Category: English

As the oldest unmarried youth in the family, I suffered deeply from the constant pressure to get married. Over time, I just gave up and let it be. My mom said she was so worried she couldn’t sleep. I drove two hundred miles overnight, stood by my mom’s bed at 3 AM, and pried her eyelids open. My mom said that because I wasn’t married, everyone was laughing at her. The next second, I tagged everyone in the family group chat: 【My mom says because I’m not married, everyone is laughing at her. I want to ask, who exactly is laughing at her? @Everyone】 My cousin was the first to start the chain: 【Little Brother is not laughing at her.】 Following closely was a neat line of replies: 【Auntie is not laughing at her.】 【Uncle is not laughing at her.】 【Second Cousin is not laughing at her.】 【Dad is not laughing at her.】 【…】 1 “Chloe Vance, what nonsense are you sending in the group chat? Unsend it right now!” My mom let out a piercing shriek. She casually smacked my dad: “And why are you joining in the commotion!” My dad didn’t dare say a word. I ignored my mom and tagged her in the group again: 【Mom, see? No one is laughing at you.】 My phone was constantly popping up with new private messages. My cousins were dying of laughter. 【Sis, did you get beaten up? Hahahaha】 【Sis, hold the line this year! We’re relying on you to tank the damage!】 【…】 As the oldest unmarried person on both sides of the family, I’ve been pressured to marry since I was 25. It started out very gentle and amicable, but as I got older, it gradually became more intense. I’m 30 this year. At thirty, one stands firm. I feel this is the best stage of my life. Successful career, I own a house and a car, and I have freedom. Years ago, when they urged me to date and get married, I felt a wave of confusion about the future. During the years of relentless marriage pressure, I got promoted and got raises. I don’t know where the men are, but my income is certainly looking beautiful. The message had long passed the time limit to be unsent. My mom grumbled endlessly: “I must have owed you two, father and daughter, in my past life. Neither of you gives me peace of mind.” “Chloe, I’m your mother. Would I harm you?” “Urging you to get married isn’t just to give you someone to rely on when you’re old? Otherwise, if something happens to me and your dad, what will you do?” “…” I looked at my apartment, worth several million in the city center, thought about my parents’ pensions, and then looked at my annual salary and savings. I honestly couldn’t imagine a scenario where I’d live a miserable life. At this moment, my dad chimed in: “Your mom is right. There are still many benefits to getting married.” “Dad, tell me specifically, what are the benefits?” My dad answered with genuine feeling: “Coming home from work to a hot meal, having someone manage things inside and outside the house, having kids. You’ve been excellent since you were little. As your parents, your mom and I are very proud.” “Dad, Mom makes the meals, Mom manages things inside and outside the house, and I was born from Mom.” My dad suddenly froze. It seemed it was the first time he truly realized that in marriage, my role wouldn’t be his; it would be his wife’s role. Those tangible benefits required me to be the one providing them. At least, in the traditional family concept, that’s how it is. In reality, my dad isn’t a man who never lifts a finger. He doesn’t smoke or drink, hands over his paycheck, helps with chores, and never bosses my mom around. He counts as a good man in the traditional sense. But over all these years, I still saw the various resentments my mom held in their marriage. However, my dad is educated after all, and he quickly found a breakthrough point: “Chloe, you’re a mid-level manager now. If you want to keep moving up, a stable marriage is very necessary.” My dad knew I valued my career; he precisely grasped my weak spot. “Besides, times have changed. Your income is higher than many men’s,” my dad said. “Find a man who is supportive and family-oriented.” My mom took the opportunity to speak up: “Right, Mom will find you a man who can cook and do chores. Will you go meet him?” “Mom, not only do I want him to do chores, but he also needs to be handsome, have a good body, be loyal, and not be more than three years older than me.” I paused, then slowly added, “Oh, and his income must be at least half of mine.” My mom exploded upon hearing this: “Being handsome won’t put food on the table! You also want him to make seventy or eighty thousand a year?” I’m no longer the shy little girl I was a few years ago. I speak much more directly now. “If he’s ugly, I won’t be able to kiss him, I won’t have any sexual desire, and I will cheat.” My mom: “…” 2 When I argue with them, I can hold my own against anyone. But now it’s the New Year holiday, and my mom still managed to arrange this blind date. But she is my biological mother after all. She found a blind date who actually met my requirements. I have no idea how my mom did it, but she really found an unmarried man who met all my conditions. To say something inappropriate, this is rarer than a giant panda. The blind date was set at a restaurant. Business was booming during the holidays, and it was very lively inside. My mom sent me the reserved table number. She solemnly promised that this would be the only blind date for the near future, which is why I came. After entering, I quickly found the table number. But from my angle, I only saw the back of a head. The man was wearing a black trench coat, not fat, and at first glance, his fashion sense wasn’t bad. I walked straight over: “Sorry to keep you waiting…” Before I finished speaking, I saw the face clearly, and the words caught in my throat. I believed my mom really did look for a match seriously within her network. The man in front of me had distinct features and a refined aura. And he looked very familiar. “Long time no see, old classmate.” A flash of surprise passed through the other party’s eyes, followed by a smile as he greeted me. Arthur Sterling. My mom managed to track down my high school classmate from a decade ago. You gotta hand it to her. “Long time no see.” Arthur’s appearance hadn’t changed much; he was still handsome, perhaps even more charming. “The last time we saw each other was probably the graduation banquet after the college entrance exams, right? I never expected you to be my blind date.” “I didn’t expect it to be you either,” I raised an eyebrow, asking bluntly, “What, no one wants you either?” Arthur laughed: “Yep, getting older, becoming unmarketable.” “…” I didn’t really like hearing that. After all, we used to be classmates, and we’re the same age. But Arthur was considered a prominent figure in our graduating class. Grades, looks, and a high school romance. A legendary figure who managed to tutor his girlfriend into a top-tier university. “I remember you had a girlfriend,” I smiled. “After being together for so long, you should be getting married.” This sentence was probably hitting a sore spot. Arthur was very candid: “I’m already out on a blind date, you should be able to tell: we broke up.” I looked at the man across from me, recalling his flamboyant teenage self. There’s a difference between a teenage boy and the thirty-year-old man standing before me. I don’t know if my aesthetic preferences have changed, but I think he looks better now. His girlfriend, or rather, ex-girlfriend, I also sort of knew. Over the years, I had heard some gossip from mutual friends. They were still together when I graduated college. But right now, it wouldn’t be appropriate to ask Arthur for details. Instead, we chatted about our recent lives. Hearing about Arthur’s job, I paused, then smiled. “Chloe Vance, what are you smiling about?” I laughed for a good while before telling him the requirements I gave my mom for a blind date. “I didn’t expect her to be so literal,” my smile lingered. Arthur’s income was probably about the same as mine. “So,” the man across from me suddenly said, “I meet classmate Chloe’s criteria for a mate?” 3 Classmate Chloe. A nostalgic form of address. Two 30-year-old adults using this address brought a subtle sense of flirtation. “Classmate Arthur is so outstanding. If I said you didn’t meet my criteria, I’d seem ungrateful.” We’re adults; some things don’t need to be said too absolutely. According to the process, if there’s an intention to continue developing the relationship after a blind date, we should exchange contact information. But I already had Arthur’s contact information. The year we graduated, many classmates added each other, but for the vast majority, there was no contact after that. That was the situation between Arthur and me. I even scrolled past his posts showing off his relationship in the past, and I was among the many high school classmates who hit “like.” We had a very pleasant conversation during this meal. After it ended, Arthur and I walked out together. His voice came: “I’ll take you home…” Before he finished, an Audi a few steps away flashed its lights. Arthur froze for a moment, then chuckled: “That was presumptuous of me.” I smiled at him: “I appreciate the thought. Let’s grab dinner again when we have time.” As soon as I got in the car, I called my best friend, Elena: “Did you know Arthur and Mia broke up?” It’s a habit. Whenever there’s gossip about a high school classmate, I want to share it. “What, they broke up?!” The shock on the other end of the line was palpable. “How did you know? I thought they were having kids!” I was brief and to the point: “My blind date today was Arthur.” “What!” Elena’s volume went up another notch. “You lucky girl, your family found you a blind date with such high quality?” “…” We’re getting off topic. But soon the topic returned. Elena: “I’ll go ask around.” Elena was my deskmate in senior year. We’ve had a good relationship over the years. She has an outgoing personality and good social connections. Ninety percent of the high school gossip I hear comes from her. When I got back, the house was still lively. My uncle, aunt, and their kids were all there. As soon as I walked in, I heard my mom complaining to her siblings: “This brat. I told her her dad and I were so worried about her not getting married we couldn’t sleep at night. As a result, she drove two hundred miles overnight and stood by our bed at 3 AM, prying our eyelids open…” My uncle and aunt were laughing so hard they couldn’t stand up straight. My cousins were hiding in the next room laughing. Seeing me return, all eyes instantly fell on me. “Chloe’s back? How was the blind date?” My mom spoke first, with a hint of smugness: “Chloe, Mom didn’t lie to you, right? Graduated from a top university, handsome, 6’1″, the young man looks sharp. I had to snatch him away from someone else. I heard he’s very principled and stays out of trouble.” “…” My mom has a good eye. Elena came back with the intel. She said Arthur and Mia had been on and off for over a decade. He had only ever dated that one person. They broke up half a year ago. 4 My cousins pulled me into my room, wanting to go to an all-night KTV tonight. They needed a reliable leader. My older cousins were all married, so as their older cousin, only I could fulfill this role. “Sis, how is the blind date Auntie introduced you to? Is he handsome?” I pondered for a moment, telling the truth: “Pretty handsome. He was the acknowledged heartthrob of our graduating class.” Hearing this, they got interested. “Really? Do you have pictures?” Of course, I didn’t have recent photos of Arthur; his social media posts were only visible for three days. Then, these younger ones huddled in my room and started flipping through my high school graduation photo album. “Sis, this guy is kinda handsome? Almost as good as me,” my younger cousin said narcissistically, earning a kick from his sister. “He hasn’t gotten fat or balding now, right?” “…” I took them out and we didn’t get back until past 3 AM. I really am getting older. I can’t pull all-nighters like I used to. Before going to sleep, I noticed a message from Arthur on my phone: 【Sorry, I don’t know if it’s appropriate to say this to you. If you have the intention to get married, and are somewhat satisfied with my conditions, I think we could start as friends first.】 I didn’t reply immediately, but his words ended up affecting my dreams. I dreamed of things from high school. Arthur’s appearance was very clear. He was perfectly flamboyant, the kind of student teachers favored. And I, I was always the one competing with him for first place. Once, winning against him by a two-point margin, the young man passed my desk between classes, leaving a hearty: “Impressive, top student.” Youth is too fleeting, covering up many a young girl’s secrets. There was a bit of regret, but later, as life was overwhelmed by studies and work, and I dated other people, I gradually stopped thinking about him. Arthur asked me out for dinner. Seeing him, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud: “What, is your family rushing you that much?” Arthur’s eyes curved: “Can’t it just be that I want to catch up with an old classmate?” Catch up? What kind of fairytale is he spinning? Arthur is a very humorous and witty person. Chatting with him is actually very comfortable. With his qualifications, finding someone to marry wouldn’t be difficult at all. “I’m going back to the city in a couple of days. What about you?” Arthur suddenly asked. I paused for a moment: “About the same time.” “Then when the time comes and I ask you out for dinner again, will you still be willing to come out?” That sentence made me pause. I looked up into Arthur’s smiling eyes as he said: “When the New Year is over, and we don’t have the excuse of a blind date anymore, will you still be willing to give me the time of day?” This man really knows how to flirt. “Can I ask you a question? You don’t have to answer.” Arthur said “Hmm”: “You can.” “How did you and Mia break up?” A very buzzkill question. But just like when he asked if he could still ask me out to dinner, my question was also a signal. A signal of considering continuing to get to know each other. Arthur answered after a long silence, his voice a bit heavy: “Our life paces were different. Problems that we didn’t have to consider when we were dating slowly surfaced.” “I wanted a stable marriage, she wanted freedom. We couldn’t reconcile it, so we broke up.” Arthur has decent character; he didn’t speak ill of his ex. But I could also tell he left out a lot of details. Adults must have boundaries; I didn’t press further. Because the answer wasn’t very important. We must respect everyone’s past. 5 Back in the city, my mom continued to ask about my progress with Arthur. When she found out he was my high school classmate, she practically clapped her hands in approval. “Knowing his roots like this, your dad and I are relieved.” I smiled. Not only did I know his roots, I had even witnessed his long romance. After the New Year, work resumed, and I was incredibly busy. My contact with Arthur was only maintained online. Of course, besides my mom, there was someone else very invested in my blind date. Elena. “Girl, Arthur really was the crush of many girls back then. After all these years, he hasn’t gotten fat or greasy. If I wasn’t married, I’d want to give it a try!” “You’re single anyway, just give it a try!” “…” It seems people really can’t handle being talked about. After finishing work, I received a call from an unknown number. “Hello?” “It’s me, Arthur,” the voice on the other end made me freeze. “Is Director Vance off work yet? I’d like to treat Director Vance to a meal.” That title made me chuckle: “Is Engineer Sterling not busy?” Arthur is currently a chief engineer at a famous enterprise. Given his age, that title came early and carried a lot of weight. “No matter how busy I am, I still have to eat,” the leisurely tone of the person on the other end made me vaguely recall the past. “I’m downstairs at your company. Will Director Vance do me the honor?” Since he put it that way, there was naturally no need for me to refuse. The first meal with Arthur after returning to the city opened the door for more. We would occasionally make plans for a meal, and on weekends, we’d go see a movie or an exhibition. Arthur was a very suitable date. He was considerate, knew his boundaries, and always smelled of a nice cologne. Unlike the palpitations of youth, the sense of boundaries and consideration from a mature man can also cause temporary infatuation. I could tell Arthur definitely had some feelings for me. We interacted like this for over two months, our relationship remaining strictly at the friend level. Another weekend, Arthur invited me to a bistro. The lighting was a warm yellow, and the live band on stage was singing an ambiguous English song. “Chloe Vance.” Arthur called my name. His voice was warm and very pleasant. “I…” The way he looked at me was different from usual. He opened his mouth, seeming wanting to say something. A phone call interrupted everything. His phone lay flat on the table, and with just one glance, I clearly saw the name on the caller ID. Mia. The girl Arthur had been entangled with for over a decade. She was a classmate from the class next door. At that age when everyone looked a bit awkward, she had a “first love” face and formed a match made in heaven with Arthur. The phone vibrated on the table, and Arthur hung it up. He didn’t answer the call. But shortly after, the phone vibrated for the second time. He still didn’t answer it this time, and the person on the other end didn’t continue calling. However, right after that, Arthur’s phone started vibrating every two or three seconds, indicating incoming messages. Arthur’s gaze fell on the lit-up screen, and his expression suddenly turned ugly. But he remained gentlemanly and didn’t get up to leave. I could feel his distraction. “Arthur,” I smiled. “If it’s urgent, you go ahead.” To him, that sentence probably sounded like a royal pardon. “Sorry, I…” He paused. “I’ll treat you to a big meal next time to apologize.” Even his retreating figure radiated anxiety. The corners of my mouth fell. No matter what, being stood up on a date didn’t make me happy.

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“The candy is so bitter.” My daughter nestled in my arms, her voice tiny. I looked down at her. She had just come back from preschool, and her eyelids were already drooping. “What candy?” “The teacher gave it to me.” She yawned, “If I eat it, I can go to sleep.” I froze for a moment. “Do they give it to you every day?” No answer. She was already asleep. A three-year-old child, falling asleep in the car at four in the afternoon. At the time, I just thought she was tired. 1. Lily started preschool in September. Starlight—no, Starlight—never mind, I’ll just say the name. Starlight International Preschool, the most expensive private preschool in our district. Tuition is $1,200 a month, not including meals, uniforms, or extracurricular activities. All added up, it’s about $1,600 a month. My husband, Mark, and I discussed it for a long time before deciding on it. Not because we’re rich, but because I had read too many news stories online about preschool incidents that kept me awake at night. “It’s okay if it’s a little more expensive,” I said. “We can’t skimp when it comes to our child.” Mark nodded. “Okay, your call.” I chose Starlight for three reasons. First, they had full-time foreign teachers, not part-timers who come in once a week. Second, full surveillance coverage that parents could view in real-time via an app. Third, the director, Mrs. Carter, had been doing this for fifteen years and was recognized as an “Outstanding Educator” in the district. On registration day, Mrs. Carter received us personally. She was in her fifties, her hair perfectly styled, and she spoke slowly and deliberately. “Our philosophy at Starlight is to ensure every child feels a sense of security.” She gave us a tour of the classrooms, activity rooms, and nap rooms. The beds in the nap room were solid wood, the blankets were pure cotton, and even the curtains blocked 95% of the light. “A child’s sleep is very important,” Mrs. Carter said. “We have a dedicated nap management process to ensure every child gets a full two hours of sleep.” I felt completely reassured at the time. Lily cried for three days during her first week. On the fourth day, she stopped crying. On the fifth day, she came home and told me, “Mommy, the teacher is nice to me.” I was overjoyed. Everything was normal during the first month. Lily would come home chattering away about drawing pictures, singing songs, and eating mac and cheese. By the second month, I started to feel something wasn’t right. Lily became quiet at home. Not the “I’m too tired to talk” kind of quiet, but a… how do I put it… her eyes looked a bit vacant. Every day when I picked her up from preschool, she’d fall asleep in the car. When we got home, I couldn’t wake her up. When she finally woke up, she’d be lethargic, not wanting to eat or play. I asked her, “Did you have fun today?” “Yes.” “Did you play with your friends?” “Yes.” “What did the teacher teach you?” “Forgot.” For a three-year-old, her answers were getting shorter and shorter. I said to Mark, “Don’t you think Lily has been acting a bit off lately?” Mark was looking at his phone. “All kids are like this. They play all day at preschool and get tired.” “But she didn’t use to be like this.” “She didn’t go to preschool before.” Mark put down his phone. “Stop worrying so much. Starlight is so expensive, what could go wrong?” I thought he made sense. But by the third month, Lily started having nightmares. She would suddenly sit up in the middle of the night and cry. Not a loud wailing, but a silent shedding of tears. I’d hold her and comfort her, asking what was wrong. She wouldn’t speak, just clutched my pajamas tightly. One night, she suddenly said something. “Mommy, I’m good.” “Of course you are.” “I won’t tell Mommy.” My heart skipped a beat. “Won’t tell Mommy what?” She stopped talking. Closed her eyes and fell asleep again. I had insomnia that night. Who teaches a three-year-old child to say, “I won’t tell Mommy”? The next morning when I dropped her off at school, she refused to get out of the car at the gate. “Lily?” She looked at the preschool gate, clutching her little backpack straps tightly. “I don’t want to go.” “Why?” She lowered her head. “I don’t like eating the candy.” This was the second time she mentioned “candy.” I squatted down and looked into her eyes. “Lily, what kind of candy does the teacher give you?” “White. Very small.” “Is it sweet?” She shook her head. “Bitter.” I sent her in. At work that day, I couldn’t focus on a single word. During my lunch break, I opened the Starlight parent app to check the cameras. The classroom camera was very clear. I could see the kids having lessons, doing crafts, lining up for water. But the nap room— I searched for a long time. The nap room camera wasn’t working. The page displayed: This area is temporarily undergoing maintenance. I called the preschool. “Hello, when will the nap room camera be restored?” It was Ms. Davis, the homeroom teacher, who answered. Her voice was very sweet. “Oh, that. There was a problem with the wiring for the nap room camera a while ago. It’s being fixed and should be ready next week.” “Next week? How long has it been broken?” “About… two or three weeks.” I didn’t say anything else. After hanging up, I scrolled through the parent group chat history. I scrolled back a long way. I found a message from a month and a half ago from a parent named “Ryan’s Mom”: “Has any other parent felt that their child has been especially sleepy lately? My Ryan falls asleep the moment he gets home, and I can’t even wake him up.” There were a few replies: “Same here! I thought it was just the fall weather making him sleepy.” “It’s normal, preschool activities are tiring.” Then Ms. Davis replied: “Don’t worry, parents. We’ve increased outdoor activity time this semester, so the kids are getting a lot of exercise. It’s normal for them to be sleepy when they get home. It means they’re having a fulfilling time at preschool~ [smile]” After that message, no one brought up the topic again. I stared at the screen for a long time. A lot of outdoor activities, hence the sleepiness. It sounded very reasonable. But what was the “candy” Lily was talking about? 2. That night, I didn’t ask Lily directly. If you ask a three-year-old child a direct question, they can’t explain it clearly. I tried a different approach. “Lily, let’s play a game, okay? You be the teacher, and Mommy will be the student.” Lily’s eyes lit up. She loved role-playing. “Okay!” She hopped off the sofa, stood in front of the coffee table, clapped her hands, imitating the teacher. “Okay kids, line up—drink water—” I sat obediently on the floor, holding an empty cup and pretending to drink. “Kids, now it’s—nap time—” “Okay, teacher.” I pretended to lie down. Lily thought for a moment, walked over to me, and bent down. “Here, open your mouth.” I opened my mouth. She extended her little hand to my mouth and made a gesture of putting something in. “Eat it.” “What is this?” I tried to make my voice sound cheerful. “Candy.” “It’s so sweet.” “Not sweet.” Lily corrected me. “Bitter. But teacher says good kids finish it all.” “What happens when you finish it?” “Then you can go to sleep. If you don’t eat it—” She stopped. “What happens if you don’t eat it?” Lily bit her lip. “Teacher will get angry.” “What happens when she gets angry?” She stopped talking. She walked back to the sofa and buried her face in a cushion. I didn’t press her further. I went into the bedroom, closed the door, and called Mark. “I think there’s a problem with the preschool.” I repeated what Lily had said. Mark was silent for a moment. “Are you sure she’s not just making things up? A three-year-old can’t tell the difference between reality and make-believe.” “She was very specific. White, very small, bitter. And it makes you sleep.” “Could it be a vitamin pill? Some preschools give kids vitamins.” “Vitamins aren’t bitter. And no one mentioned giving the kids anything when we enrolled.” “So what do you want to do?” “I want to take Lily for a check-up.” “Check what?” “Blood work.” The phone was quiet for a few seconds. “Are you overthinking this?” “If I am, that’s great,” I said. “But what if I’m not?” Mark didn’t say anything else. The next day, I took the day off. I didn’t send Lily to preschool. I took her straight to the Children’s Hospital. I registered for Pediatrics. The doctor, Dr. Evans, was in his forties. He looked at Lily, then at me. “Where is the child feeling unwell?” “For the past three months, she’s been extremely lethargic every afternoon, lacking energy, having a poor appetite, and occasionally having nightmares.” “Has this happened before?” “No. She was perfectly normal before starting preschool.” Dr. Evans flipped through Lily’s previous medical records. “I’ll do a routine check-up first.” Temperature, normal. Heart and lungs, normal. Throat, normal. “The basic check-up is fine,” Dr. Evans said. “There are many reasons for lethargy. It could be an iron deficiency, vitamin D deficiency, or a sleep rhythm issue.” “I want to do blood work.” “A routine blood test?” “Yes.” I hesitated for a moment. “Also… can you check for any abnormal… drug components.” Dr. Evans stopped writing. He looked up at me. “What do you suspect?” “I’m not sure. But my child said someone at preschool gave her something to eat. White, bitter, and made her very sleepy.” Dr. Evans’ expression changed. Not the “you’re an overly anxious mom” expression. A genuinely thoughtful expression. “I’ll order a routine blood test and a toxicology screen,” he said. “Provide a urine sample as well.” “Okay.” Lily cried when she got her blood drawn. I held her, my own hands shaking. “Mommy’s here.” “It hurts—” “It’ll be over in a second, just a second.” I looked at the vial of blood, feeling an indescribable sensation in my chest. I was praying. Praying the results would be normal. Praying I was overthinking things. Praying the “candy” Lily mentioned was just a normal vitamin. The results would take two days. I barely slept for those two days. I went through all of Starlight Preschool’s promotional materials. Their website, social media, brochures. The main banner: Children running and laughing on a sunny playground. Teacher qualifications: Foreign teachers from the UK, local teachers all holding bachelor’s degrees or higher, certified childcare workers. Parent reviews: “Professional,” “Reassuring,” “My child loves going there.” $1,200 a month. I remember when we paid the first month’s tuition, Mark said, “That’s more than half my paycheck.” I said, “We can’t skimp when it comes to our child.” Can’t skimp. I paid $1,200 a month to buy “reassurance.” During those two days, I did one more thing. I searched online for “preschool giving children medicine.” The results made me throw my phone on the table. It wasn’t unprecedented. It wasn’t just one or two cases. There were many. The headlines were all similar: Preschool long-term administration of unknown drugs to children, parents call police after discovery. The types of drugs varied. Some were sedatives, some were antihistamines (which cause drowsiness), some were prescription sleeping pills. The goal was the same: To make the children quiet during nap time. No fussing. No crying. No trouble for the teachers. I turned off my phone and went to look at Lily. She was asleep in her small bed. Her little hand clutched a stuffed bunny. She was sleeping soundly. Three years old. She didn’t even know the word “medicine.” She only knew that the thing was called “candy” and it was bitter. 3. On the morning of the third day, I received a call from the hospital. “Ms. Lee, the results are in. Can you come in?” The tone on the other end of the line made my heart sink. If it were normal, they would have just told me over the phone. Asking me to come in meant it wasn’t normal. I drove to the hospital, running a yellow light on the way. Dr. Evans was waiting for me in his office. He placed the report on the desk and turned it toward me. The routine blood test was mostly normal. But under the toxicology screen— I saw a line of text. “Benzodiazepines — Positive.” I don’t know much about medicine. But I know what “Positive” means. “What does this mean?” Dr. Evans spoke slowly, as if weighing each word. “Benzodiazepines are a class of sedative-hypnotic drugs. Common examples include Diazepam (Valium) and Alprazolam (Xanax). They are used to treat anxiety and insomnia in adults.” He paused. “This type of drug should not be present in the blood of a three-year-old child.” I stared at the report. The text was small, black. “Benzodiazepines — Positive.” Two words. My mind went blank for about five seconds. Then a thought hit me like a truck. $1,200 a month. The most expensive preschool in the district. Foreign teachers, solid wood beds, pure cotton blankets, blackout curtains. “Ensure every child feels a sense of security.” Giving my three-year-old daughter. Sedatives. “Ms. Lee?” Dr. Evans’ voice pulled me back. I realized I was standing up. I didn’t know when I stood up. “Please sit down.” I sat down. My hands were shaking. “Dr. Evans, this concentration—is it serious?” “Based on the results, the concentration isn’t high; it’s not a single large dose. It looks more like long-term, low-dose ingestion.” Long-term. Low-dose. Lily had been going to the preschool for three months. “For the past three months, she’s been very sleepy, lacking energy, poor appetite…” “That would explain it all,” Dr. Evans nodded. “The impact of benzodiazepines on a child’s nervous system is much greater than on an adult’s. Long-term use, even in small doses, can affect development, including cognition, memory, and emotional regulation.” Affect development. Cognition. Memory. Emotion. My daughter is three years old. Her brain is developing. Someone put sedatives into her developing brain. “Should I call the police?” I heard my own voice, very flat. Dr. Evans looked at me and nodded. “I suggest you keep this lab report. Also—” he paused, “if possible, urge other parents at the preschool to bring their children in for testing as soon as possible.” “Other children?” “If this is an action taken by the preschool, it’s highly unlikely they targeted just one child.” I stood up. “Thank you.” “Ms. Lee,” Dr. Evans called out to me. “Please stay calm.” I looked at him. “I am very calm.” I was indeed very calm. I left the hospital, sat in my car, and took a picture of the lab report. I saved it in my phone album and backed it up to the cloud. Then I called Mark. “The results are in.” “What did they say?” “They found sedative components in Lily’s blood.” The other end of the line went silent. “Say that again.” “The preschool gave Lily sedatives to make her nap. For three months.” Mark’s breathing changed. “I’m leaving the office right now—” “Don’t come to the hospital. Go straight to the preschool.” “What are you going to do at the preschool?” “I’m going to find Mrs. Carter.” “Don’t be impulsive—” “I’m not being impulsive.” I started the car. “I know exactly what I’m doing.” I hung up. As I drove out of the parking lot, my hands were no longer shaking. $1,200 a month. I spent $1,200 a month to have my three-year-old daughter fed sedatives in the nap room. This is what they call “ensuring every child feels a sense of security.” Security. What a joke. 4. At 2:15 PM, I arrived at Starlight International Preschool. The receptionist recognized me. “Lily’s mom? Lily didn’t come today, is she sick?” “I need to see Mrs. Carter.” “Do you have an appointment? Mrs. Carter seems to be in a meeting this afternoon—” “Please tell her Lily’s mom has an emergency and needs to see her right now.” My tone wasn’t loud, but it was firm. The receptionist probably caught on to something, didn’t stop me, and picked up the internal phone. “Mrs. Carter, Lily’s mother wants to see you… Okay, okay.” She hung up. “Mrs. Carter is in her office on the second floor. I’ll take you up.” Mrs. Carter’s office was spacious. A large desk, a leather sofa, and a row of framed certificates on the wall. “Outstanding Educator,” “Advanced Private Educational Institution,” “Most Trusted Preschool by Parents.” She was sitting behind her desk. Seeing me enter, she stood up and smiled. “Lily’s mom, what’s the matter? You seem in such a hurry.” I didn’t sit. “Mrs. Carter, I want to ask you a question.” “Go ahead.” “What are the children given to eat during nap time at the preschool?” Her smile faltered for a fraction of a second. Then it returned. “Nap time? They don’t eat anything. Just a normal rest.” “My daughter said the teacher gave her ‘candy’. White, bitter. And it makes her sleep.” Mrs. Carter sighed, walked around the desk, and sat on the sofa next to me. “Oh my, you can’t believe everything a child says. Three-year-olds have very rich imaginations. Last week, a child went home and told his mom there were monsters in the preschool.” She smiled and shook her head. “Don’t overthink it.” “Then how do you explain this?” I handed her my phone. The lab report. Benzodiazepines — Positive. Mrs. Carter looked at the screen, and her smile faded bit by bit. The office was quiet for ten seconds. “This…” she said. “This result might not be accurate, right? Could it be a testing error—” “It’s from the Children’s Hospital, issued by the Head of Pediatrics.” “It’s also possible the child came into contact with something at home—” “There are no sedative medications in my house.” Mrs. Carter stood up. She walked back behind her desk and sat down. This action was subtle. Moving from the sofa—a friendly, approachable position—back behind the desk—a position of power. “Ms. Lee.” Her form of address changed, no longer “Lily’s mom.” “I understand how you feel. As a mother, it’s natural to be nervous when something happens to your child. But you can’t just take one lab report and—” “And what?” “And question our preschool.” Her tone leveled out, no longer smiling. “Starlight has been running for fifteen years without a single issue. Our parents include government officials, judges, and doctors. You can ask around, who has ever said anything bad about us?” I looked at her. “Mrs. Carter, are you telling me that because you have officials and judges among your parents, I shouldn’t pursue this matter?” “That’s not what I mean—” “Then what do you mean?” She paused. “I mean, this is impossible to have happened in our preschool. If you have doubts about this report, I suggest you go to another hospital to get checked again—” “Okay.” I stood up. “Then I’ll go to another hospital. And while I’m at it, I’ll suggest the parents of the other children in the class get their kids checked too.” Mrs. Carter’s expression changed. “Ms. Lee, isn’t that a bit inappropriate? If you make a big scene, the other parents will panic—” “If there’s no problem, why should they panic?” “You—” “Mrs. Carter,” I said. “The nap room camera has been broken for almost a month. When are you fixing it?” She didn’t answer. I turned to walk out. As I reached the door, her voice caught up to me. “Ms. Lee.” I stopped. “You should think about it. Making a big deal out of this won’t benefit anyone.” I didn’t turn around. “Won’t benefit who?” “The child.” Her voice was very light. “Your daughter still has to go to school. If you make a fuss, she’ll be labeled wherever she goes.” I turned my head and looked at her. “Mrs. Carter, my daughter is three. She doesn’t know what a label is. But she knows the candy you gave her is bitter.” I left. Outside the preschool, Mark was waiting for me. He had rushed over from work, his shirt untucked. “How did it go?” “She denied it.” “Expected.” “She also threatened me. Said they have connections among the parents and told me not to make a scene.” Mark’s jaw tightened. “She actually said that?” “Her exact words.” “Call the police.” “I know.” I took out my phone. “But before I call the police, I want to do one thing first.” “What?” “I want to let the other parents in the class know about this.” 5. I sent the message to the parent group chat. It wasn’t a long, accusatory, or appealing essay. I only sent one picture. Lily’s drug test report. Benzodiazepines — Positive. Then I wrote one sentence: “Parents, I suggest everyone take their children for a toxicology screen as soon as possible.” The group was silent for about three minutes. Then it exploded. “What does this mean? Drugs?” “Lily’s mom, are you sure you didn’t make a mistake?” “What are benzodiazepines?” “No way, why would a preschool give kids medicine?” I didn’t explain much. “I’m just suggesting everyone get checked. Especially if your child has been lethargic or lacking energy recently.” The discussion in the group grew more intense and panicked. Five minutes later, Ms. Davis—the homeroom teacher—sent a message. “Parents, please don’t panic! The report Lily’s mom sent is not confirmed to be related to the preschool. There are many possibilities for abnormal test results in children. It’s not necessarily—” I took a screenshot. Ms. Davis’s reply, alongside my report. Saved for later. Twenty minutes later, Mrs. Carter also sent a message in the group. “Hello parents, this is Mrs. Carter. I want to address the information Lily’s mom posted today. Starlight has been operating for fifteen years and strictly follows food and drug safety regulations. We have never administered any medication to the children. The source and accuracy of this lab report still need further verification. Please do not be misled by false information and remain calm. If you have any concerns, you can come directly to the preschool to communicate.” Her phrasing was watertight. “False information.” A lab report from the City Children’s Hospital, and she called it “false information.” A few parents replied in the group: “Mrs. Carter is right, don’t panic.” “It’s probably a misunderstanding.” “My child is perfectly fine.” Some remained silent. That night, I received three phone calls. The first was from “Ryan’s Mom”—the mom who had previously asked in the group why her child was always sleepy. “Chloe, is what you said true?” “You’ll know if you take Ryan to get checked.” “I… I’m a little scared.” “Scared of what?” “Scared that it’s true.” I heard her crying on the other end of the line. “Ryan has been sleepy for over half a year. I always thought he lacked trace minerals. I bought him several kinds of vitamins, but nothing worked.” Over half a year. Ryan enrolled three months before Lily. “Go get checked,” I said. “The sooner the better.” The second call was from “Hannah’s Mom.” Hannah sat next to Lily. “Lily’s mom, I want to ask, which hospital did you go to? What department did you register for?” “City Children’s Hospital, Pediatrics. Tell the doctor you want a toxicology screen.” “Okay… okay. Hannah has also… also been coming home and just sleeping. I mentioned it to Ms. Davis before, and she said it was because of all the outdoor activities—” “Too many outdoor activities.” I repeated. “Right.” “Hannah’s Mom, do you remember when the nap room camera stopped working?” She thought for a moment. “I think… over two months ago? I wanted to check on Hannah during nap time once and couldn’t get in. I asked about it, and they said it was under maintenance.” Over two months. Not “two or three weeks.” Ms. Davis said two or three weeks. In reality, it was at least over two months. The nap room camera was turned off before the incident was discovered. Or was it turned off after something happened? Either way, it points to one thing. They knew. The third call came from an unsaved number. “Hello, is this Ms. Lee?” “Yes, speaking.” “I’m Mia’s dad.” Mia. I thought for a second; she was a child from the adjacent Pre-K 1 class, not Lily’s class. “Hello.” “Ms. Lee, I saw the report you posted in the homeowner’s group. I wanted to ask—” his voice was a bit tight, “the medicine you mentioned, is it a sedative?” “Yes.” “My daughter was hospitalized at the end of last month. Henoch-Schönlein purpura. The doctor said it could be an allergic reaction to medication. But we’ve never given her any medicine at home.” I gripped my phone tighter. “Did the doctor check what kind of medication caused it?” “They did, they said it was… Benzo-something…” “Benzodiazepines?” “Yes! Yes. That’s the one. I was puzzled at the time because no one in our house takes that kind of medication. The doctors asked around but couldn’t figure it out. In the end, they just treated it as an unknown cause.” His voice was trembling. “Ms. Lee, do you think—was it the preschool?” I closed my eyes. “Mia’s dad, find the diagnostic report from the hospital.” “Okay.” “And then—did you call the police?” “No. We didn’t know the cause at the time.” “Now you do,” I said. “Call the police.”

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My fiancé through a marriage alliance was incredibly busy; his younger brother practically handled everything for him. From delivering the contract to proposing, from choosing the house to looking at wedding dresses, he didn’t even make an appearance three days before the engagement party. His younger brother told me. “Sister-in-law, my brother is like this because he has a girl he loved but couldn’t have deep in his heart. The walls of his room are covered in her photos. Please don’t mind.” I minded very much, so I swapped my fiancé for his younger brother at the last minute. He had no objections and even happily said he would attend the engagement party. Except, on the day of the engagement, my fiancé disappeared. When I went backstage to find him, he was having a freestyle brawl with a man who looked very similar to him. “You knew I’ve been secretly in love with her for years! Why didn’t you tell me the alliance was with her?!” “Why should I tell you? There are just as many photos of her in my room as yours. Brother, you taught me: fight for what you want.” 1 “The contract… isn’t it in your hands?” I frowned at the young man in front of me. He was handsome, but he didn’t look very smart. “This… this is the contract I need to use later. Your marriage contract was eaten by the driver on the way here.” He stammered, and I looked at him suspiciously. A week ago, I added my arranged fiancé, Arthur Vance, on Snapchat. Up until noon today, he had sent exactly one message. [I’m a bit busy lately. My brother will pass by your family’s company this afternoon. I’ll have him drop off the contract. If there are no issues, sign it and have him bring it back.] I replied with an ‘okay’. Sure enough, the receptionist said someone was here to deliver a contract in the afternoon. It’s just that this guy still looked indifferent when he closed the door, but the moment our eyes met, he suddenly jumped up from the sofa. And then, holding a contract, he said the contract was lost. “I’ll text your brother and ask him to send someone else with another copy.” I couldn’t help but feel a little dissatisfied. Was the Vance family being too insincere? We finalized the alliance a month ago. I haven’t even met the eldest son, and the youngest son lost the contract he was supposed to deliver. Are they trying to show me who’s boss? Frowning, I was about to text Arthur. I, Chloe Hastings, wasn’t desperate to marry into the Vance family. There was no need to make things so ugly. “Don’t!” The man hurriedly interrupted me. “I’ll deliver the contract tomorrow. How about I treat you to a meal first and discuss the contract details on my brother’s behalf?” I looked at the tips of his red ears, then checked my watch. I nodded in agreement. While waiting for the food, he suddenly seemed to have made some sort of resolution and started introducing himself. “My name is Ethan Vance. I’m 6’1″, 162 lbs. I work out year-round, I have abs…” I frowned and cut him off. “Does this have anything to do with the contract?” Ethan’s face turned red, and he suddenly looked at me a bit pitifully. “I guess not, but you’ll be my sister-in-law from now on, so I wanted to introduce myself…” I was speechless. Looking at his somewhat pathetic but handsome face, my inexplicable anger suddenly vanished. “Okay, keep going.” But Ethan stopped talking. He stared at me quietly and suddenly spoke. “Sister-in-law, did you ever change your name?” I blinked. “No… oh, wait, yes.” If my stage name counts. He let out a long breath and then stopped chattering. Instead, he ate quietly. Although he stopped talking, he stared at me unblinkingly. His stare made me feel a bit uncomfortable. I had to focus all my attention on the food. Surprisingly, he ordered everything I loved to eat. When we parted ways, he took out his phone. Thinking I’d have to add him eventually anyway, I didn’t refuse. However, after getting home, I still sent a message to Arthur. [I didn’t receive the contract. Send someone with another copy tomorrow.] It took a long time for a reply. [My brother told me. Sorry, he’s always been rash like this. He’ll deliver a new copy tomorrow.] I sighed, thinking of Ethan’s burning gaze, then looked at the cold attitude opposite me, as if he didn’t want to say another word. I decided not to reply again. 2 Early the next morning, I saw Ethan downstairs. He was leaning against the car window, holding a folder, having waited who knows how long. When he saw me, his eyes lit up. “Sister-in-law.” He walked over quickly, his pace a bit hurried. “I brought the contract.” I reached out to take it, but he put it behind his back again. “No rush. Let’s go pick out wedding rings today first, okay?” I was taken aback. “Is this your brother’s idea too?” I was having trouble suppressing my anger, but Ethan’s tone was sincere. “No choice, he’s busy.” Fortunately, Ethan was very humorous and handsome. He chatted with me all the way. It put me in a much better mood. He took me to a high-end luxury design boutique, which surprised me a bit. I knew this boutique; my friend had her wedding rings custom-made here. But the lead time was very long. For a marriage alliance like ours, it was usually just a formality. “Sister-in-law, the lead time depends on whether the money is right.” Ethan was very serious. “Within three days, I can get you the ring you desire.” After taking my measurements, I hadn’t even figured out how to get Arthur’s size when Ethan already extended his hand. I was dumbfounded. He flashed a wide grin at me. “Sister-in-law, my brother and I have very similar builds. If I can wear it, he definitely can.” Suppressing the weird feeling in my heart, the corner of my mouth twitched. What a good brother. He handles everything, and looks incredibly happy doing it. The sales assistant didn’t hear what we were saying and looked at me enviously. “Your boyfriend is so good to you. He’s handsome and rich. Our boss usually doesn’t take rush orders; I wonder how much he paid to cut in line like this…” Another sales assistant chimed in. “And the lady is so pretty, just like that celebrity I used to see on TV. A handsome guy and a beautiful girl. Your boyfriend’s eyes are practically glued to you.” No one dislikes being praised. My face felt hot, and I instinctively tried to explain. “No, he’s…” Before I could finish, Ethan leaned in. “Thank you. We’ll come pick up the rings in three days.” A masculine scent enveloped me. Ethan stood behind me, one hand casually resting on the counter. Although he kept a respectful distance, I could smell the faint scent of cedar mixed with soap on him. There was a mirror behind the sales assistant. At first glance, it looked like he had me half-embraced in his arms, exactly like a couple deeply in love. Seeing the man in the mirror looking down at me with a burning gaze, my heart suddenly skipped a beat. Before I could turn around, he sat up straight. “Let’s go.” After picking out the rings, I brought up signing the contract again. But the moment I opened it, my gaze froze. Ethan Vance… I frowned and looked up at him. “Why isn’t it Arthur Vance’s name?” Ethan blinked and leaned in to look too. The cold scent on him was stronger. We were so close I could even see the fine peach fuzz on his face. “Oh no, messed it up again.” I almost wondered if he was doing it on purpose. The man frowned, rubbing his head in frustration. “I’m so clumsy to make a mistake like this. Sister-in-law, you’re not mad, are you?” A strong scent of manipulative sweetness. Seeing his tightly pressed lips and pitiful look, all my anger vanished instantly. “Forget it. I’ll follow up with your brother later.” But he shook his head. “My brother is too busy. You guys can sign the contract when you meet later.” I nodded. “That’s the only way.” He added. “But my brother hasn’t had any free time lately. He even finds it annoying when I text him. Sister-in-law, let’s talk about this when he contacts you.” I choked, feeling something was very off. But looking into his sincere eyes, I couldn’t bring myself to say anything. “Okay, I understand.” Seeing my agreement, the corner of Ethan’s mouth curled up slightly. “Then I’ll take you to pick up the rings in three days to see if they fit?” What else could I say? I just nodded and agreed. The three days passed quickly. Except for Ethan sharing a bunch of useless daily updates with me every day, Arthur’s Snapchat was dead silent. 3 I was already used to it. It was a marriage alliance anyway. In our circle, it was an unspoken rule that it was just a title to bind the interests of the two families. There really wasn’t much to talk about with a stranger. Instead, it was Ethan who made me suspect he might be interested in me. Every day it was ‘Good morning, sister-in-law’ and ‘Good night, sister-in-law’. After breakfast, as soon as I walked out the door, I unsurprisingly saw Ethan’s handsome face. “I picked up the rings.” He pulled me towards the car. Looking at his intimate and expectant demeanor, I felt an indescribable weirdness. When the car door opened, I was completely stunned by the sight of it filled with flowers and balloons. Ethan took the ring from the passenger seat, got down on one knee, his eyes shining. “Miss Chloe Hastings, will you marry me?” My brain didn’t process it for a moment. “What?” A flash of guilt crossed Ethan’s eyes. “Hurry up, sister-in-law. A marriage alliance still needs some ceremony. How can you get married without even a proposal?” Without another word, he took my hand and started putting the ring on. I was dumbfounded. I watched as he, with trembling fingers, tried to put it on me three times but failed. Ethan’s forehead started to sweat. “Did your brother ask you to do this too?” Seeing how nervous he was, I actually felt like laughing. Ethan was silent for two seconds, pinching the ring as if deflating. “No, he didn’t say anything. I just wanted to make it up to you.” “How can a girl get married without even a proposal?” I let out an “oh,” took the ring, and put it on myself. Ethan looked at me with bright eyes. Then, he put the men’s ring on his own hand. Faced with my confused look, he said. “I’m also seeing if it fits. I’ll give it back to my brother when we get back.” However, he dragged me shopping for a whole day, followed behind me paying for everything, and that ring stayed firmly on his hand. That night, after thinking for a long time, I still sent a message to Arthur. [Did you receive the ring?] Arthur replied very quickly. [Yes, I got it.] I let out a long sigh of relief. It seemed I was overthinking things. But for the next month, Ethan handled practically everything, showing up at my door every single day. Choosing the marital home, arranging the engagement party details, he even found the MC for the engagement party. The MC smiled until his eyes crinkled. “I’ve never seen such an attentive groom. You’re truly blessed.” The corner of my mouth twitched. I looked at Ethan, who was bustling about, and didn’t say anything. The date got closer and closer, but I still hadn’t met the legendary fiancé. Almost everyone thought my fiancé was Ethan. Who would have thought I hadn’t even met my actual fiancé face-to-face yet? Even our messages stopped at the time I asked him about the ring. Until three days before the engagement party, I texted him, feeling somewhat speechless. “We have to at least take a photo for the engagement poster, right?” Even my wedding dress was picked out with Ethan accompanying me. When he paid, a bunch of sales assistants surrounded me, praising me to high heaven. But I couldn’t feel happy. I knew neither party needed to invest true feelings in an alliance. But such a cold and dismissive attitude still annoyed me. This time, Arthur replied very quickly. [Sorry, I’ve been really busy and forgot. See you tomorrow.] 4 I tossed my phone aside in frustration and rubbed my temples. Ethan’s messages kept popping up non-stop. [Sister, I saw a stray cat at the villa entrance. Its eyes are round, really miss you.] [Typo, looks a lot like you.] The weird feeling in my heart grew stronger. I didn’t reply. Lately, Ethan was becoming more and more clingy. That weird feeling was as if we were a young couple about to enter marriage. I decided to keep my distance from him. Although it was an alliance, with Arthur’s attitude, our post-marriage life would probably be like most alliances in our circle—we’d each do our own thing. But I had no intention of playing around with his younger brother. The next day, I washed up casually and went to the bridal shop. Along the way, thinking about the envious looks of the sales assistants when I tried on the dress, and their expressions when they see that the guy taking wedding photos with me is not the same guy who accompanied me to pick the dress. I felt a somewhat malicious anticipation. I expected to see what kind of expression they would have when they saw the guy taking wedding photos with me was different from the one who picked out the dress with me. I sat in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows of the bridal shop. Arthur’s message still said he would be right there. [I’ve arrived. Remember to bring the contract.] I texted him, and he replied ‘okay’. But I waited and waited, and Arthur still didn’t show up. Just as I was getting extremely impatient, a Maybach finally slowly drove up not far away. Through the window, I locked eyes with the man who had just stepped out of the car. He got out and walked towards me. 5 My phone chimed with a notification, but I didn’t open it. I just frowned tightly, looking at Ethan, who had already walked up to me. “Why is it you?” He chuckled. “I live nearby. I came to see how your wedding photoshoot with my brother is going. How is it? Going smoothly?” I didn’t speak. Ethan looked around, his surprise a bit exaggerated. “He’s still not here? Oh, my brother probably hasn’t been to this area in a long time and doesn’t know there’s traffic right now.” My mood worsened. He sat down opposite me, staring at me intently. “Sister-in-law, my brother is like this because he has a girl he loved but couldn’t have deep in his heart. The walls of his room are covered in her photos. Please don’t mind.” I was taken aback. “What?” Ethan covered his mouth, looking at me apologetically. “Did no one tell you, sister-in-law?” I stood up abruptly. I can accept a marriage alliance partner having someone in their heart, but I cannot accept them loving someone deeply while simultaneously hiding it and being with me. Moreover, I definitely didn’t want my future marital home to be plastered with photos of another girl. I took out my phone. “Thank you for telling me this. I’ll make things clear with your brother. I definitely mind this. Let’s just forget about the marriage.” My family didn’t only have one target for a marriage alliance. I had truly tolerated enough of Arthur lately. Arthur’s message was still on my phone. [Sorry, Miss Hastings, I left early but got stuck in traffic. I’ll be there in about half an hour. Please wait a little longer.] I typed a reply. [No need. There’s no need to come.] My wrist was gently grabbed. Ethan’s dark eyes stared at me unblinkingly. “Sister-in-law… no, Sister, the Vance family doesn’t only have Arthur available for a marriage alliance.” 6 I was startled. Ethan’s voice seemed to carry a bewitching charm. “Sister, I’m not inferior to Arthur in any aspect, and I’ve also reached the age for a marriage alliance.” This was practically laying it all out in the open. I looked at him in silence. “You like me?” Though phrased as a question, I was very certain. I wasn’t stupid; I hadn’t lacked suitors growing up. Ethan’s behavior recently couldn’t have been more obvious. The man opposite me smiled. He looked very good when he smiled, his eyes curving like a sly little fox. “Yes, I like you. If we change the alliance partner to me, the conditions between the two families remain the same. Is that possible?” My heart skipped a beat. After a two-second silence, I nodded. “Let’s discuss it with both sets of parents.” Even if I didn’t ally with the Vance brothers, there were the Smiths and the Johnsons. The next alliance partner might do even worse than Arthur. In short, a handsome alliance partner who likes me and takes the initiative. Accepting him wasn’t a bad thing. Ethan’s breathing quickened, and he took a sudden step closer. “Really?” I nodded, not missing the wild joy in his eyes. “I’ll tell my dad right now.” He pulled out his phone to make a call while simultaneously reaching into his pocket. Then, he put it on his own ring finger. I was dumbfounded. Isn’t that the ring? Didn’t Arthur say Ethan had already given it to him? “Yes, my brother is too unreliable. He hasn’t taken Miss Hastings seriously even now. Miss Hastings only didn’t complain because she has a good temper.” “Dad, to appease the Hastings family’s anger, I’ve decided to sell myself to them.” “Don’t worry, Miss Hastings has already agreed. I’ll perform well.” The corner of my mouth twitched. Looking at Ethan talking nonsense so seriously, I wanted to laugh. I also called my dad. To him, it didn’t matter who the alliance partner was. What mattered were the benefits the Vance family’s network could bring. He had no objections either. When the call ended, I saw the message Arthur sent. [What do you mean? Sorry, Miss Hastings, I apologize for being late, but a marriage alliance is not a game. I hope you can consider the interests of both families.] [I will make it up to you later. I’ll be there in ten minutes.] Ethan took my phone, looking like a proud rooster, and pressed the voice message button. “Brother, you don’t need to come. The cooperation between the two families isn’t terminated. Miss Hastings just decided to switch partners.” The phone rang, and I heard Arthur’s voice for the first time. He sounded somewhat angry. “Ethan, stop messing around and give the phone back to Miss Hastings.” Before I could speak, Ethan couldn’t wait to explain. “It’s true. We’ve already closed the door to take wedding photos. Don’t come over. That’s it.” He hung up the phone and suddenly buried his face in the crook of my neck. I was startled. Ethan’s body shook as he giggled. Like a cat that stole a fish, so happy he was about to jump. I withdrew the motion to push him away and let him nuzzle me. Emotions are perhaps contagious; I also started feeling somewhat happy. Ultimately, compared to the always cold Arthur, whom I had never met. I preferred the green tea puppy in front of me. 7 Arthur indeed didn’t show up again. He sent a final message. [I still must apologize. The company has been too busy recently, and I neglected you. But I must also congratulate you. I will send a generous gift to apologize at your engagement party with Ethan.] After all, he would be my brother-in-law in the future. I didn’t want things to be too awkward, so I replied “okay”. We didn’t contact each other again. The marital home, wedding rings, and wedding dress were already prepared. And since Ethan was the one who accompanied me to buy and look at all of them, changing the fiancé made things proceed exceptionally smoothly. Only the names on the engagement invitations needed to be changed. The engagement party was still set for three days later. On the eve of the engagement party, the two families agreed to have dinner together. Because of Ethan’s embellished complaints, Mr. and Mrs. Vance were very apologetic and full of praise for me. My parents had no objections either. “His dad is lazy and dumped the whole company on Arthur. He’s carrying it alone, working overtime until dawn every day. He even got hospitalized for a stomach bleed last week. He was too busy, so he couldn’t make it.” Mrs. Vance glanced at me and still explained on behalf of her eldest son. I smiled faintly and didn’t speak. I didn’t care anymore anyway. Watching Ethan run around taking care of me like I was his ancestor, my smile came from the heart. “It’s fine. It’s good for brother-in-law to be busy.” On the day of the engagement party, as guests filed in, Ethan suddenly pulled me aside. “Sister, will you only like me?” I froze, not understanding why he suddenly asked this, but still smiled and nodded. “Of course.” His face was a bit pale. “Sister, how about we just exchange rings and leave the stage? I have social anxiety.” I raised an eyebrow, not believing his nonsense at all. If he had social anxiety, then there was no one with social anxiety in this world. Ethan was acting weird today. He kept looking outside and then nervously fixing his gaze on me. I thought about it; maybe it was pre-wedding jitters. So I stood on my tiptoes and gently kissed his lips. “Stop overthinking. I don’t have any exes. Who would come to crash the wedding?” After saying this, Ethan’s body suddenly trembled. I instantly felt something was wrong and my face grew a bit serious. “You don’t have an ex-girlfriend coming to crash the wedding, do you?” Ethan pouted. “No, you’re the only person I’ve ever liked. I’m just scared…” He muttered, guiltily glancing at the main entrance where guests were being welcomed. “My heart is racing. Sister, kiss me again.” I smiled and kissed his cheek, but suddenly felt a bone-chilling coldness behind me. The next second, Ethan’s arm around my waist tightened abruptly. He swallowed hard, staring straight at the door. I turned my head and followed his gaze. Our eyes met, and a stunning face, eight-tenths similar to Ethan’s, entered my line of sight. This must be the elusive eldest brother. I thought. He was indeed good-looking, but different from my imagination. An aura of icy coldness surrounded him. But as he stared at my face, his pupils suddenly shrank, looking somewhat shocked. “Sister, Chloe, don’t look at him.” The arm around my waist tightened again, and Ethan’s panicked voice sounded in my ear. I turned my head. Panic filled his eyes. “Look at me, okay?” I chuckled softly. “Hasn’t the alliance partner been changed to you? What are you panicking about?” Perhaps this sentence gave Ethan courage. His furrowed brow relaxed slightly, and then, right in front of his brother, he buried his face in my neck and took a deep breath. “Yeah, I’m not afraid.” I was about to get up and greet the guests when he pulled my arm. “Chloe, your lipstick is smudged. Go touch up your makeup. The engagement party is about to start.” I shot him a reproachful look. It was all his fault, gnawing on me without a word like a little puppy. I turned and headed to the dressing room. When I came out, the MC ran over looking panicked. “The engagement party is about to start. Where did you two go?” I was taken aback. “Isn’t Ethan here?” He frowned. “Wasn’t he with you?” My heart sank. I picked up my dress and went backstage to look for him. Ethan… he didn’t actually run away from the wedding, did he? However, before I took two steps, I heard Ethan’s voice. Before I could relax, I heard an angry question. “Ethan! You knew I liked her! Why didn’t you tell me the alliance partner was Chloe?!” After a muffled groan, I heard Ethan’s smiling voice through the door. “Why should I tell you? You’re stupid. You lost the person you looked for all these years even when she was delivered to your door. You deserve it.” “Your room is covered with her photos. Mine has no less than yours. Brother, you taught me: fight for what you like.” I stared blankly at the door, my mind completely scrambled. The next second, the door was yanked open. Ethan’s rebellious smile froze, and his face instantly turned deathly pale.

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The first time I went to my CEO boyfriend’s house, his mother served me a bowl of premium bird’s nest soup. I took a sip and casually said, “Auntie, this glass noodle soup tastes pretty good.” Instantly, the atmosphere in his living room dropped to freezing. After dinner, my boyfriend, Arthur, walked me downstairs. His tone was as cold as ice: “Chloe, let’s break up. My mom is right. Bringing a woman as uncultured as you out will only embarrass me.” The very next day, he had a high-profile engagement with Elena, a wealthy heiress who matched his social status. My heart turned to ash. I quit my job and went home to help my dad manage his “ordinary” ecological farm. Years later, to secure the exclusive distribution rights for premium organic ingredients, he came to visit in person. Seeing me in a rough linen uniform, brewing tea, his eyes filled with contempt. “Chloe, you’ve sunk so low that you’re serving tea and pouring water here? Looks like you haven’t been doing well since you left me.” He picked up the teacup, blew on it, and slowly lectured me: “There’s a gap between people. Bird’s nest and glass noodles are, after all, not the same thing.” I lowered my head and handed over a freshly brewed cup of Da Hong Pao. He took a sip and frowned: “Why does it taste like rotten wood?” “Mr. Sterling, this is the specially supplied Wuyi Mountain Mother Tree Da Hong Pao. It costs over ten thousand dollars a gram.” He sneered: “Haven’t seen you in a few years, but you still haven’t kicked the habit of bragging. Someone like you only deserves to drink rotten wood.” 1 Three days ago, I was in New Zealand hosting an international summit on the future of agriculture when I received an urgent call from my dad, calling me back. He said he had found a pretty good young man for me. He said the guy had great character and ability, and his family owned the world’s top luxury travel real estate brand, which perfectly complemented our family’s business. “Dad, I don’t want to go on a blind date.” “It’s not a blind date,” My dad chuckled like an old fox on the other end of the line. “It’s a collaboration. Isn’t our farm’s project at the top-tier ‘Cloudscape’ resort about to launch? The Vance family is our biggest partner. You go, just treat it as an early assessment of our partner.” The identity he arranged for me was the resort’s tea master. “Remember, rein in your temper. Don’t scare the guy away.” “Whether it’s a good fit or not, you decide after you see him. If it really doesn’t work out, we don’t have to do the project. My daughter’s happiness is the most important thing.” I agreed. After all, it was about the group’s strategic layout for the next decade; it was right for me to personally gatekeep. But I didn’t expect that before I even met Julian Vance, right after changing into my uniform and getting ready in the tearoom, I’d run head-on into Arthur. He was in a white suit, his gaze firmly locked onto me, a trace of sarcasm hanging on his lips. “Chloe, long time no see.” I nodded, considering it a greeting, and turned to leave. “Stop right there.” His voice wasn’t loud, but it carried an unquestionable tone of command. “Can I help you, Mr. Sterling?” My tone was flat, devoid of emotion. He frowned, his face darkening: “What, it’s been three years since we broke up, and you’re not even willing to pretend anymore?” “Is this your service attitude? What’s your employee number? I want to file a complaint.” I didn’t speak. His gaze swept over my plain linen uniform, and he suddenly smiled. “You don’t even have a nametag. A temp?” “Makes sense. You never had any ambition when you were at the company. If I hadn’t promoted you, you’d still be making PowerPoints at the entry-level.” “Still, managing to sneak into ‘Cloudscape’ as a temp is quite a feat for you.” “Go get your manager. Your service makes me very uncomfortable and has seriously affected my mood.” I tightened my grip on the tea towel. I really wanted to throw the freshly boiled water right onto his arrogant face. But remembering my dad’s instructions, I squeezed out a standard professional smile. “You’re joking, Mr. Sterling. The past few years have been alright. Just flying all over the world for meetings, occasionally a bit tired from jet lag.” “As for ambition? I’m never short on that.” As the sole heir to the Davis Ecological Empire, future head of the world’s largest organic farms and eco-resorts… How could I possibly be content with the status quo? He smirked contemptuously: “Chloe, what kind of global meetings does a temp go to? Three years later, and you’re still so vain.” “Just like back then, when you insisted that bowl of bird’s nest was glass noodles, completely embarrassing me in front of my mom.” “Although our Sterling family isn’t top-tier old money, we’re still respectable. Did we need a girl from an ordinary family like you to keep up appearances? What exactly are you so insecure about?” He was still harping on about that? I took a deep breath, too lazy to explain again: “I was telling the truth.” He stared at me for a long time, his gaze shifting from mockery to disappointment, finally softening into a trace of pity. “Forget it. For someone like you, living in your own fantasies, why should I even hold out any expectations?” He paced to the window, looking out at the misty lake view, his voice carrying a hint of loneliness: “Brew me a cup of tea.” “The most expensive one you have here.” “Put it on my tab. I’ll give you a thousand dollars tip. That’s enough for you to work here for half a month, right?” I didn’t move. He raised an eyebrow, displeased: “What? Not enough? Or are you saying a temp like you isn’t even qualified to touch the most expensive tea leaves?” “Right away, Mr. Sterling.” I turned and went into the storage room, bringing out the Mother Tree Da Hong Pao my dad treasured, prepared specifically to host Julian. I carefully took three grams and brewed it with mountain spring water. When I returned with the tea set, I saw a familiar figure intimately holding Arthur’s arm. Elena. She was dressed in haute couture, the diamond ring on her hand still blindingly bright in the dim light. Seeing me, she exaggeratedly covered her mouth: “Oh my god! Chloe? What are you doing here?!” 2 Her eyes were full of feigned shock: “Weren’t you a white-collar worker in a top-tier office building downtown? Why did you run off to the mountains to be a waitress?” “I remember your family’s financial situation was just average. The salary for this job probably isn’t high, right? Did you run into some difficulties?” I placed the tea in front of Arthur, ignored her, and turned to leave. “Wait.” she called out to me with a drawn-out voice. “I’ll have the same cup, thanks.” I was just about to go get more tea leaves, but she beat me to it, taking off the necklace around her neck and tossing it onto my tray. “Bulgari, limited edition. Only thirty thousand or so. Take it as a tip for your hard work.” I glanced down at it. It was last year’s old model. The boutiques had put it on clearance long ago. I pushed the necklace right back in front of her, saying lightly: “My family’s storage room is full of boxes of outdated styles like this. They’re all gifts from partners. The designs are too old-fashioned; I can’t be bothered to wear them.” Elena was visibly stunned, then she laughed exaggeratedly, leaning against Arthur: “Chloe, this is real gold and silver, not the fakes you used to buy at street stalls.” The contempt in Arthur’s eyes was practically overflowing: “Take it. Selling it will save you a few years of struggle. Elena is kind-hearted; don’t be ungrateful.” “Are you sure you want to give it to me?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. Elena smiled, resting her chin on her hand, her eyes full of condescension: “Of course.” I picked up the necklace and casually tossed it into the bamboo trash can by the window: “Sorry, our resort has a strict policy against accepting any gifts from guests.” “Chloe!” Elena screamed, lunging toward the trash can. She frantically retrieved the necklace and waved it furiously in my face. “A thirty-thousand-dollar necklace, and you just throw it away? Are you crazy? Do you know this could buy several square feet of that rundown house your family lives in?” I looked at her, amused: “Does your heart ache? I can compensate you. But this style is too old; I might have to hunt for it in the secondhand market.” Elena was instantly speechless. Arthur suddenly sneered: “Pretending to be a rich heiress? With what you’re worth, selling yourself wouldn’t even cover the cost!” My expression darkened immediately. “Give me your payment QR code. I’ll have my assistant transfer the money to you right now…” “Enough!” Arthur sharply interrupted me. “It’s fine if you spout this crazy talk in front of me, but if word gets out, people will just think you’re mentally ill.” Elena immediately chimed in. “Arthur, I forgot she had a habit of bragging. It seems to be getting worse now.” She shook her head with feigned magnanimity. “Forget it. Given our status, how can we argue with a crazy person?” Arthur affectionately stroked her hair and cast a sidelong glance at me. “Elena is so sensible. Unlike some people, who are not only poor but also have a foul and stubborn temper.” Elena sighed pretentiously, putting on a look of profound pity. “My dad is very close with your resort’s purchasing director. How about I ask him to see if they can make you a permanent employee?” “No need.” I cut her off flatly. “We’re old colleagues. We used to have a pretty good relationship back at the company.” She waved her hand dismissively. “It’s just a phone call. It’s no trouble.” If she really made that call, my identity would be exposed immediately, and wouldn’t my dad’s plan be completely ruined? Seeing her actually pull out her phone to dial, I grabbed her hand: “I said I don’t need it! Mind your own business!” Even though she used to always drag me along to hang out back at the company. But I’ll always remember, after she saw Arthur’s mother humiliate me, she turned around and spread it through the company in a sympathetic tone: “Poor Chloe, getting rejected the first time she met the parents.” “Arthur’s mom said she was uncultured and not good enough for him.” Even more ironically, right after Arthur broke up with me, he announced his engagement to her on social media. I quit immediately, and she specifically came to see me off. “Chloe, Arthur always felt you weren’t good enough for him. Only someone with a matching family background like mine can help him.” “I wanted to tell you earlier, but I was afraid you’d be sad.” “You know, that bird’s nest incident was just an excuse for him to make up his mind…” I didn’t need her reminder. I had already noticed the ambiguous interactions between her and Arthur, but I just didn’t want to believe it. “Chloe!” Elena’s shrill voice snapped me out of my memories. “How can you be so ungrateful? I’m trying to help you! Do you even know what’s good for you?” Help me? I only saw blatant showing off and humiliation. I looked up coldly: “Is that so? If you keep pestering me, believe it or not, I’ll throw you into the lake outside to feed the fishes right now.” 3 I turned around with a cold face, and Elena’s hysterical screams came from behind me: “Manager! Manager! I want to file a complaint against this waitress! She threatened my personal safety! She’s a lunatic!” Arthur lunged forward and grabbed my wrist hard. “Elena has always been kind and generous. You’ve made her this angry, aren’t you going to apologize?” I was completely enraged. “Arthur, control your fiancée! If she dares to provoke me again, I’ll make her learn the meaning of regret!” Even the old executives who had followed my dad in the group for decades had to be polite to me. Who the hell was Elena, to throw her weight around in front of me? Arthur’s grip loosened slightly: “Who said she’s my fiancée? We’re only engaged.” “Doesn’t matter!” I shook off his hand, enunciating every word. “Control your woman!” Arthur’s face instantly darkened, and he gave a self-deprecating smirk. “Chloe, I fucking shouldn’t have pushed back multi-million dollar contracts just to come here when I saw your picture on the resort’s brochure!” I was momentarily stunned, not understanding what he meant. “Mr. Sterling came all this way just to bring your woman here to humiliate me?” He seemed choked by my words, unable to say a single syllable for a long time. Just as I was about to leave, Elena suddenly rushed up and slapped me hard across the face. “Chloe! You’re just someone who pours tea and water. Tell me, how are you going to throw me into the lake to feed the fishes?” My cheek burned with a stinging pain, making my ears ring. I raised my hand to strike back, but Arthur yanked me into his arms, holding me tight. “You can’t afford to mess with the Smith family.” He lowered his voice near my ear. “Take this slap as an apology to Elena, and leave quickly. I’ll clean up the mess, unless you want to lose this job.” I struggled fiercely: “A mere building materials supplier like the Smith family, what’s there to be afraid of?” With the sheer size of our Davis Group, making the Smith family disappear from the industry was just a matter of one word from my dad. But Arthur held me even tighter: “Chloe, you don’t have the life of a princess, but you have the ‘princess syndrome’!” “You’re so arrogant and ignorant, how am I supposed to protect you?” Seeing him holding me so tightly, Elena’s eyes turned red with jealousy: “Where’s the manager? Where is everyone?! This homewrecker not only threatened me, she’s also trying to seduce my fiancé!” Her shrill voice drew the attention of many other guests. “Oh my god, this is the top resort in the country. How can the staff’s quality be so poor?” “I saw it just now. Miss Smith kindly gave her a necklace, and she threw it in the trash.” “A homewrecker and she’s this arrogant? She deserved to be slapped!” Seeing that public opinion was on her side, Elena grew even more arrogant: “Chloe, I’ve put up with you for a long time! Now, do you still dare to be so insolent?” Even if everyone pointed their fingers at my nose and cursed me, I couldn’t care less. Could I really expect this mob to distinguish right from wrong? Arthur held me in an iron grip; I couldn’t move, so I could only use all my strength to kick Elena. Just as the tip of my shoe touched her pant leg, Arthur shoved me away violently, nervously checking if Elena was hurt. I stumbled a few steps and fell heavily to the ground. The crowd looked down at me, pointing. “In broad daylight, a homewrecker dares to hit someone!” “The staff at this resort are completely lawless!” “Complaint! We’re all going to complain. She must be kicked out!” “Fine,” I slowly stood up, brushed the dust off my clothes, and said word by word, “I’ll personally take you to file a complaint against me!” 4 Arthur looked at me in disbelief: “Chloe, can’t you just swallow your pride? Do you know the consequences of a mass complaint?” “You’ll be completely blacklisted from the industry. Let alone a top-tier resort, even a roadside motel won’t hire you.” Having said that, he turned to the crowd and explained: “Everyone, it’s a misunderstanding. She’s just my ex-girlfriend.” “She’s just a bit stubborn, but she really needs this job. Please do me a favor and let this go.” Elena immediately whined in dissatisfaction: “Arthur! Why are you still speaking up for her?” Arthur gently put his arm around her: “Elena, what I admire most about you is your kindness. Unlike her… forget it.” These words seemed to be helping me out, but in reality, every word was degrading me, painting me as a crazy person who couldn’t let go. We dated for two years, and we’ve been broken up for three. His perception of me was still stuck on that ordinary girl who needed his charity and pity. In that moment, I suddenly found it all so incredibly dull. I had plenty of ways to deal with Elena. Why make myself look so pathetic in front of so many people? Elena held Arthur’s arm affectionately, a victor’s smile on her face: “Chloe, with your lowly status, do you really think you can fight me?” “In this resort, even if Julian Vance, the eldest young master of the Vance family, came, he’d have to give my dad some face!” I gave her a cold side-eye: “Is that so? Then I’ll call him right now and ask him exactly who he should be giving face to.” As I spoke, I pulled out my phone, but accidentally pulled out a small spare packet of tea leaves from my pocket, spilling them all over the floor. Arthur looked down, saw clearly what it was, and his face instantly turned pale green: “What you gave me to drink just now… was this?” “Yeah,” I nodded calmly. “Didn’t you say it tasted like rotten wood?” “Chloe!” Arthur suddenly clutched his chest, looking pained. “You know I have a sensitive stomach, I never drink this kind of cheap tea!” “I didn’t know.” It’s been three years since we broke up. Who remembers his delicate ailments? His eyes dimmed, his voice carrying hurt: “Right, you’ve always been so heartless. Just like how you left me back then without any hesitation.” I really couldn’t understand. He was clearly the one who initiated the breakup back then. How did it become my fault now? Before I could sort through my thoughts, Elena started shrieking: “Oh my god! We ordered the most expensive tea, and you actually tried to pass off this street stall garbage on us? How much of the difference did you pocket?” The crowd instantly became restless. “Are we drinking this rotten tea too?” “Claiming to be the number one eco-resort in the country, are they really this shady?” At this moment, the resort’s Operations Manager hurried over with security. Without a word, she had security restrain me, then turned and bowed deeply to the crowd: “Dear VIPs, please rest assured. All the tea at ‘Cloudscape’ is specially supplied organic tea, absolutely no inferior products. We will seriously deal with this employee who brought in outside tea.” “As an apology, all expenses in the tearoom today are on the house. We wish you a pleasant stay.” Her sincere apology caused the onlookers to gradually disperse. I was about to break free from the security guard’s grip, but Elena pushed her luck and continued to press the issue: “Her service attitude is terrible, and she threatened to throw me in the lake. Is that all she gets, a reprimand?” “I demand that she be fired immediately and kicked out of the resort! I don’t feel safe staying in the same place with such a dangerous person.” Saying that, she shot me a mocking look: “It’s the middle of nowhere here. Being kicked out… you’ll probably end up as wolf food in the mountains.” The manager frowned in a difficult position. “Miss Smith, this is private property. It’s very dangerous to kick her out now that it’s getting dark.” Arthur instantly looked displeased: “Elena, stop messing around! Someone could die.” Seeing Arthur getting a bit angry, Elena curled her lip and reluctantly backed down. “Then, at least fire her. That’s not too much to ask, right?” But the manager smiled bitterly: “She’s someone directly arranged by upper management. We… we can’t touch her.” I was completely relieved. It seems my dad wasn’t completely senile yet. He had at least given the people below a heads-up. Otherwise, given the momentum of these people following Elena’s lead, I would have had to suffer a lot of indignity today. Elena sneered disdainfully. “Upper management? You must know my dad, Robert Smith, right? All the building materials for your entire resort are supplied by our family! If you offend me, do you still want to cooperate on the next phase?” “Don’t tell me you can’t touch her. I’ll call my dad right now, let’s see who dares to say ‘no’!” Arthur stopped Elena, who had already pulled out her phone, and frowned, asking: “Who exactly is this upper management? What’s the name?” The manager kept her head down: “I’m truly sorry, Mr. Sterling. The higher-ups specifically instructed not to disclose that.” The security guard pinning me down let go of me discreetly upon hearing this. I smoothed out my wrinkled clothes and somewhat messy hair, and calmly dialed a number. Seeing this, Elena aggressively pointed her finger at me, lifting her chin high: “Even if the Jade Emperor himself comes today, I’m making you pack your bags!” At that moment, the call connected. I put it on speakerphone and handed it directly to her: “Why don’t you tell him yourself? Tell him to fire me.”

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My mother-in-law sent me to feed the hogs. As I got close to the pen, a voice pierced my ears: [Here she comes! I’m going to bite her damn face off!] [Trashy bitch, how dare she sleep next to my man last night!] [Hehehe, she has no idea that I’m the one her husband really belongs to.] I froze in my tracks. I looked at the hog in front of me, glaring at me. But it was a male. A boar. 01 I thought I must still be dreaming. After all, it was barely five in the morning, and it was still pitch black out. About an hour ago, my mother-in-law, Brenda, had been at our door, pounding on it like a battering ram. I had nudged my husband, Mike. He just grunted and rolled over, turning his back to me. He reeked of cheap beer and was snoring loudly enough to wake the dead. He hadn’t stumbled home until past two in the morning. I’d had to undress him and wipe his face; by the time I finally lay down, it was almost three. I shoved him a few more times, but he was dead to the world. Brenda’s screeching had already migrated from the house to the back porch. “I didn’t raise my boy to marry a lazy bitch! Do I have to tell you to feed the damn hogs three times?!” I had no choice but to climb out of bed. 我 threw on an old, heavy coat and walked out. The hog pen was in the back lot, past a pitch-black alleyway between the barn and the shed. There were no lights, so I had to feel my way along the wall. The ground was uneven, and I stepped into several patches of deep, sucking mud. The feed bucket was sitting right by the gate of the pen. The smell of soured slop made me gag. I lifted the bucket and got close. That’s when the voice drilled into my ears, sharp and thin: [Here she is! Here she is! The bitch finally came!] I froze and looked around. Not a single person was in sight. I took two more steps forward. Inside the pen, a hog was staring at me. It was impossibly fat, covered in thick black bristles. Its tiny eyes were buried in folds of fat, gleaming with a murky, unsettling light in the darkness. It impatiently rooted at the trough with its snout. It let out two deep grunts, as if hurrying me. Then, that voice sounded again. This time, it was closer, as if whispered right into my ear: [What are you waiting for? Get in here! Once you’re in, I’m going to pin you down and chew you to death!] My hand jerked, and half the slop spilled out of the ladle. [Does the trash know something?] [The last one was smart, wouldn’t come in. I had to bite her arm and drag her through the mud!] [Hehehe…] [Dragged her back, pinned her in the trough, and started chewing from the feet up. Ate her for three days. God, that was the best!] The blood in my body turned to ice. Through the fence rails, I saw it clearly. A repulsive sliver of a human-like smile appeared on that hog’s snout. It rooted at the trough again. [Come on! Get in here!] The voice sounded again, sticky and invasive, slithering into my ear. [Put your hand in here and feed me.] The bucket slipped from my hand and hit the ground with a deafening clang. Sour, rotting sludge splattered all over my jeans, the stench overwhelming. But I didn’t care about that. I could only stare at that hog. It was still smiling. Its massive, bloated body lay there, and beneath it, I saw two large, dragging testicles. It was a boar. I pinched my thigh hard. It hurt. I wasn’t dreaming. 02 I took two steps back. I found a long, hollow piece of PVC pipe. I scooped the feed, one ladle at a time, and poured it down the pipe into the trough from outside the fence. All the while, I kept my eyes fixed on the hog. Its half-lidded eyes suddenly snapped wide open. I distinctly saw a flash of shock on its ugly face. The voice drilled out again: [What’s going on? Why isn’t the bitch coming closer?] [Don’t panic… don’t panic… think of a way to lure her in…] [Right, play sick! I’ll fall over in a second, and she’ll have to come in to check on me.] [When she gets close, I’ll pin her down. Pin her right in the muck!] [Hehehe, perfect, perfect!] I gripped the PVC pipe tighter. The hog began to eat. It took massive, sloppy bites, splattering rotten vegetables and soured water everywhere. After a few bites, it suddenly stiffened. Before it could even swallow, its eyes started rolling back in its head. White foam gushed from the corners of its mouth. Its four legs began to twitch violently. Its massive body slammed down into the manure, splashing a wave of black and yellow filth. I stood outside the pen, completely still. It was still convulsing, but its eyes were cutting sideways, looking straight at me. [Come on… come on… come in and look at me…] The mental voice sounded again. This time, it carried an undisguised smugness. [As soon as she’s in, I’ll jump her! I’m going to chew her face off!] I grabbed a heavy shovel leaning against the fence. I brought it down with all my might, right onto that hog’s skull! The hog’s whole body of fat shuddered, but it stubbornly refused to get up. But its mind screamed: [FUCK! The goddamn bitch hit me!!!] [It hurts so much, ow, why is she hitting so hard!] [Endure! She must be testing me. If I get up, she’ll know I was faking…] I raised the shovel again. Just then, a sharp, piercing shriek came from behind me: “What the hell do you think you’re doing!” 03 I turned around. Brenda was standing behind me, the fat on her face quivering with rage. “You out of your mind?! Why are you hitting the stock!” The corner of the hog’s mouth secretly twitched up. The voice slithered out, this time with unrestrained ecstasy: [Yes! My helper is here!] [This old bat isn’t any good either! She only let Mike marry that bitch because she has money!] [Once I chew the bitch’s face off, the old lady definitely won’t blame me!] [She used to send those little tramps in to feed me, too. Wasn’t that just so I could teach them a lesson for her?] [The last one got her face half bitten off. Went crazy. Hehehe…] I gripped the shovel tighter. It turns out I wasn’t the first intended victim. Brenda rushed forward, reaching out to rip the shovel from my hands. “Why is it foaming at the mouth? It was fine before! How did it get sick the moment you fed it? “Did you poison it?!” I took a step back. “Brenda, I don’t know. I just finished pouring the slop and it collapsed. I was trying to wake it up…” “Wake it up? You wake a hog with a shovel?!” Brenda grabbed my wrist in a vice grip. “How can you be so vicious! I just asked you to feed the damn thing, and you’re trying to kill it!” Her fingernails dug into my skin, making me shudder in pain. “Get in there and check on it, now!” “I…” I glanced at the hog pen, my voice trembling. “Brenda, I won’t. I’m scared…” “Scared of what!” Her voice was an ear-splitting screech. “You think this is just some ordinary hog? Mike raised this thing from a piglet! If anything happens to it, Mike is going to skin you alive!” She began dragging me toward the pen. I dragged my feet, moving as slowly as I could. The hog’s inner thoughts echoed endlessly in my ears. [Come on in, hehehehe!] 04 Just as Brenda was about to shove me into the pen, she suddenly stopped. Her eyes were glued to something inside the pen. I followed her gaze. The hog was still lying in the muck. But right beside it, something yellow was gleaming. My solid gold bracelet. I had thrown it in there during the confusion earlier. Brenda’s Adam’s apple bobbed. She swallowed hard, her eyes purely consumed by greed. The next second. Brenda had already scrambled into the pen. She bent down, her face right next to the hog’s snout, reaching out to grab the bracelet. 05 Right at that moment. The hog moved. It clamped its jaws wide, lunging at Brenda’s face! A piercing scream erupted from Brenda. It was a solid bite. The hog’s snout covered her entire face from above. Its upper teeth clamped into her eye sockets. Its lower teeth hooked under her chin. It began to chew with violent force. The hog began dragging her deeper into the pen by her face. Brenda struggled, thrashing wildly. The gold bracelet flew from her hand, rolled twice, and stopped right at my feet. I quickly picked it up. The hog’s inner voice was incredibly excited: [Bite! Bite! I’m going to bite this old bitch to death!!] [How dare she try to sleep in Mike’s bed! How dare she try to steal my man! I’m going to chew this face into pulp, let’s see how she acts then!] [Kill her! Kill her! Kill her!] Brenda clawed backward blindly, her nails digging into the hog’s nostrils. The pain made the hog bite down even harder. Its jaws ground together, crushing as if chewing through a piece of meat and bone. Brenda’s screams changed pitch, going from sharp shrieks to raspy gurgles, slowly fading into desperate gasps for air. Finally, she was silent. The hog still didn’t let go. It held that head in its jaws and shook it from side to side. Brenda’s body went limp, swaying with the hog’s movements. After a long while, the hog finally opened its mouth, huffing and puffing for air. Brenda lay there, face up, unrecognizable. There was nothing left but a mess of red and white pulp. Her nose was gone, her lips were gone, her gums were exposed, white and raw. The hog lowered its snout and rooted at her body. Then, it froze. Its tiny eyes suddenly bulged out. 06 The hog looked up. It locked eyes directly with me. The hog was stunned. Its mental voice was utterly confused: [How… what’s going on?] It looked down at the mess of flesh on the ground, then looked back up at me. Down. Then up again. [Why is this woman still standing outside?] [Then who did I just bite? I bit…] It nudged the hair on the corpse with its snout. The hair, matted with blood, was pushed aside, revealing the gray roots beneath. The hog’s eyes bulged even wider. [The… the old bat?] Its mental voice was trembling with terror. [Why was it the old bat!!] [I distinctly heard her tell the bitch to get in, why did she get in herself?] [I’m screwed, I’m screwed, I’m screwed…] [If Mike finds out I bit his mother, he’ll blame me. He was so dutiful, he listened to everything she said… If he finds out…] The hog looked up again, its eyes fixed on me. This time, the look was intensely malicious. [It was this evil bitch!!] [It was her!! She must have intentionally shoved the old lady in!] [I’m going to tear her apart!] The hog charged forward, slamming into the fence rails. The fence was sturdy and didn’t budge. It snarled at me, teeth still stained with blood and flesh. But it couldn’t get out. I turned and ran. I screamed as I ran: “Help! Help! Someone help me! Our hog is killing people! It’s eating people!!” Behind me, frantic, inhuman shrieks of rage erupted from the hog pen. I knew one thing clearly. This swine could not be allowed to live.

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The day my uncle reported me, he dropped a $100 digital cash gift into the family group chat. The attached note read: “Good things are coming.” Twenty-three people claimed a piece of it, and eight replied, “Congratulations.” No one asked what they were congratulating him for. Because the day before, my uncle had announced in the group: “Someone’s going to investigate Nolan’s company.” I looked at my phone screen and smiled. Let them investigate. I had been waiting for this day for three months. 1. My uncle’s name is Richard Hayes, my dad’s older brother. My dad, Robert Hayes, passed away from stomach cancer six years ago. When he passed, Uncle Richard came over. Not to pay his final respects. But to take the bank statements. “How much money did your dad manage to save up?” That was the first thing he said when he walked through the door. My mom was crying on the bed, and I stood in the doorway. “Uncle Richard, my dad hasn’t even been buried yet.” “I know,” Uncle Richard said, sitting down. “But bank matters can’t wait. If your dad had savings, we need to sort it out first. The Hayes family’s money can’t go to an outsider.” Outsider. He glanced at my mom. My mom had been married into the Hayes family for twenty-six years, and in his mouth, she was an outsider. I didn’t argue with him that day. My dad had $110,000 in his account. Uncle Richard took $60,000, calling it “his share of the brotherhood over the years.” My mom stopped me from fighting him, saying, “Don’t cause a scene with your uncle. Your dad just left us, and he’s the only elder left in the family.” I didn’t cause a scene. I was twenty-four that year, two years out of college. My salary was $4,500 a month. $60,000 was more than a year of my salary. I remembered that. Later, I started my own company. It wasn’t some legendary rags-to-riches tale. I just started by selling goods at local flea markets, then moved into wholesale snacks and beverages, building it up bit by bit. By the third year, my annual revenue surpassed five million. By the fifth year, it surpassed twenty million. Uncle Richard came to visit. “Nolan, your cousin Derek is working odd jobs, very unstable. Isn’t your company short-staffed? Let him come help you.” I looked at my uncle. “Uncle Richard, the company has a hiring process—” “What process?” Uncle Richard slammed his hand on the desk. “He’s your own cousin! If your dad were still alive, would I even have to beg you?” My mom tugged at my shirt from the side. “Nolan, just let Derek come. We’re all family.” So, Derek joined the company. I put him in the purchasing department. A base salary of $8,000, plus commissions—he was taking home $12,000 to $15,000 a month. Double what he was making before. Uncle Richard was very satisfied. He was satisfied for three months. Then he came back. “Give Derek the Purchasing Manager position.” “Uncle Richard, he’s only been here for three months. He has no experience—” “What do you mean, no experience?” Uncle Richard scoffed. “If you can be the boss, your cousin—who is even smarter than you—can certainly be a purchasing manager!” I looked at him. “Uncle Richard, this is my company.” “Your company?” Uncle Richard laughed. “If your dad were still alive, would this company even be yours to run?” That sentence was like a thorn, piercing right into me. I didn’t say anything. The next day, I promoted Derek to Deputy Purchasing Manager. Not because of my uncle’s words. But because my mom cried all night again. 2. After Derek became Deputy Manager, the demands from my uncle’s family started to escalate. First, Aunt Susan called: “Nolan, your cousin is getting married, and he’s a little short on the down payment for the house. Loan him $300,000.” “Loan?” “Yes, loan. It’s not like he won’t pay you back.” $300,000. I did have money in the company accounts at the time, but it was all tied up in cash flow. Pulling out $300,000 wasn’t easy. My mom said: “Just loan it to him. It’s family.” So I loaned it to him. Transferred straight to Derek’s account. I didn’t even make him sign an IOU. Then Uncle Richard came again: “Your grandmother isn’t doing well. You pay her hospital bills. You make a lot of money.” I paid it. $80,000. Then Aunt Susan came again: “Derek’s getting married, and we don’t have enough for the banquet. Pitch in $50,000.” I pitched in. Then Derek came: “Bro, I’m a little short on buying a car. Loan me $100,000.” I loaned it to him. I keep a notebook. Every single transaction is recorded in it. It’s not that I’m petty. It’s that I discovered something. Uncle Richard was telling people outside: “My nephew’s company, to be honest, relies on the Hayes family name. Could he be where he is today if I hadn’t pulled him up back then? Giving us a little money is nothing.” A former classmate of mine told me this. She heard it at the grocery store. My uncle was chatting with someone in the produce aisle. “Nolan makes so much, what’s it to him to give us a little? If it weren’t for the Hayes family reputation, who would do business with him?” $1.46 million. Eight years. That’s the total amount I had spent on my uncle’s family. His exact words were, “Giving us a little money is nothing.” Derek worked at the company for three years. He was relatively honest the first year. Starting the second year, purchasing costs kept climbing. I asked him: “Why is this batch of raw materials 15% more expensive than last quarter?” He said: “The market price went up. You know how it is.” I checked the purchasing prices of our competitors. They hadn’t gone up. I then looked into the suppliers Derek was dealing with. And I discovered a pattern. Of the three new suppliers Derek recommended, two had legal representatives who were his college fraternity brothers. The suppliers quoted inflated prices, and Derek signed off on the invoices. Where did the price difference go? I had finance audit all the purchase orders Derek was responsible for. Three years. Total difference: $870,000. $870,000. I gave him $300,000 for his house down payment. $100,000 for his car. Plus his salary, commissions, and holiday bonuses. His way of repaying me was embezzling $870,000 from my company. Sitting in my office that night, looking at that report, my hands were shaking. Not out of fear. But out of anger. 3. I didn’t expose Derek immediately. I did something else. I hired a professional CPA firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of the company’s accounts for the past three years. The public explanation was, “The company is seeking outside financing and needs to bulletproof its financials.” Derek didn’t take it seriously. He even told his dad: “Nolan is trying to get investors. Make sure he gives me a VP title when the money comes in.” The day the audit results came out, I locked my office door and spent the entire afternoon reading it. Besides Derek’s embezzlement, the audit revealed something else. Because of the fake invoices Derek had created, several company expenses were misclassified. As a result, the company had overpaid nearly $500,000 in taxes over the past three years. $500,000. I could apply for a tax refund from the IRS for this amount. But I didn’t apply for it immediately. Because I suddenly thought of a scenario. If someone reported me to the IRS for tax evasion and they came to audit my books— What would they find? They would find that I hadn’t evaded a single cent. They would find that I had actually overpaid taxes. And they would find that Derek had been cooking the books for three years. I closed the audit report. Then, I fired Derek. The reason given was “company restructuring and downsizing.” I gave him a generous severance package. Sent him off with full dignity. Derek even shook my hand when he left: “Bro, thanks for taking care of me these past few years.” I looked at his face. And smiled. “Don’t mention it.” Uncle Richard exploded. He stormed into my house that very night. “What the hell is the meaning of this?!” “The company is restructuring. It has nothing to do with Derek personally.” “Bullshit! He was doing a great job. What right do you have to fire him?” “Uncle Richard, it was a company decision.” “A company decision? Your company? If it weren’t—” He was about to say that sentence again. I cut him off. “Yes, my company. My name is on the LLC registration.” Uncle Richard glared at me. “Nolan, don’t forget your last name is Hayes.” “I haven’t forgotten.” I looked right into his eyes. “But the name Hayes was given to me by my dad. Not you.” My uncle slammed the door when he left. The noise was so loud it rattled the windows. My mom was pale with fear. “Nolan, how could you speak to your uncle like that…” “Mom, he stole $870,000 from my company.” My mom froze. “What?” “Derek took kickbacks at the company. For three years. $870,000.” My mom sat on the sofa, speechless for a long time. After a while, she finally said something. “Well… just let it go. We’re all family…” I looked at my mom. “$1.46 million.” “Huh?” “In these eight years, I’ve spent $1.46 million on Uncle Richard’s family. Add the $870,000 Derek stole. That’s a total of $2.33 million.” I enunciated every word. “Mom, you tell me, which relative on earth is worth $2.33 million?” My mom stopped talking. 4. A month after Derek was fired, I noticed something. The company’s financial system login records showed that after Derek left, someone tried to log in using his old credentials. The login failed because I had already changed all the passwords. But the IP address of the login attempt was traced back to my uncle’s house. I had my IT guy dig deeper. It wasn’t just once. Over the past month, there were seventeen login attempts. All from Uncle Richard’s IP. They were trying to get into the company’s financial system. Why? To find “evidence” of my tax evasion. I looked through the backups of Derek’s computer from when he was still employed. I found that before he left, he had copied a massive amount of files to a hard drive. Purchase orders, expense reports, tax return forms. Some were real. Some he had altered. He had modified the traces of his fake accounts, making those inflated numbers look like I was artificially inflating costs to evade corporate taxes. I sat in front of my computer, staring at the screen. They weren’t reporting me on impulse. They had been preparing this for at least half a year. They started collecting materials and modifying data while Derek was still drawing a paycheck from me. The firing was just the catalyst. They had been planning to destroy me for a long time. That day, I called Mr. Harrison, the head CPA at the accounting firm. “Mr. Harrison, regarding that audit report, I need you to generate a detailed version for me.” “Mr. Hayes, how detailed?” “Detailed down to the original vouchers, the cash flow, and the final destination of every single fraudulent transaction.” “Understood.” “Also,” I added, “hold off on filing for that tax refund for now. Wait for my signal.” Mr. Harrison paused. “Mr. Hayes, are you waiting for someone?” I didn’t answer. I just hung up. I was waiting for Uncle Richard. He moved faster than I expected. Forty-seven days after firing Derek, I received a call from the IRS. “Mr. Hayes, we’ve received a whistleblower report alleging that your company is engaging in tax evasion. According to procedure, we need to conduct a tax audit. Please cooperate.” “Understood. When would be a convenient time?” “The day after tomorrow, at 9:00 AM.” “No problem.” I hung up the phone. I opened the family group chat. Sure enough, Uncle Richard had already sent a message. “Good things are coming.” Below it was a digital cash gift for $100. Twenty-three people grabbed a piece. Eight replied “Congratulations.” Aunt Susan sent a voice message: “Let’s see how stubborn he is this time!” Derek sent a sinister, smirking emoji. Uncle Thomas asked: “What good thing?” Uncle Richard replied: “You’ll all know when the time comes.” I put down my phone. Picked up my office receiver and called Mr. Harrison. “You can start preparing the tax refund documents.” 5. The day the IRS arrived, I got to the company an hour earlier than usual. I organized all the ledgers, vouchers, and reports, and placed them neatly in the conference room. The CPA audit report remained locked in my desk drawer. At exactly 9:00 AM, three IRS agents arrived. The lead agent, a man named Miller, was in his forties and looked incredibly stern. “Mr. Hayes, we received a report alleging that your company is artificially inflating costs to evade taxes. By law, we need to conduct a comprehensive audit of your company’s accounts for the past three years.” “Agent Miller, full cooperation is guaranteed. All the materials are in the conference room. You have full access.” I opened the door to the conference room for them. Agent Miller gave me a strange look. Most business owners being audited didn’t look this relaxed when the IRS walked in. I was too calm. He didn’t say anything and led his team inside. At 10:00 AM. A large passenger van pulled up to the company entrance. Uncle Richard was here. And not just him. Uncle Richard, Aunt Susan, Derek, Uncle Thomas, Aunt Carol, and seven or eight distant relatives whose names I could barely remember. Over twenty people in total. A massive, marching contingent. “Uncle Richard, what are you all doing here?” Jessica, my receptionist, tried to stop them. “Just taking a look around!” Uncle Richard boomed, his voice echoing in the lobby. “Taking a look at Nolan’s company!” He looked around, a look of absolute triumph in his eyes. “Seeing how many more days this place can keep its doors open!” I looked down from the interior window of my office. Over twenty people were crammed into the reception area. A few employees had already stopped working to watch the spectacle. I called the front desk. “Let them up.” “Mr. Hayes?” Jessica’s voice sounded panicked. “Let them up,” I repeated. “Open the main boardroom. Serve them coffee.” When Uncle Richard led the group upstairs, his face practically screamed, I’ve finally waited for this day. He looked even more triumphant when he saw the IRS agents working in the adjacent conference room. “Oh, you boys are already here?” He pulled up a chair and sat down in the boardroom. “Audit away, audit thoroughly.” Agent Miller stepped out and frowned. “And you are?” “I’m his uncle.” Uncle Richard pointed at me through the glass. “To be honest, the Hayes family owns a piece of this company too.” Agent Miller looked at me for confirmation. I nodded. “He’s my uncle. Let him watch.” Uncle Richard looked even more pleased with himself. He waved at the relatives behind him. “Sit down, everyone, sit down! Let’s all see what kind of ‘good deeds’ Nolan has been up to today!” The relatives filed in, filling the main boardroom. Aunt Susan sat in the front row, legs crossed, looking smug. Derek stood in the corner, hands in his pockets, trying to look expressionless but failing to hide a smirk. After sitting down, Uncle Thomas whispered to his wife: “Richard said the IRS found massive problems. He might be fined millions and go to federal prison.” Aunt Carol gasped: “Then isn’t he completely finished?” The voices weren’t loud. But I heard them. Over twenty pairs of eyes stared at me through the glass partition. Not a single look held an ounce of concern. Some were gloating. Some were just waiting for the show. Some looked entirely indifferent. And then there was one—Uncle Richard. His eyes held naked, greedy expectation. Waiting for my downfall. Waiting to see me cry. Waiting for me to beg him for mercy. I sat in my leather chair and took a sip of my coffee. Good. If it’s a show you want, it’s a show you’ll get. I wanted to see who would be crying when the curtain fell. 6. The IRS audited for two days. During those two days, my uncle came every single day. The first day, he could sit still. By the second day, he was getting restless. “Why aren’t they done auditing yet?” He paced back and forth in the hallway, looking agitated. “Is it almost done?” He asked every agent who stepped out of the conference room to use the restroom. No one answered him. At 4:00 PM on the second day, Agent Miller asked to speak with me in my office. “Mr. Hayes, the preliminary audit results are ready.” “Okay.” “Regarding the materials provided by the whistleblower, I need to verify a few things with you.” “Go ahead.” Agent Miller opened a thick manila folder. “The whistleblower provided copies of several purchase orders and tax returns from 2021 to 2023, claiming your company evaded taxes by artificially inflating costs.” He looked at me over his glasses. “But we found during our cross-referencing that the materials provided by the whistleblower and the actual data entered into the company’s books—don’t match.” “They don’t match?” “The numbers on the purchase orders provided by the whistleblower are significantly higher than the actual numbers entered into your ledgers.” I remained silent. “In other words,” Agent Miller paused, “the materials provided by the whistleblower have been intentionally altered.” I nodded. “I know.” Agent Miller looked at me sharply. “You know?” “These purchase orders were handled by my former Deputy Purchasing Manager, Derek Hayes. During his employment, he artificially inflated purchasing costs and transferred the difference into his personal accounts. These altered materials you received are copies he modified and exported before he left the company.” I unlocked my desk drawer and pulled out the CPA audit report. “This is a comprehensive audit I commissioned from an independent accounting firm half a year ago. It contains the complete chain of evidence of Derek’s fraudulent accounting.” I handed the heavy binder to Agent Miller. “It includes the original vouchers for every fraudulent transaction, the corresponding bank statements, and the private accounts where the funds ultimately ended up.” Agent Miller flipped through a few pages. His expression shifted from professional skepticism to absolute shock. “Mr. Hayes… with this level of evidence, why didn’t you report this to the police months ago?” I smiled. “Because I was waiting for someone to make the first move.”

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Fifteen days after we broke up, my ex texted me, inviting me to his wedding. My vision went dark, and I replied: “My sister passed away in a car accident three days ago.” “Her last words were that her biggest regret was breaking up with you and not marrying you.” “On her behalf, I wish you a happy marriage.” That ought to make him feel guilty enough to die. Heh. The very next day, my ex showed up at my hometown, looking travel-worn and exhausted. And there I was, in the middle of a blind date, saying: “I’m three months pregnant, you don’t mind, right?” 1 My boyfriend, Arthur Vance, treated me incredibly well. He gave me an allowance of $15,000 a month, bought me a house and a car, and planned out my career path. He helped me take my boss out to dinner, which got me a promotion and a raise. He was practically the ideal boyfriend. Until I bumped into him on a blind date. Only then did I realize he wasn’t just dating me. He was keeping me as his little canary. Son of a bitch. I begged him on the spot to delay his marriage. I could still be his little bird for a while longer. 2 Looking back, I should have been calm and restrained. Regardless of whether he went on blind dates or got married, I just needed to keep reaping the benefits. He really didn’t have any flaws. But the better he was, the gentler and more considerate he was to me, the more I imagined him being just as good to other women. Jealousy twisted my face into something hideous. I became paranoid and suspicious. We fought every single day. A perfect person like me, reduced to arguing like a shrew. Men really are no good; they always ruin perfect women. 3 After agonizing over it, I decided to break up with him. He couldn’t understand it at all. He said, “Just pretend I opened another company. Would you mind if I had to work overtime two days a week?” “You’ll never even meet. I’m here with you five days a week, and home for two. What more could you want?” “Chloe, be mature. If you leave me, where are you going to find a man as outstanding as I am?” “Doesn’t your future child need a capable father to support them?” I still insisted on breaking up. Because I had become someone I didn’t recognize, and it caused me immense pain. But Arthur, that bastard, was determined to make me realize how miserable my life would be without him. My boss, finding out I no longer had the powerful Arthur backing me, started ordering me around constantly and even made me accompany clients while they drank. Accompany his ass. I smashed a wine bottle over someone’s head and earned myself five days in the local jail. After getting out, the company fired me, and the boss went around calling me a crazy bitch… Me: … 4 I still couldn’t find a job. I had a house, a car, and used to have an allowance. But my expenses were high. To match a rich guy like Arthur, I only bought luxury brands… Even though he gifted me things, I still spent a lot… Plus, I had to maintain the villa. The maintenance fees alone were several thousand a month… I really wanted to sell it. But the housing market had crashed recently. If I sold now, I’d take a massive loss. The car was a sports car, a total gas guzzler. I wanted to sell that too, but it wasn’t worth it. And I actually really liked it. When we broke up, he didn’t give me any severance pay. I only had a few tens of thousands left in my account. I suspected this was his way of controlling me. Even though he fed me every day, he never gave me the keys to the granary. What a scheming man. 5 After watching me make a fool of myself for a while. Arthur showed up again. He reasoned with me earnestly. “See? Without me, you’re just like all those other dusty, ordinary women in society.” “You’re the one I love in my heart, isn’t that enough? Marriage is just a formality, why are you so obsessed with it?” He promised again: “Chloe, let’s get back together. I won’t get married. I’ll just be with you, okay?” I was having such a hard time back then, I really didn’t want to leave him, so I believed his lies. But subconsciously, I was just deceiving myself. We went back to dating normally. But I started selling my old luxury goods. I really lost a lot of money on them. I asked him to increase my allowance. He refused. He just wanted to keep me hooked with money. He nourished my ambition with luxury goods, making it impossible for me to return to my old life. I truly couldn’t go back to my previously simple life. Having experienced glitz and glamour, I felt using affordable things was a waste of a beautiful life. But I didn’t have the money to support it. I could only rely on Arthur. 6 He was still going on blind dates. He just hid it better. I didn’t catch him. But I knew he was going on them. I secretly checked his phone. There were women sharing photos of their daily lives with him. He would reply. Occasionally, he would send them a photo of his own life. I screen-recorded his phone. Then I sat alone in the library, thinking for an entire afternoon. What kind of life did I really want to live? 7 I met Arthur when I was an undergraduate. He came to our university for some business, couldn’t find his way, and asked me for directions. I showed him the way. That’s how we met. Later, he pursued me. He was several years older than me; pursuing me was really easy. Sigh, back then I idolized him so much. I thought he was successful, an elite. He fit the exact image of a successful person that our teachers had instilled in us. He really treated me well. When I applied for grad school, he helped me contact a mentor. I didn’t suffer much during my master’s. When I graduated, he arranged a job for me. I never experienced the pain and anxiety of job hunting. We were together for almost four years. I was still waiting for him to propose. I had hinted many times that we should settle down. He always said: “You’re still young. I want you to see the world before deciding to marry me. Otherwise, I’m afraid you’ll regret it later.” Before I knew he was going on blind dates, hearing those words moved me to death. I thought his love for me was true love. That he was genuinely trying to elevate me. Sigh, men are really good at lying. I wanted to hate him. But he treated me so well. He was more attentive and thoughtful than my parents. The money and energy he spent on me was more than my parents ever did. I couldn’t even imagine if anyone else in this world would ever love me more than he did. But I also couldn’t love him completely, turning a blind eye and deaf ear. The thought of him being intimate, sleeping with, or even having children with another woman made me want to die. 8 I lived in this state of agonizing conflict. I still couldn’t make a firm decision. In the end, what made me decide to say goodbye was his blind date coming to find me. She wasn’t arrogant or overbearing. Her last name was Chen. She looked like a girl next door. Her whole demeanor was very gentle, and she spoke softly. It wasn’t fake gentleness, but a true, deeply ingrained politeness. She apologized to me: “I’m sorry, Miss Smith, for taking up your time.” “I sought you out not to provoke you, but to tell you that Arthur truly loves you. Don’t give up on him just because we are getting married.” “I know what it feels like to truly love someone. My marriage to him is purely a business alliance. I have someone I love too, it’s just… he passed away.” “I want lovers to be together. I don’t want you to have the same regrets I do, which is why I came to tell you this. Arthur is a very good man. Once we marry, we will respect each other, and I won’t interfere with your relationship.” 9 When she said the person she loved passed away, tears welled up in her eyes. But I didn’t want to continue like this. If Arthur’s fiancée was a domineering, arrogant woman, maybe I would have rebelled and insisted on staying with him. But Miss Chen wasn’t. She had already lost the love of her life and was pitiful enough. She was the treasure in her late lover’s heart. If in her marriage, her husband kept a mistress, how lonely and bitter would her life be? How heartbroken would her lover be? Moreover… a woman as serene and unambitious as her, would Arthur truly not be moved? Even I was captivated by her aura. And Arthur had already decided to marry her. Out of all the women he had met, he chose her. Who’s to say this isn’t another form of being moved? They wouldn’t just get married directly. They would go through many dates, deep conversations, countless family gatherings, and a grand ceremony. They would hold hands, kiss, and sleep together. Arthur was inherently a gentle person. If he heard Miss Chen’s story, he would definitely feel pity for her. I hated this endless cycle of imagination. 10 I found Miss Chen. I embarrassedly asked her if she could buy the house and car Arthur had given me. Because I wanted to leave this place completely. I wanted to go back to my hometown and start a new life. Of course, bringing a large sum of money back would make the drop in living standards less drastic, allowing me to adapt faster. Miss Chen reluctantly refused me. Because she was afraid Arthur would misunderstand her. Naturally, Arthur quickly found out about this. He was furious: “Haven’t you made enough of a scene?” “She doesn’t even mind, what do you mind?” “Is your love for me really that fragile?” “Just because I’m getting married, you want to break up? Are worldly values more important, or is how well I treat you and our love more important?” He seriously told me again: “We’ll live just like before, okay? Chloe, I truly love you.” “I have to enter this alliance, or the family’s resources won’t lean towards me. I’m not the only heir; I have to fight for it. I don’t want to be a nobody, and you wouldn’t love a mediocre me either. Right?” When he said those words, I felt incredibly sad. But I didn’t even know what I was sad about. 11 I understood his ambition and aspirations. But I couldn’t be his secret mistress. So I said: “Let’s break up, I’m serious. It’s precisely because I love you that I can’t bear it. I’ll go crazy.” “I understand you, and I don’t hate you. In fact, I’m very grateful for your care.” He looked at me in disbelief. For the first time, I saw that look in his eyes. The look of looking at an idiot. Before, no matter what I did, he was always full of encouragement and love. I didn’t expect that upon breaking up, he would look at me with such eyes. He said: “Without me, how will you live? Can you guarantee the men you meet in the future will treat you better than I did?” “You don’t need to say all that to brainwash me. I can’t accept you marrying someone else.” I insisted on leaving. He said: “Since you have so much pride, don’t rely on the house and car I bought you.” I felt like a beggar whose hand was caught in the till. I couldn’t even confidently snap back at him. I had to give up the idea of selling the house and car and slinked back to my hometown in disgrace. In short, the parting was very unpleasant. 12 I felt we didn’t break up cleanly enough. Because the house and car hadn’t been dealt with properly. I should have sold them all. After all, to start a new life, I needed money too. After returning to my hometown, my mom started pushing me to go on blind dates. My family lives in a rural village. I lived in a daze all day long. Aside from washing up and eating, I just slept. Having suffered heartbreak, I needed to sleep constantly to heal my wounds. Only by remaining in a stupor could I forget the pain. But the Lunar New Year was approaching, and many migrant workers had returned to the village. My mom set me up with a guy. His first words were: “That outfit you’re wearing wasn’t cheap, right? I don’t like materialistic women.” “But I believe I can transform you into a non-materialistic woman.” He started boasting endlessly about how awesome he was, how great he was at business, which government officials were his friends, which CEOs were his bros… Spit flew everywhere. 13 Looking at this blind date, I truly felt a wave of sadness. I probably really couldn’t find a high-quality man like Arthur again. Although he was very calculating. But he was already the cream of the crop. And he was so generous. Just as I was reminiscing about Arthur. He sent me a message. He said: “I’m getting married on the tenth day of the first lunar month. Are you coming?” I was furious reading it. What did he mean? Was he coming to provoke me? I had to make him pay. So I thought about it and replied: “My sister passed away in a car accident three days ago.” “Her last words were that her biggest regret was breaking up with you and not marrying you.” “On her behalf, I wish you a happy marriage.” “I hope you don’t send any more messages to this number. It’s my only way of remembering her.” Heh, let’s see if that doesn’t guilt-trip him to death. 14 The next day, that blind date guy came over again. I had already told my mom I didn’t like him. I really didn’t know what he was doing here. The blind date guy said: “I don’t think you need to feel insecure. Even though you’re not good enough for me, I’m willing to accommodate you, so you don’t have to reject me.” Me: … I really envy him, being so confident. So I continued chatting with him. I said: “I’m three months pregnant. Since you’re so broad-minded, you probably don’t mind, right?” The blind date guy’s face changed. A ghostly voice came from behind me: “Chloe, didn’t you die in a car accident?” I turned around and saw Arthur staring at me with bloodshot eyes… 15 In just a few days of not seeing him, Arthur had completely changed. His hair was even half-white. His eyes looked like he had pulled all-nighters for several days straight. He looked haggard. I looked at him, utterly confused, and blurted out: “Holy shit, did you go bankrupt? Why do you look so miserable?” After asking that, I thought to myself, maybe I was his lucky charm, and after I left him, he lost his touch. He didn’t answer me. He just suddenly rushed towards me. I was startled. Did he want to kill me after we broke up? Before I could figure out why, he had already hugged me tightly. This man was too devious and ruthless. We already broke up, and he still wanted to strangle me? At the very last second when I was about to die, he finally let me go. Then I saw tears shimmering in his eyes. I suddenly felt he was quite pitiful. I comforted him, saying: “It’s okay even if you went bankrupt. You can still go begging. I heard beggars make pretty good money.” Arthur ignored me. He just glared at me fiercely and said: “Aren’t you already dead?” I rolled my eyes dramatically: “If you curse me during the New Year again, watch out or I’ll beat you up.” 16 The blind date guy pointed at the two of us with a trembling finger and asked: “Who is he? How can you be so lacking in female virtue? You’re not a virgin anymore, are you? If you’re not a virgin, I’m not paying a bride price.” I quickly explained to the blind date guy: “No, no, he’s not my Arthur. You can’t misunderstand. He’s a gigolo I keep. I even pay him $5,000 a month. You don’t mind, do you?” The blind date guy screamed a few times and then ran away. Before running off, he added: “I’ve never seen a woman as materialistic as you, opening your mouth and asking for $5,000. My mom raised me, it wasn’t easy, and I haven’t even given her $5,000! You’ll never get married in your life!” I was really going to die of anger. After the blind date guy ran away, Arthur was still holding my hand tightly. “Chloe, I didn’t agree to break up with you.” I found it even more unbelievable than he did: “You’re getting married, and you still haven’t broken up with me? Are you an octopus, bro?” Arthur said: “I’m not getting married.” Only a ghost would believe that. My mom was very happy to see Arthur. She asked what our relationship was. Arthur said he was my Arthur. My mom looked at his empty hands and was very dissatisfied, feeling he was impolite. Because he came to our house empty-handed. Arthur also realized this problem. He asked me to take him to town. 17 We walked towards town together. I told him: “I will not be your mistress. Give up on that idea.” He remained silent, not saying a word, just holding my hand tightly. After a long while, he asked with difficulty: “Do you really care that much about those empty titles?” I said: “If I married someone else but still continued to be with you, could you accept that?” He fell silent. I truly felt his moral compass was messed up. He actually thought that if he got married, I could continue to be with him, and he considered this completely normal. He was still trying to persuade me: “People in our circle never marry the ones they truly love, but they still stay together. It’s no different.” I looked at him seriously: “So next time you date someone, make sure you keep your eyes peeled. Check if the woman is from your circle. It’s very clear I am not from your circle.” We had reached a large bridge. Below the bridge, the river waters rolled and surged. Mist rose from the bridge surface. It gave a feeling of vastness between heaven and earth. I was actually quite happy that he came to find me. It was just that we were destined not to be on the same path, and I couldn’t help but feel a sense of sorrow. But wallowing in sadness wasn’t my style. So, I still had to say goodbye to this ill-fated relationship. 18 He asked me to take him to the supermarket. I took him directly to the bus station. I said: “If you’re taking a plane, take a bus to the city first, then grab a cab to the airport. You should go.” “I’m very grateful for the years I spent with you, and I will miss them. But I really won’t be anyone’s mistress.” He said: “When I received your message yesterday, I really thought you were dead. I rushed back from abroad. I’m not bankrupt. I thought you were dead, and when I looked in the mirror this morning, I realized my hair had turned half white. I truly love you. Over these years, you must have felt it too.” I looked at his hair. Tears welled up in my eyes. He treated me well, he loved me very much. But so what? He loved his career more. He loved his power. He asked finally: “Even if I love you this much, aren’t you willing to sacrifice a little for me?” I firmly shook my head. 19 He smiled faintly at me. He looked as if he was relieved. I was a bit confused. He said: “You’ve really made up your mind to break up with me, haven’t you?” I nodded. He smiled bitterly: “Actually, it’s still because you don’t love me enough. If you truly loved me, you would be willing to do anything for me.” I said: “You’re getting married, and that’s also because you don’t love me enough. If you loved me enough, you wouldn’t go and marry someone else.” He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender: “What a sharp-tongued little girl. Truly worthy of the little girl I’ve liked for so many years and carefully nurtured for so many years.” “Can you let me treat you to one last meal?” I didn’t seem to have a reason to refuse. We went to the most luxurious hotel in the county to eat. In the private room, I ate in silence, and he drank in silence. This was probably the most oppressive, final meal we had ever shared. But I started feeling more and more off. My vision grew increasingly blurry. I even felt drowsy. In my last moment of consciousness, I saw a bizarre smile on Arthur’s lips. He had turned to the dark side. 20 When I woke up again, I was back at the place I used to live with Arthur. I looked at the iron chain on my ankle and fell deep into thought. Arthur, he was seriously ill. He must have a screw loose, right? He actually locked me up. I looked at Arthur in disbelief. He looked back at me with cold eyes, as if I had betrayed him. I asked him: “What are you trying to do?” “I just don’t want to lose you. Having you under my nose makes me feel more at ease. You really scared me this time. Look at my hair, scared white by you.” I really thought he was laughable. I was actually quite touched originally. I never expected him to imprison me. Arthur’s reasoning was extremely simple. He just wanted to lock me up. He believed that only by locking me up would I be obedient. And he also wanted me to have his child. He thought that after having a child, I would compromise because of the child and stay. And he would continue to go ahead with his marriage alliance.

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He didn’t mean it in a happy way. When I slid the positive pregnancy test across the table, my sister froze for three solid seconds. Then, the tears started flowing. “Sis?” She didn’t answer. She just grabbed a napkin, wiped her eyes, and turned her back to me. I thought she was happy for me. Arthur and I had been married for eight years with no luck. Now, finally, it was happening. But the way she was crying felt wrong. Her hands were shaking. She stood at the front door for a long time when she left, her lips moving, but nothing came out. The next day, she came back. Holding a plain vanilla envelope. Inside was a divorce settlement. Completely blank. “Maddie,” she looked at me, her eyes red-rimmed, “think long and hard before you decide to have this baby.” 1 I thought my sister had gone off the deep end. “Sis, what is this supposed to mean?” I pushed the envelope back toward her. A blank divorce settlement. What on earth was she doing bringing this into my house? “Everything is good with you and Arthur, right?” She didn’t answer my question; she just countered with her own. “Of course it is.” “Has he been working a lot of overtime lately?” “Yeah. He just got promoted to Project Director. Being busy comes with the territory.” “How late is ‘late’ usually?” “Eleven, midnight. Sometimes later.” “And when he’s working late, does he pick up when you call?” 我愣了一下。 “Sometimes no. He says the signal is terrible in the company’s underground garage.” My sister put her coffee mug down. Her hands were still shaking. “Maddie, have you… ever checked his phone?” “Check his phone?” I actually laughed. “Sis, I’m not that kind of person. Marriage is about trust—” “Check it.” She cut me off. Her voice was quiet, but incredibly firm. “Just check it once. Tonight, after he’s asleep, just check it once.” I looked at her face. She wasn’t joking. She had heavy bags under her eyes, her lips were chapped, and she looked like she hadn’t slept in days. “Sis, what is going on? Can you just tell me straight out?” She opened her mouth. Then closed it again. “I can’t just tell you,” she said, “because you won’t believe me. You’ll just think I’m trying to cause drama in your marriage.” “You are my sister—” “I am your sister, and that is exactly why you won’t believe me.” She stood up. “You’ll think I’m jealous because you married rich, that since my divorce, I can’t stand to see you happy.” That stung. My sister got divorced three years ago. Her ex cheated, she got taking for everything in the settlement, and she’s been raising her daughter on her own ever since. “Sis, I have never thought that—” “I know.” She grabbed her bag. “That’s why I’m not telling you. Go see for yourself.” She walked to the door and stopped. “Maddie.” “Yeah?” “No matter what you see, remember one thing—you are not alone.” The door clicked shut. I stood in the living room, still clutching that vanilla envelope. It felt very light. But suddenly, it felt like it weighed a ton. Arthur didn’t get home until very late that night. Eleven-forty PM. He brought a chill in with him as he entered. Seeing me still sitting on the couch, he smiled. “Not asleep yet?” “Waiting for you.” “Don’t be silly, you’re pregnant. Get some rest.” He placed his phone on the entryway table—that was his routine. Phone down first, then take off his shoes. In the past, I thought that showed self-discipline—not looking at his phone at home, focusing on me. Today, staring at that phone, it suddenly looked like a locked box. He went to take a shower. The sound of running water started. I sat on the couch, staring at the phone on the entryway table. My sister’s words spun in my mind: Check it. Just check it once. I didn’t move. The water stopped. He came out, drying his hair, and saw me still sitting there. “What’s wrong? Why are you just staring?” “Nothing.” “Go to sleep early. I’m taking you to your prenatal appointment tomorrow.” “Okay.” I followed him into the bedroom. Lay down. Lights out. His breathing became even very quickly. I lay there with my eyes open in the dark, staring at the ceiling. His phone was in the entryway. His breathing was heavy. I did not move. It wasn’t that I was scared to. I just didn’t want to. If there was nothing in that box, I would be suspecting him over nothing. If there was something— I closed my eyes. But I couldn’t sleep. Two in the morning. I got up to use the bathroom. Passing through the entryway, I stopped. His phone was on the table, face down. I picked it up. The passcode was my birthday. He had never changed it. Holding that thought, I entered the six digits. Unlocked. I went to his messaging apps. Three conversations were pinned to the top. The first was me. Listed as “Wife.” The second was his mother. Listed as “Mom.” The third— Listed only as a house emoji. 🏠 No name. Just a house. I tapped on it. The latest message was from 9:17 PM tonight. It was a picture. In the photo was a little boy, wearing dinosaur pajamas, lying on a bed laughing. Below it was a line of text: “Daddy, your son won’t sleep. He’s waiting for you to come home.” 2 I put the phone back on the entryway table. Face down, exactly how it was before. I went back to the bedroom and lay down. Arthur rolled over, his arm draping over my waist. “Mmm… cold?” “No.” His hand was very warm. I stared at the ceiling in the darkness, completely still. That little boy in the dinosaur pajamas looked about two years old. He had big eyes and monolids. Arthur has monolids. I didn’t sleep a wink all night. The next morning, Arthur got up and made breakfast. Bacon, eggs, and toast. He was busy in the kitchen wearing an apron, turning back to smile at me. “Want some orange juice? Got to keep those vitamins up for the baby.” “Okay.” I sat at the dining table, watching his back. I had looked at this back for eight years. Eight years ago, he was making forty thousand a year, and I was making sixty. We lived in a walk-up apartment on the fifth floor. No elevator. Every day when he got home from work, he would carry up the groceries I bought first, then go back down to find parking for his car. Back and forth. Later, when we bought the house, we didn’t have enough for the down payment. I borrowed thirty thousand from my mom, ten thousand from a classmate, and emptied my 401k. He said, “Babe, when I make it big, I’m going to pay you back double.” Later, he changed jobs, and his salary went up. He changed jobs again, and it went up even more. From forty thousand, to eighty, to one hundred and fifty, to two hundred thousand, to four hundred thousand a year. When his salary went up, he said, “Don’t worry about the money anymore. I’ll handle the finances.” I thought he was doing it out of love. He took over the family finances. He transferred me two thousand dollars a month for living expenses, and he said he was saving the rest. “When we save enough, we’ll buy a big house with a huge yard.” I believed him. For eight years, I managed the household bills, paid the mortgage, and sent his mother five hundred dollars every month. He said the rest was in investments and savings. I never asked for specific numbers. Because I trusted him. I thought about what happened last winter. November. Our wedding anniversary. I took a half-day off, went to the grocery store at three PM. I bought his favorite steak and lobster tails. I also bought a bouquet of flowers. I don’t usually buy flowers. They are too expensive. But that day, I thought, We’ve been married seven years, let’s be romantic. Six PM, dinner was ready. Seven PM, he wasn’t home. Eight PM, I called. Went straight to voicemail. Nine PM, a text: “In a meeting, be back late.” I took the flowers out of the water glass I used as a vase. I still needed the glass. Eleven PM, he came home. “Did you eat?” “Yeah, got pizza with the team.” The steak and lobster on the table were stone cold. “It’s fine,” I said. “I can just reheat it.” He didn’t notice the flowers. Nor did he remember what day it was. I reheated the lobster and ate it myself. Thinking about it now—when he didn’t pick up at nine PM that night, where was he? Who was he with? Was that child in the dinosaur pajamas calling him “Daddy” right then? Breakfast was placed in front of me. Bacon, eggs, and toast. “Eat up while it’s hot.” He sat opposite me, smiling. I looked down and ate. The eggs were very hot. I ate very slowly. “Arthur.” “Yeah?” “What time did you get back last night?” “A little past eleven, I think. Told you, babe, the project is running tight.” “Okay.” I continued eating. He got up to clean the kitchen. I heard the sound of the running water. After breakfast, I did the dishes. He was putting on his blazer, getting ready to leave. “Might be another late one today. Don’t wait up.” “Okay.” The door closed. I sat back on the couch. I took out my phone and sent my sister a message: “Sis, you were right.” Three seconds later, she replied. As if she had been waiting. “What did you see?” I didn’t reply. Because I didn’t know how to say it. I sat there for a long time. Then I stood up and put his dirty clothes from last night into the washing machine. A receipt fell out of his blazer pocket. From a upscale children’s boutique downtown. Amount: $238. Item: Children’s puffer jacket, blue, size 2T. Size 2T. That is the size a two-year-old child wears. 3 My sister came over. This time, she didn’t beat around the bush. She brought a folder. It was transparent, filled with papers. “This is what I’ve gathered over the last six months.” She put the folder on the coffee table. I didn’t touch it. “Six months?” “Yes. Six months ago, I saw his car in the parking lot of a high-end mall. A woman was sitting in the passenger seat. There was a car seat in the back.” I looked at her. “You saw that, and you didn’t tell me?” “I wasn’t sure at the time—” “You weren’t sure, so you investigated for six months and still didn’t tell me?” She didn’t speak. “Felicia,” I called her by her first name. “Six months. You kept this from me for six months.” Her tears started falling. “I was scared you couldn’t handle it. You had just found that lump on your thyroid, you hadn’t even had the biopsy yet—” “So you made the decision for me?” “No—” “How are you any different from him?” I said. Those were harsh words. I knew that. She was different. She wasn’t Arthur. But at that moment, I couldn’t control myself. Six months. Half a year. I slept in the same bed with that man every day, cooked his meals, washed his clothes, got pregnant with his baby—and my sister knew he was lying to me, watched me being played for a fool, and didn’t say a single word. My sister sat opposite me, crying silently. I didn’t cry. “Give me the folder.” She pushed it over. I opened it. The first page was a photo. A surveillance shot from a parking garage. It was Arthur’s car. A long-haired woman was in the passenger seat, and there was definitely a car seat in the back. The second page was an address. Upscale condo complex on the East side. Building 3, Apartment 1402. “I followed him,” my sister said. “Twice. Both times, he went to this address. Once he stayed the whole night. The other time was a Saturday afternoon, he was there for four hours.” The third page was the property records for Apartment 1402. Owner: Stephanie Vance. Purchase date: Two years and three months ago. “Your husband bought this place,” my sister said. “It’s in her name.” I flipped to the next page. It was a screenshot of a bank transfer. Arthur → Stephanie Vance. The 8th of every month, $5,000. Memo: For this month. Six consecutive months. Six screenshots. Five thousand times six is thirty thousand. That was just the six months my sister was tracking him. What if we calculate from two years ago? Five thousand times twenty-four— One hundred and twenty thousand. I calculated my monthly household budget. Arthur transferred me two thousand. Sent his mother five hundred. I paid the mortgage—three thousand six hundred. I made three thousand a month. After paying the mortgage, I was left with a negative six hundred dollars. Negative. Every month, I was out of pocket six hundred dollars, made up for by my year-end bonus and freelance work. While he was giving that woman five thousand a month. I closed the folder. “Sis.” “Yeah.” “Thanks for gathering this.” “Maddie—” “But I don’t want to talk about you keeping this from me for six months right now.” She opened her mouth. “Wait until I’m done dealing with Arthur. Then we’ll talk about that.” I grabbed the folder and stood up. “You should go, Sis. He gets home at seven.” When my sister left, she stood at the front door for a while. “If you need anything, call me.” “Okay.” The door clicked shut. I sat alone in the living room. There were two coffee mugs on the table. She hadn’t really touched hers. It got dark outside. There was leftover dinner from yesterday in the fridge. I went into the kitchen, made a plate of food, and ate it. Alone. I did the dishes. I wiped the table. Then I sat on the couch, waiting for Arthur to come home. Seven-twenty PM, the door opened. “Wife, I’m home! Early today.” He smiled as he changed his shoes. “Hey, you already eat? What smells good?” “Leftovers. Yours is on the stove, help yourself.” “Awesome.” He went into the kitchen. I watched his back. I had looked at this back for eight years. Today, for the first time, I felt like it belonged to a total stranger. 4 For the next three days, I did nothing. I went to work. I came home. I cooked. I talked to Arthur, as usual. But I started watching his phone. Details I hadn’t cared about before now felt like needles in my eyes. Whenever he made a call, he went to the balcony. His phone’s screen-lock time changed from thirty seconds to ten. When he showered, he took the phone into the bathroom—something he never used to do. The third night, he worked overtime again. He didn’t get home until eleven. I smelled laundry detergent on him. Not our brand. We used Tide pods. He smelled of Downy scent boosters. “Worked so late at the company?” “Yeah, gotta get that proposal submitted.” “You work hard.” “As long as my wife appreciates me.” He smiled and亲了一下我的额头。 The smell of Downy pressed against me. I didn’t flinch. Nor did I speak. The fourth day, I took a sick day. I drove to the East side, to the condo complex. It was about a forty-minute drive. Not a huge complex, nice landscaping—the kind of trendy, small units young professionals liked. Building 3, Apartment 1402. I stood downstairs and watched for a bit. The windows on the fourteenth floor had pink curtains hanging. There were clothes drying on the balcony—a man’s white dress shirt, a woman’s dress, and some tiny children’s clothes. It looked like a home. Another home. I sat in the coffee shop across the street from the complex for two hours. At ten-thirty AM, a woman came out pushing a stroller. Long hair, wearing a designer coat and sunglasses. A little boy was sitting in the stroller. Wearing a hat with a dinosaur print. That was the child from the photo. She pushed the stroller to the park next to the complex. She sat on a park bench. The child got out of the stroller, toddling around. He tripped and burst out crying. She bent down, picked him up, and comforted him. The child stopped crying and hugged her neck. She took out her phone and snapped a picture. I knew who that photo was going to be sent to. Twelve PM, I got back in my car. I sat there for a long time. Then I opened Arthur’s banking app—the password was his mother’s birthday. He had made me memorize it for him when he set it up. He didn’t know I still remembered it. I scrolled through the credit card transactions line by line. Downtown Jeweler: $12,000. The date was three months ago. I hadn’t received any jewelry. Postpartum Recovery Center: $6,500. The date was May, two years ago. May, two years ago. I was traveling for work that month. I was away in Chicago for two weeks. Arthur had texted me: “Take care of yourself, babe. Miss you.” That month, he was accompanying another woman in her recovery center. Private Pre-K Enrollment: $20,000 annual fee. Payer: Arthur Sterling. Children’s Photography: $1,200. Gap Kids: Multiple charges, amounts ranging from hundreds to a thousand dollars. I logged out of the app. My hands rested on the steering wheel. I realized my fingers were shaking. I took a deep breath. I took out my phone. I looked at the photos of my sister’s folder again— The screenshots she took of the transfers were only for six months. But on the banking app, I could look at records going back three years. Three years. A fixed monthly transfer of $5,000 to Stephanie Vance. That’s one hundred and eighty thousand in three years. Add in the jewelry, the recovery center, Pre-K, kids’ clothes, and daily spending— I did a rough calculation. Well over two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. And my savings over these three years— I opened my own banking app. Balance: $6,812.15. The entirety of my savings from an eight-year marriage. I bought a coffee at the shop. Held it in my hand. Didn’t drink it. Sat there until the coffee went cold. Then I threw it away and drove home. On the way back, I made a call. “Sis.” “Maddie? What’s wrong?” “The third page, the property on the East side. Did you find the mortgage info?” “I checked the public filings. It’s 1200 square feet, bought in cash in March 2022. Total price was eight hundred and fifty thousand. The owner is listed as Stephanie Vance. I couldn’t trace the source of funds—” “I found it.” The other end was silent. “Eight hundred and fifty thousand. He bought her a luxury condo. In cash.” “Maddie—” “Between the monthly transfers and everything else, in three years, it’s at least four hundred thousand dollars.” My sister didn’t say anything. “I’ve been married for eight years. I have six thousand in the bank.” “Maddie, listen to me—” “Sis, in your folder, do you have that woman’s background information?” “Yeah. Stephanie Vance, born in 1994, same college as Arthur.” Same college. Arthur had told me he never dated in college. “Their child, what’s the date of birth?” “January 2023.” January 2023. I counted backward. Pregnancy would mean conception around April 2022. April 2022— That month, Arthur and I were actively trying for a baby. I was taking folic acid. He told me, “Don’t stress, let nature take its course.” Let nature take its course. I tried for two years and couldn’t get pregnant. She got pregnant. “Sis.” “Yeah.” “There’s one thing I don’t get.” “What?” “I tried to get pregnant for two years, and it never happened. I went to the doctor, they checked me out, said I was fine. The doctor said he was fine, too. But I just couldn’t get pregnant.” There was a long silence on the other end. “When you get home,” she said, her voice very low, “check by your water cooler. See if there’s anything there that shouldn’t be.” 5 I didn’t check the water cooler right away. Because my sister’s words carried too much weight. I needed to confirm it for myself. That night, Arthur worked late until eleven, as usual. I opened the drawer in his study. The bottom one. He said it was for old files and electronics warranties. I searched for five minutes. Tucked inside an envelope labeled “Tax Receipts,” at the very back, I found a blister pack of pills. They were white, in foil packaging. The writing on them was very small. I held it under the desk lamp. Ethinyl estradiol and Cyproterone acetate. A form of birth control pill. More than half the pack was gone. Seventeen pills were missing. Those weren’t my pills. I had never been on birth control. This pack was in his study. And the water I drank every day—he always poured it. Every morning, he got up before me, heated up water, poured it into my travel mug, and put it on my nightstand. “Wife, have some water before you get up.” He’d been saying it for over two years. I thought he was being considerate. I sat in the chair in the study holding that blister pack. I stared at it for a long time. I didn’t cry. I just felt cold. A coldness seeping out from my bones. I took out my phone, snapped a photo. Then I put the pills back exactly where they were. Put the envelope back. Closed the drawer. I walked to the bathroom. Turned on the faucet. Let the water run for a long time. I splashed water on my face. Looked in the mirror at myself. I was thirty-one years old. There were fine lines around my eyes. He said, “Babe, you work so hard.” He said, “Babe, get some rest.” He said, “When we save enough money, we’ll buy a big house with a huge yard.” While saying all that, every single day, he was crushing a birth control pill into my water cup. Ensuring I wouldn’t get pregnant for two years. Because the woman over there had already had his child. He didn’t need two. I turned off the faucet. Dried my face. Walked out of the bathroom. Sat in the living room. Took out a notebook. Actually, it was an Excel spreadsheet on my laptop. I calculated every penny from the last eight years. Mortgage: Three thousand six hundred a month. For eight years, that was three hundred forty-five thousand six hundred dollars. The first three years, I paid it alone—his salary was low back then. Later, his salary went up and he said, “I’ll handle the mortgage.” But the bank account for deductions was never changed. It was always my card being charged. The down payment: The borrowed money and my 401k, totaling forty thousand dollars. Household expenses: He transferred me two thousand, but the actual monthly spend was three to four thousand. I covered the difference. Eight years, I’d subsidized at least ninety-six thousand dollars. Financial support for his parents: Five hundred a month. For eight years, that was forty-eight thousand. He said, “I’ll send it to my mom.” But for three years, I transferred it directly—because he “forgot.” My bonuses: Eight years, all went toward joint debts, household shortfalls, and buying gifts for his family during the holidays. Total— I calculated it three times. Five hundred sixty-nine thousand, six hundred dollars. In these eight years, I had poured five hundred sixty-nine thousand, six hundred dollars into this home. While he had spent at least four hundred thousand dollars on that woman in just three years. My eight years. Her three years. I opened my sister’s folder and turned to the property page. condo, eight hundred fifty thousand, paid in full. Our own house, I paid the forty thousand down payment, and we still owed one hundred and fifty thousand on the mortgage. He bought the mistress a home in cash. He gave me a mortgage. I closed the laptop. Picked up my phone. “Sis.” “I’m here.” “Help me find a divorce lawyer. The best one.” “Already found him. Mr. Fitzgerald. Tomorrow at three PM.” She had prepared everything six months ago. “Thank you.” “Maddie, are you still mad at me?” “Yes.” “…” “But I’m going to deal with Arthur first.”

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The company’s annual gala announced a new rule: employees are allowed to bring a plus-one. I blurted out without thinking, “Can I bring someone else’s husband?” My colleagues stared at me, eyes wide as saucers. Our boss snapped the fountain pen in his hand, sneering, “Sure, go ahead and try.” I immediately, joyfully, texted my dad. “Dad! Tell Mom not to cook tonight! Hurry up and come get some free food!” 1 With the end of the year approaching, we had finally wrapped up a notoriously difficult case. Our boss, the modern-day Scrooge, showed unexpected mercy and announced that we could bring a plus-one to tonight’s annual gala. “Holy crap, why didn’t you say so earlier?!” My colleagues cheered, springing into action, calling and texting their significant others. As the only single person in the department… I weakly raised my hand: “Excuse me, can I bring someone else’s husband?” The moment the words left my mouth, the room fell dead silent. My colleagues looked like meerkats popping out of their holes, their eyes perfectly round. “Holy crap, is she really saying that out loud?” “Chloe, you’re usually so quiet, I would have never guessed…” They exchanged shocked glances, then quickly lowered their heads and started typing furiously on their keyboards, completely ignoring my question. The department manager wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, leaned in close to me, and lowered his voice. “Chloe, theoretically, you can bring whoever you want. But if you actually bring him, it’s not going to look good…” ? I scratched my head. Why wouldn’t it look good? I’m just bringing my dad to dinner, what’s the big deal? Sure, my dad can eat a lot, but it’s not like he’s going to eat the company into bankruptcy. I was just about to press the issue. When a sinister voice sounded from behind me. “Chloe Davis, you’re really something. You’ve hidden it better than anyone.” 2 The man standing in the doorway, dressed in a sharp suit, held a fountain pen snapped cleanly in two. Ink dripped steadily onto the floor, making his handsome face look even darker. “M-Mr. Sterling, what brings you here…” “Good thing you came, otherwise we wouldn’t have known we had such a wild card in the company…” The manager smiled obsequiously, “Please, don’t say that. Chloe is definitely just confused right now. I’ve already talked to her, she absolutely won’t bring him to the gala…” “Bring him! Why shouldn’t she?” “Bring him out and let us see what he’s made of. Let’s see what you’re really capable of.” “Am I right, Chloe Davis?” After all these years, Arthur Sterling’s meanness had only increased, not decreased. But that was fine. I had also evolved into a thorny black rose. I forced a smile and shot back without missing a beat. “Of course, I will definitely bring him.” “I need to show some ignorant people who the true father figure in my heart is!” The manager’s face went from white to green, green to red, and red to purple, looking as spectacular as a spilled palette. My colleagues remained deathly quiet, looking at me as if I were a valiant warrior. It wasn’t anything special, really. The reason I dared to publicly sass the boss wasn’t because I was crazy, but because I planned to quit right after the New Year. And the reason for my resignation was the newly parachuted second-in-command of the conglomerate— Arthur Sterling. My lifelong nemesis. 3 Arthur and I were college classmates. He pursued me. After graduation, he went abroad, and we broke up. The last time I saw him was at a class reunion. Our old class president, his face flushed from drinking, emboldened himself and asked: “Arthur, what exactly happened between you and Chloe? You broke up so quietly, there were no warning signs at all…” “Yeah, exactly! You went through so much trouble, giving everyone in the class red envelopes, and you must have spent a fortune transferring to our department. Why did you break up? We were getting ready to attend your wedding!” “What really happened? Tell us the story!” The man put down his glass, scanned the crowd, and said coldly: “She’s dead. Didn’t you know?” The next second, I pushed the door open and walked in. Under the horrified gazes of everyone present, I nodded: “Pay attention, this woman’s name is Xiaomei. Reborn from the ashes, she will take back everything that belongs to her.” I will never, ever forget the expression on Arthur’s face at that moment. I was so speechless I could have died. I had never seen such a petty man. We broke up, so what? He actually started a rumor that his ex was dead! When the gathering ended, I avoided his burning gaze, turned around, and left without a word. Ridiculous. Does he think I’m still the poor girl who let people push her around? I am this year’s poor girl. Poor, but with a spine! When Arthur parachuted into our company, I knew the poor girl’s good days were over. And coincidentally, I had hit a bottleneck in my career at this company anyway. So I immediately decided that as soon as I got my year-end bonus, I was jumping ship. As the saying goes, when you want nothing, you fear nothing. He told me not to bring him, so I was definitely going to bring him. I immediately ran outside to make a call. “Dad! You are forbidden from eating lunch today! Keep your stomach empty and come eat my corporate-slave-tears’ worth of food tonight!” 4 Because of my heroic deed this morning, no one dared to talk to me all afternoon. I was happy to have the peace and quiet. While slacking off, I scrolled past a forum post. 【URGENT! My first love is degrading herself, becoming the mistress of an old man… and she’s planning to bring him to the company gala to show off to me! What should I do?!】 ? Interesting. I rubbed my chin and clicked on it. 【Here’s the situation. My first love is a beautiful, kind-hearted girl. Although there’s a certain gap in our family backgrounds, I truly loved her. I always thought she left me back then to make a name for herself so she could be with me with peace of mind. But today I found out she’s actually degraded herself, becoming the mistress of a married old man… Tonight she’s bringing that old geezer to show off to me. Save me, guys, I’ve been crying non-stop!】 So tragic! The kind-hearted netizens were filled with righteous indignation and flooded the comment section with ideas. 【OP! Do you have a dog at home?】 【You mean I should let the dog bite him?!】 【Don’t talk nonsense. We live in a civilized society, biting people is not encouraged. I mean, if you have a Border Collie at home, it might be able to come up with some ideas for you. At least you wouldn’t be so lost.】 【OP, do you have toothpaste at home?】 【You mean I should bring it to humiliate him, tell him to brush his stinky old teeth?!】 【No, I’m almost out, I wanted to ask if I could use yours.】 【OP, do you have canola oil at home? Remember, it MUST be canola oil!】 【You mean I should bring it to mock him for being a middle-aged greaseball?!】 【No, canola oil is healthier. I can’t get used to other oils.】 … 【Hahahaha, I’m back. Thank you everyone for the comments, I’ve read them all! However, I am not the girl in the post, nor the guy in the post. I am myself, and I comment when I want to.】 【I’m a psychology major. In my professional opinion, you must be very anxious in this situation, but please don’t be anxious.】 【Don’t be sad, OP. Let me comfort you: the youth has the madness of youth, standing tall like mountains and rivers.】 【OP, I know what this is. This is the ‘groveling to win her back’ trope. First, make an appointment at the hospital for an abortion and put down his phone number. Then, buy a high-speed train ticket and run away. He will then use all his connections in City A to frantically search for you… That’s how it’s written in novels.】 The comment section was truly a case of “trouble in one place, chaos from all directions.” The original poster remained silent for a long time, then replied with a single question mark, looking even more pitiful. I had a moment of weakness. I thought about it and left a comment. 【It’s obvious that guy is bad news. He has a family and still comes out to seduce young girls. Even if OP’s first love sees reality and leaves this time, who’s to say other girls won’t be victimized in the future? OP, you seem pretty capable. I suggest you deal with that old man ruthlessly and solve the problem at its root!】 Perhaps because I appeared too normal amidst a sea of abnormal answers. Not long after, the OP added my account and sent me a large private red envelope. 【A true soulmate is hard to find!】 【Tell me, how should I deal with him?】 I clicked open the red envelope. One, two, three, four, five, six… The zeros were dazzling. I gasped and unilaterally declared— From now on, I will become the most loyal strategist for this “Why didn’t you tell me earlier” gentleman! 5 Regarding how to “deal” with the old geezer, I offered many constructive suggestions. Including but not limited to— Dropping a diaper and pretending it fell out of his pant leg; loudly asking whose dentures fell into the food; singing “Don’t Pick the Wildflowers by the Roadside” or “Perfume is Poison” during the gala performance. The OP was silent for a while. 【…A bit childish. Do you have anything more high-end? I want the kind that kills the heart without shedding blood.】 Yes, boss, I do. I deployed the knowledge I had accumulated over an entire summer. 【Did you know, there’s a secret technique to eliminate a romantic rival, and that is—make your rival fall in love with your fierce self!】 【When you and your first love become fans of the same thing, you’ll form the deepest bond! You’ll have a common language, a common goal, walking hand-in-hand on the path of love, no longer alone. Plus, you can endure the old geezer’s bad breath in place of your first love.】 【Once the old geezer falls for you, you hit him with a backhand report and send him behind bars. Not only will it make your first love give up on him, but it will also expose his true colors to his legal wife, and even ruin his descendants’ chances of getting government jobs. Three birds with one stone, how about that?】 【That’s so wicked… I mean, brilliant.】 【But Master, what if the old guy doesn’t like me?】 【Then you prepare a few more attacks, eventually something will hit the spot.】 【Thank you Master, I have reached enlightenment.】 The OP was a quick study and sent another massive red envelope. Playing the strategist for the first time, I stroked my non-existent little goatee, feeling quite satisfied. I clicked to collect the money. And realized that in just one short hour, I had already earned a year’s salary. I don’t need this crappy job anymore! I finally made it to the end of the workday, went home, and picked up my dad to head to the venue. As soon as he opened the door, I almost didn’t recognize him. The little old man had somehow produced a suit, even arranged a wig for himself, wore my mom’s thick gold chain around his neck, and pretentiously tucked a briefcase under his arm. “Dad?” “You’ve been retired for so many years, are you planning a comeback?” When my dad was young, he was a real estate agent (the unsuccessful version). He was clumsy with words, bad at selling, couldn’t bring himself to rip people off, and even often paid out of pocket to help poor people who couldn’t afford food. This led our family to struggle on the poverty line for years. Used to seeing my parents fight over money, once I got into college, I stopped asking for an allowance and started working part-time as a tutor for kids. Our university was in the suburbs, the environment was nice, and there were many villas nearby. While looking for work, I stumbled upon the biggest one. The first trial lesson. I took a deep breath and opened the door. An oversized child sat at the desk, his peach-blossom eyes curving, shooting me a charming wink. The door I had just opened, I closed again. I turned to leave, but his butler rushed out and stopped me. Crying bitterly, he said his young master was graduating and going abroad, but his English was terrible. They had brought in a bunch of teachers, but only I was left. He begged me to teach him. I shook my head. I am a person of principle. He pulled out a thick stack of cash. My eyes curved into a smile: “You’ve found the right person.” 6 Even though I lived a secluded life, I had still heard of this guy’s notorious reputation. Arthur Sterling, the little tyrant of A University. Arrogant, rebellious, with a terrible temper. He had once used his power to bully and bring over a dozen girls to tears. But I wasn’t afraid. Because I’ve heard a saying: a man’s psychology is the same as a child’s psychology. I was patient, gentle, and spoke nicely. Surprisingly, he behaved himself. During class, he stared at me unblinkingly, very focused. Although his homework assignments always made my vision go dark with errors, at least when I guided him hand-by-hand, he caught on. He was somewhat teachable. I thought to myself quietly, maybe… he wasn’t as terrifying as the rumors said. As they say, rumors are fiercer than tigers; maybe he was just slandered. I gradually let my guard down. Until one day, Arthur propped up his chin and asked lazily: “Teacher, do you mind student-teacher relationships?” … As the saying goes, there’s no smoke without fire. Rumors do have some truth to them. He wasn’t not messing with me, he just wanted to mess with me in a different way. If I said I didn’t mind. My teaching certificate would look at me in disappointment from heaven. If I said I did mind. This high-paying job would melt away like butter. Don’t do that, I still needed to save up to buy my mom a thick gold chain! After rapid brainstorming. I sat up straight, looking deeply pained. “Although I am undeniably a peerless beauty who makes fish sink and birds fall, eclipsing the moon and shaming flowers… before you speak, you should consider your status, right? The grand Young Master of the Sterling family, how could you possibly stoop to be with me? Do I deserve it? Can I reach that high? How can a toad like me hope to eat swan meat?!” I spoke with righteous indignation, just short of slapping myself twice. “Ah?” Arthur was stunned. “Sister, why would you talk about yourself like that? I just wanted to…” “Thinking about it is not allowed either! Thinking about it is a crime!” “Alright, considering this is your first offense, I’ll let it slide this time. Next time, you are not allowed to take me so seriously, got it?” “Come, look at the problem.” After much talking, I finally managed to fool him. I kept this lucrative, low-effort job, silently sticking my tongue out in my mind, celebrating my brilliance. Actually, after spending time with him, I realized Arthur was really good to me. When he saw me gnawing on plain steamed buns at noon, he would pinch his nose and toss me the bird’s nest and peach gum stewed with milk that his nanny made. The peach gum was soft and sticky, the bird’s nest sweet. After guzzling it for a month, my period cramps disappeared. When he saw static sparks flying from my polyester clothes, he threw me clothes he bought in the wrong size. That pink Hello Kitty collab sweater got me through the entire winter. It was the first time I knew clothes could be both warm and lightweight. Even so, I knew clearly in my heart that Arthur and I belonged to two different worlds. His confession to me. Was probably just a rich boy’s fleeting whim. I might as well take it as validation of my charm, smile, and move on. 7 Winter break passed, and my tutoring career finally came to an end. For the last class, Arthur was well-behaved and very calmly said goodbye to me. The heart that had been hanging in suspense finally settled down. The moment I stepped out of the villa, I waved to the man by the terrace, my steps light. Probably. I would never see him again for the rest of my life. The next day in Advanced Calculus, the young master smiled and waved at me: “Sister, what a coincidence.” Things got complicated. “Turns out we go to the same university. Looks like we have plenty of time ahead of us.” “If you don’t agree, it’s fine. I brought my tools.” ? Was this some trope where the wealthy heir aggressively throws money to pursue love? I was a bit excited, swallowed hard, ready to put up a token resistance before accepting that cold, heavy bank card. But who knew he’d pull out a hemp rope and wrap it around his neck circle by circle. “Sister, if you don’t agree, I’ll give you my life.” ? I always thought “giving your life for liberal arts” was a legend! How did I actually run into it? Who wants a useless thing like that?! That year, a mysterious legend appeared on the campus forum— A handsome guy, suffering too much from studying Advanced Calculus, openly used a swing in the classroom. From then on, the probability of humans being killed by Advanced Calculus was no longer zero. That year, for that class, the professor didn’t assign a single homework problem until finals. I guess that was the one good thing Arthur ever did.

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While I was pestering my aloof boyfriend to pick a boba tea flavor, the cashier suddenly spoke up in a passive-aggressive tone: “This offer is for couples only~” “Mistresses cannot participate.” By the time I snapped out of my daze, Liam had already paid for two cups of boba. He took my hand and led me away. Seeing I was upset, he gave a helpless, mocking smile: “It’s just an extra five bucks, is it really that big of a deal?” I was just about to argue. When we heard his neighbor exclaim: “Liam, your girlfriend has been home since noon, cooking dinner for you… “Are you doing right by her doing this?” 1 As soon as her voice fell, Liam’s apartment door was opened from the inside. A fair, plain-looking girl, holding a garbage bag, locked eyes with me— She didn’t panic in the slightest. Casually tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear, she smiled gently: “You must be Chloe, right?” “I’m Mia.” Then, Mia shot a playfully reproachful glance at Liam. “Chloe coming to Capitol City is such a big deal, and you didn’t even tell me~ “Bring her inside first. “I’ll go take out the trash. I haven’t made your favorite sweet and sour spare ribs yet.” I looked at the scene before me, feeling somewhat bewildered. For a moment, I genuinely didn’t know who Liam’s real girlfriend was. I instinctively tugged at Liam’s hand. Just as I was about to demand an explanation. Liam let go of my hand. Frowning with a serious expression, he took a step forward and said to Mia: “Your wrist is bothering you, didn’t the doctor tell you not to do chores?” Without leaving room for argument, Liam took the garbage bag from Mia’s hand. And strode onto the elevator. Leaving me standing there, my mind a mess. After a long silence, the neighbor lady finally gave an awkward laugh: “So she’s a relative from your hometown… Haha, I was wondering, since you and Mia are so in love… “And Liam is so handsome and upright, how could he bring a mistress home? “Sorry about that, it was a misunderstanding. I even wanted to stand up for you.” Having said that, the neighbor lady hurriedly carried her groceries into the apartment next door. But Mia had no intention of explaining. She merely pushed up her glasses, smiled, and opened the door. “It’s quite cold, hurry and come in. “Make yourself comfortable. I’ll give Liam a call and ask him to pick up a package from the lobby. “If he doesn’t get it soon, we won’t have any cotton tissues to use.” I stood in the living room. Watching Mia bustling about, acting completely like the lady of the house. With a cold face, I finally spoke: “You know I’m Liam’s girlfriend, right?” 2 Actually, from the moment we bought the boba, I vaguely felt something wasn’t right. But Liam was as aloof, restrained, and indifferent as usual. It didn’t seem like there was a problem. Besides, I didn’t want to cause a dramatic scene in a public place. But now. Looking around Liam’s rented apartment, seeing the matching couple slippers and the room filled with pink items. I couldn’t maintain my dignity anymore. “Liam and I have been together for four years, and doing long-distance for just one, and you shamelessly insert yourself—” “What are you talking about?” Liam suddenly appeared, his stern voice cutting me off. He stood tall and straight, looking down at me from a commanding height. “Mia is the comrade I told you about, the one who studied for the grad school entrance exams with me. “As for the ‘girlfriend’ thing, it’s just a lie we tell to fend off unwanted attention for each other. “I am equally a beneficiary of this fake relationship. How can you have such malice towards Mia?” I pinched my palms tightly, trying my best not to let my tears fall. Mia smiled helplessly. Generous and understanding, she smoothed things over: “Liam, don’t be so fierce to Chloe~ It’s only human nature for her to think this way since she doesn’t know the truth. “She’s a young girl, it’s completely normal for someone so focused on love to subconsciously feel competitive. “This is why I told you not to tell her about this. See, she’s angry as expected, right?” I laughed out of pure anger: “Are you not a girl?” Mia let out an “Ah?”, a hint of mockery flashing in her eyes: “I didn’t mean it like that. “It’s just that Liam mentioned you went to an ordinary college, and upon graduating, you just went with the flow and joined an ordinary company— “I just feel it’s a bit different from our… well, our value system of striving for the top.” She smiled sweetly and handed a glass of warm water to me. “Besides, you’re so pretty and know how to do makeup, unlike me, I have no aesthetic sense, I only know how to study. “Don’t worry, I’m planning to stay single forever. My life plan doesn’t include men. “So you don’t have to treat me as an imaginary rival~” The water glass hovered in mid-air. I didn’t take it. After a long while. The smile on Mia’s face became difficult to maintain. Until Liam chuckled lightly, took the glass, and intimately pulled me into his arms, saying affectionately: “Alright, we haven’t seen each other in months, how did you turn into such a little jealous pot? “The boba will get cold if you don’t drink it soon. I’ll give you mine too, okay?” Mia turned her head away, wearing a knowing “auntie” smile, and tactfully went into the kitchen. While Liam grabbed my hand, slipping it under the hem of his white shirt. “Want to inspect the eight-pack abs you love to see if they pass the test?” Instantly, a firm, warm sensation was transmitted from my hand. My face flushed red. I quickly pulled my hand back. Looking up at Liam’s ascetic, cold face. I suddenly remembered that when I first met him, he was as cold as an iceberg to all women. Only when he was with me would Liam show a different side. He spoke very seriously: “It really is just to fend off unwanted attention, nothing more. “We’re doing long-distance, don’t you even have this little bit of trust in me? “If you really can’t accept it, then hurry up and quit that job, come to Capitol City and end this long-distance—” “Oh right.” I almost forgot the purpose of my special trip to see Liam. I hesitated: “My boss values me highly and plans to—” I hadn’t even finished saying he planned to transfer me to the headquarters when a scream came from the kitchen. Liam’s expression changed drastically. “Mia, what happened?” I watched his tall, broad back as he hurried into the kitchen. Then I looked down at the message from my boss on my phone: [Have you thought about it?] I fell deep into thought. 3 To be honest. Out of this batch of newly hired interns, the opportunity to transfer to the headquarters was only offered to me and one other male colleague. It was a rare opportunity. But once I transferred, my relationship with Liam would face an even tougher situation. I couldn’t bear to let it go. After all, I put a lot of thought and effort into winning over this unattainable “flower on a high peak.” Just as I was agonizing over the decision. My boss sent another message: [I’ll give you three days to consider.] I breathed a sigh of relief. Put my phone away. And called out towards the kitchen: “What happened? Is everything okay?” 4 I had heard Liam talk about his “comrade.” A straight-A student from a small town. Supported by her entire family’s sacrifices to get to where she is today. Strong-willed, unafraid of hardship or exhaustion. So, even though I didn’t have a good impression of Mia, Seeing her pale face and pained expression now, my heart still sank. “Do we need to go to the hospital?” “Obviously.” Liam’s eyes were icy, showing no mercy. After picking up the frail Mia, he said coldly: “Mia knew you love double-cooked pork slices, so she wanted to make a plate for you— “That’s why her hand got burned by splashing oil while frying the meat. “Chloe—” He looked at me, enunciating every word: “Did you know her dream is to become a doctor? “If something happens to Mia’s hands, her dream will never be realized.” I looked at Liam in astonishment. I couldn’t believe it. That these words would come from someone usually so rational and calm. “Chloe, I’m so sorry my presence has brought you trouble.” Mia’s voice trembled, tinged with a sob as she spoke: “But right now, I need your boyfriend to take me to the hospital. “Don’t worry, we only pretend to be a couple in front of outsiders. We haven’t crossed any boundaries. “Today is a special circumstance, I didn’t expect the hot oil to splash while frying meat… My original intention was just to…” “It’s not your fault, you don’t need to grovel like this.” Liam said while grabbing his phone: “Even if it were a complete stranger, I would take them to the hospital.” He carried Mia in his arms horizontally. Looking at me expressionlessly, he ordered: “Open the door.” I pondered over Liam’s words. Feeling somewhat confused. It’s not her fault, is he insinuating— That it’s my fault? 5 After Liam and Mia left. I stood alone at the door. I stood in a daze for a long time. Then I replied to my boss: [No need to consider. [I’ll go.] When Liam’s mother called. I was discussing the details with my boss. Her voice was as kind as always: “Chloe, have you seen Liam yet?” I gave a muffled “Mm,” “I saw him.” Full of grievances, I didn’t know where to start for a moment. Just as I was about to speak, I heard Liam’s mother say earnestly: “A few days ago, Liam and I talked on the phone, and he was hesitating to speak. “I knew he had something hard to say. “After pressing him repeatedly, he finally said he wanted your Uncle Vance to use his connections to get you a job at a big tech company over in Capitol City…” She sighed. “Hearing him, I felt pretty bad. “After all, you are his first love, and your personalities complement each other so well. It’s only in front of you that Liam can relax and be himself. “You’ve been doing long-distance for so long, I guess he can’t stand it anymore but feels bad asking directly…” My deadened heart instantly reignited. I confirmed, somewhat nervously: “Really? I thought—” “Of course! When I said no problem, Liam was so incredibly happy.” Liam’s mother stated definitively: “Since he was a child, he never showed his emotions openly. It was the first time I’d seen him like that. “So Chloe, when are you quitting your job—” I took a deep breath. “Thank you to you and Uncle Vance for your kindness, but I have no plans to quit my job for now.” I interrupted her very softly, speaking gently: “I really like this job. “My bosses also value me highly. “I can’t give all this up for Liam. A big tech company is great, but it might not be suitable for me.” Seemingly not expecting me to refuse. The other end was quiet for a long time. Then Liam’s mother gave an awkward laugh: “You chased Liam for so long back then, this is a good opportunity… “It’s fine, Chloe, think about it some more…” I wanted to say “no need to think about it,” but I felt Liam’s mother had good intentions. I could only give a slow “Mm.” 6 After hanging up the phone. I stood in the empty room. Let out a long breath. Prepared to leave. But at a glance, I saw a small gift box on the floor— It must have fallen out of Liam’s pocket when he left in a hurry. As if possessed. I stopped and picked it up. Inside was a pair of dazzling, sparkling diamond rings. From Darry Ring. A brand where a person can only customize one ring in their lifetime. And the purchaser was indeed Liam. Connecting it to what Liam’s mother had just said. A sudden wave of guilt washed over me— So, Liam had already been considering our future. And here I was, acting out of spite, planning to leave without communicating with him. I calmed down. Put on the ring. Ready to call Liam. But his name jumped onto the screen first. I clicked answer, impatient to speak, “Liam, you left something behind, right?” “Mm.” Liam hadn’t expected me to answer so quickly, showing a bit of surprise before calming down again. “Mia’s wound has been treated, no major issues. She just needs a dressing change tomorrow morning, and then she can leave. “Sorry, I was too anxious earlier.” He paused, his voice hoarse. “Do you have time now to help me—” I looked at the striking diamond ring on my ring finger, thinking of the happy times I spent with Liam. I answered preemptively: “I do. “I can.” Liam’s tone became much more relaxed, chuckling lightly: “That’s good. “Mia’s period started early, and the sanitary pads she usually uses are in the compartment of the bathroom cabinet. “I didn’t want to bother you, but Mia is alone at the hospital, and I can’t leave. Her constitution is weak, so she can’t just use any brand you’d buy at a random store—” Mia’s voice calling out came from the other end. Liam quickly sent his location and hung up. My smile was still frozen on my face. My hand was still suspended in mid-air. Only the beep beep beep of the disconnected call remained in my ears. Seeming to remind me: The dream was over. 7 After thinking it over repeatedly: We are all adults. Ending a relationship should be done clearly face-to-face to do justice to these four years. Thirty minutes later. I stood in the emergency room lobby. I spotted Liam and Mia at a glance. In the noisy, chaotic environment, only the two of them seemed to exist in a tranquil bubble, completely out of place. As if sensing something. Liam happened to turn his head. And locked eyes with me. He looked at me, then looked at the bag in my hand. He curled his finger casually and freely, like an enchanting fairy from a myth, his voice also gentle: “Chloe, how can you be so cute?” Saying that, Liam raised an eyebrow and smiled at Mia: “I told you, my girlfriend isn’t the petty type. “See?” Mia’s face looked ugly for a second. She gave two perfunctory laughs. Only when she lowered her eyes did the darkness in them flash by. Liam didn’t notice. He was just focused on taking the things from my hand. The next second. He suddenly noticed the diamond ring on my hand. His expression changed drastically. “Why are you touching other people’s things without permission?” Before I could react. He coldly took the diamond ring off my finger. “Mia has been pestered by a senior recently, so she used the money she saved for a long time to buy these rings. “It’s just to make others believe she has a boyfriend and that their relationship is very strong. “It’s to fend off bad romances—” Liam’s eyes were cold, seemingly forcing himself to stay calm and lowering his voice. “I know you are very anxious about the progress of our relationship. “But you can’t just take other people’s things as your own like this.” I kept my head down. Looking at my somewhat red finger, I couldn’t help my eyes tearing up. No wonder it was so hard to put on. I thought I had gained weight, turns out… Just as the atmosphere was tense. The male colleague who was supposed to transfer with me initiated a video call. On the other end, he smiled brilliantly and freely: “Only half a month left before we have to leave. “Hey Chloe, when are you coming back to hand over your work?” … Clatter. The things in Liam’s hands fell all over the floor. His eyes were deep, his voice hoarse: “Hand over your work? “Chloe, where are you going?”

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