Chapter 1: The

"The top-secret self-developed chip project has been in development for four years and is now a great success."

"The research institute will soon open for public bidding; once it hits the market, it will benefit both the country and the people."

"Chief Engineer Jiang, as the core lead of this project, I have already submitted an additional application for a national-level scientific research bonus and honorary commendation."

"The outstanding contributions you and your team have made over these years deserve to be remembered by many more people."

In the elevator on the way home, a rare, relaxed smile appeared on Jiang Lai's cold and beautiful face.

She couldn't wait to share the good news with her husband, Shen Xun, and had even thought about what gift to buy with her bonus.

It had to be something expensive to be worthy of his status as the president of Star Universe Technology.

Although Shen Xun had climbed into the upper class, their family lived very frugally, still residing in the three-bedroom apartment they had at the time of their marriage.

At their front door, the main gate was left ajar.

The voices of Shen Xun and his good brother could be heard from inside.

"Now that Lin Shutong is back, what are you going to do about your wife?"

Jiang Lai's hand, which was pushing the door, paused.

Lin Shutong? The external expert who had parachuted into their project half a month ago also had that name.

What a coincidence.

Inside the room, Shen Xun did not respond.

"Brother Xun, it's not that I want to lecture you, but for so many years, you've never forgotten Lin Shutong, your 'white moonlight.' You've been living so stingily, secretly throwing three million every month to help her with her research. Now that she's returned with her studies complete and is a specially appointed expert for a national-level classified project, if you go to her and let her leak some information about the bidding, your position as president of Star Universe Technology will be completely secure; no one will be able to shake it."

Jiang Lai suddenly raised her eyes, her gaze filled with shock and suspicion.

She suspected she had misheard.

Three million?

Shen Xun only gave her three thousand a month; how could he give another woman three million every month?

But the conversation in the room was so clear, every word falling into her ears, and Shen Xun did not refute it.

For a moment, Jiang Lai could barely breathe.

Shen Xun suddenly stood up and glanced at his watch: "I don't want to make things difficult for her. Alright, I have to go pick up Shutong from work. Don't worry about the things on the table; Jiang Lai will clean them up when she gets back."

"I'm telling you, Brother Xun, look at how virtuous your sister-in-law is. Not only does she keep your home in perfect order, but she also takes care of your parents and sister properly. Don't you feel even a little bit moved?"

Jiang Lai pricked up her ears and held her breath.

Shen Xun said coldly: "I have never liked a virtuous wife and mother like Jiang Lai who revolves around the kitchen and her husband. I have always liked successful women like Shutong who shine while giving their all to their careers."

These words pierced her heart like a knife.

Jiang Lai's eyes instantly turned red, and the hand hanging at her side trembled.

"Then why did you chase after Jiang Lai in the first place? And even marry her?"

"Back then, Shutong insisted on leaving me to go abroad."

"Just to make her jealous?"

Shen Xun didn't speak, tacitly agreeing.

"So now that Lin Shutong is back, are you going to divorce Jiang Lai?" His good brother didn't even call her sister-in-law anymore.

Shen Xun was silent again, and after a long while, he spoke: "You're right. Jiang Lai has taken good care of me. My stomach problems haven't flared up in the last two years, and she handles everything regarding my parents and sister. She has never let me worry about a single thing at home."

Shen Xun wasn't the crown prince of Star Universe Technology; half of his position as president was earned cup by cup, and he had ruined his stomach in his early years.

Jiang Lai felt heartache for him, waking up an hour early every day to make stomach-nourishing breakfast and returning home at five o'clock sharp every evening to stew soup, waiting for her husband to come home for dinner.

If her husband worked overtime, she would deliver it to the downstairs of Star Universe Technology before returning to the research institute herself.

They had been married for four years, and this routine had lasted for four years.

Shen Xun continued: "And a woman as brilliant and shining as Shutong shouldn't be confined to the trivialities of marriage. I can't bear to."

Could love and the lack thereof really be so clearly defined that it was this humiliating?

Tears uncontrollably slid from the corners of her eyes, a bitter, sour, and salty taste spreading on her lips.

Footsteps approached from inside the room, and Jiang Lai turned to hide in the corner.

Only after the sounds faded did she slowly walk into the house; the coffee table was a mess.

Shen Xun didn't treat her as a wife, but as a nanny.

With no desire to clean the house, Jiang Lai felt completely drained, wanting only to sleep.

Lying in bed, she couldn't sleep at all, scenes from the past surfacing before her eyes.

When she first met Shen Xun, he was caught in the rain, and she happened to have an umbrella.

When she met Shen Xun again, she was in a rush to catch a bus, and he happened to be driving by.

Later on, they met frequently.

When her mentor passed away, Shen Xun stayed with her.

When she went back to visit the orphanage, Shen Xun stayed with her.

When her project was halted and she lost her job, Shen Xun held her and said it didn't matter, then proposed.

When she became a low-level employee with a salary of only four thousand, Shen Xun smiled and rubbed her head, saying that was also impressive.

It wasn't until two or three in the morning that Jiang Lai drifted into a hazy sleep.

At six o'clock, her biological clock for making breakfast for her husband went off right on time.

She opened her eyes, filled with exhaustion.

The other side of the bed was cold, and the quilt in the guest room hadn't been moved.

Last night, Shen Xun didn't come home.

Just as she was thinking this, the sound of the keypad lock came from the door.

Jiang Lai turned back.

Her husband, who had returned, naturally handed her his coat and bent down to hug her, but seemed to remember something and stopped abruptly.

"I was at a gathering with old friends last night and came back smelling of smoke and alcohol, so I won't hug you."

In the past, whenever Shen Xun returned from social engagements, he would hug her tightly, saying that was how he felt the reality of home.

Jiang Lai dazedly remembered that the last time Shen Xun hugged her was half a month ago.

Recently, even when they slept in the same bed, they slept separately; she had thought her husband was too tired from work to even manage a simple hug.

Lin Shutong happened to have returned half a month ago.

So, there had been traces to follow all along.

Jiang Lai lowered her eyes, her long eyelashes masking the soreness in her eyes.

Shen Xun sat on the sofa and pointed at the messy coffee table: "Why haven't you cleaned up?"

"I wasn't feeling well yesterday, so I went to sleep as soon as I got back." Jiang Lai smelled a faint sour odor; she was a very clean person, but she still bent down to clean the coffee table, saying, "I won't have time to make you breakfast after I finish cleaning; you can order something yourself."

Shen Xun suddenly noticed that something was wrong with Jiang Lai.

In their four years of marriage, as long as he wasn't on a business trip, Jiang Lai would always cook for him, at least four dishes and one soup, never repeating the same menu every week.

What was wrong this morning?

"Are you angry because I didn't come home last night?" The man suddenly called out earnestly, "Wife."

Hearing this "wife," Jiang Lai felt even more suffocated and uncomfortable.

Shen Xun was a gentle and eloquent man. When they first confirmed their relationship, he had suddenly whispered "Wife?" in her ear, which had made her ears turn red, but she had still strictly forbidden him from calling her that before marriage.

Shen Xun had listened to her, only calling her that again on the night of their wedding.

Since then, he had often called her "wife" this and "wife" that.

"Alright, wife, don't be angry. Look, I listened to you; I didn't drink even though it was a gathering with good friends." Shen Xun reached out and rubbed the back of Jiang Lai's head. "If you don't want to make it, then don't. I'll go take a shower first."

Jiang Lai gave a soft "mm," not looking at him.

Shen Xun frowned, unable to help but ask the question in his heart: "Wife, you're a bit strange this morning."

"Didn't sleep well." Jiang Lai curled her lips, urging him to go take a shower. Shen Xun suddenly took out a silk scarf; just looking at the logo, one knew it was worth a fortune.

"I passed by and saw it, so I bought it for you." The man said, then entered the bathroom.

Jiang Lai held the soft silk scarf, distracted for a moment, before putting it into her blue tie-dye bag and carrying it to work.

The "Self-Developed Chip" project had been suspended for a period due to her mentor's passing, but after it was restarted, she became the core lead. Due to confidentiality regulations, her mentor's wife used her connections to get her an administrative position at the Ke Group.

Her husband had always thought she was a low-level employee with a monthly salary of four thousand.

In reality, every day she left home for the Ke Group, entered through the east gate, passed through the vast technology park, and exited through the west gate, where the driver assigned to her by the research institute would be waiting.

Jiang Lai stayed in the laboratory, feeling somewhat absent-minded all day. Toward evening, Professor Cheng couldn't help but ask her: "Are you unhappy because you have to have dinner with Expert Lin tonight?"

"Lin Shutong?" Jiang Lai raised her eyes.

Professor Cheng was very surprised.

"You actually remembered! I thought you didn't care about anyone other than your husband. Everyone else has met her, but you two haven't. If you don't meet her soon, it might seem like you're not being a team player."

Jiang Lai frowned.

When she met Shen Xun, she guessed he had suffered a heartbreak, but she never knew who that person was.

She couldn't bear to pick at his scars and never asked.

For these four years, Shen Xun had never mentioned it, as if that person didn't exist.

She thought it was long in the past; who didn't have a past?

Yesterday, she learned that Shen Xun had not only never forgotten, but had secretly provided money and effort.

Jiang Lai didn't say a word.

Professor Cheng pursed his lips helplessly. He knew Jiang Lai had strong opinions about Expert Lin. This project was her mentor's life's work, and now it was her own; how could she allow just anyone to come and take a piece of it? It was already generous enough to let someone in to share the glory.

And now, to ask Jiang Lai to go have dinner with her?

It was a bit of a tall order.

However, Professor Cheng still couldn't help but remind her: "Don't refuse this time, otherwise Ji Lao will be unhappy."

Ji Lao was the biggest leader of the research institute and also Lin Shutong's maternal grandfather.

Jiang Lai had heard about this relationship from her assistant in private.

The people on the team were unhappy about Lin Shutong's parachuting in. Lin Shutong's resume was excellent, but who in the research institute wasn't?

Everyone had worked hard for four years, and in a month or two, they would be making the public announcement.

Lin Shutong suddenly inserted herself as an external expert; she hadn't participated in the R&D process, yet she wanted to share in the results. It was even more disgusting than being asked to add a second author to a paper.

Because of this, Jiang Lai had always forbidden external experts from entering the core area, and she would go home as soon as she finished her work at the institute, so Lin Shutong had never seen her.

Jiang Lai looked outside through the one-way glass.

Lin Shutong was taking off her work uniform, putting on a brown leather coat, tossing her chestnut-colored hair, and slinging a expensive white crocodile bag over her shoulder.

It was the same brand as the silk scarf Shen Xun had given her this morning.

Jiang Lai instinctively pulled the silk scarf out of her bag, feeling that something was wrong.

Just then, her assistant, Xiao Qian, knocked and entered. Seeing the silk scarf in her hand, she said in surprise: "Senior Sister, did you use your bonus to buy a bag from that brand?"

"No." Jiang Lai looked at the girl in front of her, adding with some confusion, "No bag."

Xiao Qian said: "Ah, I saw the silk scarf and thought you bought a bag. Usually, silk scarves from this brand are just accessories that come with the purchase."

"Accessories?" Jiang Lai's heart tightened.