The car slowly crept out of the city and drove up a lush hill.
The landscape outside the window was vaguely familiar, like a memory separated by frosted glass in the recesses of a dreamland.
I was holding the stuffed rabbit in one hand and Qi Shu was holding the other.
He touched my jawline with his fingertips and said lightly with downcast eyes, “Do you know…. what it’s like to have an older brother who’s always been overpowering you everywhere since you were a kid?”
Why ask me… I don’t know.
He didn’t need an answer either. He continued, “I tried to compete with him in everything, but I can’t win against him in anything. When I finally proved I could do a better job than him, he just patted his ass, walked away and said he wouldn’t argue with me.”
Then he turned to look at me and hooked his lips. “But he’s been an absentee leader for years, then suddenly he takes charge. Guess why?”
I can’t guess… I don’t know who he’s talking about.
Qi Shu is acting so strange today. He never talked to me about his family before.
Perhaps my expression was too dull, so he shook his head helplessly: “So you were lied to… Do you think he’s a kind, magnanimous and gentle man…”
Then he seemed to have thought of something, and swallowed half a sentence back.
“…… Forget it, I’m not qualified to say anything about anyone else.”
Silence enclosed us once again.
As a large red phoenix tree appeared before my eyes, my memory gate slowly opened.
Summer, roses, twilight, cello, and… that man.
The one who pulled me out of the night and left me at dusk.
Zhou Chen…
I couldn’t believe what was before me, so I clutched Qi Shu.
He smiled ruefully. “This is probably the most regrettable thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
A small white building appeared in my sight, and as I slowly approached, my heart beat faster and faster.
I saw Zhou Chen’s car parked outside the gate, its trunk open, and the butler was putting a suitcase in.
Who’s leaving? Zhou Chen? Where’s he going?
I ran as soon as the car came to a stop. It’s been a while since I’ve moved this much, so I stumbled.
When the butler-daren saw me from a distance, he was stunned at first and was about to turn around to call someone when a tall, familiar figure came out from behind the doorーー It was Zhou Chen.
He had his head down, his thoughts unknown, but when he got to the car, he suddenly looked up and saw me.
I didn’t stop. I ran the last few steps and landed in an expected warm embrace.
“X-Xiao Yu…” his voice trembled as he grasped me carefully.
I whispered with a lump in my throat, “Sir.”
–Why do I always feel so easily aggrieved in front of him?
“I’m back… I’m sorry…”
The familiar smell crept into my nose, and I let my emotions out unscrupulously, gripping his clothes as I had done so many times, not fearing that he would push me away.
“Where are you going… Don’t go… I’m back…
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Glvc’a sbe rjs sbe’v rjnf wf?
“Qts vlvc’a sbe mbwf ab wf… Oljg….”
Qf ybat rffw ab tjnf obgubaafc atja P kjr atf bcf ktb rjlv rbwfatlcu fzmfrrlnf jcv kjr atf bcf ktb abbx atf lclaljalnf ab ifjnf.
Lf’v jikjsr tjv ecilwlafv abifgjcmf obg ws lggjalbcjilas. Lf qjaafv wf bc atf yjmx jcv mbcrbifv wf atja tf kbeivc’a ub jcsktfgf, atja la’r jii tlr ojeia.
Qi Shu came over behind me and said unhurriedly, “I can’t keep it well, so I’ll give it back to you.”
I couldn’t see their faces, but I could feel Zhou Chen stiffen.
His hold loosened a bit. He lowered his head and glanced at my neck. “… Where’s the necklace?”
“Threw it away.” Qi Shu answered for me. “Since you’re so rich, what’s the point of giving him a silver one to wear?”
At that instant, I felt the unprecedented ruthlessness and danger that I had never felt before in Zhou Chen.
He took a deep breath, pulled the door open and lifted me to the passenger seat. He covered my eyes with his palm and said, “Don’t look, be good.”
I did as I was told, then he let go of me and turned around.
The next second, I heard the sound of a fist flying across the air and hitting the skin, and the plop of a man falling to the ground.
Zhou Chen’s voice followed, “Qi Shu, you motherfucker!”
——Turns out that he could beat people and swear….
“Do you know what that was? That was your baby’s fucking ashes!”
The atmosphere quietened for a few seconds. Qi Shu got up from the ground. His voice was brimmed with shock and skepticism, “Ashes…”
“Xiao Yu, is he telling the truth……
“That was…..our child’s…..ashes……?”
He seemed to want to come to me as his voice got closer and closer, but halfway, he was knocked to the ground with Zhou Chen’s fist.
With Qi Shu’s temper, it would be unusual not to fight back the first time, and there’s 0 probability that he’d bear it the second time.
“Our child’s none of your business! Get the fuck out of my way!”
He jumped up and pushed Zhou Chen away. I could imagine his expression without opening my eyes.
“None of my business…” Zhou Chen sneered. “It’s MY business if even a hair falls off the person I took great efforts to save.”
“And you, now you remember you had a child? Where were you when he went to the hospital alone for a check up? Where were you when he had the operation alone?”
“I didn’t fucking know!” Qi Shu finished yelling at Zhou Chen and then turned to me. “Why, why didn’t you tell me…”
“Tell you? Do you deserve it?” Zhou Chen’s emotion had never been so agitated. “How do you think that child was lost? YOU FUCKING KICKED IT OFF WITH YOUR FUCKING FOOT!”
The two men wrestled, hitting each other’s flesh and scattering dust. The noise they made was so terrible that I wanted to open my eyes several times, but I held back.
Until the smell of blood floated in the air. I trembled all over due to fear and rasped, “Zhou Chen…”
They finally stopped. I opened my eyes only to be greeted with a mess. Before I could see clearly, Zhou Chen stood in front of me and held me in his arms.
“I’m sorry, I scared you.” He tried to keep his voice calm.
Out of the corner of my eye, I sidled forward and saw Qi Shu bending over to support his knees, staggering to his feet. His clothes and hair were messy and stained with mud and blood.
There wasn’t much anger in his eyes, but more pain and unwillingness, eyes unblinkly looking at Zhou Chen’s back.
“Be clear about it…” He said with difficulty as he spat a mouthful of bloody saliva, wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.
I looked up. Zhou Chen also had a wound on his face, but fortunately, it didn’t look so bad.
I nudged him. “I’ll talk.”
Zhou Chen’s eyes focused on me, as if to make sure I was all right. After watching for a while, he let go of me and stepped aside.
I looked at Qi Shu. “I’ll tell you what you want to know.”
Qi Shu opened his mouth, but no sound seemed to come out.
“The baby? I thought about having it ……” I guess that was his main concern… “But you didn’t give me a chance.”
“Do you remember what happened on that day in the Qi family’s old house?”
His pupils contracted suddenly, as if he’d suffered a big blow.
“T-that day…”
“Yes.”
I could still recall the despair of that day. The darkness of the cold basement, the pain of every bone and flesh in my body, as well the humiliation and blows from my beloved, were the pain which I’ll always remember in my midnight dreams.
“It’s not just the baby, I also almost died that day.”
I used to harbor a lot of questions. Was I not good enough? or I did not love him enough? I didn’t do anything wrong, and I’ve never wronged him. How could he have the heart to treat me like that?
But now I don’t care about the answer.
“Qi Shu.” Zhou Chen walked up to him and said indifferently, “You know what you did. I didn’t ask much about your matters before, but this time, I clearly told you that he has a heart disease, yet how did you treat him?”
“I finally snatched him back from the hands of death. I’m not willing to let him eat even a bit of bitter food, and I feel distressed when he frowns. You turned someone into this and said you’d give IT back to me? If you weren’t my cousin, I would’ve killed you by now.”
I couldn’t see Zhou Chen’s solemn face from my perspective, but his aura as an alpha was so strong that even I felt nervous.
Qi Shu sneered. “Robbing what’s mine and sleeping with my person, you’re really my own cousin.”
“He’s not your man now.” Zhou Chen wasn’t provoked. On the contrary, he raised his hand and grabbed Qi Shu’s neck in a very gentle manner.
But for some reason, I had this thought he could snap that neck with ease.
“There’s no way I’m going to let him come back to you, whether he wants to or not.”
Qi Shu’s hand vainly held Zhou Chen’s wrist. Surprisingly, he still laughed out loud. “Can’t pretend anymore? You’re not worried that he’s as afraid of you as he is of me?”
After a moment’s silence, Zhou Chen let go. “I’m different from you.”
When he turned around again, his cruelty towards Qi Shu had completely disappeared, which made me suspect that I had hallucinated.
“Go home?” He squatted in front of me, took out his handkerchief and wiped the blood carefully before handing me his hand.
“En.” I took hold of his hand and got out of the car, and was about to say I could go by myself when he picked me up around the waist.
“…..Got lighter again.” He sighed. “I don’t know how long it will take this time.”
I buried my head in his shoulders, afraid to look into his eyes.
When I looked over Zhou Chen’s shoulder, Qi Shu still stood in the same spot, haggard and dazed.
It’s been a while since I’ve examined him closely. It seemed like a long time since I’d seen him in high spirits.
I retracted my gaze and saw a bruise on Zhou Chen’s cheekbone. I felt anxious when I realized it.
“Does it hurt…” I wanted to touch him, but I didn’t want to hurt him.
He smiled faintly. “It doesn’t hurt when you’re here.”
Back in the living room, the butler had the medicine kit ready and was waiting anxiously. He seemed to want to say something, but when he saw me, he swallowed it back.
I guess he must be blaming me. If it weren’t for me, Zhou Chen wouldn’t be hurt.
“I’ll do it,” I whispered to him.
He looked at Zhou Chen, received a nod, and handed me the medicine kit.
Nobody cared for me when I was a child and was unsupervised, so I was often bullied at school, and sometimes I would get into fights. I was comfortable with using medicine.
Zhou Chen sat on the sofa. In addition to the red marks on his cheekbones, the corners of his mouth also had a cut, and there was a small wound on his jaw that seemed to have been scratched by something, which had already formed a scab.
I carefully disinfected, applied medicine, and iced him, and all the while he looked at me without saying a word.
“What a heavy hand ……” I was so upset I couldn’t hold back from muttering to myself.
He finally spoke, “Rest assured, I haven’t suffered a loss.”
I can tell.
This may be the first time in his life that Qi Shu didn’t take advantage of the fight.
“Xiao Yu…” He seemed to have something to say to me.
I looked up, waiting for him to say more.
Zhou Chen’s expression had never been so torn. Since we met, he’s always been calm.
“If I… I’m different from the person you imagined…”
ーーSo that’s what it is.
Although I didn’t quite understand the last two sentences of his conversation with Qi Shu, I could guess some clues. Apparently, Zhou Chen isn’t as apathetic as he appears.
“Mm, maybe…” I lowered my eyes and packed the medicine kit. “But so what?”
He was stunned. “…Ah?”
“Have you forgotten what you said to me?”
ーーIn my self-loathing period, he said: ‘Human nature is inferior. Who dares to say oneself is different.’
After a while, he sighed inaudibly, “Yes.”
“Besides, I’ve never imagined what kind of man you are.”
After squatting for a long time, my legs turned numb, so I simply sat on the carpet. This body of mine is so bad now that I’d even feel tired when I take a car. I placed my chin on Zhou Chen’s knee.
“What you look like right now is exactly what you are to me.”
The author has something to say:
Today’s playlist:《Da Hui Yuan Xing》
[If you like freaks, I’m actually beautiful]
I feel so relieved he is away from that psycho
Oh my goddd this chapter was like a GENTLE SIGH OF RELIEF. like phewww I’m so happy, is the beginning, the real beginning of his healing? Aahhh thank you so much for translating this, is the end near?? I’m excited…
Thank you for the update!
It’s good that he can be saved now..
Thanks for the chapter ♥️♥️
I’m glad he’s back, and that the secret’s finally out! It’s just a pity that these kinds of shous don’t know how to act pitiful…
Just wanted to say that I love the poem in your bio!
It’s so satisfying to see the scum character suffer because of wat they did
Sighs ah!
I didn’t ugly cry, but I did ugly smile.
Sometimes I wish to know what’s inside Qi Shu head.
Why he treats every one and things in an horrible way.
I don’t like qi Shu but I wonder how he feels about the killing his child “twice”
Dear translator, I am juengal from Myanmar. I woluld like to request to translate your work into my Burmese Language. This is an interesting novel and I would like to share it with my friends. Can I use your translation work? Thank you for the great translation.
I am glad there is nothing significant connecting XX with QS anymore since QS destroyed the baby’s ashes. Now let’s really move in to the healing.
I felt like I’m finally allowed to breathe
Gosh I hope Xiao yu can rest now..
😢
Thanks for the chapter 🥰
FINALLY- ABOUT TIME JEEZ
Ty for the chapter😭💜💜💜
Some people… aren’t meant for love. Oof. It’s nice to know that he grew up like this and not because he was heartbroken and stuff. Feels sad slightly for Qi Shit but he needs that lmfao, grew up spoiled and not being taught right and wrong can actually lead to such a devastating impact
Thanks for the chapter <3
Ngl I feel so excited when zhou chen started to beat the sh*t outta qi shu
Ngl, rn, i just wanna spoil myself and see whom he’ll gonna end up with
Can breath better now they are together
I’m distressed but I also feel glad. I’m torn between the two.
I feel numb