After My Divorce, I Watched My Ex-Wife Lose Everything While I Rose to the Top - Chapter 1:

Chapter 1: Returning Home Late at Night, His Wife Disheveled.

The night was thick as ink, and the clock hand slipped quietly past 2 a.m. In the corridor on the sixteenth floor of Linjiang Garden, motion-sensor lights flickered on one by one with the sound of footsteps, revealing a tall, straight figure.

Jiang Yi dragged his silver suitcase to a stop in front of Room 1601, exhaustion from days of constant travel weighing heavily in his eyes. What had been planned as a three-day business trip had been abruptly compressed into two due to a sudden change in the partner’s schedule. He rubbed his aching temples and deliberately softened his movements as he took out his keys from his suit pocket… at this hour, Shu Jin should already be asleep.

The lock turned with a faint click. Jiang Yi left the suitcase outside and stepped into the apartment, carrying only a paper bag with a luxury brand logo. Inside was a new handbag he had hurriedly picked out for Shu Jin at the airport. He remembered how she had stared at it for a long time while scrolling through her social media last month.

The entryway light turned on.

Out of habit, he bent down and looked at the first compartment on the left side of the shoe cabinet… that was where he always kept his slippers, unchanged for five years of marriage. But now, it was empty. The dark wooden surface was spotless, without even a trace of dust.

Jiang Yi froze. His gaze slowly swept across the entryway.

In the far right corner of the shoe cabinet, a pair of unfamiliar men’s casual shoes lay crooked. Dry mud clung to them, the laces hanging loose… a style that had never appeared in this home before.

His brows tightened sharply. His fingers clenched unconsciously, crushing deep creases into the paper bag handle.

At that moment, the bedroom door was suddenly pulled open.

“Hubby? Why… why are you back early?”

Shu Jin stumbled out of the bedroom, her silk nightdress slipping off her shoulder to her elbow. The neckline hung askew, exposing a wide stretch of her collarbone. She hurriedly tried to tidy her disheveled hair, a few strands sticking to her sweat-damp forehead. When her eyes landed on Jiang Yi’s motionless figure, she froze, her fingers tightening unconsciously around the hem of her nightdress.

Jiang Yi stood still.

A strange scent of cologne lingered in the air… cheap, artificial, clashing harshly with the familiar cedar fragrance of their home. It made his temples throb.

His gaze swept over his wife’s flushed cheeks before settling on the half-closed bedroom door. His voice came out low and distant, rough from exhaustion, “The flight was changed.”

Shu Jin stepped closer in small, hesitant steps and reached for the paper bag in his hand, “Why didn’t you tell me earlier? I didn’t even go to the airport to pick you up…”

As she approached, the unfamiliar scent grew stronger. Jiang Yi noticed two faint creases at the side of her waist, as if someone had gripped her tightly.

He avoided her hand and gently placed the paper bag on the entryway counter. The metal clasp tapped against the marble surface with a crisp sound.

“I’m tired.” He bent down to untie his shoelaces, his gaze sweeping once more toward the unfamiliar shoes in the corner, “Go to sleep first.”

Shu Jin followed his gaze, and her face instantly paled. She nudged the shoes awkwardly with her toe, forcing a light tone into her voice, “Th… those are… my cousin’s. He came by during the day to borrow something. It rained, so his shoes got wet, and he changed into another pair…”

Jiang Yi straightened up, the collar of his dark gray shirt slightly open. Two days of nonstop negotiations had not worn him down, yet now his throat felt tight.

He looked at her shifting eyes and suddenly remembered how she had told him during yesterday’s video call that she missed him so much she couldn’t sleep.

Now she stood before him… her nightdress disordered, her breathing uneven, suspicion clinging to her entire being.

“Cousin?” His voice was soft, like a snowflake falling onto a frozen lake.

Shu Jin twisted her fingers, the rhinestones on her manicured nails scattering faint glimmers under the light, “Y… yes, from my mom’s side. A distant relative. You’ve met him before at a family gathering…”

Jiang Yi said nothing.

He remembered clearly that all of Shu Jin’s relatives lived back in their hometown. The closest cousin was still in high school.

He turned and walked toward the living room. The leather sofa reflected a cold sheen under the dim light. On the glass coffee table sat two wine glasses… one of them bearing a faint, smeared lip print.

Shu Jin followed closely behind, reaching out to tug at his sleeve, “Hubby, are you hungry? I’ll make you a bowl of noodles…”

“No need.” Jiang Yi shifted slightly to avoid her, his gaze drifting toward the tightly closed master bedroom door, “I’ll sleep in the guest room.”

That single sentence threw Shu Jin into complete panic. She grabbed his wrist, her fingertips cold, “Why sleep in the guest room? Are you angry? Just because my cousin stayed the night?”

Jiang Yi lowered his eyes to the hand gripping his wrist.

He had held this hand countless times before. The wedding ring on her ring finger had been personally designed by him. Yet now, the cold touch sent a chill through his chest.

“I’m tired.” He repeated quietly, gently pulling his hand free, “I still have to go to the company tomorrow.”

Without another word, he walked straight to the guest room. He didn’t look back as he closed the door.

Shu Jin stood alone in the center of the living room, her thin nightdress clinging to her trembling body. Only after the guest room door clicked shut did she collapse onto the sofa as if all her strength had been drained away, her eyes filled with unease as she stared toward the master bedroom.

Meanwhile… on the other side of the door…

Jiang Yi leaned against the cold door panel, standing still. His phone screen lit up faintly in the darkness. In his recent contacts, the name Qin Feng sat quietly at the top.

He remembered how, before leaving for his trip, Shu Jin had clung to him, saying she was afraid to stay home alone. Because of that, he had specially installed a new smart doorbell at the entrance.

Now, the app icon sat silently on his phone screen.

Outside the window, the city lights burned through the night without rest. Jiang Yi stood in the shadow of the curtains in the guest room, his fingers unconsciously brushing against the edge of his phone.

The unfamiliar shoes in the entryway… the lingering scent in the air… Shu Jin’s unusual panic…

Every detail screamed a possibility he refused to face.

The night was still long.

And something he had always believed in was quietly beginning to crack in the silence of this calm night.