Chapter 4

She could never escape his grasp.

Besides, Qi Ran was beautiful and had good genes. He was very satisfied with her as the mother who had passed those genes on to his son.

Yue Feihong looked sternly at Yue Nianci.

“I will never allow your mother to leave.”

“Nianci, if she plans to go, you must tell me immediately.”

“Don’t get any ideas.”

Seeing the seriousness on his father’s face, Yue Nianci backed away, clutching his backpack.

“I understand, Dad,” he said quietly.

Yue Feihong relaxed. Assuming it was merely a child’s insecurity, he put the matter out of his mind and turned to leave.

He kissed Lin Xianya’s forehead.

“Yaya, I’ll go back to the main house and check on the soup the cook is making. Stay here with Nianci and wait for me.”

Lin Xianya saw him off sweetly.

When she turned back, she found Yue Nianci watching her expectantly. She smiled.

“Nianci, would you like some fried chicken?”

He nodded, full of dependence on her.

“Mom Lin, you’re the best.”

Lin Xianya sneered inwardly. Yue Nianci had a delicate digestive system and could not tolerate fried or spicy food.

He also put on weight easily. At only twelve, he was already as round as a ball.

Qi Ran never let him eat anything outside his meal plan, let alone fried chicken.

But Lin Xianya did not care.

Sooner or later, she would have a child of her own. What would Yue Nianci matter then?

Better to let him become even more useless. It would hardly hurt her.

Smiling, she stroked his head.

“All right. I’ll have some brought over in a little while.”

When the fried chicken arrived, Yue Nianci fell on it greedily, getting grease all around his mouth. A triumphant smile hung on Lin Xianya’s lips.

After a few bites, he suddenly stopped and looked at her.

“Mom Lin, there’s something I want to tell you.”

She had no interest in hearing it. At his age, what could it be but some childish mischief?

Outwardly, though, she remained gentle and patient.

“What would you like to tell me, Nianci?”

He hesitated, then said, “I actually lied to Dad.”

Looking at her, he spoke softly.

“The homework I gave him to sign yesterday was actually the divorce agreement Mom gave him.”

“Dad said he’d never let Mom leave if she tried. But I really don’t like her. I like you.”

“Could you find a way to help me get her to leave soon?”

“I don’t want her to stay.”

Lin Xianya was beside herself with joy. Containing her excitement, she asked solemnly, “Nianci, is everything you’ve said true?”

He nodded.

Unable to keep the corners of her mouth from lifting, she smiled.

“Don’t worry. I’ll help you.”

“Your mother will never come back.”

That evening, when Yue Feihong visited again, Lin Xianya clung to him and begged him to take her and Yue Nianci to the Maldives.

“Feihong, listen. Miss Qi is angry with you right now. Why not leave her alone for a while? It’s not as if she can leave you.”

“We’ll go for a month. Then we’ll come back.”

Yue Feihong glanced at Yue Nianci’s hopeful face beside her. In the end, he nodded.

“All right. We’ll leave tomorrow.”

### 7

Yue Feihong stayed in the Maldives with Lin Xianya and Yue Nianci for a full month.

Yet throughout that month, he could not stop thinking about Qi Ran.

Perhaps she had talked about the Maldives so often that it had lodged itself in his mind.

At every tourist spot, he remembered her holding up her phone to show him pictures.

“When we get here, will you take photos of me?”

“You have to make me look beautiful. I’ll keep them forever. When we’re seventy or eighty, we can show Nianci’s children and say, ‘This was Grandma and Grandpa when we were young.’”

He had paid little attention then. He merely glanced at the pictures and humored her.

“Would you consider hiring a photographer? I ought to be beside you in those pictures, after all.”

Then Lin Xianya had come between them. Their relationship had never been so easy again.

He remembered one occasion, after he had once again come out of Lin Xianya’s room. Qi Ran had stood in the dark hallway and asked him, “Could you fire Lin Xianya and take Nianci and me to the Maldives?”

Yue Feihong could not remember her expression as she said it. He only remembered the hurt in her voice, and a despair so profound he could scarcely imagine it.

When had he begun to forget what Qi Ran looked like when she spoke?

It seemed that from the day Lin Xianya entered his bed, Qi Ran had gradually withdrawn from his life.

That vivid, passionate Qi Ran felt like a dream from his past.

Lin Xianya’s arms wound around his waist again. Her long hair fell loose, carrying the heavy scent of perfume.

“Another round?”

Yue Feihong pushed her hands away.

“No.”

He had lost interest.