You tricked me into raising your son? You'll divorce me and become my aunt.

Ruan Ning felt a lump in her throat, and urgently needed to vent it.

She looked directly at Jin Manrong and said, word by word, "I said I won't drink."

"Is having a child just my responsibility? You make me drink Chinese medicine every day, why don't you take your son to the hospital to get him checked out? Maybe he's infertile?"

"Impossible!" Jin Manrong said firmly.

Ruan Ning asked with a half-smile, "Why is it impossible?"

Jin Manrong blurted out, "If Tingchen has a problem, then Shuoshuo..."

Jin Manrong suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

Ruan Ning saw this and sneered inwardly.

Just then, the nanny's voice came from downstairs.

"The gentleman is back."

Fu Tingchen is back.

Jin Manrong glanced coldly at Ruan Ning, "You've been married for three years and still no baby. Our Fu family doesn't need a barren hen. If you still can't get pregnant this year, I'll make Tingchen divorce you!"

After saying that, Jin Manrong turned and went downstairs.

A cold smile appeared on Ruan Ning's lips.

This family is truly shameless.

Just then, a friend called.

"Ningning, I've found a lawyer for you. Do you have time to come to the law firm now to have a face-to-face meeting with the lawyer?"

"Okay, I'll be right there."

Ruan Ning hung up the phone and went downstairs. She saw Fu Tingchen sitting on the sofa, holding Fu Zishuo in his arms and playing with him.

Fu Tingchen, such a cold person, only shows this warm and patient side when he is with Fu Zishuo.

Previously, Ruan Ning only thought that they were brothers with a good relationship.

They often remarked that the two brothers looked very alike.

Looking back now, it's utterly ridiculous.

They are father and son, how could they not look alike?

Ruan Ningjing stood quietly at the top of the stairs, looking at this scene. Her heart felt as if it were being cut by a knife or pricked by a needle.

After watching for a while, Ruan Ning put away her dejection and sadness, passed through the living room, and saw her mother-in-law, Jin Manrong, roll her eyes at her.

She ignored them and walked straight past them to leave, but Fu Tingchen called out to her, "Ruan Ning."

"Is something the matter?" Ruan Ning stopped in her tracks.

Fu Tingchen pointed to the medicine bowl on the coffee table and said, "Come and drink your medicine."

"I'm busy." With that, Ruan Ning started to walk away.

"Sister-in-law, it's time to take your medicine." Fu Zishuo picked up the Chinese medicine from the coffee table, took a few steps, and handed it to Ruan Ning.

But as he approached Ruan Ning, his hand slipped, and the medicine bowl fell to the ground.

The freshly brewed Chinese medicine was still very hot, having been kept for a short time.

Ruan Ning's instep was instantly scalded red.

Fu Zishuo quickly apologized, "Oh, I'm sorry, sister-in-law, my hand slipped."

Ruan Ning's fingers tightened, she took a deep breath, and, unable to contain herself any longer, yelled at the brat Fu Zishuo, "Get out of here!"

Before he could finish speaking, Fu Tingchen's expression changed instantly, and he coldly rebuked, "Ruan Ning!"

Ruan Ning met the man's icy gaze and felt a pang of pain in her heart.

But it was only for a moment.

This man allowed his illegitimate son to bully her.

She was burned, but he didn't care at all.

She had only yelled at his illegitimate son once in anger, and he turned cold and looked at her with that kind of gaze.

She was clearly the victim.

Her eyes, however, seemed to say that she had done something unforgivable.

Fu Zishuo had done many similar bullying pranks in the past.

Ruan Ning used to always swallow her anger.

But this time she didn't want to endure it anymore.

The Fu family is going too far.

No matter what, she is Fu Tingchen's legal spouse and rightfully Mrs. Fu. Why should she let an illegitimate child bully her?

Thinking of this, Ruan Ning disregarded Fu Tingchen and Jin Manrong standing to the side, reached out and shoved Fu Zishuo, who was blocking her way, "Get lost!"

Then he walked straight away.

-

Ruan Ning bought a tube of ointment at the pharmacy and sat on a chair by the roadside to apply it.

"Buzzing—"

The vibration of her phone pulled Ruan Ning back to reality.

She glanced at the caller ID, her gaze pausing slightly.

It was a call from Gu Mingzhou, her senior fellow student from her doctoral studies at Peking University.

Three years ago, she insisted on marrying Fu Tingchen and gave up participating in her teacher's project, which broke her teacher's heart.

In the past three years, almost none of her teachers or fellow students have contacted her.

Upon suddenly receiving a call from her senior brother, Ruan Ning couldn't help but feel puzzled, and at the same time, she felt a little nervous, afraid that she might hear some bad news.

"Hello, senior brother?" Ruan Ning asked cautiously.

"Ruan Ning, your teacher has an experimental project related to brain-computer interfaces. Would you like to participate?"

Gu Mingzhou's voice was as magnetic and deep as ever.

Ruan Ning breathed a sigh of relief.

She paused, then hesitated before asking, "Teacher... he's not angry with me anymore?"

Gu Mingzhou chuckled, "Don't you know your teacher's temper? Back then, he was just disappointed in him. It's been three years, he's not angry anymore."

"That's good."

Gu Mingzhou steered the conversation back to the main topic, "Are you going to participate in this project? If you're still not going to..."

Before Gu Mingzhou could finish speaking, Ruan Ning hurriedly replied, "I'll participate."

Seeing that Ruan Ning made such a decisive decision, Gu Mingzhou was somewhat surprised.

He paused for a moment before continuing, "You can listen to me and think about it before making a decision. This project is going to Country A, you..."

Gu Mingzhou's voice lowered towards the end.

He didn't finish his sentence, but Ruan Ning understood what he meant.

Gu Mingzhou was unaware that she planned to divorce him.

He was worried that she was now focused on her family and wouldn't consider developing her career abroad.

Since she has decided to get a divorce.

Going to Country A is exactly what she wanted.

After hearing Gu Mingzhou's words, Ruan Ning's answer remained the same as before.

"Senior, I've made up my mind. I'm willing to participate in this project."

"Okay," Gu Mingzhou asked. "I'm on a business trip these few days. Come to my company when I get back, and we can talk in person."

Ruan Ning answered without the slightest hesitation: "Okay."

Gu Mingzhou didn't say anything more and hung up the phone.

Ruan Ning put down her phone, let out a long breath, and felt as if she had realized her mistake.

Fortunately, her teacher and senior classmates were willing to give her another chance to make up for her regrets from back then.

It's not too late to realize this now.

It's hard to believe, but after three years of marriage, she still hasn't shared a room with Fu Tingchen.

She is still a virgin.

She had thought she could tolerate this dull, meaningless marriage.

After all, she chose herself as the person she is, and she chose her own path.

But now, she is awake.

Love should not be her whole life.

Even if you love someone very much, you shouldn't lose yourself for them.

A man who doesn't love you won't even glance at you, no matter how much you give him.

For the past three years, she has been doing her best to be a good wife, a good daughter-in-law, and a good sister-in-law. In order to meet their expectations, she has been swallowing her anger and compromising herself.

No matter how well she did or how much she gave, it was all for naught; she couldn't earn even the slightest bit of genuine affection from the Fu family.

It wasn't until this moment that Ruan Ning realized that obsessing over meeting other people's expectations was bullying herself.

She should have woken up much earlier.