When my husband's intern "slipped" for the sixth time and canceled the remarriage application I submitted, Arthur finally showed a hint of displeasure. I, on the other hand, pulled open the door with a calm face: "The little girl is throwing a tantrum. Coax her well tonight." He suddenly reached out, blocking the doorframe, and stared dead at me: "I thought you cared most about your status?" "Why aren't you angry?" I was momentarily speechless. The last time we divorced, he had signed the papers with a mocking smile: "Whether a man cheats or not only depends on whether the woman can find out." So when we reconciled this time, I turned a blind eye to the lace stuffed in his lab coat. Even when the little girl caused a scene at our door because he hadn't fulfilled his KPI of sleeping with her 12 times a month, I calmly explained for him. "Don't misunderstand, we've been sleeping in separate rooms for a long time." Arthur smiled and sighed, saying I had finally learned to be obedient. But he didn't know that all this was only because the night before our reconciliation, old Mrs. Vance came to me holding an old iron box. Back when Arthur went to the front lines seven times, he left behind seven farewell letters. Every word and sentence was entirely about me and our daughter. The old lady, with red eyes, begged me to remarry him and give him seven chances. So these past few days, I became the perfect wife. But when I finally burned the last farewell letter, why was he unhappy again? ... "There's nothing to be angry about." As my words fell, Arthur's hand gripping the doorframe stiffened slightly. The air froze for two seconds. "She and I are just colleagues now, don't overthink it." I walked towards the kitchen, and his footsteps followed. "She was just too careless..." I washed the vegetables with my head down, giving a perfunctory "Mhm." I had believed that sentence too many times. Until my daughter's fifth birthday, Mia came to our door with a smile. She casually stabbed that bright red, two-lined pregnancy test straight into my daughter's buttercream cake. The stares of all the guests pierced the dignity I had forced myself to maintain like needles. I lunged forward to grab Mia's hair, but my wrist was violently grabbed and pushed away by Arthur. "She wanted to grab a candle and carelessly grabbed the wrong thing, that's all." I was cut by flying shards from a champagne glass and sent to the hospital. Her pregnancy was a joke. But my second child was truly gone. The knife blade slipped across my fingertip, and beads of blood fell. Arthur immediately grabbed my hand, his brows furrowed: "Why are you so careless?" I pulled my hand back: "It's nothing." His Adam's apple bobbed, but before the words came out, his phone rang abruptly. It was a couple's profile picture, a matching set with Arthur's. Mia spoke with a crying tone: "Dr. Vance, I'm sorry. I was careless again and messed up Mrs. Vance's remarriage application..." "I'm going to apologize to her right now..." Arthur caught a glimpse of my slightly furrowed brow, and his tone actually softened a bit: "No need." He paused, "I'll make the appointment for the remarriage myself." His hand reached over my shoulder and took the knife from my hand. "Let's go pick up our daughter together." "I made a reservation at a restaurant. Let's celebrate Joy's birthday together." I nodded without speaking. But halfway there, a shrill alarm sounded from his phone. "Alert from the 'What's Wrong' APP." "Family member's vital signs are abnormal!" I panicked and looked at the quiet watch on my wrist. After confirming Joy's vital signs were normal. Seeing the anxiety flashing in his eyes, I instantly understood. I thoughtfully spoke up for him: "You go. Save Mia from wasting her efforts..." "Chloe! Mia is not like you!" He jerked his head up. "You even lied to your own mother. How do you have the face to accuse others of being liars?!" My fingertips went cold. Yes, I had lied to my mom three times. When we were building our life from scratch, I gave Arthur my three years of savings but told my mom it was the bride price he gave. At our wedding, I bought fake gold jewelry and lied to my mom that it was real. After Joy was diagnosed with a severe allergic constitution, I stayed up all night, typing out lines of code to create the "What's Wrong" APP, binding it to Joy's health data. But when Joy went into anaphylactic shock, I rushed to the hospital alone with my child in my arms. Only to see Mia walking arm-in-arm with Arthur at a medical gala. Faced with my mother's questioning, I enunciated every word: "The APP malfunctioned, he didn't receive the alert." But I knew better than anyone that the core system I wrote couldn't possibly be wrong. He had unlinked our daughter from his app a long time ago. Sensing my silence, Arthur took a deep breath and softened his tone. "Mia stopped breathing... I'm a doctor, I have to go." He closed the car door, looking through the glass: "You pick up Joy first. I'll definitely be there tonight." I lowered my eyes and nodded. Just then, a message from my daughter popped up: "Mommy, when will the school transfer paperwork be ready?" I tore up the second-to-last farewell letter in my hand and sent a photo to old Mrs. Vance. "Today the other kids said again... I'm a kid without a dad." I replied softly. "Baby, very soon." 【Chapter 2】 Even though the moment Arthur left, I had already changed his reservation from a table for three to a table for two. But watching Joy look toward the restaurant entrance again and again, only to lower her head silently, a dull ache still rose in my chest. The very moment Joy blew out her birthday candles, the wristband on my arm suddenly flashed a piercing red light. My mom's vital signs were dropping rapidly. I mechanically grabbed my daughter and rushed out the door, dialing Arthur's phone over and over. Busy signal. Hung up. Busy signal. Finally, on the last attempt, it connected. My voice was dry: "My mom, she..." From the other end of the line came a cacophony of laughter and chatter. Mia's voice was laced with a smile: "Mrs. Vance? We were just making a bet on whether Dr. Vance would come if I held my breath for a minute." Her voice paused, the smile deepening: "And, we bet on whether you would... call one after another." A wave of ambiguous, jeering laughter came from the background. Arthur's voice was lazy: "What, miss me?" I gripped the phone tightly, my knuckles turning white, and pulled Joy into the car: "Go to my mom's hospital room. Now." He interrupted impatiently: "You want to upgrade your mom to a private room again? Getting an eight-person room was already a favor to me. I told you I need to avoid suspicion." "Besides, you used to stay in a sixteen-person ward yourself. What are you being so delicate about now?" The phone was abruptly hung up. Numbly gripping the steering wheel, the scenery outside the window flew backward. Back when I had brain surgery, I was so poor I could only stay in a sixteen-person room. He wrapped himself in a thin blanket and slept on the floor beside my bed. When I couldn't sleep from the pain at night, he just held my hand in the dim light, tears falling drop by drop onto the back of my hand as he said: "Chloe, I will never let you suffer like this again." Now, he had become the best doctor. But he gave all the suffering back to me, multiplied. By the time I rushed to the hospital, my mother had already been covered with a white sheet. I lifted it, trembling, as the doctor approached: "The patient bit off the oxygen tube herself. Our resuscitation efforts failed. My condolences." I finally found my voice: "How is that possible?!" Joy, crying, went to pull her grandmother's hand, but accidentally touched the play button on the tablet beside the bed. The screen shook, the lighting dim. Mia's voice was delicate and melodious. "Dr. Vance, I know... this is our last time." "I don't want a status. I just want to have your child." I violently pressed pause, forcing a smile for Joy. "Mommy will ask your kindergarten teacher to come pick you up. Joy, go play with the other kids first, okay?" The moment the door closed, I took a deep breath and hit play. The man behind the camera was silent, save for heavy breathing. Mia continued: "Chloe's second child... because I was careless and prescribed abortion pills instead of the pregnancy-preserving injection, resulted in her never being able to have children again." The hand holding the tablet began to shake. So the diagnosis of an accidental miscarriage Arthur gave me back then was also fake. Mia's fingers traced across the man's chest. "Auntie still doesn't know that the student she sponsored for ten years is me. Your family has been so kind to me." "I'll have a child for her to repay you, okay?" In the dead silence. I heard Arthur utter, hoarse but clear: "...Okay." 【Chapter 3】 Outside the door, the doctor and colleague from just now sighed. "Actually, the best treatment for her mom would be to go abroad, but Dr. Vance has always insisted on conservative treatment." "And he strictly forbade disclosing it to the family..." Hearing this, I could no longer hold back and rushed to the restroom, dry heaving. Washing down the drain, along with my tears. Was the last bit of rotten affection between Arthur and me. I was about to leave when I ran head-on into someone at the corner of the corridor. Seeing me, a flash of joy crossed Arthur's eyes, immediately replaced by impatience. "Must you follow me everywhere I go?" "If you want to remarry me so badly, then be good and stop talking about breaking up!" I looked up. My eyes were dead. Arthur seemed pierced by my gaze, his chest rising and falling slightly. He reached out, ruffled my hair, and softened his tone a bit: "After the commendation ceremony in a bit, I'll give you a surprise." I brushed his hand away, my mind consumed by a single thought. Hurry up and handle my mother's funeral arrangements. However, as I dragged myself to process the death certificate. Passing by the conference hall, the gazes of everyone around instantly zeroed in on me. "Is this Mrs. Vance? Why does she look like that..." "I heard she keeps Dr. Vance on a very tight leash. No wonder Dr. Vance would rather sleep in the on-call room than go home." "Dr. Sullivan is still better. Young, beautiful, and in the same profession..." I walked right through those stares, looking straight at Mia on the other side. Wearing a haute couture gown, standing next to Arthur, the gem necklace around her neck refracted a blinding light. That was the style I looked at over and over again when I got married, but ultimately couldn't bring myself to buy. I stopped in front of her, raised my hand, and slapped her with all my might! The sharp sound of the slap plunged the entire hall into dead silence. "My mom sponsored your education, hoping you'd become a decent human being," Staring at the Outstanding Young Doctor trophy in her hand, I enunciated every word. "Not to turn you into an ungrateful, backstabbing snake." Mia covered her face, tears instantly welling up in her eyes: "Chloe, I was afraid you'd misunderstand, so I've already submitted my resignation." "Dr. Vance is just here to present the award to me, you misunderstood..." Arthur grabbed my wrist, his eyes icy. "I didn't approve your resignation." "Chloe! Look at yourself, what's the difference between you and a madwoman right now!" He shoved me hard. I fell to the ground, my palms scraped raw and stinging. Mia gasped, crouching down to help me up, using the opportunity to lean in and whisper: "Chloe, I forgot to tell you." "Your daughter... she probably won't make it to your mother's funeral." My pupils contracted sharply, and I snapped my gaze to my wrist. On the APP, the curve representing her breathing rate was plummeting, flatlining! "Joy?!" I panicked, shoving through the crowd of onlookers and running out of the hospital. But by the time I followed the GPS to find Joy, the kindergarten teacher was kneeling by the edge of the pool, incoherently repeating the address to emergency services. Joy's body was curled up on the tiled floor, her lips cyanotic. I bit my tongue hard, forcing myself to calm down. With trembling hands, I dialed Arthur's number. "Joy's in trouble! Acute anaphylactic shock, she needs surgery immediately!" The other end of the line was silent for a moment, then the tone grew stiff: "Are you done causing a scene?" "Mia's award ceremony needs me on stage for a speech. Stop using the child as an excuse, it's pathetic." The call disconnected. A passerby nearby leaned in, sighing softly: "Such a small child, what happened?" "If her dad knew, his heart would break." The time outside the operating room stretched infinitely. When the doctor said there was only a one-in-three chance of a cure. My vision went black. Just then, a voice came from behind: "I can increase the success rate of her surgery." 【Chapter 4】 I jerked my head up. Mia stood before me, the corners of her mouth curving up into a smile. Despite the alarm bells ringing in my head, seeing the other doctors nod, I had no choice but to believe her. I struggled to find my voice, dry and hoarse: "What do you want?" Mia just looked at me, smiling. I understood. My knees gave way, and I dropped straight down to kneel before her. My forehead rested on the cold floor, the words squeezed out through gritted teeth: "The title of Mrs. Vance is yours." "I don't want Arthur's love anymore either." "Please, save her." I don't know how much time passed before a young nurse in scrubs ran over in a panic. "I... I just secretly glanced at the medication they took in. Something seems wrong with it." My brain buzzed with a "ding". Almost at the exact moment I slammed into the door, the "In Surgery" light went out. The doors opened, and Mia was the first to walk out: "I'm sorry, your daughter... resuscitation failed." I stumbled and threw myself onto the operating table. Joy lay there quietly, covered by a white sheet, revealing only a small, bloodless face. I whipped around and, with every ounce of strength I had, slapped Mia viciously across the face! Instead of getting angry, Mia laughed: "Chloe, Dr. Vance always says I'm careless, but this time I calculated very carefully." "The success rate of one injection of the allergen test agent is 33.33%, so." She held up three fingers and waved them in front of my eyes, her smile sweet: "I gave her three injections. That's a 99.99% success rate." "If you have to blame someone, blame your daughter's rotten luck for hitting that 0.01% failure rate." She leaned in close, lowering her voice. "Good things come in pairs. Holding two funerals together, maybe you can get a discount." With that, she gave a cold laugh and walked towards the exit. My fingertips were white. I used all my strength to grab her hair and smash her against the hard wall next to us! The next second, a massive force kicked me hard in the side! I was kicked backward, crashing heavily into the bench in the corridor. Arthur pulled her behind him protectively: "What, didn't you say you learned to be obedient? Couldn't even keep up the act for this short amount of time?" "Back to being the jealous shrew you used to be?" I forced myself up: "Your little mistress killed your daughter!" "Why shouldn't I hit her!" Arthur froze for a second, then gave a cold laugh. "Liar." He opened a video and held the screen in front of my face. "Joy was just sending me a dancing video, wishing me a successful award ceremony." "You'd even curse your own daughter to death just to fight for favor?!" "I know you're blaming me for missing her birthday. By her next birthday, I will definitely make it up to her." I watched their retreating figures, suddenly remembering the teacher telling me Joy recorded a video to be scheduled to send to her dad as a surprise. My laughter grew louder and louder, shedding tears of blood. Arthur took a few steps, then turned back. "Your mentor's wife is emotionally unstable. Take her home first. Give her a sedative, let her get a good sleep and calm down." He paused, his gaze falling on me: "When you've truly learned to be obedient, then we can talk about remarrying." ... That night, the celebratory reception lasted until late. His phone was quiet. No calls from Chloe, no voice messages from Joy. Arthur ultimately sent the surprise he prepared to Chloe. "I made the appointment. Tomorrow at 9 AM, meet me at the Civil Affairs Bureau." No reply. The next second, his assistant sent a message. "Dr. Vance, just received news... Someone jumped off the Riverside Bridge." "It's suspected to be a doctor's family member..." Arthur stared at those lines of text, his breathing stopping. "The personal items salvaged by the rescue team include a suicide note from her husband..."
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