The scent of braised pork belly and simmering mushroom soup hung heavy and comforting in the air of the small apartment.
Lin Yue smoothed down the apron tied around her thin waist and stepped back to survey the dining table.
A simple white linen cloth, two carefully polished wine glasses (the ones they only used for Chinese New Year), and a small vase holding five perfect crimson roses, one for each year. It was their fifth wedding anniversary.
Lin Yue was twenty-nine, yet the relentless grind of caring for the home, managing finances, and always putting, her husband, Chen Hao's needs first had etched lines of exhaustion around her eyes that made her look older, perhaps thirty-five.
Her usually neat hair was escaping its clip, and the soft beige dress she had worn specially for the evening already felt slightly damp with kitchen heat. She was haggard, a woman worn thin by invisible labor, and she knew it.
She glanced at the wall clock. 9:15 PM.
The dinner had been ready since seven. The food was covered, the apartment spotless.
She picked up her phone, resisting the urge to call again. Chen Hao had simply texted at 5 PM: "Big meeting. Running late. Don't wait up."
Don't wait up. On their anniversary?
Lin Yue's heart, which had been performing a slow, anxious drumbeat all evening, quickened its pace. He was a sales director; busy was normal. But today felt different.
Today, she had prepared his favorite dishes—the complex, time-consuming ones he usually only requested from his mother.
She paced to the window, watching the streetlights illuminate the humid night. The excitement and anticipation she'd felt earlier had curdled into a cold, metallic taste of dread.
~10:30 PM.
The braised pork, once glistening with fresh heat, was now merely warm, its surface slightly solidified. The roses seemed to mock her with their perfection.
She could no longer bear the silence. Her hand trembled as she unlocked her phone and found Chen Hao's contact, the one marked with a small heart emoji she'd added five years ago.
She pressed the call button, listening to the agonizingly slow ringing. It went to voicemail.
Maybe he's driving. Maybe he left his phone in the office.
She rationalized desperately, her fingernails digging into her palm.
She tried again, and this time, on the third ring, the line clicked, and the call was answered. "Hello?"
Lin Yue froze. It was a woman's voice. High-pitched, slightly breathy, and dripping with an unfamiliar, honeyed sweetness. It was the sound of a voice well-rested and utterly unburdened.
The voice. It struck Lin Yue not with complete shock, but with a jarring sense of recognition—like a half-remembered tune played on a different instrument.
It was a woman's voice who was not Lin Yue, and it resonated with a familiarity that sickened her.
She frantically searched the archives of her memory, trying to place the cheerful, light tone.
A colleague? A client's secretary?
No, the familiarity felt closer, more personal, yet she couldn't grasp the name or the face.
A suffocating silence stretched between them before the voice spoke again, sounding mildly concerned, yet maintaining a note of forced innocence.
The woman said with feigning innocence and with calculative concern hidden behind her words "Oh dear, this is awkward. You must be… calling for Chen Hao? He's quite tied up right now. Who is this, please? Are you his family?"
The world tilted. Lin Yue felt the blood drain from her face, replaced by a cold fire that started in her chest and spread outward.
The phone felt heavy, like a chunk of lead. Her mind struggled to assemble the necessary words, but her throat was constricted. Lin Yue said with great difficulty "Who... who are you?"
Lin Yue's voice was a rough, unfamiliar croak, barely audible above the dull roar in her ears.
The woman on the other side of call sighed, a theatrical sound thick with manufactured sympathy and fake guilt. "Oh, I truly don't think I should say. It would only complicate things for Chen Hao, and he really is so exhausted from work lately. Please, I'm sure you understand."
The casual use of her husband's name, the possessive sympathy, shattered Lin Yue's last barrier of disbelief. Her fifth anniversary, her feast, her life—it was all dissolving into this agonizing, crystal-clear moment of betrayal.
Lin Yue took a deep, shuddering breath, her entire body rigid with shock and said while controlling her emotions "No... I am not a colleague... I'm her...Wife...Who are you... Where is Chen Hao... give him his phone back!"
There was a slight pause on the other end, the briefest moment of calculated cruelty.
The woman's voice became softer, almost a conspiratorial whisper, but carrying a chilling edge of triumph.
She didn't offer her name or told Lin Yue who is she, but said with feigned reluctance and obvious triumph. "If you truly can't wait for him to come home, then you can come and ask him yourself. It's the Regal Grand Hotel, downtown. Room 1089."
The line went dead.
Lin Yue stood there, her entire body numb, the phone still pressed to her ear.
Regal Grand. Room 1089...
The address was a lightning strike, burning away the façade of her life. She looked at the meticulously set table, the five crimson roses, the cooling, congealed feast.
Chen Hao had not been stuck in a big meeting. He had been planning a different kind of anniversary celebration, and she was only now being invited to witness the bitter end of it.
Without a word, without a tear, Lin Yue dropped the phone onto the plush dining chair. It bounced silently.
Her heart was in turmoil, pain of betrayal is seething in her heart.
She close her eyes and took a deep breath, stabilising her emotions and then open her eyes. Her eyes now seems cold without any emotions.
She walked past the ruined dinner and the mocking flowers, her gaze fixed and empty, straight toward the front door.
-The Regal Grand Hotel
It was a tower of icy glass and polished marble, a cold monument, that Lin Yue had only ever seen from the outside.
She felt like a ghost in the plush in the elevator's luxurious mirror wall, silent elevator, the gilded surfaces reflecting the image of a woman who looked foreign even to herself—hair askew, eyes wide and haunted.
The luxurious air, thick with perfume and wealth, felt oppressive, choking the remnants of her hope.
Her heart was a frantic, trapped bird, slamming against the cage of her ribs.
The elevator doors opened onto the tenth floor. Lin Yue walked on legs that felt like lead weights, navigating the silent, carpeted hallway until she stood before the door emblazoned with the number 1089.
Betrayal. Disbelief. A terrifying, bottomless grief. All these emotions swirled inside her, yet she could summon none of the rage she needed.
She was paralyzed, her twenty-nine years of quiet, devoted life having rendered her incapable of facing such a brutal truth head-on.
She raised her hand, her knuckles trembling. She had come here to confront, to demand an explanation.
But as she inhaled to gather the courage, a faint, familiar voice drifted from within. "Brother Chen Hao, hurry up! You've been in there forever."
The voice was sweet, cloyingly so, seasoned with a flirtatious pout.
Brother Chen Hao...
The intimate address sent a fresh jolt of lightning through Lin Yue's veins.
In a moment of sheer, instinctive desperation, she pressed her palm against the door. It wasn't locked. With a soft push, the heavy mahogany swung inward just enough to create a sliver of darkness.
Lin Yue froze. Through the gap, she saw a slice of the lavish room: a king-sized bed, crumpled sheets, and a man's suit jacket carelessly draped over a chair.
She heard the rush of water stop in the adjacent bathroom, followed by her husband's voice—soft, doting, entirely devoid of the impatience he reserved for her.
"Alright, alright, my little sweetie. Don't you know I have to look presentable for you?" Chen Hao emerged, a towel wrapped low around his waist. He crossed the room, his eyes filled with a tenderness that twisted Lin Yue's insides.
"Oh, you're always presentable," the woman replied, her voice melting with exaggerated affection.
As Lin Yue struggled to finally place the owner of that sickeningly familiar voice, she saw a woman facing other side, with slim figure and milky-white skin, sitting up in the bed, perfectly framed against the pristine white pillows.
The woman's gaze, for a fleeting moment, darted not to Chen Hao, but directly towards the slightly ajar door without tilting her face but only her gaze. A subtle, cold smirk touched her lips before she quickly plastered a look of innocent yearning back on her face.
The woman knows that Lin Yue is here. This was her plan from the very beginning. She had carefully orchestrated Chen Hao's absence tonight, knowing their anniversary would maximize Lin Yue's anxiety.
When Chen Hao stepped into the shower, the woman had seized his phone, waited for Lin Yue's inevitable call, and then coo8lly delivered the fatal address before erasing the call history. She hadn't locked the door because she wanted an audience.
Now, that woman quickly nestled into Chen Hao's embrace and act coquettishly and said "Brother Chen Hao you were so naughty to take so long! I missed you."
Chen Hao chuckled, burying his face in the woman's hair and said while caressing her slim waist "I'm here now, Bai Lian. All night. No meetings, no documents, no nothing."
"Mmm, that's right." Bai Lian wander her slim jade-like fingers on Chen Hao's chest. Then, her tone shifted, becoming laced with that practiced, faux-sympathy. "But, Brother Chen Hao, I feel a little bad for Big Sister."
Lin Yue's breath hitched and her eyes are wide opened like copper bells in disbelief. Big Sister... The phrase was a detonation. The pieces of the puzzle slammed together, leaving no room for doubt.
The childish, cloying tone, the familiar rhythm of the voice—it was Bai Lian, her stepsister, delivering the death blow to her marriage.
Bai Lian, this name tasted like ash. This was the nightmare of Lin Yue.
Lin Yue still remember when she was eight years old, her mother died in a car accident. After two months later of Lin Yue's mother's death, her father, Lin Aiguo, bring a young and beautiful woman, Bai Mei Ling, with a five or six years old Bai Lian, who looks like a porcelain doll.
Lin Yue still remember how her father told her that he married Bai Mei Ling and offered a callous excuse to his heartbroken eight-year-old daughter, had said she was "still young and needed a mother." But Bai Mei Ling and her daughter, Bai Lian, had brought only division, not maternal comfort.
Back inside the room, Chen Hao's indulgence vanished at the mention of Lin Yue. He scowled, pushing Bai Lian slightly away. "Why do you insist on ruining the mood by bringing up Lin Yue, Baby? Don't be silly. She's nothing but a good-for-nothing showpiece," he spat, venom lacing his words. "A relic. She has been a burden since the day I put that ring on her finger."
Bai Lian's eyes immediately filled with contrived, glistening tears. "Oh, Brothet Chen Hao, don't curse Big Sister. I feel terrible. It's all my fault for loving you back. I've ruined your life with her."
Chen Hao instantly softened, pulling her back against his chest. "No, no, my beautiful girl, you didn't ruin anything. You saved me. Lin Yue was never my love. She was just a debt."
Chen Hao kissed her forehead, his voice heavy with self-pity. "You know the story baby. My grandfather, on his deathbed during my final year of college, used his last wish to enforce that ridiculous childhood engagement with Lin Yue."
Chen Hao then cup Bai Lian's face and said with a sad tone and curse "Old Lin, Lin Yue's grandfather, and my grandpa were friends from their childhood. Old Lin once saved my grandpa's life, and to repay his debt, my grandpa decided to betrothed me with that cheap woman Lin Yue."
Chen Hao sigh and continue "My parents were always against it; they said Lin Yue was uneducated, barely finished high school. They wanted me to marry someone worthy of my career."
He squeezed Bai Lian tightly. "But you, Bai Lian, you finished university with honors. You are sophisticated, smart, and pure. You were the only one I ever truly loved, even back then, in our teenage years when we had to sneak around. She was just the insurance policy, the placeholder, until I had the standing to finally be with you."
The final, crushing blows of the revelation left Lin Yue hollowed out. She wasn't just betrayed; her entire life, her marriage, was exposed as a loveless farce executed solely for duty.
A chilling calm settled over Lin Yue, the emptiness giving way to a white-hot core of absolute fury. She no longer cared about dignity or grace.
Bang!!
With a loud, jarring BANG that echoed through the expensive suite, Lin Yue shoved the door wide open. It slammed into the wall, shaking the framed artwork.
Chen Hao and Bai Lian instantly turn their heads around, their faces morphing from pampered devotion to startled terror as they found Lin Yue standing in the doorway.
Lin Yue, her eyes bloodshot from anger, trembling, tears streaming down her haggard face, yet her eyes burning with the cold fire of a woman who had just realized she had nothing left to lose.
The sound of the door slamming back against the wall was deafening. Lin Yue stood framed in the doorway, a figure of absolute devastation.
Tears had carved paths through Lin Yue's face, but her eyes held a clarity more terrifying than any scream. They fixed on the two figures on the bed—Chen Hao, exposed and ashamed, and Bai Lian, suddenly innocent and clutching the sheets to her chest.
A low, guttural sound escaped Lin Yue's throat. She moved, not with speed, but with the terrifying momentum of a collapsing building.
She rushed across the plush carpet, bypassing Chen Hao entirely, and swung her hand with all the accumulated force of five years of neglect, duty, and now, crushing betrayal.
Smack!
The sound cracked across the silent, luxurious room. Bai Lian's head snapped back, a crimson mark blooming instantly on her cheek.
"You shameless wretch!" Lin Yue spat, trembling, her voice raw.
Chen Hao was momentarily stunned, his mind catching up to the scene. His pampered, devoted Baby had just been struck by his haggard, tedious wife. Rage, instantaneous and blinding, overwhelmed him.
"Lin Yue! You bitch!" Chen Hao roared, shoving himself off the bed. He reached Lin Yue, his hand catching her shoulder and pushing her with savage force.
Lin Yue, already weakened by exhaustion and shock, tumbled sideways, hitting the floor hard. Before she could gasp, Chen Hao was over her, his face twisted into a mask of pure hatred.
"How dare you lay a hand on her?!" he bellowed, kicking and punching her sharply in the side.
"You think you can come here and ruin things? Get out! Get out!" He kicked her again, hard and swift. Lin Yue curled in on herself, a choked sound trapped in her throat.
Meanwhile, Bai Lian burst into theatrical, high-pitched sobs. "Brother Chen Hao! No! Stop, you're hurting her! Big Sister, please, I beg you, just leave! Don't let him do this!"
She wrapped her arms around Chen Hao's waist, feigning desperation while her eyes, over his shoulder, remained cold and fixed on Lin Yue's writhing figure.
Chen Hao after beating Lin Yue, breathing heavily, his chest heaving with exertion. He delivered a final, contemptuous kick aimed at Lin Yue's abdomen.
He spat towards Lin Yue before turning back to Bai Lian, whose sobs intensified into shuddering gasps.
"Are you alright, Baby? Did she hurt you?" Chen Hao pulled her close, stroking her hair with sickening tenderness. "Don't worry about that trash. She deserved that. You are the only thing that matters."
Bai Lian leaned into him, her voice muffled by his shoulder, still playing the virtuous role. "I'm fine… I just feel so guilty, Brother Chen Hao. This is all my fault. If I hadn't gotten involved, you wouldn't have had to…"
Lin Yue lay on the floor, battered and broken, watching the sickening scene of two scumbags comforting each other.
Her body ached, but the pain was distant, secondary to the chilling sight of her husband's complete lack of humanity.
He hadn't even glanced at her since the attack. Then, a sharp, internal twist of agony pierced the numbness in Lin Yue's lower abdomen.
She groaned, a sound too deep for a breath. Her hand instinctively reached down, and when she moved it away, her fingers were slick with warmth. Beneath her, a dark pool began to spread on the pale carpet, soaking into the fibers.
Blood.
Chen Hao, finally tearing his gaze from Bai Lian, glanced down. His eyes caught the dark red stain. But instead of panic, his face contorted into something even darker than rage—contemptuous fury.
"What is this?! You dared to get pregnant with a bastard child?!" he shouted, grabbing her arm and pulling her slightly towards him. "You disgusting thing! It can't possibly be mine, after how long I've been avoiding you! You cheated on me, didn't you, you pathetic worm?!"
He started kicking her again, not just in rage, but in cold, purposeful fury, aiming at her stomach. "I should have known you were worthless! Get rid of it! Get rid of this trash!"
The pain was overwhelming, drowning out the sound of Chen Hao's curses and Bai Lian's high-pitched, fake wails. Lin Yue's vision swam, black tendrils creeping into the corners of her sight.
Suddenly, the brutal kicks stopped. With a final, disgusted curse, Chen Hao stormed towards the door. "I'm done with this show! Call the lawyers, Bai Lian! I want her out of my life tomorrow!"
The door slammed shut, leaving Lin Yue bleeding and half-conscious on the floor, and Bai Lian standing alone.
The moment the lock clicked, Bai Lian's performance ceased. She straightened her dress, a cruel, predatory smile replacing the tears. She slowly walked toward Lin Yue's crumpled figure.
"Pity," Bai Lian murmured, her voice now flat and chillingly controlled. She crouched down, grabbing Lin Yue's blood-soaked hair and yanking her head back, forcing their eyes to meet. "Such a shame. Five years wasted on this marriage."
Lin Yue's eyes were fading, but the fury in them was still a living thing as she stare Bai Lian intently with murderous gaze.
"Did you really think Brother Chen Hao loved you?" Bai Lian chuckle, her voice like grinding ice.
Bai Lian then click her tongue twice and gloat "He was always mine. Since we were teenagers. We dated secretly right under your nose Big Sister and you live in dark until today."
Bai Lian look at Lin Yue like she was look at a pathetic waste and feign pity and said "Oh Big Sister, since you are dying let me tell you some truth so that you can die in peace."
Then Bai Lian pinch Lin Yue's face and confess venomously "Remember your wedding day? You were alone on your wedding night?..."
Bai Lian chuckle and continue "Because I called Brother Chen Hao to my side and we spend together that night...tsk tsk tsk... I pity you big sister... dumped like a fool on your wedding night"
Bai Lian's fingernails dug into Lin Yue's cheek, drawing fresh blood that mingled with the tears and sweat.
Bai Lian throw away Lin Yue's head in disdain and clean her hands with handkerchief as she touch something filthy.
Then Bai Lian throw away the handkerchief and continue with a calm and gloating tone "Your whole life, in one word, is, pathetic, Big Sister. It was so satisfying.
Bai Lian crouch again beside Lin Yue and said excitedly "You know, big sister... My mother and I made sure Father hated you. Remeber your school expulsion?..." She chuckled and gloat "We bought off your homeroom teacher, accused you of sleeping with Shen Ming, and got you expelled so you could never finish high school."
She laughed—a short, sharp, triumphant sound. "We even made Chen Hao believe those cheating rumors back then, just to ensure his parents would forever disapprove of their marriage."
She glanced down at the pooling blood between Lin Yue's legs, her smile widening. "Oh, and the child? Brother Chen Hao is right. It wasn't his. It was a bastard."
Bai Lian sigh and feign pity "How foolish of you to think that Brother Chen Hao would look at your worn-out body besides the man I pick up from the streets to touch you while he was with me."
Then, Bai Lian leaned in, dropping her voice to a vicious, final whisper "And your precious mother's accident? That wasn't an accident. My mother arranged it. She needed that bitch gone so she could marry father..."
Bai Lian chuckle darkly and whisper venomously "And the most interesting thing is that our father, Lin Aiguo, was the one who planned that accident."
Bai Lian paused, savoring the final secret. "And one more thing, Big Sister... Lin Aiguo isn't my stepfather. He's my biological father. He always has been."
Bai Lian chuckle and said "Who would think that I'm the true and legitimate daughter of Lin family and you?... you are nothing just a bastard like your bastard child..."
Bai Lian paused and take a deep breath and moist her throat with her saliva and continue with a bright smile "Oh, yeah! This scheme of you getting pregnant with a bastard. I learnt from my mother, she also made your mother back then pregnant with another man like I did, and you came into this world..."
Bai Lian laugh cruelly like a mad woman and said "You know, the most exciting part was that our father... oh sorry... my father... knows this too because he was the one who drugged your mother back then and sent her to an unknown man's room.. thrilling right?"
Lin Yue's world dissolved. Betrayal from a husband, hatred from a stepsister, and now, the murder of her mother, sanctioned by the father who had raised her.
A primal, untamed strength surged through Lin Yue's dying body. Her eyes snapped open, blazing with terminal rage. She lunged, her bloody hand shooting out, wrapping around Bai Lian's throat in a death grip.
Bai Lian shrieked in surprise. As Lin Yue's fingers clamped down, blood from her wounded hand smeared across the exquisite jade pendant hanging around Bai Lian's neck—the jade pendant Lin Yue's mother had left for her, the relic Bai Lian had cunningly stolen years ago. The dark red blood, the symbol of Lin Yue's final moments, marked the stolen treasure.
Bai Lian wrestled free, coughing and sputtering. The shock quickly turned to a fierce, selfish desire to eliminate the problem.
She began to beat Lin Yue's head repeatedly against the floor. Lin Yue's grip weakened, her eyes fluttering.
The last sensation Lin Yue registered was the dull thudding of her skull on the marble and the sound of Bai Lian spitting near her ear. "You're pathetic," Bai Lian hissed.
As Lin Yue's consciousness faded into a swirling vortex of agony and darkness, she faintly heard Bai Lian's high-pitched voice giving a chilling order into a phone: "Clean up Room 1089 immediately. Dispose of the mess in the mountains."
In that final, agonizing moment, as Lin Yue's breath left her body, Lin Yue's mind screamed one last promise, a vow carved from the depths of her soul, fueled by hatred and absolute reluctance to die like this.
If I get a chance… I swear I will repay Chen Hao and Bai Lian a hundred times over for every drop of blood and every tear I shed today!
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