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

"Thanks."

She suppressed the warmth welling up in her eyes, smiled and thanked him, then changed her shoes.

"Come and sit down. Auntie knew you were coming this morning, so she prepared all the food."

Seeing that they had changed their shoes, Zhang Xueru asked Shen Jun to make them tea, and then led them to the dining table.

Xu Daikui looked over and saw a round table full of delicious food, including chicken, duck, fish, meat, and shrimp. All kinds of common meat that she could name were on the table, but there were hardly any vegetarian dishes.

Xu Daikui joked shyly, "Auntie, your cooking is really good. I'm afraid I'll gain several pounds after eating this meal."

Zhang Xueru looked at her with a smile, but the smile was bitter and tinged with tears. "It's good to gain some weight, Dai Kui. You're too thin. Gaining some weight will help you withstand headaches and fevers. You still have to take care of your daughter, so you must take care of your health first..."

"Yes, so thin, there's no flesh on her face at all."

Zhou Yanci also thought she was too thin, so he reached out and pinched her cheek, gently agreeing.

Xu Daikui couldn't easily pull her hand away in front of the Shen family, so she could only lower her head with her cheeks flushed.

That somber expression had a unique charm in Zhou Yanci's eyes, and his heart skipped a beat.

Shen Jun, watching their ambiguous interaction, frowned deeply.

He could understand Zhou Yanci sticking to Xu Daikui like a leech, but didn't his mother used to curse him along with him? Wasn't Xu Daikui's husband a human being?

When did she become so welcoming to Zhou Yanci?

Zhou Yanci is a fickle and scumbag. Why is he loved by everyone without suffering any consequences?

...

Everyone ate the meal with their own thoughts on the matter.

Fortunately, the atmosphere at the dinner table was harmonious and relaxed, and the meal didn't turn sour because everyone was preoccupied with their own thoughts.

Zhou Yanci sat beside Xu Daikui. After finishing the meal, he felt both bittersweet and happy.

In the past, meals with Zhou's relatives were always like a game of scheming and intrigue, and he never relaxed for a moment, especially when Zhou Nianting was around.

The peaceful family atmosphere he had longed for was actually achieved in Shen Jun's home.

Perhaps it was because Xu Daikui was there.

"Have an orange, it's quite sweet."

Seeing that Zhou Yanci had been sitting silently beside her since finishing his meal, looking as if he were lost in some kind of grief, Xu Daikui thought of something and took the initiative to start a conversation.

Since they've decided to treat today's meal as their final farewell feast with Zhou Yanci, they should now enjoy themselves.

They had met, and perhaps even fallen in love, but now, letting go gracefully and wishing him happiness is her final act of kindness towards this relationship.

It was also her way of seeking fulfillment from the bottom of her heart.

Their love began with redemption and ended with misunderstanding. Although their marriage did not have a perfect ending, this relationship, whether a tragedy or a comedy, deserved a happy ending.

Zhou Yanci looked at the round, orange tangerines placed in front of him, his handsome face deep and a smile that was hard to describe.

"it is good."

He peeled the orange with his long, slender fingers, ate half of it, and put the other half in his pocket.

That was the sweetness that Xu Daikui gave him; he would go back and find a crystal freezer to store it away.

I'll take it out to look at when I'm old.

...

After leaving Shen Jun's house, Zhang Xueru handed them two more bags.

"Dai Kui, these are steamed buns that Auntie made herself. I know you may not be used to them, but you can have them when you're hungry. This is also a token of Auntie's affection."

She will never be able to recognize her daughter, whom she gave birth to at the wrong time.

The only way I can offer her this small amount of concern is through the social obligations we have as friends.

"Thank you so much, Auntie. I feel a little embarrassed to accept both food and gifts."

Xu Daikui couldn't refuse, so she accepted it with a smile.

"It's okay. If you like it, you can ask Shen Jun to bring it for you next time. Just treat Auntie as your... favorite elder. You can tell Auntie what you want to eat."

"Okay, thank you, Auntie."

Xu Daikui really felt that Shen Jun's mother was too good to her, so good that she wondered if Shen Jun had said something to her mother.

Seeing that Shen Jun was looking at her gently and only maintaining the etiquette of a friend, without any other ulterior motives, she felt that her mother was not being nice to her because of Shen Jun.

It seems like she likes me?

It's too hard to guess.

Xu Daikui couldn't figure it out, so she stopped forcing herself to think about it and simply smiled as she said goodbye to them.

As Zhang Xueru watched Mengmeng walk further and further away, the tears she had been holding back finally broke down.

Thankfully, that beast Xu Guodong was arrested and imprisoned, and thankfully, Xu Daikui's husband turned over a new leaf and treated her quite well, so she could finally feel a little more at ease with him.

"Mom, why are you crying for no reason?"

Shen Jun looked at her, puzzled.

Zhang Xueru smiled and wiped away her tears. "It's nothing. I just saw that Dai Kui's husband, who had been missing for a long time, had returned. The three of them were living a harmonious and loving life. I was genuinely happy and cried tears of joy. These are tears of happiness and blessing."

As she spoke, the sadness she had been suppressing began to overflow again.

Shen Jun knew that his mother had always been kind and gentle, and Xu Daikui's life was indeed full of hardships.

He didn't suspect anything further.

"Daikui is a good girl, she will live a happy life."

He comforted her.

I hope so.

I hope her daughter can truly live a carefree, peaceful, and joyful life.

She, as a mother, will never be able to get her to call her "Mom" again in her entire life.

All I could do was offer her my most sincere blessings.

*

"Xu Daikui, have you and Shen Jun reached some kind of agreement?"

Zhou Yanci led the mother and daughter to the car, glanced at Xu Meng, and then casually asked Xu Daikui.

Xu Daikui knew what he meant.

He has always believed that Mengmeng is Shen Jun's child, and he has never had any doubts about it.

She didn't know whether to cry or laugh.

She finally smiled and looked at the man, "This is none of your business, Zhou Yanci. Let's part ways here."

Upon hearing that it was time to say goodbye, Zhou Yanci saw a sense of farewell in her eyes.

It wasn't a brief farewell, but rather a farewell between life and death, a very heavy one.

It made him very uncomfortable.

His handsome face instantly darkened, and he looked at her coldly, threatening, "Don't you want to see the Xu family's fate?"

He could tolerate all her little tantrums, but the mere thought of her leaving, even just saying it, made him feel suffocated, his chest burning with intense heat.

Xu Daikui smiled slightly. "Isn't Xu Guodong going to be sentenced to life imprisonment?"

"Li Xuelan has two lives on her hands, I believe she won't be able to keep this up for long. As for Xu Jiaojiao, you can handle her as you see fit."

As the saying goes, if the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam will be crooked too. Xu Jiaojiao's current state of insane jealousy and madness is all due to the teachings and example instilled in her by Xu Guodong and Li Xuelan since childhood.

They've all gotten their comeuppance now. Xu Jiaojiao, whether Zhou Yanci stays or is dealt with, she doesn't want to interfere anymore.

"I'll handle it, aren't you jealous?"

Zhou Yanci could now sense that Xu Daikui had a little bit of affection for him.

For example, Xu Daikui sometimes blushes when she talks to him.

She would also hand him oranges.

She didn't refuse when he took her hand.

She had a physical reaction when I kissed her last time.

He now completely believes everything said in that jar of stars.

The girl he loved, like him, had once loved him deeply.

Aside from the Xu Meng incident…

Xu Daikui gazed into his dark eyes, which were deep and bright, and held a burning passion.

She stared at it, feeling it was all so unreal.

She pursed her soft, moist lips and calmly shook her head. "I'm not jealous, because I have neither love nor status with you now. I only feel a sense of distance from you, like we were just passing acquaintances."

"Zhou bids farewell, and we will never meet again."

She smiled as she said this, then turned and quickly disappeared into the crowd with Xu Meng.

After returning home, I found the rental contract for the apartment I currently live in and saw that it still had six months left before it expired.

But she couldn't wait any longer.

She called her landlord and moved the termination date to the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, then started booking her flight abroad.