Chapter 58: Nightmare

In the middle of the night, Shen Yunhe, lying in bed, was covered in sweat, gasping for breath in agony, his chest rising and falling violently, as if trapped in a nightmare he couldn’t escape from.

The sandalwood doll by his pillow slowly curled its lips, revealing a strange smile.

In the dream, he was in the staff building where he and Jiang Banyue had once lived. A man in military uniform, carrying a briefcase, was heading out to work. Shen Yunhe approached and stared in a daze—it was him from when they had just gotten married.

Shen Yunhe couldn’t understand why he was dreaming of the past. He climbed the stairs and stood in front of the door, wanting to knock. But when he reached out, his hand passed right through the door. He tried stepping in.

The house was very clean. A woman in simple clothes was busy in the kitchen. It was Jiang Banyue. After she finished cleaning the kitchen, she returned to the living room, picked up the black yarn on the sofa, and started knitting a sweater.

Shen Yunhe sat on the sofa watching her. This was his sweater. Jiang Banyue knitted for a while, then picked up the cup on the table to take a sip of water. She stood up to stretch her neck.

Shen Yunhe looked at her gently. Suddenly, a knock on the door came from outside. Jiang Banyue went to open it. Liu Juan stood at the door with a smile. When Shen Yunhe saw this woman, a surge of disgust filled his chest.

“You are…?” Jiang Banyue didn’t recognize her. Liu Juan lifted a hand to brush her hair and introduced herself.

“Hello, my name is Liu Juan.”

“Ah? Oh, please come in.” Jiang Banyue, a little confused, invited her in, thinking she was the wife of a military man from some other family.

Liu Juan walked into the house, eyeing the room’s decor from top to bottom. It was a clean and bright room with white floral curtains. On the table, a bunch of soft yellow wildflowers rested, and on the wall hung two wedding photos. Liu Juan gritted her teeth in jealousy, glaring at the photo with a hostile, malicious gaze.

Shen Yunhe was so angry he wanted to kill Liu Juan, this disgusting thing, but Jiang Banyue, foolishly, went to make tea and served it to Liu Juan.

“Liu Juan, here’s some tea.”

Liu Juan took the tea, sat down on the sofa, and sipped it, while Jiang Banyue sat down as well.

“Are you a military wife too?”

“No!” Liu Juan proudly lifted her head. “I’m from the cultural troupe. I heard that Brother Shen married a wife from the countryside, and I was quite curious, so I came to have a look!”

Jiang Banyue frowned, watching her. Hearing her call Shen Yunhe “Brother Shen” made her uncomfortable.

“Who’s your Brother Shen?”

Liu Juan covered her mouth and smiled, lowering her head as she pretended to be coy.

“Brother Shen is Yunhe! I’m very close to him. Oh, you don’t mind if I call him Brother Shen, right? I can just call him Yunhe directly, that works too!”

Jiang Banyue was too angry to speak, her fingers tightly clenched. Shen Yunhe was also furious, wanting to strangle this disgusting woman. No wonder his wife often argued with her. It turned out that such a repulsive person was between them, sowing discord.

The scene shifted. Jiang Banyue was pregnant. Despite being pregnant, she remained a frail woman, busying herself with her growing belly while her husband was away on assignment. Shen Yunhe carefully watched over her.

When her due date was approaching, Liu Juan reappeared, grinning proudly.

“Well, Jiang Banyue, you still don’t know? Yunhe has been with me all this time, but he lied to you about being on work. After you got pregnant, you became so fat and ugly, he doesn’t even want to look at you anymore…”

Jiang Banyue, hearing Liu Juan’s words, felt a sharp pain in her stomach. She hugged her belly with both hands as cold sweat dripped down her face.