Okay, so at this point, my emotions were totally out of control, but for some reason, I still couldn't bring myself to blow up at my wife.
No matter what, I always went along with her, never dared to cross her.
"So, when are you coming home?" I asked her again.
"In about half an hour!" Her voice sounded completely normal, like nothing was different.
That made me even more suspicious.
Because if she really was running on the track, she wouldn't have stopped panting so suddenly.
In that instant, my heart felt like it was being ripped apart. It was a pain I can't even describe.
Clearly, I couldn't just accept this.
I hung up the phone and without another word, jumped in my car and drove straight to her school.
Maybe she sensed something was wrong because my phone kept ringing off the hook on the way there.
But I didn't answer any of them. I needed to know the truth.
Ten minutes later, I was at the gates of her school.
I didn't care about anything else at that moment. I hopped out of the car and ran inside.
Most of the students had already left for the day, so the school entrance was pretty deserted.
I rushed into the school and out to the track, but it was completely empty.
In that split second, this feeling of utter despair washed over me.
She really did lie to me. Could Gu Xiaofei have been telling the truth?
I just stood there, staring at the huge empty track, chain-smoking.
The sky was getting darker, and night quickly fell around me.
I stood there for a full hour, my eyes glued to the school track, until the distant view completely disappeared into the darkness.
I was completely numb, didn't want to say a single word.
Then, my phone suddenly started buzzing like crazy. I knew it was my wife calling.
She'd probably gotten home by now. I wondered what she thought when she saw the table full of food.
My mind was just blank. I didn't want to answer, didn't feel like it.
If she could do this to me, why couldn't I do the same to her?
I put out my cigarette, got in my car, and drove to Gu Xiaofei's place.
No matter what, I was going to spend the night at her house.
I wanted her to know how much betrayal hurts the other person in a marriage.
When Gu Xiaofei opened the door and saw me standing there, she looked surprised.
"Zhao Jian, what are you doing back here?" she asked.
"I missed you," I said, "so I came."
I went inside, sat on the sofa, and stared at her. "Tell me," I said, "was my wife's lover that bastard Zhang Zhiyuan?"
Gu Xiaofei gave a mysterious smile. "Of course it was. Your wife's probably with him right now."
That hit me right where it hurt. I gritted my teeth. "Zhang Zhiyuan," I said, "I'm going to make you pay."
Gu Xiaofei said, "Didn't Zhang Zhiyuan already give you your revenge? He gave you a beautiful woman like me."
She looked at me with those big, watery eyes. It was really tempting.
If I didn't go for it now, I wouldn't be a man.
I lunged at her, pinning her down on the sofa.
This beautiful woman was now at my mercy.
I kissed her passionately, trying to send her a clear message.
But then, Gu Xiaofei suddenly started struggling, like she was resisting me.
At first, I thought she was just being shy, but that wasn't it at all.
She seemed like she genuinely didn't want me to.
I stopped what I was doing and asked her, "Why?"
Gu Xiaofei took the chance to break free. She stood up, straightened her clothes, and said, "Zhao Jian, what I want is your heart, the complete you."
Damn, this woman had some serious ambition.
I knew Gu Xiaofei wasn't just any woman. She wouldn't be easy to control.
The desire that had just flared up inside me was instantly extinguished.
Just then, my phone started ringing again.
Before I could even react, Gu Xiaofei snatched my phone out of my pocket and answered it.
My face went pale. I had no idea what she was doing.
At least up until now, Gu Xiaofei and I hadn't actually done anything.
You can never figure out what a woman's thinking. At least, I couldn't understand why she was doing this.
After answering, Gu Xiaofei spoke first. "Hello, Ms. Lu!"
Maybe my wife recognized it was a woman's voice because she went silent for a moment.
Then, she finally asked, "Who is this?"
"My name is Gu Xiaofei, Zhang Zhiyuan's little mistress."
To my surprise, Gu Xiaofei just came right out with it.
Suddenly, I had this feeling that Gu Xiaofei was trying to prove something to me.
Maybe what she told me during the day was actually true.
"How did you get my husband's phone?" my wife asked next.
"He's here with me, so naturally his phone is here," Gu Xiaofei replied calmly.
"Tell him to come home right now."
To my surprise, my wife still sounded very calm.
That just didn't make sense.
"Okay, I'll tell him to go back right away. But before that, I have a few questions for you."
Suddenly, Gu Xiaofei's tone turned very unfriendly.
I could sense the tension in the air. Gu Xiaofei clearly hated my wife.
At that moment, I started to believe that maybe Gu Xiaofei was telling the truth.
"Ask away!" my wife said, still sounding calm.
"I'll only ask you one thing in front of your husband: what exactly is your relationship with Zhang Zhiyuan?"
Hearing Gu Xiaofei ask that, I suddenly felt really nervous, scared that there really was something going on between my wife and the boss.
"We're friends," my wife said suddenly.
We'd been married for over a year, and my wife had never mentioned knowing Zhang Zhiyuan. Now she was saying they were friends? Something definitely wasn't right.
Gu Xiaofei started to laugh coldly. "Don't think I don't know. You're just Zhang Zhiyuan's kept woman."
Gu Xiaofei was saying such harsh things. She clearly hated my wife, which made me think that what Gu Xiaofei was saying was probably true.
"Gu Xiaofei," my wife said, "out of respect for Mr. Zhang, I've been polite. But don't push it. I have a perfectly innocent relationship with Mr. Zhang. You're making things up, so I hope you have some proof."
The phone was on speaker, so I could hear everything they were saying. That was the strongest thing I'd ever heard my wife say.
I wanted to see what kind of evidence Gu Xiaofei could come up with.
I thought Gu Xiaofei must have had some basis for what she was saying, but then she suddenly went quiet.
That was enough to show that Gu Xiaofei probably didn't have any real proof.
In that situation, I wanted to believe my wife. People always want to believe the best.
My wife spoke again. "Where's Zhao Jian? Let me talk to him."
Gu Xiaofei tossed the phone back to me.
"Honey, please come home quickly. I was actually planning to explain everything to you today."
I just gave a soft "Mmm-hmm" and hung up.
As I walked out of Gu Xiaofei's house, she gave me a cold look, like she was saying, "See how you deal with this."
On the way home, my emotions were all over the place, my head a complete mess.
I finally got home, and my wife was still sitting on the sofa. The table full of food hadn't been touched.
What was supposed to be a symbol of our love now felt like a mockery. It was ridiculous.
My wife glared at me, looking like a real tigress.
"Tell me," she said, "why were you at Gu Xiaofei's?"
The way she said that made me even more curious. How did she know Gu Xiaofei?
There was only one possibility: she knew Zhang Zhiyuan, and he must have mentioned her.
I thought for a moment and said, "I got off work early today and called you. You said you were jogging on the track, so I went to look for you. But there wasn't a soul there."
My wife is a smart woman. She understood instantly that I was suspicious.
Suspicion is the last thing a marriage can handle. I wondered if this was the beginning of the end for us.
Maybe this was the real test of our marriage.