Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The person who came to take care of me the next day was an unfamiliar auntie.

Her surname was Liu. She worked quickly, and she talked a lot.

As she ladled porridge for me, she said in passing, “Xiao Zhou sat downstairs all night last night. Who knows what he was thinking.”

My hand stilled around the spoon.

“Which Xiao Zhou?”

“The one who was taking care of you before.”

Aunt Liu lowered her voice.

“He told me not to say anything, but I can tell. He’s not an ordinary caregiver.”

I said, “How is he not?”

Aunt Liu glanced toward the door.

“What ordinary caregiver runs out at three in the morning to buy you pain-relief patches?”

I said nothing.

She continued, “You kept crying out in pain after you fell asleep last night. He heard you from outside the door.”

I set down the spoon.

“Didn’t he leave?”

“He did.”

Aunt Liu said, “He got as far as the entrance, then came back. He didn’t come in. He just sat in the fire escape.”

I was overwhelmed with irritation.

“He’s sick.”

Aunt Liu nodded.

“He does look pretty sick.”

She nearly made me laugh.

At noon, the doctor came for rounds.

I asked her, “Who is Zhou Huai?”

The doctor’s hand paused over my chart.

“Your caregiver.”

“What’s his real name?”

She didn’t answer.

I said, “If you keep hiding this from me, I’ll discharge myself and find out on my own.”

The doctor frowned.

“Your current physical condition doesn’t allow that.”

I threw back the blanket.

“Then you can try stopping me.”

The doctor looked at me for a while, then sighed.

“His name is Zhou Yinghuai.”

I wasn’t surprised.

But it still felt as if someone had slammed a fist into my chest.

The doctor said, “Your divorce proceedings haven’t been finalized. Legally, he’s still your husband.”

Husband.

The word fell against my ear like a shard of old glass.

I asked, “Why do I hate him?”

The doctor fell silent.

“That isn’t something I can answer for you.”

I said, “Then who can?”

A voice came from the doorway.

“I can.”

Zhou Yinghuai stood there, dark shadows beneath his eyes and a bit of stubble on his jaw.

He was carrying a paper bag.

Printed on it was the name of the porridge shop I used to love most.

I looked at him and suddenly found the whole thing absurd.

“Was it fun pretending to be a caregiver?”

“No.”

“Then why pretend?”

He placed the paper bag on the table.

“When you woke up, the only thing you remembered was hating me.”

“So?”

“The doctor said forcing you to face a shock could make your headaches worse.”

I stared at him.

“Were you afraid I’d be shocked, or afraid I’d remember what you did?”

Zhou Yinghuai didn’t look away.

“Both.”

The answer was too honest.

So honest I didn’t know how to respond for a moment.

I let out a cold laugh. “At least you’re not pretending to be innocent.”

He said quietly, “I don’t have the right.”

I asked, “Why were we getting divorced?”

He took the porridge out of the paper bag and peeled off the lid.

Steam rose from it, carrying the faint fragrance of rice.

He said, “You were the one who asked for it.”

“The reason.”

“You said I didn’t trust you.”

My chest tightened.

“And you really didn’t?”

His fingers gripped the edge of the porridge container, his knuckles turning white.

“No. I didn’t.”

All at once, I wanted to fling that bowl of porridge into his face.

But my body was too weak. All I could do was clutch the blanket.

“Zhou Yinghuai, what exactly did you do to me?”

He lowered his head, his voice turning hoarse.

“I thought you had taken my mother’s relic.”

“I thought you had sold the project materials to my younger brother.”

“I thought that night, when you drove out, you were going to see him.”

Listening to all those “I thoughts,” a throbbing pain began pulsing at my temples.

“And then?”

Zhou Yinghuai lifted his eyes to mine.

“Then you got into the accident.”

“And after that?”

He swallowed.

“After that, I realized I was wrong.”

I laughed out loud.

“You were wrong, and I ended up like this.”

“Zhou Yinghuai, that ‘after that’ of yours is so damn light.”

His face went pale.

I was about to keep going when a nurse suddenly pushed the door open.

“Miss Su, your friend is here.”

I froze.

A woman in a black coat walked in and removed her sunglasses.

She looked at me, then at Zhou Yinghuai.

“You actually have the nerve to stand guard here.”

Zhou Yinghuai’s voice darkened.

“Xu Jianing.”

I looked at her.

Who was she?

The woman walked to my bedside and placed an old phone on top of my blanket.

“Qingyu, you asked me to keep this safe before your car accident.”

She said, “Inside is the real reason you wanted the divorce.”

The phone screen lit up.

The lock screen password hint was only one sentence.

Don’t trust Zhou Yinghuai again.