The Secret of Second Marriage

President Jiang's SUV was driving very fast.

Under the blue sky and white clouds, the flat highway stretches endlessly into the distance.

Along the roadside, towering trees and patches of green wheat seedlings flashed by and rushed past.

I cracked the car window open, and the wind blew hot against my face. I silently chanted: Sichuan-Tibet Highway, here we come!

Three days later, we found a small hotel in the ancient city of Kangding.

I never imagined that such a coincidence could happen in the world.

We ran into an acquaintance at our hotel in Kangning Ancient Town. She was Mr. Jiang's college classmate, and I think she was a TV host. She was quite pretty.

She was divorced and traveling with her daughter.

When Ms. Jiang and I were having dinner, they sat down next to us, took off their sunglasses, glanced at Ms. Jiang, and greeted her with some disbelief: "Ms. Jiang, are you here with your friends?"

"Um"

President Jiang nodded and said.

I asked General Manager Jiang, "Who is this beautiful woman?"

Mr. Jiang said, "She was a junior from our school, Zhou Shanshan, two years younger than me. After graduation, she went to work at a TV station. We met a few times at the gala."

Zhou Shanshan greeted me, looking at me with a hint of surprise, and asked very enthusiastically, "Beautiful lady, what do you do for a living?"

I said, "Hello. My name is Jiang Man. I used to be a housewife, but now I work in social media and film short dramas."

Zhou Shanshan nodded: "These are all very trendy internet-related industries right now, and I've heard they can be quite lucrative. Miss Jiang's income must be pretty good, right?"

I said, "It's alright, enough to support myself and my daughter."

"You have a daughter too?"

Zhou Shanshan's eyes lit up with excitement upon hearing this.

She said, "That's great! We can exchange contact information. When we get back to Beijing, the two kids can be friends and keep each other company."

I said, "Okay."

That's how Zhou Shanshan and I got in touch.

Zhou Shanshan is a second-generation rich kid from a wealthy family. She wears designer down jackets costing tens of thousands of yuan, LV scarves, genuine leather boots, and carries a Hermes bag.

After a meal, we became quite familiar with each other.

After dinner, President Jiang took me out for a stroll in the ancient city of Kangding.

We took a lot of photos.

When we returned to the hotel that evening, Zhou Shanshan and her daughter knocked on our door.

President Jiang politely invited her in.

I could clearly tell that Zhou Shanshan looked even more beautiful when we met that morning.

She was 28 years old, wearing a beautiful motorcycle vest, short skirt, and stockings, which made her look hot, petite, and very alluring.

She has a delicate oval face, wears gold-rimmed glasses, has beautiful big eyes, a small upturned nose, and red lips; she looks a bit like Li Xiaolu.

She's the kind of girl who looks like a fairy.

Her temperament is very different from mine. I'm the kind of person who looks a bit like Liu Shishi, gentle and dignified.

Her beauty has an aggressive quality; it is striking and captivating.

I sensed a slight sense of crisis.

She said to President Jiang, "President Jiang, my car broke down on the road and is currently parked here waiting to be repaired. How about my daughter and I ride in your car and go on a trip together? It would be more fun with more people, since our destination is Tibet anyway."

President Jiang looked at me and asked for my opinion.

I smiled and said, "They are your friends, so let's do as you say, Mr. Jiang."

On this trip, Mr. Jiang paid for the hotel and meals. He said he was a man and a gentleman, and wouldn't spend a woman's money.

Moreover, the car was also President Jiang's new car.

Considering they were friends and that the other party's car had broken down, Mr. Jiang, being a gentleman, agreed, "We can take you to Tibet, but once we get there, Jiang Man and I have other things to attend to, so please excuse us."

"Mr. Jiang, thank you. Don't worry, I have friends to meet us when we arrive, so I won't keep troubling you."

Zhou Shanshan smiled slightly at President Jiang and said.

Zhou Shanshan's daughter is named Wang Ziyi, and she is 6 years old, the same age as my daughter.

I asked her where her daughter went to school, what grade and class she was in, and I was surprised to find that she was actually my daughter's classmate.

It's really a coincidence.

They are both in the first grade of elementary school.

Wang Ziyi took leave from school to travel with her mother.

It's already March, and the Peach Blossom Festival in Nyingchi, Tibet is coming soon.

Sister Lan's chain hotel is in Tibet. I plan to go to Nyingchi to see the peach blossoms covering the mountains and fields. It's all so romantic, and just thinking about it makes me quite excited.

After Zhou Shanshan and her daughter made arrangements with us, they asked President Jiang a question about me.

It was almost 10 p.m. when I went inside to wash up, and she was still outside chatting with Mr. Jiang about travel…

After I finished showering and changed into my pajamas, I came out and saw Zhou Shanshan still in the hotel room, looking a little blushing.

I took my phone and went into the hotel suite. Inside, there was a large bed, a coffee table and an armchair by the window, where I could sit and enjoy the night view.

As night fell, the faint lights of the buildings in the ancient city could be seen twinkling in the distance.

I picked up the phone and chatted with my daughter for a while, asking her about her grades, safety, and what she ate for dinner—trivial things like that.

My daughter and I chatted for half an hour as we walked from the hotel suite to the living room.

I could hear Zhou Shanshan and President Jiang still chatting and laughing.

To be honest, it was quite upsetting to see President Jiang catching up with Zhou Shanshan while I couldn't join in the conversation.

They soon started talking about me. I'm not a woman who likes to eavesdrop on other people's conversations, but I still subconsciously held my breath and wanted to hear what President Jiang thought of me.

Zhou Shanshan asked curiously, "President Jiang, are you and Miss Jiang together?"

Mr. Jiang said, "Yes, we are in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship."

Zhou Shanshan said with particular envy, "President Jiang, Miss Jiang is so lucky. She's remarried and still managed to find a man who loves and cherishes her so much. And President Jiang, you're successful in your career, handsome, and gentle."

However, I'm curious, back in school, so many rich girls pursued you, all of them stunning beauties, how could you fall for Miss Jiang, a divorced woman?"

President Jiang said, "It's fate."

Zhou Shanshan joked, "What kind of fate could make a handsome guy like you willingly accompany her on a trip? I heard you're very busy at work."

This is so unlike you. You have so many meetings every day, and you have to review so many documents. Sometimes we invite you to class reunions and school anniversaries, but you don't even have time to attend.

Mr. Jiang said, "Man has been in a bad mood lately, and I want to accompany her out to clear her mind."

She stayed with her ex-husband for 10 years, working hard and quitting her respectable job to become a full-time housewife, doing laundry, cooking, and taking care of the children.

She sacrificed a lot for her ex-husband, who had an affair. In order to have a dignified divorce, she was forced to leave with nothing but her daughter.

I feel so sorry for what she went through.

Zhou Shanshan exclaimed in surprise, "Then she's a good woman!"

Mr. Jiang said, "She is a very good woman. When my company was just starting out, she gave me a lot of support. At that time, I arranged for her to work in the finance department, even though she could have made a lot of money and kickbacks."

However, in the five years she worked there, she never accepted a single gift or took a single penny in kickbacks.

I admire her greatly. That integrity of hers is what made me quite interested in her back then.

Zhou Shanshan said, "She's a very nice woman, no wonder President Jiang likes her. But the fact that she was willing to leave with nothing shows that she has deep feelings for her ex-husband. President Jiang, have you heard of Lu You and Tang Wan's 'Phoenix Hairpin'?"

Do you think Miss Jiang will still be thinking about her ex-husband after she gets together with you?

But President Jiang glanced at his watch and politely declined, saying, "I don't know. But it's getting late, and we shouldn't gossip about others behind their backs. It's impolite not to do so if we're not directly involved."

Miss Zhou, please go back and get some rest.

Zhou Shanshan muttered, "Okay, Mr. Jiang, I won't bother you any longer. See you tomorrow."

President Jiang politely saw the mother and daughter out, then closed the hotel door and returned to his suite.

I was actually quite happy to hear the comments about me.

I've also heard the poem "The Phoenix Hairpin" by Tang Wan and Lu You. Lu You and Tang Wan were childhood sweethearts and deeply in love. However, after their marriage, their mother-in-law disapproved of them and forced them to divorce.

Lu You was a mama's boy. He loved his wife, but dared not disobey his mother's orders.

He had no choice but to divorce Tang Wan, and later, under his mother's arrangement, he quickly remarried another woman.

However, he never forgot his ex-wife. Once, while visiting Shen Garden, he wrote the poem "The Phoenix Hairpin" to express his longing and love for her.

This poem was extremely popular among their friends at the time.

Many people are moved by Lu You's deep affection for his ex-wife, saying that even after remarrying, he never forgot Tang Wan, and that the person he loved most in his heart was always Tang Wan.

But I just felt disgusted. We're already divorced, we should have cut ties completely, each of us should marry someone else and never see each other again.

But even after marrying Tang Wan, Lu You was unable to protect her. After Tang Wan had a new lover and married Zhao Shicheng, living a happier life than before, he wrote that love vow in Shen Garden.

That's absolutely disgusting.

Seeing Tang Wan's happy second marriage, did Lu You feel resentful?

When he wrote this poem, did he ever think about what Tang Wan's second husband would think?

I will never love my ex-husband again.

Mr. Jiang held my hand and said, "Man, Zhou Shanshan is my junior from university. Her mother and my mother have business dealings. Our families know each other, so when she encountered difficulties, I wanted to lend a hand..."

I said, "President Jiang, your friend is my friend. Let's get some sleep; we have to leave again tomorrow."

After kissing my forehead and saying goodnight, President Jiang turned off the light and held me as we slept.

My head rested on his chest, and I could feel that at that moment we were truly a couple with a very good relationship.

The next morning, the agreed meeting time was 8 o'clock. After having breakfast downstairs, Zhou Shanshan, along with her daughter, spent time putting on makeup and packing her suitcase, which dragged on until 9 o'clock, a full hour late.

To be honest, I think she has a bit of a spoiled princess attitude.

If it were me, I would feel embarrassed to hitch a ride with someone else and would definitely arrive at the meeting point earlier.

I'm a housewife who likes to hoard things. After having breakfast around 8 a.m., I was scrolling through my phone and saw that there seemed to be a storm coming in the next few days. Also, the further we went on our trip, the more difficult the mountain roads became, and the further away we got from the crowds.

Seeing that Zhou Shanshan hadn't come downstairs yet, I went to the supermarket near the hotel and bought 50 jin of rice, 20 jin of noodles, 10 jin of potatoes, 20 jin of beef jerky, a box of tomatoes, and some vegetables.

When Zhou Shanshan, who never lifts a finger, came downstairs with her daughter by the hand, she saw me pushing a cart and placing so many things, box after box, onto the roof tent, and then tying them up with rope.

With a look of surprise and disdain, she said, "Miss Jiang, you really are a housewife, stocking up on so much food wherever you go. Anyone who knew would think we're on a trip, but anyone who didn't would think we're fleeing a famine!"

I said, "It's better to be prepared. Anyway, it's all my own money, so Miss Zhou doesn't need to mind."