After Being Deeply Hurt, I Chose Divorce, But He Called Me the Bad Woman

I've been thinking a lot about the symbolism in this section, and the milk keeps coming back to me. It's supposed to be nourishment—something healthy, something caring. A bedtime ritual. But Gu Huai turns it into a vehicle for poison, for control, for violation. That's not accidental writing. The author is using the milk as a symbol for everything toxic in this marriage—things that look like care on the surface but are actually weapons. And then there's the wedding ring. Wei Zhao noticing that Lu Zhenzhu has removed it, and then the detail that HE also took off his ring and threw it away. Two people, both discarding the symbol of their commitments, but for completely different reasons. Hers is out of survival. His is... well, we don't know yet, and that mystery is killing me. The most powerful symbol though is the powder itself. It's colorless, tasteless, invisible. Just like the emotional abuse Lu Zhenzhu has been living with. You can't see it until it's already inside you, and by then it's too late to spit it out. She got lucky this time—she caught him before drinking it. But how many other times has she swallowed things she shouldn't have without even knowing?

Okay so I need to talk about this absolutely unhinged moment where Gu Huai is literally pouring powder into her milk. Like. What. He calls it a 'love potion for married couples' as if that's a normal thing to say when you're trying to drug your wife into having sex with you. This isn't romance, this is a criminal case waiting to happen. The plot has been building this tension for chapters and then BOOM—she catches him red-handed. I literally gasped out loud. And the worst part? He doesn't even deny it. He just sits there like 'it's harmless, drink it.' The audacity. The absolute, unfiltered audacity. But here's what really got me—the pregnancy reveal. Jiang Sesè tailing her to the hospital and then sneaking into the doctor's office to find out how far along she is? That's next-level villain energy. And then her internal monologue about 'the baby absolutely could not be allowed to stay'—chills. Actual chills. The plot is moving so fast and every twist is darker than the last. I also loved the detail about Wei Zhao watching her from his car and noticing she took off her wedding ring. That's a plot thread I didn't see coming at all. Who is this guy and why does he matter? The author is planting seeds everywhere and I am HERE for it.

This section of the novel is a masterclass in escalating tension. Let me walk through why I literally stayed up until 3 AM reading this. It starts with the confrontation—Gu Huai accusing HER of cheating. That's a great opening hook because it immediately flips the power dynamic. Then it moves to the drugging scene, which is the emotional peak of this section. And then—without letting the reader catch their breath—it pivots to the pregnancy reveal and Jiang Sesè's villain plan. Three major plot developments in what feels like a few chapters, and each one hits harder than the last. The pacing between scenes is also really smart. After the intense bedroom confrontation, we get a quieter moment where Lu Zhenzhu is crying on the sofa, and then Gu Huai's reaction—storming out but then ordering Aunt Zhang to prepare another glass of milk. That detail alone is so chilling. He's not remorseful, he's just making sure his plan continues. The chapter ending with Jiang Sesè learning about the pregnancy and deciding the baby must go—that's a perfect cliffhanger. I immediately opened the next chapter. The author knows exactly how to keep you hooked and I respect it so much.

Let me just say this upfront: the conflict in these chapters is MASTERCLASS level. Every scene raises the stakes, and by the end I was genuinely invested in what happens next. Start with the restaurant scene. The external conflict is obvious—Jiang Sesè vs. Lu Zhenzhu, the other woman vs. the wife. But the author layers it so smartly. It's not just these two women; it's the entire friend group watching, judging, waiting. "Those who were close to Jiang Sesè openly scrutinized Lu Zhenzhu, their eyes flickering between the two women as if making silent comparisons." The social stakes are huge—everyone has an opinion, everyone's taking sides, and Lu Zhenzhu has to navigate this minefield while pretending she doesn't care. Then there's the internal conflict, and this is where it gets really good. Jiang Sesè is torn between her love for Gu Huai and her ambition. She genuinely believes he loves her—"A-Huai loved her, cared for her"—but she's also willing to use a pregnancy as a weapon. That cognitive dissonance is delicious. She's not a cartoon villain; she's a complex woman who thinks she's the hero of her own story. Gu Huai's internal conflict is tragic. He thinks he's being reasonable—"I have a wife who will bear my children. You'll marry someone else someday"—but he's actually being cruel. He's trapped between his sense of duty and his history with Jiang Sesè, and his attempt to be fair actually makes everything worse. The stakes escalate beautifully. First it's just social awkwardness at dinner. Then Jiang Sesè reveals her pregnancy. Then Gu Huai demands she "get rid of the child." Then she plays the health card—"losing this baby could cause serious damage." Now the stakes are life and death, fertility and future. The conflict has moved from "who gets the man" to "who controls the narrative of motherhood." And Chen Hang! He's the wildcard. His offer to Lu Zhenzhu—"A-Huai will abandon you sooner or later—why not leave him first and come to me?"—introduces a whole new conflict vector. Now there's a potential alliance, a betrayal within the betrayal, a question of whether Lu Zhenzhu will stay passive or fight back. The suspense maintenance is excellent too. We know Jiang Sesè is pregnant, but does Gu Huai? Does Lu Zhenzhu? The author drips out information slowly—Jiang Sesè's nausea, the hospital visit, the alley confession—keeping us guessing about who knows what and when they'll find out. By the end of these chapters, the conflict has escalated from a messy love triangle to a full-blown war with pregnancy as the weapon, divorce as the battlefield, and everyone's future hanging in the balance. I need to know what happens next.

There's this one scene that I cannot stop thinking about. Lu Zhenzhu peering through the bedroom door crack and seeing Gu Huai humming a cheerful tune while pouring powder into her milk. The contrast between his casual humming and the absolutely sinister act he's committing—it's like something out of a psychological thriller. The author describes it so simply: 'He hummed a cheerful tune as he worked.' That's it. That one detail does so much work. It shows how normalized this violence is for him. He's not tense, he's not guilty, he's just... doing it. Like making breakfast. And then there's the hospital scene. Jiang Sesè waiting outside the OB-GYN office, watching Lu Zhenzhu come out, then slipping inside like a ghost to steal medical information. The cold calculation of it. The way the author captures that moment of Jiang Sesè's expression darkening when she learns about the pregnancy—it's cinematic. I could see this as a film. The dinner party scene that's teased at the end also sounds like it's going to be devastating. The title alone—'The Dinner Party Where Everyone Mocked Her'—tells me this is going to be a public humiliation scene, and honestly, after everything we've seen, I'm not sure I can handle it. But I'll read it. I have to.

I need everyone to understand that Jiang Sesè is not your typical jealous mistress character. She's strategic. She's patient. She spent HALF A MONTH trying to get Gu Huai to divorce Lu Zhenzhu and when that didn't work, she came up with a plan to FRAME her for cheating. Let me repeat that. She literally suggested Lu Zhenzhu find a man, pretend to have an affair, so Jiang Sesè could 'catch' them and use the media to destroy her reputation. This woman is a monster. And the way she delivers this plan—so casually, like she's suggesting a recipe for soup—made my blood boil. But what's fascinating is Lu Zhenzhu's reaction. She doesn't just say no. She turns it around and says 'why don't YOU get engaged and see if Gu Huai crashes your wedding?' That's not just rejection, that's a power move. Lu Zhenzhu is waking up in real time and it's beautiful to watch. And Gu Huai—ugh. The scene where he asks for permission to visit Jiang Sesè like it's some kind of marital negotiation? 'If you don't want me to go, I'll send my assistant instead.' This man is gaslighting on a whole different level. He's not even pretending to respect her anymore and he knows it. The dynamic between these three is absolutely poisonous and I can't look away.