Chapter 1

On my wedding day, the bridal car my parents bought me as part of my dowry got rear-ended by a girl.

She got out of her car and walked over nervously to apologize.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

She lowered her head.

Crescent brows, almond eyes, two little dimples tugging at the corners of her lips-sweet even when she wasn’t smiling.

She looked barely past twenty, in a pinkish lace dress. Her face still had that green, student-like softness, as if she were still in school.

My husband Cheng Yu immediately got out of the car and joked with her across the hood.

“What is it? Trying to crash the wedding?”

The girl looked stricken with guilt. She bit her lip and didn’t say a word.

Under my questioning gaze, Cheng Yu introduced her without the slightest hesitation. “My ex-girlfriend. She lives nearby.”

She seemed to suddenly realize she should be apologizing to me, so she lowered her head even further, face full of remorse, and said to me:

“I’m so, so sorry. I messed up your big day. What should I do?”

A normal person’s reaction would be to call the insurance company.

This girl, however, acted like she didn’t know anything and desperately needed me to teach her what to do.

Cheng Yu gave a helpless little laugh. “Didn’t I already teach you this? How are you still clueless about everything?”

“I… forgot…”

Cheng Yu turned slightly toward me. “Wait for me a bit. I’ll deal with this with her and then come back.”

Before today, he had never mentioned a word to me about any ex.

Cheng Yu and I are the same age, twenty-seven, both with master’s degrees, while that girl looked clearly younger.

When they got together, when they broke up-I knew nothing.

Because she’d knocked the bumper clean off, the car was undrivable.

Switching to a backup car at the last minute took ages, and as a result we missed the auspicious hour for the wedding ceremony.

Plenty of neighbors even came out to gawk.

An auntie stuck her head out of her window and asked me, “Xiao Xu, what’s up with that woman? Is she really here to steal your groom?”

An old man who’d gone to watch the commotion came back lugging his little folding stool and said, “Your husband sure is chummy with her dog, hugging and cuddling it like crazy. Completely inappropriate.”

Right then and there, I wanted to call off the wedding. But guests on both sides were already at the venue; I couldn’t very well let everyone sit around, hungry and waiting.

So I discussed it with the emcee, canceled the whole hosting part, and decided we wouldn’t do anything else-just let the guests eat first.

My parents called and asked, “Baby, what’s going on?”

I said, “We’re not doing the ceremony for now.”

The Cheng Family started panicking immediately and kept calling me nonstop. I put my phone on silent and didn’t answer a single one.

Instead, I turned around and went straight back to our new marital home.

That night, when Cheng Yu came back, he acted as if nothing had happened during the day. The first thing out of his mouth was, “Why did you call off the wedding?”

He even had the nerve to accuse me instead.

“Shouldn’t you be explaining something to me?”

His hand, just about to put down his keys, paused. He said casually, “She’s just an ex. I didn’t expect her to crash the bridal car either-it was a coincidence. Don’t overthink it.”

Cheng Yu and I met through a blind date, and we’ve always talked fairly bluntly.

“Since she’s an ex, I don’t see why you need to handle the insurance for her.”

Cheng Yu took off his suit jacket, sat down across from me, and said calmly:

“I went with Tang Shiyu when she bought that car. I handled the insurance for her too. If she tries to deal with it herself, she’ll mess it up and delay your compensation. Your parents put down three hundred thousand yuan on that bridal car; we can’t just leave it sitting there unrepaired, can we?”

Cheng Yu’s logic was bizarre.

Because he was worried about not getting the payout, he decided to run around handling insurance claims for the person who caused the accident.

If he was that enthusiastic, he might as well go work as an insurance agent.

“When did you and Tang Shiyu break up?”

“Half a year ago. We parted on good terms,” Cheng Yu answered without hiding anything. “We weren’t compatible.”

He wiped a hand down his face. “Honey, today’s been exhausting enough. Let’s not let this mess up our lives.”

He grabbed the towel next to him. “Go to bed first. I still have things to take care of.”
With that, he went straight into the bathroom to shower.

No follow-up, no explanation. That vague attitude honestly made me laugh from anger.

Cheng Yu and I had the wedding first and planned to get the marriage certificate later.

Now we hadn’t even registered yet, and suddenly an ex pops out of nowhere.

As far as I was concerned, there was no need to go get that certificate anymore.

But the marital home had been paid for half by my family and half by the Cheng Family, and both our names were on the property deed.

Dividing assets and talking to both sets of parents would take time.

The car repairs would cost several thousand at least, and according to Cheng Yu, Tang Shiyu absolutely couldn’t afford that.

I told Cheng Yu this was my bridal car, part of my dowry. No matter what, she had to compensate me.

Right now, as long as I got his name taken off the deed and got my compensation, I could break up with him.

Over the next few days, Cheng Yu became very busy.

He would openly tell me:

“I’m going to the insurance company with Tang Shiyu.”

“Something came up on Tang Shiyu’s side, I’m going over to take a look.”

When our parents asked when we were getting the certificate, I just kept stalling. In private, I found a lawyer to ask about the property issues.

I didn’t expect to actually run into something this ridiculous.

That day I’d left some documents at home, so I used my lunch break to hurry back.

The moment I opened the door, I heard voices coming from the bedroom.

I thought my parents had dropped by.

I pushed the door open-

Tang Shiyu was dressed in barely anything, sprawled over Cheng Yu, face flushed. “Didn’t you say you don’t want me anymore?”

Cheng Yu’s eyes were hazy. “I still don’t.”

But his hands made his real thoughts more than obvious.

The two of them had my marital bed in a complete mess. The sheets I’d picked out myself were covered with Tang Shiyu’s hair and reeked of her cheap perfume.

A wave of nausea slammed into my head.

What were they doing?

Some cheesy “getting back together” drama?

Bang!

The door hit the wall and bounced back.

The loud noise made Tang Shiyu jerk in fright. She turned, cheeks burning, eyes wet.

Cheng Yu’s gaze slowly cleared. He steadied Tang Shiyu by the waist and slowly sat up, wrapping the blanket around her.

“You should go first. I’ll handle this.”

Tang Shiyu clutched the blanket around herself, rustling as she hurriedly straightened her clothes. Then, under my stare, she tightened her hold on Cheng Yu’s arm and said very earnestly:

“I’m sorry, I still can’t let him go. However much this marital home cost you, I’ll pay you back. You give me the husband. I really like the decor here, so why don’t you be the one to move out?”

I stood there with the documents in hand and calmly asked, “Why exactly should I move out of my marital home?”

My parents had pulled strings to get this place. It had room to appreciate in value, it was convenient for my commute. If I weren’t getting married, I could have taken out a loan and bought this apartment for myself.

Why should I be the one to move?

Tang Shiyu looked a little lost and tilted her head up at Cheng Yu, as if begging him to say something.

Cheng Yu thought for a moment. “I don’t think we need to get the marriage certificate anymore. I’ve figured it out-I still prefer being with her.”

“You can prefer being with a sow for all I care, but the apartment has to be mine.”

Tang Shiyu bristled. “He paid for part of it too. Why should it be yours?”

“Because without me, he couldn’t have bought a place in this neighborhood at all.”

I raised my phone and snapped a photo of the two of them together.

I was going to send it to the Cheng Family group chat.

Cheng Yu shot to his feet, dragged me out into the hallway, and lowered his voice.

“Don’t make a scene. My mom doesn’t agree with us being together at all! What good does it do you to blow this up?”

Oh, mystery solved.

It wasn’t that their personalities clashed. His family just wouldn’t allow it.

And what did that have to do with me?

I was getting this apartment, and the two of them were getting out.