Chapter 9

When we got married, my parents had complained about the issue with his apartment.

I didn’t think much of it at the time.

I even naively considered adding his name to the deed of my parents’ pre-marital property to show my devotion to our love.

I trusted my own judgment. After all, we were so happy and compatible together.

My older brother disagreed, calling me an idiot.

I had a huge fight with my brother over it, even thinking he was just jealous of our love.

In the end, my parents compromised: they set a three-year deadline. If I still insisted on it then, they would no longer interfere.

But reality had slapped me hard in the face.

He was so impatient?

Was I that blind? Or was he just that good at hiding his true self?

I turned off the faucet, grabbed my bag, and drove towards my brother’s apartment complex.

I was on the night shift today, so I had the whole day to rest. My shift would run from 6:30 PM until 8:00 AM the next morning.

I drove slowly along the way.

I didn’t want to just sit and wait, but I was hesitant. After all, before the wedding, my brother had remained neutral about my marriage to Li Kai.

Standing downstairs from his apartment, I shuffled my feet, my head down, wrestling with myself over whether I should tell him.

Just as I was hesitating, my brother came back from outside carrying breakfast, wearing shorts and a tank top.

He pulled me inside. Noticing something was wrong, he dropped his usual goofy, laid-back demeanor, his expression turning serious. “What happened?”

“Li Kai… he’s cheating on me.”

The words had barely left my mouth when tears started streaming down my face.

“That son of a bitch! I’ll kill him!”

My brother threw the breakfast on the floor, went into the kitchen, grabbed a cleaver, and rushed for the door.

I clung to him with all my strength, nearly exhausted, and sobbed, “Brother, I’ve lost my home! Can you please not make things worse?”

My brother froze, dropped the cleaver, and paced back and forth in the living room, fuming.

After a long silence, he said, “Wang Xi, if you forgive him, don’t ever call me brother again!”

He was worried, but I could see he was trying his best to control his emotions.

My brother is thirty this year, three years older than me.

But since we were kids, his greatest joy was teasing and bullying me.

He’s also a bit strange. In this small, third-tier city, he’s still a firm believer in being single at thirty. He says he hasn’t met a woman he feels he could commit to for a lifetime, and he refuses to settle.

I used to laugh at him for having a fear of commitment.

Only today did I understand that he was the one who was truly clear-eyed.

He could bully me, but he would never tolerate anyone else doing it.

“The house? Did he trick you out of it?”

I shook my head, silent.

“At least you still have some brains.”

“So, what are you going to do now?” My brother pulled me onto the sofa and wiped the tears from my eyes. “What’s the use of crying? Does it solve anything?!”

As he said this, his own eyes turned red.

“I won’t let him get away with it.” My nose stung, but I forced back the tears. My fists were clenched so tight my nails were digging into my palms, almost drawing blood.

“I will send him to hell!”

I had never been so determined.

“Brother, can you… do me a favor?”

My brother nodded solemnly, with a rare seriousness I had seldom seen in all the years I’ve known him.

“And also, don’t tell Mom and Dad.”