It's said that men are most likely to accede to a woman's request after making love in bed.

Li Zhi laid supple and powerless on the man's chest, raised her misty eyes, and stretched her hand toward him.

"Where is my anniversary gift?"

Contrasting her disheveled state, the man's shirt and suit were impeccably neat, with only his tie slightly askew, revealing a well-defined Adam's Apple.

His deep-set eyebrows, carving-like features, and slightly upturned eyes naturally carried a sense of aloof charisma.

But it was this prim and proper man who, just moments ago, didn't allow her to back down, submerging her into the depths of amor.

Li Zhi's heartbeat raced, filled with sweet anticipation.

The man looked down at her, "What anniversary?"

Li Zhi was taken aback. He was gone on a business trip for over a month, and she was under the impression that he had returned today to celebrate their birthday and wedding anniversary together.

She had also heard that he had gone to great lengths abroad to purchase the naming rights for a minor planet and that his mother had given him the Fu family's ancestral jade bracelet.

Either gift would have delighted her.

"You're pretending not to know," Li Zhi softly huffed while leaning in to kiss the man’s thin lips.

Before the connection could be made, Fu Jinchen avoided it.

The kiss met thin air, and she didn’t even manage to brush his cheek.

Li Zhi stiffened.

They had done everything, but he had not kissed her. She thought today would be different, but it turned out...

A woman's sweetness and tenderness was not satisfied by such a brief and hasty encounter.

Fu Jinchen grasped her small hand, pressing it onto the buckle of his belt, with a joking tone in his voice.

"Were you not satisfied just now? If you want a gift, it depends on your performance."

Li Zhi suppressed the sense of loss creeping up in her heart, and her cheeks heated up again.

Although they had been married for two years, they didn't get intimate often, and she was a bit shy, so she pulled her hand away.

"You do it yourself." Having said that, she leaned in and handed him a T, stuffing it into his hand.

Such ostrich-like behavior made Fu Jinchen chuckle.

Looking at the item in his hand, his dark eyes suddenly turned icy cold, and he lifted his hand to pinch her chin.

"Li Zhi! Who taught you these vulgar maneuvers?"

His handsome face devoid of passion, his voice filled with icy displeasure, and the warm intimacy from a moment ago was like a dream that had been broken.

Li Zhi was somewhat stunned, and it wasn't until she realized that the packet was damaged, she understood that Fu Jinchen thought she was messing around, just like she did when she schemed against him four years ago.

Li Zhi felt cold from head to toe. "I didn't do it!"

She tried to prove her innocence by finding the remaining packets in the drawer, but to her surprise, they had all carefully been opened.

Fu Jinchen was already dressed and looking down at her from a higher position.

"It wasn't you? Who else would come into this room besides you?"

Fu Jinchen is a clean freak and has a strong territorial consciousness, so he dislikes servants entering his bedroom.

Fearing his displeasure, Li Zi personally tidied the bedroom. Fu Jinchen knew about this, but her efforts, at this moment, had become evidence against her.

Feeling bitter in her heart, Li Zi remembered that her mother-in-law had visited a few days ago, and she had even entered the bedroom.

"It's mother-in-law, she..."

"My mom? You think it's possible?" Fu Jinchen's voice was cold.

Zhou Huiqin would rather Li Zi not bear a child, so they could divorce.

Li Zi moved her lips but found herself at a loss for words.

He didn't believe her. Whatever she said was useless. Hadn't she explained enough before?

"You're incorrigible!"

Her silence seemed like an admission. Fu Jinchen's gaze was sharp as he turned to leave.

Li Zi’s expression turned to panic as she reached out and grabbed his hand.

Just then, Fu Jinchen’s phone rang. He shook off her hand and answered the call. After hearing a few words, he softly spoke to the other end,

"Uh huh, I know it's today, I'm coming right now, wait for me.”

From the phone, Li Zi faintly heard a woman's coquettish voice. As he was opening the door to leave, she pulled her robe around her, jumped out of bed and chased after him.

Her nightgown caught on the wine glass on the bedside table, shattering it and spattering wine everywhere.

Ignoring this, Li Zhi rushed to the door, stopping in front of it and angrily confronting him.

"Who is she? Have you been with her this whole month while you've been away from home? Now you want to leave me for her? You can't go! You promised to stay with me today..."

Fu Jinchin's gaze was cold and indifferent as she looked at her. His voice, cool and aloof as a winter's night.

"Li Zhi, again and again, over and over, do you think you have the right to demand anything from me?"

Li Zhi's face turned instantly pale. The man ruthlessly pushed her away, striding out of the room. Supporting herself on the doorframe, Li Zhi yelled out, her eyes teary.

"If you leave, we're getting a divorce!"

In the corridor, the man's footsteps never paused for a moment, and he quickly disappeared around the corner.

Overwhelmed, Li Zhi dropped to her knees.

At the age of eight, Fu Jinchin brought her back to the Fu family, battered and bruised, declaring her his sister in name.

He attended her first parent-teachers meeting, taught her how to ride a bike, and combed her hair into her first princess hairstyle...

Even during her first menstrual cycle, he was the one to buy her sanitary pads and training bras...

For ten years, he had been like a brother to her, and like a father.

At eighteen, Fu Jinchin was ready to give up everything for Li Zhi.

When eighteen-year-old Li Zhi climbed into her brother's bed and was caught, it became a major scandal in Yun City. Their grandmother beat Fu Jinchin until he was multiple injured and forced him to marry her.

His girlfriend, Su Wansnow, heartbroken, left the country.

He married her, but he didn't love her. After marriage, he was only willing to play the part of being her husband.

A year ago, he got drunk, had a night of messy affairs, and yet, he never showed even the slightest affection for her, refusing to have a child with her.

He resented her for ruining everything, refusing to let her call him 'older brother' anymore.

Although she deeply loved him, she could only hide it in her heart, fearing the slightest reveal would disgrace him. So, how could she drug him and crawl into his bed?

Four years ago one night, she didn't know what had happened. Over the years, everyone sneered at her for shamelessly invading her 'brother's' bed, the Fu family also did not accept her.

She was always compliant, always tremendously careful.

She thought when the mother-in-law brought out the family heirloom bracelet, and Fu Jincheng accompanied her for their anniversary, was a breakthrough signalling that she was finally accepted and liked. Yet, it was all just her ridiculous imagination.

Hopes and despair, a thin line separates them.

Everything that happened today, like a silent slap, thoroughly woke her up.

She doesn't want to continue this way anymore.

She wants a divorce, to set him free, and also freeing herself!

"Madam, why are you sitting on the floor?" Auntie Jiang stood at the door, her expression surprised.

Li Zhi turned away from her, blinked rapidly, and then stood up.

"What is it?"

"Sir had me bring you the medicine before he left..."

Aunt Jiang presented a glass of water and pills; Li Zhi knew these were birth control pills.

She took them and swallowed them in Aunt Jiang's presence.

With Aunt Jiang gone, Li Zhi closed the door and numbly started cleaning up the room in disarray.

Only when she noticed the bloodstains on the floor did she realize that shards of broken glass had injured her, and her foot was smeared with the vivid red of blood.

She laughed at her own self-mockingly, cleaned the floor thoroughly, and then hastily bandaged her wounds.

Going downstairs into the dining room, the candlelit dinner and cake that she had prepared with her own hands were still neatly laid out.

Li Zhi sat down by herself, slowly eating with chopsticks. It was like a final tribute to her doomed marriage.

In the living room, Aunt Jiang's voice echoed in panic.

"Oh no, young master eight has a high fever!"

Yesterday, her eight-year-old brother-in-law, Fu Junyan, had fallen ill and clung to her. His grandmother had brought him over. He was the one who had revealed the matter about the jade bracelet to Li Zhi.

Li Zhi's face changed, "You go start the car, I'll bring Little Eight out immediately."

"Sister Seven, Little Eight doesn’t feel well..."

Rushing into the room, Li Zhi felt the child's feverish forehead, his dazed state due to the fast-rising temperature pressing into her palm.

"Sister Seven is here, Little Eight, don't be scared, we're going straight to the hospital."

When they arrived at the hospital, it was almost midnight. After a series of tests, Fu Junyan was admitted to the ward.

Zhou Huiqin and Mama Wang hurried to keep watch while Li Zhi went to retrieve the medical report.

Thinking that the young Junyan might be difficult when he wakes up in the middle of the night, Li Zhi decided to go back to the ward to grab her bag and buy some snacks.

The ward door wasn't fully closed, so the sound of crying and conversation leaked out.

"Don't worry too much, Madam. The doctor said the Eighth Young Master's leukemia is not high-risk and may not need a bone marrow transplant."

"I understand, but Xiao Ba has a rare blood type. Even if he doesn't require a transplant, blood transfusion is inevitable. If only Li Zhi could give birth to a child that matches him, then she would have served some purpose. It won't feel like the Fu family raised her for nothing..."

Li Zhi felt as though she had been hit by a thunderbolt.

It all made sense now; Junyan - the child his grandmother bore at an old age - was the apple of her eye.

It wasn't that his grandmother wanted her pregnant, but rather, she wanted her to conceive a child who could possibly be the lifesaver and the blood bag for her younger uncle.

Feeling bone-chilling cold, Li Zhi stumbled away in shock and headed toward the outpatient hall.

She thought that the night had been ridiculous enough, but when she raised her head, she unexpectedly saw her husband.

A woman was with Fu Jincheng, both wearing glow-in-the-dark headbands, looking like a pair of young lovers.

The man was looking down at his cellphone, while the woman stood on her tiptoes playfully, pinching the wolf ears on top of his head. The jade bracelet on her wrist shimmered in the light - it was the Fu Family's heirloom jade bracelet.

Li Zhi felt her head spinning and a surge of nausea hit her. She quickly turned her head to one side to dry heave.

When Fu Jincheng turned his head, he caught sight of Li Zhi.

Their eyes met, and Li Zhi was rooted to the spot.

Fu Jincheng looked as calm as ever, saying something to the woman. And the woman turned her head to look over.

And then, Li Zhi recognized her face - a pure and delicate face, reminiscent of first love.

It was Su Wansnow. She had returned!