Smack!
The crisp sound of a slap echoed through the air.
"The house is all we have left, and you want to gamble it away? Are you even human?"
The searing pain on his face snapped Xiao Ming back to reality, and as he recognized the woman before him, a tightness gripped his chest, and his breath halted.
It was his wife!
His wife, who had died twenty years ago, was standing before him, alive and well.
Was this a dream?
Xiao Ming looked around, feeling as though he was outside the company where his wife worked.
Recalling the gunshot from half a minute ago made his blood surge, his eyes turned bloodshot, and his heart began to beat violently, uncontrollably.
This wasn't a dream!
I have been reborn!
I've really returned to twenty years ago!
This realization overwhelmed Xiao Ming with a mix of heartache and excitement. Tears filled his eyes as he shakily extended his hand, "Xue'er, I... I've missed you so much!"
For a full twenty years, day and night.
Jiang Xue was momentarily dazed by the memory of a gentle husband, but her expression quickly turned cold again. She turned her head to avoid the palm that was about to touch her cheek.
"Don't touch me, I find it disgusting!"
Xiao Ming's body stiffened as the memories of the subsequent twenty years flooded in like a tide, clear and detailed as if on film.
On this day, he had once again lost all his money and wanted to mortgage the house to win back his losses, but he couldn't find the property deed, so he came to Jiang Xue's company to demand it. After failing, he said many extremely nasty and hurtful things.
His wife, heartbroken and furious, slapped him hard and then called the security to have him thrown out.
That very night, Jiang Xue was trapped in a scheme while entertaining a client. To protect her honor, she jumped from a tall building, ending two lives with one fall!
Xiao Ming could never forget the mangled sight of his wife in the morgue or the heart-wrenching pain he felt when he learned that she had been pregnant for over a month.
If it weren't for his drinking and gambling, incurring a mountain of debt, would his wife, a designer by profession, have needed to overwork herself and entertain clients on top of that?
In the twenty years that followed, even after he had taken his revenge and, despite his many romantic encounters, even as he stood at the peak of the world, he couldn't prevent the agony of regret from gnawing at his heart in the quiet of the night.
To hell with it!
Real or dream, now that I've returned to twenty years ago, I absolutely cannot let any regrets happen again.
My Xue'er must stay alive!
My wife must stand by my side and share in the glory that the future holds for us!
With newfound determination, Xiao Ming took a deep breath and bent over to Jiang Xue.
"Xue'er, I'm sorry! The me from before was a damn bastard. You've tolerated me for so long, and you've been wronged."
Jiang Xue froze, then her gaze grew even more disgusted, as if she had found a cockroach in her meal.
"Xiao Ming, if you think self-deprecation will make me tell you where the property deed is, then save it. It just makes you more repulsive to me!"
Xiao Ming gave a bitter smile.
Having done too many terrible things, the knots of prolonged sadness and resentment were not things that could be undone with a few apologetic words.
"I'll say sorry one more time. Whether you believe me or not, I swear to you, I will never gamble again!
I will work hard to earn money and give you a better life.
I want to make you happy and use the rest of my life to make up for the hurt and regret I've caused you."
Xiao Ming's tone was earnest and resolute, but Jiang Xue's reaction was disdainful.
"This is just laughable," she said with a scornful shake of her head.
"In these two years, the number of promises and vows you've made... I can't even count them all on my fingers and toes. Have you ever kept one?
Promises are like farts to you, and you expect me to believe you again? Just how stupid do you think I am?
Right, I was indeed stupid, otherwise I wouldn't have married you against my parents' wishes in the first place!"
The outcome was as expected, and Xiao Ming felt an extreme bitterness in his heart.
"I know anything I say now you won't believe, but that's okay. I'll prove it to you with my actions."
Jiang Xue was already impatient, checking the time on her phone, she pulled out her wallet and extracted a few bills.
"I only have a thousand on me, here's six hundred. Just go away, I don't want to see you here again."
Even knowing that her husband was a compulsive gambler, she was still willing to give him most of her cash. Clearly, Jiang Xue's heartbreak was rooted in disappointment and anger, not in a lack of love.
This realization filled Xiao Ming with joy, and he grabbed his wife's arm, stuffing five hundred yuan back into her hand.
"One bill is enough. I'll go to the market this afternoon. What do you want to eat? Tonight I'll make you…"
"When will you stop? What exactly do you want?"
Jiang Xue's eyes brimmed with tears in agitation. "I have a meeting to attend soon. Please, I'm begging you, stop bothering me, okay?"
Xiao Ming's heart ached as he watched, powerless, and said directly, "Can you not entertain clients tonight?"
Jiang Xue was taken aback. She wanted to ask him how he knew, but then she gave up and responded coldly, "That's part of my job, and it's none of your business."
"Then can you not drink alcohol?"
Jiang Xue's face grew even icier: "I'll say it again, that's my job, you..."
"You are pregnant; you can't drink alcohol."
Jiang Xue's eyes opened wide as she staggered back half a step, "What… what did you say?"
Xiao Ming's tone grew gentler, "Your period didn't come last month, and lately you've been feeling tired and low on energy, right?"
Jiang Xue began to panic, stubbornly retorting, "Ever since you turned into a bastard, when have I not been tired?"
"If you don't believe me, you can go to the hospital to get checked during your lunch break, or I can go buy you a pregnancy test right now."
"Mind your own business! I don't want to see you right now, and I don't want to talk to you!"
Upset, Jiang Xue shouted loudly and turned to run back into the company quickly.
Xiao Ming sighed.
Trust, once collapsed, cannot be restored with soft words alone; he needed to find another way to stop his wife from entertaining clients.
After a moment of furrowed contemplation, an idea flashed across Xiao Ming's mind, and he entered the company, saying to the receptionist, "My name is Xiao Ming; I need to see your president."