Chapter 3

Chapter 3

When I got home, my mother-in-law was sitting on the sofa holding my daughter, her expression sour. Lu Huaixu mentioned he still had some work to finish and went straight upstairs to his study.

My mother-in-law watched his back until he disappeared before she spoke.

“Zhining, you’re a mother now, and Nannan only wants you. You should try to go out less! Don’t you think about your daughter needing to nurse? How could you stay out as late as Lu Huaixu!”

My sister-in-law was lying on the chaise lounge playing games.

“Sister-in-law, that outfit is way too tight. It makes you look so fat!” She prided herself on being blunt, always saying things just to get a reaction.

Seeing me, my daughter puckered her little lips in grievance, flailing her arms and legs as she burst into tears.

“Mama, milk! Milk!”

Ignoring everything else, I immediately picked up my daughter and headed upstairs to my room, unbuttoning my clothes to start nursing.

Once the little one in my arms had slowly drifted off to sleep, the nanny walked in. She brought over a bowl of pigeon soup, which had several large chunks of white, fatty meat floating in it.

The fishy stench hit me square in the face, making my stomach churn with nausea.

“Take it away. I don’t want to drink it today.”

The nanny remained expressionless.

“The old mistress ordered this. If you don’t drink it, I have to pour it all out, and then I’ll have to tell her the truth.”

I fell silent.

My mother-in-law insisted on breastfeeding until the age of two. To boost my milk supply, she demanded I drink all sorts of soups every day, forbidding the use of salt or any other seasonings. She claimed that only the raw, original broth was good for the child.

I had refused a few times, but my mother-in-law had spent a long time criticizing me with passive-aggressive remarks. Eventually, I started getting inexplicable migraines whenever she spoke.

The headaches were even more unbearable.

I pinched my nose and finished the soup, then forced down more than half the meat as if I were swallowing medicine. Only then did the nanny reluctantly take the bowl and leave.

In the middle of the night, I woke up with a stomachache. I wanted to ask Lu Huaixu to get me some medicine, but I found his side of the bed empty.

Looking up, I saw Lu Huaixu standing on the balcony smoking. His silhouette appeared somewhat melancholy amidst the swirling smoke.

He was staring far off into the night sky.

He looked as if he were lost in a trance.