SBCEJM -Chapter 21 Shock! She Kept Her Widowhood for Ten Years — But Her “Dead” Husband Was Never Dead at All!

【Host! That husband of hers — the missing man she worshipped like a god, the white moonlight she stayed widowed for ten whole years over…】

The system deliberately dragged out its words, building suspense to the extreme before finally proclaiming dramatically:

【He never died at all! Not only is he alive, but that cliff-fall ten years ago was a scam he personally orchestrated to fake his death and escape Madam Qi!】

【What the hell?!】Feng Zexuan’s mind exploded into chaos.

【Escape his wife?】

【He had a rich, beautiful woman hopelessly devoted to him, and his brain still got kicked by a donkey?】

【Quick! What happened? Spill it already!】

Inside, Feng Zexuan was like a melon-eating raccoon bouncing wildly through a watermelon patch, dying from curiosity.

【Well… it’s a long story.】The system deliberately stalled.

【No rush. This Linglong Pavilion has three floors — plenty of time for you to talk.】

Grinding her teeth, Feng Zexuan pushed the wheelchair forward, her fingers tapping excitedly against the cool pearwood armrest.

Her attention had long drifted away from the dazzling jewelry displays. Every ounce of her focus was fixed on the explosive gossip bomb about to detonate in her head.

At that very moment, Qi Yanran — who had been about to step forward to greet them — suddenly swayed violently.

She stumbled, nearly crashing into a jade coral display taller than a person.

What… had she just heard?

Her husband… wasn’t dead?

That cliff accident that had shattered her heart and torn apart her soul… had actually been… a lie?

No!

The thought had barely surfaced before she crushed it down with all her strength.

She refused to believe that the man who had once sworn lifelong devotion to her would use such a cruel method against her.

But Zhang Lizhu’s vicious words — “He ran off with some vixen outside” — echoed in her ears like a curse attached to her bones.

Qi Yanran’s face turned deathly pale.

Her fingernails dug deeply into her palms, the pain barely dragging her back from the edge of losing control.

Lowering her gaze, she pretended to smooth nonexistent wrinkles from her sleeve while secretly concentrating every ounce of attention on listening.

Soon, she realized she wasn’t the only one.

The noblewomen who had originally intended to leave now seemed frozen in place by an invisible spell.

Not only had they stayed, but one after another, they subtly and eerily edged closer toward the Feng siblings.

Some pretended to admire paintings on the walls. Others gathered in pairs to browse jewelry.

But every single ear was stretched toward Feng Zexuan.

These seasoned veterans of the capital’s social circles had just witnessed Zhang Lizhu’s humiliating downfall with their own eyes. Now that they were “hearing” such shocking secrets, how could they possibly walk away?

What was even stranger was that although they exchanged glances and opened their mouths repeatedly, not a single word could come out.

It was as though some invisible force warned them:

The secrets of heaven may be heard… but never spoken aloud.

Thus, Feng Zexuan and the system’s “Inner Thoughts Lecture Hall” officially began.

【Ten years ago, after failing the imperial examinations for the fifth time, Qi Yanran’s husband, Xiao Lin, completely broke down mentally.】

【He felt like a total failure and could no longer face his dazzling wife, who shone like the blazing sun itself. So he went alone to Duanhun Cliff outside the city, intending to end his life.】

【And then?】

【After standing on the cliff freezing in the wind for half the day… he chickened out!】

Feng Zexuan clicked her tongue internally.

【Classic fragile-ego phoenix man behavior! His wife was too outstanding, so his pathetic male pride couldn’t handle it?】

In the wheelchair, Feng Zekai frowned slightly. Hearing his sister’s sharp analysis left him feeling conflicted.

Ridiculous… yet somehow tragic.

【Pretty much.】

The system continued its explanation.

【Back then, Xiao Lin was a poor scholar with no parents, though he had an attractive face. Qi Yanran’s father was a wealthy merchant and couldn’t bear to marry off his only daughter, so he wanted a live-in son-in-law instead.】

【At the time, Xiao Lin had run out of travel money and was about to end up homeless. Then he saw how breathtakingly beautiful Qi Yanran was. The two hit it off immediately, and he happily married into the Qi family.】

【Weren’t they happy afterward?】

【Quite the opposite. After marriage, they were deeply in love and perfectly harmonious. They even had three sons and a daughter together. Their life was so enviable that their handkerchief friend Zhang Lizhu became twisted with jealousy.】

【Then how did things end up like this?】Feng Zexuan asked in confusion.

【Because of the gap between them!】

The system’s youthful voice carried a trace of melancholy.

【After taking over the family business, Qi Yanran revealed astonishing talent in commerce. Her business flourished more and more until, within just a few years, she became the richest woman in the capital. She grew increasingly confident, radiant, and dazzling.】

【Meanwhile, Xiao Lin kept failing the examinations over and over. Each defeat crushed his confidence further until nothing remained.】

【One stood in the clouds. The other wallowed in the mud. That kind of disparity is enough to destroy a man’s entire spirit.】

【So after failing to jump off the cliff, he suddenly came up with a brilliant idea — staging a fake death to escape! And unbelievably, he actually pulled it off!】

By this point, Qi Yanran already believed seventy to eighty percent of it.

Ten years.

More than three thousand six hundred lonely nights.

She had remained faithful for him, raised their children alone, and carried the entire family on her shoulders…

So this was the truth.

It wasn’t that he didn’t love her…

It was that he no longer dared to?

No!

That was no excuse!

That was the cowardice of a weak man!

The overwhelming fury of being deceived and abandoned — mixed with the absurdity and grief born from ten years of devotion and waiting — instantly shattered the last remnants of her reason.

At that moment, all her boundless love transformed into icy hatred coated in deadly poison.

【Then… where did he run off to?】Feng Zexuan asked the question everyone desperately wanted answered.

Qi Yanran held her breath so tightly it hurt.

That question hung over her heart like a blade.

The noblewomen around them could no longer contain themselves and began communicating frantically through eye contact and lip movements.

One woman in a sapphire-blue jacket mouthed softly:

“Overseas?”

Another looked disdainful and silently replied:

“He’s probably hiding among beggars.”

Meanwhile, Feng Zekai quietly speculated that perhaps Xiao Lin had gone somewhere remote to live some idyllic Tao Yuanming-style pastoral life and heal his wounded pride.

【Host, take a guess! I guarantee you’d never figure it out even if you racked your brain!】The system boasted smugly again.

Feng Zexuan rolled her eyes internally.

【What, did he ascend to immortality? Don’t tell me he’s actually hiding in the capital? Closest place is safest place logic?】

【Ding! Congratulations, Host! He’s currently living in the house directly across from the Qi residence!】

“!!!!!”

The answer landed like a silent sledgehammer, leaving everyone present dizzy with shock.

Qi Yanran felt as though she’d been struck by lightning.

She jerked her head upward, her eyes filled with shattered disbelief.