Chapter 9

Zhang Man had recently run into a marriage crisis, so while Si Yuming and Si Xiaotie were still out, Lin Ke returned her call.

A year ago, Zhang Man had impulsively married a man she’d known for less than three months.

He came from a good family, was highly educated, handsome, and—as Zhang Man had once put it—good in every possible way. Even if they divorced in the end, she wouldn’t be losing out.

Now that they had been married exactly a year, all the flaws and shortcomings that hadn’t been carefully examined before marriage were surfacing one after another.

They had a huge fight every three days and a smaller one every two.

Only now did Zhang Man suddenly realize something.

“Keke… do you think I might’ve become one of those… beard wives?”

Lin Ke didn’t dare jump to conclusions.

“That’s hard to say. Think about it more carefully first.”

The other side fell silent for a few seconds before exploding with a curse.

“Holy shit, maybe it’s actually true! He barely gets phone calls, never interferes with my work or hobbies, and I stupidly enjoyed this so-called freedom after marriage.”

“The effort it takes just to get him into bed is like begging an ancestor. And even when I finally coax him into it, he finishes in three or four minutes. I don’t feel anything at all.” The more Zhang Man spoke, the angrier she became. “Keke, is this illegal? Can I sue him? That bastard! I’m so pissed off!”

Lin Ke silently endured her fury.

Only after Zhang Man finished venting did she calmly say,

“Don’t jump to conclusions yet, Manman. Observe him more deliberately for a few days.”

Hearing Lin Ke’s steady, composed voice, Zhang Man gradually calmed down too.

“You’re right. If something’s really going on, then he definitely has someone outside. I need to catch him cheating first. Then I’ll divorce him. I can’t alert him too early either—what if he transfers all the assets and I end up with nothing?”

Lin Ke hadn’t expected her thoughts to go that far already. She chuckled softly.

“Mhm. Don’t alert him. And… what if he’s just incapable?”

Silence again.

Then suddenly, Zhang Man counterattacked with a question.

“So President Si is very capable?”

The woman instantly choked.

“Tsk, forget it. I don’t want to hear it. Your President Si looks extremely capable.” Zhang Man sighed dramatically. “Seriously, I envy you. Handsome rich husband, adorable obedient daughter… Lin Ke, you really are winning at life.”

Lin Ke didn’t answer.

At that exact moment, movement sounded at the entrance.

She hurriedly said goodbye, hung up, and turned around.

Si Xiaotie was carrying a transparent acrylic box in her hands.

Her shoes flew off as she rushed inside with quick little steps. Behind her, the man placed her schoolbag by the entrance and bent down to neatly arrange the shoes.

“Mommy, look at my baby!”

Lin Ke thought she’d bought another small animal.

But the moment she got closer and looked—

Her heart nearly stopped.

A giant furry spider.

It was almost the size of her palm!

Her face turned pale with fright as she hurriedly backed away two steps, unable to even speak.

The instant Si Xiaotie noticed her mother’s expression, her excitement shrank considerably. She carefully hid the box behind her back and called out in a tiny guilty voice,

“Mommy…”

Si Yuming, who had followed behind, also saw the horrified expression on the woman’s face. He was just about to explain when the tiny culprit spoke again in an even smaller voice.

“Daddy bought it for me…”

He almost laughed.

What a wonderful daughter he had.

Si Yuming patted the back of the little girl’s head, took the box from her, and placed it atop the laundry cabinet on the balcony.

Then he used the explanation the father and daughter had already discussed on the way home.

“This is a Chilean rose tarantula. They’re gentle and have very weak venom. They’re a common pet spider. Xiaotie promised me the spider will only stay inside the box and won’t be released.”

Si Xiaotie immediately lifted her head and added loudly,

“Right! It won’t come out!”

She grabbed Lin Ke’s hand and began acting spoiled.

“Mommy~”

Lin Ke looked down at the tiny mastermind.

Then at the accomplice beside her.

Finally, she glanced at the terrifying many-legged creature again.

She still couldn’t accept it.

It was simply too horrifying.

Si Xiaotie immediately hugged her mother’s leg.

“Mommy, Spider is really obedient.”

“Mommy, don’t be scared, Xiaotie will protect you.”

“Mommy~”

In the end, Lin Ke sighed helplessly.

“It absolutely can only stay inside the box. You cannot let it out.”

“Mhm!” Si Xiaotie instantly brightened up.

Her little legs were just about to sprint toward the balcony when she suddenly turned back, grabbed Lin Ke, and kissed her.

“Mommy is the best!”

Once only the married couple remained in the living room, Lin Ke shot him a fierce glare.

If he hadn’t agreed to it, how could Si Xiaotie possibly have bought a spider?

The man who usually acted like an unquestioned superior actually wore a rare placating smile.

“It’s really fine.”

“How is this fine? What if it escapes and bites someone?”

“It’s not poisonous.”

Lin Ke was truly speechless now, her voice growing sharper.

“They say it’s not poisonous and you just believe them? Are you a zoologist or a doctor? What if they sold you some mutated species? Xiaotie touches everything she sees—what if it bites her? The venom might be weak for adults, but does that mean it’s harmless to a three-year-old child too?”

The woman kept going without pause.

The more she spoke, the more severe she sounded, her face flushing red.

Si Yuming had never seen her like this before.

More than anything else, he felt surprised.

Surprised that she could display emotions this intense.

“What are you smiling at?!” Lin Ke grew even angrier when she saw the smile appear on his face.

The corners of Si Yuming’s lips curved upward, revealing a faint dimple.

He stepped forward and pulled the furious little cat into his arms, gently patting her shoulder.

His voice was deep and soothing.

“It’s really fine. Don’t worry.”

Lin Ke froze instantly.

The remaining anger in her chest suddenly stalled.

He was…

What was he doing?

Comforting her?

Before the woman could fully regain her senses and push him away, Si Xiaotie turned back to look.

Her big eyes curved into crescents.

Cupping her hands around her mouth like a loudspeaker, she whispered secretly to the spider crawling around inside the box:

“Spider, Daddy is comforting Dinosaur Mommy because she got angry. You can stay now.”

…

Because of the new creature suddenly added to the household, Lin Ke didn’t dare step onto the balcony the entire evening.

Someone’s attitude was exceptionally sincere, voluntarily taking over laundry duties and hanging clothes.

But when she saw the man squatting beside their daughter, feeding the spider together…

And then saw the giant furry creature crawling around…

A shiver instantly ran through her again.

She quickly turned around and fled back into the bedroom.

It wasn’t until nearly ten o’clock that Si Yuming finished putting their daughter to sleep and returned to shower.

Lin Ke put away the books she had been studying for exam preparation and prepared for bed.

But the moment she closed her eyes, the spider reappeared in her mind.

She simply couldn’t relax.

How strong were spiders anyway?

Could it push open the lid and crawl out?

When Si Yuming emerged from the bathroom, he happened to witness her climbing barefoot out of bed to lock the door.

Then she crouched down to inspect the gap beneath it, even using her hand to measure whether the spider could crawl through before finally patting her chest in relief.

The woman stood up.

Upon seeing him, she glared again before walking over to shut the windows tightly as well.

Si Yuming laughed as he lifted the blanket and got into bed.

Once she climbed in too, he patiently explained,

“I got the spider from a friend. Pure bloodline, complete inspection reports. Nothing unexpected will happen.”

“Hmph.”

Lin Ke lay flat and pulled the blanket over herself.

As usual, he reached over to hold her.

But today, the moment his arm stretched out, she pushed him away like a startled bird.

“Can you stop touching me all of a sudden? It’s terrifying!”

“……”

Si Yuming awkwardly withdrew and didn’t dare touch her again.

The lights went out.

Half an hour later, the breathing beside him became calm and steady.

He himself gradually drifted into sleep too, subconsciously reaching toward the other side of the bed to pull her into his arms.

But the moment he touched her—

The woman trembled slightly and muttered something indistinct.

Si Yuming opened his eyes.

A thin layer of sweat coated her forehead, and her body was trembling faintly as well.

His heart tightened in alarm.

Turning on the light, he called softly,

“Lin Ke?”

No response.

He leaned closer.

“Wife?”

She seemed to hear him.

Eyes still closed, she suddenly clung tightly to him, gripping him so hard it almost hurt as she whimpered softly,

“No… I don’t want… go away…”

Her breathing was heavy and uneven.

Still trapped in the nightmare.

Si Yuming patted her back gently.

“Don’t be scared. It’s okay. Just a dream.”

“It’s alright now. Everything’s okay.”

Gradually, the woman calmed down.

Her rigid body slowly softened again.

Si Yuming lowered his gaze and carefully wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of his hand, movement after movement unbearably gentle.

Afterward, he simply watched her quietly until she finally fell back into peaceful sleep.

He truly hadn’t expected her reaction to be this severe.

And now he already regretted buying that spider for Si Xiaotie.

…

The next morning, Lin Ke still refused to go onto the balcony.

Instead, she simply raised her voice to call the little girl currently playing with the spider.

“Si Xiaotie, come eat breakfast. Finish eating so we can go to kindergarten.”

“Coming!”

Having finally fulfilled her wish, Si Xiaotie was in exceptionally high spirits.

Climbing onto her personal little chair, she picked up her chopsticks with a beaming smile.

“Mommy, I’m going to tell Yuan Yuan and Gu Yiyi that I have a spider now~”

Lin Ke couldn’t help laughing.

“Don’t scare your little friends.”

“I won’t. Yuan Yuan is super brave.”

“Then what about Gu Yiyi?”

Using both hands together, Si Xiaotie stuffed a dumpling into her mouth before speaking through her chewing.

“Gu Yiyi is a scaredy-cat.”

Hearing that, Lin Ke became slightly more serious.

“Xiaotie, you can’t talk about your friends like that.”

“I know. That’s why I’ll protect Gu Yiyi.”

After breakfast, they headed to kindergarten.

Once out of the car, Si Xiaotie waved goodbye to Daddy before holding Teacher Bai Bai’s hand and walking inside together.

As she walked, she eagerly shared,

“Teacher Bai Bai, Daddy bought me a spider!”

Teacher Bai Bai froze.

“A spider?”

“Yep! Didn’t you say spiders are human friends too? So Daddy bought me one!”

“……”

Teacher Bai Bai was speechless.

She had indeed said that.

But she hadn’t expected this little girl to decide she wanted to raise a spider…

And how did they actually manage to buy a pet spider so casually?

The moment she entered the classroom and spotted her friends, the little girl released Teacher Bai Bai’s hand and sprinted over.

Without even taking off her backpack, she urgently shared,

“Yuan Yuan, my daddy bought me a spider yesterday! Do you wanna see?!”

Yuan Yuan spoke slowly, one word at a time.

“Rea… lly? Whe… re… is… it?”

Only after Yuan Yuan finished speaking did Si Xiaotie realize the problem.

Right.

The spider was still at home.

Then suddenly, the little girl’s eyes lit up.

“Yuan Yuan, come to my house tonight!”

“Ca… can… I?”

“Of course!”

Gu Yiyi entered the classroom at that exact moment and overheard them.

“Go where? I wanna go too.”

Si Xiaotie giggled and enthusiastically repeated herself while gesturing dramatically with both hands.

“My daddy bought me a huge giant spider! Come to my house and see it with me!”

“Okay okay!”

By now, most of the children had arrived.

The teachers carried breakfast into the classroom and distributed it one by one.

But Si Xiaotie had already eaten breakfast.

So she simply sat between Yuan Yuan and Gu Yiyi chattering nonstop.

Yuan Yuan struggled with speaking and could only occasionally respond with a word or two.

Si Xiaotie didn’t mind at all and simply continued talking to herself.

After a while, though, she realized Gu Yiyi hadn’t made any sound for a long time.

Turning around, she saw the little boy’s eyes were red.

Tilting her head close to him, she asked,

“Gu Yiyi, what’s wrong?”

Gu Yiyi was twice her size, but his voice remained soft and weak.

“Nothing…”

Alright then.

If nothing was wrong, nothing was wrong.

Si Xiaotie turned back to Yuan Yuan and continued excitedly.

“My spider can spin webs too! But Daddy said we have to feed it until it becomes big and fat before it can spin webs. Daddy also bought it lots of yummy food…”

“Gu Fatty, why are you eating so much?”

A voice suddenly interrupted nearby.

Si Xiaotie turned around.

Gu Yiyi’s face was bright red.

The little girl deeply furrowed her brows.

Those beautiful eyes so much like her father’s instantly filled with cold hostility.

“Gu Fatty, are you gonna turn into a pig head?”

“My mommy says eating too much turns people into giant fat pigs.”

Gu Yiyi tightly pressed his lips together and silently pushed away the little cake in his bowl, not daring to say a word.

Si Xiaotie clenched her fists and shouted loudly,

“You’re not allowed to bully Gu Yiyi!”

The girl who had spoken jumped in fright and shrank back.

“I didn’t…”

“You did! Bad person!”

Yuan Yuan tugged at her.

“Xi… Xia… Xiaotie…”

But Si Xiaotie brushed her aside and stood up aggressively.

“Gu Yiyi isn’t fat at all! My mommy says we’re still growing, so we should eat lots and lots. You’re not allowed to call him fat anymore. If you do it again, I’ll tell the teacher and tell my daddy too.”

The little girl hurriedly nodded, then asked softly,

“Is your daddy a police officer?”

Daddy obviously wasn’t a police officer.

Daddy worked in an office.

But Si Xiaotie’s black eyes spun mischievously before she proudly lifted her chin.

“Yep! My daddy is super powerful! Whoever does bad things gets arrested by him!”

Ignoring the girl afterward, Si Xiaotie stood on tiptoe and grabbed the two remaining buns the teacher had left on the table, stuffing them into Gu Yiyi’s bowl.

Then she ordered him firmly,

“Hurry up and eat. You need to get nice and full.”

Gu Yiyi still didn’t move.

When he looked over again, the little girl had already gone back to chatting endlessly with Yuan Yuan.

Silently, he picked up a bun and took a bite.

He didn’t want to be called Fatty anymore…

But the buns were really delicious…

…

Having just signed the cooperation agreement, the translation team had two relatively relaxed days.

But Lin Ke didn’t get any rest.

Wan Lei had secured her an interview opportunity for next month’s regional international forum.

This forum wouldn’t just cover the common fields of medicine, finance, and technology.

It would also include unfamiliar sectors like military industry and energy.

She needed to prepare thoroughly.

At around three in the afternoon, a message popped up on WeChat displayed on her computer.

Lin Qiliang.

Three voice messages.

She directly converted them into text.

【Keke, your aunt’s birthday is this weekend. Remember to bring Xiaotie home.】

【What’s Yuming doing? I heard he’s back in North City. If he has time, bring him too.】

【Oh right, your aunt wants a certain handbag. See if you can buy it. I’ll send you the details later.】

Lin Ke stared at the messages and gradually drifted into thought.

Back when Lin Qiliang went bankrupt, her mother fell ill and passed away.

Half a year later, Zhu Li—already pregnant—entered the Lin family.

The following year, she gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl.

In Lin Qiliang’s nearly fifty years of life, Lin Ke’s mother had already become blurry in memory.

The more important person in his life now was his second wife, who had stayed with him through bankruptcy, rebuilding from nothing, surviving hardship, and finally returning to stability while also giving birth to his twins.

He loved Zhu Li.

Loved Lin Jialang and Lin Jiayan.

Before Lin Ke, there had perhaps also been work and wealth.

By the time everything else took its share, the love and energy left for her were already limited.

Before her marriage, Lin Ke barely existed within the Lin family.

After marriage, she became the Lin family’s greatest contributor.

Zhu Li spoke gently to her now, seeming even kinder to her than to her own biological daughter.

Some things sixteen-year-old Lin Ke had once longed for and failed to understand—

Twenty-seven-year-old Lin Ke, now possessing everything, only found disgusting.

After marriage, she rarely returned to the Lin family home.

Every time she received messages like these from Lin Qiliang, she felt irritated.

At some unknown point, her connection to the Lin family had become a burden.

Ma Chanchan came over to discuss work.

Lin Ke snapped back to reality and coordinated the tasks for the next few days with her.

Only afterward did she reply:

【Okay. Si Yuming is busy with work. Xiaotie wants to visit her brother this weekend, so I’ll come alone.】

With Si Xiaotie around, things would definitely feel easier.

But she didn’t want to use her daughter as a tool to entertain and please them.

Lin Qiliang didn’t reply for a long time.

Lin Ke stopped caring.

At four o’clock, she messaged Aunt Chen to pick up Si Xiaotie from kindergarten first since she didn’t plan on leaving work early.

After thinking for a moment, she added another instruction for Aunt Chen to handle all balcony-related chores.

As long as that spider remained on the balcony, she absolutely would not step out there herself.

She left work precisely at six.

But before heading home, she stopped by the flower shop in the neighboring mall to pick up the bouquet she’d ordered.

There were two universities nearby, so the mall was especially crowded at this hour.

Lin Ke never expected to run into Lin Jialang here.

The eighteen-year-old girl was dressed maturely and currently clinging to a man several years older than herself.

The man wore expensive-looking clothes, but his demeanor was careless and somewhat roguish.

The two were picking flowers together.

Lin Jialang lifted a bouquet of roses and looked up.

Their eyes met.

For a split second, panic flashed across the girl’s face.

But she quickly lifted her chin proudly without releasing the man’s arm.

Lin Ke frowned slightly.

She and Lin Jialang didn’t share the closeness of ordinary sisters.

They were practically strangers.

She had no right to meddle.

But Lin Jialang had only just started university this September.

She was only eighteen.

The man beside her didn’t look ordinary.

Nor did he look like a good person.

How had she already ended up dating someone like this right after becoming an adult?

Following the girl’s gaze, the man looked over too.

After staring at Lin Ke for several seconds, he turned back and asked,

“You know her?”

Lin Jialang hesitated briefly without answering, then pushed him toward the exit.

Lin Ke didn’t bother making things awkward for herself and simply walked straight to the counter to collect her flowers.

Why was she worrying about it anyway?

Adults should bear responsibility for their own choices.

Fragments of conversation drifted from behind.

“Let’s go. I suddenly don’t want flowers anymore.”

“We’re already here. Why don’t you want them now?”

“I just don’t.”

“You’re really troublesome. Who was that?”

“My sister who married into a rich family. Hurry up already.”

Lin Ke pressed her lips together and accepted the flowers from the shop owner.

A message quickly appeared on her phone:

Lin Jialang：【You’re not allowed to tell Mom and Dad!】

She didn’t reply.

The city during rush hour was hopelessly congested, cars inching along slowly.

Lin Ke looked at the fresh bouquet of sunflowers in the passenger seat.

Her previously heavy mood gradually brightened.

Si Xiaotie loved sunflowers the most.

Or rather, she loved everything bright yellow.

Yellow was practically her signature color.

If she saw this bouquet, she would definitely become ecstatic—first kissing Lin Ke happily, then carrying the flowers around the living room in circles several times.

By the time she arrived home, it was nearly seven.

The moment she stepped out of the elevator, she could already hear noisy commotion inside the apartment.

It sounded like Si Xiaotie and another child.

Lin Ke unlocked the door and entered.

The very next second—

“AH—!”

She screamed in terror at the horrifying furry creature crawling across the floor.

Without daring to touch the ground, she immediately fled and jumped straight into the arms of the man playing with the children in the living room, clinging to him like an octopus.

The sunflowers fell to the floor.

Gu Yiyi stared curiously at Xiaotie’s mother plastered tightly against Xiaotie’s father.

“Xiaotie, is your mommy scared of spiders?”

Si Xiaotie hurriedly squatted down and carefully scooped up the spider with both hands before placing it back into the box.

Even though Daddy would comfort Mommy…

She felt like she was doomed.