Chapter 9: The Price of a Prostitute

  In memory, every quarrel, without exception, ends on the bed. However, this can't solve any substantial problem at all, it just makes the pain repeat itself over and over again.

  Across a door, in the darkness, Ji Wei Yang sat on the sofa in the living room, his fingertips lit a cigarette, and the smoke flickered. He furrowed his brow as he smoked, with a hint of melancholy between his eyebrows, and a pair of deep, ocean-like eyes that hid too many secrets.

  ……

  The next day, early in the morning, the sky was clear and bright.

  Zhan Yan got out of bed, feeling sore and uncomfortable all over her body. The silk quilt covering her slipped down, revealing her bare skin, with large areas of purple marks on her chest.

  The room was empty and quiet to the point of being suffocating. Zhan Yan clutched the quilt tightly around her, a cold smile playing on the corners of her lips.

  He was indeed carefree, coming at midnight and leaving at dawn. Many times, Zhan Yan felt that she was no different from a prostitute, but prostitutes had a price, while she only allowed him to sleep with her for free.

  Zhan Yan put on her clothes and got out of bed, shuffling into the kitchen in a pair of cloth slippers. She rummaged through the medicine box, pouring two yellow pills from a white bottle into her mouth, followed by half a cup of warm water. The white bottle was tossed back into the medicine box, with a label that read "Vitamin C", but only Zhan Yan knew that it actually contained birth control pills.

  Zhan Yan's back leaned lightly against the crystal wall behind him, his eyelids closing weakly. Frame after frame of black and white scenes kept appearing in his mind, just like a movie playing.

  Gao Yuxuan's betrayal, Ji Wei Yang's taking advantage of the situation, and... He knelt down on one knee in front of her amidst a sea of flowers, saying: Zhan Yan, let's get married, let me use my life to carry your happiness. The happiness he spoke of made her yearn for it, but after three years of twists and turns, Zhan Yan finally understood that happiness is something that can be encountered but not sought after.

  As for this marriage, Xian Yan was not without expectation, but all of this was shattered by him on their wedding night. He held her tightly, half-drunk and half-asleep, constantly calling out the name "Lu An Qi". It wasn't until then that she knew his heart had always belonged to another woman.

  Her eyes were slightly moist, she opened her eyelids and blinked hard, blinking away the tears that welled up in her eyes.

  There was no surgery today, and Xianyu likes to do household chores during her rest time.

  As Ji Weiyan pushed open the door, a warm and cozy scene unfolded before his eyes. The humidifier on the side was gurgling away, spewing out white mist, while Xuan Yi wore a set of home clothes, her long hair tied back with a silk handkerchief as she squatted on the ground, intently wiping the walnut-colored floorboards. Sunlight streaming in from the floor-to-ceiling window scattered across her body, warm and gentle. Her expression was deeply focused, to the point where she hadn't even noticed his presence.

  Actually, when Zhan Yan first moved in here, Ji Wei Yang hired many servants for her, including cooks, housekeepers and gardeners, each with their own responsibilities. However, those people were dismissed one by one by Zhan Yan, who took on all the household chores alone.

  Zhan Yan was just too lonely, and only by keeping himself constantly busy could he feel that he truly existed, rather than being just a wooden puppet.