Chapter Three

Traffic was heavy near the East Station. Ye Yin skillfully weaved in and out of traffic, ignoring the solid and dashed lines, and managed to close the distance to the target vehicle slightly, but he still couldn't avoid the traffic lights.

The car stopped, and Ye Yin turned his head slightly, his gaze falling on Teng Zhi's profile.

This was only the fourth time Ye Yin had met Teng Zhi, yet he had the illusion that the two had known each other for a long time.

—This feeling is quite strange. Although he used to ask "Have we met somewhere before?" as a way to start a conversation when he was a kid, he was still a kid when he was young. Now he's thirty-two, so he can't say such cheesy things anymore.

Tengzhi still wasn't wearing makeup today, but her skin was in great condition; not a single pore was visible on her face. Perhaps because she had just walked too fast, her cheeks were now flushed with a thin layer of pink, and fine beads of sweat clung to the tip of her nose.

Sweat clung to her ears and chin, clinging to a few strands of her dark hair. She pulled her hair into a ponytail, revealing her neck, and the sweat glistened on her reddened skin like fish scales.

This BYD was rented, just a bare car. Ye Yin didn't have the habit of carrying tissues with him, so he called out to Teng Zhi, pointing to his neck and saying, "Go get some tissues to wipe your sweat, your neck is all wet... It's not that hot today, how come you're sweating so much?"

Teng Zhi didn't take out a tissue from her bag. She just wiped her neck a few times with the back of her hand and that was it. Her eyes were still fixed on her phone. She said frankly, "I'm probably too nervous. My heart is beating so fast."

As soon as she finished speaking, she seemed to have a real problem breathing.

She pressed her palm against her left chest, tilted her head back, took a deep breath, and finally murmured with a frown, "It hurts so much."

A heart that has been marinated in tears for forty or fifty days and nights cannot be dried immediately, even if a decision has been made.

She turned her head to meet Ye Yin's eyes and asked seriously, "What about you? Can you do it? I'm not the only one catching someone cheating today, aren't you upset?"

Ye Yin's Adam's apple bobbed suddenly, completely unaware that he had already furrowed his brow just like hers.

He didn't know how to answer that question.

He seems genuinely no longer upset about being cuckolded.

Is he too heartless?

"Although your situation is different from mine, you and Miss Yang are not yet married..."

Not receiving a response from Ye Yin, Teng Zhi didn't mind and answered for him, "But you two have really been dating for several years, and you're even preparing to propose. How could your feelings be fake? You must be feeling sad too."

Her voice sounded soft, like a white steamed bun that could be rolled and flattened, but her tone was very firm. If you bit into it, the filling inside the bun could burn your tongue.

Ye Yin paused for a few seconds before saying, "Yes, I feel bad too."

When the light turned green, he kept only his left hand on the steering wheel and reached out with his right hand to snatch the lit phone from Teng Zhi's hand.

Take a quick glance at the map, then place it horizontally in the recessed area of ​​the dashboard.

Teng Zhi tried to take her phone back, but Ye Yin stepped on the gas pedal hard, making the BYD feel like it was being pushed back in its seat.

As the car drove forward, Tengzhi heard him say, "Don't be afraid, the racing legend of Yide Road is here. He'll make sure you catch him."

Teng Zhi paused, and when she understood the title he was using, she immediately burst out laughing: "What? You should at least say something like 'Sky River Racing God' or something..."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a faint smile finally appear on her lips, and Ye Yin unconsciously relaxed his thick eyebrows.

He shamelessly went along with it, saying, "That's how my old friends praise me, but I'm a humble person and I never care about such empty fame."

Teng Zhi was amused by him: "Then I'll have to trouble you, 'Car God'."

Ye Yin smiled and said, "No problem, sit tight."

The idea of ​​"riding in the same car with his girlfriend's mistress's wife and going to catch them in the act" is something that even Ye Yin, who was more playful years ago, couldn't have imagined.

It's absurd, yet it really happened.

Where did things start to go astray? Ye Yin couldn't quite remember.

His girlfriend is named Yang Jiawen, who is six years younger than him and is currently pursuing a master's degree.

Yang Jiawen, like him, was a native of Guangzhou. Ye's mother and Yang's mother had been friends for many years, so he and Yang Jiawen had known each other since childhood. However, there was a slight age difference between them. When Ye Yin was young, he didn't pay much attention to the young girl with her immature appearance. It wasn't until she graduated from university that Ye Yin realized how much a girl can change as she grows up.

With mutual affection and the added connection of their families, Ye Yin settled down and seriously pursued her. After some time, they began dating, and before they knew it, they had been in a relationship for three or four years.

The timeline goes back to six months ago.

The family was urging the young couple to get married as soon as their relationship was stable, so after the Lunar New Year, Ye Yin began to put the proposal on the agenda.

After all, the two were practically living together, so he couldn't let the girl follow him without any status or recognition.

But while Ye Yin was choosing an engagement ring, he noticed Yang Jiawen's unusual behavior.

His girlfriend started to be inseparable from her phone, and her whereabouts became somewhat elusive. Ye Yin would occasionally see her texting with a smile on her face, which made him feel uneasy, so he casually probed her with a question.

Unexpectedly, Yang Jiawen openly handed him her phone, saying that she was just chatting with her girlfriends and that he could check her WeChat and QQ accounts at will.

Since the other party had gone to such lengths, Ye Yin certainly couldn't possibly go through her chat history.

Moreover, if this matter gets out, no one will believe it. His friends all say that if either of them were to cheat in the future, it would definitely be Ye Yin, and it would never be the gentle and well-behaved Yang Jiawen.

Ye Yin was also wondering if it was some kind of pre-wedding jitters that was causing him to be so paranoid.

He told himself to be more open-minded and continue preparing for the proposal.

But the little hole in my heart, pierced by thorns, wasn't plugged, and it kept hissing and leaking air.

In early May, a friend of his suddenly came to ask him how his relationship with Yang Jiawen was going.

Ye Yin was suspicious and pressed for answers, but to no avail. Finally, he pretended to be indignant and poured out his grievances. Only then did his friend hesitantly tell him that he had seen Yang Jiawen at a hotel in Shanghai during the May Day holiday.

At the time, this friend was delivering sex to a person he was having an affair with, and was checking in at the front desk when he caught a glimpse of Yang Jiawen walking in from outside, arm in arm with a man.

He naturally didn't go up to greet Yang Jiawen, as it would be too awkward. But knowing that Ye Yin was preparing a secret proposal, after thinking it over, he finally decided to tell Ye Yin about it.

Life is so long, it's inevitable that we'll all experience being cuckolded at some point.

Wearing it once or twice is fine, but you have to cut your losses in time. You can't wear it for a lifetime, and this color isn't very nice.

Ye Yin's head was buzzing. Yang Jiawen did go to Shanghai during the May Day holiday this year, but she went with her best friends, and posted a lot of photos of her trip to Disneyland on her WeChat Moments during those days...

...Wait, that's not right.

It seems that no other girls appeared in the photos.

It's either a solo photo of Yang Jiawen, a group photo with Mickey and Minnie, or a photo of the park scenery.

Ye Yin opened his girlfriend's WeChat Moments to check, only to find that it was only visible for three days.

However, among the visible nine-grid daily photos, there is a photo of Yang Jiawen having dinner with her "girlfriends" the day before yesterday.

Similar to Ye Yin's memory, only photos of the restaurant environment and dishes appeared, along with Yang Jiawen's selfies, but no "girlfriends" were seen.

Endless suspicions arose like mushrooms after rain, but Ye Yin didn't make a fuss or confront them directly. Instead, he secretly had someone investigate him.

Unexpectedly, Yang Jiawen, whom everyone called a "good girl," had a strong ability to counter surveillance. It took Ye Yin almost half a month to find out who her lover was.

Li Tiancheng, 34 years old, not a local, stayed in Guangzhou after graduating from university and started an e-commerce company, blablabla.

It's unclear when and where Li and Yang got together, but Ye Yin squinted at the handsome, tall, and gentle-smiling stranger in the photo and thought to himself, "So Yang Jiawen likes this kind of 'refined scoundrel' type of man."

Indeed, he is completely different from who he is.

There was another section in the document that piqued Ye Yin's interest.

This guy is married. His wife, Tengzhi, is a well-known food blogger who has published several practical cookbooks of home-style dishes.

Unable to resist his curiosity, Ye Yin quickly found the woman's Weibo account.

She has quite a few fans and interacts a lot with them; everyone affectionately calls her "Jiji".

Ye Yin was somewhat disdainful, thinking to himself that they were just like a bunch of little mice.

On a cooking app, you can also buy "Jiji" e-courses. Ye Yin spent 9.9 yuan to buy a tutorial on "Three Ways to Cook Beef Brisket".

The woman in the video looks like the type of virtuous wife and loving mother.

She's the type who spends all day in the kitchen making soup, cooking rice, and preparing sweet soup, and as soon as she hears the door open, she runs out to greet her husband with "You're back!"

She carefully explained each step and key point, her ponytail swaying slightly behind her head, her makeup very light, and she would occasionally push up her black-rimmed glasses.

She had a round face, round eyes, and a round figure... which was quite similar to the cartoon character printed on her apron.

Ye Yin looked back at "Jiji's" Weibo again, and sure enough, most of her daily photos were of her three meals a day, including Chinese, Western, Japanese and Korean dishes, you name it.

Fans were full of praise, saying that "brother-in-law" could have married such a wife, what more could he ask for?

What more could one ask for... Haha, how ironic.

Ye Yin is not some innocent young man, but he never plays the game of "keeping fish as pets" or "collecting stamps" (i.e., keeping relationships as a hobby). In every relationship, whether the woman pursues him or he pursues the woman, he treats the other person seriously.

Especially regarding Yang Jiawen, he had planned to spend the rest of his life with her, but then this unexpected "drama" happened.

The more Ye Yin scrolled through Teng Zhi's Weibo posts, the angrier he became, his eyes practically glowing with rage.

Why should I?

Why does Li Tiancheng get to eat "home-cooked meals" even though he sleeps with someone else's "wife"?

Is this woman stupid?

Why cook so much delicious food for my husband when he's already gone out to eat takeout?!

In a moment of impulsiveness, he got a phone card and sent a text message to Teng Zhi's phone number in the file.

"Your husband is cheating on you."

...

"Ah, he's up ahead."

The rear of the white BMW was already visible in the distance. Teng Zhi unconsciously leaned forward, as if to see it more clearly: "Is this the way to your house? Was Miss Yang awake when you left?"

Since getting on the bus, Tengzhi's mouth hasn't stopped. She's been asking questions, narrating, and answering her own questions.

Ye Yin could clearly sense that she was unusually nervous and excited today.

There are also many fears.

My chest felt sore and numb, and my clenched back teeth felt a little weak.

Ye Yin regretted it once again; he shouldn't have dragged Teng Zhi into this mess.

————Author's ramblings————

In Cantonese, it's pronounced "zhizhi" and "jiji".

A grand spectacle: a good show

Home-style cooking: A double entendre, referring both to everyday home-cooked meals and, more broadly, to a housewife.

There shouldn't be much Cantonese in this book; I won't translate the more common parts.