Chapter 7

Chen Yiyue suddenly looked up and stared at the corner where I was sitting.

I pretended to be deaf and mute, lowering my head.

At that moment, only two words remained in my mind:

I’m doomed.

10

My contract husband’s moonlight had returned, and the baby in my belly had just been exposed.

I really was the most miserable person in the world!

Throughout the birthday party, I was on edge, afraid Chen Yiyue would get annoyed and immediately drag me off to have an abortion.

He had treated me quite well lately.

But my mother had treated me well too. She didn’t really love me, though. She could abandon me in an instant.

No one was trustworthy. I could only rely on myself.

After the party, I secretly pulled Fu Mian aside.

“So… would you like to come over to my place for a while tonight?”

When Chen Yiyue returned to the apartment, I was sitting on the shoe cabinet outside the door.

He frowned, hurried over, pulled me up, and bent to brush off my skirt.

“Why are you sitting out here like an idiot? Aren’t you cold?”

“No, um… hurry inside. She’s waiting for you in there!”

I gave Chen Yiyue an ingratiating wink, opened the door, pushed him inside, and shut it firmly behind him.

Then I dashed downstairs and plopped down at the oden stand near the entrance.

I angrily ate a whole pile of food.

How long had it been? Had Chen Yiyue and Fu Mian… really started something in the apartment?

Well, good. If he was happy, maybe he’d be soft-hearted enough to spare my life when he found out I’d lied about the baby.

Burp~

I rubbed my belly. I was full.

I patted my pockets. Empty.

Damn it. I’d forgotten my phone.

Ever since I got pregnant, I’d been so absent-minded.

What was I supposed to do? Stay at a hotel? Was I going to have to wash dishes for the owner all night?

As I sighed, a tall figure loomed over me.

It was Chen Yiyue.

“You’re here!”

I sprang up. “I forgot my money. Can you pay for me?”

“Who told you to stand up so quickly? Didn’t I tell you the doctor said you have to move slowly?”

Chen Yiyue frowned at me. After paying, he took my hand.

“Let’s go home and sleep. You’re pregnant, yet you stay up late all the time. Stop eating street food so often. Whatever you want, I’ll learn to make it.”

“…Okay.”

But I couldn’t walk anymore.

When I’m full, I get sleepy.

In the end, Chen Yiyue picked me up and carried me home at an unhurried pace.

Curled in his arms, too sleepy to open my eyes, I mumbled, “Hey, where’s Miss Fu? Did she leave? How did it go between you two?”

“She died.”

“Huh… What?!”

“Hmph. Chen Yiyue, keep pretending… You met your precious Yumian. You must be in a great mood. Look at you smiling…”

“Right. My precious Yumian hasn’t driven me to my death yet, so I suppose I should be grateful.”

Holding me in his arms, Chen Yiyue walked slowly and suddenly asked, “Why do you think I like her?”

“Didn’t you write her a love letter?” I yawned. “Doesn’t she like you?”

“No.”

“Chen Yiyue, you’re actually a pretty good person. Your mouth is a little mean, your sex drive is a little high, but I think you’re really, really good… Why doesn’t Fu Mian like you?”

“That’s right,” Chen Yiyue said with a soft laugh. “Then why don’t you like me? Zhang Yumian, why not try liking me?”

No one answered him.

I had fallen asleep in his arms.

Chen Yiyue gazed at my sleeping face, deep emotions gathering in his eyes like a sea of stars.

He lowered his head and gently kissed my forehead.

“I’ll tell you tomorrow. Good night, my dear wife.”

11

But Chen Yiyue never got the chance to wait for tomorrow.

When he woke up the next morning, I was already gone.

I’d booked a plane ticket in advance.

When the plane took off, I cried despite myself.

I couldn’t bear to leave my mother. I couldn’t bear to leave the people who, though they had clearly treated me badly, had once given me a little affection.

And… I couldn’t bear to leave Chen Yiyue.

But it was all right. Time would heal everything.

Once our one-year contract expired, we’d automatically divorce, and he could find a better wife.

From now on, I would only be kind to myself and my baby.

After arriving in Singapore, I bought a villa and hired housekeepers to care for me.

I didn’t know whether Chen Yiyue would come looking for me. I changed all my communication devices and cut off every means of contact with Beijing.

I started drawing designs and founded my own clothing company.

My life became easy and comfortable.

When I was eight months pregnant, I saw a news story from back home.

“The new chairman of the Chen Group was involved in a car accident at the Nanlu Bridge at 8:25 this morning. The extent of the casualties is not yet known…”

I sprang up from my chair.

At the same time, a contraction seized my belly…

12

I safely gave birth to a baby girl weighing six jin and six liang.

The doctor said she was the most beautiful baby girl she’d ever delivered, and it had to be because she’d inherited my looks.

I thought perhaps she’d inherited her father’s looks too.

With Chen Yiyue’s face, it would be a shame if she didn’t.

I couldn’t help wondering… how was he now?

I stayed in the hospital for a week, keeping up with the news the whole time.

A few days later, after I was discharged, I finally couldn’t resist logging into my old WeChat account.

There were thousands of unread messages.

Half of them were from Chen Yiyue.

[Zhang Yumian, where have you run off to now? Come home. You have a prenatal checkup today.]

[1111]

[You’re not answering me?]

[Are you sulking?]

[Be good. Stop fooling around. Fu Mian and I are nothing. I don’t like her either. You imagined the whole thing. I haven’t even touched a single hair on her head.]

[I’m sorry I didn’t explain sooner. Things at home have been hectic lately.]

[You really won’t pay any attention to me?]

[Zhang Yumian, if you keep ignoring me, I’m going to get angry.]

[I really am getting angry!]

[Fine, I’m not mad anymore. Just send me one word. Don’t make me worry like this.]

[Are you there? You won’t answer your phone either?]

[Where did you go?]

[You dare run away? Do you believe I’ll break your legs?]

[Fine, you even emptied your whole closet. You really want to leave? Am I that awful, Zhang Yumian? Am I even worse than Hao Yuan?]

[Zhang Yumian, just try it!]

…

[I miss you so much.]

[Could you please answer me? I really miss you.]

[I’m begging you!]

[Wifey!]

[Do you really not want me anymore?]

[You really don’t want me anymore.]

…

My fingers trembled as I scrolled through WeChat.

He’d sent so many…

They were all sent around three or four in the morning. Had he not been sleeping?

I quickly opened Moments and saw a post from one of Chen Yiyue’s friends.

He said Chen Yiyue was dead.

He’d died in a car accident while street racing that morning.

At the exact moment I gave birth to our daughter.

13

I couldn’t remember how I’d called to book a ticket or how I’d gotten to the airport.

All I knew was that my whole body was trembling. When a heart beats to its limit, a person can become strangely calm.

I left my daughter, Xixi, with a trusted friend and boarded the earliest flight back to China.

When the plane landed in Beijing, it felt like I had come back to life after a lifetime away.

I brought no luggage and didn’t care how exhausted I was from the trip.

I went straight to the apartment where Chen Yiyue and I had been married.

I opened the door and stepped into an empty apartment.

All the furnishings were exactly as before.

Even my toothbrush and towel were still there.

The fridge still held my favorite milk and snacks, and every item had a fresh expiration date.

Someone had clearly been replacing them regularly.

I searched everywhere but couldn’t find him, then turned and hurried downstairs.

The moment I stepped outside the building, I realized that all the people who’d been strolling around the residential complex had disappeared.

The surroundings were utterly silent.

Even the service entrance for the cleaners and the dog flap… had been sealed shut with large steel plates.

Steady footsteps sounded behind me.

A group of black-clad bodyguards rushed up and surrounded me.

I looked up abruptly.

A path opened in their midst. A tall, straight-backed figure walked toward me.

It was Chen Yiyue.

My first reaction was relief. He wasn’t dead after all. That accursed friend who posted on Moments—I had to find him and slap him.

My second reaction: he’d lost weight.

My third was: Damn it! He caught me!

I instinctively stepped backward.

Chen Yiyue seemed to have hit a nerve. He strode over and backed me up until there was nowhere left to go.

“Run,” he said coldly. “Zhang Yumian, take one more step and see what happens.”

14

Chen Yiyue brought me back to the apartment.

Sitting in the home where we had once lived so intimately, I felt a little nostalgic and looked around.

“What are you looking at? Want to dig a hole and escape?”

Chen Yiyue’s voice was icy. “You can jump out the window. Then you won’t have to run anymore—you can just be reborn.

“But I’ll jump with you. You won’t escape me in your next life either.”

“…”

“Or do you want to crawl out through the ventilation duct? Need me to give you a hand?”

“Chen Yiyue!” I bit my lip and glared at him. “Why are you making all these sinister insinuations? I came back because I was worried you were dead!”

“If I were dead, would you care?”

“Of course I’d care! I was worried sick!”

The words slipped out before I could stop them.