🔊 TTS Settings
chapter 01
When Rong Ci arrived at the airport in Country A, it was already past nine at night.
Today was her birthday.
When she turned on her phone, a flood of birthday messages appeared — all from colleagues and friends.
But there wasn’t a single word from Feng Tingshen.
Rong Ci’s faint smile slowly faded.
By the time she reached the villa, it was already past ten.
Aunt Liu was surprised to see her. “Madam, you… you’re here?”
“Where are Tingshen and Xinxin?”
“Sir hasn’t come back yet. The young miss is playing in her room.”
Rong Ci handed over her luggage and went upstairs. She saw her daughter wearing little pajamas, sitting seriously at her small table, concentrating hard on something — so focused that she didn’t even notice someone had come in.
“Xinxin?”
Hearing the familiar voice, Feng Jingxin turned around happily. “Mommy!”
Then she turned right back and continued fiddling with what was in her hands.
Rong Ci walked over and pulled her into her arms. Just as she kissed her, the little girl pushed her away. “Mommy, I’m busy!”
It had been two months since Rong Ci had last seen her daughter. She missed her dearly — no number of kisses felt enough. She also wanted to talk to her, but seeing her so focused, Rong Ci didn’t want to ruin her mood.
“Xinxin, are you making a seashell necklace?”
“Uh-huh!” The girl’s eyes lit up. “Aunt Wuwu’s birthday is next week! Daddy and I are making her a birthday gift! Daddy and I polished these shells carefully with special tools — aren’t they beautiful?”
Rong Ci’s throat tightened. Before she could say anything, her daughter’s cheerful voice continued:
“Daddy also ordered another gift for Aunt Wuwu! Tomorrow—”
Something clenched in Rong Ci’s chest. She could no longer hold it in.
“Xinxin… do you remember when Mommy’s birthday is?”
“Huh? What?” Feng Jingxin looked up briefly, then dropped her gaze back to the beads in her hands and muttered, “Mommy, stop talking to me! You messed up the order of the beads—”
Rong Ci let go of her arms and didn’t say another word.
She stood there for a long time. Her daughter didn’t even look up again. Finally, with pressed lips, Rong Ci silently walked out of the room.
Aunt Liu saw her and said, “Madam, I just called Sir. He said he’s busy tonight and asked you to rest first.”
“I understand.”
Rong Ci nodded faintly. Remembering what her daughter had said earlier, she hesitated and called Feng Tingshen.
It took quite a while before the call was picked up. His voice was indifferent. “I’m busy. Let’s talk tomorrow—”
“Tingshen, who is it? So late?”
It was Lin Wu’s voice.
Rong Ci’s grip on her phone tightened.
“Nothing.”
Before she could say a word, the call was cut off.
They hadn’t seen each other for two or three months. She had come all the way to Country A, and not only did he not rush home to see her — he couldn’t even spare the patience to finish a single phone call.
All these years of marriage, he had always treated her the same way — cold, distant, impatient.
She was used to it.
In the past, she would have called again — gently asking where he was, whether he could come home, even just for a while.
But tonight, maybe because she was too tired, she simply didn’t have the strength anymore.
The next morning, after waking up, she hesitated, then still decided to call him.
There was a seventeen- or eighteen-hour time difference between Country A and home — so today, here, was her real birthday.
She had come not only because she missed her husband and daughter so much, but also because she wanted, for once, for the three of them to sit down and have a meal together on this special day.
That was her birthday wish this year.
Feng Tingshen didn’t answer.
A long while later, a text finally came.
[Got something?]
Rong Ci replied:
[Do you have time at noon? Bring Xinxin — the three of us can have lunch together.]
[Got it. Tell me the address once you’ve decided.]
[Okay.]
After that, there was nothing.
He hadn’t remembered her birthday.
She had expected it, but the dull ache in her chest couldn’t be helped.
After washing up and getting ready to go downstairs, she heard Aunt Liu and her daughter talking below.
“Madam’s here — isn’t Miss happy?”
“Daddy and I already promised Aunt Wuwu we’d go to the seaside with her tomorrow. Now that Mommy suddenly came, it’ll be so awkward if she comes with us!”
“And Mommy’s so mean — she’s always fierce to Aunt Wuwu—”
“Miss, Madam is your mother. You can’t say that. It’ll hurt her feelings, understand?”
“I know… but Daddy and I both like Aunt Wuwu more. Can’t I let her be my mommy instead?”
“……”
Rong Ci could no longer make out what Aunt Liu said after that.
Her daughter — the child she had raised with her own hands. Yet in these past two years, as father and daughter spent more time together, the little girl had grown closer to him.
Last year, when Feng Tingshen came to Country A to expand his business, their daughter insisted on coming along.
Rong Ci couldn’t bear to part with her, but she didn’t want to make her sad either — so she agreed.
She never thought… it would come to this.
She stood frozen in place, face pale, unmoving for a long time.
She had come all this way, setting aside her work just to spend time with her daughter — but now, it seemed there was no need.
Back in her room, she took out the presents she’d brought from home, and quietly put them back into her suitcase.
A while later, Aunt Liu called to say she was taking the child out to play, and that Rong Ci could contact her if needed.
Rong Ci sat on the bed, feeling hollow inside.
She had rushed here, leaving everything behind — yet no one truly needed her.
Her arrival… was nothing but a joke.
After a long time, she finally stepped out of the villa, wandering aimlessly through this strange yet familiar country.
By noon, she remembered the lunch appointment she had set with Feng Tingshen.
Thinking of what she had overheard that morning, she hesitated — wondering if she should still go home and pick up her daughter.
Then her phone buzzed. A message from Feng Tingshen.
[Busy at noon. Lunch canceled.]
Rong Ci stared at the screen, not the least bit surprised.
She was already used to it.
In Feng Tingshen’s world, whether it was work or friends — everything came before his wife.
Plans made with her could always be canceled at will.
He had never once cared how she felt.
Was she disappointed?
Maybe she would have been, before.
Now, she just felt numb.
Without realizing it, her car had stopped outside a restaurant — the one she and Feng Tingshen used to visit often.
She was just about to go in when she saw him.
Feng Tingshen, Lin Wu, and their daughter, sitting together.
Lin Wu was sitting close beside the little girl, chatting with Feng Tingshen while playfully teasing Xinxin.
The child giggled happily, swinging her legs, sharing pastries that Lin Wu had already bitten into.
Feng Tingshen smiled as he served them food — his eyes, however, never left Lin Wu’s face. It was as if there was no one else in the world.
So this was what he meant by busy.
And that child — the one born of ten months of her suffering — was now sitting there, laughing with another woman.
Rong Ci smiled.
She stood quietly for a while, then turned away and left.
Back at the villa, she drafted a divorce agreement.
He had been the dream of her youth — yet he had never truly seen her.
If it hadn’t been for that one accidental night and the pressure from the old master, he never would have married her.
She had once naively believed that if she worked hard enough, he would one day look her way.
Reality had slapped her cruelly awake.
Nearly seven years had passed.
It was time to wake up.
She sealed the divorce papers in an envelope, handed them to Aunt Liu with instructions to give them to Feng Tingshen, then pulled her suitcase to the car.
“Airport,” she told the driver.
