. She had everything she could ever want, servants at her beck and call, a private car to take her to school, and even gourmet meals delivered to her during lunch. Her life was one of extravagant luxury.

However, things took a turn when her family faced a major upheaval. Her father’s company was taken over by an outsider, and after a series of investment failures, her father took his own life by jumping off a building. Her mother followed a month later.

At the time, Tang Ruan had thought the fictional character’s life bore a faint resemblance to her own—at least in the sense of losing her parents.

From then on, the novel’s Tang Ruan faced a complete reversal of fortune. With both her parents gone, she was taken in by her current husband’s family. If memory served, the novel mentioned that her father had once helped her husband’s grandfather, which led the family to take her in after her own family’s downfall.

This arrangement even led to an absurd marriage of convenience: the plan was for her to marry Ji Jing after she graduated.

At the time, Tang Ruan was deeply grateful to the Ji family for helping her in her darkest hour. So, when they suggested she marry Ji Jing, she didn’t refuse—even though she didn’t love him.

Later, when she found her true love, she ask for a divorce every day. Ji Jing, who had known of her resistance to the marriage from the very beginning, never forced himself on her. Their relationship lacked love, and their union was merely a way to appease the family elders and fulfill his grandfather’s promise.

Tang Ruan’s antics eventually wore Ji Jing down, and after a period of chaos, he agreed to the divorce. Tang Ruan left with a substantial alimony and ran off with her younger lover.

But her story didn’t end well. After leaving with her younger lover, the man scammed her and ran off with her money. Tang Ruan stopped reading after that. What she had thought would be a satisfying revenge story turned out to be unbearably frustrating.

Later, Tang Ruan had angrily left a comment under the novel, stating that if she were the protagonist, she wouldn’t be so foolish.

At the time, many people replied to her post, asking how she would handle things differently. Would she cling tightly to her wealthy husband and never let go?

Her response back then had been clear: Absolutely not. She would get a divorce, take the alimony, and live a carefree and independent life. She’d go wherever she wanted, buy whatever she liked, and enjoy her freedom.

This had been her greatest wish as someone who had spent over twenty years in poverty.

Now that she had actually become the Tang Ruan in the novel, she couldn’t help but sigh. If only she had finished reading that book, she might have known what ultimately happened to the protagonist.

–

Tang Ruan turned over in bed, her thoughts drifting, when suddenly the sound of a car reached her from downstairs.

She froze for a moment, instinctively glancing at the clock beside her. It was 2 a.m.—the middle of the night.

Pausing, she strained her ears to listen but didn’t get up.

…

The faint sounds outside her room continued intermittently.

“Young master is back. Did you get wet in the rain? Do you need—” Butler Li’s voice carried on, as meticulous and nagging as one might expect from a seasoned housekeeper.

“I’m fine,” came a deep, magnetic male voice, the kind that lingered in the ear.

“Would you like to take a bath and rest first, young master?”

Ji Jing stopped in his tracks, casually lifting his eyelids. Even under the dim corridor light, with his clothes soaked through, he exuded a natural air of elegance and poise.

Butler Li hesitated, waiting for his response.

Ji Jing glanced toward a particular room and asked in a low voice, “What about her?”

Hearing this, Butler Li instinctively looked toward the tightly shut door across the hallway and replied softly, “The young madam went to bed early.”

“How has she been these past few days?”

Butler Li pondered for a moment before answering honestly, “Not much different from usual, though…”

“Though?”

“As your servant, I wouldn’t hide anything from you, young master,” Butler Li explained. “The young madam seems to be in a low mood lately. She’s been staying home all the time, eating very little, and generally seems unhappy.”

“She hasn’t been causing trouble?”

By “causing trouble,” he was referring to her usual demands for a divorce.

At this, Tang Ruan suddenly remembered that this was the point in the story when she and Ji Jing had been married for six months. This was also when the original Tang Ruan met her “young lover” and fell head over heels for him. She had then started demanding a divorce from Ji Jing.

At that time, Ji Jing hadn’t agreed to the divorce. Although he didn’t love Tang Ruan, she was still his legitimate wife, and now some unknown man had captured her attention and put him in a humiliating position. What man could tolerate such a thing?

Ji Jing’s initial refusal to divorce had led to the original Tang Ruan’s subsequent tantrums and increasingly erratic behavior. Eventually, after Ji Jing had reached his limit, he agreed to the divorce. Given her father’s past ties to the Ji family, the divorce settlement was extremely generous, leaving Tang Ruan with a substantial sum of money.

Listening to the fading footsteps outside her door, Tang Ruan rubbed her temples in frustration.

How could it be such a coincidence that she’d transmigrated into the story at this exact moment? A little earlier or later would have been better. But it was too late to complain now—she needed to come up with a plan to get a divorce and secure that hefty settlement.

She definitely wanted the divorce. Spending her life with a stranger was simply unbearable. And the thought of that enormous alimony? She couldn’t resist. As someone who had been poor her entire previous life, her biggest wish had always been to become rich overnight. Now that she finally had the chance, there was no way she was letting it slip by.

However, Tang Ruan didn’t intend to follow the original protagonist’s strategy. The thought of pretending to be in love and playing the role of a doting wife was something she just couldn’t do. Besides, Ji Jing had never wronged her, and she felt it was only fair to leave him with some dignity. No need to slap him with the metaphorical “green hat^[1]“Green hat” is a Chinese idiom that refers to a man whose wife is cheating on him, symbolizing the humiliation of being cuckolded.” of infidelity.

Excluding that option, the only method left was to cause trouble.

Tang Ruan recalled all the online posts she’d seen before, where men complained about their overly dramatic and demanding girlfriends. Perhaps she could do some research and figure out how to “act out” just enough to make Ji Jing want to leave her.

With her plan forming, Tang Ruan wrapped herself in her comfortable quilt and drifted back to sleep, the rain providing a soothing backdrop.

–

By morning, after a night of rain, the fragrance of flowers filled the air as soon as she opened the window. The previously unopened buds in the courtyard had bloomed overnight. Tang Ruan got up before the servants arrived and tidied herself up.

Dressed in simple casual clothes and without any makeup, she went downstairs. Just as she reached the staircase, her eyes met the impeccably dressed man seated at the dining table.

Tang Ruan’s eyelashes fluttered as she instinctively looked away.

The man’s gaze was too intense—deep and unreadable, like a bottomless pool. It felt as though he could see right through her, stripping away every layer of her thoughts.

Ji Jing was known for his strict routine. No matter how late he went to bed, he always rose at six, went out for a jog, returned at seven to shower, and then came downstairs for breakfast. The author had mentioned this detail before.

Seeing it firsthand, Tang Ruan realized the author hadn’t exaggerated in the slightest. This man had returned home at 2 a.m. last night, yet by 7:30, he was already composed and full of energy.

Before she could reach the dining area, Butler Li’s voice rang out, “Young madam is awake. What would you like to eat today?”

Still lost in thought about Ji Jing’s piercing gaze, Tang Ruan blurted out without thinking, “A jianbing guozi^[2]Jianbing guozi is chinese pancake made with a thin batter, egg, and various fillings. set, please.”

This had been her staple breakfast during her working days—affordable, filling, and utterly delicious. She ate it five out of seven days a week and considered it a true culinary treasure.

Butler Li: “…”

Ji Jing: “…”

Author’s Note: When poor: “I swear I’ll never eat jianbing guozi again. I’m so sick of it.”
As a wealthy woman: “I miss street food and jianbing guozi. It’s irresistible.”