Volume One, Chapter 22: If a Child Is Not Taught, It Is the Father's Fault!

She had started gaining weight since her pregnancy, and even after giving birth, Sang Wan’s figure never returned to its former slender grace. Now, Lin Chaochao looked as though she had snuck into an adult’s clothes—drowning in fabric—yet it lent her a different kind of charm.

Downstairs, Lu Xiaomu was suffering with a fever, while upstairs, Lu Jinnian and Lin Chaochao were tangled together. The thought made Sang Wan feel sick to her stomach. “Lu Jinnian, you have no shame!” she spat.

“And who exactly is disgusting here?” Lu Jinnian shot back, seizing Sang Wan’s arm. The words “your lover” hovered on the tip of his tongue, but instead he glanced at Lin Chaochao. “Go back upstairs.”

His purpose had been achieved. Lin Chaochao nodded obediently and turned to go back upstairs, her manner docile.

Lu Jinnian turned his eyes back to Sang Wan, looking every bit the furious, cornered lion. “Sang Wan, are you really this desperate? You can’t even wait for the divorce papers before rushing to find someone new? So, does he satisfy you—”

Smack!

Another slap, merciless and sharp.

Lu Jinnian’s eyes blazed red, and his glare threatened to devour her whole. But in the next instant, he had no time to care. Sang Wan drove her knee up, hard.

His eyes widened in disbelief, rage and pain mixing in their depths. The agony was so intense, his breath caught in his throat—he couldn’t even make a sound.

He could only watch as Sang Wan dusted her hands, then her knee, and retreated several meters away. The look she gave him was as if she were viewing something filthy.

Her expression icy, Sang Wan said, “Lu Jinnian, your heart is sick. You see filth in everyone. That’s an illness—get it treated while you still can.”

He’d already brought Lin Chaochao home. Where did he get the audacity to question her?

“And don’t call me again!” she added. “You’ve made your choice, and so has Lu Xiaomu. I’ve stepped aside for her, what more do you people want? Lu Jinnian, even a rabbit will bite when it’s desperate. Push me too far and maybe I’ll call a reporter, spill it all—how many plunges in stock price do you think your company can take?”

Ignoring the dark, stormy look on his face, Sang Wan turned and strode away. The villa receded behind her, farther and farther, as she stepped into the night, her heart numb.

There was Lu Xiaomu, who as a child would cry for her mother’s embrace when upset, and call “Mama” sweetly when happy. Then there was the feverish Lu Xiaomu earlier, still insisting on Auntie Chaochao despite her distress.

Sang Wan didn’t know where things had gone wrong. Or perhaps, what she had done wrong.

From the moment Lu Xiaomu was in her belly, she had recited classic texts and fairy tales, nurturing him before birth. After he was born, she never stopped with picture books and stories of famous people. She tried her best to be the kind of mother who led by example, showing him how to be kind, upright, cultured, and loving.

Except for the weekends and holidays when Lu Jinnian took him to visit Su Baohui, where he’d stay for a few days, mother and son were almost never apart.

Yet in just a few months, all Lu Xiaomu ever talked about was Lin Chaochao.

Did it hurt? Of course it did.

But she couldn’t change anything, nor did she want to anymore.

Pain radiated from her feet. Sang Wan glanced down and saw she was still wearing the disposable slippers from the hotel.

She’d left in such a rush, she hadn’t even changed her shoes.

Looking back, she saw the chauffeur hang up and drive the car into the garage. One by one, the villa lights went out behind her. Beneath the bright streetlamp, she felt like a lost, wandering soul drifting from the depths of hell.

Gritting her teeth, Sang Wan ignored the stabbing pain and strode away.

Her phone rang.

Lou Ye’s name flashed on the screen. Sang Wan hesitated a second, then rejected the call.

He called again, unwilling to give up.

“Hello? What is it?” Sang Wan’s voice was frosty.

There was a pause on the other end, then Lou Ye spoke, uncertain, embarrassed, “Senior, 2S is missing!”

A night of suppressed frustration flared into flame in that instant.

But Sang Wan knew this wasn’t Lou Ye’s fault. “Have you looked everywhere? Could it have gotten out through the balcony?”

“Shouldn’t be. I made sure all doors and windows upstairs and downstairs were closed.”

“Under the sofa, under the bed, behind the cabinets…” She rattled off a list of places, all the usual cat hiding spots.

But what she feared most was that the orange tabby might be stuck somewhere—it wasn’t easy to search the entirety of Lou Ye’s enormous house.

“I’ll head over now. Meanwhile, have everyone look around,” she said.

“Okay. Where are you? I’ll send the driver to pick you up—it’ll be faster!”

“I’m at…” Sang Wan hesitated, then gave the location of the Lu family villa.

“Alright, wait there. The driver will be there soon!” Lou Ye replied.

Hanging up, Sang Wan forced herself to ignore the pain and strode out.

Inside the living room of the hillside villa, Lou Ye gazed thoughtfully into the distance. For a long while, he looked down at the orange tabby snuggled in his arms, purring in a ball.

He picked it up by the scruff and shook it gently. “Time to get to work…”

The orange tabby blinked sleepily. But when Lou Ye tossed the ball of yarn up the stairs, the cat snapped awake, meowed, and chased after it.

It was over ten minutes before Sang Wan arrived. Noticing Lou Ye’s gaze on her feet, she averted her eyes and looked around. “Have you found it?”

“No,” Lou Ye shook his head.

She took a pair of worn cotton slippers from the shoe rack and put them on.

“Orange… come on, kitty…” Sang Wan called as she searched meticulously from beneath the sofa to behind the wine cabinet, scouring the living room.

Reaching the foot of the stairs, she paused and turned to Lou Ye. “May I go upstairs?”

“Of course,” Lou Ye nodded.

Without hesitation, Sang Wan went up, calling for the cat as she searched for it on the terrace.

Lou Ye turned slowly, his eyes falling on the disposable slippers at her feet—now stained with blood and worn through at the soles.

The Lu family villa.

It could only be Lu Xiaomu—no, it couldn’t possibly be Lu Jinnian. So, it had to be the little brat, Lu Xiaomu.

But it didn’t matter. There’s a saying, isn’t there? If a child is not taught, it’s the father’s fault. So, let Lu Jinnian suffer the consequences.

Casting a lingering glance out the window, Lou Ye ground his teeth and headed upstairs.

Sang Wan had already found the tabby. In the pitch-black home theater on the third floor, the orange tabby was sprawled on its back, hugging the yarn ball, fast asleep in the gap between the massage chair and the wall.

When it saw Sang Wan, the tabby’s eyes lit up like tiny titanium bulbs, and with a delicate meow, it dove into her arms.

Sang Wan froze.

When Lou Ye said 2S was missing, after the initial confusion, a surge of helpless grief and injustice welled up inside her. She had felt, inexplicably, as if the whole world had abandoned her—Lu Jinnian, Lu Xiaomu, and now even her cat didn’t want her.

But, thankfully, it was still here!

Her heart, which had been suspended high, finally settled.

Sang Wan sat dazed on the carpet as tears spilled in heavy drops.

Lou Ye reached the doorway, one foot about to cross the threshold, when he heard her muffled sobs. He stepped back silently and left.

After a good, hard cry, Sang Wan felt much better.

She got up and caught sight of her own disheveled reflection in the screen—her eyes and nose red, her hair a tangled mess. She looked for all the world like someone who had just been bullied.

She didn’t know how to explain her delay to Lou Ye, nor how to make him ignore her present bedraggled state. For a moment, her mind went blank.

Footsteps sounded at the top of the stairs.

“Senior…” Lou Ye called, stopping at the doorway but not coming in. “I didn’t interrupt this little reunion between mother and child, did I?”

Sang Wan was startled. “No.”

“Good,” he replied, stepping inside, his arms full.