After five years of a cold marriage, I can no longer hide the child I secretly gave birth to.

But his thoughts were already deeply mired in a wave of self-doubt, and nicotine numbed his pain.

His gaze was fixed on the distant view outside the window, as if he hadn't heard the bell.

*

In the ward.

As soon as Zhou Yanci left, Mengmeng opened her notebook, wrote something, and handed it to Xu Daikui.

"Mom, Zhou Yanci is so mean! Let's call the police and have them arrest him!"

She really doesn't have any good feelings towards him now.

From the initial father-daughter connection to the current aversion to seeing each other.

Xu Daikui looked at her childish words and felt a mix of emotions.

If only the police could control him.

She bent down and patted Xu Meng's head. "Uncle Wang and I will handle this. You don't need to worry."

Wang Guang then curiously peeked over and asked, "What did Mengmeng write?"

Xu Daikui did not shy away from showing it to him.

Wang Guang was amused by that word, and he looked at Xu Daikui with a smile.

"You two are not divorced yet, and you can't take your conflict to court. Otherwise, if Mengmeng's identity is exposed, the divorce might become complicated."

He had just considered immediately sending someone to sue Zhou Yanci, but he was afraid that the final result of the lawsuit would only be a small amount of medical expenses, which would not be able to deal a fatal blow to Zhou Yanci.

It would be a waste of time.

Xu Daikui thought so too, and was about to nod in agreement when suddenly, Wang Guang's cell phone rang.

They then learned that Attorney Nian had gotten into trouble.

After hanging up the phone, Wang Guang's expression instantly turned sour. He looked at Xu Daikui and said, "Daikui, hurry up and go to the emergency room. Also, ask Attorney Nian's family if they still have that document. I spent a long time compiling it. I suspect we've been set up again."

Xu Daikui also had a bad feeling.

First, someone tricked him into believing that Mengmeng had been kidnapped, and now the lawyer has also encountered misfortune.

The more she thought about it, the more certain she became that someone was watching them. Xu Daikui quickly told Wang Guang everything that had happened that day.

After a long discussion, the two finally confirmed that someone had indeed done these heinous things out of fear that the police would see the information.

As for who that person is.

They all knew it perfectly well.

"Okay, I'll go now."

Xu Daikui quickly led Xu Meng out of the ward and headed to the emergency room.

As I passed through the corridor, I saw Zhou Yanci still there at the corner. His tall and straight figure was leaning against the wall, his handsome face covered in scars and shadows, and he looked disheveled and lost.

She had never seen him like this before.

In my memory, he was always noble and elegant, like a flower on a high mountain that didn't eat the food of worldly affairs. He took meticulous care of his appearance, and this kind of pitiful expression would never appear on his face.

Xu Daikui only glanced at it briefly before walking straight past Xu Meng as if no one else was there.

"sorry."

They had just passed each other when a man's voice sounded behind them.

The sound was muted and quiet, yet it stood out especially clearly in the empty corridor.

Xu Daikui thought she had misheard.

Will Zhou Yanci also say sorry?

She remained expressionless and said calmly, "The person you should apologize to is not me."

Zhou Yanci chuckled lightly, "Wang Guang and Bai Weiwei are having an affair. He's blinded by lust and caused you to get hurt. I'm already showing mercy by not killing him."

"I apologize for not being able to protect you. To make up for it, I gave all the shares of the pet hospital to Xu Jiaojiao, which caused you to lose your job. It was because you were unemployed that you became entangled with Wang Guang. Xu Daikui, it's all my fault. I was arrogant and deliberately ignored you, making you suffer. I was self-righteous and gave Wang Guang an opportunity to take advantage of you. Now you are ignoring me because of him, which is my retribution."

"Don't worry, the Zhou family will back your newly opened pet hospital. I guarantee it will be operating smoothly and have a grand opening on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year."

Xu Daikui never expected him to say such things. She thought he felt it was only natural for him to do these things and make her swallow her grievances time and time again. She thought he could be at peace with himself for helping Xu Jiaojiao take away all the little she already had.

She thought that in the end, he would say that everything was her own fault and that he had not been biased towards Xu Jiaojiao.

But now, he actually admits that he...made a mistake.

Xu Daikui pursed her lips tightly, suppressing all the distress that welled up in her heart.

"I hit Xu Jiaojiao, and you bailed me out. I should thank you for that. As for the shares, they are yours. You can give them to whomever you want. I can't blame you for this. Zhou Yanci, I lost my job. From a cause-and-effect perspective, you didn't do anything wrong. The only mistake was that I shouldn't be your wife. According to our relationship, you shouldn't be biased towards outsiders."

She turned to look at the man. "I won't hate you because of this, but I've already removed you from my list of husbands because of this. Although we haven't gotten a divorce certificate yet, I haven't considered you my husband or family for a long time."

"A certificate is not important; what's important is that the bond between us has long since been severed."

Zhou Yanci took a few steps closer, his gaze falling on her fair face. "I haven't shown favoritism towards her. Believe it or not, I've never shown favoritism towards either you or her."

His burning gaze swept across Xu Daikui's features like a branding iron, gradually stirring up her already broken and scattered emotions.

Never shown favoritism?

Unless all her experiences over the past few months were a dream, there is nothing to prove that he has not been biased.

"It doesn't matter anymore."

She looked up at him and said, "Regarding the Zhou family's endorsement, given how much you and Wang Guang have fallen out, he probably won't accept it. So we won't accept President Zhou's good intentions."

She took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the sob rising in her throat. "That's it, Zhou Yanci. On February 8th, after the annual meeting, you sign the divorce papers, and I will disappear cleanly from your world."

"We really shouldn't see each other again."

After saying that, Xu Daikui took Xu Meng's hand and left.