Don't Kneel，Madam Is Marrying a Top - Tier Big Shot

In the third year of their marriage, Ella requested a divorce when Leo’s elder brother passed away.

Leo furrowed his brow, a mixture of bewilderment and disbelief shadowing his handsome features. “All this… just because I shielded Mingtang from a slap?”

Mingtang—he uttered the name with such intimacy. Yet, it was Niken, his own sister-in-law.

Ella twisted her lips into a faint, bitter smile. “Yes. Precisely because of that.”

Surely, no single incident could bear the weight of a crumbling marriage. Yet the crimson mark left by that slap in the hospital lingered vividly on Leo’s striking face. At the time, his protective stance over Niken had stunned the entire Zhou family. Only Ella, however, had shown no trace of surprise.

Three days prior, it had been their wedding anniversary. She had meticulously prepared a surprise, boarding a cab to the city where he was on business, only to overhear a conversation between him and two of his friends.

“Leo,” one friend chided gently, “it’s not right that every anniversary you sneak away. You’re betraying little Ella’s devotion.”

The man, usually composed and refined, wore a rare glimmer of melancholy in his eyes. “Do you think I want it any other way? If I didn’t… she’d never believe that in all these years, I’ve never touched Ella.”

“She…” The friend, suddenly realizing the weight of his words, flared with indignation, a sarcastic edge creeping into his tone. “You mean Niken? Leo, are you insane? Don’t you realize she’s already expecting her second child, and you’re still hung up?”

He shifted gears, continuing, “Besides, aren’t you afraid Shang Yu will come after you for mistreating little Ella?”

“He won’t.” Leo rubbed his fingers absently. “Ever since Ella and I married, they’ve been estranged—WeChat blocked for three years.”

Outside the private room, Ella walked away with a measured calm, though the tips of her fingers trembled imperceptibly. She had long known that Leo had once harbored feelings for someone. She had sought answers from countless sources, yet no one had revealed the identity of this person. She had entertained every possible guess, except the truth: it was his sister-in-law—the woman she had obediently addressed as “sister-in-law” for three years.

The humiliation was unbearable.

When Ella emerged from the club, torrential rain pelted down, but she seemed oblivious, letting the storm drench her completely. She booked a red-eye flight back to Jing City, only to fall ill upon arrival. Fever consumed her for two relentless days. By the time she began to recover, Leo’s elder brother had met with tragedy.

Seven days later, the funeral took place in Jing City. Exhausted from only sleeping two or three hours each night at the old family estate, Ella felt as though her body moved forward while her soul lagged behind.

The driver waited at the gate. Ella collapsed into the seat, closing her eyes. “Uncle Chen, let’s go home.”

“Not returning to the old estate?”

“No.”

The funeral had ended, but the Zhou family’s internal turbulence was far from over. Leo’s elder brother, the firstborn, had grown up as the center of the family’s adoration. His sudden death—caused by Niken coercing him into a parachute jump with faulty equipment—was not even an emergency at the hospital; the staff only performed post-mortem suturing. The Zhou family’s fury toward Niken had yet to subside. Ella had no desire to witness her husband’s attentions diverted to another woman; she had her own life to attend to.

Yet as the car started, the rear door was abruptly pulled open.

Leo appeared, clad entirely in black bespoke attire, his posture tall and elegant, his normally composed face tinged with a rare hesitation. “Xiaosong, you heading home?”

“Mm.”

As Ella responded, her gaze fell upon Niken and a small boy—Zhou Shikuo, the four-year-old son of Leo’s elder brother, chubby and endearing.

Shikuo scrambled into the car, unabashed. “Auntie, please take me and Mom home!”

Ella furrowed her brow, exchanging a silent glance with Leo.

His lips pressed into a thin line. “Their anger hasn’t cooled yet. Let Mingtang and Kuokuo stay at our place for a while.” Pausing, as if anticipating her objection, he added, “You’ve been wanting a child, haven’t you? This is good practice for you to look after Kuokuo.”

Ella almost laughed, though the solemnity of the cemetery made her refrain. He left the anger to her mother-in-law while seamlessly managing the situation—a surprisingly responsible gesture.

Upon returning home, Uncle Wu had already prepared the guest room. Ella showered and collapsed into bed, sleeping soundly until nine at night.

She barely lifted her phone before a call came through.

“The divorce agreement has been drafted per your instructions. Shall I send it over?”

“Thanks, Lawyer Tong.” Her voice was soft, still tinged with sleep. “No need. Just arrange for a courier.”

“You’re sure? It’s sudden. Have you really thought it through? Leo may not have been a good lover, but…”

Ella switched on the light, sitting upright, clarity sharpening her thoughts. “I’ve thought it through. Tong Tong… he jerks off to pictures of other women.”

“?”

Tong Wu’s mind went blank.

She had never imagined that the usually reserved Ella would utter those three words. Even more astonishing was that Leo, that despicable man, could humiliate someone so shamelessly.

Tong Wu muttered a string of expletives under her breath. “Forget delivery services—I’ll bring it myself. Afterward, I’ll go back and work overtime.” Two wheels of a delivery bike could never outrun the four wheels she commanded.

Hanging up the phone, Ella herself was surprised at how effortlessly and plainly the words had escaped her lips. Perhaps it was because this resentment had long festered in her chest, clogging her every thought, suffocating her spirit.

It was like that night at the club, when Leo had claimed he had never touched her.

It sounded unbelievable, but after three years of marriage, she remained a virgin. At first, she had wondered if there was something wrong with him. But soon, she caught him more than once in the stu