Eight years of marriage, and my wife had threatened divorce 99 times. I thought she was just throwing tantrums to test me. Until I discovered that for eight consecutive years, she had been transferring $520,000 annually to another man. Note: In Chinese, 520 sounds similar to “I love you,” making this amount symbolically significant. When she threatened divorce for the 100th time, I signed the divorce papers and withdrew my investment from her company. I shifted my business focus overseas and vanished from her world like I had evaporated into thin air. But she went crazy, searching for me all over the world. For eight years, I had quietly invested in my wife’s wedding planning company, providing her with financial support. With the contract expiring in two days, I sat with my fists clenched, contemplating whether to continue investing. My wife had already threatened divorce 99 times. I had always thought it was because I was too busy with work and didn’t spend enough time with her, which made her angry. But today I found the reason: for the past eight years, she had been transferring $520,000 annually to a man named Ethan. Ethan was a new employee at my company, and this information was discovered during his background check. My chest felt tight and congested. I gave my wife $600,000 every year for her to spend as she pleased. But I never imagined she would give $520,000 of it to another man. My assistant gave me a video recording. When the investigator asked Ethan about the person transferring the money, Ethan smiled shyly and bashfully: “A female friend.” The investigator immediately understood, his face full of envy, and eagerly asked: “Is she pursuing you? Will you accept her advances? Will you marry her?” Ethan avoided answering this question directly, instead smiling faintly and talking about something else: “For the past few years, I’ve been studying and living abroad. She comes to spend a month with me every July and December.” “She also prepares many surprises and small gifts for me, like a designer watch, a tie, or a bottle of cologne…” My heart felt like it was blocked by a huge stone, oppressed and suffocating. Every July and December, my wife would go on overseas trips, not allowing me to go with her or contact her, saying she needed to clear her mind. I thought it was because her work pressure was too high, so I silently endured the pain of missing her. Now it seems she was going abroad to be with another man. Looking at the watch Ethan wore in the video, wasn’t it the one I had lost? Over these eight years, every time my wife went on a trip, I would lose something. Sometimes it was a suit, sometimes a tie, sometimes cologne… I always thought I was just too preoccupied with missing my wife, leading me to be absent-minded and careless after she left. Because of this, I specially wrote her a handwritten letter every day expressing my longing, personally made the chocolate she loved, and even learned to cook, just to get through that long and unbearable month. But I never imagined it wasn’t that I was careless, but that she was giving my things away to someone else. Soon after, I received a text message from my wife: “Let’s get divorced. My wedding planning company is growing bigger, and I’m really busy every day. I don’t want to waste time on relationships anymore.” This was the 100th time she had mentioned divorce to me.
On the second day after our wedding, my wife cried to me about how difficult work was, so I voluntarily offered to give her $600,000 every year. But on the third day of our marriage, she printed out a divorce agreement: “Jack, if you’re insulting me with money, why don’t I just sign this divorce agreement now? You can sign it whenever you want!” With that, she quickly signed her name in two or three strokes. I felt suddenly panicked, constantly coaxing her, begging her, apologizing to her, even kneeling before her and slapping my own face. As I was breaking down, scratching my head and at a loss, she cried and hit me a few times, then broke into a smile through her tears: “Alright, I’ll forgive you then.” After that, I became even more cautious around her. When she wanted to start her own business, I secretly injected capital. But now, she felt her wings had grown strong, that she was a powerful career woman, and increasingly looked down on me, whom she considered a “nouveau riche.” Since the beginning of this year, she had frequently mentioned divorce. In just half a year, she had brought it up 99 times. Seeing the divorce text she sent, and thinking about the annual $520,000 transfers, the two months she disappeared each year, my mysteriously missing items, the divorce agreement signed eight years in advance… A chill ran down my spine. She had too many secrets. Just as I was about to turn off my phone, my wife called. The other end of the line was noisy, as if they were playing a dare game at an entertainment venue. This call was probably dialed by accident. “Sarah and Ethan, drink from intertwined arms!” “Your lips have to touch!” “Carry her like a princess, lock them in the dark room, don’t come out for at least an hour. Hope you two fulfill your years-long dream.” After a while, an unfamiliar female voice came from the other end: “Who’s 1874? Probably a telemarketer, oh well, hang up!” Then the call was disconnected. My heart ached. She had saved my contact as my phone number “1874”. Looking at the prominent four words on my phone screen: “Darling Wife”, I felt it was ironic. There was a lot of work, and I wanted to stay up late to finish it, but I really wasn’t in the mood, so I went home. After opening the door, I searched for a long time but couldn’t find my slippers, so I walked to the sofa in my leather shoes. At this moment, looking around, all of my things in the house were gone. As I was puzzled, my wife came out of the bedroom. She was startled when she saw me. Last week she had said to me: “I’m too tired of being with an unemployed loser like you. I need a husband who can support my career. But you? You’re out gallivanting all day, then come home to do laundry and cook. Can’t you find a decent job and work hard?” When I retorted, telling her I was the CEO of the Smith Group, she just mocked me: “Even dreams should have limits! You’re not making any progress, and your money will be squandered sooner or later. In a couple of years, you’ll be relying on me for food.” She had seen me drinking with clients in private rooms too many times, so she automatically imagined me as a wastrel. “The $600,000 a year was something you voluntarily gave me. You don’t need to give it anymore starting this year. But if you’re going to hold this over me for the rest of my life because of it, I’d rather return the money to you now.” She said she needed some space, so she kicked me out: “Go stay somewhere else for a week, let me have some peace and quiet!”
A week later, I returned home. But it seemed she hadn’t expected me to come back tonight. Just as I was about to get up to take a shower, a man came out of the bathroom wearing my bathrobe. I immediately recognized him. He was Ethan, the man my wife had been transferring money to for eight years. Seeing this, Sarah hurriedly pushed me away and explained to Ethan: “He’s the male housekeeper I hired. He’s used to being casual around my house, don’t mind him!” She then pulled me to the sofa and pushed me to sit down. The words I was about to say got stuck in my throat. She brought a man home and actually said I was the housekeeper. Just as I was about to speak, she sat down next to me and made a pleading gesture, whispering: “He’s my client. If I can keep him happy, I’ll land a big deal. It’s not easy for a woman to start a business, and you’ve never been able to help me with anything. I’m begging you this time.” “He just got his clothes dirty earlier, so he’s only borrowing our shower. Don’t overthink it.” “Everyone in the industry thinks I’m single. I can’t suddenly reveal that I have a husband.” Her three sentences were so seamless and watertight that they completely blocked whatever I was about to say. If I were to question further, it would make me look inconsiderate. I lowered my head to deal with some urgent company matters. Ethan walked over and sat down beside me, speaking to me with the air of a master: “These days, it’s rare to see a man living off a woman’s money, Mr. Housekeeper.” Saying this, he handed me a business card, his eyes filled with mockery: “I’m Ethan from the technology development department of Smith Group.” Sarah looked at him with adoration, as if he were a deity. Neither of them knew that I was the CEO of Smith Group at this point. Ethan because he was new and hadn’t had time to find out. Sarah because she had always focused only on her own affairs, disdaining to learn about me, only thinking of me as the nouveau riche who had won a $100 million lottery eight years ago. Seeing that I remained expressionless and didn’t want to take Ethan’s card, Sarah exploded in anger: “A housekeeper being offered a business card is a courtesy. How dare you act so arrogant?” “There’s nothing that needs cleaning in my house today, you can leave now!” Sarah said, pushing me towards the door, then handed me a bag of trash: “Take the garbage out when you go!” I clearly saw that there were two used condoms in the trash bag. I was furious and wanted to rush up and slap these two cheating dogs. Just then, Ethan picked up a pocket watch from the table: “This watch must be quite valuable, right?” This pocket watch was left to me by my mother, her only keepsake. I often cried while looking at it. I polished that pocket watch many times every day, and would be heartbroken if it got even slightly scratched. Sarah knew this.
But she only glanced at me awkwardly, lasting only half a second. Then she walked over to Ethan with a smile and replied: “Do you like it? Then I’ll give it to you. It’s of no use to me anyway.” As Ethan was about to put it in his bag, I couldn’t bear it any longer. I quickly walked up to him, snatched the watch, then raised my fist and punched him in the face. After that, I stormed out without looking back. I didn’t want to stay in this house for another minute. As I slammed the door shut, I heard Sarah comforting Ethan: “You must have noticed that this male housekeeper likes me, so he doesn’t want to see me giving you things.” “It’s all my fault for spoiling him too much. I’ll definitely fire him tomorrow!” Angrily returning to my office, I received a call from Sarah: “Jack, how can you be so petty? It’s just a watch. Did you have to make my client angry? Do you know he works for Smith Group?” “You broke nouveau riche, do you even know what Smith Group is? The people working there are all elites. Why did you have to offend him of all people? I had to spend two hours appeasing him so his company wouldn’t cancel their cooperation with me.” In the past, I would have definitely lowered my head and apologized, whether it was my fault or not. But now, I let out a cold laugh. I didn’t know when my company had decided to cooperate with Sarah’s company. No, there was. I suddenly remembered the contract that was about to expire in a day. I made a call to my assistant: “Stop the investment in Sarah’s company. I’ll personally handle the negotiations tomorrow!” “Starting now, consolidate and reduce the group’s domestic operations, and shift the focus overseas.” The core of Smith Group’s business was originally overseas, but because I wanted to be with Sarah, I forcibly shifted operations to the domestic market eight years ago. Now, I’ve decided to develop abroad and disappear from Sarah’s world forever. Sarah sent me another text message: “Let’s get divorced. I’m tired.” This time, I didn’t try to salvage anything, only replying with a single word: “Okay.” The next morning when I woke up, it was already 8 o’clock. As I got up, I heard a commotion outside. Opening the office door and looking down, I saw a woman in a wedding dress proposing to a man. I had already lost faith in relationships, so I just glanced briefly, intending to turn back to my office. But as I turned, I heard Sarah’s voice. The CEO’s office was on the 31st floor, Ethan was on the 29th floor, and the three floors were connected internally. Although it was a bit far, I could still hear clearly. Looking back, I saw Sarah in a white wedding dress, kneeling on one knee, holding out a ring to Ethan: “Will you marry me?”
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