Chapter 2

I let out a sneer. “Zhang Ling, don’t forget your job.”

Zhang Ling in the frame immediately drooped her shoulders and lowered her head guiltily.

Back then, after her parents died in a car accident, her company was swallowed up by her uncles.

To stay inseparable from Xu Cheng, she even took out money of her own and funded his studies overseas.

But when Xu Cheng saw how helpless and ruined she was, he tricked her out of the property her parents had left her and abandoned her.

She didn’t even have money to bring her parents back home for burial.

When she was at her weakest and most helpless, I gave up my chance to study overseas and chose to help her.

I even had a huge fight with my parents over it.

She said she wanted to keep pursuing medicine, and with the sky-high tuition and living expenses overseas, even if I worked as a host and got a stomach disease from drinking, it would still be a drop in the bucket.

For her, I gave up my dream of becoming a painter. I had no choice but to bow to my parents and agree to take over the family business in exchange for them funding everything she needed to study overseas.

While she was studying abroad, I worked two jobs by myself.

I did everything I could to take back her company, protect her shares, and make sure she had no worries.

After we got married, I even used my family’s connections to bring clients to her company.

Because I loved her, I was willing to give up everything.

She hated Xu Cheng, so I helped her slowly swallow up the company Xu Cheng had started with her money.

I couldn’t bear to let the woman I loved get even a speck of filth on her hands.

Her hands were only meant to save lives.

But at the final step, she changed her mind.

Because Xu Cheng went to see her and threatened to kill himself. “Ling, I’m sorry. I was bewitched back then. They tricked me and dragged me into a gambling ring. They said if I couldn’t get the money, they’d kidnap you.

“I was afraid you’d get dragged into it, so I had no choice but to take the money and hide as far away from you as possible to draw their attention. They even cut off my toes trying to force your whereabouts out of me. I started this company just so that one day, if I ran into you, I could return it to you.”

Xu Cheng kept rambling on about their past.

“I love you. If there’s a next life, let me repay you as a cow or a horse.”

Xu Cheng stabbed the knife into himself without the slightest hesitation.

Moved by those beautiful memories, Zhang Ling looked at the blood seeping from the wound, and her hatred vanished completely.

Xu Cheng looked at Zhang Ling with a smile. “I’m the one who wronged you in this life. In the next one, I hope I can still be with you.”

Zhang Ling cried her heart out in emotion.

Xu Cheng’s self-stabbing had been carefully planned. It was nothing more than a flesh wound.

But Zhang Ling’s attitude toward him was completely different.

Because of love, no matter how clumsy Xu Cheng’s excuse was, Zhang Ling could always make it sound reasonable in her own heart.

That night I sat alone at the dining table, staring at the birthday cake, waiting from day to night.

I called her again and again, but she never answered.

We had already agreed the day before to have dinner together for my birthday.

I was afraid something had happened to her, so I rushed to her hospital by car.

Halfway there, I got a call from her.

Hearing her choking voice, I panicked so badly I nearly crashed into the roadside greenery. “What happened? Where are you? I’m coming right now!”

On the other end was her hurried voice, along with a man’s sigh. “Zhao Yan, I need to cover for another colleague for a few days at the last minute. I’m staying at the hospital these next few days.”

“Do you want me to bring you some clean clothes?”

Zhang Ling quickly refused. “No need. I’ll come home after I finish these few days.”

In the days that followed, Zhang Ling never answered my calls again.

Only after a long time would she text me back, telling me not to worry and to take care of myself.

She was my wife. How could I not worry?

I was afraid she’d get so busy with work that she forgot to eat.

I spent the entire morning personally making soup and cooking her favorite dishes, wanting to give her a surprise.

But when I drove to the hospital, I saw her supporting Xu Cheng into a taxi.

I followed them and found that they had gone to another apartment I had bought for her, one that was only a ten-minute walk from her hospital.

It had been meant to help her rest better, but now it had become the place where she kept her little hidden man.

I felt completely defeated and threw the lunch boxes into the trash.

I kept brainwashing myself not to overthink it. They were just friends.

Zhang Ling was just confused for the moment. If I gave her a little more time, she would definitely understand who truly cared about her.

But I never imagined that all my compromises would end up like this.

Looking at Zhang Ling on the other end of the phone, pretending to be wronged, I said coldly, “Zhang Ling, you’ve really disappointed me.”

Zhang Ling hurriedly lifted her head. “Zhao Yan, I’ll come right away, I—”

But Xu Cheng beside her suddenly let out a scream.

Zhang Ling immediately turned her attention to him. “Did the wound split open? There’s so much blood. I need to suture it again.”

I could hear her searching for the first-aid kit while running around.

Xu Cheng picked up the phone and waved at me, looking pleased with himself. “As long as I say one word, Ling will always choose me over you. You’ll always be my loser.”

I hung up expressionlessly, and the split wound seemed to hurt even more.