On the other end of the line, Zhou Wanqing's threats and venom slithered like a cold serpent through the receiver and into my ear.
I hung up and tossed the phone onto the sofa, sitting in silence for a moment.
The living room was so quiet I could hear my own heartbeat. Thump, thump. Steady and strong.
I opened my laptop and launched a streaming app. No announcement, no title—just a bare-bones stream.
I aimed my phone's camera at myself and hit the start button.
"Hello everyone, I'm Lu Mingqian."
I watched the viewer count on the screen trickle in—a few, then dozens, then hundreds—my voice as calm as if I were discussing the weather.
"That's right. I'm the 'cuckold' you've all been talking about."
The live comments exploded.
「Holy shit! It's the man himself!」
「Selling popcorn and drinks! Get your front-row seats for the drama here!」
「Dude, you've got some serious nerve, going live at a time like this?」
「A classic case of: as long as I'm not embarrassed, someone else will be.」
I ignored the frenzy in the chat. Instead, I pulled two red booklets from a drawer and held them up to the camera, slowly opening one.
On our marriage certificate, Zhou Wanqing and I were smiling brightly, the photo dated three years ago.
"This is my marriage certificate with Zhou Wanqing. We are, or rather were, legally married."
I then took out a stack of photos, displaying them one by one to the camera.
There were photos from our travels together, of the birthday dinner I'd cooked for her, of her surprised expression when she received her first designer handbag. Every single picture was a memory I once treasured. Now, they were just a bitter irony.
My voice was flat, without a ripple of emotion, simply stating facts with a calm that had been pushed to its absolute limit.
"I admit it. I loved her. I loved her very, very much."
The tone of the chat began to shift.
「Damn, why do I suddenly feel bad for him?」
「Say what you want, but the guy is genuinely handsome. Is Zhou Wanqing blind?」
「Hey, person above, don't get swayed. It takes two to tango.」
Just then, a bolded comment scrolled across the screen.
[If a man can't even keep his own wife happy, if all he does is work and never gives her companionship, don't you think he's partly to blame when she cheats?]
That comment was like a stone tossed into a lake, sending ripples through the stream.
[He's right! The guy must have done something wrong!]
[Flies are only drawn to cracked eggs. Zhou Wanqing is so beautiful, he must have been neglecting her!]
[Exactly! You probably couldn't give her what she wanted, so she went looking for it elsewhere!]
I stared at that comment, the corner of my mouth twitching into a slight smirk.
*Lin Jingxuan,* I thought, *I knew you wouldn't be able to resist.*
Instead of arguing, I bent down and pulled a large case from under the coffee table.
With a *click*, the latches sprang open.
I pulled out a thick stack of statements and held them up.
"These are her credit card bills for the past three years. I paid for every single purchase."
Next, I took out a Patek Philippe women's watch.
"For her birthday, I offered to buy her a watch. She said she liked this one. Eight hundred thousand."
Then came the Hermès Himalayan Birkin bag.
"She was attending a gala, said all the other female stars had one and she couldn't lose face. This bag was two million."
Jewelry, accessories, haute couture gowns… I pulled them out one by one, each item tagged with a price that would leave an ordinary person speechless. The entire chat went silent.
Everyone was stunned into silence by the case full of luxury goods.
I picked up my phone, aimed the camera at that user's ID, and asked, enunciating every word:
"You tell me. Does this not count as love? Does this not count as effort?"
"Or does fulfilling my husbandly duties mean I have to follow her around 24/7 like a dog?"
I stared at the screen, as if my gaze could pierce through the internet and see the livid expression on Lin Jingxuan's face.
I gave a small laugh, swept everything back into the case, and then, slowly and deliberately, spoke my final words to the camera.
"Oh, and one more thing I forgot to mention."
"That river-view villa she's living in right now? The deed is in my name."
"Tomorrow, I'm going to repossess it."