Four Years Ago, Her Husband Cheated on Her Body - Chapter 27

“Jia Qiao, do you have any dietary restrictions?”

After they finished shopping, Chi Jinran naturally led Jia Qiao all the way back to her residence.

The apartment was located in an ordinary residential area, full of the atmosphere of daily life; one could hear neighbors chatting just by opening a window.

The interior was warmly decorated. She had once spent her final days here with her husband and son. The house had been bought by Zhu Nanyu’s father with a loan in his wife’s name, and the loan term was exceptionally long. Because of this, after his passing, the house they lived in together was not included in the estate list, narrowly escaping the grasp of the insatiable Zhu brothers.

After arriving home, Chi Jinran took off her luxury brand trench coat and hung it casually on the rack in the hallway, revealing an off-white knit sweater underneath. She then tied an apron over the sweater and briskly rolled her sleeves up to her elbows.

The exquisite and dignified elegant lady instantly transformed into a gentle, domestic woman.

“No, I’m not a picky eater,” Jia Qiao answered honestly.

While taking ingredients out of the refrigerator, Chi Jinran praised him with a smile, “It’s wonderful not to be picky. You are much better behaved than Nanyu.”

As the host busied herself in the kitchen, Jia Qiao didn’t sit grandly in the living room waiting for the food to be served. He followed her in and asked, “Zhu Nanyu… is a picky eater?!”

Having lived and eaten together for so long, Jia Qiao had never noticed anything Zhu Nanyu wouldn’t eat.

“Yes, since he was a child, he hated the smell of eggplant and shiitake mushrooms. If the dish had even a tiny hint of that flavor, he wouldn’t touch it.” Thinking of something funny, Chi Jinran told Jia Qiao vividly, “When Nanyu was little, to avoid eating mushrooms, he would purposefully act spoiled with his father and secretly sneak the mushrooms into his bowl.”

“Act… spoiled?” The corner of Jia Qiao’s lip twitched slightly as he tried to visualize Zhu Nanyu acting spoiled; he couldn’t imagine it at all.

But he thought of something else.

After they started living together, Zhu Nanyu arranged all the meals inside and outside the house every day, and eggplant or shiitake mushrooms had never once appeared on the dining table. Even when Lu Min took over as butler and stewed shiitake and codonopsis soup in the middle of winter to nourish Jia Qiao’s body, Jia Qiao had fished out a mushroom and muttered about how such a ‘niche’ ingredient could actually be used for soup.

There was only one truth—!

It wasn’t that Zhu Nanyu had cured his pickiness. It was that after he gained ‘power,’ he completely banned all the foods he disliked!

“Childish,” Jia Qiao muttered softly.

Chi Jinran might look pampered as if she had never touched a chore in her life, but once in the kitchen, her movements were incredibly efficient—washing, cutting, stir-frying, and stewing in a seamless flow. Jia Qiao intended to help, but he only ended up carrying plates and setting out bowls and chopsticks.

Dinner consisted of three dishes and a soup, all extremely common home-cooked fare. The braised pork was rich but not greasy, the steamed sea bass was light and fresh, and the scrambled eggs with tomatoes were sweet, sour, and tender. These were paired with a bowl of nourishing fresh vegetable and mushroom soup.

The taste might not have matched a star-rated restaurant chef, but one could taste the cook’s heart, as if one could feel what people called the ‘feeling of home.’

“You are too thin; you need to eat more.” Chi Jinran picked up a large piece of fish, carefully removed the bones, and placed it in the small saucer in front of Jia Qiao.

“…Okay,” Jia Qiao responded, secretly rubbing his stomach.

He was… stuffed.

After dinner, Jia Qiao did not leave immediately. Chi Jinran invited him to stay and chat with her for a bit longer, bringing out several thick photo albums from the storage room.

“Quick, come look. These are all photos of Nanyu from before. I always wanted to wait until he started dating to take them out and share them.”

Chi Jinran opened an album. Inside were hundreds of photos of Zhu Nanyu from different periods.

Jia Qiao: “…”

Then what on earth was the point of me tossing and turning a few days ago to find a suitable photo for his funeral portrait, which indirectly led to me getting kidnapped? Is it just my bitter fate?

At this point, Jia Qiao could only admit his bad luck and lean in to observe the toddler version of Zhu Nanyu.

According to common knowledge, humans between the ages of 0 and 12 are in their childhood, which should be the period with the most embarrassing history. Humans at this stage are emotionally unstable, prone to crying and tantrums, and sometimes don’t even wear pants.

Jia Qiao fully expected to finally see Zhu Nanyu looking foolish so he could mock him ruthlessly later.

As it turned out—

To his surprise, Zhu Nanyu had been handsome and delicate since he was a child; even through the photos, one could see his extraordinary temperament. The first few pages of the album showed a two or three-year-old Zhu Nanyu, wearing a mini-suit and a bowtie, sitting seriously at a children’s piano. Even if Chopin saw this photo, he would have to address him as a piano prodigy.

Jia Qiao asked curiously, “Does Zhu Nanyu know how to play the piano?”

“Yes, he studied it for a while when he was very young.” After Chi Jinran finished speaking, fearing Jia Qiao might misunderstand, she added, “We didn’t force him to learn. Because there happened to be a piano at home, and back then he wasn’t even as tall as the piano bench, he insisted on standing on his tiptoes to press the keys. Nanyu’s father doted on the child in everything, so he immediately ordered a custom piano that a child could play and hired a professional teacher.”

After hearing Chi Jinran’s story, Jia Qiao felt inexplicably aggrieved and whispered, “He never played for me.”

Even animals know that talents should be performed during courtship. Since Zhu Nanyu didn’t play for him, who did he want to play for?

Chi Jinran smiled. “Because he lost interest as soon as he graduated from kindergarten. He only ever learned one song in total, so perhaps he was too embarrassed to play it for you.”

Jia Qiao was curious. “What song did he learn?”

“Cough.” Chi Jinran cleared her throat, suppressed a smile, and said, “The transformation background music from Cardcaptor Sakura.”

“…” What the hell, Cardcaptor Sakura.

Jia Qiao suddenly remembered the pile of colorful, pink-bubble-filled, melodramatic “girly” novels hidden in a certain someone’s study.

Zhu Nanyu, your inner world is truly far too rich and colorful!

Chi Jinran continued flipping through the album. By the primary school stage, Zhu Nanyu was slightly older. But every time he took a group photo with his classmates, he was always the shortest one in the frame.

“Why is he so small?” Jia Qiao used his thumb and index finger to measure Zhu Nanyu’s size in the photo, seriously proposing a hypothesis: “Is it because he doesn’t like shiitake mushrooms?”

“Yes, being too picky really does stunt your growth.” Chi Jinran made a joke, but seeing Jia Qiao’s expression as if he believed it, she quickly explained, “Actually, after Nanyu finished first grade, he skipped directly to third grade, and then skipped to sixth. His classmates were all older than him, so he looked exceptionally small.”

Even though he was the youngest and the shortest, it was still evident from those photos that Zhu Nanyu naturally occupied the absolute center of the class. His leadership and the quality of being the center of attention were simply innate.

Flipping further, it was Zhu Nanyu entering his middle school years.

Chi Jinran told Jia Qiao: Because Zhu Nanyu’s grades were so outstanding, the school suggested he enter the preparatory class for the “Youth Class” (gifted program). If everything went smoothly, he could have entered a world-class university at the age of ten and become another legend in the academic world.

After deep consideration, Zhu Nanyu’s father did not accept the school’s suggestion and instead let Zhu Nanyu enroll in a regular class.

His reasoning was: Given Zhu Nanyu’s talent, he would enter an excellent university sooner or later. But life happens only once, and there is no second chance to be a child.

“…At the time, no one could guarantee whether this decision was right or wrong.” Chi Jinran gazed at the photo, a faint glint of tears appearing in her eyes, her voice softening. “But I am very glad he didn’t attend the fully enclosed Youth Class. Because of that, our family had the chance to walk through those final moments together.”

Chi Jinran flipped to the last page. It was a photo of the backs of the family of three, holding hands under the sunset.

After that, the husband passed away, and the child was used as a bargaining chip by the Zhu family.

The disgraced Chi Jinran knew the Zhu family members were cold-hearted and would do anything for money. Powerless and alone, she was forced to follow her husband’s final wishes and leave her homeland to protect herself and her son as much as possible.

“That’s all there is of Nanyu’s growth records.” Chi Jinran quickly composed her emotions and closed the album, looking at Jia Qiao with a smile. “What about you?”

“Me?” Jia Qiao shook his head, his tone flat. “I don’t have any photos from before.”

“How could that be?” Chi Jinran looked at his beautiful face, slightly shocked. If Jia Qiao were her own child, she would have wanted to follow him with a camera every day to record every moment of his growth. “Did your father and mother never take any for you?”

“I don’t have parents.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Jia Qiao remembered the complex and sympathetic looks people gave him when he said this before, so he added: “I didn’t have them from the start, so it doesn’t matter.”

Jia Qiao didn’t even know where he came from or when he was born. From the moment he gained consciousness, there was only one thing he could do in his blank world.

Growth records?

Record how he became a skilled butcher?

In the world where he survived, Jia Qiao was merely a tool. A tool didn’t need parents, much less redundant emotions.

Chi Jinran gazed at him, staring quietly for a moment before tentatively reaching out her hand. Jia Qiao thought she was going to hug him or stroke his hair, so he remained motionless and let her approach.

Realizing he wasn’t repelled, Chi Jinran gently cupped Jia Qiao’s face with both hands, her thumb slowly grazing the corner of his eye, her tone as gentle as if coaxing a child.

“Whoosh, whoosh—pain, fly away~ bad luck, fly away too~”

“…?” Jia Qiao blinked blankly, his long eyelashes brushing against Chi Jinran’s fingertips.

“I heard the butler who takes care of you is hospitalized; it would be lonely if you went back.” Chi Jinran stood up, walked to the room on the right side of the hallway, and pushed open the door, peeking inside. “This was Nanyu’s old room. If you don’t mind, stay for the night. I’ll make the bed for you.”

“Okay.”

In any case, Jia Qiao had no urgent reason to go back. Besides, the night wind was cold, and he didn’t want to go through the extra trouble.

When Chi Jinran brought the bedding and made the bed, Jia Qiao walked in only to realize it was… a children’s room.

Counting the time, Zhu Nanyu had only lived in this house until he was about ten, so living in a children’s room was reasonable. The walls were covered with cartoon stickers, the ceiling was painted with stars and a moon, and the toy shelf held both Transformers and Barbie dolls simultaneously—one could seemingly catch a glimpse of the traces Zhu Nanyu had left behind.

Chi Jinran sat on a mushroom stool by the bed, took a yellowed book from the drawer, and curved her eyes gently. “A bedtime story or a lullaby—which one shall we choose tonight?”

Chi Jinran finally understood why her son had chosen Jia Qiao.

When encountering such a well-behaved child, who wouldn’t want to raise him all over again? Preferably, raising him to be carefree and spoiled rotten.

“…The 1,000 white roses ordered have been air-freighted from Ecuador. The funeral venue is being arranged exactly according to your requirements.”

Mumu reported while leading Jia Qiao into the venue where the funeral for Zhu Nanyu would be held tomorrow.

“If you have any other requirements, we can adjust them at any time before the funeral begins.”

Jia Qiao looked up and surveyed the private cemetery purchased at a high price. The environment was quiet, filled with the fragrance of flowers and the singing of birds; it looked more like a resort than a cemetery. Even being a ghost here would be quite poetic and picturesque.

—If he really became a ghost, that is.

Jia Qiao withdrew his gaze and asked, “Are there any photos taken?”

“Yes, I’ll send them to you right away.” Mumu immediately packaged the overall and close-up photos and sent them all to Jia Qiao.

Then, she saw Jia Qiao forward all the received photos to another person.

Jia Qiao: [Photos of the funeral scene. What do you think?]

“…?” Mumu’s heart was full of confusion, but she didn’t dare ask.

One should know that during the early stages of preparing the funeral, the Zhu family had poked their noses in and offered many opinions, but Jia Qiao hadn’t listened to a single word, making decisions based entirely on his own preferences the whole way. Now that the Zhu family had quieted down and the deceased’s mother, who appeared later, had no intention of interfering, Jia Qiao was suddenly asking someone else if they were satisfied.

Could it be that this funeral required a second person’s approval?

At the same time, Zhu Nanyu, who had received photos of his own funeral scene, felt a complex mix of emotions.

He suspected that even people in the funeral service industry would never imagine in their lifetime that they could actually receive feedback from the client himself.