Chapter 4

He Yanchuan was waiting in the corridor when I came out.

He held out his hand.

“I saw Yu Tang leave. What did she say to you?”

I opened my phone and played the recording I had made.

Her voice sounded.

“Oh, I forgot. You’re mute. You can’t talk.”

“If I hadn’t broken off the engagement, do you think you’d ever have married into the He family?”

He listened in silence, his face darkening.

“I was the one who opposed that marriage,” he said quietly.

“She isn’t the woman I’ve never forgotten.”

“You’re the one I love.”

“I fell for you when we first met at the aquarium five years ago.”

“I knew you were afraid of social situations. And with my own condition, I only dared watch over you from a distance.”

“Grandpa didn’t arrange our meeting simply because he was friends with your grandfather.”

“I asked to marry you.”

I had misunderstood everything.

I thought he didn’t love me.

He had loved me deeply, but his shame about his body had kept him from coming closer.

“What happened at the aquarium?” I signed.

“The one abroad?”

He considered.

“We met by chance. She saw me with you and waited until you went to the restroom to ask me to unblock her.”

“I refused.”

“Later, while we were shopping for the babies, she called from another number. She begged me to go back to her. Otherwise, she’d tell Grandpa you were pregnant.”

“That’s why we argued.”

“We never dated. And when I climbed that tree as a boy, I was picking fruit. Not fetching her kite.”

Rumors were frightening. They could turn black into white.

One question remained.

I found the two photographs Yu Tang and Jiang Qing had sent me.

The first showed him in first class.

“She wasn’t on that flight,” he explained. “The passenger next to me took the photograph and sent it to her. A friend of hers.”

Then the café picture.

He shook his head.

“I’ve never met her at a café. That’s a composite.”

“Jiang Qing was her best friend at university. You understand what she was doing?”

Now I did.

Yu Tang had bought Jiang Qing’s help and staged everything to drive us apart.

He had been so honest with me.

Perhaps it was time for me to tell the truth, too.

Just then, the old house’s butler hurried over.

“Young Master. Madam. Miss Yu is causing a scene. Old Mr. He wants you in the main hall.”

We exchanged a glance and hurried there.

***

Yu Tang had a stack of photographs secretly taken while I was pregnant abroad.

Taking advantage of our absence, she had told his grandfather, “Xia Yu deceived you.”

“Those children weren’t adopted. She gave birth to them herself. Another man’s children!”

“She’s fooled the whole He family!”

The guests stirred.

“Is it true? How awful!”

“So that’s why she disappeared for six months!”

“How dare she bring another man’s children into this family?”

“Mr. He is remarkably generous. Raising them without a word!”

Old Mr. He’s face darkened.

He slammed the table.

“What other man?”

“Those children are Yanchuan and Xia Yu’s. His condition was cured long ago!”

Yu Tang went white.

“Impossible! The doctor said he could never have children!”

Her mother hurriedly covered her mouth.

“Xiao Tang. Be quiet!”

But she only grew more frantic.

“There must be a limit to how far you’ll protect Xia Yu! With all the He family’s assets, how can you let outsiders’ children inherit?”

A sharp slap rang out.

Her father had struck her.

“Shut your mouth!”

He turned to apologize.

“My daughter has lost her mind. I’ll take her home and discipline her. Please forgive her.”

Old Mr. He’s voice was cold.

“From today, every partnership between our families ends.”

“From now on, we are competitors.”

Security immediately escorted the entire Yu family out.

Yu Tang hadn’t expected him to stand by me without conditions.

He Yanchuan and I reached the hall just then.

Before I could explain, his grandfather spoke clearly for everyone to hear.

“The children are Yanchuan and Xiao Yu’s. Yanchuan has recovered.”

“Anyone who says otherwise makes an enemy of this family.”

Silence fell.

He took out an imperial-green jadeite bangle and handed it to He Yanchuan to put on my wrist.

At once, everyone believed him.

“That bangle is the He family heirloom. It only goes to the heir’s wife.”

“If those weren’t his children, why would Old Mr. He give Xia Yu such a treasure?”

Grandpa drew me into a corner.

“Xiao Yu. Before I came, I told Old He those children were yours and Xiao Chuan’s.”

After I returned home, he had guessed I had given birth to them.

He asked who their father was.

I told him.

He Yanchuan.

He had only smiled and asked nothing more.

No wonder Old Mr. He had been so certain his grandson was cured.

Now only He Yanchuan remained in the dark.

He still thought his grandfather had said it to save his pride.

I needed to find the right moment to tell him.

***

After the He family retaliated, the Yu family quickly went bankrupt.

Yu Tang fell from privileged heiress to the bottom.

To make money quickly, she became an escort at luxury parties.

Later, she was arrested in a prostitution crackdown and appeared on the news.

Her reputation was ruined.

Gangan and Ningning grew.

Ningning was my image, while Gangan looked more and more like He Yanchuan.

Old Mr. He often put his grandson’s childhood photographs beside Gangan’s and laughed until his eyes creased.

“Look! Cast from the same mold!”

Even He Yanchuan could see the resemblance.

The more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed.

One evening after his shower, he came into my room, hesitant.

“Darling. Gangan and Ningning… are they really my children?”

I nodded.

Joy shook him. His lips trembled.

“But… we’ve never…”

My face burned.

I pointed toward the bathroom.

“I’m going to shower.”

Even prepared as I was, I didn’t know where to begin.

When I came out, he was still there.

In fact, he was already on my bed, the top three buttons of his shirt undone, his eyes bright.

“Darling. Let me sleep here tonight.”

Now I understood.

Knowing I was the girl he had carried in his heart all those years, I could see this marriage had grown out of a long wait.

Why keep sleeping apart?

I slipped beneath the covers.

He immediately drew me close and breathed in the scent at my neck.

“You smell so good…”

My ears burned, but I didn’t pull away. I let him hold me.

His kisses began gently, then grew more urgent. When I didn’t resist, he became bolder.

“Darling… how did you get pregnant?”

“Shall we do it again?”

“If you don’t say anything, I’ll take that as a yes.”

I couldn’t speak.

But he had told me that when words weren’t possible, I could show him.

So I put my arms around his neck and answered with my embrace.

Yes.

His voice was low and husky by my ear.

“Last time… while I was unconscious with that fever, did you take the initiative?”

I covered his mouth, stopping him.

The gesture only fired him.

He answered with a passion far beyond his former restraint, kissing me as though he wanted to make me part of him.

The moonlight faded outside.

By the time dawn filtered through the curtains, I was limp and exhausted.

He, on the other hand, looked wonderfully refreshed.

As though he wanted to continue.

He told me he had been dimly aware of something that first night, despite the fever.

Afterward, he often dreamed of me.

He had believed that night was only a dream.

He hadn’t known it was real.

From then on, I became more determined to continue treatment for my vocal cords.

The doctor developed a special course for me. Within two years, I would be able to speak again.

I longed for that day.

Having discovered physical intimacy, He Yanchuan seemed thoroughly addicted.

Each evening, besides my work at the dispensary, he wanted me to put in “overtime.”

He held me and whispered, “Darling. Do it again. Like you did that time.”

Embarrassed and amused, I signed, “No. I’m too tired today.”

He smiled gently.

“Then lie down. I’ll give you a massage.”

I lay on my stomach while he rubbed my shoulders.

His touch was gentle and steady. I almost fell asleep.

As he concentrated, I thought, I’m not that tired, really. If I don’t have to do any work, perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad…

He suddenly stopped.

Turning me over, he looked astonished.

“Darling… did you just speak?”

I stared.

Had I?

No.

His gaze deepened.

I hadn’t opened my mouth.

Yet he had heard my thoughts.

Moonlight fell across my face.

He deliberately teased me, drawing closer and watching my reactions, as though trying to coax a sound from me.

I couldn’t make one.

I could only look at him with damp eyes as tears slipped from their corners.

He paused and kissed one away.

“What is it? Don’t you like it?”

That wasn’t it.

I liked it very much.

So much that I couldn’t help crying.

He chuckled and bent to my ear.

“Darling. I can hear your heart now.”

“You said you liked it.”

The End

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