Three Years of Cold War, He Regretted on the Day of Divorce

Cheng Qian is a dedicated biomedical researcher and the wife of Li Zhinan, the powerful CEO of Li Corporation. Their marriage, arranged four years ago after Cheng Qian became pregnant, has always been cold and duty-bound. Cheng Qian has spent her life trying to earn Li Zhinan’s affection, sacrificing her career and personal happiness to be the perfect wife and mother to their son, Xiao Ye. However, her devotion is met with indifference and occasional cruelty. The central conflict ignites during a violent sea storm when Cheng Qian and Li Zhinan are on a yacht with her cousin, Cheng Yan. When the yacht overturns, Li Zhinan immediately swims to save Cheng Yan, ignoring Cheng Qian’s desperate calls. He performs CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the unconscious Cheng Yan, pleading with her to live, while Cheng Qian watches from the rescue boat, realizing she is utterly secondary in her husband’s eyes. This traumatic event shatters Cheng Qian’s remaining illusions. She decides to leave Li Zhinan and returns to the United States for a ten-month intensive training program at the Global Health Institute, leaving her son with her mother-in-law, Jiang Meng. During her absence, Cheng Yan manipulates social media to portray herself as the victim and Li Zhinan’s savior, while Cheng Qian blocks her and cuts off contact. Upon her return, Cheng Qian discovers that Cheng Yan has already embedded herself into their family life. She overhears Li Zhinan and Cheng Yan discussing Xiao Ye’s daily routine, including his vaccines and meals, with an intimacy that suggests Cheng Yan is replacing her role as mother. The situation worsens when Xiao Ye, confused by the attention he receives from Cheng Yan, begins calling her "Mommy" and rejects Cheng Qian, his biological mother. Li Zhinan blames Cheng Qian for the estrangement, accusing her of neglecting the child due to her career, and refuses to intervene or acknowledge Cheng Yan’s inappropriate behavior. Cheng Qian’s professional life also collapses when Li Zhinan, without consulting her, merges her research laboratory into Cheng Biotech, a company owned by her uncle Cheng Zhifei, who stole her father’s research years ago. Li Zhinan prioritizes the development of a drug for his sick younger brother over Cheng Qian’s career and dignity, forcing her to resign. Humiliated and betrayed, Cheng Qian decides to divorce Li Zhinan, demanding custody of Xiao Ye. Li Zhinan refuses, citing their prenuptial agreement and the family’s wealth, and asserts that the child is a Li. Their marriage deteriorates further as Li Zhinan becomes increasingly jealous and controlling, suspecting Cheng Qian of infidelity after she reconnects with Ji Yichen, the son of her late father’s close friend. Ji Yichen has recently returned to the country and purchased the old research building Cheng Qian hoped to reclaim. As Cheng Qian begins to rebuild her life under Ji Yichen’s mentorship and support, Li Zhinan’s possessiveness intensifies. He spies on her, confronts her aggressively, and attempts to reassert dominance through physical intimacy, which she firmly rejects. The story follows Cheng Qian’s transformation from a submissive wife seeking validation to a resilient woman determined to protect her son and reclaim her identity, while Li Zhinan struggles with his growing, unrecognized attachment to her and his inability to let go of his pride.