My Husband’s Cycling Hobby Was a Cover for His Affair. Then He Made Our Son Call Her “Godmother.”

One

That bicycle was still in the hallway.

A black Giant. A sweatband around the handlebars, a gel cover on the saddle. The helmet hung from the handlebars, straps dangling, coated in dust. One day the child passed by, reached for it, could not reach, and turned to ask: “Mom, is Dad still riding?”

She said, “No.”

The child did not ask again. Ran back to the living room to watch cartoons. She stood in the hallway, looking at the bike. This time last year, he wiped the frame every day before going out. Cycling clothes folded into the bag, water bottle filled, energy gels in the back pocket. Before leaving he would say, “Training ride tonight, don’t wait up.” Back then she thought a hobby was good for him.

Later she learned the training rides were real. Something else came after them.

Two

The cycling circle in Nanning is small. Along the river, Qingxiu Mountain, Wuming. A few routes, ridden over and over. Someone shouts in the group chat and a dozen or twenty people gather. Weekend team-building, evening drinking, sometimes an out-of-town race. Same cycling kit, same helmets, photos posted in the group. It looked like a normal hobby group.

That was where he met her.

A female cyclist. She joined later than he did. Not fast, but fully equipped. At her first group ride she stayed in the middle of the pack and handed out water during breaks. Later the group organized a night ride and put her in his group. The two fell behind, riding slowly, talking slowly. After group activities ended, they started meeting alone. Today it was extra training. Tomorrow it was trying a new route. The day after it was a cyclists’ dinner.

His wife never suspected. She knew nothing about cycling. She only knew he went out three or four times a week and came back sweaty, smiling. She would ask, “How was the ride?” He would say, “Fine. Tiring.” Then shower, eat, look at his phone.

Phone screen face down on the table.

Three

Later, people in the circle recalled the signs.

In photos, the two stood together in matching cycling kits, one black and one pink, helmets the same brand and model. Someone joked, “You two look good together.” He did not deny it. She did not either. When the cycling group went to Beihai, at the barbecue that night, they sat together. She handed him skewers. He took them and ate. Others saw and said nothing.

“Not my husband. Why should I care?” one cyclist later commented.

“I saw it early on, but his wife was not saying anything. What was I supposed to say?”

“The cycling scene is messy anyway. Nothing new.”

His wife saw these comments only later. She went through his phone, the cycling group chat, the photos, the late-night private messages. She screenshotted them one by one and saved them in a folder. The folder was named “2024.”

She did not cry. The child was beside her doing homework, pencil scratching. She went to the kitchen, heated a glass of milk, gave it to the child, then sat on the sofa and kept scrolling.

Four

The photos were bad. The child part was worse.

Her husband brought the other woman home for dinner, more than once. The first time, she brought fruit, wore a floral dress, crouched down to greet the child, and said, “Hello.” The child hid behind her mother and would not come out. Her husband said, “Call her godmother.”

She froze in the kitchen doorway, spatula still in her hand.

“Call her godmother,” her husband said again. Ordinary tone, as if saying, “Call her auntie.”

The child looked up at her mother, then at her father, and said quietly, “Godmother.”

The other woman smiled, patted the child’s head, and said, “Good girl.”

She turned back to the kitchen, put the spatula on the stove, braced her hands on the counter, and stood there. The oil was smoking. She did not move.

Later she asked her husband, “Why did you make the child call her godmother?”

He said, “She is good to me. What is wrong with making her a nominal kin? Do not be so petty.”

She said, “She is your cycling friend.”

He said, “So cycling friends cannot become nominal kin? You are home with the kid all day. What do you know about the cycling circle?”

She said nothing more.

That night, after the child fell asleep, she sat on the balcony and went through his phone. She found the chat records between her husband and the other woman. Sent at two in the morning: “Ate at your place today. Your wife’s cooking is not bad.” “Next time let’s eat out.” “The kid called me godmother. Pretty happy.”

She turned off the phone and looked downstairs. The Nanning night was muggy. Under the streetlight, a cat dug through the trash.

Five

After it came out, her husband’s reaction made her colder than the affair itself.

He had no guilt. He said she was making a mountain out of a molehill. He said he and the female cyclist were ordinary cycling friends. Making her a nominal kin was normal socializing in the circle. She was narrow-minded and paranoid.

“You are home every day. What is wrong with me having some social life outside?”

“I did not say I wanted a divorce. What are you making a fuss about?”

“If you keep this up, I really will not come back.”

She recorded these words. Not to post online, just in case.

The irony was sharper. Not long before, they had applied for a 3,600-yuan childcare subsidy. He signed without hesitation. When the money arrived, he transferred it to his own card. When she asked him for child support, he said, “You married me for money. You are a fraud.”

She looked at the message and laughed. No sound.

Six

Legally, there are several layers to this.

First, marital infidelity and divorce damages.
Article 1043 of the Civil Code provides that husband and wife shall be faithful and respectful to each other. Article 1091 provides that under any of the following circumstances, if divorce is caused thereby, the innocent party has the right to claim damages: (1) bigamy; (2) cohabitation with another person; (3) domestic violence; (4) abuse or abandonment of family members; (5) other major faults.

Whether a long-term improper relationship with someone outside the marriage constitutes cohabitation with another person or other major fault requires evidence. Chat records, photos, travel records, transfer receipts, and witness testimony can all be evidence. Evidence obtained by secret photography, secret recording, or illegally accessing another person’s phone may be excluded if the method of collection is unlawful. It is best to preserve evidence under a lawyer’s guidance.

Second, child support.
Article 1085 of the Civil Code provides that after divorce, if the child is directly raised by one party, the other party shall bear part or all of the child support. The amount and duration shall be agreed upon by both parties. If no agreement is reached, the people’s court shall decide.

Child support is a legal obligation. It does not disappear when the parents’ marriage ends. It is not waived if one party remarries. If the man refuses to pay, the woman can sue to recover it. The standard is generally 20 to 30 percent of monthly total income. If there is no fixed income, it is determined by reference to the local per capita consumption expenditure of the previous year.

Third, childcare subsidy.
If there was false application or fraudulent receipt of subsidy, whether it is recovered or whether liability is pursued depends on local policy. Using marriage fraud to counterattack the wife does not stand legally. Applying for the subsidy during the marriage is a family act, not the wife’s unilateral act.

Fourth, child custody.
Forcing the child to call the third party godmother and keeping the child long-term in a distorted relationship may be regarded by the court as a factor unfavorable to the child’s healthy growth. In a custody dispute, the woman can focus on submitting evidence in this regard.

Seven

She read many online comments.

Some said the cycling scene was too messy. Others said cycling clubs were just matchmaking events. One comment said she would not dare let her husband go cycling anymore.

She did not think cycling was the problem. People were.

Cycling is for chasing the wind. People had used it to hide an affair. The cycling friend was just a cycling friend. The nominal kin bond was a fig leaf. The child was not a tool.

What she could not understand was how a person could enjoy the stability, childcare, subsidy, and respectability of family life while openly dating outside, wearing matching outfits, taking intimate photos, and making his child call another woman godmother. She did not understand how he could then say with righteous confidence, “You are just petty.” Nor could she understand why so many people in the circle knew early on and not one told her.

Later she figured it out. Other people had no obligation to watch her husband for her. The marriage was hers. She had not watched it well. She accepted that. But she would not let him keep lying.

Eight

Now she takes the child to school, goes to work, cooks. The routine is the same. The difference is that she has organized the chat records, photos, and recordings and saved them in three places. One on her phone, one on her computer, one with her lawyer.

She has not filed suit yet. She is waiting for the child support accounts, the property division plan, and the custody arrangement to be settled. She no longer cries. She no longer asks him why. She does what needs to be done, one thing at a time.

The bicycle is still in the hallway. The dust is thicker. The child has stopped asking.

One night, coming home late from work, she passed the hallway and saw the helmet hanging from the handlebars had been blown crooked, its strap tangled around the bar. She reached out, straightened it, and went upstairs.

When she entered, the child was already asleep. Half a glass of milk was left on the table. Under the glass was a drawing. In the drawing, a woman held a small figure’s hand. Beside it was written: “Mom and me.”

She put the drawing away, into the folder called “2024.”