Zhou Zijian put it very bluntly, causing He Xiaoyu to blush profusely for being exposed. She subconsciously covered her embarrassment with a light cough, “It's alright. Tell me your suggestion!”

Zhou Zijian said sincerely, “Miss, I suggest you not to wait for all the evidence to be gathered before you hand it over to Li Mu. Usually, a slow cut is far more painful and would cause more hopelessness than a quick stab. And at the very last moment, the impact will be strong, causing an irreversible outcome. I’m sure you understand what I mean.”

After a moment of contemplation, He Xiaoyu nodded slowly.

Zhou Zijian continued, “Since you agree with what I said, what we’ll do next requires your help and cooperation. Li Mu will probably confront Lin Wan after he gets the evidence. No matter what the result of the confrontation is, Lin Wan will definitely stay away from Lu Fangliang and his daughter, and our follow-up plan would not be able to proceed.”

“What kind of favor or help do you want to ask me for? I’ll make it clear. I will never get involved in any of your plans. That's my principle!”

“Miss, don't misunderstand. We don't need you to be involved in any way. We just need you to advise Li Mu to be calm and not lose his cool. It won't take long, maybe just a week more, and we’ll be getting the subsequent evidence. He can then proceed to confront Lin Wan at that time.”

He Xiaoyu didn't even think much about it and refused, “I can't help you with this. I will support Li Mu in whatever he does. And I won't interfere with his decisions.”

Zhou Zijian panicked. If He Xiaoyu refuses to help, the plan will definitely be affected. This only piece of evidence was not strong enough to ruin Lin Wan's marriage, and their previous efforts would be ruined too.

“Miss, if you won't help us with this, I have no choice but to stop the plan. I know Lin Wan pretty well. She is very much like a child who likes to play with fire. She tends to act sensible when adults pay attention to her, but tries to play with fire when adults are not looking at her.”

He Xiaoyu was deep in thought and Zhou Zijian struck while the iron was hot.

“Miss, are you really willing to condone this behavior of hers? Do you really want to wait till the very last minute to save Li Mu? I have to warn you, by that time, it would be too late and you won’t be able to save him even if you wanted to.”

He Xiaoyu hesitated for a while before nodding, “Okay, leave this matter to me. I will help you with this! But I have to warn you, you are not allowed to harm her maliciously, such as violence or drugging. You should know what I am talking about.”

Zhou Zijian immediately clarified, “Rest assured, Miss, we will definitely not do shady things like that.”

The next morning, Li Mu was dragged into the meeting room by He Xiaoyu when he had just arrived at the company.

The latter closed the doors and windows and lowered the blinds in front of him.

Li Mu was surprised and asked, “What are you up to again? I've noticed that you're always on the edge lately. Is your menopause coming up?”

“Yes, I'm having an early menopause. And it’s all because I'm worn out of worrying about you!” He Xiaoyu responded with discontent.

Li Mu threw his bag on the conference table and sat down on a chair with a smile, “Grandma Yu, I, as your grandson apologize for being so unfilial. What’s up?”

Without responding to his joke, He Xiaoyu silently switched on the projection system and put a CD into the optical disc compartment.

“Li Mu, you won't blame me for being nosy, will you?” He Xiaoyu asked in a small voice.

Li Mu froze for a moment and said with an unhappy expression, “You're still investigating her?”

He Xiaoyu first nodded, then shook her head, and finally replied honestly, “I always felt that she didn't deserve you. It wasn’t that she’s not good enough, but that the both of you don’t suit each other! I can’t understand a lot of her actions, which would hurt you. I don't want you to be in this mess anymore. I have to bring this to an end before it’s too late.”

“You are indeed very nosy. I’ve told you that I trust my wife. I believe she would never betray me nor our marriage. Give up, will you? Xiaoyu, this is pointless!”

He Xiaoyu shook her head and said softly, “Is walking on a borderline considered as betraying marriage? She may not have the intentions of betraying you. But Li Mu, as the saying goes, if you play with fire you’ll get burned. She might not mean it, but walking on a borderline all the time might cause her to betray your marriage without her knowing it.”

“What borderline? What exactly are you trying to say?” Li Mu asked with a frown.

“You'll understand what I'm saying once you've watched this!”

Without explaining anything further, He Xiaoyu pressed the play button and the video was reflected on the screen. The video shown was filled with warmth, harmony, and happiness, while Li Mu's expressions became more and more sullen.

The duration of the video was very long, probably more than two hours. Li Mu just watched it quietly without a word.

He remained frozen until the end of the video, with his expression slightly distorted.

Li Mu was very clear that there was no falsification in this video, and understood the meaning of the so-called borderline.

He Xiaoyu did not disturb him and sat with him in silence.

After a long time, Li Mu finally spoke up and asked, “When did this happen? Who are these two people? And how are they related to her?”

His voice was dry, and even a little hoarse.

He Xiaoyu sighed and looked at him dearly before explaining slowly, “It happened yesterday. That's the real reason she missed the dinner! The man's name is Lu Fangliang. He’s a widower. The little girl is his daughter and a member of the school choir. Both of them like Lin Wan a lot, and Lu Fangliang is one of her suitors!”

After some time, Li Mu got up and took the disc out. He stuffed it into his bag and turned around to leave the conference room.

He Xiaoyu pulled him back, “Li Mu, where are you going?

“I want her to witness what she did with her own eyes. What a good and virtuous wife and mother she is. She must give me an explanation!” Li Mu roared.

He Xiaoyu forced him to sit down and shouted at him, “Li Mu, does her explanation still matter?”

This single sentence seemed to drain all of Li Mu's energy. He leaned back in his chair in dismay. He held his head in his hands and sighed heavily, his voice full of despair.

“Li Mu, this is meaningless. If you confront her, don’t you think she'll come up with a bunch of excuses to justify herself, and stay sensible for a few days just like how she did before? And then what? She'll still be looking for opportunities to do stuff like that! Li Mu, her personality is as such. Are you going to keep an eye on her for the rest of your life? Don't you feel tired of such a marriage?”

With eyes closed, Li Mu didn't say a word and was in deep thoughts.

He Xiaoyu stood up and cradled his head in her arms, “Li Mu, listen to me, don't confront her. This time, we won't interfere with whatever she does. Let her go wild and let her do whatever she wants to her heart's content! At the very end, we’ll let her regret what she did to you!”

Still staying silent, Li Mu hugged He Xiaoyu tightly for the first time.

Before the afternoon rehearsal, Lin Wan received a call from her husband, who told her that he had just taken on a big project which involved a lot of commission, hence he would be working overtime at the company for the next few days. He also mentioned that he would be eating in the company’s cafeteria, and that she did not have to wait for him to have dinner together in the evening.

Although she sensed that there was something wrong with her husband's voice as he sounded dull and cold, Lin Wan did not think much of it. In fact, she felt a little elated by the news.

That little girl would never let her go and might even ask her to stay. If she always went home late, her husband would definitely be suspicious.

Lin Wan wanted to avoid all possible complications as she’s returning to Nanyang soon. After winning the trophy, she could finally be a stay-at-home wife with nothing else on her mind.

It did not even occur to her that she had fallen into a trap, nor did she even think about the damage her behavior would do to her marriage. Like a Holy Mother, she showered all her love to Lu Fangliang and his daughter. Alas, she forgot that some types of love could not be shared, and this was one of them.

The sort of love to the country, the people around her and the society differed largely to the sort of love to one’s family, partner, and children. As a wife, Lin Wan has indeed crossed the line.

Maybe she had her reasons and difficulties, or maybe it was merely a form of sympathy to someone who had the same fate. But whatever the reason was, this wasn’t a reason for her to cross the line.

The process of maturity requires pain and suffering, and this suffering was something she would surely remember for the rest of her life.

The afternoon rehearsal went smoothly, with Lu Jiaxue not causing any more trouble. The performance went surprisingly well. Mr. Yan who was listening aside applauded vigorously.

With the process going so well, the rehearsal didn't take long. The students left one after another around four o'clock.

Lu Jiaxue didn't leave, and when everyone had gone, she took Lin Wan's hand and begged pitifully, “Mummy, I've never eaten my mother's homecooked food since I was a kid. Can you cook for me today?”

Lin Wan said softly, “Jiaxue, let's eat out, okay? Mummy will treat you to a hearty meal!”

“Mummy, I don't want to eat any hearty meal. I just want to eat the food you cook. Mummy, you’re going abroad soon, and it will be hard for me to see you again. Can you cook for me please? Just this once!”

Lin Wan's went soft hearted again and nodded her head immediately without extra thoughts.

In her opinion, there wasn’t any problem for her to prepare dinner for her goddaughter since her husband was not coming back for dinner.

The place for her to cook was naturally located in Lu Jiaxue’s house. Lin Wan planned to buy cooking ingredients at the market but was told by Lu Jiaxue that everything was already well prepared, and that she could just go and cook.

Being well experienced, she was aware that something sounded wrong. But she didn't think much about it. She thought it was Lu Jiaxue’s arrangement with the intention to experience the care of a mother.

Upon arriving at the Lu House, Lin Wan was surprised to find that the Lu family had transformed a corner of the glass garden into a dining room.

The dining room had an open kitchen inside, and a dining table with chairs on the outside. It was surrounded by a flower pond filled with aromatic flowers, with a small musical fountain built at the middle of the pond. It all looked very elegant.

Lin Wan didn't suspect much as this was someone else’s house. Where they wanted to dine at was their own business. So she as an outsider did not poke her nose into their matters.

After resting for a while, Lin Wan prepared to cook dinner. The large fridge had all kinds of ingredients. After much consideration she decided to make a few specialty dishes of hers so that her goddaughter could taste how good her cooking was.

At first, it was Madam Jiang who helped her. But soon afterwards it was Lu Fangliang who came back and exchanged a few words with Lin Wan took over Madam Jiang’s place and helped her with the cooking. Of course, the little girl kept doing all sorts of mischievous acts that made them laugh.

Outside the glasshouse, several hidden cameras were working tirelessly. The “family’s” lively and sweet proceedings were all recorded down.

When dinner was ready, the “family of three” sat around the dining table. Madam Jiang deliberately dimmed the lights in the glass room and placed a candelabra on the table. When the red candles were lit, it gave off extra cozy and romantic vibes especially under the presence of the music fountain.

With Lu Jiaxue presenting, Lin Wan did not suspect anything and ate together with them. During the meal, the both of them praised Lin Wan’s cooking, which made her delighted in her heart.

The little girl didn't eat much. She got off and ran away in no time, leaving the rest of the meal to Lu Fangliang and Lin Wan. It was like a candlelit dinner for the two of them.

Lu Fangliang was very knowledgeable and showcased all his skills effortlessly. Laughing and joking in front of Lin Wan, he made her laugh and was at ease.

Seeing that it was getting late, Lin Wan got up to bid farewell and, just like before, Lu Fangliang sent her off in a gentlemanly manner without any improper actions.