Addicted to Insomnia

Li Chen married Su Nian, a little mute who couldn’t speak. The powerful head of the Li family had suffered from chronic insomnia for years. His first love had gone abroad and vanished without a trace, and he was fed up with his family pressuring him to get married. So he went straight to an orphanage, brought home the quiet Su Nian, and got their marriage certificate that very day. No one treated her as a proper Mrs. Li. Even Li Chen himself saw her as nothing more than a quiet ornament, someone he could make do with for the rest of his life. After they married, she was always quiet and considerate. She left the entryway light on late at night, warmed calming soup for him when he came home drunk, and silently sat by his bed when he couldn’t sleep all night. She never fussed, asked questions, or demanded anything. Like a tender vine, she quietly twined herself around his life. One stormy night, his head throbbed so badly that he pulled her against him. What began as a touch meant to vent his frustration somehow left him sleeping until noon. The stubborn insomnia that had plagued him for over a decade was miraculously cured when he held her soft, warm body. He began to crave her warmth, and even seeing her profile as she peeled a tangerine made his heart tighten. When his first love returned home to acclaim, the whole city waited for Su Nian to be kicked out. She didn’t argue or make a scene. She left behind a signed divorce agreement and disappeared for good. He once thought she was just a substitute to ease his loneliness. In the end, she was the only cure for the insomnia that had plagued him half his life.