Chapter 1

I came across a post while scrolling.

【Late in my pregnancy, I lost control of my bladder and bowels.】

【Every time it happened, my husband cleaned me up himself.】

【So whatever happens in the future, those moments have earned him a permanent get-out-of-jail-free card with me.】

I had already scrolled past, but the photo the author had pinned at the top caught my eye.

【Look at my husband, everyone. Isn’t he handsome?】

The picture showed only part of a man’s profile: a straight, high nose and an aloof expression.

But I recognized him at once.

He was my husband of three years. His obsession with cleanliness was so severe that he would not even bring his coat into the living room.

1.

I opened the woman’s profile again and slowly scrolled through it, starting with her first post.

She was twenty-two, young and pretty, always looking timidly into the camera.

She favored pale dresses and spoke in a soft voice, as though she could not survive without someone to look after her.

Her pregnancy, the wait for delivery, the birth of her twins—the entire timeline was laid out clearly.

She never photographed the man’s face head-on. Occasionally there was a hand wearing a watch, a stretch of shirt cuff, or a blurred profile reflected in glass.

But I had given him that watch. I had chosen those cuff links myself.

The background of one selfie looked familiar.

A red wooden staircase, a blue-glazed vase in the corner, half an old painting behind it. I could not immediately remember where I had seen them, so I took screenshots of every relevant post and comment.

As soon as I saved the last page, the screen went blank.

The account had been deactivated.

Almost at the same moment, I heard the front door open.

Gu Yanshen was home.

As usual, the housekeeper met him with a bottle of disinfectant and carefully sprayed him from his shoulders to the soles of his shoes. He turned on the doormat, practiced movements carrying him through what might have been a daily checklist.

The smell of disinfectant soon reached the living room. I frowned.

Gu Yanshen did not react. He never sat on sofas in public places or touched a phone someone handed him. On business trips, he brought his own bedding to the hotel.

When we first met, that was precisely why I had chosen him.

There were plenty of candidates for a marriage alliance. At least a man who liked things clean should not make the marriage too dirty.

Now, whenever I thought of what that woman had described, I pictured him bending down to clean another woman’s mess.

Dirty clothes could be changed.

A man who had made himself filthy could not be washed clean again.

The housekeeper took his coat. He came over to the sofa and bent to kiss my forehead.

“You’re home early. What are you looking at?”

“A post.”

I switched off my phone’s screen and looked up at him.

“A woman says she lost control of her bladder and bowels late in pregnancy. Her husband cleaned her up himself every time. She thinks that alone should earn him a get-out-of-jail-free card for life.”

Gu Yanshen took a tissue and casually wiped his lips.

He did that every time he kissed me.

He had done it on our wedding night. Three years later, he still did it.

I used to put it down to his obsession with cleanliness. Now it seemed like a bitter joke.

His fingers paused for less than a second. Then he laughed.

“What is this? A test in advance?”

He sat beside me and put an arm around my shoulders.

“When you’re willing to have a baby, I’ll look after you too. Changing diapers, staying up all night—I can learn.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

His answer was gentle. His eyes were not on my face.

Suddenly I remembered where I had seen the background in that selfie.

The staircase in the Gu family’s old house.

“Come and visit your mother with me tomorrow,” I said casually.

His arm tightened a little.

“Why the old house all of a sudden? Don’t you always complain about all the rules there?”

“I haven’t seen her for a while. I just feel like visiting.”

I put my phone on the coffee table and leaned back.

“Is it inconvenient?”

“No. I’ll drive you over tomorrow morning.”

The next day, as soon as our car stopped in the Gu family’s courtyard, the villa door opened from inside.

A young woman in a cream-colored dress ran down the steps.

Joy shone openly on her face as she threw herself into Gu Yanshen’s arms the moment he got out.

I stayed in the back seat.

He caught her before he thought to push her away. Only when he remembered I was still in the car did he take her by the shoulders and ease her back.

Then he came around to open my door.

“Wantang, come on out.”

The young woman followed him closely, her eyes fixed on his face.

“This is Lin Yin, Auntie Lin’s daughter. Auntie Lin is our housekeeper. She’s been staying here and helping her mother since she graduated a few years ago.”

Lin Yin.

Gu Yanshen.

I looked at them and gave a short laugh.

“One name suggests fresh grass, the other a deep inkstone. Together, you sound like a painting of spring.”

Gu Yanshen glanced at me, missing the chill in my voice.

Lin Yin, however, went white.

2.

Right in front of her, I took Gu Yanshen’s arm.

Lin Yin stared at our joined hands. She held on to a strained smile, but her jaw was tight.

My mother-in-law was waiting at the door. She greeted me warmly, saying the kitchen had made my favorite spicy shrimp especially for me.

As she took my hand, her gaze flicked between Gu Yanshen and Lin Yin.

Before we entered, Lin Yin let go of his sleeve and retreated beside the housekeeper, once again looking meek and reserved.

Several baby things stood in the living room.

A bottle sterilizer had not been put away beside the sofa. A double stroller stood in the corner.

I asked when the household had acquired babies.

My mother-in-law’s smile did not change. “A distant relative has left them with us temporarily. They’ll be collected in a little while.”

Lin Yin hurried to explain. “Their mother isn’t well. I help look after them sometimes.”

“What a coincidence. Twins too?”

She blanched and instinctively looked at Gu Yanshen.

He cut in. “It’s a relative’s private business. No need to ask so many questions. Let’s eat.”

It sounded as though he was protecting a relative’s privacy. In fact, he was shielding Lin Yin from my questions.

I let it go, remembering only the look the three of them exchanged.

The table was laden with food.

Pork ribs stewed with Chinese yam, steamed sea bass, pigs’ trotters braised until tender, and a bowl of milky crucian-carp soup.

Low in salt and oil, mild and nourishing. It looked exactly like a menu for a woman recovering from childbirth.

The lone plate of spicy shrimp sat at the outer edge, like a prop hastily added to disguise the rest.

When we sat down, Lin Yin pulled out the chair on Gu Yanshen’s right with practiced ease.

Her own soup bowl was already waiting. Not a shred of ginger in it. Even her dietary preferences had been carefully observed.

I left my chopsticks untouched and looked at my husband.

“Have the Gu family rules changed? Do the housekeepers eat at the family table now?”

Lin Yin’s hand stopped against the rim of her bowl. Her cheeks flushed.

“Please don’t misunderstand, Miss Su. My mother always tells me to know my place when working in someone else’s home. Yanshen insisted I sit down because I’ve just had a baby and I’m not well. I didn’t want to at first.”

She lowered her eyes and added softly, “Girls from poor families like mine aren’t so pampered. We should be grateful just to have a hot meal.”

In a single sentence, she made herself look sensible and me look spoiled.

My mother-in-law smiled, smoothing things over. “Yin isn’t good with words, but she means well. She’s young. Don’t take it to heart.”

Gu Yanshen added, “Auntie Lin has looked after me for years. Lin Yin is practically family. It’s only a meal. There’s no need to draw such sharp distinctions.”

I gently turned my glass with a fingertip.

“If she’s family, why not invite Auntie Lin too? The mother is still busy in the kitchen while the daughter sits beside the young master. How does that make sense?”

Silence fell over the dining room.

Lin Yin’s eyes reddened, as though my cruelty had finally wounded her beyond endurance.

“Miss Su, I know rich people like you look down on us. But every family was poor once, weren’t they? We’re all human. Why don’t I even deserve a seat at a meal?”

Her question made me laugh.

“I don’t know about other families. Mine hasn’t been poor since my great-great-grandfather’s generation. There’s no need to make that insinuation.”

She clearly had not expected that answer. Her face alternated between red and white.

Gripping her skirt, she looked at Gu Yanshen.

“I don’t want to fight you for anything. I just don’t think people should be divided up so sharply. Even Yanshen doesn’t mind me. Why can’t you ever accept me?”

There it was.

She was not asking why she could not sit at the table. She was asking what right I, the wife, had to reject her when Gu Yanshen had already accepted her.

He was silent for a moment. Unexpectedly, he did not rescue her as he usually did.

“Wantang is right. From now on, eat with Auntie Lin in the kitchen area. Don’t sit here.”

Lin Yin stared. Tears fell at once.

She pushed back her chair and ran out. Gu Yanshen watched her go, his thoughts plainly following. For the rest of the meal, he barely said a word.

I picked up a shrimp. Before it reached my mouth, nausea rose in me.

“I have a meeting at work. I’m leaving.”

Before going, I deliberately passed through the living room.

The red wooden staircase, the blue-glazed vase, half the old painting. Exactly like my screenshots.

The woman from the posts lived in my mother-in-law’s house.

She had spent her pregnancy here, given birth here, and called my husband “my husband” here. My mother-in-law arranged her postpartum meals. Gu Yanshen cleaned up her most intimate, embarrassing messes. They hid the woman and the children in the old house while continuing to perform a respectable marriage alliance in front of me.

All three thought I knew nothing.

All three took me for a fool.