After belittling his wife as useless and confined to the kitchen, a husband was left reeling by a devastating counter-blow from the woman who held the reins of their entire multi-million-dollar empire
In a certain poor city, in a certain street corner, where dilapidated corrugated-iron-roofed houses endured biting winds that cut through the skin on freezing winter nights, the memory of those impoverished days was once the only thread holding two people together. Back then, he was merely a penniless man, holding grand ambitions but having limited talent, constantly stumbling and drowning in piles of debt after every failed business venture. It was this very wife who silently stepped out of the shadows, gritting her teeth to take on three or four jobs at once from early dawn until late at night. She cast aside all pride, sold every family keepsake, and even went without food and proper clothing just to pool every drop of sweat-earned money to pay off his debts, while staying up countless nights to write out every strategic draft and revise every initial business contract to help him take his very first tentative steps in the marketplace.
Yet, when the halo of glory surrounded him, when designer suits embraced his once-tattered body, the memory of the mud was quickly crushed and cast into the past by him. He began to change. He looked at his wife with a gaze of contempt, treating her silent sacrifice as something natural, the duty of a worthless parasite. Amidst the luxurious banquets in the bustling city, he freely introduced her to friends in a mocking tone, turning her into a joke to accentuate his own elegance and success. He forgot that the chairman’s chair he was sitting in, the million-dollar corporation he was managing, or even the powerful credit card resting in his wallet, were by no means created by his innate talent, but were traded away for the youth, health, and blood of the woman standing quietly in that hidden corner.
The peak of cruelty occurred one evening in the lavish penthouse he had recently acquired. Surrounding him were major partners, noble young ladies, and friends from high society. When a guest casually asked about the woman standing behind his success, he laughed loudly, his arm wrapped around the waist of a young and beautiful mistress, and curled his lip to reply with utter contempt: “Her? She’s nothing more than a country bumpkin who all year round only knows the smell of fish sauce and salt in the kitchen corner, what use is she other than holding out her hand to ask for my money to spend. We men hustle out in society to build fortunes, what do useless people know about the business world?”
The whole room burst into echoing laughter. Eyes of contempt and mockery shone directly at the wife standing quietly beside a glass of water. The husband looked at her with a defiant expression, as if wanting to crush the last shred of self-respect remaining in the soul of the woman who had exhausted her entire youth for him. He thought she would cry, scream, or run away in humiliation like before. But no, her eyes at that moment were completely dry, still as a dead lake before a massive storm.
Instead of bowing her head in submission, she slowly placed her glass down on the table, leisurely pulling out from her handbag a thick stack of documents stamped in bright red by legal authorities, and then spoke in a cold voice echoing throughout the banquet hall: “You’re right, I’m just someone who stays home in the kitchen all year round. But unfortunately for you, this penthouse is registered in my name, the corporation you preside over was actually taken over by me with 100% of its shares three months ago through an authorized legal entity, and the signatures on all your business records are bad debt documents awaiting the day of judgment. From this moment on, you are officially wiped out.”
Immediately, the doors of the banquet hall swung open, and a team of economic police officers stepped in to read out an emergency arrest warrant for the husband on charges of fraud and corporate document forgery, causing his arrogant face to instantly turn pale, collapsing completely amidst the stunned, horrified stares of all the guests.
