“Please, sister, let me keep my place. I’ll take care of the kids so you and Chen Ming won’t have to worry about anything.”
Whether it was age or temperament, I knew I couldn’t compete with her. So I swallowed my pride and planned my moves carefully.
A twenty-six-year-old girl, bold as brass, breaks up a family and openly provokes the original wife.
I doubted she came from a good family. I had already secretly hired a private investigator to look into her background and past relationships.
When you stop hoping for anything from a man, and focus only on loving your children, your parents, and yourself, your heart suddenly feels lighter.
Over the past two years, I signed up for a taekwondo class. Logically, I should have chosen yoga, modeling, or at least singing or dancing.
But I love taekwondo. I imagined the day I could flip Chen Ming over my shoulder and slam him to the ground, leaving him unable to get up.
Then I would look down at him like he was a dog and say, “Trash.”
Staring at myself in the mirror, I vowed: “That day will come.”
I knew he would sleep in the study tonight. At eleven, I brought him a glass of milk. Taking care of people has always been my specialty.
He looked up at me, desire flickering in his eyes. He loosened his collar and leaned back in his chair.
Blushing, I toyed with my fingers and asked softly, “Chen Ming, when I visited Mom today, her house looked so old. Could we get them a new place, with an elevator?”
To be fair, apart from cheating, Chen Ming has always treated my parents well.
Maybe he felt guilty for how he treated me, or maybe the mood was just right. He pulled me close by the waist and said, “Give me a kiss, and I’ll do it.”
I bargained back, “Tell the finance department first, then I’ll kiss you.”
Desire burned in his eyes as he called the finance manager and told him to prepare a sum of money for me tomorrow—the amount would be up to me.
While he was on the phone, I wrapped my arms around his neck and sent Meiling a message: “Your man wants to spend the night with me. Should I let him?”
As soon as Chen Ming hung up, Meiling’s video call came through.
He pushed my arms away and stood up by the window, annoyed.
“Why aren’t you asleep?… Miss me? Be good, just for one night. We’ll keep the video on.”
I turned and left the study, slamming the door behind me. Before I left, I sent Meiling another message: “You win.”
Meiling is from this city. Her father is a gambler, and her mother divorced him when she was little. It’s a miracle she grew up at all.
A few years ago, her father was delivering food for a living. Recently, he seems to have come into some money and spends all his time in mahjong parlors.
He doesn’t gamble big, but he always loses, especially when he gets involved with a woman at the parlor—she wins, he loses.
I sneered. Only a family like that could raise a child with no sense of right and wrong.
I guessed most of Meiling’s arguments with Chen Ming were about money—probably to feed her father’s bottomless gambling habits.
Back in the bedroom, I called the private investigator. “Can you access my husband’s phone to check his transfer records?”
I suspected all the money Chen Ming gave Meiling was sent directly from his phone. Company funds would be too risky, too easy to trace.
The investigator said it would be difficult, since accessing someone’s phone involved privacy issues.
He offered to teach me how to check the records myself, take screenshots, and delete the traces afterward.
But my situation was even harder—how could I check his phone when I could barely get near him?
Chapter 04
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