After being discharged from the hospital, Li Yixun worked two extra nights to finish the backlog of work.
At the same time, she didn’t forget to text Yan Che to thank him, “I’m discharged! I’m so sorry to have troubled you that night. When are you free? I’d like to treat you to dinner.”
Yan Che seemed to be looking at his phone and quickly replied, “There’s no time like the present. It’s Friday, so let’s relax tonight.”
“Okay, what do you want to eat?”
“You just got out of the hospital, so let’s eat something light. I know a place with good pork tripe and chicken soup; I’ll send you the location later.”
“OK, see you tonight.”
Li Yixun never expected to have a working connection with Yan Che after so many years. Their paths seemed to have crossed. He had pursued her a while back, but after it didn’t work out, they became just casual acquaintances, exchanging a few words occasionally. The Chen family and the Yan family had close business ties, and Yan Che attended Li Yixun’s wedding as a friend, while Yan Che’s father attended as a friend of Qi Hui. When Li Yixun heard the news, he remarked to him how small the social circle in Shenhai City really was.
The waiter carefully lifted the pot lid with a cloth, releasing a rich aroma of pepper and chicken broth. The rising steam blurred the vision of the two people sitting opposite him.
Li Yixun sniffed. “Hmm…it smells delicious.”
The waiter served each of them a bowl of rich, milky-white pork tripe and chicken soup. “Sir and Madam, you can eat now. Drink the soup and eat the meat first, and then we’ll cook the other side dishes you ordered separately. Just let us know if you need anything.”
“Okay, thank you.”
Li Yixun scooped up a spoonful of the pork tripe and chicken soup, gently blew on it to cool it, and tasted a spicy yet refreshing flavor. She gave honest feedback, “It’s really delicious. You have a good palate; this alley is hard to find.”
Yan Che was clearly pleased, her eyes crinkling with delight. “Of course! This shop is over twenty years old. My parents have been bringing me here since I was very young, and even now, in my thirties, I still crave this soup.”
“I feel that slow-cooked soup has a homely taste. You know locals love soup.”
“Maybe so. My mother lives abroad, and I can’t cook, so I eat out all sorts of things, mostly good home-cooked meals.” Yan Che asked curiously, “Do you usually make soup for Chen Nian at home?”
“Hmm…actually, my cooking isn’t very good…Chen Nian cooks very well, but he’s very busy, always disappearing.” Li Yixun lowered her eyes, hiding her slightly stiff expression.
Yan Che also thought of Chen Nian’s job. “His company is doing very well, so he’s bound to be busy. Unlike me, someone who just coasts along, stuck in a lowly position under my dad with a fixed salary.”
“A marketing director at a listed company is considered a lowly position? Then am I, a small manager, begging for food?” Li Yixun feigned annoyance, deliberately teasing him.
“We’re all just trying to make a living…who’s more noble than whom?”
Yan Che slapped his forehead in frustration. “Oh, right, the fridge magnets for the KV project are finished. I was going to send them to you, but I thought I’d give them to you since we were meeting, and I forgot them in the car.”
“It’s okay, I’ll go get them with you when we leave.”
The meal was interrupted by a phone call near the end.
“Excuse me, I need to take this call.” Li Yixun broke her conversation with Yan Che, wondering why Chen Nian would call her at this time.
“Hello?”
The phone rang with an error message from the lock. Even through the phone, Chen Nian’s displeasure was palpable. “You changed the locks?”
Li Yixun then remembered that the property management had replaced the locks with a different brand. She had only re-registered her fingerprints, not changed the password back to her usual one.
“Yes, the locks at home were changed. The password is…” Realizing there were others present, Li Yixun changed her words, “It’s not convenient for me to say it here. I’ll send you the password via WeChat.”
Chen Nian didn’t say anything more and hung up.
“Chen Nian’s back?” Yan Che, who had overheard the whole thing, put down his chopsticks and asked with interest.
“Yeah, he went on a business trip because of some problems with the project. He was probably tired, and seemed a little angry when he came home and couldn’t get in.” After sending the password to Chen Nian, Li Yixun put down her phone and smiled awkwardly. She didn’t want to expose their marital problems to outsiders.
“That can’t be right. He should be in a good mood lately… I heard he got his father’s mistress and illegitimate child out of the country. His father’s mistress is no pushover; it must have taken a lot of effort to handle her.”
Yan Che’s words were like a thunderclap thrown into calm water, catching Li Yixun completely off guard.
“What?…”
What mistress? What illegitimate child?
Li Yixun only vaguely knew that Qi Hui and Chen Gong seemed to have been separated for a long time. She wasn’t familiar with this imposing father-in-law; she had only met him a few times. Chen Nian and Qi Hui both seemed cold towards him, and he was rarely seen at family gatherings.
But in the two years of their marriage, no one had ever told her whether Chen’s parents’ marriage was still valid, or that Chen Nian even had an illegitimate child, and that Chen Nian had spent a great deal of energy dealing with these matters.
Seeing Li Yixun’s utterly shocked expression, Yan Che realized she genuinely knew nothing about the Chen family. He didn’t press the matter further, stammeringly changing the subject, “You should ask Chen Nian for details… I just remembered I promised my nephew I’d buy him an Ultraman toy. After you’ve eaten, would you like to go shopping at the nearby mall?”
Li Yixun shook her head, forcing a smile, feeling as if her soul was already fading. “No, I don’t even recognize many Ultraman figures.”
Like a deflated balloon, Li Yixun used her last bit of strength to say goodbye to Yan Che, returning to her car and shedding all pretense. Her expression was cold and weary; the makeup she had maintained all day was now shattered after the steaming meal, revealing a haggard look that couldn’t be concealed by her illness.
Li Yixun straightened the rearview mirror, scrutinizing her ghostly reflection.
With a cold laugh, she quickly turned the steering wheel and drove the car out of the garage, thinking as she headed home.
Clearly, she didn’t understand Chen Nian’s thinking. Although it was their family matter, she was married to him and became part of their family. Even if she had no right to interfere, shouldn’t she at least have the right to know?
Instead of the whole world congratulating her husband, while she didn’t even know what they were happy about? It made her, the wife, seem pitiful and pathetic.
Li Yixun drove quickly. When she arrived home, she still hadn’t decided whether or how to bring up the matter Chen Nian had deliberately concealed.
Only a floor lamp was on in the living room. Chen Nian had obviously just showered; his hair was half-dry and hanging down. He was wearing the black silk pajamas she had bought him, drinking a glass of red wine alone in the dim light.
Hearing the door open, he seemed to be startled from his solitary contemplation, lifting his eyelids to look at his late-returning wife. She stood at a distance, arms crossed, leaning against the wall, coldly meeting his gaze, her expression weary and indifferent.
“Why did you suddenly change the locks?”
“Are you angry?”
“Because I suddenly went on a business trip?”
Chen Nian didn’t understand. Their relationship had been harmonious on New Year’s Day, and now, after just one business trip, the locks had been changed, and she was even so cold towards him when he got home. He instinctively felt he couldn’t grasp the crucial thread, unable to unravel the problem step by step.
“What have you been busy with lately?” Li Yixun hesitated for a long time before deciding to rephrase her question. If he told her, she would try her best not to hold it against him.
Chen Nian was puzzled but still patiently answered, “There’s been a problem with an investment I discussed in Singapore, and I’ve been dealing with it there this week.”
“Anything else?” Li Yixun felt her expectations gradually fading away with time.
“Nothing else. I really have been dealing with this for a week. Did you hear some rumors?”
“I don’t have time for messing around with women,” Chen Nian added confidently.
That’s a different matter altogether. Just as Li Yixun was about to retort, his phone rang at the most inopportune moment, interrupting the turbulent emotions swirling in the dimly lit space.
“Yan Che?”
“What is it?”
Upon hearing that name, Chen Nian tensed up as if his tail had been stepped on, unconsciously shifting forward and straining his ears to listen. However, the two were too far apart; he could only hear Li Yixun’s familiar yet casual tone of voice.
“The surrounding area?”
“I forgot to ask you for it. Could you have your assistant send it to the company?”
“The address is the same as before.”
“Okay, bye.”
Chen Nian glared at Li Yixun, his voice sharp and sarcastic, a tone he himself didn’t recognize. “What? Is it only the magistrate who’s allowed to set fires, but the common people aren’t allowed to light lamps? Li Yixun, you have time to question me, but don’t you first consider whether you’ve been in contact with your ex-boyfriend?”
“It sounds like you two met tonight?”
“And your husband can’t even get into the house.”
Li Yixun couldn’t help but sneer, tears welling in her eyes.
Yes, she had never explained to Chen Nian that her relationship with Yan Che wasn’t what he thought, because she felt it wasn’t important, and Chen Nian had never brought it up.
Li Yixun had always believed that they had basic trust and loyalty in their marriage. Perhaps Chen Nian didn’t love her, but she always believed he would never stoop to doing anything that violated marital fidelity.
This was the bottom line, and the last vestige of trust.
She never commented on his socializing, staying out all night, or not reporting his whereabouts. Even when she smelled a perfume on his shirt that wasn’t his, she tried to convince herself it was just for show. It wasn’t that she hadn’t attended those boring and vulgar dinners; she knew the adult world was like that, with its twisted sense of humor. She gave him the utmost understanding and trust.
She always believed they shared a tacit understanding on this point.
But now, Chen Nian had shattered her illusions.
“So, in your heart, I’m the kind of person who would still hook up with her ex-boyfriend after marriage?”
“Even if you hid things from me, I thought there was trust between us.”
“I never questioned the perfume on your clothes that wasn’t yours, never questioned the junior who texted you late at night, never questioned that scheming female assistant by your side.”
Li Yixun felt nauseous recalling what Assistant Jin had done. Her eyes reddened as she forced herself to continue.
“Your assistant blatantly disregards me. She never even calls me Mrs. Chen, always using the formal ‘you’ unless absolutely necessary.”
“We both have obsessive-compulsive disorder; we keep plenty of disposable slippers in the shoe cabinet for guests. But she never wears them.”
“Every time she comes over, I throw away a pair of slippers.”
“Yes, you’re very busy, too busy to pay attention to these trivial details, and I don’t care whether you know it or not. But I’ve given you my complete trust, and I hope you can give me the same.”
“If a marriage lacks trust… then I think…”
He paused, utterly disappointed, but still couldn’t bring himself to say the word.
Chen Nian regretted his words the moment they left his mouth, and after hearing Li Yixun’s confession, he felt even more remorseful, wanting to kill himself. He angrily clutched his hair, lowered his eyes, and tried to approach her, but her half-step back hurt him, and he froze, his back stiff.
He spoke again, his voice hoarse like that of a decades-old smoker. “I’m not coming.”
“It’s my fault. I didn’t know any of this. I’ll handle Assistant Jin’s matter.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way. I was just jealous and said things without thinking. I apologize.”
Li Yixun looked at the tall figure so close to him, a wave of sorrow washing over him. He wiped away two tears that had unknowingly streamed down his face.
What’s done is done. Once words are spoken, it’s hard to cover them up and go back to the way things were before.
“Let’s calm down. I’ll sleep in the master bedroom. You can decide whether you want to sleep in the second bedroom or go to another room.”