Chapter 3 — The Fated Call

I lifted the phone, my voice steady and devoid of emotion as I spoke into the receiver.

"Mother."

"Are you finished speaking yet?"

Silence fell on the other end of the line. Perhaps she had not anticipated that I would remain so composed.

"If you are finished… then it is my turn."

"First, Chu Kai-Ming and I will absolutely be getting a divorce today."

"Second, he has committed adultery during our marriage, dissipated our shared assets, and is supporting a three-year-old child from an illicit affair."

"Third, he has embezzled a substantial sum of public funds. The evidence is complete. You should prepare for him to spend the rest of his life in prison."

Having finished, I gave her no opportunity to respond. I hung up immediately. The world finally felt silent. Chu Kai-Ming stared at me, his eyes wide with shock. He had never imagined that his wife, who had always been so long-suffering and submissive, would dare to hang up on his mother.

"You… how dare you hang up on my mother?"

"Do you see now?"

I stood up, looking down at him from my vantage point.

"Even at this moment, the only thing you care about is such a trivial matter."

"Shouldn't your greatest concern… be the crime of embezzling public funds?"

His entire body trembled, as if he had been doused with a bucket of ice water from head to toe.

"Ting, no… my dear wife… I beg you…"

He abandoned every shred of his remaining dignity, clutching my legs tightly.

"For the sake of our five years as husband and wife… please forgive me this time…"

"I will return every cent of the money!"

"I will sell that apartment!"

"I will cut all ties with White Moon!"

"I will do whatever you ask!"

"Husband and wife?"

I lowered my gaze to look at him.

"Chu Kai-Ming."

"From the day I discovered you had another family elsewhere… we have not been husband and wife."

"Do you know what I have been doing for the last fifteen days?"

"I was waiting for your return."

"And at the same time, I was giving my legal team enough time to gather evidence."

"A legal team?"

He repeated the words in a daze.

"Where did you get the money to hire an entire team of lawyers?"

He understood my financial situation too well. I had no job. All my expenses were covered by the monthly allowance he provided. That amount was only enough to maintain a modest life. To hire a professional legal team… that was simply impossible.

"Ah."

"I forgot to mention this to you."

I pulled my leg from his grasp and walked slowly to the window, pulling back the thick curtains. The sunlight flooded in, startlingly bright.

"It is true that I do not have much money."

"But my father certainly does."

Chu Kai-Ming remained on his knees, head tilted up to look at me, his face a mask of confusion.

"Your father?"

"Wasn't your father just a middle school teacher in the countryside? He retired a long time ago…"

That was the identity I had always presented to him. It was the lie he had believed for years.

"That was in the past," I replied calmly.

"And now…"

"He is the Chairman of the Thinh Nguyen Group."

"To Chan Bang."

The four words—Thinh Nguyen Group—hit him like a thunderclap. The Thinh Nguyen Group was the largest commercial empire in the city, with reach spanning from real estate and finance to technology. For a small company like the one where Chu Kai-Ming worked, it was a titan they could only look up to and scramble to please. He had dreamed of partnering with Thinh Nguyen. Not long ago, his company had struggled mightily just to secure a small subcontracting deal from one of the group's subsidiaries. He had boasted about it to me for weeks, calling it the greatest turning point in his career. His face turned ghastly pale once more. His lips moved soundlessly, unable to utter a word. Memories flooded his mind: the day we married, the home I paid for in full, claiming it was my parents' lifetime savings. The time his company hit a crisis, and I provided the funds to save him, claiming it was my own secret savings. All along, he had dismissed me as a woman of ordinary status with a slightly more comfortable background. He had never suspected a thing, because my clothes and my spending habits were so far removed from the image of a wealthy heiress he held in his mind. He looked at me, and beyond the fear in his eyes, a deeper emotion stirred—regret. A torrential, overwhelming regret as he finally realized what he had lost. At that exact moment, the doorbell rang violently, accompanied by my mother-in-law, who was pounding on the door and screaming.

"Open up! To Ting! You wretched woman, open the door for me!"

Chu Kai-Ming snapped out of his daze. He scrambled to his feet and lunged toward the door.

"No!"

"Do not open the door!"

He blocked the entrance, shaking his head at me frantically.

"Ting! I beg you!"

"Do not let my mother in!"

"Our affairs… let us resolve them ourselves!"

He was truly terrified. He knew that if his mother burst in and caused a scene, everything would be beyond salvation.