The sound of running water came from the bathroom.
It was Wen Tingyan, taking a shower.
Three in the morning.
He had only just returned.
Jian Zhi stood at the bathroom door, wanting to discuss something with him.
She was a little nervous, unsure if he would agree to what she was about to tell him.
Just as she was thinking about how to bring it up, a strange sound came from inside.
She listened closely and finally understood. He was taking care of himself…
Each gasp and muffled groan was like a heavy hammer, striking her heart again and again. Pain spread like a tidal wave, and she floundered in it, unable to breathe.
Today was actually their wedding anniversary. It was the fifth year since she had married him, and they had never consummated their marriage.
So, he would rather take care of himself than touch her?
As his breathing grew more ragged, he suddenly let out a low, fiercely restrained cry, “Cheng Cheng…”
That name was the final, fatal blow.
Something inside her heart shattered into dust with a deafening crash.
She desperately clamped a hand over her mouth to keep from crying out. She turned to run, but on the very first step, she stumbled, hit the sink, and fell to the floor.
“Jian Zhi?” Wen Tingyan’s voice from inside hadn’t yet settled. It was clear he was trying to control it, but his breathing was still heavy.
“I… I needed to use the restroom. I didn’t know you were in the shower…” she said, telling a clumsy lie as she frantically grabbed the sink to pull herself up.
But the more anxious she was, the more pathetic she became. There was water on both the floor and the sink. Just as she finally managed to stand, Wen Tingyan came out. His white bathrobe was hastily thrown on, but the belt was tied securely.
“Did you fall? Let me.” He moved as if to carry her.
Tears of pain welled in her eyes, but she still pushed his hands away, wretched yet resolute. “No, I can manage on my own.”
Then, after nearly slipping again, she limped and staggered back to the bedroom in flight.
“Flight” was exactly the right word.
In the five years she had been married to Wen Tingyan, she had always been fleeing.
Fleeing the outside world, fleeing everyone’s strange looks, and fleeing Wen Tingyan’s pity and sympathy—that Wen Tingyan’s wife was a cripple.
How could a cripple ever be worthy of the brilliant and successful Wen Tingyan?
But she once had a pair of strong, beautiful legs…
Wen Tingyan followed her out, his gentle tone full of concern. “Are you hurt? Let me see.”
“No, I’m fine.” She pulled the blanket tightly around herself, hiding her pathetic state along with her body.
“Are you sure?” He sounded genuinely worried.
“Yes,” she replied, her back to him, nodding forcefully.
“Then let’s sleep? Didn’t you need to use the restroom?”
“I don’t feel like it anymore. Let’s just sleep, okay?” she said in a small voice.
“Alright. By the way, today is our anniversary. I bought you a gift. You can open it tomorrow and see if you like it.”
“Okay.” The gift was on the nightstand. She had already seen it, but she knew what was inside without even opening it.
Every year, it was a box of the same size, containing the exact same watch.
Including her birthday gifts, there were already nine identical watches lying in her drawer. This would be the tenth.
The conversation ended there. He turned off the light and lay down. The damp scent of shower gel filled the air, but she could barely feel the mattress dip. On the two-meter-wide bed, she slept on one edge, and he lay on the farthest edge of the other side. There was enough space between them for three more people.
Neither of them mentioned the name Cheng Cheng, let alone what he had just been doing in the bathroom. It was as if nothing had happened at all.
She lay stiffly on her back, feeling only a searing pain in her eyes.
Cheng Cheng. Luo Yucheng. She was his college classmate, his first love, his goddess.
When they graduated from university, Luo Yucheng went abroad and they broke up. For a time, Wen Tingyan was devastated, drinking himself into a stupor every day.
She and he had been middle school classmates.
She admitted she had secretly liked him back then.
At that time, he was the most handsome boy in school, the cool, top student. She was an arts student. Though she was also pretty, there were many pretty girls. In a high school career where grades were everything, an arts student didn’t stand out. Some people even held prejudices against them.
So, it was just her own secret crush. She never imagined she would one day be able to stand before him.
Until she, home for summer vacation after graduating from the dance academy, encountered him in his state of despair.
That night, he was drunk again, walking in an S-pattern down the road. He crossed the street without looking at the light. A car sped toward him, unable to slow down in time. It was she, who had been following him out of concern, who pushed him away. She was the one hit by the car.
She was a dance student. She had already secured a spot in a graduate program.
But because of that car accident, she was left with a limp.
She could never dance again.
Later, he quit drinking and married her.
He was forever guilty, forever grateful, forever soft-spoken, and forever as cold as water. He also gave her many gifts and a lot of money.
But the one thing he didn’t give her was his love.
She had thought time would warm everything, and that time could wash everything away.
But she never imagined that after five years, he would still remember the name “Cheng Cheng” so vividly that he would call it out even while servicing himself.
In the end, she had been too foolish, too naive…
She lay awake all night. She had looked at the email on her phone no less than a hundred times that night.
It was a graduate school offer from a university abroad. This was what she had originally planned to discuss with him tonight—could she go abroad for her master’s degree?
But now, it seemed there was no need to discuss it with him.
Five years of marriage, countless restless nights—from this moment on, the countdown could finally begin.
When he got up, she was still feigning sleep. She heard him speaking to their housekeeper, Aunt Chen, outside. “I have a social engagement tonight. Tell my wife not to wait up for me and to go to bed early.”
After giving his instructions, he even came back into the room to check on her. She had the blanket pulled over her head, her tears having already soaked the pillow.
Usually, when he went to the office, she would have already picked out his clothes and laid them aside for him to simply put on.
But she hadn’t today.
He went to the walk-in closet, changed his clothes himself, and left for the office.
Only then did she open her eyes, which felt terribly swollen.
Her phone alarm rang.
It was the time she had set for herself to get up and study English.
After getting married, because of her leg, she spent 90% of her time confined at home. She no longer went out, so she could only divide her day into segments, finding something to do to pass the time in each one.
She picked up her phone to turn off the alarm, then began scrolling aimlessly through various apps.
Her mind was a buzzing mess; she couldn’t take anything in.
Until, on a certain social media app, she suddenly came across a video.
The person in the frame was all too familiar…
A glance at the account name: Cheng Cheng CC.
So much for big data…
The post time was just last night.
Jian Zhi clicked on the video. Lively music immediately blared, and then someone shouted, “One, two, three, welcome back, Cheng Cheng! Cheers!”
That voice, unbelievably, was Wen Tingyan’s.