Chapter 3

I pinched myself hard under the table.

I thought I must be dreaming.

Who knew my husband was worth so much more dead than alive?

What a windfall.

I agreed.

Then I asked cautiously, “Could you give me a hundred and twenty thousand first? And send the rest in seven days?”

Zhong Yiheng frowned again.

But he agreed.

I went home with the hundred and twenty thousand.

Before going in, I messed up my hair and tore my clothes.

Then I picked up a few sharp stones and scratched my arms.

Once inside, I threw my arms around my mother-in-law and began to wail.

“Mom, I’m so sorry.”

“They said the mall was supposed to open next month. My husband dying there was such bad luck that we should be grateful they weren’t demanding compensation from us.”

“I tried arguing. They beat me up and threw me out.”

“It’s the Zhong Group. They’re rich and powerful. We can’t afford to cross them.”

“They said if we kept bothering them, neither of us would get out alive.”

My mother-in-law stared. “They didn’t pay a single cent?!”

I sniffled and sobbed for a long while.

Only when her face had turned thoroughly ashen did I produce the bank card.

“They did. A hundred and twenty thousand.”

Her expression eased instantly.

She snatched the card and hid it away.

Then she started shouting again. “Don’t think you can take the money and run! My son’s gone, but we paid for you. You’re this family’s daughter-in-law. You’ll look after me in my old age!”

I wiped my tears. “Don’t worry, Mom. Now he’s gone, I’ll be your own daughter!”

“Once he’s buried, I’ll go out to work and support you!”

Her eyes widened.

She looked utterly incredulous.

After a moment, she said, sounding touched, “I never realized what a good, dutiful daughter-in-law you were.”

“You don’t need to wash those clothes by hand. Put them in the machine.”

“Why wash them at all, Mom? Have them burned with him so he won’t be cold down there.”

“Oh, you’re right! I knew I hadn’t misjudged you, Xu Yue.”

She patted my hand approvingly. “You think of everything.”

After my husband’s ashes were buried,

I went back to the city.

First, to collect the rest of the compensation from Zhong Yiheng.

To my surprise, he told his secretary to transfer a full three million.

I waved my hands frantically. “That’s wrong! It should be two million eight hundred and eighty thousand.”

He saw through me at once. “You took the money I gave you before back to your family, didn’t you?”

“It’s New Year. Let’s make it a round number.”

“This three million is for you alone.”

I stood there, stunned.

For some reason, those words made me want to cry.

He said it was mine alone.

In all my nineteen years, no one had ever told me anything could belong to me alone.

I sniffed and thanked him over and over.

“Thank you, Mr. Zhong. Have a good day.”

Zhong Yiheng had a thousand things to attend to. He was impossibly busy.

I thought we would never see each other again.

But a few days later, he came to find me.

“Miss Xu, what are your plans now?”

For the past few years, I’d worked at least twelve hours a day in the factory.

I’d never spent a cent of my wages on myself. Every bit went home.

Now I had three million. All I wanted was to do absolutely nothing.

But Zhong Yiheng was a workaholic.

I was embarrassed to say that to his face.

So I said, “I don’t have anywhere to go yet. I’d like to find somewhere to stay first.”

He thought for a moment.

Then he said, “I have an apartment I bought for my brother. He’s studying abroad, so it’s been empty. If you don’t mind, you can stay there for a while.”

He drove me over to see it.

A luxury apartment of over three hundred square meters. From the living-room window, you could see the river a few hundred meters away.

Dusk was falling. The water shimmered, half its expanse a dusky green, half glowing red.

It was as beautiful as a dream.

I was actually trembling.

“This… is for me to live in?”

Zhong Yiheng nodded. “It isn’t fully furnished yet. As long as you don’t mind.”

How could I mind?

Until I was fifteen, I hadn’t even had a bed of my own at home.

At the factory, I’d shared a dormitory with seven other people.

This apartment’s living room alone could have held the first nineteen years of my life.

I sank into the cloud-soft sofa.

For a long time, I couldn’t collect myself.

And silently offered my thanks again.

Husband, what a wonderful death you died.