“What do you mean?”

Gu Dienshuan’s voice became cold.

I looked at him.

Then at Fang Nian hiding behind his shoulder.

For three years, every object in this house had slowly stopped belonging to me.

My sofa became her place for shopping bags.

My refrigerator became storage for her favorite fruit.

My dressing room became her second wardrobe.

Even the fingerprint slots on my front door had become hers.

So I smiled.

“Exactly what I said.”

I walked back into the bedroom.

Behind me, Gu Dienshuan called impatiently:

“Du Wan.”

I didn’t turn around.

“Don’t start another argument over a dress.”

I closed the door.

Then I looked at the pregnancy report hidden inside my handbag.

Six weeks pregnant.

That morning, before coming home, I had imagined putting the report into a gift box.

I had imagined Gu Dienshuan staring at it in disbelief.

Perhaps hugging me.

Perhaps laughing.

Perhaps becoming, for one moment, the man I had married.

Instead, I folded the report carefully and placed it inside my suitcase.

This child would no longer be the reason I stayed.

It would be the reason I left.

The following morning, Gu Dienshuan went to work.

Fang Nian left shortly afterward for a beauty appointment.

At nine thirty, the real estate agent arrived with two attorneys.

He looked around the villa and lowered his voice.

“Mrs. Du, we already have a buyer.”

“So quickly?”

“This is Shangri-La District. Properties here almost never enter the market.”

He handed me the offer.

The number was higher than I expected.

The villa had been purchased by my father before my marriage and transferred entirely into my name.

Gu Dienshuan had never paid a cent toward it.

He simply moved in after our wedding.

Over time, even I had begun calling it our house.

That had been another mistake.

I signed.

“When can ownership transfer?”

“If we accelerate the process, forty-eight hours.”

“Do it.”

He hesitated.

“Does Mr. Gu know?”

“No.”

The agent looked uncomfortable.

I smiled.

“He didn’t ask me before giving away access to my home.”

That afternoon, I went to my bank.

I closed the supplementary cards connected to my accounts.

Then I removed Gu Dienshuan as an authorized user on two investment portfolios.

Finally, I visited my attorney.

I placed our marriage certificate on his desk.

“I want a divorce.”

He studied my face.

“Have you made your decision?”

“Yes.”

“Property?”

“Separate.”

“Children?”

My fingers tightened.

I paused.

Then I said:

“I’m pregnant.”

His eyes lifted immediately.

“Does your husband know?”

“No.”

“And you don’t intend to tell him yet.”

It wasn’t a question.

I looked through the window.

“I spent three years watching him protect another woman from every inconvenience.”

My voice became quieter.

“I need to know that when I protect my child, I’m not also protecting the man who made our home unbearable.”

My attorney nodded.

“We’ll follow the law carefully.”

That mattered to me.

I didn’t want revenge that could later hurt my child.

I wanted separation.

Clean.

Legal.

Permanent.

That night, Gu Dienshuan returned carrying several shopping bags.

Fang Nian ran toward him.

“You actually found it!”

She pulled out a pale blue designer coat and hugged it against her chest.

Gu Dienshuan smiled.

“You said you wanted it.”

I sat at the dining table drinking water.

He glanced at me.

Then seemed to remember something.

“Oh. Your bird’s nest.”

He gestured toward another bag.

“I had my assistant buy some.”

I opened it.

Wrong brand.

Wrong grade.

Wrong origin.

Not even close to what Fang Nian had eaten.

Three years ago, I might have explained the difference.

That evening I simply said:

“Thank you.”

Gu Dienshuan looked pleased.

Fang Nian smiled.

“You see, sister-in-law? Dienshuan cares about you too.”

I almost laughed.

Too.

What an appropriate word.

The next morning, the buyer transferred the deposit.

One day remaining.

I packed only what I wanted.

Documents.

Jewelry my parents had given me.

Several pieces of art inherited from my grandmother.

My clothes.

The ultrasound appointment information.

Everything else could stay.

That afternoon Fang Nian entered my bedroom without knocking.

She saw the suitcases.

Her expression flickered.

“Are you traveling?”

“Yes.”

“Where?”

“Away.”

She studied me.

Then suddenly smiled.

“Are you angry about the fingerprint thing?”

“No.”

“Dienshuan said you get emotional sometimes, but you always calm down.”

I zipped the suitcase.

“He knows me very well.”

Something about my tone made her uncomfortable.

She leaned against the doorway.

“Sister-in-law, you shouldn’t misunderstand us.”

I looked at her.

“Misunderstand what?”

“Dienshuan and me.”

Her lips curved slightly.

“We’ve known each other since childhood. He naturally takes care of me more.”

“I know.”

“He told me before that if I hadn’t gone abroad…”

She stopped.

A carefully designed unfinished sentence.

For years, Fang Nian had mastered this game.

Never enough to be accused.

Always enough to hurt.

But that day, I only nodded.

“If you hadn’t gone abroad, perhaps he would have married you.”

She blinked.

Apparently she had expected anger.

I smiled.

“What a pity.”

Then I walked past her.

That evening, the villa officially changed owners.

The buyer was a wealthy couple returning from overseas.

Their attorney requested possession the following morning.

I agreed.

At seven that night, I left.

Before walking through the door, I stopped.

The fingerprint panel glowed beside me.

Three years of marriage.

Three years of compromise.

And I had finally been reduced to carrying a metal key to enter a property that belonged entirely to me.

I took the key from my bag.

Placed it on the entrance table.

Then left.

At nine the next morning, the locks were changed.

At nine thirty, my phone began ringing.

Gu Dienshuan.

I let it ring.

Again.

Again.

Again.

Then a message appeared.

“DU WAN, WHAT DID YOU DO TO THE DOOR?”

Another.

“WHY IS THERE A STRANGER INSIDE OUR HOUSE?”

Then Fang Nian:

“Sister-in-law, where are you? Dienshuan is furious. Please come back quickly.”

I was sitting in my parents’ old lakeside apartment eating breakfast.

For once, the room temperature was exactly what I wanted.

I poured myself another glass of milk.

My phone rang again.

This time I answered.

Gu Dienshuan exploded immediately.

“Where are you?”

“Having breakfast.”

“Did you change the locks?”

“No.”

“The new owner did.”

Silence.

“What new owner?”

I buttered my toast.

“The people who bought the villa.”

For several seconds, I heard nothing.

Then:

“You sold the house?”

“Yes.”

“You sold our house without telling me?”

I almost admired the outrage.

“It was never our house.”

His breathing became heavy.

“That villa is where we live!”

“It was property my father bought before our marriage.”

“Du Wan, have you lost your mind?”

“No.”

I looked at the divorce papers beside me.

“I think I finally found it.”

Behind him I heard Fang Nian complaining:

“Dienshuan, my things are still inside!”

I smiled.

Of course.

Her first concern.

Her clothes.

Her bags.

Her peaches.

Not my disappearance.

Gu Dienshuan lowered his voice.

“Come back. We’ll discuss this.”

“There’s nothing to discuss.”

“What exactly are you trying to achieve?”

“I’m not trying to achieve anything.”

I turned one page of the divorce agreement.

“I sold my property.”

“And where are we supposed to live?”

There it was.

We.

Him.

And Fang Nian.

I said gently:

“Perhaps Fang Nian’s renovation is finally finished.”

He went silent.

I ended the call.

Two hours later, he found me.

Apparently my mother’s former driver had told him where the apartment was.

He stormed inside looking furious.

Fang Nian followed him wearing sunglasses and clutching two handbags.

“Du Wan!”

I was seated across from my lawyer.

Gu Dienshuan stopped when he saw the documents.

“What is this?”

I pushed the papers toward him.

“Divorce.”

His expression changed.

For the first time since Fang Nian returned three years earlier, she stopped smiling.

Gu Dienshuan stared at me.

“Because of a fingerprint?”

“No.”

“A dress?”

“No.”

“The bird’s nest?”

I almost felt sorry for him.

He truly believed our marriage had collapsed because of objects.

I shook my head.

“It’s because every small thing showed me the same large truth.”

He frowned.

“What truth?”

“That whenever Fang Nian wants something, I’m expected to give way.”

I counted calmly.

“My temperature.”

“My refrigerator.”

“My dressing room.”

“My food.”

“My clothes.”

“My home.”

Then I looked at him.

“And finally, my place beside my husband.”

Fang Nian immediately began crying.

“Sister-in-law, you misunderstand—”

“Please stop calling me that.”

She froze.

I looked at her.

“After today, you won’t have a brother-in-law through me.”

Gu Dienshuan slammed his hand on the table.

“Enough!”

My lawyer stood.

“Mr. Gu, please control yourself.”

Gu Dienshuan ignored him.

He stared at me.

“You’re seriously divorcing me?”

“Yes.”

“Du Wan, marriages are not games!”

I laughed softly.

“That’s the first sensible thing you’ve said.”

His face stiffened.

Then his eyes landed on the medical envelope beside my handbag.

Before I could stop him, he picked it up.

The pregnancy report slid onto the table.

Everything went silent.

Gu Dienshuan stared at it.

His face drained of color.

“Pregnant?”

Fang Nian’s crying stopped.

He looked at me.

“You’re pregnant?”

“Yes.”

His entire expression transformed.

Anger disappeared.

He crossed the distance between us.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

I stepped backward.

His hand stopped in midair.

“You came home that day carrying this?”

“Yes.”

“The day with the fingerprint?”

“Yes.”

His lips parted.

I could almost see him remembering.

Me standing outside.

Him arranging Fang Nian’s Hermès bag.

Telling me to carry a key.

Telling me to heat her leftovers.

Calling me spoiled.

Defending her after she cut my dress.

For the first time, shame appeared on his face.

“Du Wan…”

Fang Nian suddenly grabbed his sleeve.

“Dienshuan, don’t get too emotional. She’s pregnant; maybe that’s why she’s been sensitive lately.”

I looked at her.

And something extraordinary happened.

Gu Dienshuan pulled his arm away.

“Nian Nian.”

She froze.

“Go outside.”

Her face turned white.

“But—”

“Outside.”

It was probably the first boundary he had ever drawn with her.

Three years too late.

Fang Nian looked at me with naked hatred before walking out.

Gu Dienshuan turned back.

“We’re not divorcing.”

“Yes, we are.”

“We’re having a child.”

“I’m having a child.”

“I’m the father.”

“And you’ll have the rights and responsibilities the law gives you.”

His voice became desperate.

“I can change.”

I believed he meant it in that moment.

That was the tragedy.

If I had shown him the pregnancy report before everything broke, perhaps he really would have changed.

For a month.

Maybe a year.

Until Fang Nian became sick again.

Until she cried.

Until she needed something.

Then I would once again be told to understand.

So I shook my head.

“Our baby should not have to save our marriage.”

Gu Dienshuan looked shattered.

The divorce took four months.

He resisted at first.

Then stopped.

Fang Nian moved out within a week of the villa sale.

Her renovated house, supposedly unfinished for three years, was suddenly ready after eleven days.

That told me everything I needed to know.

She had never lacked somewhere to live.

She simply preferred mine.

Gu Dienshuan eventually admitted he had known her house was nearly finished months earlier.

He had let her stay because she said she felt lonely.

I didn’t argue.

There was nothing left to argue about.

Seven months later, I gave birth to a daughter.

Gu Dienshuan came to the hospital.

He stood beside the crib for almost twenty minutes without speaking.

Then he cried.

Quietly.

He became a surprisingly responsible father.

Not my husband.

Never again my husband.

But a father who showed up when promised.

Perhaps losing everything finally taught him that love was not unlimited permission.

As for Fang Nian, I saw her once more.

At a charity dinner almost two years later.

She approached me wearing an elegant dress.

“Sister-in-law—”

Then she caught herself.

“Du Wan.”

I smiled.

She looked uncomfortable.

“Dienshuan and I never got together.”

“I know.”

Her eyes widened.

“You know?”

“He told me.”

She looked down.

Apparently, after our divorce, she had expected him to finally choose her.

Instead, Gu Dienshuan moved into a small apartment near our daughter and spent most of his free time learning how to be a father.

Fang Nian whispered:

“Do you hate me?”

I thought about it.

“No.”

That seemed to hurt her more.

“Why?”

“Because you could only take what he was willing to give you.”

I lifted my glass.

“And what belonged entirely to me…”

I smiled.

“…I sold.”

Then I walked away.

That night, when I returned home, my daughter was asleep in my mother’s arms.

I carried her upstairs.

Before entering the bedroom, I pressed my thumb to the fingerprint lock.

A soft sound followed.

Unlocked.

I stood there for a moment.

Then I laughed.

Once, another woman’s fingerprints had made me realize I no longer had a place in my own home.

Now the door opened only for the people I chose.

And that was when I finally understood:

Selling the villa had never been about punishing Gu Dienshuan.

It was simply the first thing I did after remembering that my life, like that house, had belonged to me all along.