Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Wang Hai lived with his wife and child in an ordinary residential building in Mingdu. The area was remote and quiet, a perfect place to grow old.

Wang Hai worked as a security guard at a hotel, while his wife, Li Juan, was a teacher at the nearby Jinhe Elementary School. Their daughter, Xiao Hui, attended Jinhe Kindergarten.

Wang Hai had no mortgage or car loans to worry about. His ride was a black 2009 Buick. Although his income was modest, the family’s expenses were equally modest. Living in such a mundane town, their life was so predictable that one could see the end of it in a single glance.

Li Juan had been introduced to him by his best friend, Hu Heng. She was a quiet, introverted elementary school homeroom teacher. Wang Hai felt she was the perfect wife. Li Juan had an average appearance, wore black-rimmed glasses, and had a prominent, smooth forehead. She didn’t care for buying new clothes, wore no makeup, and owned no jewelry; she could wear the same wool sweater from 2014 all the way to 2024. Even her hairstyle was identical every day-a solitary ponytail pulled straight back. Aside from household necessities, her online shopping consisted entirely of clothes and books for her husband and child.

Many men would find such a life and such a wife dull. When boredom struck, they would seek excitement outside the home.

Men often dream of having a wife who doesn’t buy clothes, wear makeup, or use jewelry, while simultaneously keeping a mistress who loves fashion, cosmetics, and wears jingling accessories.

Wang Hai was different. He believed this kind of plain, stable happiness was precious. His happiness came from the sound of his wife frying eggs when he woke up, from clocking into work on time, and from spending time with his child.

Wang Hai was quite tall, with a well-defined face and a high bridge to his nose. He had excellent vision, and his gaze was always clear and spirited. While he wasn’t handsome in the conventional sense, he exuded a strong sense of masculinity from head to toe. Despite being a mere security guard without luxury cars, a mansion, or a multi-million dollar net worth, women still occasionally made advances toward him.

Faced with their overtures-whether it was an invitation to go clubbing from a pretty young receptionist at the hotel or a proposal for a one-night stand from the female owner of the wellness center next door-Wang Hai politely declined them all. He had only one reason: he had to go home and help his child with homework.

Furthermore, Wang Hai had no vices. He didn’t smoke and only drank occasionally.

Li Juan felt incredibly lucky to have such a husband. She didn’t care if a man was wealthy or powerful.

In Li Juan’s eyes, no matter how rich a family was, when you broke life down to its basics, it was all just fuel, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea. Rich or poor, it was all the same.

As the saying goes, men turn bad once they have money. Li Juan didn’t crave wealth; she feared her man turning bad.

She only wanted someone steady and reliable, a partner to spend her life with and raise children together.

Living a life as plain as white porridge was Li Juan’s greatest happiness.

If there was one tiny flaw, it might be that Wang Hai was a divorcee.

But that didn’t matter at all. Li Juan held no prejudice against him for it.

Moreover, Wang Hai and his ex-wife, He Qian, had no children. The break had been clean; they never contacted each other or even mentioned one another, as if the ex-wife had never existed.

Wang Hai was a good father, deeply devoted to his child and very capable when it came to education.

Li Juan didn’t know why a man with a master’s degree like Wang Hai was content to be a simple security guard.

She didn’t know why she was so lucky-an ordinary small-town girl who had managed to marry such a tall, handsome, and family-oriented man.

And she certainly didn’t know that Wang Hai had once killed someone.