Chapter 1: The Dinner
My husband Zhou Cheng brought his subordinate home to live with us. I tolerated it. She threw away my things and took my space. I tolerated that too. Then one night she said she could not sleep in an unfamiliar bed, and Zhou Cheng walked into her room in front of me to coax her to sleep. I asked him, "Is she your employee or your ancestor?" He told me I was not being generous enough. That was the moment I stopped loving him. "Go in," I said. "But when you come out, we are getting a divorce." It began at a dinner party. Zhou Cheng invited his colleagues over, and I cooked all afternoon until the hot soup burned my fingers. He sat at the head of the table and placed a piece of beef, tendons carefully removed, into Su Yan's bowl. "Her stomach is weak. She cannot eat anything tough." Xiao Chen laughed and said Su Yan was the team's pet, and that Director Zhou always took special care of her. Old Zhang added that Zhou had driven her home after a late meeting. Everyone laughed as if this were ordinary. I stood by the table holding the soup and felt like a hired cook. When I sat down and reached for the shrimp Zhou had bought, he pushed the plate toward Su Yan. "You like these. Eat more." My chopsticks stopped in the air. Halfway through dinner he pressed a hand to his stomach. Before I could get his medicine, Su Yan spoke. "Second drawer of the nightstand. The white box. That is where he keeps it." The table went quiet. She added, "He took that one last time. It worked fast." Zhou Cheng smiled faintly. "You were not home. She brought me back and grabbed it for me." Then he looked at me. "Zhizhi, do not overthink it." I smiled. "So someone else knows my bedroom better than I do."