Chapter 18

The promotion should have been a happy thing.

However, an unexpected promotion would be a target of public criticism.

When he received the notification that he was promoted from the designer assistant to the general manager of the design department, Wang Weixi did not feel a hint of joy. Instead, he felt fearful and humiliated.

Yi Duanfang once told him with great certainty that he would benefit greatly from his marriage, but Wang Weixi did not believe so because his father-in-law had helped him a lot and Wang Weixi did not expect anything more. However, Wang Weixi had miscalculated. The girl that he married came from a wealthy family, so she had never led a poor life. His monthly salary was only 2,500 RMB; even if he picked up some part-time jobs, Wang Weixi could only gain less than 4,000 RMB per month.

What could he do with 4,000 RMB in this fast city? It could only afford a single room in Jinling Hotel.

They now had a huge sum of money, but it was what they received from their wedding and they would return to the guests in the future. Therefore, to be exact, Wang Weixi was incapable of supporting his wife’s life at all. To put it bluntly, a single piece of clothes in Chen Kexin’s closet would probably cost his monthly salary, let alone her brand-name cosmetics. There was no doubt that Wang Weixi was facing the pressure he could not bear.

Two people got married. If they did not need to keep track of the money spending, their life would be wonderful, because their feelings did not cost a penny. However, in real lives, they would be in pain for they had to cope with the pressure from money earning.

A few days ago, Chen Kexin wanted to eat crabs. In order to please her, Wang Weixi took her out for dinner. The meal cost him 2,000 RMB and emptied his purse. He did not complain about it, but he really begrudged the money he paid.

Later on, Chen Kexin smashed so many bowls and dishes. Wang Weixi was also upset about it, but out of the love for Chen Kexin, he still said nothing.

He was able to forgive her because Chen Kexin married him without hesitation and she was not as arrogant and bad-tempered as other girls from wealthy families, of course, if you did not count “playing cute”.

Nevertheless, when he was really promoted and given a huge salary raise, which meant his monthly salary would be 10 times or even 100 times more, he felt more pressure from his father-in-law.

Although Chen Derong had always spoken highly of his son-in-law and did not care about his humble family. Compared with other parents, he was definitely an open-minded father, but what he had done revealed a kind of contempt for Wang Weixi.

A man could have no money and no woman, but he had to keep his dignity and spine.

Having not yet had time to show his dignity, Wang Weixi had been seamlessly turned into a guy living off his woman by his father-in-law.

How could this not depress a man?!

The sunshine filled the room. Chen Kexin finally opened her eyes at 12 o’clock. She felt aches in her muscles and stretched herself. Looking around, she found her clothes being placed by the pillow by her husband.

“He might be in the kitchen.” Chen Kexin thought, and then turned over and closed her eyes. However, her stomach rumbled helplessly, so she finally reluctantly got out of bed.

With dark circles under her eyes, she began to clean herself up.

When she cleaned herself up, she opened the door, but only to find her husband sitting on the sofa, with a cigarette in his hand and a depressed face. A strong smell of smoke permeated the entire living room. Chen Kexin furrowed her brows lightly and lowered her head, seeing that the ashtray on the tea table was stuffed with cigarette butts.

Her eyebrows were knitted.

Noticing Chen Kexin coming out, Wang Weixi put out the cigarette hurriedly; he rose up and said, “Dear, you are up.”

Chen Kexin nodded and asked with a worried look, “Dear, what’s wrong? Why did you smoke so much?”

Wang Weixi smiled, his head shaking. Then, he responded in a flat tone. “Let’s have breakfast.”

Chen Kexin blocked his way in a indomitable manner, pulled his arm and asked, “Dear, what happened?”

Looking at Chen Kexin’s worried face, Wang Weixi tried to keep smiling and replied slowly, “Nothing. It’s just because I got a promotion.”

Chen Kexin’s knitted eyebrows stretched instantly. “Got a promotion? Isn’t that a good thing?” She immediately smiled and held Wang Weixi’s arm, saying in an accusatory and coy tone, “You scared me. Honey, it’s great to have a promotion. Why did you feel down and smoke so much? You know I hate the smell of smoke the most.”

Wang Weixi smiled and stroked her hair and said, “Well, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t smoke so much. Good girl, let’s go to have breakfast.”

Chen Kexin nodded, unaware of the sorrow hidden in his eyebrows, and dragged him into the kitchen.

Few words were uttered during the meal. Chen Kexin did not take much notice of it and only thought her husband must be deliberating on his work. Watching his serious look, she could not bear to bother him, so she just had the breakfast quietly.

After breakfast, Wang Weixi let her go back to the bedroom to surf the Internet, which Chen Kexin was more than happy to. Then, she left the kitchen joyfully.

Wang Weixi was doing the dishes alone in the kitchen. Countless thoughts flashed through his mind. “How will his colleagues think about him? What will his buddies think of it? How will the caring female colleagues react if they know he accepted other’s help instead of theirs?”

Only the sound of the water splattering on the tableware and click of bowls and dishes were heard in the small kitchen.

When someone was upset, he was unable to concentrate his mind on the things he was doing.

Having finished doing the dishes, Wang Weixi stretched his arms, but unintentionally knocked down all the bowls and plates that he had just washed. The crisp, harsh sound echoed in the kitchen.

Looking at the smashed bowls and dishes, Wang Weixi knitted his eyebrows.

“Dear, what happened?” Chen Kexin also heard it and ran over in a hurry.

Looking at the mess on the ground, Chen Kexin tilted her head and asked with astonishment, “Dear, what happened?”

“No, nothing.” Wang Weixi did not look back because he was afraid that he had no time to hide his worried face.

After all, Chen Kexin used to be spoiled, so she was unable to read his mind. At this point, she spoke with a smirk. “I know, you’re so absent-minded because of the promotion, right?”

Wang Weixi shivered. He thought that Chen Kexin had guessed what he was thinking and thought that he was holding grudges against his father-in-law, and he was prepared to explain it. However, hearing her last sentence, he only shook his head and smiled helplessly.

“It’s just a promotion. Why are you so delighted that you got into a panic like a child?” Chen Kexin held her husband’s waist from the back and comforted him with her sweet voice.

Wang Weixi responded with a wry smile, “Well, you’re right, I was too anxious.” Wang Weixi turned his head slightly and flashed a little smile.

Chen Kexin giggled with her mouth covered.

At this moment, the doorbell rang.

“You go to open the door, I will clean up.” Wang Weixi immediately said.

Chen Kexin nodded and loosened her hold on his waist. Before leaving, she stood on tiptoe to kiss her husband’s cheek. Wang Weixi forced a smile. He did not know why he acted like this. Maybe he was a bit tired, thus even Chen Kexin’s happy smile and the happiness she brought were unable to wipe away this sort of unknown fatigue.

Shaking his head, Wang Weixi squatted down and started cleaning.

In the doorway, Chen Kexin looked at a big-bellied man whose face was covered with pockmarks. The man looked almost 40 years old. He had a half-bald head, a big face like a pie, and a pair of small eyes which tried its best to flatter others. He was grinning with his thick and oily lips, which looked disgusting.

Seeing this, Chen Kexin took a few steps back before she regained her balance. If the visitor did not ask “Is it Mr. Wang’s apartment?” in an obsequious way, Chen Kexin would think that the man was here to rob them. This incident also reminded her that she should check through the peephole before she opened the door next time.

Looking up and down the ugly man for a while, Chen Kexin regained her senses and asked curiously, “Mr. Wang? Are you calling my Weixi, Wang Weixi?”

When the man heard Wang Weixi’s name, he nodded like a rattle-drum and responded thrillingly. “Yes, yes, I am. And you are… Madam Wang, right? Nice to meet you. I am…” He lowered his head, glanced at the two boxes of ginseng in his hand and smiled more widely.

Chen Kexin asked in puzzlement, “Who are you?”

“I’m a staff of Mr. Wang’s company. I heard that Mr. Wang got a promotion, so I’d like to pay him a visit to congratulate him, Madam…” He pointed to the living room and said with a sincere smile, “Can I come in?”

Chen Kexin nodded with hesitation and made way for him in a clumsy manner, saying, “Please come in.”

At this time, Wang Weixi had cleaned it up. While washing his hands, he stuck out his head and asked, “Dear, who is it?” Then he saw a fat man coming over, giggling.

Wang Weixi was a little dazed. He quickly dried his hands and walked out in a panic. He walked out and shook hands with the visitor, “Director Zhang, why are you here?” It turned out to be Zhang Wei, the director of the personnel department of their company.

Although he greeted courteously, Wang Weixi had a grim sense of foreboding. “What on earth is this Director Zhang going to do? Why does he suddenly visit me?” Looking down, he found the visitor carrying two boxes of ginseng, and then he knew why.

“Mr. Wang, you treated me too politely. Continue your work, I can wait for you.” Seeing Wang Weixi still in an apron, a trace of imperceptible amazement flickered in Zhang Wei’s eyes, but he quickly hid his amazement.

Wang Weixi replied awkwardly, “I’ve finished. Please sit. I’ll get you some water.” After that, he quickly turned and drew to the water dispenser.

Zhang Wei walked to the sofa with a smile and sat down. He looked around at Wang Weixi’s apartment and sighed inwardly. After all, this was one of the best neighborhoods. Although it was not large, each apartment held a capacity of 300 square meters that ordinary people could not afford.

He looked at the busy Wang Weixi and glanced at Chen Kexin sitting on the other side. Then, he shook his head slightly. “This Wang Weixi… why is he so lucky?” Bear the thought in mind, he fixed his eyes on Chen Kexin.

Chen Kexin turned her face and suddenly saw Zhang Wei staring at her. His gaze made her uncomfortable, so she asked, “Why are you looking at me like that?” Her tone indicated that she was annoyed.

Wang Weixi came over, carrying glasses of water. He was first surprised upon hearing this. Then, he furrowed his eyebrows slightly and gazed at Zhang Wei. At the moment, Zhang Wei quickly waved his hand and said in fear. “No… I have no other intention. Madam, don’t get me wrong…”

Zhang Wei did not expect the well-behaved Chen Kexin would utter those words. Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

Who was Chen Kexin? She was the apple of Chen Derong’s eyes. An ordinary woman would piss off if someone stared at her lasciviously, not to mention such a spoiled lady.