Chapter 3

Chapter 3

In our city, only one amusement park had a Ferris wheel.

I drove to that amusement park.

Sure enough, I found my husband’s car in the parking lot.

I parked my car not far away.

Looking from the parking lot, the Ferris wheel under the setting sun was so beautiful and romantic.

People say a Ferris wheel is a corner that turns toward happiness.

Unfortunately, that happiness truly had nothing to do with me.

I sent my husband a message.

I said my stomach felt a little uncomfortable and asked whether he could cancel his business trip.

This was the last chance I gave him.

If he could give me the answer I wanted, I thought I would be willing to part with him peacefully.

But unfortunately, my message sank like a stone into the sea.

Until dusk closed in, I did not receive any reply.

As the light before my eyes darkened inch by inch, my heart hardened inch by inch.

After a long time, He Chaoyuan and that woman finally appeared in the parking lot, hand in hand.

I turned on the camera I had prepared in advance and began recording.

The 4K high-definition quality matched their earth-shattering, ghost-weeping love perfectly.

He opened the car door for that woman.

The woman stood on tiptoe and kissed his forehead.

He Chaoyuan’s body paused, as if that kiss had disturbed his mind.

After kissing him, the woman stepped back, raised a smiling face, waved goodbye to him, then turned and left.

At the moment she turned around, tears were clearly streaming down her face.

He Chaoyuan stood there, staring blankly after her. The familiar confusion and heartbreak appeared on his face, and the sight made me want to punch him.

Soon, just as I had hoped, he chased after her.

After a few rounds of pulling and struggling, he finally embraced the woman he loved, then kissed her carefully, as if holding some rare treasure.

It was obvious that both of them were deeply immersed in it.

At that moment, this pair of star-crossed lovers finally overcame the obstacles of the world, overcame the demons in their hearts, and decided to be together again.

What a perfect happy ending.

I had thought that would be the end.

But it was not.

After that long kiss ended, he pushed her into the car and drove away.

I stepped on the accelerator and followed them.

At first, I thought they were going to find a hotel and relive their old dreams.

But He Chaoyuan drove the car into a residential compound.

The compound was in an ordinary location, the buildings were not new, and it was not even gated.

My car slowly followed them into the compound.

Soon, they parked and entered a unit building together.

I stood downstairs. Before long, the light on the top floor turned on.

Emotion screamed at me to go kick down the door, block that adulterous pair inside, and beat them senseless.

But reason made me think.

After reuniting after so many years, why would He Chaoyuan bring his ex-girlfriend to this half-old residential building?

By instinct, I felt this apartment must be hiding some unknown secret.

I forced myself to calm down.

I sent the address to my best friend, Ye Qing, and told her to come quickly.

We were about to face a battle. I was afraid that alone, I would not be a match for the two of them.

Ye Qing asked me, “Why are you going to that place so late at night?”

“Don’t tell me you are catching your Old He cheating?” she joked.

My tears could no longer be controlled and surged out instantly.

Ye Qing immediately sensed something was wrong with me, and her voice rose eight degrees. “Damn. Did I really guess right?”

I tried hard to suppress the sob in my voice. “Yes. Catching him cheating. Are you coming or not?”

Ye Qing’s voice became completely calm. “Wait there. Do not be impulsive. No matter what happens, wait until I arrive!”

After hanging up, I bawled in the dim car.

To say I was not hurt or wronged would be impossible.

My family of origin was not happy.

When I was six, my father divorced my mother because he had cheated.

When I was twelve, my mother died of cancer, and I became someone without a home.

I had always longed for the warmth of a family.

He Chaoyuan had once made me think I had met love.

He was my first love.

We met at a work event.

He was tall and handsome, with a respectable job, and when he pursued me, he had seemed wholehearted.

He would wait two hours downstairs from my company just to pick me up from work. He sent roses flown in from Holland to my office every day. In his free time, he took me all over the city to taste good food. When I had my period, he thoughtfully prepared hot water for me.

But now, I finally understood that those details of love I had once treasured were nothing but careless perfunctory gestures.

He should not have lied to me.

I had never dreamed of using marriage to exchange for any benefit.

I studied hard and worked hard. All along, I had held one breath and climbed upward simply so I would not fall into the same situation as my mother.

I hoped I could always make choices actively, rather than being chosen like my mother had been.

After I grew up, the first time I read the phrase “issho kenmei,” it felt as if something struck me.

“Hanging your life on a single rope, gripping your hair so you do not fall, as if even pain no longer matters, because first, you must survive.”

I knew there was no one behind me to rely on, so I had always pursued happiness with that life-on-the-line attitude.

When I met He Chaoyuan, I even thought fate had treated me kindly.

At last, my life could breathe.

On the day we got our marriage certificate, I took He Chaoyuan to burn incense at my mother’s grave and told her, “Mom, you can rest assured. I have met the happiness of my life.”

He Chaoyuan personally shattered my yearning for love and marriage.

I thought this would be the last time I allowed myself to be weak.

After this bout of crying, I would turn into an indestructible female warrior.

By the time Ye Qing arrived, I had already composed myself.

I shared the social media account “Shanshan Arrives Late” with her.

Since going upstairs, “Shanshan Arrives Late” had not updated her account again.

But what accident could there be?

Two exes who had not seen each other for years had gone together to the place where their love began, then returned together to a closed room.

Every adult knew what would happen.

Ye Qing hugged me. “I know nothing I say right now can completely comfort you. But I still have to say this. I am always here. No matter what decision you make, I will support you unconditionally.”

My eyes reddened again in an embarrassingly useless way, while my heart felt extremely grateful.

Fortunately, I still had a friend.

In the end, heaven had not treated me too badly.

I told Ye Qing my plan, and the two of us went upstairs together.

I ordered takeout to that address.

When the delivery guy arrived, I gave him a two-hundred-yuan tip and explained the situation, asking him to get the door opened for me no matter what.

The delivery guy had a strong sense of justice and was very capable.

He pretended he was from the neighborhood committee doing a housing survey, and quickly got the door opened.

He Chaoyuan stood inside the door wearing that little bear couple shirt, staring at me in astonishment.

Ye Qing charged forward and knocked him aside, then pulled me into the apartment.

It was a warm, tidy room, full of signs of ordinary domestic life.

The first thing that entered my sight was the photo wall beside the dining table.

Hanging on the wall were all kinds of photos of He Chaoyuan and a girl.

The most eye-catching one showed the girl in casual clothes, wearing a simple bridal veil, smiling at He Chaoyuan as he smiled back at her.

The deep affection in their eyes as they looked at each other was so thick it could not be dissolved.

I suddenly remembered that when I had just married He Chaoyuan, I had also wanted to make a photo wall at home.

But He Chaoyuan had said it was tacky and did not match the home’s decor style.

“Besides, I do not like taking photos.”

He indeed rarely took photos.

Aside from wedding photos and some formal occasions, he never took pictures with me.

But on the photo wall before me, he and the girl he loved seemed to want to photograph even breakfast as a memory.

Strangely enough, I seemed unable to feel heartache now.

I only felt disgust.

Even more disgusting was that the bedroom door was open. Inside was a mess, and the air was filled with an indescribable, sickening smell of lust.

What had just happened was self-evident.

With a loud retch, I bent over and vomited.

He Chaoyuan’s face changed, and he reached out to support me. I hurriedly stepped back, terrified his filthy hands would touch me.

The sound of running water came from the bathroom. It was obvious who was showering.

The woman’s voice asked, “Who is it?”

Without another word, Ye Qing kicked open the bathroom door.

“Shanshan Arrives Late” screamed.

From the moment we entered, Ye Qing had been recording. At that moment, the handheld camera in her hand was mercilessly aimed at that woman’s face.

“President He, you sure know how to play. Your wife just found out she was pregnant, and here you are hiding a mistress in a golden house.”

He Chaoyuan finally reacted and reached out to snatch Ye Qing’s camera.

Of course I would not let him take it. I pulled him back.

He pushed back with one hand, and my whole body was flung hard to the floor.

A sharp pain came from my head.

My head had hit the corner of the table.

I touched it and felt blood flowing down.

But He Chaoyuan did not notice me at all. He was busy getting a bath towel and wrapping it around his ex-girlfriend.

His ex-girlfriend looked pale and frightened, crying pitifully in his arms.

He Chaoyuan’s face was livid. While protecting the treasure in his arms, he did not forget to scold Ye Qing, who was holding the camera.

“Who let you in? This is trespassing!

“Get out right now, or wait for my lawyer’s letter.”

It had been a long time since I felt that way.

It was as if I had returned to the time when my father and mother divorced.

My mother went to catch my father cheating.

My father protected his mistress and dragged my mother more than ten meters with his car.

I followed behind my mother, listening to her heart-rending cries, my own heart cut like a knife.

At that moment, I understood that the man sitting in the car was not my father.

He was a beast.

For an instant, I wanted to turn into a blazing fire and burn the world clean.

It had taken me many, many years to calm that destructive urge inside me.

Now, it had reignited from the ashes.

I grabbed the thermos kettle on the table, twisted open the lid, and splashed it at He Chaoyuan.

He Chaoyuan, like a ridiculous monkey, howled and ran around the room.

This was only the beginning.

I grabbed the projector stand next and swung it horizontally, smashing whatever I caught.

Bang! Clang! Crack!

The solid wood bookshelf, the Nordic-style side cabinet, the crystal chandelier…

Along with all those cups, plates, bowls, figurines, and souvenirs that were clearly filled with memories…

They crashed down in a cascade, shattering all over the floor.

I smiled amid that delightful symphony.

He Chaoyuan looked at me with a pained expression. “Are you insane?! Get out!”

Third Miss, wrapped in a bath towel, wailed, “Don’t do this!”

“These are our memories!”

I smiled at the two of them.

Then I lifted the projector high and chased after them.

They had no choice but to flee around the ruined room with their heads covered.

Ye Qing tripped He Chaoyuan with one foot.

I pounced on him and kicked him between the legs.

He Chaoyuan let out a pig-slaughtering scream.

That sound was nice. I liked it.

I grabbed his hair and slapped him hard.

Smack. Smack. Smack.

So crisp.

Left side. Again.

By the time the pain between He Chaoyuan’s legs eased and he had strength to resist, I had already slapped him more than a dozen times from both sides.

I must have looked like a lunatic.

In He Chaoyuan’s eyes, I saw fear.

Third Miss cried miserably at the side. “Stop hitting him, please stop. It is all my fault. It has nothing to do with him.”

He Chaoyuan looked at her with pity. “It has nothing to do with you. It is not your fault.”

Heh. What a loyal, righteous, responsible man.

He soon turned to me, the disgust in his eyes undisguised.

“Lin Pingping, I thought you were always sensible and proper. I never imagined you were this kind of shrew in private.”

Ye Qing spat in his face. “A cheating scumbag should stop yapping here. Even a latrine is cleaner than you. What right do you have to accuse someone else of lacking manners?”

He Chaoyuan’s chest heaved with anger, but he did not respond to Ye Qing. Instead, he turned to me.

“Were you instigated by her?

“You need to wake up. Do not let her bewitch you. She does not get married herself, so she cannot stand seeing you happy.

“Have you thought about how the two of us are supposed to end this after you make such a scene today?”

I laughed from anger.

I only hated myself for being blind and not seeing earlier how patronizing this man was.

“How the hell do we end this? By getting divorced, of course, you idiot.”

I told him that in the next two days, I would entrust a lawyer to draft a divorce agreement for him.

“The house, the cars, and the savings all go to me. As for the original shares in your company, I will not ask for more. Half each.”

He Chaoyuan sneered. “Lin Pingping, why should I give you that?”

I put away the camera and told him, “Because of the video in my hands, of course.

“If I remember correctly, this ex-girlfriend of yours traveled thousands of miles to sleep with you right before her wedding.

“If I release this video, who do you think will lose face?

“Your company is about to go public. If this scandal breaks, do you think it can still list?

“Compared with the company’s future prospects, I am not asking for much.”

He Chaoyuan’s face changed dramatically, and he angrily scolded me.

“I never thought you were such a gold digger!

“I really misjudged you!”

I laughed out loud.

“It does not matter if you misjudged me. Now is the perfect time to correct that mistake.

“But you did not misjudge this ex-girlfriend of yours. Since you love her so much, why didn’t you marry her back then?

“Was it because you thought her education was too low, her looks too poor, and that she was not good enough for you?”

As if I had hit the mark, He Chaoyuan and Third Miss both changed color at the same time.

Third Miss nearly jumped. “Shut up! You know nothing about our past. What right do you have to spout nonsense here?”

After being inside for so long, I finally looked directly at Third Miss.

Originally, I had not planned to make things difficult for her.

After all, although she was cheap, the man was even cheaper.

And the one who had established a contractual relationship with me was the man. There was plenty of filth outside, but if the man were not a dog, he would not lick it into his mouth.

From beginning to end, the target of my anger and fury was this dog of a man I had chosen.

But since Third Miss was so eager to rush forward and be scolded, I did not mind insulting her a little.

I looked at her with contempt.

“You traveled thousands of miles to offer yourself up and put yourself in such a pitiful, pathetic situation. Have you ever thought that if this man really loved you, why didn’t he marry you?

“I do not believe that in socialist New China, there is still any external reason that can stop two people from getting married.

“He did not marry you simply because he thought you were not worthy.”

Unfortunately, you can never wake someone who is pretending to sleep.

Third Miss was struck hard by my words, yet she still chose to bury her head in the sand like an idiot.

She shouted at me with almost stubborn intensity.

“What do you know?!

“That’s right. Someone like you, born privileged, graduated from a famous university, standing in Rome since birth, how could you know the helplessness of a small person like me?

“Yes, what I did today is not decent if spoken aloud. But my love is noble, at least nobler than a marriage that measures everything with money.

“What right do you have to look down on me?”

A summer insect knows nothing of ice; a cicada knows nothing of the year.

Why should I reason with a bug?

I smiled. “Yes, yes, yes. I do not understand. Then I wish the two of you a happy marriage and a hundred years together. Lock yourselves up tight and never come out to disgust anyone else.”

After separating from He Chaoyuan and Jiang Shanshan, Ye Qing asked me what I planned to do next.

I knew she was asking what I wanted to do about the child in my belly.

I touched my lower abdomen and said with difficulty but determination, “The baby’s father is trash. If I give birth, I am afraid the child will only feel ashamed to live in this world.”

The greatest self-awareness an adult can have is not to casually bring a life into this world.

After sleeping at home for a full day, I went to the hospital for an examination.

The doctor told me it was a very healthy embryo and asked whether I had thought it through.

I said yes.

After leaving the hospital, I received a call from He Chaoyuan, but I did not answer.

For the next week, he called me countless times every day. I did not answer any of them.

What could he say? Nothing more than asking me to forgive him and spouting a pile of useless nonsense.

After having my lawyer deliver the divorce agreement to He Chaoyuan, I asked the doctor to arrange the surgery for me.

On the day of the surgery, I had Ye Qing find people to block He Chaoyuan in an alley and beat him up.

Although what I had lost could not be recovered by beating him, as long as I hurt, he should not expect to feel comfortable either.

Perhaps that beating made He Chaoyuan realize something, because he actually found out which hospital I was in.

When he walked into the ward to see me, I had just finished the surgery and been sent from the observation room to the ward.

Perhaps because I did not look seriously unwell, He Chaoyuan did not notice anything unusual.

With his bruised, swollen face, he rushed to my bedside. “Still angry?”

His expression made me want to vomit.

Covered in cold sweat, I only asked him, “Have you signed the divorce agreement?”

He Chaoyuan tried to pull my hand, but I avoided him.

He did not mind and continued to “perform” his deep affection.

“Pingping, I know you are still angry about what happened that day, but you hit me and scolded me. Your anger should be gone by now.

“I admit I still have some feelings for Shanshan, but I have also treated our marriage very seriously. From the day I married you, I never thought of divorcing you.

“Shanshan and I were only overwhelmed by emotion. Both of us knew there would be no future between us.

“That day, she said she wanted to see me one last time before her wedding. It was hard for me not to be moved. I lost my head for a moment and did some foolish things. I hope you can forgive me.

“We are all adults. Who does not have a past in their heart? Actually, if you had just pretended not to know, this matter would have passed. But you insisted on making it impossible for anyone to step down. Why bother?

“After thinking it over, I still feel we should give each other another chance. I am older than you, after all, and I am sincerely apologizing to you. Can you forgive me?”

If my body had allowed it, I really would have slapped him twice.

I looked at him coldly, but he was completely unaware.

“I really was possessed for a moment. These days, I have regretted it so much. I should not have failed to cherish how good you are to me, and I should not have done something so absurd at such an important time when you were pregnant. But believe me, I really know I was wrong. I swear I will never contact Jiang Shanshan again. I know what you said that day was all in anger. You are so hurt and so angry because you still love me, right?”

Sure enough, his nonsense was exactly as I had expected.

I was too lazy to listen further. I only told him, “The child is gone.”

He Chaoyuan, who had just been repenting, instantly changed expression. “How dare you?”

“Do you have any idea how much I was looking forward to this child?!

“Do you know that after you did this, there is no possibility left between us?!”

He roared like some idiotic male lead in a TV drama. “It was such a small thing! Why couldn’t you forgive me?”

“Everyone makes mistakes. Why couldn’t you just endure it?”

He grabbed my collar and questioned me loudly.

Because he was agitated, his face flushed red and the veins stood out, making him look terrifying.

I had no doubt that if we were not in a hospital ward at that moment, he would definitely hit me.

But I was not afraid of him.

I calmly looked into his eyes. “Save these nauseating, stinking speeches for the woman you love. I am not a trash collector. You disgust me.”

Perhaps this was the first time he recognized the fact that he was trash, because He Chaoyuan broke down.

He almost jumped as he shouted at me, “Lin Pingping! Do you think your life will get better after divorcing me? Let me tell you, once you divorce me, you will have nothing! Where are you planning to go next? Your father’s house? Hahahaha. I am afraid your stepmother will be waiting to laugh at you again! Go on, keep making trouble! Make trouble until the whole world laughs at you!”

Already badly weakened, I was truly enraged.

For the first time, I realized that there had been several layers of calculation behind He Chaoyuan’s decision to marry me.

First, my personal conditions were good. I had decent looks, a decent figure, a good education, and a good income. That meant taking me out gave him face.

Second, my family background also looked good to outsiders.

Although I had followed my mother after my parents divorced, my father was the top official in a powerful department in our city, the kind most businesspeople had to show respect to.

That meant when He Chaoyuan went out to negotiate business or pull investment, he could mention my father’s name.

Third, my father and stepmother had another daughter, and he was not close to me.

It was precisely that lack of closeness that meant He Chaoyuan did not need to do much for my father, yet could still borrow my father’s influence outside to attract investment.

In other words, by marrying me, He Chaoyuan enjoyed multiple benefits without having to fulfill any obligations.

The fact that he could do these things and say these words was only because he thought I had no one behind me and that he could manipulate me however he pleased.

But he misjudged me.

Despite my extreme physical and emotional pain, I deliberately looked at him sideways. “The one who will have nothing is probably you. Since you brought up my father and stepmother, let me tell you, those two taught me only one thing in this life: never fall into a state where you wait for others to save you.”

My voice was not loud, but He Chaoyuan was still stunned by it.

I smiled faintly. “From the moment you betrayed me, I had already planned every step of divorcing you. From now on, just wait to take the hits.”

He Chaoyuan was driven mad with anger. “Lin Pingping! I truly misjudged you! I never imagined you were so scheming, that you had planned from the start to divorce me and split my assets!”

So it turned out He Chaoyuan was only worried that I wanted to divorce him in order to take his assets.

How could that be all?

Right then, in front of him, I called Jiang Shanshan.

“Hello? Jiang Shanshan, right? He Chaoyuan came to me, begging me not to divorce him. I will send you the recording so you can judge whether your great love is worth a damn. Do not worry. As long as he signs the divorce agreement, this piece of trash will be handed over to you, the trash can.”

I pressed send and sent the recording of He Chaoyuan’s conversation with me to Jiang Shanshan, the subject of bad-ending aesthetics.

Seeing what I did, He Chaoyuan was furious, and his fists even clenched.

But I was not afraid. I was certain that in a ward full of cameras, he would not dare act out.

Sure enough, he was soon chased away by Ye Qing and the nurses who rushed over after hearing the commotion.

After He Chaoyuan left, Ye Qing cried from heartache for me.

I did not shed a single tear.

To say I was not sad would be false, but adults have to pay for their own choices.

Choosing the wrong husband is not frightening. What is frightening is lacking the courage to admit you chose wrong, and continuing farther and farther down the wrong road.

I was lucky. I had the courage and the chance to choose again.

He Chaoyuan came to see me a few more times, but each time Ye Qing cursed him out.

The last time, I told him directly that if he did not agree to the divorce, we would see each other in court.

The evidence in my hands made him wary after all.

Soon, he agreed to divorce.

As I wished, I received a great deal of property.

Including but not limited to all savings acquired during the marriage, the marital home worth twenty million that belonged to He Chaoyuan and me, and one-third of He Chaoyuan’s shares in their company.

Oh, right. That love nest of He Chaoyuan’s had also been purchased after our marriage.

It was said to be the apartment he and Jiang Shanshan had once rented.

After they broke up, he could not bear to terminate the lease, so he had kept paying rent.

Not long after marrying me, to make it easier to worship his former love, he directly bought the apartment.

Thanks to his love, I split half an apartment.

He Chaoyuan could not bear to sell the apartment, so in the end, he gathered half the housing price and paid it to me.

After we walked out of the Civil Affairs Bureau with our divorce certificates, He Chaoyuan viciously cursed me. “I really blame myself for being blind and marrying such a malicious woman like you.”

I was not angry at all. I wished him and the woman he loved an early marriage and a hundred years of happiness together.

His face turned green.

I truly did not understand. Was this not what he had been longing for all along? What was there for him to be angry about?

In accordance with the divorce agreement, I deleted the video of him and Jiang Shanshan.

This had also been He Chaoyuan’s condition for agreeing to the divorce.

I knew what he was thinking.

As long as no one exposed him as a scumbag, he would still be the CEO of that company. The investors and partners from before would still buy his account.

In other words, in terms of his career, he still had a future.

As long as his career did not collapse, making a comeback was only a matter of time for him.

Originally, I had also thought about exposing that video and dragging him down with me.

But after calming down, I realized my life was precious. I should not waste it on trash like He Chaoyuan.

Exposing the video could certainly ruin He Chaoyuan’s reputation.

But at the same time, I would be swept into the whirlpool of right and wrong.

Moreover, after dealing with He Chaoyuan during this time, I deeply felt that my initial understanding of him had been far too shallow.

When I met He Chaoyuan, his career had already begun taking off, and everywhere in his life there were flowers and applause. Even so, he still chose me, the marriage partner most beneficial to him, rather than the Jiang Shanshan he supposedly could never forget.

And the He Chaoyuan I knew had only appeared modest, cautious, and courteous on the surface.

Ever since his shameful affair was exposed and I started divorcing him, I discovered the extreme selfishness and arrogance, the irritability and violent madness hidden beneath his gentlemanly exterior.

He was the one who cheated, but he felt the person who had done wrong was me, the one who had revealed it all.

And at the hospital, before he knew I had aborted the child, he still tried to deceive and coax me. After learning I had aborted the child, his true reaction made me even more certain that he was an extreme person who changed faces quickly and made no attempt to hide it.

Even if I was unwilling, I understood that it would be best not to push him into a dead end.

Drive a dog into a dead alley, and it will bite back.

For me, it was unnecessary.

I was still young, and the road ahead was long.

I could not keep entangling myself with bugs. It was true that this person had hurt me, but if I lived in hatred of him, I would continue to be controlled by him.

Now, taking half his life in assets, staying far away from him, and never seeing him again was the best choice.

After the agreement was signed, everything proceeded smoothly according to it.

But after all the property had been transferred into my name, He Chaoyuan actually came to block me downstairs from my company again.

He was abnormally furious and loudly questioned me. “Lin Pingping, why did you break your word?”

I was baffled. Too lazy to deal with him, I lifted my foot to leave.

But he stopped me, took out his phone, and showed me a photo. “Playing innocent? Come on, explain this to me!”

Looking at that photo, I really could not hold back and laughed out loud.

The background of the photo was downstairs from He Chaoyuan’s company. In the center of the photo was a white car with a bright red banner hanging on it.

I enlarged the photo with my fingers. Written on the banner was: Thank you, Mr. He Chaoyuan of Huixiang Company. Thank you for taking care of my fiancee day and night.

It seemed that the person who hung this banner was Jiang Shanshan’s fiance.

In my heart, I praised him. This fiance was truly a talent.

But I did not know how he, thousands of miles away, had found out about this.

Seeing me laugh, He Chaoyuan became even more certain that I was the instigator of this farce.

In a fit of rage, he grabbed my collar. “Didn’t you say you would delete the video after taking the money? If you do this, how is my company supposed to go public?”

I smiled slightly. “So you thought that as long as I deleted the video, the good things you did would never be known by anyone under heaven? Why don’t you ask your first-love girlfriend whether she leaked the news?”

In fact, I could not be sure Jiang Shanshan had exposed the news, but to make He Chaoyuan go mad, I deliberately said so.

Perhaps He Chaoyuan had already suspected Jiang Shanshan. After hearing my words, he only glared viciously at me, then immediately took out his phone, seemingly to call Jiang Shanshan.

But just then, an aged hand suddenly reached in front of He Chaoyuan and slapped him hard twice.

He Chaoyuan thought I had hit him and was about to flare up when the newcomer grabbed him by the ear.

The person with such immense destructive power was my former mother-in-law, He Chaoyuan’s biological mother, Wen Shuxian.

Although I was standing right beside them, Wen Shuxian treated me as if I did not exist and simply launched a full assault on He Chaoyuan.

As she hit him, she cursed him, scolding him for getting involved with Jiang Shanshan again.

“Did you think my damn words were farts? How could you get together with that rotten thing again?

“Didn’t I tell you that if you stayed with her, I would no longer be your mother? Are you trying to anger me to death? Do not worry. Even if I die, I will take you with me!

“Do not tell me she seduced you! Flies do not bite eggs without cracks! You are just cheap! Rushing to hand money to her whole family, are you? If you are this cheap, I should never have given birth to you back then!”

This was the first time I had heard Wen Shuxian say so many words. In my impression, she was a very quiet person.

From the time He Chaoyuan and I started dating until now, about three years had passed, and I had only met her three times.

During those limited three meetings, she had always maintained a decent smile, said everything was fine, and seemed to have no opinion about anything.

So I had always had a good impression of her.

But He Chaoyuan was not close to her. He was even somewhat cold.

He rarely video-called her and rarely mentioned her.

I once asked He Chaoyuan why he was not close to his mother. He said his mother had been too strict with him when he was young, and after growing up, he could not be close to her anymore.

At that time, I had even felt sorry for him.

Now, looking at Wen Shuxian’s terrifyingly ferocious expression, I suddenly remembered He Chaoyuan’s face when he had suddenly turned on me the day I had the abortion.

He was so selfish and violent probably because his mother was even more terrifying than he was.

Through Wen Shuxian’s assault on He Chaoyuan, I gradually sorted out the whole story behind the banner incident.

It turned out that in order to curry favor with her future mother-in-law in advance, Jiang Shanshan had returned to her hometown and gone to Wen Shuxian’s home, trying to reconcile with her.

After all, back then, she and He Chaoyuan had been forced to break up because Wen Shuxian had opposed them.

Jiang Shanshan thought that as long as she treated Wen Shuxian “with sincerity” and poured out her heart, Wen Shuxian would let bygones be bygones and support their love.

Who would have known that Wen Shuxian slapped Jiang Shanshan several times on the spot, hitting her until the corner of her mouth bled, then ran to the Jiang family and made what she and He Chaoyuan had done known to everyone.

Wen Shuxian’s original words included but were not limited to: “Your Jiang Shanshan traveled thousands of miles to send that thing to my son and destroy my son’s family. I see she has no shame left! Then I will let your whole family gain some face!”

“Back then, I already thought your Jiang family was not presentable. Jiang Shanshan is even worse, a brainless brother-supporting parasite. As long as I am alive, I will never agree to let her enter our family! Six or seven years after breaking up, she is still thinking about my son? Calling it love? What damn stinking nonsense! I think she just sees my son as rich and easy to fool!”

Coincidentally, when Wen Shuxian went to the Jiang family to cause a scene, Jiang Shanshan’s fiance was drinking with Jiang Shanshan’s father at the Jiang home. Although the Jiang parents kept trying to stop it, everything was heard in full by the Jiang family’s future son-in-law.

The fiance flipped the table on the spot and smashed a beer bottle over Father Jiang’s head.

Since this fiance was so violent, yet this time had driven thousands of miles only to hang a banner, there was probably something fishy going on.

But that no longer had anything to do with me, so I turned to slip away.

Yet just as I was about to leave, a burly man suddenly rushed out of the crowd and grabbed Wen Shuxian’s hand, the one slapping He Chaoyuan.

Wen Shuxian looked up at him and asked a rather dramatic line. It was this sentence that kept me at the scene.

Wen Shuxian said, “Why is it you? What do you want?”

The burly man sneered with a dark face. “I came to ask for my compensation! Your son is some big boss, and he slept with my fiancee, a woman I never even slept with, but he did! You are his mother. Tell everyone here, how much should he compensate me?”

The already explosive scene was pushed to a new climax by the burly man’s words.

After learning the burly man’s identity, He Chaoyuan’s first reaction was to run away.

But the watching crowd gave him no chance. Wherever he tried to run, a human wall blocked him.

The burly man seized the crowd’s emotions and performed a round of macho tears in front of everyone. With no escape, He Chaoyuan could only ask him, “How much do you want?”

The burly man’s spirits rose at once when he heard that and quoted an astronomical price.

He Chaoyuan was extremely dissatisfied with the quote and asked him, “Why don’t you just go rob someone?”

The burly man had clearly mastered the essence of performative madness. “What? When you were sleeping together, you said your love was great. When it is time to pay compensation, love is not great anymore? This money is not worthy of your love, is it?”

Someone in the crowd even shouted, “Not enough! Not nearly enough!”

Everyone was holding up phones. I thought that this time, He Chaoyuan and Jiang Shanshan would definitely become famous online.

This time, the entire internet would be able to see exactly how much their love was worth.

Amid the chaos, I slipped away after all.

After He Chaoyuan’s matter was exposed, I received sympathy and concern from all sides.

But when everyone learned that I had taken half of He Chaoyuan’s assets in the divorce, all that sympathy and concern turned into jealousy.

I felt tired of everything and applied to my company for an extended leave.

The big boss approved it without another word.

Just like the first blessing he sent me after learning I had divorced: “Happy singlehood.”

“If you do not get divorced once, you never know how good being single is.”

I stayed in the Maldives for more than a month.

With the sea breeze blowing every day and the ocean washing over me, I soon felt reborn.

It turned out that healing from heartbreak was not actually too hard, as long as you lived better than him.

Every day, I heard heavy gossip remotely from Ye Qing.

Ever since the scandal was exposed and he completely fell out with his mother, He Chaoyuan finally decided to bravely be himself.

He publicly announced to the whole world that he loved Jiang Shanshan.

They had missed each other for so long, but fortunately, her persistence had finally made him recognize his true feelings.

He wanted to marry her and spend the rest of his life with her.

If their actions had hurt anyone, then he sincerely apologized to those they had hurt and was willing to take responsibility.

He emphasized that he had given most of his family assets to me, his ex-wife, and that he would also help Jiang Shanshan return the bride price to her fiance as compensation.

But love was innocent.

He hoped everyone would respect and bless them.

Most netizens responded with, “Respect and blessings. Stay locked together.”

Of course, some people were moved to tears and believed He Chaoyuan was a truly responsible good man.

He even gained a wave of fans I did not know how to describe.

As a result, not long after his high-profile pursuit of love, he was slapped in the face.

Jiang Shanshan’s parents traveled thousands of miles to He Chaoyuan’s company and caused a scene.

They did not ask for much, only a mere one million yuan in bride price, and for He Chaoyuan to arrange a director position for Jiang Shanshan’s younger brother in his company.

“You love my daughter so much. You cannot be unwilling to pay even one million, right?”

“Such a big company cannot be safely left to outsiders. Of course you need your own people to help you.”

“Shanshan only has Xiaoyong as her one younger brother. As his brother-in-law, you cannot ignore him!”

“Xiaoyong graduated from a junior college too, and he studied computer science. His major is a match, so why can’t you arrange something for him?”

Father Jiang and Mother Jiang truly deserved to be top figures in the rogue world. After a round of unreasonable pestering, they successfully sent He Chaoyuan onto trending searches again.

And Jiang Shanshan was powerless about it. Through the entire process, she only knew how to cry. She was no longer the brave woman who had once traveled for love.

This farce ultimately ended with He Chaoyuan giving Jiang Shanshan’s parents five hundred thousand yuan. Both sides signed an agreement, and Jiang Shanshan was bought out.

But this commotion made the investors in He Chaoyuan’s company feel he was unreliable, and they withdrew their investments one after another.

The company’s listing became indefinitely distant.

This was where one had to admire my foresight.

As early as the moment I received the shares, I had transferred them at a low price to another shareholder in the company and cashed out in advance.

Now, the poor brother who bought my shares was probably crying himself unconscious in the bathroom.

While He Chaoyuan was unlucky, the whole internet was spreading the idea that I was a woman of fortune.

“A blessed person does not enter an unblessed home.”

“After He Chaoyuan married her, his career flourished. After they divorced, he immediately returned to his original form. It is obvious who had the fortune.”

“I heard she is a fund manager. Buying her fund cannot be wrong.”

The whole internet was calling for me to return to work. Naturally, I could not disappoint everyone’s expectations, so I soon ended my vacation and returned to China.

When I returned to work in high spirits, one day after work, I unexpectedly ran into Jiang Shanshan.

She did not look at all nourished by love. Instead, she looked utterly exhausted, several years older than when she had traveled thousands of miles to chase love.

She said she wanted to talk to me.

I said, “Sorry. My time is very valuable.”

I walked past her.

She rolled up her sleeve, revealing the mottled purple bruises on her arm. They were shocking to look at.

I stared at her in surprise.

She gave a bitter smile. “He did it.”

Jiang Shanshan told me her story.

After marrying He Chaoyuan, she moved into the love nest He Chaoyuan had bought.

“I thought it was the beginning of happiness. Who knew it was the beginning of a nightmare?

“Because my parents kept coming to harass us and ask Chaoyuan for money, Chaoyuan could not bear it anymore and hit my brother.

“My parents called the police, and Chaoyuan was detained.

“I felt so sorry for him. On the day he got out of the detention center, I cooked a whole table of good food and prepared willow branches according to custom, wanting to help him dispel the bad luck.

“Who knew that when he came home and saw the willow branches, he exploded. He said the greatest bad luck in his life was me…

“That was the first time he hit me…

“After that, it was as if he became possessed. Whenever anything went even slightly wrong, he would hit me.

“Seeing me receive my karma, are you very happy?”

Jiang Shanshan looked at me with tearful eyes, leaving me speechless.

“You came all this way to tell me these things just to make me happy?”

Jiang Shanshan froze, then quickly stammered to explain.

“No, no, no. What I mean is, I have already paid the price for what I did. I hope you can forgive me.

“These days, seeing Chaoyuan in so much pain, I finally understood one thing. He stopped loving me long ago. The person he actually loves is you.

“He often wanders downstairs from your home, but does not dare go up to see you.

“Seeing him in so much pain, I really feel too sad. I am sorry to him and to you. The only thing I can do is return him to you…”

I looked at Jiang Shanshan with the expression of an old man on the subway looking at his phone. “Are you sick?”

But Jiang Shanshan seemed serious. She looked at me through tears. “He really loves you. This is the last thing I can do for him.”

I truly wanted to split open her head and see what kind of paste was inside her brain. At that moment, I sincerely felt that the woman before me was pitiful, pathetic, and hateful.

I even understood why my former mother-in-law, Madam Wen Shuxian, hated her so much.

She was like a slug, slick and disgusting.

It was true that her thoughts and behavior were limited by her background.

Her family of origin had never given her a good education. Instead, they had always sucked her blood.

She was a pitiful person.

But she was already thirty-two and had received higher education. She clearly had many opportunities to free herself from her family of origin and from terrible love.

But she did not.

She handed her life entirely over to others.

When her parents did not love her, she entrusted herself to love. When a man did not love her, she wanted to destroy herself.

She felt sorry for everyone who placed her in the abyss of fate, yet she alone did not feel sorry for herself.

When she openly told me this nonsense, her eyes even shone with the light of a holy mother.

She probably thought her sacrifice was extremely great.

If a person cannot even love herself, who else can love her?

I sincerely advised her, “Call the police and have that bastard arrested. That is my final advice to you.”

I did not call the police for her.

Everyone must ultimately take responsibility for their own fate.

And in the end, she did not call the police.