The wealthy military officer spoils his wife excessively

Money, beautiful women, and poison: these are the sources of happiness that appear out of nowhere.

This place has a long history. In 1989, a group of "new Russians" suddenly appeared, carrying large amounts of cash and looking for the fun they had been trapped in for so long, but without free status and unable to travel freely between East and West. This place came into being and was named "Petersburg" to make guests feel "at home": like all the plants here, it absorbed the first sum of money and then grew strong.

After the government stabilized and made initial progress, the visitors here were no longer just Russians. Merchants and travelers from afar, seeking pleasure as soon as they landed, became a new and more important source of customers. Of course, there were also yellow-skinned Chinese from the East.

So when the waiters saw them, they spoke fluent Chinese, which Suwen found unsurprising.

Of course, these special services are only available to a select group of people; individual travelers like them have no chance to experience those thrilling activities.

Suwen was already preoccupied and listless. After losing more than a dozen rounds of roulette, she lost all her chips. After that, she could only watch others play helplessly. She wasn't particularly interested in gambling, but anyone would feel resentful after losing more than ten rounds in a row.

Seeing that she was extremely bored, Lu Zheng took out his chips and gently scratched her small, pouty lips, saying, "I'll win it back for you, so don't pout anymore."

The *Suwen* was skeptical.

When it was Lu Zheng's turn to bet on big or small, he indeed won repeatedly, his luck was on fire.

Suwen whispered in his ear, "Is there a secret?"

Lu Zheng turned his head and smiled at her: "There's no secret, it's just a matter of probability."

"You're so annoying." She gave him a reproachful look. Was he subtly mocking her for being bad at math?

Lu Zheng never bet much, but he never lost. Soon, this young man who had won dozens of rounds in a row became the focus of everyone's attention at the table.

Lu Zheng pulled Su Wen away, but Su Wen was confused.

He lowered his voice and said, "Don't win too much, or you'll attract too much attention."

But Suwen was just watching him play and wanted to try her hand too, so she flattered him, saying, "Just one last round, go all in, if I lose it all, I'll just go home, wash up, and go to sleep."

Lu Zheng had no choice but to let her go all in.

Suwen looked at him questioningly, and he pointed to "small" with his chin. So Suwen pushed all her chips to "small". Those with foresight had already followed suit and placed all their chips on this side, waiting for another miracle to happen.

The roulette wheel has drawn a result—Small!

Su Wen was speechless, staring wide-eyed back at Lu Zheng. He patted her head, his eyes seeming to say: Now you can go home, right?

A large stack of chips was pushed in front of her. She looked at the colorful pile of chips in disbelief and turned to ask him, "How much is this?"

Lu Zheng did a rough calculation: "...one million Thai baht."

Suwen's mouth gaped open in astonishment. In just a short while, they'd earned 200,000 RMB?

I didn't feel it while we were playing, but now I felt guilty. I tugged at his hand and said, "Let's quickly exchange the chips and leave."

Lu Zheng had this intention, but when he arrived at the place where he was exchanging chips, he was stopped by a waiter.

"You two are on a winning streak, why don't you stop playing?"

Suwen curled her lip, "Who doesn't know you want to keep us here and then give back the money you won?"

Lu Zheng smiled politely: "I'm sorry, my wife is tired, that's enough for today."

"You two have come all this way, you'll regret it if you don't experience our local specialties, won't you?" The other party bowed and respectfully handed over an invitation. "A wonderful performance awaits you on the third floor. Of course, if you are not interested, you can leave now, but the chip exchange process will take a little time."

It's obvious they're not going to release him.

Lu Zheng took the invitation, glanced at it, exchanged a look with Su Wen, and said, "Then I'll trouble you to lead the way."

The waiter led them down the corridor. The elevator pressed the third floor button, but stopped on the second floor first. An Arab man stepped up; he had a beard and wore a white headscarf. Perhaps he had won money, for his face was flushed with excitement, but he was also completely drunk and unsteady on his feet, thankfully with someone beside him. Suwen glanced at him, then looked again. It was a familiar face—a Korean actress, as beautiful as she was in dramas, holding the Arab man's arm and serving him attentively.

Suwen turned her head away, and Lu Zheng held her hand.

Once on the third floor, the two disappeared into the darkness, seemingly off somewhere to make merry.

Suwen saw only a scene of debauchery and debauchery amidst the alluring Indian music. Almost naked women and men smiled behind glass windows, their skin tones varied, yet all were young and beautiful. Suddenly, a bright light flashed in the middle of the dance floor, and in the center, a South Asian woman in leather whipped a black man, blood and flesh flying everywhere.

Suwen staggered back a few steps, her stomach churning, almost vomiting, when she heard cheers from the dark room as huge sums of money were thrown onto the dance floor as encouragement.

A strangely shaped, androgynous figure swayed as he approached Su Wen and Lu Zheng, holding a velvet box. He opened it to reveal thin, purple syringes inside: "Would you two like to try this new medicine? No side effects, and the effects are excellent. It lasts all night."

Suwen's eyes were fixed on the alluring purple liquid. Suddenly, her body stiffened and straightened. Lu Zheng immediately pulled her into his arms, pressed her head down to prevent her from turning around, and said in a fierce tone, "Get away, take it away, we don't need it!"

Suwen turned and left, with Lu Zheng following behind.

She walked quickly, her whole body trembling uncontrollably.

All the scars that had been deliberately hidden and buried in the shadows were exposed at this moment, the festering sores were shocking, and even she herself could not bear to look at them.

What she saw today reminded her of the hellish days when Tang imprisoned her.

Having finally escaped from "Petersburg," Suwen tried to calm herself in the cool night breeze, but her stomach was so nauseous that it hurt. She bent over and dry heaved, while Lu Zheng gently patted her back from behind.

She turned to look at him, her gaze filled with resentment: "What are you trying to hide with this injection today? Don't tell me it's all fake, that I'm just dreaming! Because you clearly recognize that stuff!"

"Are you blaming me, Susu?" he asked her quietly, placing his hand on her back, where warmth gradually spread.

The anger that had been spurting out suddenly found no outlet, because she felt she had misjudged him; there was sadness on Lu Zheng's face.

She lowered her head, feeling confused herself: "I just don't understand why you would weave such a huge lie to deceive me..."

"I'm sorry, Susu, I shouldn't have lied to you. You don't know what you were like after the surgery. You were so weak it was frightening. It took you seven whole days to wake up. When you did wake up, your soul was gone. You were often so confused that you couldn't recognize me, and you kept having nightmares. It's all my fault. I didn't take good care of you, which is why you had to go through all this. I don't know what else I can do to make up for it. I naively thought I could erase this painful memory that caused you so much pain..."

“Susu, didn’t you enjoy our time in Pattaya? I loved it. I loved eating your burnt cookies, listening to you play your new, off-key tunes, taking walks on the beach with you after dinner, pushing you on the swings to feel the breeze, and sharing my innermost thoughts with you.” He took her hand and placed it on his heart. “Here, I feel so peaceful. If life could be like this forever, it wouldn’t be so bad.”

"Susu, can't we just forget what happened in the past? Whether you hurt me or I hurt you, let it all go."

She was speechless, but she couldn't stop trembling.

He brushed a strand of hair from her forehead and pulled her into his arms: "If you're angry, I can apologize. These days, I've been craving your warmth, yet I've also been filled with unease, afraid that one day you'll discover the truth and leave me. If this is how you're supposed to punish me for deceiving you, it's enough. Susu, please don't leave me, okay?"

Of course she knew that he had gone to great lengths, weaving such a huge lie, just to keep her. Simply because he loved her!

She suddenly grabbed his clothes with both hands, staring intently into his eyes: "But, do you know? We have a daughter, her name is Lu Nianyun, she is our daughter..."

Lu Zheng grasped her hand, his eyes glistening with tears she wasn't sure if they were real. His voice was filled with apology: "I'm sorry, I promised you we'd leave this world alive as a family of three. I broke my promise. Believe me, I've done everything I could to find the child, but given the circumstances, such a young child was most likely..."

"Waaah..." Suwen buried her face in his chest and sobbed.

She refused to believe that the tiny life, the child she hadn't even had a chance to see, had vanished from this world.

No mother wants to abandon her child.

On the day she left Thailand, she picked a bunch of frangipani flowers, wove them into a small wreath, piled up a small mound of earth in the yard where she lived, and placed the wreath on it.

Lu Zheng and she knelt together in front of the mound of earth and prayed devoutly.

If there is a divine intervention, please bless this poor child.

At the end of March, Beijing was still chilly.

Lu Zheng, who had just stepped out of the conference room, saw Assistant Xu with a bitter face, holding a connected phone in his hand.

Lu Zheng understood, took the receiver, and nodded, signaling him to leave.

Lu Wenyi's voice came through the phone: "Why are you in a meeting again? What time is it? Don't forget to take Susu to the hospital for her checkup."

"Okay, Auntie. You can just let Feng Zhan know about this. You don't need to call me personally every time, do you?"