1

Five years after marriage, my wife suddenly died of asthma, leaving my son and me desolate and alone.

Friends lamented that I became a widower at such a young age, and my parents urged me to find another woman quickly for the sake of my son.

Yet I was adamant in my refusal, insisting on staying to mourn for my wife.

But on the third anniversary of my wife's death, I unexpectedly overheard my father-in-law angrily questioning my sister-in-law:

"Clearly, the one with asthma was your sister, and the deceased is also your sister, but you pretended to die to take care of your brother-in-law. Was it worth it?"

"For these three years, Lin Ran mourned for you, raised Lele alone, you gave your niece a home, but have you ever thought, since the day you faked your death, Lele also lost her mother."

At that moment, chills ran through my body, and I then realized that three years ago, it wasn't my wife Ding Wanjun who died, but her twin sister Ding Wanning.

And my three years of mourning had been nothing but a joke.

That night, I dialed the home phone:

"Dad, Mom, I agree to remarry!"

1

After my wife's sudden death from asthma, my father and mother-in-law were so filled with guilt that they couldn't meet my eyes, taking care of me everywhere they could, fearing I couldn't bear the loneliness of mourning and would take their grandson away to find another wife.

My parents kept urging me to remarry, saying I couldn't be a widower forever and offering to introduce prospective dates to me.

But I was as stubborn as an ox, insisting on mourning for my wife.

Turning to comfort my in-laws, I reassured them I would not agree to let my son call anyone else his mom.

For three years, no matter how lonely and desolate life without my wife was, I gritted my teeth and carried on.

Until the third anniversary of her death.

By chance, I overheard my father-in-law scolding my sister-in-law:

"Ding Wanjun, it was your sister who has had asthma since birth, and she is the one who passed away, why on earth would you fake death and take your younger sister's identity?"

Ding Wanjun? Isn't that my wife's name?

What does fake death mean?

I stood in place, dumbfounded, not yet comprehending, as the woman's voice rang out the next second:

"Dad, back then, when my brother-in-law was recovering from a severe illness, how could his body withstand such a blow? As for Lin Ran, I've already given him a son, so he wouldn't be childless in his later years, and that's enough."

"From that day on, I decided to take over my younger sister's responsibility of taking care of my brother-in-law, as for the identity of Ding Wanjun, let it be completely buried."

I was already unable to hear the subsequent conversation, only feeling a chill in my limbs, my head throbbing as if pierced by steel needles.

It turns out, it wasn't my wife who died, but her twin sister.

And the woman who should have been closest to me posed as dead to take care of another man, abandoning me and our son.

My tears, finally unable to be held back, gushed forth uncontrollably at this moment.

Ding Wanjun once saved me from the quagmire, when my background led to me being sent to the countryside and labeled a bad element, she did not despise me, instead, she outright professed her feelings, vowing to be with me for life.

After marriage, she was attentive to every detail, taking care of all the housework, sparing me from chores so I could focus on studying.

Everyone said Ding Family raised a love-struck fool, and I became the envy of all men in town.

So after her death, I decided to mourn for her, even to the point of remaining a widower.

But thinking back now, I feel pathetically foolish.

Ding Wanjun had always been healthy, never even catching a cold, how could she die from asthma?

It turns out everything was an act, a three-year-long performance to take care of her heart's true desire.

What about my son and me? What did we mean in her eyes?

I bit my lip to hold back any sound, turned around, and ran away in distress.