The moment Yu An An opened the front door, she heard unusual sounds coming from the bedroom.
In a ninety-square-meter nicely decorated small apartment with average soundproofing, without any effort, she could hear intermittent voices of a man and a woman.
She felt a tightening in her scalp and, in a panic, glanced at the shoe cabinet next to the entranceway.
Her husband, Yuan Hao's black leather shoes, and a pair of red pointed high-heeled sandals that didn't belong to her.
Everything before her went black. Had her husband secretly brought a woman home while she was visiting her parents?!
Yu An An's breaths came in huffs and, not pausing to close the front door, she rushed to the bedroom entrance.
The man and woman in the bedroom didn't seem to hear someone enter the living room. The noise they produced grew louder, all sorts of obscene and offensive words streaming out.
"Ah Hao! You're so amazing––"
"Do you like it?"
"I like––"
"You little nymph!"
"Ah Hao, who's better, me or your wife––"
"Do I even need to say? Of course it's you, she's ballooned into a fat woman, nowhere near as good figure as you––"
Thunderstruck,
Yu An An widened her eyes, trembling hands covering her mouth, she simply could not believe what she was hearing!
Her husband of three years, Yuan Hao, dared to insult her and even brought a woman home - right onto the bed in their master bedroom!
Beast!
Yu Anan, eyes red with fury, was about to burst open the bedroom door when a better idea came to her. She turned her steps to the bathroom instead, came out holding a basin of cold water and ran back.
"Yuan Hao, you shameless bastard!"
With a splash, the basin full of water was doused onto the king-sized bed, startling awake the entangled, cheating man and woman.
The woman screamed, "Ah—"
"Who's that--" Yuan Hao's near tumescence faded quickly with the cold water shock.
He scrambled off the woman in a fury. When he saw Yu Anan standing at the side of the bed, her eyes glaring daggers at him, he was utterly terrified. "Anan!"
Yu Anan fixated her gaze on the woman, realizing that she was the new female assistant from Yuan Hao's company. Her anger surged uncontrollably!
"Yuan Hao! You're heartless! I want a divorce!"
Yu Anan was absolutely furious, her chest heaving with righteous anger.
"Anan! Let me explain—"
"Yuan Hao, can you face me with a clear conscience? Huh? Can you? You have no shame."
Yu Anan didn't give Yuan Hao a chance to defend himself; the truth was stronger than any eloquent words. She was not a crude, country-bred shrew to hurl a string of obscenities in anger.
Her gaze swept the room as she grabbed whatever she could lay her hands on, throwing them all with unsparing force at the cheaters.
If she had a whip at this moment, she would surely lash out at this man and woman who left her crushed!
"An An, calm down! Listen to me," Yuan Hao ducked desperately, trying to explain to Yu An An, asking her not to escalate the matter.
On the bed, Tang Qing, drenched and panicked, hastily grabbed the wet blanket to cover herself. A sense of triumph twinkled in her eyes as she faked a shiver. "Ah Hao..."
Yu An An took a deep breath. The sight before her was too appalling. She didn't want to shed tears in front of this pair. With a turn of her head, she quickly ran out from the room.
"An An," Yuan Hao, seeing his wife running out, pursued her in shame and anger.
Tang Qing swiftly sat up. "Ah Hao, where are you going?"
Yu An An ran all the way out of the community along the main street until she was too tired to continue. Then she stopped.
Whimpering.
Tears streamed down her face.
Damn Yuan Hao!
They've been married for three years. Due to her irregular periods, she couldn't get pregnant. She went back to her parents' home to rest and recuperate to save money. She returned on the day she was most likely to conceive, hoping to surprise him. Little did she expect to find him having an affair.
It was unbearably ironic.
Yu An An wiped the tears from her face, but they kept flowing. Every time she thought of the scene she had just stumbled upon, she felt wronged.
Three years of marriage and free love couldn't compete against a new female assistant.
She sat on the side of the road lost in thought for a long time. It wasn't until a passerby came up to check on her that Yu An An jolted back to reality.
She needs to go back; her marriage certificate and property deeds are in the drawer of the bedside table. She must take them away and head to the Civil Affairs Bureau for a divorce tomorrow!
Wiping away her tears, she stands up but stumbles slightly due to the force.
She frantically regains her balance and only then does she realize that her right sandal heel has vanished into thin air.
She looks around. Where on the road could her shoe be?
Yu Anan lets out a sigh.
She takes a deep breath, pulls out her phone and hails a ride through an app. A driver responds quickly. She memorizes the color of the car and the last digits of the license plate number, puts her phone away, and ambles towards the intersection behind her.
With her mind full of worries, she hardly notices the passing vehicles. When she sees a parked black car at the intersection, Yu Anan hobbles over with one foot higher than the other.
She goes straight to the back seat, opens the car door and gets in, "Sir, I'm heading to Yi Jiangnan."
Unexpectedly, the driver, Qin Xiu who is smoking a cigarette, looks at the woman in the backseat, utterly bewildered. Seeing a woman with a face of many colors, he, typically good at self-control, couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.
Where did this woman come from?
Ensnared in her world, Yu Anan realizes that the car is not starting and curiously lifts her head, "Sir, I need to go to—"
She suddenly stops speaking.
This driver is so handsome.
The man is sporting a buzzcut; he has thick eyebrows and big eyes; his nose is sharp and his lips thick but not excessively. His features are as striking as though they were sculpted with a blade.
A cigarette is held between his right fingers, dexterously smoking it. His fingers are long and aesthetically pleasing.
Looking upward, her gaze unexpectedly collided with the man's dark eyes. His pitch-black irises swept over her, icy-cold.
When seeing her glaring without blinking, a faint, enigmatic smile curved up the man's lips.
Yu Anan shivered from chill, awkwardly averted her gaze, then turned back and repeated the address again, "Just keep driving straight ahead, sir, it's at the third intersection."
Qin Xiu watched the woman who was repeating the address without blinking, amused grin played on his lips.
He was mistaken for a driver.
He didn't have the leisure time to play the good Samaritan, so he refused coldly, "Look clearly, I'm not the driver from your ride-hailing app."
As Yu Anan stood dumbfounded, coincidentally the driver from the ride-hailing app called.
Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment, she opened her mouth, wanting to explain a few things, but seeing the man's impatient expression, she didn't dare to say more and reluctantly got out of the car.
Since she was in a hurry to get out of the car, she didn't notice that she was missing a shoe from her right foot, and the car was too high. As soon as she got out of the car, she unfortunately twisted her ankle, and with a loud slap, she fell beside the car.
Her head hit the car door hard.
Tears welled up in Yu Anan's eyes from the pain. How unlucky can she get!
She witnessed her husband cheating, in a fit of anger, she ran out of the door and lost her shoe. Now, she has twisted her ankle.
God, are you playing with me?
Waaah.
The more she thought about it, the more upset she became. With the increasing sadness, her sobs grew louder.
Qin Xiu watched the entire process of the woman getting out of the car through his rearview mirror, his lips pursing. He had never seen a woman dumber than her.
Seeing her kneeling and sobbing on the ground in self-abandonment, with passing vehicles slowing down to watch the drama and some people even pulling out their cell phones.
He took a deep breath, extinguished his cigarette, and stepped out of his car.
It wasn't that he was generous, he just didn't want to be videoed and shared on the internet.
He walked over and squatted next to the woman, "Can you stand up? Come on; I'll take you home."
Upon sensing the man's approach, Yu Anan cried even harder, "None of you men are any good! It's not like I did it on purpose, what's the big deal if you gave me a ride? It's not like I wouldn't pay you——"
Qin Xiu didn't know whether to laugh or cry; this woman was really making a fuss out of her misfortune.
Well, he guessed it was his bad luck.
He tugged at the corner of his mouth, no longer bothering to argue with the woman. He just reached out, grabbed the woman's arm, "Unless you want to make the headlines tomorrow, stand up for me now."
When Yu Anan was touched by the stranger, her subconscious struggle caused the man to tighten his grip to control her. Unwittingly, she pressed her hand on the man's groin.
Before she could express her frustration, she heard the man mockingly respond, "Is this your way of hitting on me?"