Chapter 6: Eight Years of Marriage, Worth Eighty Thousand

When she called me Ms. Shen, it really was out of affection.

Everything that had happened before seemed like a dream.

Now and then, Xiang Lan told me the old institute was in complete chaos.

The committee members came and went with grim faces every day.

Once, Han Yansen had a furious row with Lin Xuan right there in the institute.

They hurled the ugliest words they could at each other.

A colleague I was close to even sent me a video.

Essentially, Lin Xuan accused him of deceiving her into sleeping with him, while Han Yansen accused her of tricking him into marriage.

All their former endearments and eager efforts to please each other had proved too fragile to withstand a disciplinary investigation.

I felt nothing.

Apart from following my daily work schedule, I stayed in contact only with the discipline inspection officer.

Unable to reach me, Han Yansen had his lawyer get in touch.

He even offered two million yuan to settle privately.

I refused.

If he'd returned what was rightfully mine at the outset, perhaps we could have parted peacefully.

But he'd cut off his own retreat.

I bought a home.

Zhou Hui brought her daughter to the housewarming.

Before they left, I tried once again to press money into the child's hands. Zhou Hui stopped me.

"Ms. Shen, all these years, unless you haven't seen her, you've found some excuse to give her money every time."

"You even gave me all the welfare cards the institute issued, saying you had no use for them."

"I know you feel sorry for us—a woman without a husband, a girl without a father. Life hasn't been easy."

She picked up her daughter.

"But now I have a good salary and good benefits. Please don't give us any more money."

"Only then can I really treat you as a friend."

I looked at her.

We each saw tears in the other's eyes.

After seeing them into the car, I turned back toward home.

The military-family housing compound was a little old. Its lights weren't very bright.

But one glance was enough to spot Han Yansen standing beside a tree.

He was back in a neatly pressed everyday uniform.

When someone has lost their confidence, even that uniform can't restore the bearing they once had.

I kept a suitable distance and waited for him to speak.

His first words were unexpected.

"You've changed."

My patience vanished at once.

He went on.

"You're more beautiful. More confident."

"Really? Harder for you to manipulate too, aren't I?"

"Han Yansen, if you have something to say, say it. Otherwise, I'm going home."

Only then did he hurriedly call me back.

"Zhihui, I'm not trying to make excuses. But I really never intended to divorce you before my promotion."

"Lin Xuan took pictures of us… and used them to threaten me. She said if I didn't divorce you and register a marriage with her before the ceremony, she'd send all the photos to the discipline inspectors during the promotion process."

"I had no choice…"

"You know what she's like. She's capable of anything."

I cut him off.

"So you chose the easiest person to control. Me. Because I don't cry, make scenes, or fight over things, you assumed I'd swallow the humiliation this time too."

He tried to argue, but couldn't get a word out.

"Stop making excuses, Han Yansen. You've simply never taken me seriously."

"You thought that however far you went, I couldn't do anything to you."

He shook his head.

"It was all Lin Xuan… She told me to drive you out of the institute…"

"Shen Zhihui, can't you withdraw your complaint for the sake of what we once had?"

"You poured your heart into the institute's projects and those equipment drawings too!"

His tone was abject.

It only disgusted me more.

"Stop blaming everything on Lin Xuan."

"Weren't you the one sleeping with her? Weren't you the one making those decisions to force me out?"

"Didn't you enjoy looking down from above while you threw me out?"

"Have some responsibility as a man. Don't make me despise you any more than I already do."

Wind stirred the branches. Leaves rustled.

But I could still hear his breathing clearly.

Just as in all those times I'd endured him before.

The nights Lin Xuan called him out.

The times he said he was working late, only for me to catch them together at the military guesthouse.

The days he openly took her side at the institute.

I'd given way too many times.

That was why he'd grown so brazen.

Why he'd thought I could bear even greater injustice.

Fortunately, I hadn't suffered all those humiliations for nothing.