Chapter 1

My year-end bonus was 860,000 yuan. I quietly put 800,000 into savings and told my husband I’d received 60,000. The next day, he transferred 50,000 to his sister.

This was the private nest egg I had built over five years of marriage.

With the savings from the previous two years, my term-deposit account now held 1.2 million yuan.

Zhao Lei didn’t know.

Neither did his mother.

His sister certainly didn’t.

A cold wind slipped down my collar as I left the bank.

My phone vibrated again.

Zhao Lei: “Sixty thousand isn’t bad. Shall we celebrate with hot pot tonight?”

I replied, “Sure,” and hailed a taxi.

In the car, I opened the family group chat.

My mother-in-law had sent a voice message. I converted it to text.

“Lei, your brother-in-law’s really pressing us. If your sister misses this month’s mortgage payment, it’ll damage her credit. Could you help her cover fifty thousand first?”

Zhao Lei hadn’t replied.

Staring at the message, I remembered what he had said the month before.

“We don’t have any savings. Isn’t there still over twenty thousand in your salary account? Take it out for the emergency, okay?”

I had.

Twenty-three thousand, transferred to his sister.

I hadn’t even heard a thank-you yet.

Beyond the taxi window, traffic wove across an overpass.

I touched the deposit receipt in my bag and felt perfectly calm.

I would enjoy tonight’s hot pot.

But it was time to make a few things clear too.

1

Zhao Lei had already ordered at the restaurant.

Two plates of lamb, beef tripe, duck intestines, shrimp balls. Everything suited his taste.

When I sat, he pushed over the menu.

“Anything else you want?”

“No. That’s enough.”

The server brought the pot. Red oil bubbled.

Zhao Lei poured me a glass of sour plum juice and smiled naturally.

“You’ve worked hard, honey. The bonus may not be much, but we still need to make a good life together.”

I took a sip.

“What about your bonus?”

“Mine? Don’t ask.” He sighed. “Business was bad this year. They halved it. Only forty thousand.”

I said nothing.

He had bought a new car the month before.

The old one was only three years old. He said it was embarrassing and insisted on replacing it.

An eighty-thousand down payment. Claiming he was short, he asked me to transfer forty thousand from our household account.

We had opened that joint account when we married.

Each of us was supposed to deposit three thousand a month for housing, utilities, and everyday expenses.

He had called last month’s forty thousand a loan. Nothing more had been said since.

“What are you thinking?” He put a piece of tripe in my bowl.

“Nothing.”

“Oh, you saw what Mum asked this afternoon?”

“I did.”

“My sister’s really struggling. Her husband does renovation contracts and can’t collect what he’s owed at year-end. They’re two months behind on the mortgage.”

He watched my face as he spoke.

“Could we help them again?”

I chewed the tripe slowly.

“We gave her twenty-three thousand last month.”

“That was last month.” He put down his chopsticks. “This time it’s fifty thousand. She says she’ll pay us back when he collects the money.”

“When?”

“Well… he says he should be able to collect it in early spring.”

“Should?”

He frowned.

“What’s that supposed to mean? She’s my sister, not a stranger. You think she’d refuse to repay us?”

I set down my chopsticks and looked at him.

“Have you calculated how much she’s borrowed in the four years she’s been married?”

He froze.

“I have. Thirty thousand the year before last, forty-five thousand last year, seventy-three thousand so far this year. A hundred and forty-eight thousand in all. How much has she repaid? Five thousand. On your mother’s birthday, in front of everyone.”

“That was all because—”

“Her husband’s business lost money. She had a mortgage. She needed a car. She needed renovations.”

I said it in one breath.

“Zhao Lei, your sister’s life is difficult. Does that mean ours is easy?”

His face darkened.

“What’s got into you today? Why are you so hostile?”

“Nothing.” I took another sip. “I just think we should think about ourselves too.”

“Think about what?”

“Saving.”

“Aren’t we already doing that? The household account still has—”

“How much is in it now?”

He checked his phone.

“Twelve thousand.”

“We’ve been married five years. Three thousand each a month makes six thousand. Seventy-two thousand a year, three hundred and sixty thousand over five years.”

I continued.

“With bonuses and other deposits, it should be at least five hundred thousand. Why is there only twelve thousand left?”

He stopped talking.

“Fifty thousand for your mother’s surgery. Eighty thousand your sister borrowed to buy her home. Forty thousand for your new car. Thirty thousand for the birthday banquet you insisted on for your father.”

I counted them off.

“All from our household account. I’ve never complained about those things. But you can’t take them for granted.”

The hot pot bubbled.

Red oil splashed onto the back of my hand. I didn’t flinch.

He stayed silent a long time.

“So this time…”

“No.” I said. “I’m keeping twenty thousand of my sixty-thousand bonus for insurance. The other forty thousand goes into our household account. Work out your sister’s problem yourself.”

He rested his chopsticks across his bowl and stared at me for several seconds.

“All right. I understand.”

He picked up his phone and sent a message to the family group.

I glanced at it.

[Mum, I’ll see what I can do for her later. I’m short at the moment too.]

My mother-in-law immediately answered:

[Short of what? You both work and don’t have children. What expenses can you have? She’s your own sister. If you don’t help, who will?]

I stopped looking.

I picked up a piece of duck intestine and dipped it into the pot.

Up and down, seven or eight times.

Just like this marriage.

The next morning, Zhao Lei left earlier than usual.

I heard him making a call in the living room, his voice kept low.

“I really can’t get fifty thousand together… It’s not that I don’t want to help… Her bonus was only sixty thousand… Yes… I know… I’ll think of something…”

The door shut.

I got up, washed, brushed my teeth, and made myself a sandwich.

Halfway through eating, my phone rang.

His sister, Zhao Qian.

“Are you free at noon? I’d like to buy you a coffee.”

“What’s the matter?”

“We haven’t seen each other in a while. Just a chat.”

I considered it.

“All right.”

At eleven thirty, she was already at the café.

She was dressed beautifully in a camel coat, with a scarf in a luxury brand’s classic design.

As soon as I sat, she smiled.

“You’ve lost weight.”

“I haven’t.”

“Of course you have. Your face is much smaller.”

She waved a server over.

“A latte for her, and a cheesecake.”

“No cake. I don’t eat sweets.”

“Oh, try some. Their cake is lovely.”

After the server left, Zhao Qian took a paper bag from her handbag.

“I bought you a scarf. See if you like it.”

I didn’t take it.

“Say what you came to say.”

Her smile stiffened for a second, then returned.

“I wanted to talk about the mortgage. The bank’s pressing us. If we don’t pay this month, it really will hurt our credit. You know he does renovation contracts. At year-end, he can’t collect his payments. The workers are waiting for their wages—”

“So?”

“Could you lend me fifty thousand to get through this?”

Her eyes reddened a little.

“I promise, the first thing we’ll do when he gets paid in spring is repay you.”

“You said that last time.”

“That was last time. This time I mean it—”

“You always mean it.” I said. “I’m not going through old debts with you. Just today. I don’t have fifty thousand.”

“My brother said your bonus was sixty thousand—”

“That’s my bonus. Not yours.”

She stared.

“How your brother spends his money is his business. I have my own plans for mine.”

“You’re treating me like a stranger—”

“No.” I took a sip of latte. “I’m trying to live my life.”

Her expression changed.

“Do you have something against me?”

“No.”

“Then why—”

“I said no.” I cut her off. “But understand something. You’re married, with your own household. Your brother and I are married too. We have our own life to manage. You can’t keep coming to us every time things get difficult. That isn’t reasonable.”

Her eyes truly reddened.

“I know I haven’t paid back the earlier loans. I remember every bit. When he collects the money—”

“What is there to discuss?” My mother-in-law interrupted. “She’s his sister. How can he ignore her when she’s in trouble? Jiang, you can’t be so selfish.”

Ignoring her, I looked straight at Zhao Lei.

“You’ve decided?”

“I have.”

“Fine.” I nodded. “I’ve decided something too.”

Everyone looked at me.

“I want to separate.”

Zhao Lei stared.

My mother-in-law’s face darkened.

“What did you say?”

“I said separate.”

I looked at him.

“Spend your money however you like. I won’t stop you. I decide how to spend mine. From today, we go our own ways.”

“Jiang Wan…”

“Don’t call me.”

I went into the bedroom, took out a suitcase, and started packing.

He followed.

“Are you insane?”

“No.”

“Just because I helped my sister—”

“Because you never ask me.”

I pushed clothes into the suitcase.

“I’ve put up with this for five years. Not this time.”

“You can’t just declare we’re separating—”

“Why not? You didn’t discuss selling the car with me either.”

He had no answer.

I zipped the suitcase, took my key from my bag, and put it on the bedside cabinet.

“The house key.”

“Jiang Wan…”

“Think carefully about whether you want a life with me or with your mother and sister. Then contact me.”

I wheeled the suitcase out of the bedroom.

My mother-in-law and Zhao Qian stood in the living room.

My mother-in-law pointed at me.

“Walk out that door today, and don’t expect to come back!”

I kept walking.

As the door closed behind me, I heard Zhao Qian crying.

And Zhao Lei’s voice.

“Jiang Wan! Get back here!”

The lift doors opened.

I went in.

They closed.

The world went quiet.

I rented a flat near work.

Three thousand five hundred a month. One month’s deposit, three months’ rent in advance.

I withdrew fifteen thousand from my term deposit for the housing payment.

On my first night there, I lay in bed staring at the ceiling.

My phone vibrated again and again.