Chapter 57 An Unusual Wedding Date

After some ten days, Bao Furong had nearly sold all the braised dishes in her shop, and she thought of returning to her hometown, Rainforest Town, to buy some fresh pig heads and tails from the butcher Wu Haoshuang, braise them, and continue her business.

She had already wrapped the gleaming shaving knife in a plastic bag, ready to take it back and return it to Wu Haoshuang.

Just as she was locking her shop door, a familiar figure appeared before her, followed by a familiar voice: "Furong, you've had a hard time lately."

The person was none other than Wu Zhenri. Bao Furong stared at him for a long time, as if she didn't recognize him, and then, a sudden wave of fury surged within her. She began to hurl abuses at him, threatened to sue him in court, and drew a slip of paper recording the results of a gynecological examination from her handbag. Brandishing it in front of him, she shouted, "This is the evidence to sue you! I am pregnant, and it's your wicked seed. You cannot escape your blame!"

Wu Zhenri stepped into the shop to avoid gathering a crowd of curious onlookers from the street, and promptly pulled the half-open shop door shut.

Then, he dropped to one knee before her and said, "Furong, I have wronged you. Please don't say such harsh things. You went to my house, didn't you? My parents told me everything about your recent situation. Can you stop making a scene? I am willing to keep you as my mistress long-term and ensure you never have to worry about food or clothing. I have always loved you."

Bao Furong let out a cold "hum," eyeing him with distrust, and retorted, "Keep me as your mistress? Have I had a single day of ease in this braised meat shop? You merely rented a storefront and invested some capital."

"That is also very important, you know!" Seeing that her tone remained harsh though her attitude had somewhat softened, Wu Zhenri stood up, reached out to embrace her, gently patted her back, and murmured, "Furong, I truly have wronged you. I wanted to marry you, but my parents strongly objected. Besides, since my childhood, I was betrothed in the cradle to the woman who is now my wife."

At the mention of this, an anonymous rage ignited in Bao Furong's heart. She tried to break free from Wu Zhenri, but instead, she was held even tighter.

She cried out, "Don't put on this hypocritical display of affection! Get away from me and go hug your bride!"

"I was forced by circumstances to marry her. I have always loved you; otherwise, why would I have spent so much effort rescuing you from that place? I'm not out of my mind!"

Held tightly in his embrace and unable to break free, Bao Furong finally stopped struggling. Instead, she burst into loud, wailing tears, as if she had suffered the deepest grievance, using her cries to vent the injustice burning in her heart.

Wu Zhenri continuously apologized, pulling out a tissue to wipe away her tears. Then he carried her into the inner room, seated her on the sofa, and held her close, showering her with tender care.

Bao Furong sobbed and said, "You went away on a honeymoon trip with your newlywed wife. If you truly love me, then take me away on a trip too. For as long as your honeymoon lasted, you must travel with me this time."

"Alright, we can travel for even longer." Wu Zhenri regretted saying these words almost immediately, because he was, after all, a newlywed. If he stayed away from home for half a month without accompanying his bride, not only would she be resentful, but it would also be hard to explain to his parents.

Bao Furong quickly seized the moment and said, "Then let's set off tomorrow!"

"I need to go home and give notice, saying that there was a business deal negotiated before my marriage that was left pending, and now I must go away for a while to complete it."

"You lied to me, and now you want to lie to your family? I'm coming with you to your house, so you won't vanish into thin air the moment you leave. I don't believe you brought this upon yourself; you've been lying to me all along."

This made Wu Zhenri rather anxious. Bao Furong grabbed hold of him, refusing to let him leave alone. If he wanted to go, she had to accompany him.

Wu Zhenri thought to himself: How could this possibly work? If his newlywed wife discovered he had another woman outside, wouldn't it turn the world upside down? A scene at home was secondary; his reputation would be ruined. But even a ruined personal reputation didn't matter much—what mattered was staining the reputation of the Wu family. Where would his parents hide their aged faces? Weighing the pros and cons, he immediately declared that he would not go home, thus placating Bao Furong to prevent her from complaining further.

Having spent a wonderfully pleasant time traveling with Bao Furong in mainland cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Fuzhou, Wu Zhenri suddenly asked her, "Would you be willing to travel outside once a year?" Lying in Wu Zhenri's arms, Bao Furong replied in a sweet, coquettish voice, "I'd love to!"

"That costs money."

"Are you unwilling to spend money?"

"I am willing to spend even more money to travel with you. But there is a condition."

"What condition?"

Wu Zhenri recalled what his father had told him in private: "If the child Little Bao is carrying is yours, you must find a way to make her abort it. We cannot let a whore give birth to your child, or it will utterly ruin the Wu family's reputation."

Although Wu Zhenri wanted Bao Furong to bear their child, he did not want to defy his father's wishes.

At that moment, stroking Bao Furong's body, he delicately persuaded her, "Get rid of the child in your belly. If it is born, raising it will cost a lot of money. How could we afford to travel outside then?"

"How can you say such a thing? I will not abort this child; I am going to give birth to it, and let's see what you can do about it!" Furious, Bao Furong sprang up from his lap, pointed a finger at the tip of Wu Zhenri's nose, and scolded him.

"Fine! We'll do it your way." Wu Zhenri wanted to avoid a quarrel and pacified her with soothing words.

They were in a private room at a hotel, and he was afraid that a loud argument would create a bad impression.

Suddenly, he realized he couldn't stay away traveling for too long and should return early, lest his newlywed bride grow suspicious of a groom who never came home. The excuse he planned to give Bao Furong for returning was that the braised food shop could not remain closed for long, or customers would assume she had permanently shut down, harming future business.

Bao Furong, however, gave no thought to such matters, believing that even if the sky fell, Wu Zhenri, the eldest son, would hold it up. Being a calculating woman, she intended to seize this opportunity to drag Wu Zhenri along, leaving his bride stranded at home, thereby driving a wedge into the newlywed couple's relationship. If their conflicts escalated to divorce, it would finally quench the hatred burning in her heart.

Of course, the object of her deepest hatred was that bride she had never laid eyes on. That bridal role should have belonged to her, and now that she had lost it, she naturally felt an inexpressible sense of loss.

Back in Kapok Village, Xu Qi's marital leave had not yet ended when Wu Zhenri left her, giving the excuse that he had to go out of town for business. Yet whenever she called him, his phone was always switched off.

This aroused her suspicions. Still, possessing good breeding, she did not wear her displeasure on her face; she merely informed her parents-in-law and went off to work at her school.

Her workplace was Kapok Town Middle School, where she taught tenth-grade chemistry. Because of her sweet and melodious voice, students often approached her after class or during free time to chat about academic or non-academic topics.

One morning, half a month later, just after class ended, a female student walked up to Xu Qi and said, "Ms. Xu, last weekend when I came out of the supermarket in town, I saw your husband. He was walking with a woman who was about your height and had a similar figure from behind. I thought it was you at first, but when I walked closer, it turned out not to be."

"You must have mistaken someone else for me," Xu Qi said, looking at the student.

The student shook her head. Xu Qi added, "When I said you were mistaken, I didn't mean you mistook the woman who looked like me, but rather that you mistook the man."

"Could I possibly not recognize your husband?" The student smiled mischievously. "When you got married last time, the students in our class even attended your wedding and ate the wedding candies. How could I be mistaken?"

Xu Qi uttered an "Oh," though she didn't pay it much mind. She thought to herself: Didn't Wu Zhenri say he was going away for a few days of business? The woman my student saw was likely just his business partner.

Even so, she was still bothered by the fact that Wu Zhenri had turned off his phone and failed to return a single call for half a month. This suggested that Wu Zhenri did not hold her dear in his heart. Of course, it was also possible he was simply too busy to find the time to reply, or found it inconvenient to answer, and thus kept his phone off.

She walked straight toward the school's general office building. Just as she had taken a few steps, her own phone rang. Glancing at the caller ID, she saw it was Wu Zhenri. She did not answer immediately, but instead pressed the reject button.

A moment later, the phone rang again, and she rejected it once more. When it rang for the third time, she finally answered. Wu Zhenri's voice came through: "Hello, why wouldn't you answer my calls? I'm back."

"When I called you, your phone was turned off. Me ignoring your calls twice is just returning the favor for your attitude toward me," Xu Qi said coldly.

On the other end of the line, Wu Zhenri's tone remained remarkably gentle. He said, "My dear, don't misunderstand. I've been exceptionally busy these past few days. I worked on business during the day, and at night I was exhausted from resting at the hotel—almost as soon as I collapsed onto the sofa or bed, I fell fast asleep, which is why I forgot to call you."

Astonishingly, Xu Qi believed him. She mentioned that she was too busy teaching classes to return home and asked Wu Zhenri to come to the school and spend the night with her.

Wu Zhenri arrived that very evening. This was his first time visiting Xu Qi's residence, which was an apartment on the left side of the fourth floor of the first unit in the school faculty dormitory building. It featured a combined kitchen and bathroom, large and small living rooms, and three main bedrooms, spanning an area of 130 square meters. It was said that this was a privilege reserved only for senior teachers.

After graduating from university, Xu Qi had passed various title examinations and undergone numerous evaluations and appraisals. Over the years, her outstanding achievements naturally earned her a promotion to senior teacher.

Following her marriage, Xu Qi had planned to focus on supporting her husband and educating their children. She now expected her husband to enrich himself in cultural knowledge so that in the future, when they had children, she could apply both the loving nature of a mother and the strictness of an educator to impart essential home schooling.

That evening, after Wu Zhenri had finished dinner at the school, Xu Qi saw him lying indolently on the living room sofa and urged him to liven up, take a walk, or go read a book in the study.

Wu Zhenri didn't entirely follow her suggestion. He strolled into the study, glanced cursorily at the bookshelves dazzlingly lined with all sorts of volumes, and, finding no inclination to flip through them, pulled out his own phone and sat at the desk to play a mobile game.

Before long, his stomach began to rumble. Earlier, before entering the school, he had bought and eaten two large, ripe red persimmons from a fruit stall. Unexpectedly, an hour later, they caused gastrointestinal discomfort and an urgent need to relieve himself. Rushing out of the study, he made a bee-line for the bathroom.

Just as Xu Qi had finished wiping down the kitchen and emerged, she suddenly heard the chime of a text message alert. Looking up, she saw that the phone Wu Zhenri had left on the desk was still vibrating. She walked into the study, picked up the phone, and checked the message. She wouldn't have looked if she didn't want to, but the moment she laid eyes on it, she was struck dumb with fury.