Chapter 1 On the day of the miscarriage, both father and son were with their beloved.
Jiang Shiyuan lay helplessly on the bed, feeling the cold probe moving over her aching lower abdomen.
"Is the child... still there?" she asked in a trembling voice.
"It was a threatened miscarriage; you couldn't save your baby," the doctor sighed regretfully.
Jiang Shiyuan gripped the bedsheet tightly with all ten fingers, her heart aching terribly.
"However, even if you manage to save the baby, I don't recommend that you stay. You inhaled a lot of thick smoke in the fire, which will have a serious impact on the fetus. It would be terrible if the baby was born unhealthy."
Two hours ago—
An electrical fire broke out in the new energy research and development laboratory of Xie's Group. Jiang Shiyuan rushed into the fire without hesitation in order to save the latest chip he had developed.
Although she saved the chip, she herself fell into a coma due to inhaling thick smoke.
When she was wheeled into the emergency room, she had multiple abrasions and was bleeding from her lower body; it was a heartbreaking sight.
She was exhausted from juggling family and work day and night, and only then did she realize that she was almost two months pregnant.
"You're still young, you can have more children."
The doctor comforted her while wiping her down, saying, "You are currently weak and need to be hospitalized for observation. I suggest you immediately notify your husband to come and take care of you."
Jiang Shiyuan trembled all over, struggled to sit up, and hesitated to call Xie Jinghuai.
Two days ago, her husband said he had to go on a business trip to country M to discuss a project, and her son Tongtong said he wanted to go to an amusement park abroad, so she went with him.
She knew that Xie Jinghuai hated being disturbed when he was out working. He hadn't called or texted her in the past couple of days; he must be very busy…
At that moment, the phone vibrated.
A message from my half-sister, Lin Zhixin, caught my eye.
Jiang Shiyuan tapped the page with trembling fingertips, her breath catching in her throat.
In the photo, Lin Zhixin is seen hugging her son Tongtong, laughing and making a heart shape with her hands, while the handsome Xie Jinghuai sits beside her.
The man, who had previously refused to even take wedding photos, surprisingly appeared in the picture this time, his thin lips slightly curved, revealing a rare smile.
In the group photo, they look like a happy family of three.
[Sister, Jinghuai, Tongtong, and I are watching a musical together. "The Nightingale's Song" is your favorite, right? I got to see it for you first!]
"The Song of the Nightingale" is sold out every time, and tickets are hard to come by.
Jiang Shiyuan had tried more than once to ask Xie Jinghuai to go with her, but the man had coldly rejected her each time.
"I'm very busy and don't have time. Besides, Tongtong is still young and needs constant care. Let's talk about it later."
It turns out he wasn't busy; he just didn't want to be with her.
Jiang Shiyuan's eyes were red-rimmed, and her heart, which had been throbbing with pain, now felt as if it had been stabbed again.
Back in her hospital room, Jiang Shiyuan endured the abdominal pain and curled up on the bed, still unwilling to give up, and dialed her husband's number.
After several rings, a deep, cold, and magnetic male voice came from the other end:
"What's wrong?"
"Jinghuai, I'm not feeling well, I'm in the hospital... Could you come back a little earlier?" Jiang Shiyuan's face was pale and her voice was weak.
The man's attitude was indifferent. "The project here hasn't been finalized yet; we'll have to wait a couple more days. Let Butler Ning take care of you."
Jiang Shiyuan gripped her phone tightly. "Jinghuai, are you with Zhixin right now?"
"Jiang Shiyuan, is this really necessary?"
Xie Jinghuai's voice was filled with annoyance, "It's been five years. I've told you more than once that there's nothing between Zhixin and me. I only see her as a younger sister. So what if I'm with her right now?"
"Your ability to be unreasonable has improved; you've learned to fake illness and use self-inflicted suffering as a pretext?"
"Dad, you're talking too loudly on the phone, you're disturbing me and Auntie!"
Tongtong's childish voice chimed in, "Stop paying attention to Mommy, okay? She's so annoying!"
Before Jiang Shiyuan could speak, Xie Jinghuai hung up.
He wasn't willing to give her even the slightest bit of patience.
In the empty hospital room, she huddled under the covers, feeling a chill spread through her limbs and bones.
...
Three days later, Jiang Shiyuan chose to be discharged from the hospital early.
She was worried because there was still a lot of work to be done in the R&D department.
Xie Jinghuai attaches great importance to this new product launch, hoping for a good result, after all, she has been working hard silently for two whole years.
In the evening, Jiang Shiyuan returned to Guanlan Garden looking exhausted, feeling as if she was about to collapse.
As soon as she entered the living room, she heard laughter and chatter; it was the voices of her son, Tongtong, and Lin Zhixin.
Jiang Shiyuan's heart sank, and she quickly hid behind a potted plant, peering over—
On the sofa, Lin Zhixin, slender and delicate with a pretty face, sat between the Xie father and son. A birthday cake was on the coffee table, and the ruby pendant necklace around her neck was a limited edition from a high-end brand.
She saw it by chance in a shopping mall window last month, liked it, but the price was outrageous, and she dared not even dream of owning it.
At this moment, however, it appeared on Lin Zhixin.
"Brother Jinghuai, thank you for the gift. I really like it."
Lin Zhixin gently stroked the pendant, gazing at the man's handsome face with eyes as gentle as water. "This must be very expensive, right? Don't spend money on me in the future. I've said it before, gifts aren't important, the thought is enough."
Xie Jinghuai said calmly, "Money is nothing, what matters most is that you like it."
"Aunt Xinxin, close your eyes!" Tongtong urged with a smile.
Lin Zhixin obediently followed her instructions.
Tongtong's fair little hands slipped a colorful crystal bracelet onto her wrist:
"Okay!"
"Wow, it's so beautiful!" Lin Zhixin exclaimed with delight.
Tongtong chuckled and scratched her head. "I carefully selected every single bead on these beads, and I strung them myself. They're my birthday gift to you, Auntie."
"Thank you, Tongtong. I will keep this for the rest of my life and cherish it dearly." Lin Zhixin leaned down, her rosy lips close to Tongtong's forehead.
Just then, Tongtong raised her little face and kissed Lin Zhixin on the cheek with a loud smack!
Tongtong inherited her father's temperament; she was naturally aloof and arrogant, and disliked being close to her mother.
However, Lin Zhixin easily obtained what Jiang Shiyuan had longed for but could not get.
Her heart became the sourest lemon in the world, mercilessly crushed by a pair of large hands, soaking her internal organs and leaving her tongue bitterly sour.
Tongtong's eyes sparkled as she earnestly said, "Auntie, you're not well. From now on, Dad and I will protect you and shield you from the wind and rain, okay?"
"Okay, from now on, Auntie will rely on you to protect her." Lin Zhixin blushed shyly and glanced at the man beside her.
Xie Jinghuai smiled, cut a piece of cake with his phoenix eyes, and handed it to Lin Zhixin.
This scene caused Jiang Shiyuan's already pale face to lose all color, and she almost couldn't stand up.
The man she loved with all her heart celebrated another woman's birthday, and the son she gave birth to at great personal risk claimed he would protect the woman who stole everything from his mother.
Jiang Shiyuan smiled with red eyes, turned around, and walked out of the marriage cage that had imprisoned her for five years.
Outside the villa, a light rain was falling.
Jiang Shiyuan, soaked to the bone, stood by the roadside and dialed a long-forgotten number. A man's joyful voice came from the other end:
"Young Miss! It's been so long since we last talked. How have you been?"
She smiled, her beautiful eyes revealing an unprecedented coldness and resolve:
"That's fine, I'm getting a divorce."
"What?!"
"Could you please draft a divorce agreement for me, as soon as possible?"
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