Keeping Her to Myself

At thirty, Jiang Hanying put an end to her marriage with her own hands. She had broken down over Song Henian five times, from the flirty photos on his phone to a frantic 500-kilometer chase through a typhoon. But the sixth time, she was strangely calm. Even at the scene of her husband’s affair with her younger sister, she carefully made herself a low-calorie salad. By the time she finished the salad, the divorce papers had arrived, along with a stack of photos from their affectionate prenatal checkups. On the day of the car accident, Song Henian shielded Jiang Wanyu in the passenger seat and left Jiang Hanying severely injured and unconscious in the back. He said, “The baby can’t get hurt. Please understand me one more time.” In the end, Jiang Hanying understood. She cut up her wedding dress, cleared out her belongings, and signed the papers. Three years later, the headlines at International Fashion Week hailed Jiang Hanying as a rising designer. Beside her, Wei Qingyan, president of the Wei Group, gently smoothed her skirt. Song Henian finally got the paternity test he had been waiting for. The son he had treasured above all else had another biological father. She had once been a forgotten footnote in his marriage. Now he was nothing more than a passing line in her legend.