Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

  Her initial plan was not to let Fang Shiyou, his mother, and his mistress lead comfortable lives. But she had not thought it through and had left such a huge gap for Fang Shiyou to take advantage of!

  Thankfully, there was still time. Fang Shiyou had not agreed. Besides, her verbal agreement was not legally binding, and she did not have to take responsibility for that. At that time, Xu Shengnan had to thank Fang Shiyou for his greed. If Fang Shiyou had agreed to it straight away, all her efforts would have gone to waste, and she would have helped Fang Shiyou and his mistress.

  With this new direction, Xu Shengnan immediately contacted her lawyer. Actually, the lawyer had considered this too, but he could not tell whether Xu Shengnan was trying to let Fang Shiyou off easily, or whether she was trying to save Fang Shiyou some dignity.

  Once he received Xu Shengnan’s call, the lawyer knew that Xu Shengnan was different from those softhearted women that he had met in the past. When Xu Shengnan talked about divorce, she was sure about it. It was not just a pretense.

  Even if Fang Shiyou caved in to Xu Shengnan’s request due to pressure, then changed his mind, Xu Shengnan would not agree. Even though the lawyer was a man, in such a situation, he was unwilling to help Fang Shiyou either. The only thing he admired was Xu Shengnan’s attitude.

  “All right, we’ll do it that way. I’ll contact the other party’s lawyer and relay your stand. This should indeed be done in this way. We have to be clear whether we intend to leave any room for the other party. Otherwise, it will only be to our disadvantage.”

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  “Okay. Thank you.” Xu Shengnan breathed out a sigh of relief.

  Once both parties confirmed it, Xu Shengnan’s lawyer immediately made a phone call to Fang Shiyou’s lawyer to tell him about Xu Shengnan’s decision. Since they had not reached an agreement earlier, those terms could not be legally recognized. Fang Shiyou’s lawyer had no choice but to accept Xu Shengnan’s change in her decision.

  Anyway, he had already done his best to help Fang Shiyou as his lawyer. It was Fang Shiyou who was too foolish and greedy to not accept such a good deal. Fang Shiyou had sabotaged himself. He had no one else to blame.

  Knowing that Fang Shiyou would not stand to gain anything from the divorce settlement whether they went to court or not, the lawyer reluctantly conveyed Xu Shengnan’s words to Fang Shiyou to mentally prepare Fang Shiyou. “Mr. Fang, I’ll say it again. In this marriage, you are the party at fault. Madam Xu has solid evidence of you cheating on her. If you really go to court, you don’t even stand a chance of winning. If you want to achieve your goal and get the most out of this, there’s only one way, which is to get Madam Xu’s approval.”

  “Of course, you’re always welcome to try it out with another lawyer.”

  “Scram!” Knowing that he would not be able to get the house, and possibly not even twenty percent of the valuation of the property, Fang Shiyou’s face turned pale. He smashed the phone down and shouted at the lawyer rudely.

  After hanging up the call, Fang Shiyou still could not give up. This lawyer was too useless. He could not even remember who had recommended such an unreliable lawyer to him. That would not do. He would find another lawyer.

  Fang Shiyou did not dare to delay any further as he was afraid that Xu Shengnan would act faster than him, causing him to lose out. What made Fang Shiyou vomit blood was that he had consulted several renowned lawyers, but every single one of them told him that there was no way he would win if they were to fight this case.

  It was logical for Xu Shengnan to receive more than eighty percent of the property valuation. Based on the fact that Fang Shiyou had been the cheating party, it was not impossible for Xu Shengnan to ask for compensation by taking ninety percent of it! After all, the couple still had a child. As long as the child was willing to remain in Xu Shengnan’s custody, whether Xu Shengnan received ninety or a hundred percent of the property would depend only on how capable her lawyer was.

  In short, as long as they were going to fight a case and Fang Shiyou angered Xu Shengnan, the money he got would only decrease. If Fang Shiyou wanted to fight for the custody of their daughter, the lawyer told Fang Shiyou that he was unlikely to win that either.

  Usually, children had better relationships with their mothers, and the Fang family was unlikely to be an exception. Secondly, Fang Shiyou’s cheating showed that he was irresponsible and did not care for his family. Since Fang Shiyou already had another woman and a child outside of the marriage, the judge would have to consider whether his elder daughter would still be treated fairly and be loved after his other child was born. No matter what, he would not be able to devote himself to his daughter like Xu Shengnan could.

  The most fatal point was that both Fang Shiyou and his mother valued boys over girls. Once this was made known in court, everyone would know that Fang Shiyou was getting a divorce from Xu Shengnan because of the boy in his mistress’ stomach. Then, there would be no doubt that the custody of their daughter would be awarded to Xu Shengnan.

  If he could not gain custody of his child, he could dream on about the house. Their child belonged to the two of them. Fang Shiyou still had the obligation to contribute to raising her. This would not change because of Xu Shengnan’s resolute attitude toward the house. Fang Shiyou had to consider all these aspects carefully ahead of time.

  All in all, there was nothing Fang Shiyou could gain from this divorce apart from the son that was in his mistress’ stomach. But once a man was blinded by beauty, and even had a son along with that, the lawyer felt that he had done the best he could by reminding him.

  Under such circumstances, there was no way Fang Shiyou could turn back.

  For some men, it was not that they were determined, but they simply did not know when to turn back. Only when they choked on the waters of the Yellow River and were on the verge of death would they come to their senses about how fortunate they were not to be in the river.

  To get such an answer after all his efforts, Fang Shiyou felt as though he had aged by ten years overnight.

  Seeing her son in this situation, Mother Fang asked out of concern, “What’s with you? You’ve been in a bad mood the whole day. Is it because Xu Shengnan is unwilling to get a divorce? I knew it. Xu Shengnan is no good thing. She wants to see our Fang family die without any descendants to continue our line. You can’t be softhearted about this. The one you’re keeping outside is already pregnant. I can’t let my grandson be illegitimate!”

  When she did not have a grandson, a granddaughter would suffice, but just barely. Now that she had a grandson, her granddaughter would only be a waste of money to the family. Mother Fang was not going to tolerate Fang Ling Ling.

  “Shiyou, listen to me. You must not be softhearted toward Xu Shengnan and Ling Ling. Remember that you’re about to have a son!”