Chapter 1: The First Crack

As I wiped down my husband, who had been in a coma for ten years, I saw the tip of his finger twitch.

I was so excited that I knocked over the basin of water and immediately pressed the call button for the doctor.

But above the hospital bed floated a line of text that only I could see.

[Don't waste your effort. He isn't in a coma at all.]

[The moment you leave, he holds the woman he loves and kisses her nonstop. They were up too late fooling around last night, and he forgot to take his sleeping pills—that's why he slipped up.]

[The wife will soon be arranged to have a car accident. Then the three of them can move into the newlywed home.]

Only then did I understand: the car accident on our wedding day ten years ago had been arranged by my own husband.

He had used a diagnosis of persistent vegetative state to imprison me, then used my money to keep another woman and her child.

Before the doctors came in, I withdrew my hand. I had been about to straighten his collar.

Half an hour later, I called the emergency medical center.

“You don't need to keep the special treatment slot for me anymore.”

“If he's lain there for ten years and still won't wake up, it's time to start preparing for his funeral.”

1.

Gu Yanzhou lived at a private nursing facility on the outskirts of the city.

It was far from the main road. Outside the window were only mountains, trees, and a lake. Ten years ago, I had chosen the place for him myself.

After the car accident, every time I heard tires screech or a car horn blare, my chest tightened.

I thought the quiet would help him recover—and help me keep going.

Over the past ten years, his doctors, my friends, and his parents had all tried to talk me into letting go.

“Zhiwei, you have to let go.”

“He has no dignity living like this, and you can't spend your whole life wearing yourself down beside his bed.”

I had never agreed. Not once.

To find a way to wake him, I contacted every neurologist at home and abroad I could reach. I even paid to build a dedicated emergency treatment center.

The doctors said a familiar voice might stimulate his consciousness, so every day I told him about the company, our family, even what I had eaten for lunch.

He had never responded.

That tiny twitch of his finger was the first answer I had received in ten years.

But before the doctors could arrive, comments began floating in front of me one after another.

[The side character really thinks love can work miracles.]

[She watches him every day. The male lead doesn't even dare wake up.]

[Every time his wife wants to visit, he takes the drug first. The moment she leaves, the heroine slips in through the staff entrance.]

[They went too wild last night. The male lead fell asleep and nearly got caught with a hickey on his neck.]

I looked toward Gu Yanzhou's collar.

Yesterday, I had gone to an old temple outside the city. I climbed from the foot of the mountain to the main hall, step by step, to pray for a jade safety charm for him.

At first, I had planned to put it around his neck myself. Now my hand stopped half an inch from his collar.

Several doctors hurried into the room. The nurses connected the monitors, and the department head checked his pupils and reflexes as usual.

Gu Yanzhou lay there quietly, breathing evenly, with no sign of waking.

“Mrs. Gu, that may have been an involuntary muscle contraction.”

The department head looked at me with the familiar sympathy in his eyes.

“His condition hasn't truly changed.”

I had heard that explanation too many times.

Before, each time, I had been disappointed—but I had never given up.

During the first two years, any small shift in the monitor readings was enough to make me call in specialists from elsewhere.

In the third year, the doctor told me his muscles were wasting away. I learned how to massage him and move his joints from the rehabilitation therapists. Each night, my wrists ached so badly I could barely lift them.

In the fifth year, news came from overseas of a new clinical trial. I waited outside a conference room all night just to secure him a place as a candidate.

Mrs. Gu pulled me close, heartbroken, and said the Gu family owed me too much.

Mr. Gu also promised in front of all the relatives that whether or not Gu Yanzhou woke up, I would always be the only daughter-in-law they acknowledged.

I took those words as the sincerity of family. I even helped them move into a new home in their hometown so they would not have to face the old place where their son had been hurt.

Looking back now, their so-called inability to face the past had only been an excuse to stay in the city and care for another grandson.

Every time they urged me to let go, they were probably waiting for me to end their charade for them.

This time, I deliberately let go.

The jade safety charm fell, bounced over the edge of the rug, struck the tile, and shattered into several pieces.

A nurse bent to pick it up, but I crouched down first.

From that angle, through a gap between the examination equipment and the hem of his gown, I saw two fresh red marks beneath his collarbone.

The floating comments suddenly went wild.

[See? The heroine left those on him last night.]

[The male lead is acting so convincingly. The jade broke and he still didn't even twitch an eyelid.]

I wrapped the broken pieces in a tissue. A sharp edge cut my fingertip; the pain was unmistakable.

The nurse gently told me not to be sad.

I stood and smiled at her.

“Thank you. I just suddenly feel like this charm broke at exactly the right time.”

2.

I canceled that day's care appointment and left the nursing facility before sunset for the first time.

For ten years, whenever I came here, I never took a car along the final stretch of mountain road.

People said a little hardship could bring blessings to a loved one. I knew there was no basis for it, but I had walked down the road day after day anyway.

It took four hours to walk from the facility to the turnoff where I could hail a ride.

When the soles of my shoes wore down, I replaced them and kept walking.

Today, halfway down, I stopped by the road and sent my location to a car service.

When the driver arrived, he checked twice before letting me get in.

“I used to see you walking along this road every time. I thought you never took cars.”

I leaned back and watched the trees slide past the window.

“I couldn't bear it before. Now I'm tired.”

A trip that used to take more than two hours was over in less than forty minutes.

When I got home, I didn't even turn on the lights. I sank onto the living-room sofa.

As my fingers slipped between the cushions, something suddenly jabbed me.

I pulled my hand back. My fingertip was bleeding.

Hidden in the sofa was a diamond earring shaped like a teardrop, with unfamiliar initials engraved on the back.

I hadn't worn jewelry like that in a long time.

After Gu Yanzhou's accident, I sold most of my jewelry and invested the money in medical projects. The old blanket my mother had left me was the thing I treasured most in this house.

The comments floated above the earring.

[The heroine's been looking everywhere for this earring. So it fell here.]

[They always fool around from the front door all the way to the bedroom. It's no surprise they dropped a few things.]

[The wife is sitting on a sofa they used just two days ago.]

Holding the earring, I slowly looked through each room.

The painting on the living-room wall was tilted a few degrees. The curtains were creased as if someone had yanked them. Beside a flowerpot on the balcony was a slim high-heel print that wasn't mine.

Those signs had appeared before.

I'd always assumed the housekeeper had moved things, or that I was so tired I'd forgotten where I'd left them. I had never looked any deeper.

At the back of the bedroom closet was the blanket my mother had woven.

Once, after returning from a business trip, I found a large, sticky stain on it. Even after it was washed, the blanket still smelled of unfamiliar perfume.

At the time, I had to rely on alcohol to sleep, so I thought I must have spilled something on it while drunk.

The comments filled in the truth.

[That wasn't alcohol. The heroine left the stain on purpose.]

[She likes using the wife's things. The more precious something is to the wife, the more she wants to touch it.]

I carried the blanket out, my fingers clenched so tightly they turned white.

My mother had died of an illness ten years ago. This was the last thing she had left me.

Gu Yanzhou knew that perfectly well.

He had once watched horror movies with me under that blanket. When I got scared, he laughed and promised he'd always stay by my side.

So his promise to stay had only applied where I could see him.

Tears fell on the blanket. I didn't wipe them away.

Just then, my assistant called to remind me that the partnership project in South City needed a final round of negotiations.

She heard that something was wrong with my voice and offered to go in my place.

“No. I'll go.”

I placed the earring in an evidence bag and ordered several discreet surveillance cameras on my phone.

“Keep the itinerary as planned. Let everyone outside hear the same thing as before.”

After ending the call, I took my mother's blanket to a professional service to have it documented and cleaned.

This time, I didn't rush back to the nursing facility.

The fish had been swimming around my house for ten years. I had to give them enough time to take the bait.

3.

Before leaving, I went to his room as usual to tell him.

Gu Yanzhou liked apples. I sat beside his bed and slowly peeled one in a single unbroken strip.

“Something came up at the company. I have to go to South City for a week.”

“I won't be able to visit you for a few days. Be good and listen to the nurses.”

When we were in love, he had been possessive. If I was so busy that I forgot to reply to a message, he could wait up, cold-faced, until midnight for me to come home.

Later, we agreed that wherever we went, we would tell each other in advance.

After he fell into a coma, I kept up the habit.

Looking back now, every time I told him my itinerary, I was helping them arrange their meetings.

I placed the neatly cut apple slices on the table and leaned over to pull up the corner of his blanket.

“When I come back, you have to be well.”

Then I dragged my suitcase out.

The car didn't take me to the airport. It stopped at the monitoring room behind the nursing facility.

Less than fifteen minutes later, a woman in a nurse's uniform swiped her card and entered Gu Yanzhou's room.

She took off her mask. I recognized Zhao Wanting.

She was the poor student I had supported for years.

The moment the door locked, the man on the bed opened his eyes and pulled her into his arms.

“What took you so long?”

“Isn't it because I was afraid of running into your wonderful wife?”

Zhao Wanting sat beside his legs, her fingers sliding down his collar.

Gu Yanzhou frowned and complained that I had dragged on before leaving, saying the nonsense had gone on for ages.

She laughed and asked, “She walks all that way to see you every day. Doesn't that make you feel bad?”

“No one told her to.”

Gu Yanzhou rolled over and pinned her down, his voice full of impatience.

“Pretending to be dead in this bed is much harder than anything she does.”

In the monitoring room, the staff member lowered his head, afraid to look at me.

I stared at the screen until Zhao Wanting pushed him away and urged him to hurry up and get dressed.

They left through the staff entrance and got into a black car.

I told my driver to continue the old routine: take me to the start of the mountain road, then let me walk alone.

Twenty minutes later, that car slowly pulled up beside me.

The windows had been specially treated, so I couldn't see inside. But the comments gave me a breathless live broadcast.

[How exciting. The wife is right outside the car.]

[The heroine told the driver to slow down on purpose. She really knows how to play.]

[The male lead told her to stop messing around, but his hands haven't stopped.]

The car suddenly sped up. Its tires went through a puddle, splashing mud across half my body.

I stood by the road. I didn't chase after them or curse.

When the taillights disappeared, I got into the car my assistant had arranged and went straight to the airport.

Before boarding, I received an alert from the newly installed cameras at home: movement detected.

On the screen, Zhao Wanting entered through the front door with Gu Yanzhou on her arm, moving with the ease of the real homeowner.

They didn't turn on the lights. They went straight to the kitchen.

Gu Yanzhou took the kind of tea she usually drank from the cupboard. He even remembered exactly where the cups were kept.