Volume One, Chapter 10: Turning Back to the Fu Family

Hmph.
He is really confident.
He can coax the living to come back, but what about the dead?
I can’t help but feel sorry for myself.
My parents and siblings use me, my mother-in-law and husband scheme against me, and my son despises me.

As soon as Han Zhou Fu left the Fu Corporation, he called me.
“How is it? Has the money-losing woman answered the phone?” Mother Fu anxiously asked.
Han Zhou Fu frowned. “No.”
Wan Yue Su spoke softly, “Sister, maybe you were having too much fun and forgot to pick up the call?”
That sentence reminded Han Zhou Fu that I was still on vacation in Sanya.
He felt uneasy and took a deep drag of his cigarette.
“Wan Yue, come back with me. I’ll have Nurse Wang make you some black-bone chicken soup to nourish my eldest grandson properly!”
Wan Yue Su was pulled away by Mother Fu.

Han Zhou Fu stood in the wind, displeased. “Tang Xing, I want to see how long you’re going to keep this up.”
Saying so, he opened my WeChat profile and typed in the chat with the softest voice,
“Xing Xing, I was wrong. It’s my fault, husband’s fault. Both Xiao Si and I miss you.”
After sending the message, he confidently closed his phone and drove away.
He firmly believed that by lowering himself like this, I would obediently come back.

I looked at my transparent soul and sighed deeply.
I don’t know when Han Zhou Fu realized that I was dead.
What’s become of my body now?
Have those people already skinned me, pulled out my tendons, picked my bones?
Those scenes are too cruel—I dare not think too much.

Han Zhou Fu went home to shower, handled some work, then fell asleep.
Suddenly, a heavy rainstorm began in the night.
The window creaked and groaned.
The thunder was so loud that Han Zhou Fu seemed trapped in a nightmare.
“Xing Xing, run!”
Boom—
A thunderclap that shook the sky woke Han Zhou Fu from his sleep.
His face turned pale, drenched in cold sweat, and his body trembled uncontrollably.
What was happening to him?
I moved closer to watch him. He turned on the bedside lamp, breathing as if suffocating.
After an unknown amount of time, the rain stopped. He reached for his phone on the bedside table,
opened WeChat, frowning deeply.

Usually, I would be the one to process my emotions, humbly begging for his forgiveness.
This was the first time in so many years that he apologized, yet my WeChat showed no response. For him, that was a blow to his pride.
A man as macho as him certainly would feel uncomfortable.

He sat up, his head pounding fiercely.
The headache was an old ailment. In the past, to cure him, I once knelt in the rain for three days and nights pleading with an old Chinese medicine doctor before he relented. I apprenticed under him for a full year before he taught me a special massage technique and handed down a pain relief prescription orally.
Whenever Han Zhou Fu had a headache, I was the first to appear, never leaving his side while massaging him.
I prepared his painkillers for him.

His complexion was terrible.
He fumbled in the drawer for a long time but found nothing. When he turned on the light, he saw that the drawer full of medicine bottles was already empty.

Not long ago, I discovered his infidelity, and he accused me of paranoia and slapped me hard.
Since then, I stopped caring so much about him.

His eyes reddened slightly, probably recalling how attentive I used to be, always putting him first. Now, after several days without me returning, regret flashed in his eyes.

He instinctively called me, but there was still no answer.
He immediately called, “Secretary Li, cancel tomorrow’s meeting. I’m flying to Sanya!”
“President Fu, the tickets to Sanya are sold out!”
“Find a way!”
After saying this, Han Zhou Fu hung up.
He massaged his temples in pain.

His body shook as he went downstairs. The servant hurried over to support him.
“President Fu, should we call a private doctor?”
Han Zhou Fu hesitated, then shook his head.

Hmph.
I smiled.
It was useless. Han Zhou Fu’s headaches were a sequela of the car accident. At first, the painkillers helped, but gradually they lost effect.
Without my unique massage technique and special medicine, nothing worked.

Han Zhou Fu probably realized this and waved his hand, “No need.”
The servant had no choice but to leave, preparing ginger soup for him.

Han Zhou Fu took a sip, the taste familiar.
“You made this?”
The servant explained, “Madam froze it in advance. She was worried you wouldn’t like it when you were sick, so she prepared it early for you. Madam really cares about you.”

Han Zhou Fu paused, looking at the bowl of ginger soup with a complicated expression, then drank it all.
“You may leave now.”
“Yes.”

After the servant left, Han Zhou Fu lay in the living room, seemingly unable to sleep, tossing and turning while checking the time on his phone.
Again and again,
murmuring, “Xing Xing, wait for me.”

I looked at the bowl of ginger soup on the table and felt a bitter irony.
This time?
Is it genuine or just a pretense?

The next morning,
Han Zhou Fu woke early. He happened to see the wedding ring in the corner of the wardrobe.
It was covered in a thick layer of dust.
How laughable—it had never been worn in the five years of marriage.
On a whim, he put it on, as if trying to prove his sincerity.

I couldn’t help but glance at him again.
Could Han Zhou Fu truly have changed his mind?
I thought the heart I had lost was beating once more.

Secretary Li was already waiting downstairs. “President Fu, there’s a flight at nine this morning, arriving in Sanya at two in the afternoon.”
Han Zhou Fu scanned the information and was very satisfied.
He didn’t even have time to eat breakfast before setting off.
“At the airport, hurry.”
As soon as Han Zhou Fu got in the car, he gave the command.
The driver dared not delay, pressing the accelerator to speed away.

My soul followed Han Zhou Fu closely. He sat beside me, dignified and handsome, looking youthful and elegant.
For a moment, my eyes blurred.

Once he reached Sanya and found I wasn’t there, Han Zhou Fu should realize I was dead.

The car sped along, the scenery outside rushing past rapidly.
Just as I thought everything would unfold as I imagined, the silence was broken by the ringing of a phone.
I saw the caller ID—it was Wan Yue Su.

A soft, weak voice came from the other end, evoking a pang of sympathy:
“Brother Han Zhou, see you in the next life…”
After speaking, the call ended.

Han Zhou Fu visibly panicked.
He roared, “Turn around! Go back to the Fu residence!”
Secretary Li said, “President Fu, weren’t you flying to Sanya? You only have twenty minutes before you miss the plane.”
Han Zhou Fu irritably tugged at his tie.
“Can a wretched life like hers compare to Wan Yue?”