Chapter 30

After leaving the hospital, I cut off all contact with Zhou Heng.

I quit my job, packed my bags, and flew to southern France for a three-month stay.

On the day I returned home, Mino came to pick me up at the airport.

I laughed and threw myself into her arms, spinning her around a few times.

“Oh my god! Shu Yan!”

Mino screamed in my ear, “How did you get so cool!”

I was wearing a short T-shirt and low-rise jeans, my short hair dyed a light chestnut brown, and the skin I showed was a bright wheat color.

When I smiled, eight flawless white teeth showed.

“These three months, did you have endless flings? Tonight you have to tell me everything! You look so good I’m literally drooling… How do you look nothing like forty!”

I flicked my hair and raised an eyebrow with a grin:

“Who said I’m forty? I’m already forty-one!”

On the way back, I leaned against the passenger seat, pretending to nap, but kept feeling her glance at me again and again.

I found it funny and told her to pull over at the side of the road after getting off the overpass.

“If you have something to say, just say it. It’s not safe to drive like this.”

She bit her lip.

“I’m afraid it’ll upset you.”

My gaze stayed calm.

She grew serious:

“Last week, Zhou Heng… set himself on fire in your old marital home.”

I sat up straight.

“He didn’t die. Eighty percent burns all over his body.”

My brow twitched-this I hadn’t expected.

She went on.

The money he gave her for tuition and living expenses abroad was all spent on male models and weed.

Even every penny for prenatal checkups was squandered.

From start to finish, she just treated Zhou Heng like an ATM.

After the incident, she had her uterus removed.

She didn’t even look at the child before running away.

Zhou Heng spent two months tracking her down in her hometown, and stabbed her to death on the spot.

That same night, he flew back here, took our divorce certificate, and set himself on fire in the marital home.

I lowered my head and said nothing.

Mino carefully opened a bottle of water for me, probing gently:

“Are you okay? After all these years together…”

“Do you want to go see him?”

I looked at the photo of Louis on my phone-

She tilted her head at the camera, a colorful butterfly perched on her left ear.

I was squatting behind her, making a funny face.

This was Zhou Heng’s favorite photo.

I let out a deep breath.

Sunlight streamed through the windshield onto my face, and onto the wide, empty, endless road ahead.

I shook my head gently.

Wiped the tears from the corner of my eye, and said softly:

“Mino, today… you really should treat me to a big meal.”

“To celebrate me-finally free!”

[The End]