章 72: Chapter 72

Author's POV:

The sprawling Song family dining room was a minefield of tension thick enough to choke on. Chen Xinyi kept her eyes downcast, focused on the polished mahogany of the table before her. She couldn't bear to look up and face the smug, triumphant radiance of that insufferable Hui Ling seated at the head of the table like some usurping queen holding court. 

Worse was the sight of her beloved husband - the man who had once doted on Chen Xinyi's every whim - attentively pulling out Hui Ling's chair and fussing over her like an adoring supplicant. As if the past twenty years of their solid marriage had meant absolutely nothing.

The humiliation and heartbreak still throbbed fresh and raw within Chen Xinyi's breast from the previous night's anguish. She had cried herself into a fitful slumber in the cold, unfamiliar guest room Bo had so clinically reassigned her to after inviting his mistress to take up residence in their marital bed.