Aunt Liu rushed out of the room in a panic, shouting in distress:
"Is it an earthquake? Is it an earthquake?"
Zhang Sao, holding the crying baby, was so scared by the sound that she rushed out barefoot, carrying her bag, not even bothering to put on her shoes.
...
The two rushed into the living room and saw Lin Sa, who had always been calm and rational, smashing her once beloved decorations to the ground like a madwoman. They were instantly stunned.
Aunt Liu rushed forward to stop her:
"Madam, stop smashing! Let's talk properly, Madam!"
Zhang Sao, rocking the crying child, shouted with a choked voice, "Madam, please stop, don't scare the baby!"
Hearing the baby's heartbreaking cries, Lin Sa's body went limp, as if all her strength had been drained.
She finally put down the celadon vase in her hand, stepped forward, and held the baby tightly in her embrace.
The baby's face was red from crying, his little fists clenched tightly.
Zhang Sao leaned in, urging anxiously, "She must be hungry. She refused the milk powder I prepared and only wants breast milk! Madam, quickly, feed her!"
Lin Sa hesitated for a moment, instinctively about to lift the hem of her clothes.
But in the next second, she suddenly realized something.
She looked up and met Fu Yanci's indescribable gaze.
Over the years, he had seen her as a decisive, impeccably dressed professional. He had never seen her so disheveled, lifting her clothes to breastfeed in public.
At this moment, let alone him, even she felt a sense of shame.
But the baby's cries didn't stop. She couldn't care less. She turned her back to him, lifted the hem of her clothes, and gently brought the baby's little face close to her chest.
The air instantly quieted down, leaving only the sound of the infant gulping greedily.
Fu Yanci stood on the spot, gazing at Lin Sa's back as she breastfed, his expression complex, his eyes deep, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.
Aunt Liu began to quietly clean up the mess on the floor.
Zhang Sao came over, watching Lin Sa breastfeed, and said softly:
"Madam, you've really been through a lot. To let the baby have breast milk, you endured the pain of engorgement and insisted on stimulating lactation for half a month before you finally had milk."
"Since the baby started drinking breast milk, he's gotten better every day. Look at his little face, so chubby."
...
Lin Sa remained silent, her heart turning to ice.
Her ears perked up unconsciously. Although she was filled with disappointment, she couldn't help but hope for some reaction from behind her.
After a long while, she finally heard faint, approaching footsteps behind her.
Fu Yanci walked up to Lin Sa, glanced at her, then looked down at the infant in her arms sucking vigorously.
The baby stopped drinking milk at this moment, and Lin Sa quickly pulled her clothes back in place.
Fu Yanci squatted down and, almost subconsciously, carefully took the baby from Lin Sa's arms.
"Baby, I'm your father. We finally meet."
He looked down deeply at the infant in his arms, a rare hint of tenderness appearing on his usually stern face.
"Sir, everyone says the baby looks like you, like they were carved from the same mold," Zhang Sao teased from the side.
"Really?"
Fu Yanci looked up with a smile in his eyes and couldn't help but hold the baby tighter.
Lin Sa looked at the two faces, one large and one small, like a perfect copy, and her nose couldn't help but sting.
The way Fu Yanci looked at the baby had a light in his eyes.
Her tense heart loosened slightly, and her anger subsided a bit.
But just then, a harsh mobile phone ringtone suddenly blared.
Fu Yanci took out his phone, and the words "Rou Rou" on the screen pierced Lin Sa's eyes like a dagger.
He quickly walked to the side to answer the call, and a woman's anxious voice came from the other end:
"Brother Yan, Chen Bao spat up milk! He spat up so much! I'm so panicked right now, what should I do?"
Fu Yanci's expression tightened, "Don't worry, I'll be right there."
He almost without hesitation, grabbed the coat on the sofa and was about to leave, but then paused as if remembering something:
"Sa Sa, Yurou just became a mother and doesn't know anything. I'll just go take a look and come back."
Lin Sa: "..."
Her heart turned cold once more.
Watching Fu Yanci stride away, Lin Sa felt an overwhelming sense of irony.
He had been home for less than half an hour, and with one call from Su Yurou, he left immediately.
He took such good care of Su Yurou; was it truly out of care for his brother, or... was it his own willingness?
Zhang Sao, holding the baby, looked confused:
"Madam, is the master leaving just like that? Who did he say just became a mother? You are the one who just became a mother, Madam. The master..."
Fu Yanci's neglect of her was obvious even to the servants.
Aunt Liu quickly signaled, indicating for Zhang Sao to stop talking.
Lin Sa took a deep breath, her gaze icy:
"Zhang Sao, pack up the baby's things. I'm going upstairs to tidy up too. We're not living in this house anymore."
Zhang Sao's mouth dropped open in shock, and Aunt Liu was also startled, quickly stopping Lin Sa:
"Madam, please don't be impulsive. The master is usually very good to you. He... he's just too busy."
"Although he wasn't around much during your pregnancy, he sent flowers every week. Look, the sunflowers are still on the table, so fresh."
Sunflowers were Lin Sa's favorite flower because they always grew upwards, striving, and never depended on anyone.
But he had done so much for Su Yurou during her entire pregnancy, only to send a few sunflowers to encourage her to be strong... Lin Sa suddenly felt disgusted by the flowers.
She pushed Aunt Liu away and coldly ordered:
"Throw them away. They look disgusting."
Lin Sa couldn't suppress her temper and went upstairs angrily.
Aunt Liu looked terrified but still followed the order and threw the sunflowers, which had just been delivered that day, into the trash can.
Lin Sa went upstairs and packed her luggage in a flash.
Just as she was about to go downstairs, her phone buzzed. It was her best friend, Tang Guo.
Lin Sa calmed her emotions slightly and answered the phone, "Guo Guo."
"Sa Sa, I heard your husband held a full moon banquet for your daughter at noon and invited many friends. Why didn't you invite me? Are we plastic sisters or what?"
Lin Sa: "That wasn't for our daughter; it was for someone else's son."
Tang Guo exploded when she heard this, "What's going on? Your husband has someone else? He even has a son?"
Lin Sa had gone through pregnancy and childbirth alone, and Tang Guo knew this best.
She had long been dissatisfied with Fu Yanci, and she never expected it to be this absurd.
Lin Sa pulled at the corners of her mouth, smiling sadly:
"They say it's for his cousin and his good brother's son. Jiang Yang, remember him? The top student from our school who is now working on a confidential project abroad and can't return. Fu Yanci felt it was his duty to take care of his son."
Tang Guo became even angrier:
"Even so, he shouldn't neglect his own daughter and focus on arranging things for someone else's son! It's one thing that he ignored you during your pregnancy, but now that your daughter is a month old, he's still neglecting her like this! Sa Sa, what do you even want from him?"
Lin Sa's eyes were filled with coldness as she tried her best to suppress the surging emotions:
"Let's talk when we meet. I'm still weak and can't drive. Come pick me and the baby up. I don't want to live here anymore."
At this moment, she felt nothing but disgust for this bridal chamber. The photos of her and Fu Yanci over the past five years hanging on the wall made her feel even more nauseated.
She tore down all the photos and shredded them with scissors.
Then she found a hammer, smashed the entire wall of glass cabinets, and cut open the bags Fu Yanci had given her, which never suited her taste.
She packed all the "trash" into boxes, dragged them to the yard, poured gasoline on them, and set them on fire.
She didn't want to take a single thing from here.
At this moment, all she wanted was destruction, complete destruction.
The raging flames, wrapped in black smoke, shot up into the sky, and the smell of burning filled the air. The neighbors opened their windows to look, thinking there was a fire.
Aunt Liu and Zhang Sao exchanged glances, intimidated by the cold aura emanating from Lin Sa, and dared not approach.
Aunt Liu secretly slipped into the restroom to call Fu Yanci, but after three attempts, he didn't answer.
When Tang Guo arrived by car, she saw Lin Sa standing in the middle of the yard in a thin nightgown, the firelight reflecting on her pale and indifferent face.
Her nose stung, and she immediately took off her down jacket and draped it over Lin Sa:
"Are you crazy? You just finished your postpartum confinement and you're afraid of the cold, yet you're standing here without a coat! Your man doesn't care, and your servants have no eyes?"
Tang Guo scolded as she hugged Lin Sa and took the suitcase from her hands.
Lin Sa felt the warmth of Tang Guo's embrace, her consciousness loosened, and she slumped down softly, losing consciousness.
"Sa Sa, Sa Sa..."
In a daze, she heard someone calling her name, but her eyelids were too heavy to open.
✦✦✦