Volume One, Chapter Five: An Early Omen

I mustered my strength to drive back home and lay down on the bed, looking weak and ill before Shen Yixiao returned.

He really came back—just moments ago, he was publicly kissing Lu Xiaoyun in the private room, yet the moment I called, he dropped everything and rushed back.

A wave of sorrow and fear washed over me: sorrow for our love, fear of his ever-changing masks.

“Wife, did you check your temperature? Why didn’t you call Dr. Lin to take a look?” Shen Yixiao took off his coat and bent down to touch my forehead, his face full of concern. “How could you catch a cold if you’re fine? Let me check your temperature first.”

He turned to fetch the medicine box; anyone who saw his busy figure would surely praise him as a “good man.”

After taking my temperature, I had a slight fever, likely caused by emotional distress—something Shen Yixiao didn’t realize.

He brewed some medicine for me, supervised me drinking it, then climbed into bed and held me gently and attentively. Yet the smell of alcohol mixed with perfume on him made me recoil.

“Is it the scent on me that’s bothering you?” He quickly noticed.

“Yeah, there’s a woman’s perfume,” I deliberately mentioned.

A light laugh escaped his throat as he habitually played with my hair. “Secretary Lu sprayed perfume today. We had an engagement tonight, and she went with me. She held my coat for a bit, so some scent transferred. I’ll go wash up.”

He was adept at playing a montage of half-truths. Even if I later found the same perfume on Lu Xiaoyun, it could be explained away.

I said nothing and let Shen Yixiao go to shower.

No sooner had he left than Su Ying called. “Xiaoyue, where are you? You’ve been gone so long. We’ve finished eating and are about to watch a movie.”

“I caught a cold and have a slight fever, so I came back early. Shen Yixiao is with me now,” I replied lazily.

“...You didn’t tell me you caught a cold. I could’ve come with you to check on you. For a little cold, you called back your big CEO husband? That’s unnecessary,” Su Ying grumbled, her old jealousy flaring again.

Her words inadvertently revealed something—how did she know Shen Yixiao was called back by me and wasn’t simply already at home?

Unless she knew in advance that Shen Yixiao had an engagement tonight, even knew the location, which is why she invited me to join.

She certainly wasn’t looking out for my well-being or hoping I’d see Shen Yixiao’s true nature; rather, she wanted to relish the sight of my pitiful and tragic betrayal.

And then hypocritically advise me to tolerate it and give Shen Yixiao another chance.

I bluntly asked, “How do you know he rushed home to be with me?”

Su Ying paused briefly, then quickly responded, “Your CEO Shen is a busy man with countless engagements. Didn’t he often leave work abruptly because of you before? This is just my normal reaction.”

She said it so casually, but her heart must have been aching with jealousy.

I smiled, “True, he’s really beyond reproach when it comes to me. He’s the best man in the world.”

“Oh, no need to show off your love. Everyone knows you married a great man. He definitely wouldn’t cheat like others, absolutely not,” Su Ying insisted, as if afraid I wouldn’t suspect.

She had noticed Shen Yixiao’s strange behavior earlier than I did but refused to tell me outright.

She preferred to drop hints that unsettled me.

“Okay, we’re about to sleep. You should get some rest too,” I said, unaffected by her words, then hung up.

I couldn’t sleep at all. The scene I saw earlier at the hotel kept replaying in my mind.

Even after being reborn and mentally prepared, I couldn’t escape that crushing impact.

My hands gripped the blanket tightly, restraining the urge to immediately confront Shen Yixiao. I had to remember the bitter lessons from my failed divorce in my previous life.

I recalled that Shen Yixiao had placed my ID, passport, and other important documents in the company’s office safe, which required a dual password to open. During our worst fights in the past, he promised to retrieve my documents from the office to calm me down. I never forgot that.

Unfortunately, I never asked him for the safe’s combination.

Then there was the financial aspect. Though I seemed prosperous, all financial control rested in Shen Yixiao’s hands. He had climbed from a small-time thug to his current fortune not by luck but by caution.

He was lavish with me, gifting items worth millions that aroused envy.

Yet on closer thought, none of it was liquid cash. Mostly jewelry, bags, or shares—assets that took time to convert and were easy to detect.

Usually, I used his secondary credit card. In short, I had no real money on hand.

Perhaps he foresaw that after his success, he might lose his original resolve and feared I might leave, so he prepared measures to keep me from leaving early on.

Shen Yixiao’s scheming far exceeded my imagination.

“What’s wrong? What are you daydreaming about?” Shen Yixiao came out of the shower, a towel wrapped around his waist, his strong, toned upper body perfectly muscular—no longer the slender youth he once was.

His body bore numerous scars from his early days in the underworld, thankfully none life-threatening.

Ironically, the one time I shielded him, I lost the chance to bear children.

I forced a smile. “I was thinking about whether I should start working at the company.”

“Work?” Shen Yixiao was taken aback, furrowing his brows slightly. He came over and sat on the bed. “Why suddenly want to work at the company? Have I been too busy lately and not spending enough time with you? Are you bored at home?”

“Or do you still suspect me and Secretary Lu, and want to investigate in person?” He said this with a calm, indulgent smile, as if teasing me.

He seemed to feel no guilt about the affair.

“I just feel too idle. Without children, I have nothing to do at home, so why not work?” I looked at his smiling face and explained, “Besides, I’ve heard men gradually grow tired of the ‘old hag’ at home who’s disconnected from society, can’t keep up with him, and no longer matches him.”

My words made Shen Yixiao laugh even more deeply. He reached out and pinched my cheek. “You’re not an old hag; you’re my wife.”

He always had such sweet words at the ready, and I used to love hearing them.

Thus, my desire to work at the company was brushed off with a couple of his jokes, and the matter ended there.

As usual, he held me as we fell asleep. From the day we got together until now, this habit never changed.

Even in the past life, when Lu Xiaoyun showed up with a child and he started to neglect me, he still came to bed at night and held me as we slept.

He used to joke that I was his sleeping pill. In those perilous days filled with fights and dangers, we lived on edge, even in sleep, holding each other as if seeking a safe harbor.