Chapter 1

I was waiting alone in a hospital queue when my husband, who had barely spoken to me for days, gently touched my shoulder.

“It’s crowded here. Didn’t I tell you to sit over there and rest?”

I turned around.

He froze. His brows drew together.

“You? What are you doing at the hospital?”

I followed his gaze to the seating area. A young woman sat there with a cup of milk tea cradled in both hands, enjoying the air-conditioning, a leisurely smile on her lips.

“A minor procedure,” I said evenly.

Impatience crossed Lu Chenzhou’s face. He snatched the discharge bill from my hand.

Then he read it. His pupils contracted.

He stared at me in disbelief.

“Why didn’t I know we were having a baby?”

1

I didn’t answer.

I felt weak and tired. I wanted to leave.

But Lu Chenzhou gripped my shoulders, his jaw tight.

“Wen Yu. Answer me.”

Xia Miao noticed the commotion, put down her milk tea, and hurried over.

She tugged at the hem of his shirt.

“Chenzhou, don’t be so harsh with Yu all the time! Even I’m scared.”

Then she turned to me.

“Yu, please don’t get the wrong idea. My blood sugar was a little low today. Chenzhou was worried, so he brought me to the hospital.

“Now that I’ve explained, could you stop sulking at him?”

I didn’t want her to see how weak I was. I tucked the bill behind my back and looked at Lu Chenzhou.

“Can I go now?”

What happened next surprised me.

I expected him to leave me behind and take Xia Miao away, just as he had countless times before. Instead, he called his assistant and handed me the car keys.

“Wait in the car.”

I was too tired to argue. I took the keys and left.

By the time he had settled everything for Xia Miao and returned, I was on the phone with my best friend from high school.

She thought I had acted rashly. I could practically hear her stamping her feet.

“He had a girlfriend, and you still spent four years secretly in love with him!

“He didn’t even give you a proper proposal. You cried your eyes out like an idiot and married him anyway!

“And now you were pregnant! That two-faced bitch finally had no way to compete with you—and what do you do? You get an abortion!

“Wen Yu, what am I supposed to say to you?”

I gave a faint, unconcerned smile.

“I can live with what I’ve done. I chose all of it. I’ll take the consequences.

“But I couldn’t bring a child into the world knowing its father wouldn’t love it completely. That would be too cruel.”

She sighed, her voice catching.

“But Wen Yu… who’s going to feel sorry for you?”

I ended the call and looked up.

Lu Chenzhou was standing outside the car.

I didn’t know when he had returned, or how much he had heard.

He looked grim. He got in without a word.

I closed my eyes, exhausted.

At last, as the traffic light turned green, he spoke coldly.

“Wen Yu, you got pregnant without telling me. Now you’ve gone behind my back and had an abortion.

“I don’t see what you’ve achieved except hurting yourself.

“If you were trying to make me feel guilty, you’ve miscalculated.

“Xia Miao and I are just friends.”

I slowly opened my eyes.

His profile was still as handsome and flawless as it had been when I first saw him seven years ago.

One glance, and my heart had raced as though something were wrong with it.

I had run back to the dorm, blushing. Xia Miao asked what had happened.

I told her I had fallen for someone.

She teased me.

“Then go after him! With that face, what guy could possibly turn you down?”

Before I could confess, though, she brought Lu Chenzhou to our dorm.

“Let me introduce my boyfriend—Lu Chenzhou, the student council president.”

If a heart breaking made a sound, mine would have shattered in that instant.

From then on, every stolen glance came with a dull ache.

Now the face was unchanged, yet looking at it left me strangely unmoved.

I turned away.

“I wasn’t trying to make you feel guilty. Really. Believe me or don’t.

“If we hadn’t run into each other today, I never intended to tell you about the baby.”

His jaw tightened further.

Pale-faced, I looked out the window.

“You don’t even love me. How much could my child possibly mean to you?”

He slammed on the brakes.

I frowned at the jolt.

For some reason, a flicker of pain crossed his eyes.

2

Back home, Lu Chenzhou carried my bag upstairs.

There wasn’t much in it. I had only spent one day in the hospital.

When I packed, I had worried that if I brought too much, there would be no one to help me carry it after discharge.

“Go upstairs and rest. I’ll make something to eat.”

He opened the refrigerator.

It was empty. Not even an egg.

“Wen Yu, how have you been living while I’ve been away?”

I had never been good at looking after myself.

Since our marriage, he had taken care of everything at home. He was disciplined and efficient, equally capable of running his company and keeping the household in order.

But ever since Xia Miao returned to China, we had fought constantly.

He grew tired of explaining himself and moved into his office. He rarely came home.

He sighed and went out for groceries.

I didn’t know how much time had passed before the rich smell of chicken soup drifted upstairs.

He opened the bedroom door.

Over his immaculate white shirt, he wore a pale pink Peppa Pig apron.

He looked a little ridiculous.

He pinched my nose and set my slippers out for me.

“I made chicken soup. Have some before you go back to sleep.”

After spending the whole morning dealing with hospital paperwork, I was starving.

I held my abdomen and struggled upright.

He bent down and carefully carried me to the dining table.

I sat quietly while he ladled out the soup, his tall figure straight and elegant.

It was always moments like these that fooled me into thinking I was deeply loved.

Then his phone lit up.

He frowned and turned to me apologetically.

“Xia Miao just fainted. Low blood sugar. I need to check on her.”

“Oh.”

I lowered my eyes.

3

I was used to it.

Xia Miao had low blood sugar. She fainted every few days.

He had taken her to all sorts of specialists, but none of them could find a cause.

Once, I said she was pretending.

He looked at me so coldly, as though I were scheming against her.

After that, I stopped talking about it.

Let him go. It wasn’t the first time.

“Can I have the soup now?” I asked.

He hesitated.

“Wen Yu…

“I need to take this batch to Xia Miao first. Her blood sugar is low. She needs it more than you do.

“Don’t worry. I’ve already started another pot. It’ll be ready in half an hour.”

My nose stung.

I lowered my eyes, my fingers curling until my nails dug into my palms. I felt no pain there.

I had thought I no longer cared.

But it still hurt.

“Remember to drink it in half an hour.”

He stroked my hair and hurried out.

A man so careful about appearances, yet he was in such a rush that he forgot to take off the apron.

My appetite disappeared.

I curled up on the sofa and opened the company group chat.

Messages had piled up.

[Did you hear? Xia Miao’s exhibition has been moved to the biggest gallery.]

[Wasn’t that gallery booked by an older artist six months ago?]

[Well, she has a capable boyfriend. With enough money, anything can be arranged.]

[True. If I had a boyfriend as rich and handsome as Mr. Lu, I’d want the best of everything too! Especially if he was happy to pay.]

I frowned slightly and typed:

[Has the gallery rental contract been signed? Make sure nothing slips through.]

[Everything’s confirmed, Ms. Wen.]

I quietly put down my phone.

I remembered the afternoon Lu Chenzhou brought Xia Miao to my company.

An attractive man and a beautiful woman. The young artists on my staff had been beside themselves.

“Oh my God! What a couple!”

“The mysterious Lu Chenzhou, one of the richest men in the city, coming out of the shadows to support his girlfriend!”

“I heard she was his first love. She went abroad to pursue her dreams, and when she came back, he was still waiting. That’s so romantic!”

“He’s perfect!”

None of them knew I was his wife.

The Lu family had always kept a low profile. Publicly, Lu Chenzhou said he wasn’t married.

His explanation to me was simple.

“Wen Yu, you run a cultural-events company. That industry has a complicated web of connections. I want you to succeed through your own efforts instead of relying on the Lu family’s influence.”

For years, I had worked day and night to prove myself, struggling upward until I had earned a modest name in the industry.

Yet he took Xia Miao openly to social events, introduced her to influential people, and paved the way for her.

What was I supposed to make of that?

That day, he had calmly laid out his reasoning.

“Wen Yu, you and Xia Miao were roommates. No one understands her better than you. That makes you the best person to organize her exhibition.

“She’s dreamed of having her own exhibition since she was a child. Don’t worry about the budget. Charge everything directly to my account.”

He said it as though it were only natural.

It took everything I had not to make a scene.

4

I didn’t know when the chicken soup boiled over.

I didn’t know when the smell of gas grew so strong.

When I woke, I was in the hospital.

My best friend from high school was beside my bed, her eyes swollen red from crying.

“What are you doing here?”

My head throbbed. Only when I spoke did I realize how hoarse I was.

“I was worried after our call. Thank God I came.

“You were lying on the floor, foaming at the mouth, not moving. I thought you were dead.

“Wen Yu, however miserable you are, you can’t gamble with your life!”

I gave a bitter smile.

“I didn’t.

“I was tired and fell asleep. I didn’t know the soup had boiled over.”

Dongdong clearly didn’t believe me.

“You idiot. You’d even throw your life away for him!”