“Madam, it’s time for your medicine.”
Like a robot, Ruan Mi drank the fertility aid her mother-in-law had sought out for her under Sister Zhang’s watchful gaze. Her voice was cold.
“You go back first. I’ll return once the memorial service is over.”
Ruan Mi stood up and straightened her clothes. Looking toward a certain direction, a self-deprecating smile tugged at the corner of her lips.
What use was there for a virgin to drink so much fertility medicine?
Her husband hadn’t been home for six months.
Opening the door, voices drifted into her ears.
“Brother Mu really knows how to have a good time, bringing someone to a place like this. How awkward would it be if his wife saw them?”
“Tsk, so what if she sees? She’s just a substitute. Can a dog who threw herself at him even have her own thoughts?”
“True. I bet even if she saw, she’d still have to clean up Brother Mu’s mess!”
A substitute? A dog who threw herself at him?
Ruan Mi chewed on those words repeatedly, as if recalling her own wretched past.
For the sake of craving a sliver of warmth from years ago, she had been willing to act as a substitute, only hoping that one day, he would remember their past.
Later, they really did fall in love. She had counted the days of what she thought were beautiful times.
Then they got married, and she continued to count the days, but their home had become a “Cold Palace” where she lived alone.
The two men continued, “She truly is the one at the tip of Brother Mu’s heart. He takes her everywhere. They’ve been in there for over an hour and they’re still not finished. Should we knock and remind them?”
“You’re just being meddlesome. Brother Mu knows his limits. Let’s head over first.”
Once the two men walked away, Ruan Mi approached the room they were talking about.
A voice, seductive to the bone, mingled with heavy groans and gasps.
Standing before the door, Ruan Mi’s body jolted. Those two voices?
As if possessed, she gently pushed the door open just a crack.
What met her eyes was total destruction.
The bed creaked and groaned as familiar figures entangled with each other.
The cold air of the funeral parlor, carrying the scent of paper money ash, seeped into her very bones.
Zhou Mei?
The C-list celebrity who was also Mu Xiubai’s “white moonlight.” She was actually back.
“Go back tomorrow. Take good care of the pregnancy and give birth. This child will be the only heir to the Mu family in the future.”
“Xiubai, wait a little longer! Let’s wait another month, okay? Sending me away so soon—don’t you miss me?”
With a roar in her mind, Ruan Mi nearly lost her footing.
A sharp pain came from her lip; she realized she had bitten through it. A bead of blood seeped out, appearing enchanting yet desolate against her pale lips.
Her nails dug deep into her palms, trying to use the pain to claw back her sanity.
Ruan Mi didn’t know how she walked back to the mourning hall. She was like a wandering spirit, her soul detached from her body.
She reached the brazier and collapsed to her knees with a thud, tears falling in strings.
She didn’t kneel on the cushion but directly on the freezing floor.
“Sister-in-law, you’re…”
Xu Lingfeng, who was kneeling nearby, was startled. He looked at her bloodshot eyes and then glanced around uneasily.
His brother’s wife was crying so heart-wrenchingly in front of his father’s spirit tablet, kneeling right next to him; no matter how one looked at it, the scene was bizarre.
Ruan Mi’s voice was as hoarse as if it had been rubbed with sandpaper. “I’ve come to see Uncle off on his final journey.”
And to bury her five years of obsession.
“Isn’t that the wife of the Mu Group’s CEO? Why is she kneeling next to Young Master Xu and crying so bitterly? This isn’t proper!”
“Keep your voice down. The Mu and Xu families are old friends; their relationship is extraordinary. Besides, who in our circle doesn’t know how much Mu Xiubai dotes on his wife? Even if it’s improper, who would dare say anything!”
Dote on her? Yes, Mu Xiubai had always been excellent at public relations.
The entire upper class of Haishi knew that Mu Xiubai doted on Ruan Mi to the bone. Whether it was her birthday or their wedding anniversary, he would always celebrate with grand gestures.
“Sister-in-law, that’s enough. If Xiubai sees this, he’ll be worried sick. I can’t handle the way he looks at me when he’s angry.”
Xu Lingfeng tried to help her up, but she remained deaf to his words, mechanically throwing paper money into the fire.
The memorial service was about to begin, and the funeral dirge circled low in the hall.
“Mi Mi, what are you doing? Do you not want your legs anymore?”
A familiar voice sounded above her head. The next second, she was swept up into a princess carry.
The familiar scent of cedar mingled with a cloyingly sweet perfume drifted into her nose.
Mu Xiubai sat her down on a chair in the corner. He knelt down, his warm palms covering her knees, gently massaging them.
“Your knees have been injured before; you can’t let them get cold.” His tone was as tender as usual.
Then, he leaned in and hissed a sharp warning in her ear, “What do you think you’re doing, kneeling there? Are you planning to slap my face in public?”
Seeing that Ruan Mi didn’t answer, he looked up, only to freeze suddenly.
Ruan Mi’s face was as white as rice paper, her eyes terrifyingly hollow. The red mole at the corner of her eye appeared exceptionally bewitching.
Large beads of sweat mixed with tears rolled down, dripping from her chin onto her collar.
Vivid red blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, drip by drip, forming a melody of death.
Then, slap!
The crisp sound of a slap was completely swallowed by the funeral music.
Mu Xiubai was stunned, his eyes filled with shock and disbelief.
Ruan Mi looked at him, a smile slowly curling on her lips—sorrowful, beautiful, and resolute.
“Mu Xiubai, let’s get a divorce!”
Ruan Mi’s vision went black, and she collapsed straight down.