Ethan responded with a nod and looked at me again. "Mr. Becker, then I'm leaving first."

I ignored him.

He left in a daze. Timmy looked at me and said, "I've just learned a new way to make wheat noodles. I'll go get them ready."

"I'll go eat it later," I said as I looked at him.

Timmy nodded and had no words. He helped close the door when he left.

Serena, in just a second, spoke up, "Don't you think what you just said was too much?"

I sat down and stared at her in confusion. "Too much?"

"Lying to discuss business, then spending his birthday with you —don't you think that's too much?

"Or do you think, with my abilities and means, cursing that guy is too much?"

"How about I show you what "too much" means?"

"Stop messing around! I have nothing to do with him," she spoke hastily, continuing, "Ethan has been motherless since he was young. He comes from a single-parent family and due to the lack of maternal love, he longs for the care of woman."

"He said, I resembled his mother in his memory and he never had his mother's company on his birthday since he was young. As a superior, I think it's understandable for me to celebrate his birthday with him."

I had a cold and flat face. "I've heard of people calling you a good superior, but I didn't expect you to have this kind of habit."

"Henry, don't you think that's too harsh?"

"You behave and act out of line and you still expect me to speak nice?" I knew my emotions were a bit out of control at the moment, but I tried to suppress it. "Forget it, let's not talk about it, since you want to pursue excitement, let's get a divorce."

Perhaps the word "divorce" stung her and tears welled up in her eyes. "I'm just celebrating his birthday with him, so there's no need to make such a big deal about it, right?"

"Today is my birthday too. You made your choice, didn't you?"

Serena lowered her head and said, "I'm sorry. There won't be a next time."

"Fire him!"

"He's always been so serious and hardworking in his work. You always say to give newcomer a chance. It's unfair to fire him just because I had a meal with him."

"I promise I won't have private contact with him in the future, only work-related contact."

"Tomorrow morning, at 9 o'clock, see you at the County Clerk office." I got up, didn't want to waste any more time.

Actually, I understood deep down, she had made a choice by choosing to have dinner with her subordinate, Ethan, today -- over me and still arguing for him. So I had no point in continuing our marriage.

"I just want to give newcomer a chance." Serena got up and stopped me. "I'll transfer him to the branch office. I won't let him bear the consequences alone just because I accompanied him to dinner."

"If I do fire him, what will others think?"

She held my hand and said, "You're overthinking. I just feel sorry for him. You know we don't have a baby yet and my motherly love is overflowing."

"Or ... shall we have a baby tonight?"

"Not in the mood."

“What do you want me to do? Just because Ethan and I had a meal, do you want to divorce me?"

"Do you have no trust in me at all?"

"What place is this?"

My voice grew colder. "No one else has ever been here before. This is our private and precious world."

"A place where no outsiders are allowed to come in. Yet you brought Ethan here for dinner."

"You're crossing the line."

"I'm sorry. I didn't think too much about it. Don't be angry, okay? Uncle Tim said he'd make you some new noodles. Let's go try them. I'll never bring anyone here again."

"I promise."

Timmy's wheat noodles were delicious, but it couldn't soothe the anger within me.

I was still angry, like there was an intruder in my territory, making me irritable and uneasy.

I didn't let Serena to stay with me any longer. Now seeing her made me sick. Timmy stayed by my side for two drinks with me.

He looked at me and said, "Don't blame me for talking too much. The recent news outside has been very unfavorable for your family. I suggest maintaining a good relationship with Ms. Davis. If your family runs into trouble, the Davis can still lend you a hand."

I downed half a glass of wine and asked, "Uncle Tim, why do you think my wife dares to do this?"

He fell silent. He knew, my wife current behavior was due to the outside news that the Becker Family was about fall and she began to show her henchmen.

I said again, "Once the news had been confirmed, my wife would not have apologized today and I wouldn't have filed for divorce."

He still fell silent. He knew, I was right. He drank a large glass in silence and responded, "People's hearts have changed. If it weren't for you to help the Davis, they would have been history a long time ago."

I smiled wryly and said, "If I can help the Davis rise, I can also crush them."

Timmy just glanced at me. He knew, it was just my fantasy. Now, the outside news proved that the Becker Family was about to become a thing of the past and many people were waiting to see the Becker Family's jokes.

No refutation, no explanation, to this point. I had made up my mind -- to use Serena incident to show everyone whether the Becker Family would fall.

Back home, Serena took the rare initiative.

She was wearing a seductive nightgown, but I wasn't interested.

In the first or second year of our marriage, she tried various ways to please me, because her family needed my help and the support of the group behind me.

But in the past two years, the Davis Family had risen from the quagmire to more and more success.

She no longer took the initiative. I put a cold face on my ass many times and my occasional consent was like a dead fish and even sometimes I loathed myself.

It was easy to forgive yourself, but it was hard to forgive others.

I had long had a grudge against our relationship and even more so today. Faced with her sudden initiative, I chose to refuse.

I went to sleep in my bedroom upstairs and locked the door.

Lying in bed, I realized Serena and I had been sleeping in separate rooms for two years and my memories of that kind of thing were still six months ago.

She used to lock the door and today, I did.

In the morning, she prepared breakfast for the first time and sat at the dining table early, waiting for me.

I took a few simple bites in silence. I could tell she was looking for a chance to speak, but seeing my silence, she didn't speak.

At noon, I got a call from her mother, saying we hadn't been to her place in a while and asked us to come over for dinner tonight.

She found an excuse I couldn't refuse -- with my parents there.

I knew, she must have called her parents and mine to smooth things over between us.

Rome wasn't built in a day. Yesterday when she invited Ethan to dinner, it was just a spark that completely ignited me.

Last night, however, I thought about it the whole night -- divorced her just because she invited Ethan to a meal was a bit childish and ridiculous. Let's see how she performed next.

At dinner, Serena handed my father a proposal and said, "Dad, look, this is the proposal for the Nyctarion project.'

My father took and read the proposal carefully. "Not bad, so thoughtful. If we follow the proposal to do the project in Nyctarion, we can maximize the profits."

"I'll take this plan with me today and take a closer look."

"Dad, you can't just take a look. Your support is essential for this project to proceed smoothly," she said with a smile.

I knew my family still had some value, which was essential to the Nyctarion project. It was the reason why she dared not completely tear herself apart from me.

I didn't say much at the dinner table, nor did I reveal the conflict between me and Serena.

The dinner was lively and the atmosphere was quite good, but only me and Serena knew that we were not on good terms.

I drank a bit and she drove me back home.

"That proposal, Ethan made it and your dad approved of it. His work ability is truly outstanding and he's a talent."

"I invited him to dinner simply to keep this talent, I have no other intention."

"I thought today's dinner was meant to smooth things over between us, but seems, I was overthinking it. You don't want to fire him, right?"

"Henry, you're too fixated. I just want to leave a real talent for the company. Even though he just graduated, many companies are eager to hire him. Such talent always needs special treatment to stay."

"If he says he will only stay in the company if he offered to give you to him, do I have to do the same?"

"You're unreasonable." Her face turned cold. "If I fire him, I couldn't run this plan. I don't know how to talk to your dad about this. You go and talk to him."

Haha ....

I sneered, so they were waiting for me.

Talent?

What a joke! With so many top and skillful students graduating, when did this society really lack talent?

What lacked was the platform.

Since she was playing tricks on me, it was time to let her what kind of person I, Henry Becker, was and let her see if I still have a say in the face of the powerful Davis Family.

I went to the company the next morning.

Since she refused my request to dismiss her subordinate, then let me dismiss him myself.

At 09.30 a.m., I was drinking tea and enjoying the river view in the office when the door was roughly pushed open.

Serena angrily threw a contract onto my desk and questioned, "Henry, what do you mean?"

"I've already told you he's talented. I've already shown your dad his plan. Why are you firing him?"

"Serena, you really think I don't know your little dirty tricks?"

"Why didn't you say it was Ethan's proposal when you showed it to my dad yesterday?"

"Even if you scribbled on it, my dad would still praise you because you're the Becker's daughter-in-law."

"You really think his plan is that good?"

I tossed a document in her face. "Take a close look at this!"

Serena picked up the document I tossed over, which was the one she gave to my father yesterday, almost covered in red strokes.

"The red lines need to be changed and as for the circled parts, the bullshit part, are completely unrelated and go against the Nyctarion project. How dare you show them to my dad!"

"The proposals you showed my dad before were all revised and returned to you, right?"

"Those were my revisions. This time, my dad asked me to help you with the revisions. It's hard to say whether Ethan is talented and whether you, as the chairman, are capable is debatable."

She refuted. "Even if Ethan's proposal isn't perfect, it has its merits. He has innovative ideas and the company needs such talent."

"Henry, I hope you can bring Ethan back."

"Don't forget, you're the vice chairman of the Davis Construction and I'm the chairman. As vice chairman, you don't have the authority to directly fire my assistant."

"Shall I bring him back?"

I spoke in a cold voice and looked straight into her eyes. The Davis Family's influence was growing. It seemed Serena had figured things out over the past two days. It all depended on whether she filed for divorce.