I put down the big bag of stuff I was carrying onto the ground, rummaged out keys from my backpack, and opened the house door. The house was empty.

I felt a touch of disappointment in my heart. I picked up the shopping bag from the floor and went to the kitchen, taking out the items one by one. They were all fruit, vegetables, ingredients, and red wine that my husband loves.

Today is our fourth wedding anniversary. My husband, Li Minzhou, has not come home yet.

I let out a sigh, put on my apron, and prepared to start cooking.

It's okay. Maybe he's out schmoozing again? Or maybe he went to pick out a gift for me after work?

Four years ago, Li Minzhou and I got our marriage certificate. At the time, he was destitute, and our wedding was very simple—no flowers, no cake, no wedding dress or suit. Luckily, he's become even more attentive to me after marriage.

I willingly shared his hardship for two years. Two years later, he borrowed 800,000 from my mom to start a construction company—the company he is running now. As the company took off, our financial conditions gradually improved.

Life started to get better.

A year ago, I quit my job to stay at home and take care of his terminally ill mother. He would always come home late, drunk from various social engagements. After his mother passed away, he often phoned to say it was a hassle to come home drunk, and that he had often decided to stay at a hotel instead.

My husband, Li MinZhou, is doing quite well in his career. His construction company has already taken on many significant projects. I should be happy, but I'm not.

At this moment, my phone dings. It was a new WeChat message.

I check my phone and see that Li MinZhou had sent me a location message. The address was at Manting Hotel, along with a message asking me to go there at eight.

Is he trying to surprise me?

My previously downcast mood brightened in an instant. I put aside the task at hand and started to get ready. Not only is today our wedding anniversary, but I also wanted to use this opportunity to mend our relationship.

Standing before the thick, redwood door of the hotel, I felt somewhat anxious. After taking several deep breaths, I finally gathered the courage to knock on the door.

The door opened, and a woman stood before me, wearing a sexy lace lingerie that barely covered her vital parts. Her lips were as red as blood droplets and she smirked contemptuously at me.

Upon hearing a sound, my husband, Li Minzhou, walked over. Seeing me at the door, he turned around impatiently, telling her, "What did you call her here for? Such a killjoy!"

Faced with the composure of the two people in front of me, my mind went blank.

My husband was having an affair!

I had learned of this a few months ago. The frequent late-night absences, the scent of women’s perfume on his coat, the ambiguous text messages on his cell, any woman, however foolish, could perceive it.

There were heated arguments between me and Li Minzhou. His attitude went from apologizing and promising never to do it again, to ultimately staying entangled with that woman. I considered divorce, but the kith and kin around me, everyone advised me to endure.

I endured, even hoping to repair our relationship on this very day!

As a simple woman, I followed Li Minzhou when I was just 19. I had not seen the wider world, my husband was out there striving in business, having complete control over household finances and decisions. Facing his infidelity, I bore the pain in silence, meekly trying to win him back, but what did I receive in return?

"Didn't you say you were going to divorce her today? I helped you by calling her over~," the woman spoke unfeelingly with her red lips opened and closed.

Divorce? I looked at Li Minzhou, "You want to divorce me?"

His face still smudged with the woman's red lipstick, nestled in with his mistress, the contrasting reality before me mocked my attempts at reconciliation, absurdly pathetic.

Li Minzhou looked somewhat evasive, he let go of the woman in his arms and said to me, "Yinan, you go home first, I'll come home later and talk with you."

I stood motionless, stared resolutely at Li Minzhou, "To go back? Do you still consider that place home?!"

Li Minzhou furrowed his brows, impatiently turning his face away. But at this moment, the woman pursued, "Minzhou, are you going back? Didn’t you promise to keep me company today?”

After the woman finished speaking, she gave me a triumphant smile, leaning seductively against Li Minzhou, "Minzhou, I just found out today that I'm pregnant, aren't you going to stay with me?”

The woman's cooing voice landed in my ears, piercing into my heart as if a knife had been stabbed into it.

Pregnant? She was really pregnant!

I was so angry that my whole body trembled. I rushed forward and slapped the woman hard. But before I could utter anything, I was pushed away forcefully by Lee Minzhou, bumping into the redwood door of the hotel, and the pain in my scapula made my scalp numb.

At this moment, just as the elevator door facing the room's entrance "dinged" open, Lee Minzhou quickly pulled me into the room and closed the door.

This was my first time entering a room in Manting Hotel. As a five-star hotel, the suite was fully equipped, like a home. It wasn't hard to see that they've been living in this suite for quite some time.

"Mingzhou, she hit me! You must stand up for me!" The woman stuck to Lee Minzhou, pretending to be on the verge of tears, as if she'd suffered a great injustice.

Looking at the clear red mark on her face, I felt an exhilarating satisfaction I had never known before.

I had endured my husband's infidelity in silence for half a year. Now, finally, I had slapped the woman who had intruded into my marriage!

After Lee Minzhou had calmed the woman down, he sent her to the bedroom in the suite, leaving only him and I in the large living room.

He stared at me, all blame in his eyes, "How could you hit her? Didn't I told you she is pregnant?"

I laughed sarcastically, "Pregnant? Lee Minzhou, I'm your wife, she's just a mistress! You got this mistress pregnant, and now you brazenly tell me not to hit her? Is this a joke?"

Mingzhou looked at me with an apathetic face, his gaze as if looking at a stranger, "Don't put it in such an unpleasant way, I've already asked a lawyer to draft the divorce agreement."

I stared wide-eyed at the man in front of me, lunged at him like a crazy woman, crying out, "Lee Minzhou, are you even human? I've been with you since I was 19, I've been through hardship for you! Now that you're rich, you look down on me? Without me, you'd still be some lowlife thug on the street!"

My words were cut off by Lee Minzhou pushing me to the ground. I looked up at him in disarray, this man pointed at me with a face full of anger, "Le Yi Nan, don't be ungrateful!"

He straightened out his clothes that I had ruffled and coldly said, "Yes, I did borrow some money from your mother, so what? My success was all due to my effort! Moreover, I didn't say I wouldn't pay back, I can still repay when I get old."

Stunned, I stared at Li Minzhou, "She sold houses and lands to lend you money to start a business and gave you all her life savings, and you...you still speak like this. Are you even human?!"

Li Minzhou sneered, "Who do you think provides the life you're leading now, Yu Yinan? Be grateful. I just keep a mistress. Look at you now, what's the difference between you and a shrew on the street?"

I sat on the ground, my vision blurred by tears and my breathing rapid from heartbreak. I murmured to the blurry figure of Li Minzhou, "When I married you, you were penniless. Didn't you think of me as a shrew then? Now that you're rich, you think I lack sophistication, you criticize my inability to dress up, and you find a vile mistress outside. You're ungrateful, you forget past favors. You're an animal..."

Annoyed, Li Minzhou interrupted me, "Enough. I don't have time to listen to you rehash old grievances. Since you're here, just sign the papers."

Li Minzhou walked a few steps, then returned and threw a piece of paper in front of me.

The words "Divorce Agreement" on the paper stung my eyes.

The agreement was not lengthy. It merely outlined the division of assets following the divorce due to a breakdown of feelings.

When I finished, I almost burst into laughter, my hand holding the agreement was shaking.

In Li Minzhou's divorce agreement, there was no mention of the 800,000 yuan he owed my mother. After the divorce, besides the home we currently live in, I was left with nothing.

My hand clutching the agreement trembled - how could he be so shameless! I felt a stinging pain in my eyes as I tore the agreement into shreds.

"Heh, if you want to tear it, go ahead; I have plenty more," said Li Minzhou coldly, tossing me another intact agreement.

"Li Minzhou, on what grounds are you doing this?" I stumbled to my feet, pointing at him in devastation.

Li Minzhou shrugged indifferently, "There's no written proof of the 800,000 your mother gave me, so I could repay it or not. You can't do anything about it."

"Fulfilling debts is basic decency! Have you fed your conscience to dogs?" I never thought this man could be such a scoundrel.

Just then, the bedroom door opened and the mistress walked up to Li Minzhou, her voice dripping with sweetness, "Why do you have to be so harsh? Our Minzhou never said he wouldn't pay the money back."

Li Minzhou held the woman in his arms as he spoke, "That's right; whenever I feel pleased, I will reward you."

Both of them burst into fits of laughter immediately.

"You are utterly shameless!" I had underestimated this man; he lacks any moral compass and does not deserve to be called a human.

Li Minzhou ignored my outrage, "Do you have any more questions? If not, you'd better sign quickly."

"Of course I do!" I said, grinding my teeth in anger, "This company, other than the eight hundred thousand loaned by my mother and the three million that I gave you, as long as you pay this debt, I will sign immediately."

Right now, Li Minzhou was involved in a major project which requires one to complete the work before payment. He needed to invest a large sum of money into the construction, therefore, he couldn't pay me back right away.

As expected, Li Minzhou's face darkened to a somewhat frightening degree, while the woman beside him remained impassive, she snorted with a scoff, "Le Yin Nan, do you have the gall to bring up this issue?"

A sense of impending misfortune rose in my heart.

That mistress continued to speak, "Since you brought up the three million, would you like me to remind you of how you came by that sum of money?"