Chapter 1 — After Divorce, I Made My Husband's Family Bankrupt

I brought back a contract of 80,000,000 yuan (~280 billion), my husband's family was afraid that I would divide the assets, threw me 3,000 yuan (~10 million) and told me to go away... I turned around and transferred the entire order to their competitor. Because of my husband's restaurant chain, I traveled to another province for 8 months, and finally won an exclusive recipe worth 80,000,000 yuan. I was excited to take the high-speed train home, but as soon as I arrived, I found out that the old house had been returned a long time ago. Opening the family group to ask for the address, there was only one cold line left on the screen: "You have been removed from the chat group." My husband picked up the phone, his voice filled with annoyance:

"Diep Thanh, you haven't come home for half a year. My mother said why would you keep a daughter-in-law like you? The whole family raised their hands to vote, agreeing to divorce, you left empty-handed."

Next to her, her brother-in-law smirked and added another sentence:

"Life is so happy on the outside, transfer 3,000 yuan to her card for car fare, it's enough to be an alms to a beggar."

“Okay, see you tomorrow at the civil affairs department.”

I hung up. On the spot, I directly cut off the entire supply of ingredients, then transferred the order to the restaurant opposite - their biggest competitor. Half a month later, my husband's whole family - who had just closed an entire chain of stores - stood at the beginning of the street with fruit baskets. Eight months. When I pulled my suitcase and walked out of the high-speed train station, my legs felt as soft as if they were no longer mine. The phone screen was still bright, a message from General Director Vuong from the Provincial Culinary Association appeared:

"Miss Diep, the order is 80,000,000 yuan. Let's sign the official contract next week."

I smiled slightly and typed a few words in response:

“Okay, I'll go home first.”

Then turn off the engine and take the car straight to the old house in the city center. I married into the Chu family for 5 years, and lived with Chu Khai in a two-room house in the East of the city for those 5 years. It's said to be two rooms for prestige, but it's actually just an old house named after his parents, with no elevator on the sixth floor. All my dowry money went to the Chu family's restaurant, and I didn't even have a decent piece of furniture for myself. But these 8 months, I did not waste my effort. The exclusive supply contract is 80,000,000 yuan, and is also intended to be signed with 17 restaurant chains throughout the province. Once this contract is finalized, the value of the Chu family's restaurant will at least triple. I took a deep breath, rummaged through my pocket and pulled out a set of keys that were worn to a shine from using them for 5 years. Plug into the lock. Cannot rotate. I froze and tried again. Still can't. Why is this? I bent down to look at the key again, making sure I didn't take it by mistake. But the key that had followed me for 5 years, now inserted into the lock, felt like it was crashing into an unfamiliar block of iron, unable to budge. Someone changed the lock. I knocked on the door. About thirty seconds later, the door opened from the inside. A middle-aged man wearing a tank top, bald head, and bulging beer belly, looked at me from top to bottom:

“Who are you?”

I stared at him, my mind blank for a moment.

“I rented this house last month, who are you looking for?”

I reflexively took a step back, raised my head to look at the house number - 603, correct.

“This house… who rented it to you?”

“Chu Khai, isn't it his family?”

The man began to lose patience:

“Who are you looking for anyway?”

“I am his wife.”

Even saying those four words makes me laugh. He paused, then smirked:

“Then go find him. I just moved in a few days, so I'm not involved in your family's affairs."

Having finished speaking, the door slammed shut. I stood in the middle of the hallway. The overhead fluorescent lights crackle, the walls are covered with classified ads, and the cement floor is worn and shiny. I have lived here for 5 years. Every morning, I wake up at 6 a.m., grope downstairs to buy things, and bring sample ingredients to Chu's restaurant kitchen to taste test. At night, the hallway light had been broken for a long time. I had to walk up the wall with my hand. Chu Khai said he didn't have time to fix it. Now… the lock has also been changed. I took out my phone and opened WeChat. "Happy Family" group. This group was founded by Trieu Le's mother-in-law, and in addition to Chu Khai and me, there was also Chu Dinh's brother-in-law, her husband Liu Loi, Chu Dai Phuc's father-in-law, and assorted relatives — a total of 46 people. I scrolled down to the chat box. Group functionality has been disabled. Below is a cold gray text: You have been removed from the group by "Le Le Chu". The wind blew through the hallway, I stared at that text, my knuckles clenched until they turned white. Eight months ago, from this same group, I learned that the restaurant kitchen's core spice supply had been cut off. Chu Khai tagged me in the group:

“Diep Thanh, can your family still provide it? If it breaks like this, the restaurant will close!”

Trieu Le sent a voice message:

“The family only sells odd spices, what can they do? I told you from the beginning that this marriage was not good.”

Chu Dinh immediately sent an emoji covering his face and smiling:

"Sister-in-law, what do you say? How much money did it cost to get you back? Is it just sitting idle?"

At that time I did not answer a single question. The next morning, I bought a hard-seat train ticket to another province, dragged my suitcase to my mother's house. My family has been making spices for three generations. In the whole country, there is only one place where you can get premium peppermint and the exclusive "Tam Tam Huong" formula. It took me three months, running across three Southwest provinces, six cities, and flying three times to the Northwest, to reconnect the entire supply chain. After that, the Provincial Culinary Association came down to survey. I carried samples to each place to test, wrote quality control reports, stayed up all night adjusting the recipe, and almost overturned more than a hundred restaurant chains on the market. Finally, General Director Vuong of Dinh Vi Group directly finalized: 17 stores throughout the province, exclusive supply, first year contract guaranteed 80,000,000 yuan. Eight months later, I lost 7 kilograms, and my calluses still haven't gone away. Accumulated a thick stack of train tickets — all hard seats. But now, this group kicked me out. I tightened my grip on the phone and dialed Chu Khai. The bell rang three times and he picked up the phone. His voice echoed through, filled with annoyance.

“Chu Khai, why is our family—”

"Diep Thanh, you haven't been home for half a year. My mother said why would you keep a daughter-in-law like you?"

His voice suddenly rose, as if he had prepared a script:

"The whole family voted, agreed to divorce, you left empty-handed."

The wind whistled through the hallway. Beside him, Chu Dinh's voice was still heard, sour and sarcastic:

“Hey, are you really calling? Aren't you living happily outside? You, give her 3,000 yuan for the car fare and give alms to the beggars."

“Zhu Kai.”

I called out to him. I folded my hands and pulled the suitcase back, leaning against the door frame.

“Who proposed the divorce?”

“The whole family votes.” he said. "Don't blame me, not a single call in half a year. Is there anyone who is a wife like you?"

The other side clearly paused:

“…What did you say?”

“I can say it. Tomorrow Meet at the civil affairs department.”

“Diep Thanh, you are the best—”

I hung up. The sensor light in the hallway turned off. In the dark, I leaned against the door and took out the contract from my pocket. Thick. The last page is stamped in bright red. Dinh Vi Cuisine Group Company Limited. 80,000,000 yuan, first year guaranteed. I slowly sat down, stuffed the contract back into my bag, and zipped the outer compartment of the suitcase. Inside there is another set of documents. Patent certificate issued by the National Intellectual Property Office. Diep family's exclusive spice recipe. Application number, owner — it's all my name. I started improving this formula when I was 18 years old, perfected it at 22, and registered a patent at 25. That same year, I married into the Chu family.