Volume 1, Chapter 22: Five Blessings Jewelry

Zheng Juan is the wife of Wu Rui, the manager of the fertilizer plant. She is also one of the women he has slept with. Wu Rui and Zheng Juan have not divorced; they have children together but have been living apart for a long time. Zheng Juan’s romantic history is quite complicated, and Han Feng had gathered a lot of information about it previously, which is why she was so afraid of him. In the end, Han Feng earnestly warned me to be careful of my stepmother. I understood perfectly well that if Zheng Juan wanted to extort money, she shouldn’t have targeted me; it was all instigated by Xu Li, who was pulling the strings behind the scenes. Xu Li would stop at nothing to try and destroy me.

I felt stifled and infuriated, experiencing a deep, agonizing sense of resentment. I secretly swore that I would definitely take revenge on Xu Li. For the next two days, Xu Li acted very calmly, as if nothing had happened. She simply became suddenly kind to me again. She cooked every morning and evening, took the initiative to talk to me, and even brought up the topic of repeating my senior year, planning to enroll me in a reputable private high school. I agreed perfunctorily while remaining deeply guarded. She was merely trying to make me lower my guard while she brewed her next sinister scheme.

My own plan had also begun. I bought a second-hand bicycle, a very unremarkable model. As soon as Xu Li left the house, I changed into plain clothes, put on a hat and mask, shouldered my camera, and quietly followed her. She was also extremely vigilant, constantly looking over her shoulder every time she hailed a taxi. Several times, I was almost discovered by her. Finally, I tracked her to her destination: a jewelry store. The name was quite tacky—Wufu Jewelry—but the storefront was fairly large. Parked in front of the jewelry store was a white Land Rover with the license plate number 36888.

To keep an eye on Xu Li, I entered a coffee shop across from the jewelry store, ordered a ten-yuan coffee, and sat in a booth by the window. After waiting for a long time, Xu Li came out carrying a small bag, looking radiant. The man who followed her out was the slightly chubby middle-aged man. Only then did I clearly see that his suit buttons were gold, shining rather glaringly in the sunlight. The middle-aged man reached out to wrap his arm around Xu Li’s waist in a sleazy manner, but Xu Li hurriedly dodged him, looking around nervously. Doing something like this for the first time, my heart was pounding wildly, and I took several photos with trembling hands. The two of them got into the Land Rover and drove off.

I rushed out, hopped on my bicycle, and continued to tail them. I pedaled frantically, though I would never have been able to keep up with the car if not for the traffic lights along the way. Finally, I tracked them to their destination. The Land Rover stopped in front of the Dong'an Hotel, the most upscale hotel in the county, said to be a four-star establishment. I once inadvertently overheard that my father and Xu Li used to come here to have affairs behind my mother's back. Later, after my parents divorced, Xu Li successfully moved into our home.

Now, Xu Li was coming here to open a room with another man. Ha, for my father, there was a real sense of irony in that. I stopped my bicycle, hid behind a utility pole on the side of the road, and extended my camera. There weren't many people around, and Xu Li had lowered her guard. After getting out of the car, she let the middle-aged man put his arm around her slim, supple waist, and the two of them walked into the hotel in her high heels. I had taken the photos; the evidence was clear, and I could finally expose Xu Li. For some reason, however, I felt a sense of loss. This family was going to fall apart again!

With Xu Li off in the hotel for her tryst, I rode my bicycle away and found a photo studio. A young girl with a ponytail greeted