Chapter 8
I beckoned to Xiaoxiao.
“Time to go to the children’s play park.”
She wriggled out of Jiang Heng’s arms.
“Daddy, we’re going to play at the park. I’ll come and see you later.”
By the time we came back,
Jiang Heng had long since gone home.
Xia Qiu had a fever.
She had called him in tears.
He hadn’t hesitated for a moment.
He had booked the earliest flight back to take care of her.
Lin Mo sent me Xia Qiu’s WeChat Moments post.
It showed Jiang Heng in an apron, cooking rice porridge for her in the kitchen.
The caption read: It feels so good to be cherished.
Lin Mo wrote: Mrs. Jiang, I was going to try to talk you out of it. Now I think you’re right to divorce him!
I hadn’t expected Jiang Heng to agree to a divorce three days later.
He called me from a different number.
He said he had signed the divorce agreement.
“You get all the assets, the house, and custody of our daughter. I’ll leave with nothing.”
His voice was full of exhaustion.
“I tore up the old agreement. When can you come back and sign a new one?”
I was stunned.
“Jiang Heng, haven’t you been refusing all this time?”
Over the phone, he gave a soft laugh.
There was too much in that laugh for me to understand.
So I booked a flight back that same day.
Qiao Wan had tried to stop me. “What if he’s planning something nasty?”
Although I hesitated, I decided to go back and see what was going on.
It was dark by the time I got home.
When I pushed open the door, the smell of cigarette smoke greeted me.
The living-room lights were off. I could just make out someone sitting on the sofa.
I flicked on the light and saw Jiang Heng sitting there alone.
The ashtray on the coffee table was full of cigarette butts.
He had quit smoking five years ago.
I hadn’t expected him to start again.
When he saw me, he forced a bitter smile.
“My mother will come and take Xiaoxiao in a little while. Let’s have a proper talk.”
Xiaoxiao sensed that something was wrong too.
This time, she didn’t rush into Jiang Heng’s arms as she usually did.
She only said, “Daddy,” very quietly.
While I was in the bedroom packing,
my mother-in-law arrived.
She gave Jiang Heng a single glance, then beckoned to Xiaoxiao.
“Come on. Grandma’s taking you for ice cream.”
Xiaoxiao skipped away, holding her grandmother’s hand.
Silence settled over the house.
Jiang Heng pushed a signed divorce agreement toward me.
“I’ve signed it.”
I looked up at him.
The number above his head had actually risen to 87%.
In just three days.
What on earth had happened?
I frowned at him.
There were deep shadows under his eyes.
Unshaven stubble covered his chin.
His hair was a mess and looked as though it hadn’t been washed in days.
“Jiang Heng, why have you suddenly agreed to a divorce?”
His eyes reddened at once.
Biting his lower lip hard, he spoke in a trembling voice.
“I—I’ve let you down. And Xiaoxiao.”
“Everything is my fault.”
“I never should have chased that moment of excitement.”
“I lost my head!”
“I was wrong about her!”
Only then did I find out what had happened.
The night Jiang Heng made rice porridge for Xia Qiu,
they had slept together.