When I got home that evening, Fu Chiyan was already there. Has he been slacking off at work lately or something? Coming home early every single day was seriously putting a damper on my packing progress.

“You’re back?” His voice sounded less like a greeting and more like a detective interrogating a suspect. He tilted his chin toward a heavy velvet box resting on the coffee table. “For you.”

Inside sat a breathtaking diamond jewelry set worth over a hundred million. My mood did an instant 180. Jackpot. More funds for my getaway package!

“Is this legally sourced?” I blurted out.

Fu Chiyan threw me a glance so cold it instantly shut me up. Whatever. Once it was in my hands, it was officially mine.

As I was admiring the diamonds, his towering frame shadowed over me from behind. Reaching around my neck, he fastened the necklace, his touch surprisingly gentle as he effectively brought me into an embrace.

His warm breath brushed against my ear, making my heart race out of control. It was ridiculous—we’d engaged in far more intimate acts than this, yet here I was, swooning like a schoolgirl with her first crush. The icy metal touched my skin, and a low chuckle rumbled in his chest, making my knees go dangerously weak.

He guided me to stand in front of the full-length mirror, resting his chin lightly on my shoulder. “Like it?”

I nodded frantically. “Love it!” (If I said no, what if he took it back?)

He stared at my reflection for a few seconds before asking out of nowhere, “Not mad anymore?”

I froze. Was he… trying to coax me? Pursing my lips, I eventually let out a soft, submissive, “Mm.”

Hey, a girl knows when to pick her battles. Fu Chiyan pressed a lingering kiss to the nape of my neck, his voice dropping to a gravelly low:

“Don’t ever mention divorce again.”

I nodded obediently. “Okay.” Not like there’s going to be a ‘next time’ anyway.

The mirror reflected the two of us wrapped in each other’s arms. Aside from our marriage certificate photo, this was probably one of the rare times we had ever been captured in the same frame. Married for two years, yet I had just realized we didn’t even possess a single decent couple’s photo—we hadn’t even had a proper wedding.

I looked up into the mirror. “Hey… should we take a picture together?”

Consider it a small keepsake for a tiny spark of romance that was snuffed out before it even had a chance to bloom. But Fu Chiyan stayed silent for a long moment before quietly declining.

A cold sense of disappointment crept in. Whether a man loved you or not was actually glaringly obvious. If he didn’t, no amount of superficial gentleness could ever bridge that distance. I had just been fooling myself all along.

That night, I put on the new diamond set, snapped a photo, and sent it to Xu Ning to flex my spoils of war. She immediately fired back a rage sticker, followed by a picture of a calligraphy brush set and an inkstone that Fu Chiyu had just bought her.

My shoulders shook with laughter. “What kind of retro gift is that?”

Xu Ning’s texts came flooding in back-to-back: “Don’t even get me started! He’s forcing me to practice calligraphy to ‘cultivate my inner zen’! If I cultivate any more zen, I’m going to turn into a damn Buddha!”

We spent the rest of the night daydreaming about our post-escape life: surrounding ourselves with handsome men, throwing around cash, and living wild and free. Just thinking about it gave me an absolute high. Looking at my suitcase crammed with high-end jewelry, loose diamonds, and cold hard cash, my confidence skyrocketed. Two years of playing a stand-in, and I was finally collecting my mental distress compensation.

The night before the escape happened to be my birthday. Breaking his usual routine, Fu Chiyan took me on a date to a penthouse fine-dining restaurant overlooking the city skyline.

Soft piano music floated through the air as the waiter wheeled out a birthday cake.

“Happy birthday.”

I leaned in to blow out the candles, but he caught my wrist. “Hold on. You haven’t made a wish yet.”

I closed my eyes and whispered under my breath, “I hope Fu Chiyan stays healthy and happy.”

The moment I opened my eyes, brilliant fireworks exploded across the night sky right outside the floor-to-ceiling windows. He stepped up behind me, his voice low. “Do you like it?”

Prompted by some strange impulse, I turned and looked into his eyes. “Have you ever… actually liked me?”

If he said yes… maybe I really would soften up and stay.

Fu Chiyan held my gaze for a long time. Then, bending down, he kissed me beneath the dazzling cascade of fireworks. But he never gave me an answer.

Eventually, the fireworks faded away. The sky reclaimed its natural quiet, and the frantic beating in my chest finally stilled into dead silence.

D-Day arrived. According to the Su family’s grand scheme, Father Su was supposed to drug me and drop me into Fu Chiyan’s bed, allowing Su Yiting to slip into the picture later and claim her place as his rightful wife.

Naturally, I played along. But in reality—the person sitting in the car Father Su had arranged wasn’t me at all. It was a body double I had hired to take my place. Father Su wouldn’t have guessed in a million years that I had the guts to play him like a absolute fool.

While Xu Ning and I were frantically executing our high-stakes escape, Fu Chiyan was already on his way back to the hotel room I had pre-booked.

The real game was just getting started.