Chapter One: Half a Year from Death

My wife's beloved died, both kidneys failed, no match could be found, and he passed away the very year she loved him most—the same year my wife and I married.

"Your kidney matches his, so why did you refuse to donate one to him?"

"Why? It was Pei Zhixing who died, not you!"

After our marriage, my wife often roared at me.

But she didn't know—I really was about to die!

...

The night in Tianhai was thick and heavy. In the villa, the room was littered with cheap cigarette ashes and butts, so much so that even my nicotine-stained fingers gave off a pungent tobacco odor. After finishing the last cigarette, I gazed at the wall before me. In my trembling hand, the hospital diagnosis of advanced gastric cancer slipped and fell to the floor.

I have stomach cancer. In three months, I will be dead.

I laughed helplessly—not with anger at fate, nor with fear of death, but with an unbearable bitterness.

"If only I'd known, I should have given him my last kidney!"

A shrill ringtone pierced the silence. It wasn't my wife, Xu Zhixia, but her secretary, Xiao Zhu.

"Brother Jiang, 236 Nanhang Road, Miss is drunk and we can't persuade her. Please come and take her home!"

"All right, I'll be there soon!"

I hung up, swept up the ashes, grabbed my coat, and walked out as I had done so many times before.

Familiar, because such things had happened countless times these years.

After our wedding, aside from pouring her heart into the company, Xu Zhixia often drowned herself in drink.

It wasn't long before I rushed to the bar. After greeting Xiao Zhu, I made my way to the private lounge where Xu Zhixia was.

But as I reached the door, I didn't go in. I stopped.

The door was ajar. Inside, Xu Zhixia, fueled by alcohol, was discussing herself with a group of male models.

"Jiang Jian—marrying him was only to torture him, to make his life a living hell."

"Frankly, he's not even as good as a dog I keep. If you want a dog to wag its tail at you, you have to feed it well. Jiang Jian comes when called, leaves when dismissed, and you don't even have to feed him. He's far more pathetic than a dog!"

Her words grew increasingly venomous.

It meant she wasn't joking.

Five years of marriage, and I was nothing but Xu Zhixia's dog—no, less than a dog, a wretched thing to be critiqued by a crowd of male models.

A surge of emotion seized me, and my stomach cramped violently.

I leaned hard against the wall outside the lounge, slowly crouching down to ease the pain.

Yet what hurt more than my body was my shattered heart.

I had adored Xu Zhixia for eighteen years—thirteen in youthful longing, five sharing her bed. In the end, it was nothing but a joke.

Such cheap, degrading love—Xu Zhixia didn't want it, and perhaps neither did I anymore.

Maybe I made too much noise against the door, because soon a few stylish male models strolled out.

I looked up, meeting their eyes.

"Jiang Jian?"

"Boss Xu, your dog is here!"

Because Xu Zhixia often drank herself senseless at this bar, these men were no strangers to Jiang Jian.

Seeing me, they immediately began to mock and jeer.

I glared at them, suppressing the pain in my gut, pushed past, and entered the lounge.

Inside, Xu Zhixia wore a black dress. Her figure was curvaceous, her skin pale as moonlight, her face untouched by the passage of time—a child favored by the heavens.

Tonight, her cheeks were flushed from drink, and with the bar's music, she was irresistible, enough to drive any man mad.

But when she saw me, her face was filled with nothing but disgust.

"Heard it?"

"Calling you pathetic—do you object?"

Xu Zhixia taunted me.

She knew I loved her, loved her with madness, and so she was fearless. Watching me break down had become her pleasure.

But now, and forever after, that would never happen again.

I didn't answer, only looked calmly into her eyes. "You're drunk. Let's go home."

"Home? Without Zhixing, is it even a home?"

"It's just a place I lodge in."

Pei Zhixing—always Pei Zhixing.

For years, his name had clung to me like a nightmare, choking me every time.

Yet tonight, I felt no anger—only a calmness, perhaps because I was truly tired, or perhaps because I was dying and none of this mattered anymore.

I looked at Xu Zhixia and spoke again, quietly, "Let's go home."

I only wanted to fulfill Xiao Zhu's request; nothing else mattered.

"Commanding me?"

"On what grounds? You're nothing but my dog, a filthy plaything."

"Go home for what? To look at your pitiful self?"

"Get out."

"Don't make me repeat myself."

Xu Zhixia was clearly impatient now, driving me out as if I were a stray.

Next came bursts of laughter from the male models.

Xu Zhixia wore a triumphant look—every time Jiang Jian was humiliated, it was a comfort for the departed Pei Zhixing.

I didn't want to deal with this woman anymore. I had done my duty; if she refused to leave, begging further would be pointless. I turned and left.

"Boss Xu, your husband is so obedient!"

"But if you humiliate him so much, won't he get angry? Even a rabbit bites when pushed."

A male model egged her on.

"A spineless worm. I only told him to get out—didn't make him lick my feet. That's already generous."

"Does he even deserve to bite?"

"Come, let's keep playing!"

With that, Xu Zhixia continued to entertain the male models.

"Boss Xu, let's try a new game—it's called 'The Green Hat.'"

"There are five of us. You're the leading lady. The rest are plumber, decorator, teacher, delivery man, and gym coach."

"We shuffle the cards, add extra jokers. Whoever draws a joker wears the green hat."

"If Boss Xu draws a joker, she has to give each of us a kiss!"

A model suggested.

"And if someone else draws the joker?"

"Then, except for the green hat, Boss Xu kisses everyone else!"

"Giggle—sounds fun, very fun!"

Xu Zhixia, eager to retaliate against me, agreed at once.

But as the model prepared the cards, a chill suddenly swept through.

He turned sharply, only to find me standing behind him.

"You like playing the green hat? I'll let you play!"

I swung my fist and punched him right in the face.