Chapter 2

Fu Tingchen’s eyes flickered, then turned cold. Only impatience remained.

“Again?”

He smiled, the expression icy, edged with condescending amusement.

“Fine. When?”

Jiang Xingluo opened the car door and got in.

“Right now.”

They soon reached the marriage registration office.

When the clerk asked why they wanted a divorce, Fu Tingchen looked at Jiang Xingluo with a faint, mocking smile.

Jiang Xingluo answered calmly.

“The marriage has broken down.”

His expression darkened instantly.

Looking at her heavily pregnant belly, the clerk tried to persuade her.

“Miss Jiang, every couple argues. A marriage doesn’t come easily. Please don’t make a decision out of anger. Your baby is almost here. Surely you don’t want your child to be born without a father.”

Before the clerk had finished, Fu Tingchen signed his name, his face expressionless.

“Jiang Xingluo, if you think you can use the baby to control me, you’re a fool.”

“There’s a thirty-day cooling-off period. Use it to calm down and get some sense back into your head.”

“This is the last time I’ll indulge this nonsense!”

He threw down the pen, turned, and strode away without another look at her.

The clerks exchanged glances. When they looked at Jiang Xingluo again, there was nothing in their eyes but pity.

Tears fell onto the paper. Carefully, stroke by stroke, she signed her name and handed the form over.

“Thank you for your help.”

This was the third time she had asked for a divorce.

The first time, Shen Zhixia had falsely accused her of stealing.

Instead of defending her, Fu Tingchen had allowed Shen Zhixia to search her bag in public and made her prove her innocence.

That was the first time she had realized how little he thought of her.

After a sleepless night, she asked for a divorce the next morning, packed her bags, and went back to her parents’ home.

Fu Tingchen had been abroad on business. He took a flight lasting more than ten hours, rushed back overnight, and stood outside the Jiang family home until morning.

Red-eyed, he explained that he had known she had stolen nothing. He had allowed Shen Zhixia to search her bag only because he thought it was the quickest way to prove her innocence.

She loved him, after all. Her heart softened, and she went back.

The second time, Shen Zhixia had taken screenshots of Jiang Xingluo’s messages to Fu Tingchen, cutting out everything except her declarations of love, and posted them in the company’s main group chat.

A mutual exchange had become a one-sided performance.

Her reputation was ruined. Her colleagues mocked and shunned her. In desperation, she told them the truth: she and Fu Tingchen were married, and Shen Zhixia was maliciously spreading lies.

But to protect Shen Zhixia, he denied their relationship in public and fired her.

Afterward, he explained as though it hardly mattered.

“If you exposed everything, Xiaxia wouldn’t be able to face anyone at the company. The truth is the truth. It’s enough that I know you’re my wife.”

That was their first furious argument. Again, she asked for a divorce.

Unfortunately, she became so distressed that she fainted and was taken to the hospital. When she woke, she learned she was pregnant.

For the baby’s sake, she endured it once more.

As she kept giving ground, and as the baby inside her grew, he seemed to decide that her talk of divorce was merely a way to get his attention.

But this time, she meant it.

After signing the papers, she stepped out of the registration office just in time to see his car drive away.

A breeze lifted the hem of her dress. She remembered the day they had registered their marriage.

He was a man who had weathered every kind of storm and rarely showed his feelings. Yet, for their marriage certificate photograph, he had smiled with an uncharacteristic radiance.

Holding her hand, his eyes touched with guilt, he had said,

“Xingluo, my parents object to the difference in our families’ backgrounds. They’ll only agree to the marriage if we keep it secret and don’t hold a wedding.”

“I’m sorry you’re being put through this. Give me a little more time. I’ll convince them, and I’ll give you a magnificent wedding as soon as I can.”

Back then, she had thought he must love her a little.

It turned out that was all it had ever been. A very little.

One breath of wind, and it was gone.