Chapter 5

Chapter 5

This child had cost me dearly.

After word of my pregnancy got out, my endorsement deals were pulled first. Then roles I had already negotiated were given to someone else, and my social media was overrun by paid trolls.

I had only ever been a lukewarm, middling actress, but suddenly, all kinds of dirt on me started appearing out of nowhere.

They said I had no acting skills, that I only got resources through connections, that I was unprofessional and acted like a diva.

Some went even further, calling me a mistress who had inserted herself into someone else’s relationship.

My prenatal checkup report was somehow leaked.

Hashtags like “Scheming Mistress Uses Pregnancy to Climb the Ranks and Force the Heir’s Hand” and “First Love Leaves the Country, Mistress Plots in the Shadows” shot up the trending list.

It was impossible to tell whose handiwork it was.

For several nights, I had nightmares. I dreamed that a woman pushed me down, and so much blood, so much blood, spread across the floor.

When I woke in the middle of the night, my forehead and palms were slick with cold sweat.

But I didn’t think too much of it. I only thought that everything would be fine once I gave birth to the child.

This went on for four whole months.

Until today, when I met Shen Lan.

What truly made me decide to terminate the pregnancy was the last thing she said before leaving-

“If Lu Heran wants to solidify his position, what he needs to do is bring back a legitimate Lu Family heir, as well as a wife from a prestigious family who can support him with her family’s influence.”

“And Miss Jiang probably doesn’t know this yet, but when I was fourteen, I had an accident. My uterus was removed. I can never have children in this lifetime.”

So who this child was meant for no longer needed to be said.

She stopped there, then said provocatively, “But you know, I’m the proudest sort of person. I can’t tolerate another woman’s child.”

“Even if it really is born, I have a hundred ways to make sure it has an accident.”

“Miss Jiang, you should know what choice to make.”

With her imposing entourage of bodyguards, she turned and left. On the surface, she seemed to have placed the decision in my hands, but every word had been a threat.

The orange-red sunset was as thick and vivid as blood.

I stood alone for a long time in the living room, surrounded by the mess.

The sting in my eyes slowly spilled over. My fingers curled slightly, and suddenly, tears fell from my eyes.

The clock on the wall ticked forward one mark at a time. The sunset’s light and shadow shifted slowly, stretching that lonely moment into something endless.

In all the years I had spent by Lu Heran’s side, there had been many times when I waited alone.

He had always done whatever he wanted. One second, he would say he was coming over for the night; the next, he would head to a bar with his buddies.

Outsiders said he was a playboy, flirtatious and fickle. That was probably because, at those kinds of gatherings, when girls threw themselves at him, he didn’t mind opening a bottle of champagne for them amid the cheering, or sharing a kiss with them.

Occasionally, I accidentally walked in on scenes like that.

The others would tease me and ask if I wanted to trade him in for another boyfriend.

Lu Heran would lazily tell them to stop corrupting me, then release the girl in his arms and pull me into his embrace instead.

Their gazes were far too mocking, so I would blush and bury myself against his chest.

He would rest his chin on the top of my head, lightly nuzzle my hair, and sigh in satisfaction. “So good.”

Later, after it happened more often, he once bit my earlobe and asked, as if casually, “Why do you never make a fuss? Aren’t you jealous?”

I looked at the chaotic lights and shadows inside the private room and, for a long while, didn’t know how to answer.

Why didn’t I make a fuss?

Was it because I was confident in my own charm? Or because I was clearheaded enough to know there would never be a future?

Or perhaps… because I hadn’t had my fill yet?

Most girls could make a scene and receive some compensation, then turn around and rush off to the next night of luxury and indulgence.

But I was different.

I wanted to enjoy another couple of years by his side.

So I never made a fuss.

Aside from having a few too many ambiguous women around him, he was extremely good to me.

Because I had once said on New Year’s, “Why aren’t there any fireworks?” the night sky over Victoria Harbour blazed with fireworks all night long.

Because I had shown a little extra fondness for a piece of jewelry, he bid it up to ten million and bought it for me, then personally put it on me in front of everyone.

Because I wanted to see a snowy landscape, he booked an entire private cable car route at a ski resort in the Swiss Alps.

I had once kissed him passionately on a street in Paris, learned wine tasting from him at a private estate in Italy, and driven his red Ferrari through the streets before dawn.

Behind all those scenes was wealth ordinary people could hardly imagine.

After experiencing all of that, I felt I should be satisfied.