A night of torrential rain in Haicheng. Before heading to the Venus Hotel for their date, Su Wantang wanted to surprise Xie Huaian: today marked the seventh anniversary of their relationship. But around a corridor corner, she found Xie Huaian kissing Lin Ruoxi. Lin Ruoxi was wearing the white dress Su Wantang had admired last week but hadn’t had the heart to buy. Su Wantang didn’t rush in. She stood outside and listened to everything: Xie Huaian said, “I’ve always loved you. My relationship with her is nothing but the responsibility of having grown up together.” She turned and left, brushing past a strange man in the hotel lobby. He noticed her red-rimmed eyes and tightly clenched hands. Su Wantang walked through the downpour for forty minutes before her phone rang. It was the Xie family, saying Old Master Xie was critically ill and asking her to hurry to the hospital. By the time she arrived, he had fallen into a coma, but he was still clutching a photo of her as a child. Xie Huaian chased after her to the hospital and tried to explain. Su Wantang said only, “I waited for you for seven years, and you couldn’t even give me one honest answer.” As she left the hospital, a man offered her a black umbrella and a business card. It bore just one line: “Lu Xingzhou. Do you need a husband?”
