Chapter 2

As I packed my luggage, sounds of laughter and cheerful chatter continued to filter through the door.

"Siming, relax. I promise you, Qi Yanze will only ever be the child's father on paper. I won't hide the truth from our son."

"He will carry your last name, Ye, never Qi."

Hearing that felt like someone had rubbed crushed glass against my raw heart, sending sharp, throbbing waves of pain through my chest.

I remembered returning from the mountains a year ago during the holidays, having submitted a special leave request and traveled thousands of miles.

The moment I pushed open the door, I found Ye Siming standing there.

He had frowned, asking who I was and whom I was looking for in his house.

Just as I was wondering if I had somehow walked into the wrong apartment, Gu Lianyi walked out, her belly heavily swollen.

The moment she laid eyes on me, there was no joy—only panic, shock, and utter guilt.

"Hubby... weren't you supposed to be teaching in the mountains? Why did you come back so suddenly?"

In contrast to her shock, Ye Siming didn't look flustered in the slightest. Instead, he greeted me like the rightful master of the house.

"Brother Yanze, we wanted to keep this from you a bit longer, but since you're already here, there's no hiding it anymore."

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am the biological father of the baby in your wife's belly..."

He had smiled serenely as he spoke, but everything after that turned into a blur of ringing noise in my ears.

What did he just say? Gu Lianyi was carrying his child?!

Before my mother passed away, she had pleaded so desperately for a grandchild, but Gu Lianyi had coldly rejected her, claiming she despised children. And now, she had cheated on me and conceived a baby with this man!

Losing all reason, I tackled Ye Siming to the floor. With bloodshot eyes, I rained fist after fist onto his face, unleashing all the agonizing betrayal, grief, and fury pent up inside me!

At that moment, only one thought consumed my mind: kill these two shameless hypocrites!

Gu Lianyi screamed at the top of her lungs, but cradling her pregnant belly, she didn't dare come close, so she called 911.

The responding officers pinned me to the floor. After sorting out the situation, the police looked conflicted, stating it was a messy domestic dispute that we needed to resolve privately.

Yet her parents rushed over in a frenzy, demanding the police lock me up for "assault and disorderly conduct" so I could "cool my head" in a cell.

They fretted over Ye Siming with immense tenderness, rushing him to the hospital, while I was hauled away in handcuffs, barred from my own home, and locked in a freezing jail cell for seven whole days.

That was the moment I realized with absolute clarity: there was no longer a place for me in that home.

Everything that belonged to me had been usurped by another man.

My child-free wife had willingly borne him a child.

My in-laws treated him like the golden son-in-law.

And I was nothing more than an obsolete relic to be tossed aside.

It wasn't until seven days later that Gu Lianyi, heavily pregnant, reluctantly came to the police station to pick me up.

"Qi Yanze, can you please stop throwing tantrums? Siming's health is failing and he doesn't have much time left. All I wanted was to give him a legacy before he dies."

"He is even willing to let his child call you Dad! Why can't you learn from him and show a little grace and maturity?"

Hearing her words, I lowered my head into the shadows, my voice raspy and broken.

"Then when my mother was on her deathbed, why weren't you willing to have a child with me?"

Gu Lianyi remained dead silent. But I already knew the answer.

At that moment, I felt like the biggest joke in the world.

I walked out of the precinct alone, refusing to go home with her.

After all, that was no longer my home.

Then, a massive storm erupted on social media. A female student of mine publicly accused me of sexually assaulting her, even producing security footage of me leaving her home late at night—a visit that had been nothing more than free after-hours tutoring born of pure goodwill.

No matter how I pleaded my innocence, no one believed me.

Strangers condemned me online, the police hauled me back into custody, my in-laws hurled vile curses at me, and Gu Lianyi openly proclaimed that I was unworthy of being her husband.

I spent an entire year locked behind bars, bearing the agonizing burden of a tarnished reputation.

It wasn't until my lawyer finally uncovered irrefutable evidence proving the student had lied that my name was cleared, my record expunged, and my formal teaching credentials restored.

Gu Lianyi walked into the bedroom.

"Qi Yanze, good to see you're acting sensibly for once. Once you're done packing, go sleep in the study. Siming and I need to take care of the baby tonight."

"Siming... he doesn't have long to live. You don't need to be jealous of a dying man. I just want him to feel happy and at peace during his final days..."

Gu Lianyi tried to explain further, but I didn't want to hear another word. Cheating was cheating, plain and simple.

Keeping a cold, indifferent expression, I grabbed my bags and headed to the study. It was already too late tonight; I would check into a hotel first thing in the morning.

Just as I was drifting off to sleep, repulsive, breathless sounds drifted through the wall from the master bedroom next door.

"Siming... be gentler... the walls aren't soundproof."

"Isn't that even better?"

"You're so bad... I meant, don't wake the baby."

Happy and at peace, indeed.

Holding my wife in his arms and making sure I could hear every disgusting sound—how could he not be thrilled?

Gu Lianyi, you truly have no soul.