Chapter 1 — Sentence for Traitors

“Your Honor, I would like to add one more piece of evidence.”

When I stood up, there were still a few people below the audience with their heads bowed and scrolling through their phones. Three seconds later, the entire courtroom was silent. I placed twenty-three hotel stay receipts on the evidence table, one by one, neatly. The top sheet clearly states my husband's name - Chu Nghien Chau - and another woman. Three minutes ago, he was still sitting in the defendant's chair, straight suit, calm demeanor, as if reporting a project in a meeting room. He said:

"Lam Van Y and I are just normal friends. She is a company consultant, we only have business interactions. Tham Tri Vi has always been suspicious and over-controlling, seriously affecting my social and work relationships. This marriage has come to this today, not because I crossed the line, but because she has never understood what the line is."

When he said those words, he even glanced at me. That look is still the same as it has been for the past three years. Calm. Curb. Even with a bit of disappointment looking down from above. As if he wasn't having an affair, it wasn't that he was lying, it wasn't that he was gradually transferring the couple's common property. It's that I - this wife - don't understand enough, don't have enough dignity, and aren't mature enough. I pushed the last piece of evidence forward, raised my head and looked straight at him.

“You normally… need to go to the same hotel twenty-three times in a row, on the same floor, in the same room type, and still use the same supplementary card to pay?”

Chu Nghien Chau's face finally changed. His lawyer immediately stood up:

“Dear jury, our side has an opinion on the authenticity and relevance of this evidence.”

I was in no hurry to sit down. Just calmly pulled out the second set of documents.

“So what about this?”

"Hotel stay records, transfer statements at midnight, history of ordering food at the same address, camera photos of entering and exiting the underground parking lot... and the entire chain of evidence that Chu Nghien Chau used the name of fake consulting fees, transferred shares at low prices to disperse common assets to Lam Van Y."

“Ah, I also have a recording.”

When I said that sentence, Chu Nghien Chau finally stopped looking at the judge. He stared at me, his eyes as if he realized who I was for the first time. Maybe he didn't expect it. The woman has been married to him for seven years, always patient in front of her mother-in-law, gentle and quiet in the eyes of outsiders, and has never broken a glass in an argument... Tham Tri Vi. It is possible that on the very day of the divorce trial, the knife can be sharpened to this level. Even more unexpected, the first blow stabbed straight into the place where he was most afraid of being exposed. The judge motioned for me to sit down. When I returned to my seat, my fingertips were cold. But my heart felt strangely calm. I've been waiting for this day... for one hundred and twenty-seven days. From the moment I first found out — the woman who was “just a friend” in his words, wearing a nightgown standing in front of the hotel suite door. I already know. Between me and Chu Nghien Chau, there is no turning back. It also rained that day. It's just that at that moment, I almost couldn't help but want to ask him a question: Chu Nghien Chau, what do you see me as? Only later will I understand. Ask... it's too cheap for him. The so-called true cruelty is not standing in front of the hotel door and crying. Not slapping that woman in the middle of the street. It's not like tearing your face off, crying and demanding judgment from the world. But from that moment onwards... Not shedding another tear for him. Then, layer by layer, he was exposed. Down to the bone marrow. Then put it all... in front of the court. Let me see clearly for myself. After all… how dirty is he. It all started four months ago. That day was the anniversary of Chu Nghien Chau's company establishment. In the fifth year of starting a business, his company finally raised round A capital. The office moved from the seventeenth floor to the thirty-second floor, the glass walls were shiny, the reception desk placed two more pots of green plants as high as his body, and even the coffee maker was changed to imported goods. I stood at the door of the banquet room, watching him surrounded by a crowd of people, toasting. Black vest, silver-rimmed glasses, neat cuffs, standing in the middle of the crowd with a fiery atmosphere. Someone patted him on the shoulder, smiled and said:

"Mr. Chu, you've been through so much hardship, sister-in-law is finally enjoying it."

I picked up the glass of wine and before I could laugh, I heard someone else join in.

"Today, Mr. Chu, you should respect not only your sister-in-law, but also your advisor Lam. I heard that in this capital call, she contributed a lot."

Chu Nghien Chau turned his head. His gaze passed through the crowd, stopping on a woman standing not far away. I followed suit and looked over. Lam Van Y wore a long ivory white dress, her long hair was lightly curled, and her makeup was very light. Standing under the light, the whole person seems to be individually lit. She raised her glass, her smile was just enough, neither deep nor shallow. Chu Nghien Chau's eyes looked at her... So familiar that my heart stopped a beat. That was not a normal look at a colleague. Nor is it the eyes looking at business partners. It was the eyes of a man... who had secretly looked back and forth countless times in places no one knew. That night, on the car ride home, I asked him:

“Who is Lam Van Y?”

Chu Nghien Chau held the steering wheel, his expression natural as if I was asking about the weather.

“College seniors.”

“Just a senior?”

He laughed:

“What if it doesn't?”

I said nothing. Outside the window, the neon light flashed past each beat, illuminating his profile, sometimes bright and sometimes dark. He proactively added:

"She used to work in an investment bank and has many connections. This capital call really helped a little. Don't think nonsense."

“I haven't said anything yet.”

“Your eyes said it.”

When he said that, his voice began to show a bit of impatience. I turned to look at him. After seven years of marriage, I am very familiar with this type of impatience. Before… he wasn't like that. Once upon a time, the two of us were crowded into a small room in an old residential area. At two o'clock at night, he was still editing the plan. I cooked noodles for him. After cooking, I was so sleepy that I couldn't open my eyes. I leaned on his shoulder and nodded. He would carry me to bed, cover me carefully, then gently turn around and continue working. At that time, his eyes looking at me were always a bit sad. He once said:

"Tri Vi, wait a little longer. When I make the company successful, I won't let you suffer with me anymore."

Later his company became successful. But I couldn't wait for the sad eyes that too. Just waiting for sentence after sentence:

“Don't think too much.”

That night I didn't ask any more questions. But women's so-called intuition... is often not superstition. It's because you understand a person too well. So even if he changes a little bit, you can feel it. Chu Nghien Chau started coming home late often. Start with your phone face down. Start bringing your phone into the bathroom. At first, when I asked "have you eaten yet", I only answered with one word: "busy". There started to be a lot of dates I didn't understand, a lot of people I didn't know, a lot of "inconvenient to bring family" meals. He looks more and more like a successful man. It's also becoming more and more unlike my husband.