Fu Bainian came back at noon. Upon seeing him, tears welled up in Lan Jinyao’s eyes as she pounced on him. The wire of the landline in the living room was pulled along by her sudden movement, and the receiver dropped to the floor. The call, however, was disconnected long ago.

“What’s wrong?” Fu Bainian hugged her and asked with a heartbroken look in his eyes.

*He was only away for a few hours, three hours to be exact, and she’d become like ...