Wrong Love, Bitter Revenge: A Divorcee's Journey

"Come out!"

The old wooden door creaked loudly, its screeching echoing in the sterile room. The sunlight outside aggressively poured in, blinding her as it pierced through the small window. Instinctively, Xie Yunshu squinted, trying to shield her eyes from the pain.

Standing in the doorway was a nurse, her expression filled with contempt. "Dr. Lu is waiting outside for you. Stop dragging your feet."

Xie Yunshu barely moved her dry eyes, forcing a bitter smile. Indeed, everyone looked down on her, calling her a worthless, single mother who didn't deserve someone like Dr. Lu, a man everyone admired.

And now, she had been branded a "mentally ill patient," and even lost her job at the packaging factory. The one who had her committed to the mental hospital was her oh-so-caring husband, Dr. Lu Zhixing.

The winter in Haicheng was bitterly cold. Xie Yunshu instinctively hugged her frail shoulders, silently stepping outside. The coldness gripped her to the bone, and her heart trembled along with it.

The nurse rolled her eyes and muttered, "It's just five days in a ward. What a drama queen! She was quite the tough one when she slapped that woman, Zhou."

Xie Yunshu stopped, turning her expressionless face back. "You think I wouldn't do it again? Care to try me?"

The nurse fell silent, awkwardly avoiding her gaze.

A cold smile appeared on Xie Yunshu's lips as she walked slowly outside. The doctors and nurses all knew she wasn't mentally ill, yet they had kept her there for five days, simply because her husband claimed she had lost control and needed to "cool off."

How ridiculous. The reason she needed to "cool off" was because she slapped his childhood sweetheart!

Five days of confinement had driven her to the brink of madness. The conditions in the ward were deplorable: a thin blanket, two steamed buns and a bottle of water a day. The rice porridge they brought was always cold. On the second night, she developed a high fever, yet the nurses never bothered to check on her. The food was simply tossed through the window by the meal delivery person. The combined physical and mental torment made her feel like she was living a nightmare.

In her fevered delirium, she dreamt of something that spanned ten years, a dream that seemed to bleed into reality. When she finally awoke, it felt as though an entire era had passed. It was now the winter of 1986.

The lines between the dream and reality were blurred, and she realized it was not merely a dream.

Five days ago, she discovered that the man she loved, her husband, had been keeping another woman. In a fit of uncontrollable rage, she stormed into the school and slapped the woman in front of everyone. "You seductress! Are you short of men? Why are you targeting someone else's husband?"

The woman was beautiful-tall, slender, and with a face stained with tears. "Sister-in-law, you're misunderstanding. Lu and I aren't in that kind of relationship!"

Misunderstanding? She was stupid to believe it!

The woman nestled in Lu Zhixing's arms, her eyes full of provocation. She had the audacity to mention their wedding house. "Sister-in-law, don't think too much. Lu is only letting me stay here because he feels sorry for me. If you're uncomfortable, I can leave anytime."

Lu Zhixing stood protectively behind the woman, glaring coldly at Xie Yunshu. "Yunshu, you don't know anything. Apologize to Xinyue right now!"

Xie Yunshu almost laughed. She pointed at Lu Zhixing, shouting, "I never meddled with your salary, but today I found out you gave her fifty bucks out of your sixty. And you call this a misunderstanding?"

Her so-called "good husband" had given their newlywed home to another woman, and he was handing over fifty out of his sixty-yuan salary to her. And he claimed it was a misunderstanding!

Seeing the commotion escalating, Lu Zhixing sighed deeply. "Xie Yunshu is mentally unstable. Let's send her to the hospital to calm down."

Xie Yunshu still remembered how her heart had shattered in that moment. Her husband had done all this for another woman...

"What's with that face? Are you cold?"

A man's voice interrupted her thoughts. His brows furrowed slightly, and he instinctively removed his coat and draped it over her shoulders. "Don't catch a cold. I'll make some ginger tea for you when we get home. It'll warm you up."

Xie Yunshu shifted slightly. His coat still held warmth, but it carried a faint scent of soap, different from the soap they used at home.

Noticing her silence, Lu Zhixing hesitated in his steps. "Yunshu, sending you to the hospital was a last resort. Xinyue is a single mother with a child. She doesn't need to be shouted at or accused of seduction. It was a huge blow to her."

"So turning me into a mentally ill person isn't a problem?" Xie Yunshu couldn't hold back, turning her head to mock him. "You gave her our wedding house to live in and sent fifty bucks to her every month. Didn't you think it might have an impact?"

Lu Zhixing sighed deeply. "I've already had the doctors issue a certificate. It won't affect you. As for me and Xinyue, it's a misunderstanding. Let's go home and talk about it."

A "misunderstanding"? This "mental illness" cost her her job, and even with a doctor's certificate, people still thought she was crazy. And in her previous life, this man had indeed driven her to the edge of madness!

As for Zhou Xinyue, Xie Yunshu now knew everything about her. Perhaps nothing physical had happened between her and Lu Zhixing, but their relationship was far from innocent.

Zhou Xinyue had known Lu Zhixing since childhood. Her father had been close to Lu's family, and after her father passed away, she and her mother had to leave Haicheng. When Lu Zhixing reunited with her years later, it was under shocking circumstances. She had been kidnapped and sold to an elderly man in a remote village. The years of abuse left the once-beautiful girl broken and scarred. Lu Zhixing was horrified by her suffering and used his connections to bring her back, even taking in her son.

From that moment on, Lu Zhixing became Xinyue's savior.

Xie Yunshu had lived with Lu Zhixing in the unit provided by his work. As she entered the apartment, she didn't wait for him to speak before she went to the bathroom to take a shower.

When she came out, the aroma of cooked food wafted through the air.

Lu Zhixing, who held a high-ranking position as a chief strategist, was in the kitchen, his broad back turned to her as he cooked. Hearing the sound of her arrival, he smiled and said, "Sit down and drink some soup first. The main course will be ready soon."

On the table were two dishes and two steaming bowls of rice. Anyone who saw this would undoubtedly think, "What a good husband."

But if it weren't for the suffocating ten years she had lived through in the dream, Xie Yunshu might still be torturing herself with love for him until she died.

"Let's eat." Lu Zhixing placed a plate of stir-fried tomatoes with eggs on the table. Sitting across from her, his voice was warm, "Eat slowly. Tomorrow, I'll go buy some pork ribs."

As if the man who had locked his wife in a mental hospital for another woman wasn't the same person!

Xie Yunshu silently scooped rice, eating eggs and meat without any hesitation, her eyes never leaving her plate.

Lu Zhixing had always been cold in temperament. In the past, when they ate together, Xie Yunshu would chatter away, and he would simply listen, occasionally offering a kind word. Now, Xie Yunshu said nothing, and the only sounds in the empty room were the clinking of chopsticks and the soft chewing of food.

When the meal was over, Xie Yunshu pushed her bowl away, showing no intention of washing the dishes. She simply stood up and walked toward the bedroom.