Chapter 3

“It was money belonging to both of you. Why distinguish between yours and his?” Wang Xiufen waved a hand. “I’m not trying to criticize you, Wanqiu, but you’re far too calculating. What married couple keeps such a strict account?”

Lin Wanqiu set down her chopsticks and looked at her mother-in-law.

“Mom, if Jianguo and I divorced, who would get the house?”

Xiufen’s expression changed.

“What are you saying? You’re getting divorced?”

“I said if.” Wanqiu remained calm. “If we divorced, with the house in his name, could I get my down payment back?”

“Divorce? Don’t talk nonsense!” Xiufen’s voice rose. “Wanqiu, have you met someone else? Let me tell you, if you dare betray Jianguo, I’ll be the first to put a stop to it!”

Wanqiu smiled.

“Why don’t you ask whether Jianguo has betrayed me?”

Xiufen stared at her.

“Never mind. Forget I said anything.” Wanqiu got up to clear the table. “If you’re tired, Mom, you can go home. I can look after Ningning myself.”

Xiufen left that very afternoon. Before going, she warned Wanqiu, “I’ll tell Jianguo about this. You haven’t been yourself lately. Are you going through early menopause or something?”

Wanqiu watched her leave, then went back to her room and opened her computer.

Jianguo’s location had remained at the same hotel for all three days. He had only gone out twice, both times to a nearby shopping mall. She zoomed in on the map and noted the hotel’s full address.

Then she opened a private investigator’s website and filled out a request form.

Three days later, Jianguo returned looking tired.

“That retreat nearly killed me. We went hiking every day.”

“Really?” Wanqiu took his suitcase. “How were the mountains in Huzhou?”

“All right. Nothing special.” He walked into the bedroom. “I’m going to shower.”

She opened the suitcase. The clothes were neatly packed and carefully folded. She picked up a shirt and smelled it. No sweat, only the fragrance of the hotel’s laundry detergent.

In a side pocket, she found a room key card.

Yueting Boutique Hotel. Room 518.

She photographed it, then put it back.

When Jianguo came out of the shower, she was still unpacking.

“Oh, my mother said you’ve been in a bad mood lately?”

“I’m fine. Just a little tired.” Wanqiu put the clothes in the laundry basket. “Jianguo, I want to ask you something.”

“What?”

“Could you add my name to the property title?”

He paused.

“Why bring that up all of a sudden?”

“I paid three hundred thousand toward the down payment, but only your name is on the title. It makes me uneasy.” She turned to face him. “If you really want us to have a good life together, that isn’t too much to ask, is it?”

He was silent for a few seconds.

“Wanqiu, adding your name means paying taxes. It’s a lot of trouble. Besides, we’re married. What difference does it make whose name is on it?”

“It makes a difference.” She held his gaze. “If we divorce, it makes a difference.”

“What’s gotten into you?” He frowned. “Did my mother say something?”

“No.” She smiled. “I was only asking. If you don’t want to, forget it.”

That night, she heard him on the phone in the bathroom, his voice lowered.

“Qingya, I think she’s noticed something… I know. I’ll work something out… Don’t rush me…”

Wanqiu leaned against the back of the bedroom door and closed her eyes.

On September 28, the private investigator’s report arrived.

Forty-three pages. Hotel check-in records, restaurant bills, and shopping records for Jianguo and Qingya during those three days, along with three photographs of them in the hotel lobby.

In the photographs, they stood side by side, Qingya’s arm linked through his. They looked unmistakably intimate.

Wanqiu turned the pages, her fingers trembling.

In her previous life, she hadn’t even learned of Qingya’s existence until a month before the divorce. By then, all the evidence had been destroyed. She had been left with nothing.

This time, it was only the beginning.

She locked the report in a drawer and sent Jiang Xiaofei a message.

“Ms. Jiang, I have the evidence.”

The lawyer replied almost immediately.

“Mrs. Zhou, don’t let him know. Keep gathering evidence—the more, the better. And remember to protect your own assets.”

Reading the message, Wanqiu suddenly remembered something.