After dinner, Xiao Rui and I went home.

Gu Ming stood at the door waiting for me.

The dim lights in the hallway shone on his gloomy face, seemingly containing a hint of anger, ready to explode at any moment.

"Where did you go?"

I paid no attention to him, opened the door, poured myself a glass of water, and prepared to go back to the bedroom.

Gu Ming snatched my cup of water and threw it into the sink.

"I'm asking you, where did you go?"

At this moment, there was more than one restrained individual in the house.

I slapped him hysterically.

"Are you sick? Playing hero for your first love, feeling uncomfortable, and looking for attention by coming to me."

Gu Ming pinched my chin, the tremendous force making my bones ache.

"Did you go to see Xiao Rui?"

"Yes." A hint of a bloody taste emerged in my mouth. "I went to see him because I like him."

Gu Ming raised his fist and paused for a second in front of my eyes before punching the wall behind him.

Then, without a word, he kissed me, his hand on my lower back rendering me motionless.

I bit hard into his lower lip, a hint of the taste of blood spreading into my mouth.

Finally, he let go of me, panting heavily with red eyes.

"Even if you like someone else, I will not divorce you. I will just stick to you and disgust you for a lifetime."

I looked at the blood on his knuckles and lips and suddenly burst into laughter.

"Fine, Gu Ming, do as you wish."

"Because I don't care."

Our commotion drew the attention of the neighbors, and someone called the police.

The police arrived, and some nosy neighbors gathered at the door.

Many of them had seen Xiao Rui come to see me.

"It's her! She not only has a husband but also a boyfriend!"

"Her husband is so handsome, and she's still looking for a boyfriend outside?"

"Hey, you haven't seen her boyfriend, even more handsome."

The police tried to persuade Gu Ming at the door.

"Brother, she is having an affair. You have to have some self-respect and get divorced quickly."

Xiao Rui, like a deer, emerged from the crowd at the door.

"Officer, she is not having an affair. Please don't get it wrong."

Xiao Rui's appearance undoubtedly intensified the atmosphere of the gossipers.

"Look, look, this is her boyfriend."

"No wonder she's having an affair. If I were in his place, I'd also have an affair."

"She's not bad looking, why wouldn't someone want to have both of them?”

"Just two pencils."

Gu Ming had always been a person who cared about his reputation. Being surrounded by so many people watching the show, he turned bright red.

"Yu Shi Shi, you want to divorce me to be with him, dream on."

The police handed him the car keys: "Alright, go back quickly, brother."

After Gu Ming and the police left, the neighbors also intended to disperse.

Xiao Rui suddenly took out a tablet from his backpack.

"My relationship with Shi Shi is just that of friends. I am pursuing her, but she hasn't agreed yet."

He shifted gears and opened the photo gallery on the tablet.

"But some people are different, still having a wife, and so eagerly helping their ex raise a daughter."

The video being played on the tablet was a photo of Gu Ming and Wen Yi picking up fruit together after school and sharing cotton candy in the amusement park with Guo Guo.

In the final frame, Gu Ming was holding Guo Guo with one hand and holding Wen Yi with the other.

The neighbors who were about to leave all crowded back again.

"Tsk tsk, they look so proper, but are secretly acting as someone's stand-in."

"I think this kid might be theirs. Otherwise, which man would raise another person's child?"

"They're like this, but still hanging on and not divorcing. Have they no shame?"

Seeing the neighbors scolding me, I poured a glass of water for everyone.

"As the saying goes, better a neighbor nearby than a relative far away. If you hadn't called the police in time today, I wouldn't have known what my husband might have turned me into."

I sniffled, wiped my eyes, and continued, "If I hadn't been naive back then and blinded by love, how could I have married him."

The tattooed brother upstairs couldn't take it anymore.

"Damn it, I despise people who hit women the most."

"If he comes again and says anything in the group, I'll come down with a weapon."

Other neighbors also said they would help me teach the scum a lesson.

Hearing their words, I cried even more violently, and everyone looked at me with sympathy as they left.

After hesitating at the door for a moment, Xiao Rui also left with everyone else.

As soon as he left the corridor, I received a WeChat message.

【Stop crying, hug.】

Are all college students so foolish?

They can't even tell that I'm pretending.

I took a shower, prepared to turn off my phone and go to sleep, then saw a new red dot in WeChat, someone wanted to add me.

The username was "Safe and Sound".

The profile picture was a middle-aged woman in a cheongsam.

I zoomed in on the profile picture and found that she was Mrs. Li who lived across from me.

Safe and Sound: 【Xiao Rui is a good boy, be nice to him.】

Xiao Rui? Was Mrs. Li referring to Xiao Rui?

Me: 【Auntie, is there something you want to tell me?】

Safe and Sound: 【Xiao Rui is afraid you, a girl living alone, are not safe, so he sent me a lot of supplements and asked me to take care of you.】

Below the text, there was a picture. I clicked on it and saw Mrs. Li's chat history with Xiao Rui.

Xiao Rui: "Auntie, I am Yu Shi Shi's boyfriend, and she lives across from you."

Xiao Rui: "She lives alone and is careless. I hope you can take care of her."

Xiao Rui: "If she's not home very late or if any strange men come looking for her, I hope you can let me know."

At the bottom of the image was a record of a transfer of two thousand yuan.

When I saw the screenshots of their conversation, I was completely dumbfounded.

This feeling was like when I had found those three love letters in his pencil case years ago.

The cicadas buzzed outside the window.

The fervent emotions of youth reached my heart through a picture.

It made me feel itchy and a little sour.

At first, I had only treated Xiao Rui as another substitute.

But now I really wanted to hug him, hug the person named Xiao Rui.