Your Highness, your wife doesn't want you anymore!

The next morning, Grandma Liu Xinlan accompanied Nan Zhi to her prenatal yoga class, carrying steadily the pink thermos that Jin Si Nian had specially prepared.

As soon as the two entered the yoga studio, several pregnant women in the class looked up at them simultaneously.

Seeing that the man who usually stayed by Nan Zhi's side was not here today, someone took the initiative to strike up a conversation: "Didn't your man come with you today?"

Having attended classes together for so long, everyone knows that among the pregnant women, Nan Zhi's husband is the one who comes the most frequently, accompanying her almost every time.

The partners of the other people came once or twice at most, and most of them never showed up at all.

Nan Zhi was taken aback; this was the first time these people had taken the initiative to speak to her.

Jin Si Nian usually stood by, his aura cold and aloof, and others were too embarrassed to approach him.

She clutched the hem of her yoga clothes and stammered, "He... he went out on business and was a bit busy."

Several women nodded knowingly, their tone tinged with a numb sigh: "Men are all the same, the novelty wears off after a couple of times, and then they're too lazy to keep up."

They figured that Nan Zhi's man wouldn't come to accompany her to class anymore.

The woman sitting on the far side, seven months pregnant, sighed, her eyes filled with grievance and bitterness: "At least I can still accompany you a few times. My husband is even worse. He cheated on me several times during my pregnancy."

"His first two pregnancies were both daughters. If this one isn't a boy, he's afraid he'll divorce me."

A pregnant woman five months along next to her also teared up, and before she could say two words, she couldn't help but shed tears: "Mine is about the same."

"After she got pregnant, it was inconvenient to have sex. He couldn't stand the loneliness. At first, he just chatted with the female anchor online. Later, he went further and further out of line, spending 300,000 yuan on tips. Yesterday, he even invited the anchor out for barbecue."

"When I confronted him, he blamed me instead..."

Suppressed sobs echoed in the quiet classroom, and the others chimed in, each harboring their own grievances—some complaining about their husbands' online flings, others about them going out for entertainment in private.

Their gazes fell on Nan Zhi, the youngest of the group, who was only five months pregnant, and they asked with concern, "Is this your first child?"

Nan Zhi nodded gently.

"Then you'd better keep a close eye on her. The period when a woman is pregnant is when men are most likely to cheat on her."

Everyone around her echoed her agreement, each recounting their own husbands' outrageous behavior.

Nan Zhi stood quietly in place, stunned by what she heard, her mind a jumble of thoughts.

She never imagined that so many pregnant women had to face this kind of thing. In just a few casual words, it felt like she had heard a bunch of upsetting stories she had never encountered before.

The pregnant women's grievances and complaints kept swirling in Nan Zhi's mind, and her heart began to pound uncontrollably as she silently pondered Jin Si Nian.

He's away on a business trip alone, with no one around to look after him. Will he also be unable to bear the loneliness like those other men?

As soon as her yoga class ended and she walked out of the classroom with her grandmother, her phone started buzzing with messages from Jin Si Nian.

[Child, what moves did you learn today?]

Is it the same as before?

If you teach me any new moves, please teach me too, so I can learn them as well.

Otherwise, I won't be able to keep up with you next time I accompany you to class.

The words on the screen were full of tenderness and concern, but Nan Zhi stared at them for a long time, her fingertip hovering over the input box, but ultimately she didn't reply.

Liu Xinlan, who was carrying a water bottle, glanced at the lit-up phone screen and asked in confusion, "Why aren't you replying to his messages?"

Nan Zhi raised her hand and turned off the screen, replying in a low voice, "I'll... I'll reply later."

All the way home, she still didn't open her phone to reply with a single word.

Meanwhile, in the guesthouse, Jin Si Nian waited in vain for a reply. The panic in his heart gradually rose, and he couldn't wait to dial her number again and again.

The phone rang repeatedly in the bedroom. Nan Zhi simply hugged the soft pillow in her arms, sat quietly on the edge of the bed, neither answering nor hanging up, letting the ringing stop automatically, pretending that she hadn't heard it at all.

On the other side of the screen, Jin Si Nian paced back and forth, a half-smoked cigarette between his fingers, muttering a frustrated curse under his breath.

"Damn it, why aren't you answering the phone?"

He thought that Zhizhi had kissed him on the day they parted, and that she must still care about him. So why was she not replying to his messages or ignoring his calls after only one day apart?

He couldn't contain himself and pulled out his contacts to dial Liu Xinlan's number.

The old-fashioned cell phone rang slowly, and Liu Xinlan hesitated for a while before answering. Immediately, Jin Si Nian's anxious voice came through the receiver: "Grandma, what is Zhi Zhi doing right now?"

Why aren't you replying to my messages or answering my calls?

"She went back to her room upstairs a long time ago. She clearly said on the way that she would reply to your message later." Liu Xinlan looked up at the stairwell.

Jin Si Nian's brows furrowed deeply, his unease growing stronger: "She hasn't made a sound at all. Grandma, could you please come upstairs and see what she's doing?"

Liu Xinlan responded and quietly went upstairs. She opened the door a crack and peeked inside. She saw Nan Zhi sitting alone on the edge of the bed, hugging a pillow. Her phone was quietly placed aside, untouched.

She answered the phone truthfully: "She didn't do anything else, she didn't play on her phone, she just sat quietly on the edge of the bed in a daze."

Upon hearing his grandmother's reply, Jin Si Nian's face instantly darkened.

She'd rather sit there staring blankly with a pillow in her arms than touch her phone, and she just wouldn't reply to a single message or answer a phone call from him.

"Grandma, hand the phone to Zhizhi."

Liu Xinlan went upstairs as instructed and handed the phone she was on to Nan Zhi.

Nan Zhi glanced at the screen, then quickly lowered her gaze again, refusing to give any response.

The voice coming from the receiver, barely suppressing its anxiety and barely holding back its temper, was Jin Si Nian's: "Zhi Zhi, you're listening, aren't you?"

"Why aren't you replying to my messages? And why are you deliberately ignoring my calls?"

"Child, speak."

Nan Zhi bit her lower lip tightly, clutching the pillow in her arms even tighter, without saying a word.

Jin Si Nian sighed softly from a distance, his tone softening as he tentatively asked, "Has something happened?"

"What gossip did anyone say to you on the street?"

"Still having some unpleasant experiences?"

"Did someone say bad things about me to you? Zhizhi, tell me."

No matter how many questions he asked, there was still silence on the other end.

Nan Zhi buried her face in the soft pillow, deliberately blocking out his voice.

Jin Si Nian tried to coax and explain for a long time, but received no response. He felt anxious and frustrated, and a bitter feeling mixed with grievance welled up inside him.

He was far away and couldn't keep her company at all. Zhizhi would never be cold to him for no reason; she must have something on her mind.

Someone must have gone to Zhizhi and gossiped about her!

who is it?

Pei Jingzhi...

Nan Zhi deliberately kept quiet about it, keeping it all to himself and letting his mind wander. He had no idea what was going on.

The prolonged one-way conversation had exhausted his remaining patience. Jin Si Nian's voice deepened, carrying a hint of helpless resolve: "I'll go back as soon as I finish what I'm doing here. Please stop ignoring me like this."

Seeing that the other side remained silent, he had no other choice but to utter a harsh remark tinged with helplessness: "You're just going to keep quiet like this until I get back."

"Just wait and see how I deal with you."