C3 Is It so Hard to Put Her in the Address Book

Chapter Three: Was it so hard to put her in his contact list?

There were still twenty days left for her father's sentencing. If she did not raise more money in these twenty days, her father would come out of prison old, haggard, and with a head full of white hair.

Investor...

Thinking about what Mr. Ji had said, Lu Yao bit her lip. She took out her phone and opened her contact list. Sliding down, she looked for the number that she had memorized by heart.

Initially, she had put Shao Yunchen's number under the name 'Husband'. She had purposely added a symbol before it so that his name appeared at the very top of the contact list.

However, she could count the number of times Shao Yunchen had texted her in the past three years on one hand. At some point, she had changed 'Husband' to 'Shao Yunchen'. She had promised herself that she would never bother him on the phone unless it was regarding something important.

Lu Yao dialed the number and threw the cigarette into the toilet. She walked out to quickly rinse her mouth at the sink.

She needed to fix the hoarseness that she felt in her throat after smoking. The last thing she wanted was for Shao Yunchen to figure out that she was back to her old habit, when he heard her on the call. He would be utterly disgusted.

"Hello, who is this?"

Her call was answered rather quickly. What made Lu Yao suck in a sharp breath was that it was a woman's voice on the other end of the line. From the way the woman had asked the question, it sounded like she was all too familiar with receiving such phone calls.

When Lu Yao did not reply, the woman asked again, "Hello?"

It took Lu Yao some time to gather her wits. When she finally opened her mouth to say something, her voice was low and hard to hear. "I want to talk to Shao Yunchen. Is he around?"

"Chen is in a meeting," the woman said the name casually, as if she held authority. "May I know your name, please? It looks like Chen doesn't have your number…"

Lu Yao hung up as soon as she heard that, without waiting for the woman to finish what she was saying. Her hands were trembling. When she heard a sharp noise, she realized that her phone had fallen from her hands. Hurriedly, she squatted to pick it up from the floor.

Her reflection stared back at her from the shattered screen, and she realized that she was crying. Tears blurred her vision. She looked forlorn, like someone who had been abandoned completely. Could she be in a more sorry state?

She had been married to Shao Yunchen for three whole years. Others would consider them an old couple by now, but he had never even saved her number.

Was it so hard to put her in his contact list?

And that woman…

Lu Yao shivered again as she remembered the voice of the woman on the phone call.

Shao Yunchen had always been cold and remote with her. At times, Lu Yao had suspected that he might be involved with other women. However, even though their marriage was a farce, the two of them had signed a contract that had strict terms. They were still legally married.

In the end, Lu Yao had always brushed aside any suspicions regarding Shao Yunchen. But after today's phone call when she heard that woman's casual moniker for him, she was not so sure anymore...

The crack in her heart that had been hidden for so long began to widen.

Lu Yao neither cared that it was Sunday today, nor that Shao Yunchen would likely come home.

She got off work at 5: 30 p.m., on time. On the way home, she stopped by the supermarket to buy some fresh fruits and vegetables.

Once home, Lu Yao went to the kitchen to cook. Her culinary skills had always been great. She had learned how to cook from her mother. Initially, she had made all sorts of dishes for Shao Yunchen when they got married. However, Shao Yunchen only came home once a week as per the agreement.

As the days had passed, Lu Yao could not be bothered to cook anymore. If Shao Yunchen came back on the weekend, they cooked. When he was not around, she ordered takeout. She cooked only occasionally now, and only when she was in the mood to.

Loud music played from her phone in the living room, so naturally Lu Yao, who was busy in the kitchen, did not hear the door open.

"Ah!"

Lu Yao cursed as she looked at her finger, which was now covered in blood. She had accidentally cut herself while snipping the gills on the fish.

However, before she could react, someone approached her from behind and took her injured hand in his own. He rinsed it under the faucet quickly. The heat from his palm made Lu Yao's heart miss a beat.

Except his lips, her husband's body was always warm.

"When you buy fish, don't you ask them to clean and prep it first?" Wiping her finger with a paper napkin, Shao Yunchen put a band-aid on it that he found upon rummaging through one of the drawers. His actions looked gentle, but his expression was steely.

"I forgot to ask them," Lu Yao murmured softly. "I was in a rush."