Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I came across a moving bad-ending love story on a certain lifestyle app.

A blogger named “Shanshan Arrives Late” was sharing the six years she had spent in love with her ex-boyfriend.

Their past sounded like an idol drama come to life.

He was a handsome top student from a wealthy family.

She was an average-looking underachiever from an ordinary background.

But none of that stopped him from loving her.

He got into fights and skipped class for her. He changed his Gaokao college choices for her. He did every reckless thing a boy in love could do.

In the end, though, they broke up because of his mother’s fierce opposition.

After the breakup, they lived in different cities, deleted every means of contacting each other, and never spoke again.

But the girl was never able to move on.

At first, she planned to stay single for the rest of her life.

After seeing love at its most brilliant, she could no longer settle.

But as she grew older, her parents worried more and more about her future.

This year, her mother was diagnosed with cancer. Before she died, her greatest wish was to see her daughter married.

The girl could not bear to disappoint her mother, so she had no choice but to marry some random man.

In three days, she would become another man’s bride.

After thinking it over, she decided to go crazy one last time.

She drove for a day and a night, crossing half of China to reach the city where her ex-boyfriend lived, just to see him.

She wore the couple T-shirt from when they had dated, tied her hair into the bun he had once loved most, and called him.

“I only want to see him one last time, hug him once, and give my youth a proper goodbye.”

What a deeply touching love.

If only the male lead were not my husband.

For me, today was supposed to be a day of great joy.

I had found out I was pregnant.

He Chaoyuan and I had been married for three years. Because I wanted to focus on my career, we had not had a child.

He Chaoyuan had always respected my choice.

But more than three months ago, on his birthday, he suddenly made a very serious wish to me. He said he wanted a child.

He said he was already thirty-two, that he had achieved enough in his career, and that both mentally and financially, he was fully capable of being a responsible father.

“I will do my very best to be a good father, and give our baby all the love I lacked while growing up.

“I hope the baby will not have to carry anyone’s expectations and can grow up freely.

“I want to watch our tiny child grow up. It would be like watching myself grow up all over again.

“Pingping, can you grant me this wish?”

When he said that, his dark eyes were fixed on me, filled with longing and tenderness.

It felt as if my heart had been caught in a net, tingling, soft, and faintly aching.

He Chaoyuan had grown up in a single-parent family.

Because his father had been absent, his mother had been especially strict with him, and their mother-son relationship had always been cold.

So when he said he longed to have a child of his own, it was hard for me not to be moved.

Besides, I was almost thirty. My career was basically stable. It was time to have a child.

From that day on, we actively started trying for one.

During that process, we could both feel how much we wanted this new life to arrive.

That was why, as soon as I got the result at the hospital, I could not wait to tell He Chaoyuan that he had to come home early tonight because I had a surprise for him.

He quickly replied, “Okay.”

A second later, he chased after me with another message. “Is it the kind of surprise I am thinking of?”

I told him, “Secret.”

He sent back a fireworks emoji.

Obviously, he had already guessed what my surprise was.

Although I was a little disappointed that the surprise had been guessed, thinking about it another way, it also proved that he, like me, had been longing for this child.

I returned home in that happy mood.

Then I received a call from He Chaoyuan.

He sounded deeply apologetic as he said there was an extremely urgent matter at the company that he had to handle personally.

“I may need to stay out of town for a few days.”

His voice was full of guilt.

He was the founder of the company, and although his schedule was always packed, such sudden business trips were rare.

I did not suspect anything. I only thought there really was an emergency.

I even asked whether he needed me to pack his luggage and send it to the office.

His voice paused, then he quickly said, “No need. I keep spare travel supplies at the office. Besides, it is so hot. You should just stay home and wait for me, good girl.”

For those last two words, his voice lowered. A strange current traveled through the phone, and for no reason, my face grew hot.

He Chaoyuan and I had dated for one year and been married for three. This was the first time he had ever called me so intimately.

When we first met, he called me Miss Lin.

After we became a couple, and even after we got married, he had always called me Pingping.

I had once felt regret that we had never had pet names for each other like other couples did.

But when I thought of He Chaoyuan’s forever proper, almost old-cadre personality, I made peace with it.

I valued his rock-solid character. I should not have expected him to burn with volcanic heat.

I was a person who knew how to cherish blessings. Wanting everything at once was not my style.

But now, seeing that this cup of constant-temperature water named He Chaoyuan seemed to be showing signs of boiling for me, how could I not be happy?

So even though He Chaoyuan did not come home right away to celebrate the tiny life in my belly, I did not think in any other direction.

I even happily made myself a healthy meal.

After dinner, while bored and scrolling on my phone, I saw the post above.

The place shown in the girl’s pictures was right downstairs from my husband’s company.

Even then, I did not connect it to my husband.

I only felt that the gossip had happened close to me, and I even wanted to share the post with my husband so he could pay attention to the gossip field under his office.

But soon, I saw the second picture.

The girl had shared a half-body selfie. She was wearing a T-shirt with a little bear printed on the chest.

The caption read: Back at our high school arts festival, our class put on a skit, and the teacher asked the two of us to play a couple. This was the costume bought with class funds back then, our couple outfit. At that time, although I liked him, I did not know whether he liked me, so when I wore this shirt and stood face to face with him, I did not dare look him in the eye. Later, after we got together, he told me that he had been the same as me and had not dared look into my eyes either. I have kept this shirt until now. Maybe today is the last time I will wear it.

Although she had covered her face, I recognized the shirt in the photo at a glance.

To be exact, I had seen that blue shirt with the little bear printed on it in my husband’s closet.

In my impression, my husband was an elite man who dressed properly even in his leisure time.

So when I first saw that little bear shirt, I was surprised.

I asked him, “You actually own such a cute shirt? I could not tell.”

But my husband quickly took the shirt away and said it belonged to his cousin’s son.

“He used to stay at my place a lot. I will give it back to him later.”

His expression was natural, so naturally, I did not ask anything else.

But I was certain that after that time, I had never seen that shirt in our home again.

At that moment, the little bear on my phone screen and the identical little bear that had once been in my husband’s closet seemed to be mocking me as the biggest fool in the world.

My hand moved to my lower abdomen without my control.

In that instant, I suddenly understood many things.

For example, why He Chaoyuan was always so gentle and steady with me.

I had known him for four years. From the day he pursued me, he had been like a mature, stable, and highly independent person.

He was always gentlemanly toward me, always polite.

He respected my preferences, accepted my choices, remembered every holiday and anniversary, and thoughtfully prepared gifts.

But he never called me by any pet name, never wore couple outfits with me, and even when we walked down the street together, he rarely held my hand.

Whenever I complained, he would only look at me helplessly and apologize.

He said his family of origin had never taught him how to get along with a lover.

“Relationships that are too intimate always make me uncomfortable.”

When he said that, his expression was lost and apologetic, like a child at a loss.

My heart nearly melted, and from then on, I never asked him to do those things that made him uncomfortable.

Sure enough, pitying a man brings bad luck for a lifetime.

It was not intimacy that made him uncomfortable.

It was me.

But back then, he was clearly the one who had pursued me first.

Tears blurred my eyes.

Grievance and anger nearly made me collapse.

But I still forced myself to calm down and called He Chaoyuan’s assistant.

I asked him, “Has President He left the company? Why is he not home yet?”

The assistant did not suspect anything. “The drive from the company to your home takes at least forty minutes. The boss only left ten minutes ago. Please wait a little longer.”

The assistant had worked with He Chaoyuan for eight years and was his most capable right-hand man. If even he did not know about He Chaoyuan’s business trip, that could only mean one thing.

He was not on a business trip.

After getting that answer, I felt as if I had fallen into an ice cellar.

For the first time in my life, I discovered that I had been living inside a gigantic lie.