Love in the Midst of Mistaken Identities

“What else can we do other than moving out?”

Mr. Li raised his hand with the intention of slapping his wife again. She had thoroughly embarrassed him. He wasn’t stupid. Now that he thought about it, Chu Lui must have planned the entrapment and let them fall in themselves. No wonder he wasn’t in a rush for them to move out. He was waiting for them to do it on their own.

He was vicious, truly vicious.

Mr. Li was so terrified that he broke out in cold sweat. This time, he took the rumors that had been circulating within the business industry seriously. Chu Lui was not one to be trifled with. One wouldn’t be able to bear the consequences if it happened. It would be easier to resolve if it was anyone else, but not Chu Lui. He would chew that person up and then spit out the bones clean. He was unscrupulous, and he would resort to anything.

“Are we really leaving?” Mrs. Li was very unwilling to leave as she carried her suitcase. Where would they stay if they leave? While they stayed here, they had the maid take care of everything including their meals. They could afford to throw the leftovers away. Where would they call home now?

“You don’t want to leave? Do you want your photos to leak everywhere?” Mr. Li looked down at his wife. “Who will want to see that wrinkled body of yours? Do you seriously think that people will appreciate that? I guess with your old age, you can afford to let yourself go through that. Don’t you?”

At the mention of her photographs, she shut her mouth; and she didn’t say anything further.

Just like that, the Li family moved out of Chu Lui’s little villa that very same night. They rented an apartment which would be sufficient for them for the time being. However, they didn’t have much money to utilize. They had withdrawn their money in advance without anyone’s knowledge. If not for their foresight, they would be roaming on the streets now. In the past, they had Chu Lui. He had provided them with a house and paid for their meals. Now, they had to do everything themselves. Renting the apartment itself had cost them a huge chunk of their money, and they had to set aside some for their meals as well as daily expenses.

Li Manni had always enjoyed the life of being a rich girl. She hadn’t had a tough day after she married Chu Lui. She had everything she wanted.

The whole Li family was unhappy with the newly rented apartment. The bathroom was small and so were the bedrooms. The wallpaper was peeling away. There was also a weird stench inside. However, with the money they had at the moment, this was what they could afford. The whole family barely slept on the first night. They were busy cursing and complaining about each other. All of which were targeted at Li Manni.

Li Manni put up with her parents’ blame. She stared out the window in dazed and disbelief at her current predicament.

No. it wasn’t possible. She didn’t believe it. There was a fifty-percent chance that the baby was Chu Lui’s. He set a trap for her just like how he did to Xia Ruoxin because he wanted to divorce her. He wanted to ruin her like how he did to Xia Ruoxin. He wanted to ruin her reputation and for her to leave to another country all because he wanted to be with that wretched woman again.

Yes. That must be it. It was definitely that.

She stood up and dug out a ton of things from the drawer. She took out her countless bottles of cosmetics and started to apply them on her face as she looked into the dimly lit mirror.

She didn’t stop until the haggard face was completely covered by the colors of her cosmetics. However, it didn’t manage to hide the grief between her eyebrows.

Knock, knock...

She knocked on the door. It was a Saturday. She knew Chu Lui would be here today. It was his routine to come to his parents’ place during the weekends.

“Who is it?” Song Wan came out of the kitchen in time to open the door. When she saw who was standing outside, she tried to close the door.

“Mom.” Li Manni called out. Her throat was dry and hoarse.

“I’m not your mother!” Song Wan spat at her coldly about to close the door. However, Li Manni forced herself through forcefully by using her body. As much as Song Wan hated her, she wouldn’t cause harm to Li Manni. Moreover, that woman was pregnant.

Li Manni went in uninvited. The already-unpleasant atmosphere in the house became worse.

Cough. “Cousin-in-law, come. Sit.”

Du Jingtang quickly shifted himself to make space for her, but he felt something was wrong. His auntie wasn’t very happy at his cousin-in-law. That showed that he was in the dark about many other things.

“Thank you.” Li Manni sat down, but she felt uncomfortable the moment her buttocks touched the sofa. It felt as though the surface of the sofa was made of needles that were pricking her. She could neither sit, stand, nor wait in peace.

At the moment, no one was talking in the living room.

“I’ll call my cousin down.” Du Jingtang ran up the stairs to get Chu Lui. His hand went to his other elbow. The atmosphere felt weird, and so were his feelings. Even the people downstairs were behaving strangely.

“Brother.” He knocked. “Your wife is here.”

The door opened with a creak. Du Jingtang suddenly shuddered as Chu Lui came out.

Had something happened? Perhaps, it was worse than he had imagined.

“Bro, wait for me.” He followed quickly. It wasn’t because he wanted to see what was happening, but he could feel that Chu Lui was not in a good mood. He was worried that his cousin might do something out of anger. He wanted to be there to pacify him.

His cousin-in-law was pregnant. She wouldn’t be able to take his beating. Moreover, Du Jingtang was a grown man so he would be able to take a few blows.

“What are you doing here?” Chu Lui went downstairs with his hands inside his pockets. No one knew how tightly his hands had clenched into two balls of fists until it was hurting him. If he didn’t do that, there was no guarantee that he wouldn’t beat someone up.

Li Manni stood up and put a smile on her face. In the end, she looked worse than when she was crying.

“I wish to speak to you.”

“There is nothing for us to talk about.” Chu Lui outright rejected her. He didn’t give her a chance.

“Chu Lui!” Li Manni shouted his name. This time, she laughed. It was for herself and the four years she had spent on him.

“Do you feel that it is not enough for one Xia Ruoxin? That’s why you wanted to create another one?”

Cold sweat broke out on Du Jingtang’s forehead. Gosh, why was she mentioning that woman’s name and rubbing her own nose in it? She mustn’t. Not in front of Chu Lui. Was she tired of living?

Chu Lui took his hands out of his pockets. He headed straight for Li Manni and looked down condescendingly at her. “Tell me. Why are you comparing yourself with her? No matter what she did, she didn’t make me a cuckold by bearing another man’s child.”

Standing so close to him suddenly brought a sense of unexplainable danger to Li Manni. Instinctively, she cowered. Then, she looked at Chu Lui who had blocked the light from her face. She realized there was a deep loathing in his eyes. The chord in her heart snapped in that instant.